The Librarians: Season Three

Chapter Four

The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

So we were just having a great time at a diner when the lights go out and everything stops, like everything people, time! It was trippy. Then of course this reaper guy comes out of no where and walks toward Eve who was now standing up. He taps the table with his curved knife and a prophecy box appears along with an hourglass.

And now we were all talk to Jenkins about the whole situation.

"I don't get it, Jenkins. Who'd want me dead?" Eve asks and we all give her a look of annoyance.

"Really?" I say. "Who doesn't want you dead?"

"How about the agents of DOSA?" Ezekiel adds.

"How about a crazy Egyptian god named Apep?" Jacobs adds.

"Fine! Then can we reverse the summoning?" Eve asks.

"No. The Reaper cannot be unsummoned. He will only leave this plane of existence once he has his kill." Jenkins explains.

"Who guards the Guardian?" Cass asks.

"What is a prophecy cube and why does the Reaper have one?" Jacob asks.

"A prophecy cube has a vision of the future that is, to use a modern parlance, downloaded into a cube of prophecy glass." I recite. "Looking at the patterns on this one, I would say it was forged by the Oracle of Delphi."

"You mean, like, Perseus?" Jacob asks.

"The very same," Jenkins says.

"When Perseus was a baby, his grandfather, King Acrisius of Argos, tried to murder him." I start to explain. "The Oracle of Delphi forged a prophecy cube, saying that Perseus would try to kill him so his grandfather tried to kill him before he had the chance." Jacob brings over a book and hands it to Cassandra.

"King Acrisius' prophecy cube, the same patterns." Jenkins says and holds the cube close to the book.

"Yeah, and the king cast Perseus and his mother out to sea in a wooden chest, they were rescued by fishermen, but Perseus grew up hating his grandfather because of what he had done." I start and cross my arms. "And when he was old enough, Perseus returned to Argos and killed the king. The moral of the story being, when the king saw the prophecy, it became self-fulfilling. Trying to defeat it only made it come true."

"What does any of this have to do with me?" Eve asks.

"Well, I strongly suspect that this cube contains a vision of your death." Jenkins says.

"Well than I need to see it," Eve says and grabs for the cube, but Jenkins pulls back.

"Didn't you just hear the story, the king? If you see your future, you could be creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Any actions you take to avoid it may actually make it come true." Jenkins says.

"I'd rather have a heads-up than be blindsided." Eve says and Jenkins thinks over it for a second before handing it to Eve.

"Well, hold it to your forehead and ask it to show you its truth." He says and she does so.

She gasps and turns to us with a frightened expression.

"I saw my death... here, in the Library." She says clearly afraid.

"No, no. Here, Library, are you sure?" Jenkins asks.

"So as long as she's not in the Library it can't kill her, according to the rules of the prophecy. What are we doing? We gotta get her out of here!" Cassandra shouts.

"No, you do not. Stay right here. It is the one safe place." We all give Jenkins a look. "The Reaper cannot get into the Library, it won't let him!"