The Vaticinator

by Namita Singh

my back against the head rest, “Well, technically, no.”

  Neal frowns, “Then?”

  I sigh, dragging the duvet to cover me partially. My sleep has definitely disappeared for now, “Mental therians are…sort of a variety amongst the therians.”

  “You guys have varieties.” He mutters, absentmindedly moving onto my study desk.

  “Well, yes. Mainly three that I know of. They have resulted from the various evolutionary steps of our species.”

  There is a lengthy pause.

  “…Are you…from a different planet or something?” He asks.

  I roll my eyes. “Are you from a different planet? You’re not exactly normal either.” I drawl.

  Neal snorts, “What do you know? I am perfectly normal.” He says defensively.

  “You know,” I sigh, “If you’re not going to tell us, doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t know. And,” I carry on before he can interrupt, “As of now, my family seems more knowledgeable about you than your own self.”

  “I am normal.” Neal stresses, “I just…” he trails off, dragging out the chair next to my study desk and sitting on it.

  “Just what? Can just see the future?” I drawl.

  Neal coldly glares at me, “I am still confused how you guys can guess that.” He mumbles, then starts louder, “What I do can be quite pragmatically explained with the help of spiritualand modern science.”

  “So can be our existence.”

  Neal falters, taken aback by my declaration. “How so?” he asks.

  “Well. How did humans evolve? By variations and mutations in the other primate species. We evolved by mutations amongst humans.”

  “….”

  “Don’t look at me like that. I am not an alien.”

  “You’re saying that…humans have evolved into another…species…by random mutation. Mutations? I don’t know why this isn’t a significant news. Wouldn’t this be publicized-”

  “Neal,” I interrupt him, “Our species didn’t spontaneously evolve on its own. And we were shunned by the pure humans in the past.”

  “-Oh so, slow evolution. And ostracized or not, it still can’t be ignored-”

  “We were created.” I say.

  “-uh, what?”

  “The mutations were induced in us. Those led to formation of those perfect genes on our chromosomes that are expressed as our characteristics.” I explain.

  “Genes to turn into an animal?” Neal grimaces as if choosing an ‘animal’ to shift into is totally preposterous.

  “Either you can comment or I can speak my story.” I snap.

  Neal rolls his eyes, “Don’t be bitchy…the day hasn’t exactly been normal for me.”

  “You’re clearly curious to know about therians, if I ignore your jibes. Why didn’t you just ask my dad during dinner?” I pause, “On second thought, its good you didn’t ask much details from him. He seemed exasperated by your stubbornness as it is. He wouldn’t tolerate your snide remarks as well as I am tolerating at the moment.” I smile at him in sarcasm.

  “Isn’t that just wonderful of you?” he smiles back with double the sarcasm. “So,” he drawls, “You were telling me about who experimented on you guys.”

  “Uh…we were not experimented upon.”

  “Oh, whatever. You were saying who induced those mutations.”

  I grimace, “I was just telling you that they were induced, not by whom.”

  “Well, it’d lead to it, right?”

  I sigh. “You know…” I begin, “therianthropy…mental therianthropy to be exact has been a character of numerous humans before the formation of our species.”

  “Therianthropy…? Is that where from the word ‘therians’ come from?”

  “Yes. It’s the…” I wave my right hand in the air absentmindedly, “thinking of yourself as an animal. Humans have originated from a species of an animal, so…some of us tended to be inclined towards those animalistic instincts as a human. Technically, humans are animals just with the bonus of civility and intelligence. Yet, some humans inclined more towards the primary animalistic instincts as they felt comfortable in it. That behavioral distinction brought forth the humans who tended to be more…animal like than human.”

  “And those developed the mutations?”

  “Not by themselves, no.” I say, “I can’t be very specific as I am also speaking from the knowledge of historic books that I have read. Plus it’s been quite a long time since I read those books. But from what I remember, such humans were in significant number in those times. I think the number grew to noticeable amounts in fifteenth century BC. The normal humans obviously regarded these ‘animalistic’ humans to be either insane or the form of a devil-”

  “No shit.”

  “-…I didn’t need that contribution.” I tell Neal, abruptly breaking my speech. He has the decency to look abashed. “Those ‘animalistic’ humans…” I continue, “they were the mental therians. Who mentally thought of themselves as animals.”

  “That’s not normal.” Neal says, frowning, “People were not wrong in calling them insane.”

  “Neal, they were humans who were animalistic in certain nature but perfectly capable of being civil with other pure humans. They felt, what modern anthropologists now say, ‘species dysphoria’, meaning they weren’t comfortable as a human; not comfortable in their own species. Therefore they tended to act like certain animals as who they felt most comfortable as. That didn’t mean that they were unaware of themselves as humans. They knew they were humans.Theyjust knew that they felt more like themselves when they reined themselves to their animalistic instincts. But they were perfectly harmless to other humans. They were ‘subtle’ mental therians. Sure, there were certain therians who irrevocably thought of themselves as animals. Like Rome,” I say, pointing my fingers upwards, “He is a pure mental therian with no human trait in himself despite looking very much human.”

  “That’s disturbing.” Neal mumbles.

  “You’ll be surprised to know how many such humans were there at that time. The pure humans weren’t so open minded about it. Imagine trying to be what feels most natural and being ostracized by the pure human community for it. So, these ‘subtle’ mental therians who could think and act both as animals and civil humans formed communities throughout the world. The ones in America were known to be the instigators of the compilation of such communities worldwide. They started worshiping the Triple Goddess-”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Neal says, slumping against the chair, “You almost had me with your story and now you just had to destroy it by incorporating some mumbo jumbo magic.”

  “It’s not mumbo jumbo magic.” I defend, “It’s….well, a sort of practical magic.”

  “The basis of which can’t be explained by modern science.” Neal says, triumphant.

  “There are infinite things that science can’t explain. Like God. Now would you let me complete?”

  Neal waves a hand, “Please. I am interested nonetheless.”

  “You have never heard of the Triple Goddess?”

  “I have heard of Jesus alone.” Neal smiles.

  “Well, that’s a start.” I say, “You at least believe in God. The triple goddess is much older than Jesus. Have you heard of the Wicca witches?”

  “Triple goddess…witches…the story is making me lose interest fast.” Neal smirks.

  “Just answer the question.” I say dryly.

  “Uh…I think I have heard the term somewhere.”

  “The thirteen witches who were exiled by the humans? Rings a bell?”

  “No.”

  I sigh, “Alright. Uh, so, the Triple Goddess was…or is,” I say offhandedly, “an omnipotent being just like other Gods.”

  “I am a monotheist.” Neal supplies.

  I sigh, “She is a goddess.” I say. “I believe in her as much as I believe in Jesus.”

  Neal rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, “Well, I am not going to comment on that.”

  “I’l
l continue my story regardless.” I say,“She had a number of followers during the fifteenth century BC. The ‘subtle’ mental therians sought her to reprieve them of the stress they were facing. They worshipped her because they sought cure for their ‘half animal, half human’ state of mind. They prayed for a gift that may allow them to embrace their animalistic side without hassles. After infinite worshipping the goddess sent one of her acolytes. Until then, no one knew that the Wicca witches worshiped the Tripe Goddess.”

  “The acolyte was a witch.” Neal says, grasping the facts.

  “Yeah…the therians were not pleased. I mean, the therians were amongst those humans who had been part of the revolution that drove the witches away. But the cult of the thirteen managed to persuade the therians that they are indeed the servants of the Triple Goddess. The witches…they are demonstrated to be very wicked in the books. Their magic solely relies on their ability to extract and project energies from the bodies around them, animate or not.”

  “That’s technical for a witch.” Neal says sarcastically.

  I smirk, “You should read one of the books in my father’s library. The magic of the witches was purely scientific. But their ‘scientific’ abilities were enough specific to cause only a certain sort of mutations at certain positions in the chromosomes of our body. Their ‘magic’ was enough advanced to ensure no degeneration of the DNA occurred. Also, that the DNA retains the innate ability to regenerate, as is its sole purpose.”

  “I believe…your witches didn’t require a laboratory?” Neal says, sarcastic.

  “If they would have, they wouldn’t be called ‘witches’, I suppose.”

  “Ah.” Neal