Chapter X - The Foreshadowers

Chapter X - The Foreshadowers

I sit, staring at the blazing flames before me. Henly jumps around as ashes fly into the air, trying to catch them as if it were a game.

“How did you learn to make fire?” I ask Elias.

“It is one of the first things our parents teach us before the Cultridian men take us to work.”

“How old were you when they took you?” 

“I was eight. Girls are taken earlier than boys, though. They learn how to sew and stuff as early as five.” He looks at me questioningly. “You don’t know what sewing is, do you?” I shake my head. “It’s how clothes are made. I don’t really know how it works. Boys aren’t taught how.” 

“How come I’ve never seen any of your people?”

He stares at the fire, trying to work up an answer. “They keep us underground.” He says finally. “All of the buildings in the Upper-Flat-Lands are just for show. All of the work is done underground.”

“Do you ever get to go outside?” I ask.

“No.” He replies. “There are tunnels under the buildings. Whenever they need to move us to another building, or even another city, we’re led through them.” I can’t seem to wrap my mind around this new information about my birthplace. After my second dream about Elias, I had a feeling that Cultridia wasn’t really the incredible home I thought it was. Hearing Elias’ words have only confirmed those thoughts and feelings.

“Elias. I need to tell you something” I pause. He looks at me with listening eyes. “You said you were looking for me but, really, I came to the Lower-Flat-Lands to find you.” I continue, Elias’ face forms an unreadable expression. “About a month ago, I started having these oddly vivid dreams. In the last dream I had, for example, I was running down the path from Cultridia. I heard voices yelling my name from behind. Then, I ran into something and my friend, Callum, helped me up. Then-” I stop. I realize why running down the hill with Callum was so familiar. I had already been there before. In my dream. My heart beats fast and, when I think my realization can’t get any more confusing, Elias speaks.

“It worked.” He says, smiling. 

“What worked?”

“Your dreams.” Elias states. I stare at him as if he is a crazy person. “Let me explain.” He continues “Out of every generation of people there are two, one male and one female, called the foreshadowers. Being a foreshadower means you have incredible mental capabilities. The most valid being the strong connection between the two minds and the ability to see reflections of the future. This can be discovered early on in the person’s life, or they can grow old and die without noticing their capabilities. Most of the time, the pair of foreshadowers are either from Cultridia or the Lower-Flat-Lands. If they are both Cultridian, their gift hardly ever becomes noticed. Few people up on the mountain actually recognize the term foreshadowing.” He pauses, obviously in deep thought. 

“What does that have to do with me or you?” I ask. 

Elias smiles again. “Olivia, you and I are the foreshadowers of our generation. You’re dreams were reflections of events to come.” 

“But, the way my dream happened isn’t the way it happened in real life. Everything was distorted and I couldn’t quite make it out.” I explain.

“How long ago did you have that dream in particular?”

“I don’t know. Three weeks ago, maybe.” I reply.

“Then it must have come from your own mental capacity. Were your other two dreams more vivid?” 

“Yes, and you were in them.” I say, wishing he would get to the point.

“Okay, so your first two dreams were reflected from my mind. Since your mind hadn’t yet gathered the capacity for foreshadowing, I had to force the connection between our minds so you could see those futures. Your third dream, however, was your own ability being activated. Your brain had never performed such an exquisite task before thus causing your dream to still feel incredibly real but, also quite unsure.”

This is all so much to take in. The fact that my mind has the ability to do these things almost doesn’t seem real.

“You said that each pair of foreshadowers are either from Cultridia or the Lower-Flat-Lands but, you and I are from both. How did you know I’d be Cultridian?” 

“When it became manifest that I was the new male foreshadower, my people started to search the village for the female. They ran all sorts of tests in hopes that they would find her. They used my mind to try and search the Upper-Flat-Lands for another girl of my race. One day, I had the thought that she might not be of our race but of yours. However, when I brought this idea forward to the leaders of my village, they denied it. But, I knew you had to be Cultridian. So, at night, when everyone was asleep, I ran some tests of my own. After all, it’s not impossible for the foreshadowers to be of two different races. It’s just rare.” He stops and stares back into the fire. At this point Henly has given up on his attempts to catch the burning embers in the air, and is resting peacefully by my side.

“Elias-” I start.

“-Wait. How do you know my name? The only way you could have known it is if I showed it to you through our connection. Which I didn’t do.” Elias stares at me awaiting an answer.

“Recently, I was on a tour in the Upper-Flat-Lands. My parents sent my sister and me there to find husbands. We were in Effgere when I found a picture of you on a desk in the house we were staying at. I recognized you from my dreams. Below the picture it said ‘Elias. Fifteen years old. Escapee.’”

“They make those papers so they can remember who has escaped. That was almost three years ago. I’m eighteen now.” Elias smiles again. I smile back this time. 

“Wait a minute.” I start again. “If I would have had to place my name in your mind then, how did you know it and how did you know who I was?”

Elias looks panicked at my question. “I shouldn’t tell you now.”

“Why not?”

“Because you won’t like it.”

“Elias. Please tell me. If don’t I’ll probably just be able to reach it out of your mind somehow anyways.” I say but, I don’t really know how or if I would actually be able to do that.

“Olivia. I knew who you were before I knew you were the other foreshadower. I knew who you when we were only little kids.”

“What do you mean?” This is a question of which I already know the answer as I can see the words come out of Elias’ mouth before they actually do.

“Olivia. I used to work for your father.”

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