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Rated: ASR · Short Story · Emotional · #1606292
An oracle's prediction causes itself to become true.
There was once a country called Adami. In this land, the people followed a simple philosophy: never allow a man to be significantly better off than another. The people realized, of course, that there was no way that they could force each individual to respect and be kind to each other in an equal manner, yet they still believed that it was possible to control wealth and legal power. This was achieved by choosing each person's lot in life at birth. A small group of people claimed that they were 'oracles', with the capability to see the future. Whenever a child was born, its parents would bring it to the local oracle, who would inform the parents of their child's future. For a while, this worked well. However, on one otherwise uneventful day, an oracle predicted that the child brought to it would grow up to be a murderer. This created a national uproar. Many said that the child should be killed before it can kill. Others said that no child should be murdered out of the people's paranoia (this belief was particularly strong among those who believed the oracles to be liars). Eventually, a consensus was reached. The child, along with any criminally born after it, would be kept under police surveillance until the crime is comitted.
A decent amount of years after this event, when the system was well established, a child was born whose future, as given by the oracles, was to be a tyrant. As this child, who was dubbed 'Tyrant', grew up, he was treated like others born into a life of crime. In other words, he was ostracized by his peers. The only ones who would show any form of kindness to the boy were other 'crime-babies', as they had come to be called. His two greatest friends had been predicted to be a thief and an assassin. They all hated what had happened to their lives due to the oracles' words, and planned to bring change to the system as they grew older. The change they brought was the type that they hadn't expected, although it was exactly what the others did.
The events that would eventually ruin Adami began when a group of children began dangling their parents' valuables in front of the 'thief's' face as a way of making fun of him. As punishment for the oracles predictions, the 'thief' had lived in a state that other countries would call poverty. He became envious of the shiny ornaments that the other children carried, until it became so bad that he, just for the feel of holding one, stole. Thus, he became the Thief. He was sentenced to death for his crime, though anyone else would have simply been sent to prison. The Adam(Adami's political leader) himself came to the execution. As the Thief was hung, a common punishment in Adami, the Adam gave a speech about the 'crime-babies'. As he gave his speech, the 'assassin' watched in anger. As the oration went on, his animosity grew. Within seconds of the speech's conclusion, he picked up a sharp rock, and flew in a rage towards the podium. The Adam soon found a sharp rock piercing his neck. As the leader fell to the ground, dead, the boy he realized that he had just killed a man of high position. Thus, he became the Assassin.
Five years ago, the Adam was assassinated by Tyrant's best friend, in response to the slaughter of his other best friend. The country was torn apart by that action. During the years of civil war that followed, Tyrant was able to gain power over the people of Adami. The oracles were slaughtered like pigs. Their followers were forced into servitude. The new leader ruled with an iron fist. Some may say that the oracles predicted correctly, but they have to realize that these three's actions were caused by those very predictions. The oppression given to Tyrant as a child led him to be the oppressor. He now punished harshly, and rewarded little. Thus, he became the Tyrant.



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