#11: The Prophecy

She lifted her finger towards the recording studio door, and stayed there, unblinking. Karu twisted the handle, then opened it. He glowered, as he hoped one day an apparition so strong would greet him in front of non-psychic witnesses. Just… not her.

Slow, she stepped out of the recording room, and seated at the computer. Every move was calculated and confident. “Karu Hanaki. Your gothic tendencies prove useful after all.”

The class froze. Toren looked at Karu for instructions. How should he greet the spirit of his great grandmother?

“I’m not bowing down to you,” said Karu, closing the door. Every choice word he had could upset Meina, as was oft the case while she lived. He righted his posture and stood before her. “What… brings you here?”

“I came to warn you of a great danger,” she said, with an Eastern accent considered proper by those outside Kerangi. “This will not affect myself personally, but this will affect all who live and die on Kulieva from today.”

“Should we believe that?” asked Mara. “She’s a tyrant.”

“I believe her,” said Karu. “What kind of danger is this?”

“To the best of my ability, I can describe it as a swarm of evil,” explained Meina. “They will coerce you into their beliefs. They will groom Kulieva into a false sense of godliness. Karu…”

His name out of her mouth hit his chest. She never named him in life - that, he believed the least.

“What this swarm teaches will disrupt the future of Kulieva into bleakness.” She cleared her throat, then paused. “That is, we will be wiped out should this evil overtake us.”

“Why are you telling us this?” asked Karu. “I mean… why you?”

“I have directly been given this task by the Creator.” She fidgeted with her cape. “Yes, she has berated me for my own transgressions. This is my punishment for upsetting many a people.”

His right eye ached. ‘Upsetting’ is the wrong word, he thought. “Who is ‘she’?”

“She came to me, and within these few days, she has proven her worth to me. Like I said, I’m being punished for my life on Kulieva. As for specific details, I am not at liberty to say.”

“So you’re not helping.”

Her lips trembled, and her eyes remained cold. “I will be given the next instruction, but that is up to the Creator. Pray that you see me less often.”

“Is there anything else we need to know?” he asked.

Meina stood in a smooth motion. “No.” She vanished.

Karu frowned. He turned his face to the class. Never had he seen a paler bunch in his life. They piped up, pinching one another and asking if what they watched was real. Was this a cause for panic, or was it an apparition test? His eye ached when Meina passed off her own tyranny, but not when she warned of a swarm-like danger. His eye always detected the lies, but even now, he doubted the detection.

“Should we take an early break?” he asked, in a hush.

“No,” the class replied.

He half-smiled. “Who wants the recording room?”

The class continued, shaky in their footing, watching over their shoulders for another ghost to appear.