NOVEL WEB The Seer's Keep
I must have taken an eternity just observing my new environment as it was really mind blowing. I mean, it's not every day you find yourself inside a house made out of a tree. Tree houses might have come close but this was more like a 'house tree' – if that even makes any sense.
Once I had followed the mysterious figure inside, the door behind me had locked itself and somehow vanished into the walls of the oak tree's large trunk. That wasn't even the strangest thing. The place had appeared so small from outside, apart from the tree. I could see doors leading to multiple rooms while inside.
The entire place was illuminated by some kind of dim glowing lanterns positioned at different points high up against the walls. They were suspended in the air, with nothing holding them in place. They looked like large pumpkins, except they weren't carved out like Jack-o-Lanterns. Tiny balls of flame could be seen burning inside of them, casting an orange hue all over the room; allowing me to spot a bunch of other very weird stuff.
Strange ornaments lined the walls of the hut, shimmering in the light. They were also self-suspended. My eyes continued to scan the room, taking in even more of the strange objects which was when something had caught my attention as my curiosity heightened.
Set across one end of the room – just below a hollowed out opening that served as the only window in the entire place – stood a small table on top of which was an odd structure. It looked like a large glass bowl that was filled with water. I walked over to the bowl and looked inside.
I wasn't sure what exactly I was looking at. It resembled some kind of fish, no bigger than my hand. The creature had smooth sleek skin, with structures like fins projecting out from all over its body. Its face was hard to make out as I could not spot any eyes. I noticed the creature swim towards my direction. It lifted its head out of the water, past the bowl's brim. I continued to watch in fascination, wondering whatever it was doing.
I found myself reaching out with my left arm and extending a finger towards the creature. Its upper body hovered above the surface, regarding me with no discernible expression which only made it the more fascinating.
The tip of my finger found itself touching the creature's sleek moist skin and it seemed to like it after it started to gently wrap itself around my finger, coiling its way up to my wrist.
I started getting this weird mesmerizing feeling, like all of my senses were relaxing and there was nothing else I felt like doing. My whole body felt like it was being suspended just like the lanterns. It was such a strong feeling that all I ever wanted to do was to let go and. . .
"AAAH!" I yelped. All of my senses returned after I realized what the creature had been about to do to me.
Coiled around my wrist, the once majestic and mysterious creature had turned into a spine-covered thing. Its tiny head had frighteningly been able to part into a really wide mouth whose length was almost equal to that of my arm. Multiple sets of teeth lined the inside of its mouth and it would have gone on to plunge them into my skin had it not been for my host.
I watched in disbelief as the figure grabbed at the creature and yanked it free off my arm. The figure was no longer concealed under its long hooded cloaked, allowing me for the first time to catch a better look at what they looked like.
She had long thick overgrown braids that were as dark and grey as her cloak as well as her eyes. Her dark-skinned face was beaten and riddled with tiny black spots and had thin lines circling her eyes, leading me to believe that she was old; though her actions seemed to show quite the opposite.
I watched her casually hold the dangerous creature in her hand and even started talking to it. "What did I say about treating our guests with respect?"
The creature twisted and wriggled in her hand, threatening to rip off her fingers. She did something to it and the creature calmed down after which she tossed it back into its bowl where I watched it morph back into its former less scary looking fish-like form.
"What the hell is that thing?" I asked, amid trying to control my heightened breathing while feeling my left hand.
"That's a helworm, that is," said the old lady.
"A what. . .?"
"Helworm," she added with a smile, "got bit by this one while running an errand over at the Dark Forest. They are really peaceful creatures actually. . .until you mess with their habitat and they turn into nasty little buggers!"
"You don't say. . ." I swallowed, watching the creature do a spiral inside its bowl.
"They've been known to rip off the heads of fully grown men," the old lady went on and I had to swallow some more as well as take a couple of steps away from the bowl. "The trick is to tickle them just right on their underside – works like a charm it does!"
I looked past the bowl and had to fight off a shuddering feeling by directing my eyes through the hollow opening where I spotted Jon the horse trotting playfully outside. At least I knew he wouldn't try to bite my head off.
My thoughts were cut short, following the tiny moaning sounds of the strange woman I had met at the shore. I had almost forgotten all about her as I rushed over to where she lay on her back.
She was muttering words I could not understand, with her eyes closed. Her body had gotten so pale, almost ghost-like and her bizarre blue gown was no longer giving off that ethereal sapphire glow.
The old lady observed her. "Must have taken a nasty hit to her poor tummy."
"Can you help her?" I asked desperately.
"Well, the wound is unlike anything I've ever seen," the old lady said, "obviously not inflicted by an ordinary weapon, at least not man-made."
I had no idea what she was talking about but could only watch on and hope for some kind of miracle.
"Interesting. . ." the old lady muttered.
"What? What?"
"She has been drained of energy in trying to heal herself and slowing the bleeding, otherwise she would have been dead already."
"W-water. . .wa. . ." the woman moaned, managing a whisper this time.
"I tried giving her water but it was too salty."
"Well, get me a pint," said the old lady.
"What?"
"A pint, over there. By the helworm! Come on hurry up!"
I rushed past the bowl with the helworm, careful not to get anywhere near the creature again until I found a large wooden barrel filled with water. There was a cup floating in it which I used to scoop up the water with.
"Here's the c—I mean pint," I handed over the water to the old lady.
I watched her lower the pint over the woman's mouth, allowing small drops of water to fall over her lips. The drops instantly evaporated the moment they touched her lips.
"That's exactly what happened at the shore!" I said, "are you sure this is fresh water?"
" 'Course it is!" snapped the lady, "collected it from the springs of Atalasia meself!"
"Then why isn't it working?" I cried, leaning closer towards the woman until my shoulder came into contact with her side. This caused the arrow symbol on my arm to start glowing again.
"Well I'll be damned!" the old lady gasped, her gray eyes looking directly down at my glowing arm. "Even now that I see you here in the flesh, I am still finding it a little hard to take in."
I shook my head, not understanding what the old lady was talking about when I felt someone grab at my right arm. I turned to find the woman gently wrap her fingers around my own. She whispered some more. "Water. . .wat. . .water. . ."
". . .The ways of water and life. . ." the old lady muttered some more gibberish under her breath, her eyes wide with excitement, "it is all coming true. . ."
"What? What's happening?" I asked, entirely perplexed. The old lady, still with the pint full of water in her hands, narrowed her eyes, shifting them from the unconscious woman to me.
She then settled her eyes on my fingers intertwined with that of the woman. She observed how the arrow symbol glowed on my arm.
"I wonder. . ." she muttered, bringing the pint closer to my arm until it was suspended over the glowing symbol.
Without another word, I watched the lady tip the pint, letting all of the water splash down against my arm until the side of my shirt was drenched as well as part of the woman's gown.
Other than me getting my clothes wet, nothing happened. Not at first at least. I was about to say something to the old lady who kept her eyes on my arm the entire time when it finally happened.
All the water that had been spilled started to regather itself. I watched multiple droplets flow out of my shirt, out of the woman's gown until they had all merged together into a watery sphere that hovered above my glowing arm.
The ball of water descended onto my arm where it started to dissolve and shrink. I watched the droplets seep into the arrow symbol, causing it to glow even brighter until the entire sphere was gone. The symbol let out some kind of fluid from its pointed end, similar to what had happened when I had been holding the pitchfork, only this time, no burning lava was coming out. It was more like the water had been turned into some kind of luminous fluid. The fluid was nearly the same color as the woman's gown. I watched it flow out of my own arm and over to hers, with our fingers acting like a bridge.
The fluid flowed through the woman's arm, up her shoulder, down her chest, all the way to her torso where it drained into her wound. The wound then began to act up. I watched in utter amazement. It had been a huge gash across her torso, like she had been slashed by a blade of some kind. The gash was quickly closing itself up, morphing back into skin until not a single trace was left to reveal if there ever had been any kind of injury to begin with.
I gasped in awe, watching on as even more bizarre events continued to unfold. I could literally feel the warmth return in the woman's body and her grip on my hand had become firmer too. Her face was still pale but not like it had been before. Her skin had a strange bluish tinge, almost like a glow to it, matching with her gown whose sapphire glow had returned. She now looked like she had life within her as I observed her features.
I was finally able to fully take into account the strange symbol that stood over her forehead as it was also glowing just as bright as the symbol on my arm, accentuating a certain impression; two vertical lines that curved outwards and one horizontal line cutting across them in the middle.
The glowing intensified up to a point that it had overwhelmed the room's lighting from the lanterns. This went on for a while and both the old lady and me had to cover our eyes until the glowing had dissipated. Even the symbol on my arm had stopped glowing.
The woman finally opened her eyes – those big blue eyes that I had seen back at the cave not so long ago. She was looking directly at me before slowly propping herself into a sitting position.
I swallowed, suddenly getting nervous.
"You're awake," I said to her, subtly withdrawing my hand after realizing that our fingers were still wrapped around each other.
She smiled and I swear I had caught her eyes and clothes glowing as she did so but only for a slight second.
"W-where am I?" she spoke.
"The Seer's Keep," the old lady spoke this time, then adding with a little bow, "at your service, Zodiac."
"That name," I cut in, "you called her that earlier."
"Well, it wasn't specified who I was going to find exactly," said the old lady. She scratched her chin with the tip of her staff. "But if I were to make a wild guess I'd say she ought to be. . .what was it again. . .?"
"I am. . ." the woman stood up, letting her gown sweep the ground with its sapphire glow. "I am Pisces."
I watched her, still amazed as she stared into space, looking at nothing in particular.
"Hold up," I raised a finger, "you mean you're Pisces as in the Pisces like the Zodiac sign Pisces?"
"That's what I just said," her accent was American, unlike every other person's I had met so far.
"That's what she just said," added the old lady.
"I'm not sure I understand what you mean by sign however." the woman spoke again, turning to look at me with those eyes that made me so uneasy for no exact reason.
"You know, the Zodiac," I said, "Sagittarius, Leo—"
"You know Sage?" she let out an almost unnoticeable gasp.
"Umm. . .who is—"
She had walked over to me and grabbed at my arm, holding it up so she could have a better look at the symbol. "After all this time, I've finally found you and you bear the mark just like he said you would."
I had to gently pull away after noticing she was getting way too interested in my arm almost a little more than the helworm had.
"Sorry," she quickly added upon catching my reaction, "didn't mean to spook you."
"Alright," I raised both of my hands this time, "can somebody please explain to me what the hell is going on? I mean, I'm glad that you're okay but now I'm standing inside a freaking tree with a literal Zodiac and a—what's your name again?"
The old lady smiled at me. "Where are my manners? Most people know me as the Seer, the Witch, the Hag, or Ethel."
"I think I'll call you Ethel." I wanted to add that she kinda looked like Whoopi Goldberg but I had a feeling she wouldn't know who that was.
"It is just as it had said it would unfold," Ethel started, her tone shifting into a more solemn one.
"What had said what?" I asked, getting all the more confused.
"That I would find the one who would free Abinor of its demons and the one who would herald the path that would lead to that."
"Huh. . .?" I shifted my gaze from Ethel to the Zodiac. The latter seemed to be taking in what the Seer was saying with more calmness than I was.
"You still don't see it, do you?" the Zodiac turned to me.
"That's because he knows not of what we speak," Ethel added, "not yet, at least."
"What? Speak of what?"
Ethel sighed, as if dreading to say something she had been keeping to herself for a while before finally uttering firmly, "The prophecy."