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the prophecy has been fulfilled.

Daniel’s name came to him in a dream. He wasn’t entirely sure that was actually his name but he had heard it enough in his dreams that he took it for himself. Soon after that, he began to hear his name whispered in the rustle of leaves and from the earth, vibrating up through his feet. He felt comforted by the strange and foreign world calling out to him. It was almost as if the world knew who he was, even if he did not have an inkling himself.

Who am I? The question was permanently pinned to the front of his mind. Another question that closely followed was, could that person know who I am? Daniel was intensely curious of the people around him, desperate for clues. He gazed expectantly into the eyes of every single person he met, never giving up hope that maybe one day he would lock eyes with someone who gave a glimmer of recognition. It never happened. All he saw in the eyes of others was a blank stare and, sometimes, even fear.

That was why Daniel stood in front of The Seer that day, in the small temple off the mountainous coast, with only room for a single two seated pew in front of the altar where The Seer stood. Surely he hadn’t randomly sprouted up into this world, fully conscious in the body of a full grown man? If there were any answers to be had, The Seer was his only option. He could no longer wander aimlessly, hoping to stumble across something by chance.

When The Seer looked at Daniel and Daniel looked at The Seer, Daniel felt hopeful but like always, the disappointment did not sting but was more like a predictable dull ache. All Daniel saw was a pair of curious dark eyes peering out through the thin veil falling around The Seer’s head. It was hard to tell what exactly The Seer looked like with the veil and the dim lighting did no favours either.

Before Daniel could form a sentence in his mind, The Seer interrupted. “You are a long way from home.” Daniel’s eyes widened but was once again cut off before he could speak. “Most people come a long way to see me. From the Pearl of the Orient to Nova Britannia to the Ancient Lands. All over, they come to see me. But I have never seen someone from your land come to me.”

“What land is that?” Daniel asked excitedly. No one had ever recognized him as belonging to any sort of group. Even though he looked like every other person around the towns and villages he had travelled to, he had a distinct feeling of otherness. “How can you tell?”

The Seer threw back their head and let out a hearty laugh that filled the tiny room. Daniel’s face seared hot at the unexpected and unwelcome reaction. The Seer looked back down at Daniel, a small smirk on their face. “I am not here to answer trivia questions, my dear. I only answer questions about the future. But since it appears that you are lost, for you, I will make an exception. I will see if the future holds the answer or if the answer can be found in your dreams.” The Seer waved a silkily gloved hand. “So. Go on, my dear. Ask.”

Daniel hesitated. He knew there was a chance that The Seer was a hoax, just a talented con artist out to make a living off people’s misfortunes. However, he could not ignore the fact that The Seer had recognized his land in him. Maybe it was worth it to put his trust in The Seer.

“Please,” Daniel spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. “Can you tell me how I will find out where I came from?”

The Seer seemingly rolled their eyes but Daniel wasn’t sure if it was just the light of the candles flickering. “A part of you already knows. It is buried deep within you. It will keep coming back to where you will want to go.”

“But what am I looking for? How will I know?” Daniel nearly shouted but The Seer’s snarl kept him from doing so. He did not want to fight with someone who had no intention of interacting in good faith.

“The woman with leaves in her hair,” The Seer stepped away from the altar and turned their back on Daniel, signalling the end of the session. “Do not look for her. She will find you, she always has, and she will tell you what I will not.”

🙐🙒🙗

Daniel stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, lying awake in the lodge not too far from the temple. The room was cold for Daniel did not have enough silver to buy wood for the iron furnace. It was hard for him to fall asleep and he so desperately wanted to sleep, to dream. Instead, the chill kept him awake and The Seer’s words looped over and over in his mind. He had never spoken a word about the woman before, not to anyone, but The Seer knew.

“Do not look for her,” he whispered to himself. He squeezed his eyes shut. With a sigh he sat up and walked over to the window. He poked his head out, feeling the ocean’s salty air caress his face. The town was not yet quiet and he wasn’t sure if it ever was. A steady stream of people went in and out of the lodge, spilling into paved roads. People from all around and yet, every one stopped to stare at him.

He looked down at his own hands, long, elegant and the colour of clay, not that uncommon of a sight, he had determined from observing other travellers. He couldn’t quite crack the code of why he seemed to stand out so much. He felt he looked like the rest of them. “God,” he groaned, rubbing his eyes with both his hands. “I just want to sleep.”

“God won’t help you,” a gruff voice said. Daniel looked over to see another man leaning out of the window next to him. The man winked, his eyes twinkling under thick bushy eyebrows. His mouth also seemed to be forming a smile, from what Daniel could see, as the man’s chin was all beard. “Come over next door, I have just what you need.”

Daniel froze to which the stranger leaned out even further. “I’ve scared you, didn’t I? Don’t cha worry, let’s go down to the pub downstairs instead? I was about to offer you the same thing but sometimes liquor poured from a bartender just hits the right spot.”

Unsure how to say no, Daniel found himself sitting at a table with the man.

“What’s your name, lad?” the man asked after slamming down his first drink. He was much bigger than Daniel had originally thought, towering over Daniel, even when seated. It was a strange feeling, Daniel was used to being one of the tallest ones in a room. Clearly he was from the East.

“Ah,” Daniel gave a small smile to the smartly dressed waitress as she interrupted to place plates of a cruel looking grey gelatin in front of them. It smelled odd, like how he imagined a pile of mud slugs would smell. He turned back to the man. “It’s Daniel.”

The man wrinkled his forehead, eyebrows drawing up together. “Odd name.”

“I hear that quite a lot.”

“Well, my name’s Kika,” the man smiled, sticking out a large hand. Daniel hesitantly reached out to place his own hand in Kika’s, his hand nearly engulfed in Kika’s hand. “Egads, lad!” Kika exclaimed. “Your hands are so smooth! Like a little lady’s! Rare to see a rich fellow like you down here.”

Daniel shook his head profusely. “Oh no. I’m not rich. Didn’t you go by my room? Ice cold. No silver for fire.”

“You say that but you haven’t touched your paanton yet,” Kika said, his mouth full of paanton as he spoke. He waved a fork at Daniel. “If you aren’t one of those rich boys, where are you from then?”

“A place quite far from here,” Daniel answered, looking down at the plate in front of him. He poked at it with a fork and grimaced and how the gelatin looking substance was actually quite rock hard. What he said was the closest thing to the truth. Other than The Seer, no one had ever placed him from being anywhere known to them.

“Hm,” Kika chewed thoughtfully, the crunching of the paanton was obnoxiously loud. “Your mama must have spoiled the hell out of you. Well, if you aren’t going to eat that you might as well drink. Waiter!”

Having never drank before, at least, to Daniel’s memory, he underestimated how much liquor would affect him. The night ended, with Daniel being carried by Kika over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes up to Daniel’s room.

While Daniel was rendered immovable, Kika peeked at Daniel’s pockets and sacks. Not a single chunk of gold in sight, only enough silver for at most a couple days. Kika’s feelings of pity outweighed his disappointment and he threw a couple of his own silvers onto the table before leaving Daniel.

Unfortunately for Daniel, sleep still came to him slowly but sure enough, it came. The next time he opened his eyes he saw the all too familiar green trees hovering above him. He felt a rough hand caress his check. He blinked, eyes focusing.

“Daniel,” a voice said. The voice did not come from the trees this time. It was a clear human voice, not the rustle of leaves. Daniel sat up immediately and what he saw was, in fact, not a human.

The dryad who had been cradling Daniel’s head in her lap put a sinewy hand over her mouth. Her features moved, her appearance quickly changing from rough tree bark to the look of carefully sanded white holly wood. The vines hanging from her head turned into a head of red hair, leaves interwoven into her hair.

“Oh Daniel, they were right!” the human looking not-human exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Daniel. “I’ve been waiting for so long!”

“W-what?” Daniel stammered, grabbing the dryad by her shoulders and forcing her off him.

“Your mother was right,” she continued on, wiping tears, no, it looked like bright amber sap, away from her eyes. She began to talk quickly, a stream of words pouring out one after the other. “We’ve been waiting for centuries, Daniel. Then one day you suddenly appear on the outskirts of the forest. I tried to shake you awake but then you’d be gone again a couple hours later. No one else saw you, I thought I was hallucinating!”

“What are you saying?” Daniel scrambled up to his feet. He looked down on the dryad. His heart pounded in his ears. He had heard that voice before, the voice from the trees, from the earth. It was also not the first time he had seen the dryad’s face before. He had seen her face, more of a blurry ghostly image, every night in his dreams, without fail.

The dryad stood up with him. She was a couple inches taller than Daniel and Daniel automatically stepped backwards.

“I’m saying that you’re back home,” the dryad smiled, stepping up to clasp Daniel’s hands which had been raised up in front of him in defense. Her hands were cold but to his surprise, Daniel found himself squeezing back, like an automatic response. “Thank the gods for your mother. The prophecy has been fulfilled!”