I leave my room. I walked to the top floor I go without my cloak the temperature was starting to rise and my powers weren't dwindling like the others were and I know that they'd get suspicious of me, The Clerics were a hyper-vigilant people, anything that wasn't right was a possible danger, it was already hard trying to accept when my Mark was different than the others, an upside down tear instead of a diamond. I walk through up the steps. To the chambers of the Seers, there were no torches here the only thing that let me see was when the clouds parted and let a stronger light stream through the window, the clouds rarely did so "you can see, girl, you just don't have your eyes open, like the rest of the other Clerics" one of them said, he voice was smooth, not raspy, unlike the stories I read about Oracles, I hear that they were pretentious and it seemed that was true. "I need a Card Reading" I pull out my coin purse I paid the price, I sit down in front of her. "hold out your hand, girl" I do as she says, I feel the point of a blade pierce my skin, I feel the familiar sting of it slicing across my palm and my skin parting to reveal a red sea, that I could only see when the light streamed in through the window. I stretched my arm towards what I assumed was her face, she dripped my blood into her eyes, she splayed the cards across the table, her hands hovered over the cards, she lifted one card and turned it over, light streamed in and revealed my past to me: The Dreamer, the readings are usually meant to be metaphorical but I was surprised at how literal it was, The Goddess would send me Dreams, I usually forget my dreams, the ones from her were always memorable, vivid and somehow seemed more real than reality itself.
I remember walking through the dark, I saw a red light that looked like a sliced through the darkness, it was dark and pale, I walked through it, I reached the source of the light, it grew, I heard the creak of the doors opening, after the nearly blinding light flooded my vision, when my eyes adjusted, I saw a figure sitting on a throne, it called out to me, before the image could focus I heard the whisper of a name that was the thing that I always forgot, the thing that nagged at my mind. It stayed with me. That's why I read, to get closer to figuring out what that name was. The woman lifted up the card and as if on cue, the light revealed the card, The Crossroads, I felt weird when looking at the cards, like they were telling me what to do, instead of telling what's going to happen, I guess Crossroads meant that I had a choice to make, I knew what it was, The Goddess or my brother, my duty or my family. I stood at a Crossroads, I had to choose a path to walk down. The next card was revealed Ascension the hand reached upwards to the light, I didn't know how to interpret it, maybe it was newly found power, maybe it was a sign that I was going to become the new Archaima. She placed another card on top of it, Rebirth, dread swelled in my stomach, was my fate sealed? I wasn't going to let that happen. She placed other cards, next to it Realisation, an open red eye, Pandora's Hand, a hand reaching out with darkness coiling around her arm, The Storm, a flood that consumed everything except for one lonely tower, The Wasteland and The Sapling, a desert of fire sand where no life grew except for a sapling. They all meant destruction, death, cataclysm, something was coming. I get up "thank you"
"remember, open your eyes girl" the light revealed her face to me, her hair was an uncommon black, her eyes were glazed, her face had colour to it. I walked down the stairs into the dark and torches. I get back into my chambers.
I feel a tremor, another attack, I look at outside my window and out onto the horizon, the Kyverni ship, my escape. I grab the chicken, I grab my dagger and slit its throat, I rub the blood on the wall making my own door "entralla" it doesn't work, it's only a few hours before the ship arrives, I couldn't have this opportunity go to waste I didn't whether or not I was going to get another chance "entralla" this should've been enough to the distance I wanted to travel, I could almost hear the trickle of sand falling into the bottom of the hourglass, time was running out. "entralla" I keep saying, I decide to grab the dagger and slice my palm I rub it in the outline of the door I made on the wall, "entralla!" I say hoping that something would open, I keep repeating to no avail. More and more sand was falling, I wouldn't get to turn it over, I keep chanting not caring if people hear me or not. I start crying the lump in my throat starting to suffocating me, I let out a scream. The blood was gone it was replaced with the image of something else, the place where the lights died, The Black Forest. I look at it and without really thinking I run through it, I turn round to see that the Citadel was gone. I escape, the certain danger of being chained to a Goddess and chained here, now, I was faced with the uncertain danger of the Black Forest, I heard legends about the creatures, the connection to the Ash God, if Daxfoss was here then it couldn't be that dangerous but I kept a tight grip on my dagger. "Daxfoss!!" I call out for my brother, but he doesn't seem to answer me.