What Irina Saw
"I want to know everything."
She said this as she looked into the hollow gossamer eyes of the alien skull, seemingly unaware of those about her. Her blue eyes sought out the non-existent ones that seemed to stare right back, and even as the room began to spin and the others began to flee, she stood fast, unwittingly claiming the "gift" before the others could have a say.
And then she saw it. Before her the years passed, but she was the same. Pictures came to her from a time beyond her time, scenes from beyond the scene where she stood. The lives of others played out; babies born growing older, the clothes of their ages changing with the times. She saw everyone one as they grew and died, but some were pushed forward to her with more fervor than the others, who seemed so humble.
At the same time, she saw the Earth and its changes. Seasons rising and falling, over and over. She saw the launch of something into space, and then she sees leaders die. New American Presidents. She watched as one is slain in his car. Asian wars, African wars, Latin wars, rising and falling, people crying out and in pain, dying and immolated. Music blared within her, the tunes and styles changing as did the styles of art and architecture, all becoming too much. Guns fired. More things launched into space, now with people inside. Someone on the moon. Fingers pointed. More men fell. Brothers killed brothers. Innocent men are shot, their brothers and sisters drowned in fire hoses and torn apart by dogs. Fields of men were on fire, with children running and skin hanging from their arms and backs.
At this point she realizes that the skeletons are becoming one being, but she is rooted to the spot. She cannot move, and cannot stop the visions. A billion screams echo in her ears. Before her eyes a wall is torn down, and the map splits before her eyes, showing the end of the war that nobody fought. There is a desert and death, and genocides of many peoples, earthquakes and the firing of people into space only to have them explode into smoke and die crashing to the earth. Gas and death rise above and bombs destroy those below. Children kill children and babies have babies. All the while the movies played and the singers sang, the artists of the day dying of self destruction, and she watched the peoples grow fat and rich as others grew thin and starved. Children screamed and ran, but they were caught up to fight their father's wars or killed ruthlessly by their father's enemies' guns.
"No more," Irina pleaded, but the knowledge didn't stop. Tornadoes howled, and hurricanes destroyed. Tidal waves rose and drowned thousands upon thousands as millions more grew sick and wasted away, their bodies their own time bomb, or watched as their flesh was eaten by invisible predators. The skies grew muddied with the filth of the populace and the animals began departing the earth one by one, leaders assassinated, towers of steel and glass tumbling and sparking new wars. Nails pierced heads and fingernails were ripped from bodies. Injections killed criminals and innocents. In the night the cities lights burned bright and in other places the children's bellies grew larger the less that they ate.
"Please, no more!" She stared into the eyes of the being before her, but the knowledge did not stop. She knew in her heart that all she saw would come to pass, but again it did not stop. It kept going, past the earthquake that toppled buildings, and the rain of fire from the heavens as the people starved because of their own rape upon the earth, the wars that killed the cities and the sickness that killed without mercy. Plumes of fire and smoke arose as the screams continued, growing in intensity, but now no one could die. The pains became her pains, and the screams her screams. The waters of the earth rose and drowned and the mountains crumbled and crushed. The sun darkened, and the children ate each other.
Irina felt herself burn. The being before her recycled the images, she could tell, as she could feel it in her head, this being of many beings.
"You cannot return now that you know," it seemed to say without saying a thing.
Irina saw herself begin to disappear, and yet reappear, somewhere and sometime else.
"You belong to us."
She screamed.
"You will all belong to us."
And then, she was simply gone.