Adamagika: The Spirit Within - 16. Ch 16: The Seer's Prophecy

CHAPTER 16: The Seer’s Prophecy

It was the Ice Queen.

“You’re the seer?” I asked, thoroughly confused.

“Is that so hard to believe, Adam?” she said in a voice so calm it was unnatural to her. She almost seemed like a real woman.

“You can’t be,” I stuttered. This half-dressed owner of a highly questionable inn could not possibly be the legendary Seer. “You’re… just not…”

The malicious smile on her face subsided into something closer to amusement. “Not quite what you expected?” she asked as though she had asked this question many, many times before.

“No,” I said firmly. For a moment, I was worried that I had said something offensive.

“No worries,” she replied as she turned away and walked towards the crystals in the middle of the room. “I get that a lot.”

“I can imagine,” I added helpfully.

“Oh? You think so?” she asked as though studying me.

“Yes, I mean… well… we’ve all heard about the Seer… I mean you. And, it’s just… you know. You’re moonlighting as an… uhh… innkeeper?” I was quite sure that I wasn’t making any sense.

She smiled almost wickedly. “I’m not exactly the person you think I am. In fact, I am not a person at all. This innkeeper, as you call her, is indeed a person but she is not here with us now. This form I’ve taken is merely an image I pulled from your mind to give you some sense of familiarity and comfort. Clearly though, I’ve only accomplished half of that.”

“You mean you’re not her? The Ice Queen?” I asked somewhat confused.

“No. I simply thought it would be amusing to use this image since she seems to… strike you quite unusually and I can see why. I haven’t yet taken a form like this in the hundreds of years I have been here. Besides there were only a handful of people I could choose from. You seem thoroughly deprived of exposure to the other gender.”

“So what do you really look like?”

“That depends entirely on the one I am speaking to,” she said. At this point, she walked towards the massive crystal formation and held her hand inches over the shiny blue surface. “You see, I do not have a body. I live, so to speak, in these crystals you see before you. My energy gives them life and I flow through them in this cavern protected deep within this mountain. Through me, the world you see here becomes possible.”

I looked around at the cavern studying the different blue crystals that shimmered on nearly every surface. I then realized that they resonated with energy and seemed to generate some kind of aura, a presence of sorts. They were living rocks. I was standing inside one massive living rock.

I looked back towards the manifestation of the Seer. She seemed to be studying my face curiously. “If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly are you? I mean, I’ve never heard of living rocks before. How is all this possible?” I waved my hand outwards gesturing towards the surrounding rocks.

She raised one eyebrow at me and somehow I knew I just asked a stupid question. “I think you, of all people should know that, Adam.”

My brows creased in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I’m going to tell you a secret, Adam,” she said as she stood a little farther away from the crystal formation in the center. “It is a secret I have told no living soul in your world. The world is not yet ready to know this, Adam. But you,” she said as she pointed a cheaply manicured finger at me, “on the other hand, are ready. Would you like to know this secret, Adam?”

This for some reason intrigued me. “Sure,” I said as though it was no big deal.

She smiled a victorious smile as though she had been waiting for me to say that. For some reason, that made me uncomfortable.

“I am what your people would call a spirit. Don’t look so shocked, Adam,” she said probably in response the horrified face I must have just displayed. “You yourself said just a few months ago that not all spirits are evil.”

“You know about that?”

“Of course, dear boy. I know everything. Well, almost everything anyway,” she said as she gave a calculating look at me. “I am not one of those evil spirits as you call them. I am, for the most part, benevolent.” She paused before adding, “much like the spirit in you.”

“A spirit? In me?”

“Yes, Adam, there is a spirit in you. Here is where the secret comes in. You see, there is a spirit in all things magical. Most mages don’t know it because you refuse to understand or accept the truth. And the truth is that all magic came from us not any act of evolution on your part. It is through us, the spirits of the Otherworld, that magic becomes possible. In every mage, there is a spirit within and it is the spirit’s strength that determines how powerful a mage can be. A spirit’s essence can pass on to the next generation, forming a new spirit, and morphing in ways that can either make the possessed more powerful or less powerful.

“Most spirits are docile, existing in their hosts almost passively allowing the host to draw from the spirit’s energies at any moment’s desires. But, there are other spirits, very powerful spirits that communicate with their hosts sometimes to the point of full control. These kinds of spirits usually have an agenda or a particular reason for which they act. And that makes you, Adam, a curious specimen because one of those spirits exists in you.”

This revelation bothered me. Somehow, the thought of something inside me that could possibly take control did not sit well with me. “What does it want?”

She smiled her malicious smile again. “All spirits want the same thing, Adam. Whether as a remote desire or as an extreme obsession, all spirit want the same thing and that is freedom.”

A disturbing thought occurred to me at that point. “Even you?”

She looked at me with a look that clearly said I asked something I shouldn’t have. Chills crawled up my spine. “Yes, Adam,” she said softly, “even me.” With a louder voice she continued. “But we’re not here to talk about me.” As she said this, she whipped about towards the crystals. The red feathers on her head dangled precariously. “We’re here to talk about you, Adam. I think you understand enough now to ask the right questions. Speak your mind.”

For whatever reason, any questions I had earlier seemed to have trickled out of me. “I don’t know what to ask.”

“Ask me anything.”

I thought it over for awhile and wondered what things I wanted to know about my future. For some reason the first thing that came to mind was Jacob and so I asked her about him.

“You want to know what future lies ahead for your friend? Well, I’m afraid that even if I could answer you, I wouldn’t, simply because that is not how it works. The future of others is for them to know. I can tell you though that his future is as clouded as yours but there is no doubt that your destinies are intertwined. You are bonded in a way unlike any other mages have ever been in this world. How and why, I don’t know. But I do know that how this world will be shaped the next few decades depends entirely on how you two live up to your roles in its future.

“Bonded how? What roles? And, what do you mean our future is clouded?”

She caressed the crystals in front of her almost seductively. The crystals grew brighter with each touch. “Usually, I can see the future quite clearly especially for those who live less than significant lives. You two, however, are a mystery to me. I do know that your actions and decisions in the immediate future will have a profound effect on how things will turn out. As for the bond, do not worry Adam, you will find out soon enough.”

I knew somehow that that was as much information I would get out of her regarding that. Perhaps, I had had too much practice through conversations with Magister Aenhol. However, it reminded me of another question that was brewing in my head that I was intending to ask. “Should I become an Aerophalanx?”

She smiled an almost pleased smile. “That, I am certain, is in your future.”

“What if I don’t want to be one?”

She raised an eyebrow at me and for a moment her three foot red feathers seemed to shimmer as though in heat. “Are you going to play that game, Adam? Because I said so, you’re not going to do it?”

I must admit, it had crossed my mind.

“Because if you do,” she said as the malice seemed to etch itself unnaturally on her face again, “there will be consequences.”

“What consequences?” I asked nervously.

“Why don’t you try and find out?” she said with a voice filled with deadly calm. I decided right then that I wouldn’t.

“What else can you tell me about my future?” I asked in an attempt to change the subject.

She paused for a moment before asking me to come closer. I walked towards her and stood beside her and the crystals. “Put your right hand on the stone,” she said.

I did as I was told and as soon as my skin touched the glowing crystal surface, the images in them changed and became much clearer. I could see myself in them. Some of the scenes seemed familiar while the others were strange and unknown. I felt like an observer watching my life in the transparent stones. Most of them were too blurred to make out but others were as clear as though they were happening inside the stones at that moment.

A few minutes passed as I watched uncomprehendingly the images that lasted no more than a few seconds. They didn’t make any sense really. Those that were clear enough were too short and did not give enough information on what they were about. I was just about to ask her the point of what I was doing when I noticed the image encased in the largest crystal in the middle of the room.

Unlike the others in the smaller stones that lasted only seconds, this one was a continuous image and one I clearly recognized.

It was Arantiva and it was under attack.

Just as I was taking in the image of my city’s attackers, the crystals around me glowed brightly and I had to shield my eyes. As soon as the lights dimmed back to normal, the images were all gone to be replaced by a soft blue light that seemed to hum across the cavern.

“That is what I see in your future, Adam,” the Seer said behind me. At some point she must have walked several meters away towards another crystal formation. Her back was to me. Her voice almost sounded sad when she spoke. “It is too cloudy to understand most of it as you have just witnessed but I am certain of one thing, your city is in danger and you apparently will play a significant role in the battle that is to come.”

“What battle? When is this battle going to happen?” I asked urgently.

“Something is protecting that knowledge from me, something that must be powerful.”

“So, what do I have to do? How do I stop it?”

“You can’t stop it, Adam,” she said as she faced me “there is no stopping it. You’re city will be attacked. The only question is whether or not it survives.”

This was completely baffling me. This was exactly what Jacob and I were talking about yesterday. I now have knowledge of something terrible that will happen and I’m being told that there is nothing I can do to stop it. How was I supposed to stop something inevitable?

“The question is not how, Adam, but why,” she continued.

This snapped me out of my thoughts. “What do you mean?”

“What you told your friend Jacob was correct. You can’t stop the future from happening but you can know enough to understand why it’s happening not necessarily to cope with it but perhaps to alter it even in the slightest bit.”

“But you just said I can’t stop the future from happening. Now you’re talking about altering it.”

She smiled an almost sweet smile. “Some things you can’t change, Adam. Others you are meant to change.” She raised her eyes upward as though a revelation had just occurred to her. “Then again, if you were meant to change things then you wouldn’t be changing anything now, would you?”

“So, why?” I asked unsure where this was headed. “Why are they, whoever they are, going to attack my city?”

“Your city, as you fondly call it now, has a secret Adam, one it has successfully kept from mages for over two hundred years. Only the most involved and trusted of your kind know of it.”

“What secret is that?”

“Arantiva was not built to be a city. It was built to be a fortress.” She walked several meters away from me and began waving her manicured hand towards the crystals around her. Blurry images seem to pass through them. “In the War against the Demons over two centuries ago, there was one very powerful demon that lived in that time. He was known to your kind as Warlord Shekkek.”

As she spoke, the images around her changed and it became clear that they reflected whatever she said.

“He was a powerful demon. An animal corrupted and morphed by a very powerful spirit.”

“He was one of you?” I asked in surprise and possibly some resentment even if I did not live during that time.

“I told you, all magic stems from us and even demons are creatures of magic. He was the most powerful spirit of that time able to bend entire armies to his will. No spirit is supposed to be that powerful but he broke some laws that spirits must follow.”

“Laws? Spirits have laws?” I must admit, there was a limit to how much information I could possibly believe.

“Oh yes, Adam, we have existed long before most life forms in this world and even in other worlds. Spirits are by nature immortal. When our host dies, we move on into another physical host though it may take time for us to bond with our new hosts. Sometimes it could take decades or even centuries as we are able to shine through the descendants of our original hosts. We can live forever if we are careful. However, we have discovered through… the practice of some spirits that even our nature has its limits. There are certain boundaries to what we can and cannot do. If we go beyond those barriers, we forfeit our immortality. We become permanently attached to an object in the material world. When that object dies, the spirit dies with it.

“The spirit that was tied to this Demon Lord broke one of our sacred laws. In his pursuit of power, he forged a deadly weapon that not only sliced through the body but also the spirit. He used part of his essence to create this weapon which gave it its ability to rip through our kind. It was an unforgivable act and doing what he did corrupted his spirit nature making it vulnerable to death.”

The crystals around us glowed in a menacing red as though it was being touched by evil. “When he would kill another with that weapon, the victim’s soul and spirit, if it had one, would become entombed in the weapon further strengthening himself. He was an aberration among our kind. He killed the most powerful magical creatures in order to strengthen his weapon rendering him almost immortal in the physical realm.

“It wasn’t until nine of your kind sacrificed themselves that he was stopped.” As she said this, the crystals around us seem to calm down and the faces of several humans were being reflected in them. “Nine very powerful spirits coalesced in nine of your mages. They gave their lives that day to destroy the Demon Lord’s body. They had succeeded and the evil spirit that had grown powerful was forever destroyed.”

A blinding explosion of light came from the crystals around us before it finally settled again to the calm blue glow which I understood was its normal state.

“What does this have to do with what’s going to happen to my city?” I asked more confused now by the seemingly unnecessary information.

She straightened and almost seemed to grow before me. The feathers on her head seemed to come alive. “The weapon he forged was never destroyed.”

It was then that it all clicked in my head. “The weapon is in the city.”

She smiled as though amused but said nothing.

“Whoever it is that’s attacking us, they want to get this weapon.”

“Possibly,” she responded.

“Will they succeed?”

She laughed and I realized it was the first time I heard the Ice Queen laugh. Laughing seemed a foreign activity to her. As quickly as she had laughed though, she had suddenly grown serious and her eyes seemed to glow a bright blue. They seemed to be piercing through me. “That depends entirely on you.”

“I don’t suppose you can tell me how I am going to do that?”

“No,” she said with a knowing smile.

I nodded. “Is there anything else I need to know?” I asked for the sake of asking but somehow I felt like I didn’t really want to know. Unfortunately, she said yes.

“There is one more thing you should know, Adam. Death is following you.”

I stiffened. “What do you mean? Like a Spirit of Death?”

She smiled. “Death is not a spirit that follows you around. Those are all old wives tales. Death is merely the end of mortal life. When I say that death is following you, I mean that you or someone you are close to will die. My visions suggest that it will be some time soon.”

“Someone’s going to die?”

“Yes, I have no doubt that one person involved in your life is going to die very soon.”

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know,” she said indifferently.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” I said as my voice started rising. Images of people I knew flashed in my mind. “You can’t just say someone’s going to die and not tell me who or why or when?”

“I can’t tell you because I don’t know,” she said in an almost mocking tone.

“No!” I screamed. “I’m not going to accept that. You’re a damn Seer and you’re supposed to know these things!”

For the briefest moment, light shimmered across the cavern and I felt a prickling sensation across my skin. It suddenly felt quite hot. I looked at the Seer and even at a substantial distance away she clearly looked angry. Her face was marked in lines that suggested tension and her lips were curled in a frown. I felt fear spread through me.

“I just want to know who,” I said softly.

“You’re a smart boy, Adam,” she said with a voice that clearly suggested it was not a compliment. “There are only a few people you are close to. If it’s not you who will die then it is only among a handful of people you know.”

She took a slow step towards me and as she did, the feathers on her head shortened until there was nothing left, her legs seemed to grow smaller but more muscular, her dress stretched to expensive looking clothes, her hair turned into a silky black that stretched to her shoulders, and her facial featured turned young and boyish. She looked exactly like Javier.

“Perhaps it is the friend you can’t have,” he said.

He took three steps closer and as he was moving, his features rapidly changed again, he grew a few inches taller and his skin seemed to age at once. His clothes stretched further into teacher’s robes and his hands turned frail looking. His hair turned into a mixture of grey and white and a beard stretched itself on his face. His eyes changed to grey almost silver lobes and his voice deepened to that of an adult’s.

“Perhaps it is the teacher you think of as a father,” Magister Aenhol said.

My teacher took a few steps closer and as he did, his features started changing like Javier’s did earlier. His grey hair turned short and became dirty blonde. His face narrowed and become pointy. His lips stretched to a familiar beautiful smile. His body became thin and his clothes changed to reflect what he normally wore in the Taverna.

“Perhaps it is the first boy you’ve ever been attracted to,” he said smoothly in that deep lovable voice.

Moving forward again, Phillip’s body grew wider and gained more mass. His hair turned into a cleaner blonde shade and lengthened slightly. His face lost the perpetual smile on it and turned into something closer to a sneer. His eyes became a metallic grey shade and his posture suggested nothing but pride. His clothes grew longer into the familiar clothes he wore in the Academy.

“Perhaps it is the enemy you can’t understand,” Marcus said roughly.

Three steps closer and the body before me changed again this time to one I did not recognize. It grew even more muscle in all the right places which highlighted the best parts of the male body. His lean body bulged in the tight mage clothes he was wearing. A small friendly smile made its way to his lips. His hair changed into a light brown shade and seemed windswept. His skin was white with a light tan and his eyes reflected the same light chocolate brown that could be used to describe his hair. He was gloriously handsome and seemed oddly familiar.

“Perhaps it is someone you haven’t met,” the strange boy said in a deep voice.

He took the last few steps that remained between us and as he did, his features changed once more. He became smaller but still muscular. The clothes on his chest seemed to recede completely until there was nothing left. His pants turned into leather which served as the only clothing on his body. His hair became a deep dark black and his brown eyes turned to the very captivating pale blue I’ve come to know so well. His hair was matted and frayed. It did nothing though to suppress the sudden feeling that grew in my chest. I felt my breath catch in my throat.

Jacob was standing right in front of me as I had seen him that first day in the forest. His face was inches from my own.

“Or perhaps it’s me,” he whispered.

He kissed me. He leaned forward and I felt his soft lips touch mine. I could not suppress the urge to match the progress of his lips with my own. Our lips moistened on the contact and the world seemed to fade before me. The only thought that crossed my mind was the realization that I was finally kissing Jacob.

And he wasn’t even there.

He pulled away from me and took a step back. We looked into each other eyes. I felt myself getting lost in his.

“Who dies is up to you now,” he said.

He turned around and I saw large red feathers swinging towards my face from the back of his head. I shielded my eyes to protect them from the impact.

They never came.

When I lowered my hands, the Seer was gone.