Expand all - Collapse all

Previous Index Next

Author's Notes

# Seers

Story
The chamber was dim, lit by a dozen small flames trembling in shallow bowls. The seer sat cross-legged before them, eyes glazed and unblinking. The air smelled of copper and smoke. Around her, the court stood silent, afraid to breathe.
Her voice came low at first, then stronger, carrying words that did not belong to her.
"They will ride beneath a sun of ash. The river will run backward. The king’s blood will drown the crown."
The guards shifted uneasily. The king’s hand tightened on the armrest.
The flames flared blue. The seer’s body arched, her mouth opening in a sound that was not a scream but something older, a single note that trembled through the stone. Then, as suddenly, she fell still.
When the last flame died, she spoke again, her voice small, hollow. "I saw more, Majesty, but it was not meant for your ears."
She rose unsteadily and left the hall. In her chamber, she vomited black water into a bowl, trembling, whispering to no one, "Why do they always show me the end?"

Why do they always show the end?

Story
The prophet sat alone in the temple court as dawn broke. The first ray of sunlight touched her face, and she screamed.
The world vanished. Light swallowed everything. Cities burned like candles in a gale, mountains split, oceans boiled to steam. Faces turned upward, countless and pale, and in each she saw her own eyes staring back.
Her scream became a wordless wail that shook the air. The priests rushed toward her, but before they reached her, the light was gone.
She sat motionless, smoke curling from her hair, tears of blood tracing down her cheeks.
“It’s not coming,” she whispered. “It’s already here.”
Then she began to laugh, softly, like a child who had finally understood the joke of the gods.

Prophetic aftermath

## The Sight Beyond

Seers are those cursed or blessed with sight beyond the mortal veil. They glimpse what others cannot, fragments of the past, futures that may come, and truths hidden in shadow. Their gift is not uniform. Some see through dreams, others through smoke, fire, or reflected light. A few hear the future whispered in the wind or the beating of their own hearts.

Each culture shapes the practice differently: the oracle who breathes hallucinogenic fumes in a temple cave, the tribal dream-reader tracing symbols in sand, the blood seer who drips crimson into still water. The ritual may differ, but the essence is the same, seeing without asking, knowing without wanting.

## The Unbidden Vision

A seer cannot choose what they see. Their rituals open the way, but what comes through is its own will. The visions arrive without warning or mercy, and they rarely show peace. What seers witness are endings, deaths, disasters, betrayals, the ruin of cities or the fall of kings.

Sometimes, they see their own fates as well. A few spend their lives trying to prevent what they saw. Others wait in resignation, knowing all paths lead toward the same image burned into their minds.

Though most seers perform rituals to open their sight, the visions do not always wait for permission. They strike without warning, mid-sentence, mid-dream, or mid-prayer, tearing through the mind like lightning through still air. Witnesses speak of sudden heat filling the room, of a faint hum beneath the skin, of candles flaring blue though no wind stirs.

Some seers bleed from the eyes or nose when the visions seize them. Others freeze, staring into nothing, their voices speaking in tones not their own. A few emit light from their skin, faint as moon-glow, enough to leave shadows of themselves on nearby walls. When the vision passes, they collapse as though emptied of strength, unaware of what they said or did. Those who survive such moments describe them not as revelation, but intrusion, something using their body to look at the world.

For prophets, the most tormented of their kind, the visions never stop. They come like storms, wrenching the body, burning the mind. To resist is agony, to accept is worse. Their words are the voice of something else, god, fate, or madness, and no mortal can tell which.

## The Weight of Knowing

While seers risk no explosions, curses, or demonic bargains, their burden is far heavier. The mind is not meant to hold too much truth. Many go blind, deaf, or mute after years of sight. Others drift into madness, their minds trapped between what is and what might be.

Some turn their visions into symbols, painting them on walls, weaving them into tapestries, or burying them in riddles no one can solve. But the images never fade. The gift of sight cannot be unlearned.

Those who live long enough to see their final vision rarely speak again. There is nothing left to learn.

## The Place of the Seer

Despite their torment, seers are revered. Kings, chieftains, and generals seek their counsel. Cities build temples for them, and their words are written into law. In a world of uncertainty, their foresight is priceless. Then again, an unpopular vision might turn the respect into hate.

Yet even as they are honored, they are feared. None can lie to a seer, and none can predict what they will reveal. Those who listen too closely to their prophecies often shape the very doom they hoped to avoid. Every seer knows this, and carries the guilt of truths spoken too soon.

## Theories and Doubts

Scholars debate the source of their sight. Some say it is a divine gift, the voice of higher powers speaking through mortal vessels. Others claim seers perceive ripples in the fabric of time, reading echoes of what will be as easily as others read shadows.

There are darker suggestions too, that seers see not the future, but possible futures, and that every vision creates what it reveals. To see something is to make it real. If this is true, then prophecy is not warning but cause, and the seer’s curse is that every revelation is also an act of creation.

## Possible Secrets

### The Visions Feed on Fear

Some scholars whisper that visions are not mere glimpses of fate but entities themselves, hungry fragments of time that feed on the seer’s terror. The more afraid a seer becomes, the clearer the visions grow, as if fear sharpens their edge. In some cases, the visions begin to linger, whispering from the corners of waking life, demanding to be seen again.

### The Eye Behind the Eye

A few seers claim that when they look into a vision, something looks back. They describe a second presence, a watcher behind the veil, examining them as they examine the future. Some go blind soon after, their eyes clouded with a pale film that moves like smoke. Those who keep their sight say they sometimes see that same gaze reflected in mirrors or pools of water.

### The Prophecy That Binds

Prophecies are not always spoken. Some remain unvoiced, trapped within the seer’s mind. But each vision, even unspoken, tugs at reality. It wants to happen. The longer a seer keeps a vision secret, the more the world bends to make it real. The most powerful seers dare not remain silent for long, they are forced to speak, even knowing their words may doom those who hear them.

### The Circle of Eyes

Hidden among temples and courts is a secret order of seers who believe that by combining their visions they can see the pattern of fate itself. They meet in darkness, each drinking from a bowl of water shared by the others, letting their sight merge. But the pattern they glimpse is too vast, and some never return from it, eyes open, seeing everything, saying nothing.

### The Echo of the Dead

In rare cases, a seer who dies with an unfulfilled prophecy becomes trapped between life and death, endlessly reliving their final vision. Their voices are sometimes heard in places heavy with fate, battlefields, altars, empty thrones, repeating the same words forever. These echoes can still answer questions, but only if asked the exact question that matches their lost vision.

### The Thread of Return

There are rumors that every vision costs a piece of the seer’s life, drawn away into the moment they behold. Some believe this is why so many seers die young. Yet a few have been seen again centuries later, unchanged, claiming they have finally reached the time they once foresaw, that they had only stepped ahead, waiting for the world to catch up.

### The God That Dreams

Prophets who cannot turn their visions off sometimes speak of an immense presence dreaming through them, glimpsing the world from within their minds. They call it the Dreaming God, and its will is not one of morality or purpose, only curiosity. The more it dreams through mortal eyes, the more real it becomes, as though prophecy itself is its method of birth.

## Adventure Hooks

### The Silent Oracle

An ancient oracle who served three generations of kings has gone silent. Her eyes remain open, glowing faintly, but she will not speak or move. The court fears she has seen something too terrible to name. The adventurers are asked to journey into the sacred caves below her temple to find what vision struck her dumb, and what might still be waiting there.

### The Glass Tears

A wandering seer is found dead on the roadside, her eyes turned to crystal. Each tear she shed has hardened into translucent stones that whisper faintly when held. The local ruler hires the adventurers to bring these stones to his court for study, but those who listen too long begin to see flickering images of their own deaths.

### The Burning Mirror

A traveling fair boasts a mirror said to show one’s true fate. When several visitors vanish after gazing into it, the adventurers are hired to find the trick behind the spectacle. The mirror, however, is no trick, it belonged to a seer long ago, and it reflects not the future, but the moment before destiny collapses.

### The Prophet’s War

Two rival prophets claim opposing visions of an upcoming war, one foresees victory, the other ruin. Their followers have begun to clash in the streets, each certain they are enacting divine will. The adventurers must uncover the truth, but both prophecies might be right, and preventing one could guarantee the other.

### The Child of Dreams

A newborn speaks in riddles and verses far beyond mortal understanding. The town midwife swears she saw stars reflected in the child’s eyes. A nearby temple demands the baby be taken to them "for safety." The adventurers are asked to escort the family, but the infant’s visions grow stronger with each night’s sleep, and something unseen listens when it speaks.

### The Red Veil

A seer famed for her accuracy suddenly begins making false predictions, harmless at first, then disastrous. Crops fail, bridges collapse, kings act on bad omens. When the adventurers investigate, they find her terrified, insisting that something has stolen her sight and is speaking through her mouth instead.

### The Tower of Sand

In the heart of a desert, a tower of sand rises and falls with each sunrise. Locals say it is shaped by the dreams of a seer buried beneath it. When the adventurers arrive, the sand begins to whisper their names, promising answers to questions they have not yet asked.

### The Seer’s Debt

A dying ruler summons the adventurers to find a seer who saved his life decades ago. He owes her a promise, and she has returned to collect. The payment, however, is not gold or blood, but a truth the seer once saw in his eyes, a truth that could end his reign.

Previous Index Next