Short stories and vignettes

Marenth, The Seer

They had been climbing for hours before finally reaching the peak. Alyster pulled himself up, and stood looking out over the vista before him.  He took a long stretch as he watched a red ponytail peek up over the ledge, a hand accompanying it. Not long after that a leg flopped up too. Celeste rolled over onto the ledge and looked up at him before she giggled. She laid there a moment before she sat up, her hands reached out to him in a silent request to help her up. Obliging, Alyster took her hands and with a strong grip pulled her up, but it had been too much, she was small and didn't weigh much. They wobbled together in an awkward dance of trying to keep from falling off the ledge.

    He breathed in, gaining a steady footing. Her smell was almost overwhelming as he pulled away, helping her stand upright. She smiled at him, though with every passing moment Alyster was further and further away from where they stood at this place in time. Her scent lingered as his surroundings turned to a stark white.

“Celeste…” He whispered.

    He reached out into the nothingness in the hopes that he'd find her. Looking up Alyster saw what looked like thatching made of sticks and moss, and as he looked down once again, the white nothing was gone and he could almost see the smoke swirling around him as he once again found himself in the Seer’s hovel. It wasn't just sights, it was sounds and smells, he choked slightly on the smoky, overripe smell of incense and what was probably rotting food. The blind Marenth laid sprawled near the center of the room, a quiet gurgle in the back of her throat as she writhed in the grip of an opium high, mumbling words of enchantment and beckoning. He remembered this, coming here to receive her message, what would be his mission to help save the kingdom.

    Choking back vomit he moved closer to the Seer, her stench beginning to mix with the already overpowering smell of the incense and rotting vegetable matter. He wasn’t aware that she had noticed his arrival, and jumped a little when she pointed suddenly to the great white orb that hung silently at the center of the room.

“Touch…” she croaked.

    Alyster shuddered at her voice, fear creeping into the back of his mind as he looked down at the old woman, half naked and covered in self inflicted scars. Slowly, he gathered his strength to continue in his task. He reached out, his fingers straining to go further as he was afraid to take another step in.

    It was like lightning, the room went dark as he panicked. He wanted to run, but found he could not move. Bile surged in his throat as he stared wide-eyed in horror at the inky blackness of the scene. It made him afraid as he struggled against his paralysis.

    He blinked as a picture appeared before him. A girl lay silently in her bed, clinging to a dusty purple sheet. Her red hair smoldered like a dying fire in the moonlight as she murmured softly. As he breathed in he sighed. A soft and almost a quiet smell swirled subtly around him, daisies or baby’s breath, a white flower he thought. She was perfect, an angel? He didn’t know, but he knew what his task was. Get the girl.

“Alyster?”

He blinked as the image faded away and he saw her standing there before him.

“Hello.”

He smiled.