The Forerunner

I STILL DON’T GET why people celebrate birthdays, I mean I just don’t see anything special or exciting about getting older. I clocked eighteen last month and since I’ve make peace with the fact that the modelling thing I was hoping on isn’t gonna work out, I’ve decided to go with my calling, which I still don’t know by the way. Tomorrow is my Vocation day and my mom has already invited one of the oneirocritic in city’s abbey to help with the interpretations.

[Note: A lot of things changed after the Second Coming and one main change is how people choose their career. Vocation is an oneiric calling people receive in their dreams when they’re between sixteen and eighteen years of age that points them to their life’s profession, because it is believed that everyone is born predestined for a special purpose that they must follow. Although it isn’t illegal to not follow one’s vocation but it’d be hard to gain employment as most companies only hire on vocational basis; that’s they only hire job seekers who are following their vocational calling. This means you can’t just go on to be a doctor, lawyer, or an engineer, (or...wait for it... even a model) unless it’s your calling; but you can still go on with it anyway, is just that you gonna be on the job hunt for a very long time. But it’s always up to you to either follow your passion or follow your calling.]

I’ve been spinning myself all day in my swivel chair trying to interpret what would be my calling based on my recent dreams until feeling dizzy and finally gave up. There’s really no point of me trying, Vocational calling can only by interpreted by professional oneirocritics with deep experience in the art. I hear a gentle knock on my door, it’s my sister.

"Hey Marisa," she greets, while pushing her head through.

"Come in Katy." I replied. For some reason she’s decided to knock this time instead of just barging in like always. Just like me, she’s born Omnipresent but was Diluted Down to Omniaudient during christening as required by papal law; and as for me, I was Diluted Down to Omnispective. In fact, both of our parents are in the Omnipresent Sect and the odds of two Omnipresent parents begetting an Omnipresent child stands at ninety-nine percent.

[Note: Both Omniaudients and Omnispectives have their limitations. An Omnispective for instance won’t be able to see a room far away if the room is empty. This is because Omnispectives see through the eyes of others—this means at least one person needs to be present in that particular location they wish to have visuals of so they could see through their eyes—the visuals will also be bad if the person present has bad eye sight. This applies to Omniaudients as well, at least one person must be present in that particular location they wish to gain audibility of so they could hear through their ears; also, the audio will be bad if the person present has poor hearing capabilities.]

We both smile at each other as I make space for her to sit down, but instead of sitting, she lay on my bed to make herself as comfortable as possible making spirals with her hair while staring at the Omniring on my pinky finger.

"I don’t know why you always have that ring on," she said, referring to my omniring. "all you do is play with your phone all day, so not like you got something to hide."

"And all you do is eavesdrop on me all day," I replied. I waited for her to say something sassy or at least deny, but instead, she just smiled.

"So... " She started. "What do you think it’s gonna be?"

"What?" I asked, pretending not to know what she was talking about. Katy being Omniaudient makes her the queen of eavesdropping in our home. She must have heard my mom and I discussing about my vocation last night and now she wants to know what I’m thinking. The best way to avoid this conversation is to play dumb for as long as I can and maybe, just maybe, she’ll give up and let me be.

"Your calling Marisa!" she yelled, catching up with what I’m doing. "What do you think it’s gonna be?"

"Well..." I started, finally giving up. "I don’t know, and even if I do, it’s not something I’d want to discuss. You of all people should understand that."

[Note: Omnirings was invented by Raymond Taylor—an Ecclesiastical Scientist and abbot of Eucharist City abbey—the ring functions like a firewall against all sub-attributes in the sense that when worn by you: an Omniaudient won’t be able to use you to listen to the conversations of others, an Omnispective can’t use your eyes to see others, an Omnidorent can’t use you to get nasal details of your surroundings, and also, an Omniform can’t shape shift to your identity. But there’s a catch, since others can’t use you when you’re wearing an Omniring, you in turn won’t be able to use others. This means if you’re an Omnispective wishing to see a distance far far away, you won’t be able to use the eyes of the people present in that location you’re hoping to view unless you take off the ring.]

Katy is a year younger than me but she’s always treated me like a junior, maybe it has to do with the fact that she’s always been one step ahead of me at every everything; just last month, she had her vocational session and was accepted into college, she reached her Theosis at eight and I reached mine at nine; although my parents will always say they have no favorite, but I really doubt that.

"Come on Marisa," she nagged. "Just say something. What are your recent dreams like? And please don’t tell me you’re still having that weird one about the sheep."

"That? Nah, I’m way passed that," I lied.

"Ok," she smiled, giving me her I-know-you’re-lying look. Ever since I reached my Theosis at nine, I’ve had this weird dream of me in the form of a sheep with a golden halo on my head and nine years later, I’m still having same dream.

"At least promise me I’ll be the first person you tell," she said pretentiously. If I hadn’t known her better I’d had thought she meant it. She’s Omniaudient, so she’s certainly gonna eavesdrop on my conversation (as always) with the oneirocritic when she arrives tomorrow; I’ll make sure to wear my omniring though—but it’d be of no use if the oneirocritic isn’t wearing one—and in most cases they don’t. It’s among the many ways they prove that they’ve got nothing to hide.

[Note: When children reached the age of seven to nine, they attain Theosis. Theosis is when they’ve fully gain union with God; and this makes them eligible to be properly baptized by immersion so they can start receiving the Holy Communion and only then they could start using their Omneity. Although every child is given baptism by birth,but this is only considered christening because The New Religion will only recognize baptisms that were done in full immersion when a child has reached Theosis. Children are known to have reached their Theosis when they can finally Efflux their Essence into water and transform it into wine or juice like Christ did in the Bible; I’ll explain how that works later, what you need to know for now is that you don’t need to be a communicant to reach your Theosis; but you need to be a communicant to use your attribute.]

"Of course I will," I said, rolling my eyes. She cunningly hugged me and was about to leave before remembering her main reason for coming.

"Oh, I almost forgot," she started. "Mom said dinner is-"

"Girls!" My mom called. "Dinner is ready!"

"Yeah, that," she concluded.

"Coming!" We replied.

"Come on lazy," she said, as she beacons me to follow her.

We head downstairs right on time to see our dad step in. He’s late as usual, although he rarely speaks of his job but what we do know is that he’s the Forerunner and works with Carlos Fredrick—an Archbishop and the Supreme Patriarch of our sect—each sect is headed by a Supreme Patriarch that also have the authority to excommunicate anyone in their sect—if excommunicated, you’ll be unable to use your attribute because you’ll be suspended from receiving the Holy communion; that’s why The New Religion will only use excommunication as a last resort for punishment. The High Pope on the other hand can excommunicate anyone in any sect; including the Supreme Patriarchs themselves.

[Note: Every thing around you (including food and drinks) that has a function or purpose are discreetly made up of a property or group of properties called ESSENCE that fundamentally gives it that particular function or meaning. Essence is the first Sacred Mystery; they’re properties that an object NECESSARILY requires for it to maintain the IDENTITY of the thing it was meant to be and carry out the PURPOSE of what it was created for; For example, the whole Essence of a key is to open locks, the main Essence of a table is to hold things, and the main Essence of a knife is for cutting. Essence are the specific characteristics or qualities of a thing that concretely makes it that particular thing. But also know that an object can have more than one Essence—for instance the main Essence of a table is to hold stuff, but it can also serve as decor—also, an object might have a main essence, but might also have underlying Essence; the main Essence of a kitchen knife is to serve as utensil, but it can also function as a weapon. Emptiness is the opposite of Essence and it’s divided into Totally Empty and Partially Empty. For instance a key that can’t open any lock is said to be Totally Empty because it’s failing on its main function as a key; to open locks, after all, that’s the essence of it all. Also, a table that can’t hold anything is said to be Partially Empty—because it might be failing on its main purpose as table—but could still serve as decor if it’s strong enough to stand.Essence can be manipulated by Influxion and Effluxion.]

Just like my mother, my dad is highly devoted to our sect. He’s a strict sectarianist and well known throughout the three sects and even by the High Pope himself, he owes his celebrity status to the fact that many believed he was the Omniarch because he’s the only one at the time that could carry out Effluxion and Influxion at the tender age of four. Effluxion and Influxion can only be performed when children have reached their Theosis which usually takes an average of seven to nine years beginning at birth. And for my father to be able to do that at just four years of age at the time worn him fame in our sect and even beyond.

If you think of it, it’s a big deal you know; because it means he’s faith got be extremely strong to be able to pull that off at that little age. No wonder the rumors of him being the Omniarch spread so fast to the extent it got the attention of the High Pope.

So what’s so special about being the Omniarch?

Only an Omniarch can get into omnimode—the state of allness—whereby the Omniarch will be able to use all six sub-attributes at once with little limitations.

[Note: Influxion is the first way to manipulate Essence. Apple juice for instance is made up of apple which is its primary Essence that gives it its color, odor and taste; someone, whose Faith and Nous are strong enough can manipulate this by Influxing the Essence—that’s the taste, the color and odor—from the juice, thereby transforming it to just being water; a complete tasteless, colorless and odorless state. Same thing applies to fire, you can influx the heat Essence from the fire and it will cease to produce heat; but will continue to produce light and flame. The Essence you accumulate after carrying out Influxion are stored in a place in your mind called Nous. Your Nous is like a mental container that accommodates every Essence you’ve influxed. Nous is the second Sacred Mystery and it’s the faculty of your mind responsible for determining what’s true and what’s real. Nous and Essence are strongly powered by your Faith; the third Sacred Mystery. Faith is not Questioning the Questionable, not Arguing with the Arguable and Believing the Unbelievable; don’t Question how you could influx heat from fire, don’t Argue with those that I’ve questioned it, and don’t Believe those that have called it impossible. As long as you keep to these three rules, your faith will remain strong and the stronger your Faith, the stronger your Nous to accommodate more Essence.]

But that was many years ago, about thirty-seven years or more and after my father had his vocational session when he came of age, it was later concluded that he wasn’t the Omniarch based on the interpretations of the oneirocritic that assessed him at the time; he was instead pronounced as the next Forerunner of the next Omniarch. Due to his pronouncements as Forerunner, my father’s fame kept growing, because even though he’s not the Omniarch, there’s still a strong possibility that the next Omniarch will be discovered by him. Just as St. John the Baptist was the Forerunner of Christ—my father as Forerunner would pave the way for the next Omniarch—whoever it’s gonna be. That’s why my father is highly respected in our sect and respected to some degree in the other two sects who still believe he’s a "False Forerunner" and will only start paying him due respect when he’s discovered the next Omniarch.

[Note: Effluxion is the second way to manipulate Essence. It was first seen in the Bible at the Marriage At Cana—where Jesus and his disciples were invited to a wedding—and when the wine runs out, Jesus Effluxed his divine Essence into water and transformed it to wine. Although Effluxion is also powered by your Faith but it heavily depends on your Nous to supply the Essence; for instance, if you wish to transform water to lemon juice, you’ll need to have lemon Essence in your Nous—meaning you’ll need to first Influxed Essence out of a lemon into your Nous (which by the way is a container that stores your Essence)—and then Effluxed the Essence into the water to carry out the transformation. The taste of the juice after the transformation will be solely dependant upon your Faith; those with strong Faith will have an incredibly tasty juice, while those with little Faith will have a less tastier or flavorless juice. Even if the fruit you Influxed from isn’t delicious or is unripe, the juice could still be made delicious after Influxion by allowing the Essence to "Cook" in your Nous for a few seconds and if your Faith is strong enough, it will taste better.]

My sister and I both rushed to hug him as he makes his way through the foyer.

"Welcome dad," we said excitedly.

He only gave us a little hint of a smile while patting us gently on our back and then went into his study to say some prayers before joining us for dinner. My mom who’s already standing behind us gave us a bold smile trying her best to minimize our father’s uncaringness and moved us back to dinning room.

"How come it took you girls that long to get down?" she asked, trying to start a conversation so we could forget about our father’s earlier disinterested attitude towards us.

"You know Katy," I replied, giving in to her secret agenda. "She’s never gonna mind her business you know, she gotta ask about my calling."

"Seriously katy?" my mother said, pretending to be interested.

"I was only curious mom," Katy replied, playing along. "I mean she only dream of a sheep, not like her calling is gonna be anything important."

"Alright," comes my father’s voice from behind. "what’s for dinner?" he asked rhetorically as he join us. Just like me he’s Omnispective and he always peep through my mother’s eyes to know what she had cooked before even showing up; so yeah, he definitely knows what’s for dinner.

"Spaghetti," my mom replied while serving my sister and I our plate.

"Good," he said unemotionally.

"But it’s gone a little bit cold though," she said while serving him his plate. "It’s been a while since I served it."

My dad furrowed his brows and Effluxed some heat essence into his spaghetti to make it warm to his liking. He always keep some considerable amount of heat in his nous for self defense and as always, he’d order us to do the same, "always stay prepared," he’d say. "You never know what could be creeping on you at anytime."

"How was your day?" my mom asked as the rest of us eat our food cold. Although she already knows the reply she’s gonna get, but she’d always ask being the good Omniaudient wife she is.

They rarely show affection in front of us, well, maybe they do when we’re not around but I don’t want to picture that or might end up in therapy. But they just don’t show any affection when we’re around them.

[Remember: Nous is a mental container, and just like any other container, it also get Filled and Overflow. So if for instance your Nous is almost Filled and you unknowingly Influxed excessive heat, this could backfire by Overflowing and the heat could consume you.]

"Well you know, same old same old," he replied as he digs into his food. In translation, what he was really trying to say was: "well you know, same fail same fail I still haven’t found the Omniarch."

That’s why he hates questions like this and he really needs to change the subject before my mom throw in more questions about his failures. He decided to ask one of us a different question and picked his favorite target; me.

"Yeah, I almost forgot," he began. "You having your vocation tomorrow right Sarah?"

What? Sarah?

That’s right, only my dad still calls me by my baptismal name, but he only uses it when he wants to command my attention; to let me know he’s serious.

"Yeah," I replied. "Tomorrow is my big day I guess."

"So what are your recent dreams like?" he asked inquisitively as he grab the glass of water next to him and Effluxed pineapple essence into it thereby transforming it to pineapple juice. He takes a sip from the glass but made a somewhat disappointed face after tasting it.

Not that question again. Immediately he asked, Katy pryingly smiled at me, waiting to see how I’m gonna dodge our father’s question.

"Well you know, same old same old," I replied.

"Alright," he smilingly replied, knowing quite well that I’m avoiding his question and the best part is he doesn’t have to wonder who I learnt it from; he sure knows is him.

The truth is Katy and I are already used to our father’s detached behavior towards us. In my case, I even pity him—he’s the Forerunner and was supposed to have found the Omniarch by now—it’s been years since the last Omniarch was pronounced dead and he’s traveled the Papal States year after year and still no sign of the next Omniarch. The absence of an Omniarch creates a power vacuum that noxious individuals might exploit and he’s not only afraid that he’d never find him—but he’s also afraid that he’s losing faith—but he dare not show these emotions to anyone lest he’d be thought faithless by his fellow sectarians. His whole life is ruled by fear; the fear of failure and of faithlessness.

My father’s fear is more intimate and deeper than the fear of evil or sin, it’s greater than the fear of darkness and even hell. His fear lies within, it was the fear of himself. What if he’s not what many people believed him to be; what if he’s not the true Forerunner. Our mother understands this, that’s why she always try to make up for his unconcerned ways.

[More About Faith: While Nous is like a container that accommodates the Essence you’ve Influxed, Faith on the other hand are like muscles—this means the stronger your faith, the better you can perform Influxion and Effluxion—take for instance you’re to influxe heat from fire and you happen to have little Faith, you might still be able to carry out the Influxion but only to a certain degree. This means you can influxe the heat from the fire, but the fire won’t go entirely cold; it will remain warm to a certain degree in accordance with your Faith. This means the Higher your faith, the more cold the fire would have been; and the Lower your faith, the warmer the fire would remain.]

By now, a true Forerunner ought to have found the Omniarch. The main responsibility of the Omniarch is to maintain balance and enforce The One Commandment that if broken would lead to the Second Fall Of Man where the human race would lose their Omneity. Before Christ’s reascension into heaven, he consolidated the Ten Commandments to create the One Commandment that forbids man from creating any other religion other than The New Religion.

This is the One and only commandment that all mortals must obey. Although we do have our different sects, but we all serve and believe in the one and only true God. The Omniarch must ensure that this commandment is never broken and must stop anyone that intends to break it by any means necessary lest it will pave the way for the Second Fall Of Man.

After dinner, my father went back into his study living us to do the dishes as always, and within a couple seconds, Katy also fled; the mere sight of anything house work always irritates her. Let’s just say doing chores is not her true calling.

I picked up my father’s glass of Effluxed pineapple juice from the table and when my mom wasn’t looking, I took a sip—this isn’t me just tasting my father’s juice—this is me tasting his faith; and I noticed something...

He’s losing faith.