章 27: The Sight

M wandered down the street, stepping to one side to avoid being run down by some sort of large four legged beast with three heads. As she did so she noticed a sign over a small store. "A seer?" She muttered to herself. "Well, why not?"

Thus decided, she stepped forward and entered the shop.

It was dark inside, and smelled of strange and unpleasant herbs. The room was plain, furnished only with a small table in the middle. Two chairs, one at either side, were pulled up against it. The far wall boasted a curtain, currently drawn.

"Hello? Anyone here?" M asked.

"Just a minute, be right there." A high pitched woman's voice came from behind the curtain. "Take a seat."

M briefly wondered where she would take a seat to, before realizing she was supposed to sit. She shrugged and sat down on the nearest chair just as the curtain twitched to one side.

A figure walked in. She was seemingly human, still fairly young, dressed in a long pale dress which covered her figure. Her head was devoid of hair, and eyes were covered with a black cloth. In one hand she held a long white staff.

"Sit child," she said.

"I am."

"Oh. Yes, so you are." The seer stumbled into the chair opposite, bumping her shin in the process, which produced several interesting curses. Eventually, with much groping around, she managed to sit down.

M watched impartially.

"Now child, what can I do for you?"

"Firstly, stop calling me child. I doubt you're any older than I am."

The seer's shoulders' slumped. "I'm sorry. It's just everyone expects an old seer. Why is that? I thought if I just called everyone 'child' it might set the mood a bit."

"Oh. Well." M blinked in frustration. "Look, I'm here because I don't know anything about myself. Can you help me?"

The seer nodded and produced a pack of cards from somewhere. She placed them on the table face down, spreading them out. "Turn one over."

M did so.

"Death!" exclaimed the seer dramatically.

"No it isn't."

"It isn't? Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. It's some kind of…" M leaned over and tried to make out the picture. "Some kind of devil I think."

"A devil? Are you certain it isn't death?"

"Positive."

"But it's always death!"

"Nope, sorry."

The seer scowled and bent over the cards, fiddling with her blindfold as she did so.

"Hey!" exclaimed M. "Are you peeking? You're not blind!"

"What? Of course I am. Blind as a bat. Totally without vision. Sightless oh yes."

"No you're not! I can see you peeking!"

"Oh fiddlesticks." The seer pulled at her covering, revealing a perfectly good pair of eyes beneath. "Sorry about that. It's just if the seer isn't old, then apparently they must be blind. It's an image thing you know?"

M pulled a face. "Are you a real seer or not? I just want a reading, or whatever you do."

"Of course I'm real! Gifted with the Sight from birth." She looked at the card M had turned over. "Well well, it is a devil. How odd."

"Why should that be odd?"

The seer didn't answer, but flipped over a card. It was death. She flipped over another. Death. Another and another. All death.

"Oh, I see," said M.

"Give me your hand," said the seer. "Enough of the show stuff."

M complied, and the mystic closed her eyes as she held it in her own. For a minute there was silence.

M was just about to say something when the woman spoke.

"I see something. It's shrouded in mist, as if far back in time. I see a village. A young girl running. It's you. You're a child, perhaps nine or ten. Your mother is calling you. M?" The seer frowned. "Em? Emerald! Your name is Emerald."

"Oh. M. Of course."

"Wait! There's more!"

The room dimmed suddenly, and a cold wind seemed to sweep through it, chilling the occupants.

"A figure. A dark figure. Powerful. Dangerous. It… It's taking you. Your mother… your mother is trying to stop it. It…It… Oh!" The seer gasped, and her eyes flew open.

M looked into them, and saw an image. A young woman, weeping, pleading before a shadowy outline. A child crying. Movement. A bright red splash of blood. The screams of the child, louder now, and a laugh. A laugh of pure evil.

"It killed your mother. Took you." The image changed. Fogged. For a moment there was nothing, then the fog turned red and the seer screamed, pulling backwards, away from M, falling to the floor.

Emerald stood in alarm, running around the table. The seer looked at her, blood running from her eyes. "Leave here! Never return! Your future is pre-ordained! Leave here now. GO!"

Emerald stumbled back, turned, ran out of the door into the street. She moved quickly away from the seer's shop, before leaning against a wall, panting hard. What was that about?

She looked up just as a large figure turned a corner in front of her. "Oh shit!"

"Gut see you!" the voice boomed. The giant started to run towards her, scattering a group of goblins in the process.

"Bugger!" Emerald ran.