Diary of Zaaz Bloodfortune:
I’ve heard it said that the life of a seer is that of confusion, vision, and frustration. How confused one must be upon learning of their gift. To see small visions of a future that may come to be. How frustrating it must be when you tell your visions to others just to have them ignored. My family name, Bloodfortune, comes from the visions that plague and guide us from time to time. My mother, Zana, had this gift and it is what caused her to leave the great coven of the South long ago. It set her footsteps on the path that led to my birth and childhood in the far north. The prophesy she had that guided us there was one she never doubted for her mother and her mothers mother down through the ages knew the power of this. So, when the seer Jarilne sent a note that said she had a prophesy I knew not to trifle with fate.
Climbing the long stairs up to her tower I came to her room and knocked upon the door. Calling me in I opened the door and was greeted by the sight of her lair. Lair it was for that was all one could call it. Upon every surface there was some…. Something. Books, skulls, scrolls, and brick-r-brac lay everywhere. Smoke hung heavy in the air, touched with the scent of something sweet. Jarline bade me to close the door and sit with her at a small table. At first we took tea together as we traded questions. Her to learn more of my homeland and me to learn more of her world. We told stories that had us laughing together like old friends. Alien she might be to me, but the beauty of her words and the light of her eyes attracted me greatly. Suddenly, intuition hit me, “You aren’t as old as you would have those here believe.”
Shaking her head to deny it, she saw the sureness in my eyes and finally held her hands up in surrender. Lowering her hands, she chanted a few words and her features seemed to melt and flow. Her skin became taunt and young, her milky eye cleared. In moments she seemed to lose fifty years of age. “The threefold aspect of the crone. Very helpful to establish the authority of age. I’ve learned that ones words as a seer are taken with more belief, the more gravitas you carry. It doesn’t matter that the visions aren’t mine, they are gifts from the gods. If the words come from a child, they are taken as if from a child. And you are not as old as you look Zaaz or at least you don’t yet carry well the age you seem to be.”
For a while I talked on my experiences in the pit, the fight for my sanity and the age I had gained. The anguish of losing my youth, coupled with my realization that the same spell she used could regain me that youth at any time. The smoke was befuddling my thoughts and the voices in my head murmured constantly, but I knew I had to find out what she had in mind for me. “So, you mentioned a vision in your note to me, what must the gods tell to me.”
“First, a drink to the gods to honor what they tell us,” and she poured us both a deep draught.
Holding up my cup I toasted, “To gods and worlds and visions of truth.” I downed it lustily and leaned forward to hear what she had to say. I leaned forward and almost fell out of my chair. The smoke and drink combining to make me quite woozy.
“Zaaz, your companions will face great difficulty in the coming battle and death will stalk your companions. However, you must not fight with them or you will die. You must stay here and while away the day while they fight. It is the only choice.”
Anger rose in me and I tried to stand and leave. My legs were as supple leather and would not hold me. Why must fortune always take a hand in my steps. Anger was quickly replaced with giggles at my plight. Angry I was that the seer had done this to me, but humor in the sensations rolling over me. My intuition was telling me she had seen a true vision and anger wouldn’t change the course of events. Coming to my side, she pulled me to my feet. Calling upon my magic, I cast a cure to clear my head. Up close I could smell the strange muskiness of her as I held onto her for balance. Regardless of her intention to hold me here by clouding my mind, I knew she only had my safety at heart and a warning from the gods. Unable to stop myself I bent forward and gave her a kiss. Unhooking first her dress, then mine we stepped over to the bed and lay down. In the distance I could hear a bell ringing, but my mind could only hunger for what it held close. My companions would fight and perhaps even die, but I would live.
