There were five squad leaders that make up the Last Dogs. Each unit being assigned for specialized tasks or filling in a formation in the army. Halbin the Stoke. Orosi the foreign swordsman, Uria the sky knight, Lamb of the herd and Kordt. Out of all the squads, Halbin and Kordt were the unique ones. Halbin had the smallest squad with only six of them, including himself. The others were easy to pick out from the crowd, according to Chelsea, they have a more prominent role in this campaign. Orosi takes care of the infantry, while Uria takes on the skies with her wyrm squad and Lamb would be in charge with any mounted units not seen in the sky. Halbin's squad 'borrows' their soldiers on deployment to increase their numbers. What interests him the most was Kordt. Among the squad leaders, Chelsea had no information on him besides that he had a cock.
He could only gander a few guesses. Perhaps he was a spy for Meindurg. A hired assassin or a thief. Maybe another soldier that stands above everyone in the camp. Regardless, they have never sparked any interest in him in the six moons he has been with the mercenary company. By all accounts, his only interest was getting more coin and his talents were more suited to a life on the road.
For now, he would be interested in taking up more work. They might be in a long campaign to wage war against some nobleman but work was never done and he knew where to get more. In the past few days, a bunch of merchants have been coming to camp lately at the west of the Rathlin gates before leaving off to their next trade. Some offer material needs, like whetstone and even some weapons, others offer services or entertainment from a bard or a jester. Some
Allendis saw a bunch of wagons of many sizes, some were as big as a carriage with a stall set up behind it to showcase some goods, namely artifacts, pendants, daggers and the like. Some were actually carriages that contained a large window beside its wooden door, extending it was a horse tied at the driver's seat. Some had set up huge gold and brown tents that were bigger than his own or any soldier here. Those types of merchants most likely offer services outside of battle, something that requires a much larger operation than stocking up.
"Come here! I got a one of a kind artifact from the Sea Era!"
"Want something to keep you alive? Cloves of Hinbran will help you live longer!"
"I got a nice discount for all of you! A two for one deal with this armor from a Folsung prince!"
Allendis saw a few mercenaries who were looking at the selection of items that each merchant offered. He could even see that a few servants were also interested but not at some artifact or ingredient but with food or new clothing.
"Hey you," Allendis turned the voice that called out to him. "Would you like to see your future?"
It was a tall woman dressed elegantly with a black garb that showed her shoulders. Her dark hair covered one half of her face while the other was for everyone to see. She had some makeup on with her lips and eyelids being the same shade. Whoever she is, she is definitely trying to fit some sort of theme.
"Are you a Seer?"
The woman smiled. "Of course I am handsome, and I can tell that you need one."
Allendis was a bit skeptical. Seers rarely travel, and even more rarely offer their services to strangers such as himself. Those who can see the future amidst the Chaos have a place at any given civilization. Kingdoms, monarchies, empires and even towns and villages all need the Seer's guidance. Emperor Kovstan II placed a greater emphasis on the Seer's role in Eddenic politics after Seer Raine foresaw the Everwinter and its cataclysmic danger. Because of her, Belhal was able to protect itself from the calamity and Emperor Kovstan II managed to repel the Everwinter before it hit the continent.
He did know much after the story but it was that event that paved the way for Seers to be designated to the populace if they have the potential to see the future. It was not a gift to be handed out in exchange for coin.
"How much?" Allendis asked.
The woman was silent for a moment. "Normally it would cost three silvers but I'll make it one silver coin for you. Pretty good deal, don't you think?"
He would be lying if he said he wasn't interested. He always wondered how Seers look into the future. Was there some sort of ritual? Looking into the future seems more like an Aberration than anything. It would be a good chance to see it for himself. He had coin to spare.
"One silver coin is all you get."
The woman's smile never left her face. She gestured to him to come and he followed her through the ever increasing crowd. They didn't walk far. Right beside the makeshift merchant stand in a wagon was a black tent. It was much smaller than the others that were set up. She guided him to the tent, and it was not what he expected. He expected a lavish decor, old grimoires, maybe even a crystal ball in the middle of the table in a dark room. Instead he got only one of those right. The room was dark, but it wasn't unbearably dark. There was a messy bed at the right of the tent, a table in the middle and two chairs on the opposite side. On the left was an armless couch that looked a bit worn down with a black notebook. Overall, it was more normal than he expected.
"Take a seat, Allendis."
He did not like that at all. His guard was now up, tensed by her words.
"I never told you my name."
"Your eyes say everything."
Allendis watched as she sat down at one of the chairs. "Your name is irrelevant. Your future will determine your worth, nothing else."
Allendis gazed at her gold eyes and her slight smile. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it but her eyes seemed to glow under the lackluster lighting the tent provided.
He took a seat at the other side of the table. "How come a Seer like you is traveling? Shouldn't you be at some royal court?"
"I was, once." The woman said, her smile never leaving. "Now fate has led me here. Funny how that works."
"What happened?"
Her eyes darted at him, meeting his gaze. Her eyes seem more dangerous and her smile kept up some sort of mask, tying it up with beautiful features that any man would die for. He wanted to ask about the topic further but he decided against it. He was still curious about what she can gleam off his future.
"People do not like it when death follows them."
Allendis reached out to his small pouch that was on his belt and picked out a silver coin, showing it to the Seer.
"Let's make this worth my time." Allendis said before placing the coin on the table, enough for her to reach for it.
"I thought you'd ask for my services first."
"If you hustle me, I'll just kill you. No hard feelings."
The Seer chuckled. "So violent. Let's get started then. Would you mind putting out your hand? Remove the glove for me."
He obliged to her request. He removed the glove on his right hand. She stood up and grabbed the notebook on the armless couch. She opened it and then ripped out a blank page on the notebook.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Allendis asked.
Not dropping anything on her features she replied with a bit of venom in her voice. "Yes. Now please take hold of the paper."
He did as he told her. The paper was a bit rough, but he could feel something from it. Something unsettling crawling through the hairs of his arm. She put her hand just above the piece of paper, hovering over it. It felt like it was vibrating gently on his hand.
"The future is uncertain to all. Death is the only certainty. It is the future that no one can avoid, neither a king nor someone everlasting can escape what has been written. What you seek is not the certainty of your future but the ever branching choices of the path you will take. Would you still like to know what your path holds?"
Certainty of death. Perhaps it was true. No one has avoided it. Adults or children, they were susceptible to death. Was there even a point to learn about the future? No matter how someone lived their life, it was an inevitable outcome. Did Emperor Kovstan II prevent the Everwinter for the sake of his people or because he was afraid that certainty would come for him? Regardless of what the emperor's reason was, he must have found the value of living. Even if Allendis did not care much for his own life in the battlefield, he would still like to see what he would do before he died.
"Yes." Allendis replied.
He felt the paper change from dry and a bit rough to something damped. He looked at the paper on his hand and the edges started being soaked in a dark liquid, resembling something he was familiar with.
"Blood?" Allendis asked the Seer.
"Keep your eyes on the page."
The paper that was slowly being soaked by the dark liquid formed a small image in the middle of the page. It looked like it was an eagle.
"I will see what this image is. I suggest you relax, this will only take a second for you."
The Seer's hand touched the paper and Allendis did not move an inch. He saw her fingers tracing the eagle while her eyes were closed. What was she doing? Was this the methods of the Seers?
"Are you going to let me in on the fun?"
She did not respond. The image on the paper now changes, morphing into something he could not recognize. It looked awfully like a small person. Allendis tried to reach out with his other hand before the Seer harshly slapped away it.
"Refrain from touching the paper."
He obliged to her words but he still wondered why she would not allow him to touch the paper with his other hand. Was it some sort of protection? Was it some sort of rule? He wanted to know more.
The image changed again. This time it morphed into what appears to be a dragon with four wings And four limbs. Unlike the other two images, this one was more detailed. A real dragon. Perhaps an Ancient Dragon. One of the most fearsome beasts in the world. A being that can recreate and destroy what the gods have done. Unlike the draconids like wyrms and wyverns, these dragons are even more intelligent than humans. It was said that before Eddan was populated by the humans of the Golden Goddess and the tidelings of the Akashik Night, the Ancient Dragons and its people, the dragonkin, ruled over the skies and reshaped the laws of Eddan. He wasn't even sure if he was capable of fathoming the power of these beings.
The Seer was also incapable of it. She recoiled her hand from the paper and held it close like she just got burned. Her smile was gone for a brief moment before it appeared again, still keeping up her face.
"That was…insightful." She let out a small laugh. A laugh that sounded nervous but she hid that well too. "Would you like to see it?"
"That's what I paid for. But before that, what did you see? And what are the images that appeared in the paper?"
"Visions." She replied with almost a dazed voice. "Visions of the near and distant future. The paper is a medium to look into what the threads of fate see at this current moment."
"Current moment?" Allendis asked. "So it's not guaranteed?" Why the hell did he even take her up on her offer then?
"Do you want to find out? The future is merely a route to the inevitable certainty."
He wanted to know. Not out of a desire to change it. He was curious. The look on the Seer's face told him that she knew he wanted to know.
"Place your other hand on the paper. I will guide you through it. Through what I saw."
He did as he was told and placed his hand on the paper, touching the soaked felt paper. Almost started tracing it before he felt the Seer's hand over his.
"Enjoy the show." She said quietly.
Flashes of light came to his view. Running by so fast that he could only take a glimpse of what it was. A luscious green field, a corpse hanging by a tree, two moons and a tower of sorts.
It went by so fast that it took him a second to even realize that the flashes stopped. He was now standing in the middle of the battlefield. He could feel the blood trailing to his feet, hear the swords clashing, black powder obscuring his vision, and smell the flames that he was all too familiar with.
There were bodies that laid lifeless and were made out of some dark void that moved like condensed smoke. They had no features, just the outline of their bodies making them look human. They weren't that of soldiers or at least, not most of them based on what they wore. They had clothes that resembled that of what commoners wear, a simple white and worn-down shirt, trousers that look even more torn than the shirt and some wore white dresses that go down the ankles. Some were wearing armour that resembled those of the mercenaries, armour that looked like it had seen better days. The thing that made them stand out was swords and spears, axes that stuck at their bodies, and hammers that were leaking out this black substance instead of blood pierced those armoured bodies.
"You don't seem perturbed by the sight." She said, appearing right beside him.
"You get used to it."
"Which means you haven't yet."
Allendis remained silent. He did not like to dwell on the bloodshed too much. If he did, he might not like the answer. He looked around some more to see if there was something else to gleam off of this vision. He scratched the back of his neck but instead feeling something cold, he felt something warm that stuck to him even after he separated his hand from his neck. He looked down only to see his hand was dark, covered up to his forearms. It wasn't there before. It did not feel good and this layer of smoke that oozed up to his nose accompanied the dark substance, catching a whiff of this disgusting smell.
"Is…is this blood?" He asked.
The Seer nodded slowly. "Yes. The tides of war will change and the only thing that waits for you at the end of this is blood. Not yours, but everyone."
"So what? I go ballistic at everyone? People I don't even know?"
"Perhaps that would be the case–"
In an instant, the view changed, and the smell of blood was gone entirely. A pool of sorts replaced it. The water was glowing and water kept on pouring into the pool he was standing on. Looking around, he saw the rounded shape as the water overflowed the pool around his shins. In the middle of the water there was a white eagle dead in the water. Its feathers plucked out of its body and there seems to be a hole on the eagle's body, but oddly enough, there was no blood.
"What's this?" Allendis asked. His gaze still on the dead eagle.
"Seeing the future does not always correlate what we literally see. Its meaning is sometimes obscured. A symbol of sorts. Some people are defined by these symbols whether they know it or not. Their origin being set in stone from birth but one that can be evolved through life. I would suggest you find clues about someone or something that resembles that eagle."
"What happens if I change the outcome of the futures ahead of me? So far, I've only seen dead people."
The Seer chuckled. "You are an instrument of death. What did you expect of a mercenary? To answer your question, it is not impossible that you could change the future. The question is, will it change anything?"
Allendis was getting a headache from just constantly changing the view, how much more does her cryptic words would do. Even with her vague words, he understood her words. Even if he did change the future, save the lives that were going to die, will it do anything for him? Will it benefit him?
"It's worth a shot, I suppose."
She smiled. "Let's move on then."
"Hold on," Allendis called out. "Can you tell me what happened here? So far it's some vague crap that I have no idea about."
The woman stood in front of him, her expression was unreadable. Lips a bit pursed and her brow did not narrow nor slumped.
"I will keep it simple. The visions we've seen so far are distant memories of yours. I can draw your future memories into the present. That is how I honed my abilities. These future memories were the turning point according to yourself."
"So I have to interpret it myself? So much for getting my money's worth."
The Seer laughed. "You are. I already gave you a discount. Normally I charge three silvers to show people their futures. Another three for me to interpret their futures for them. You merely availed my lowest services at a third of the price."
Damn that Seer. Then again, he did get a reduced cost on something that a king would be able to get.
"Why does it cost that little? Three silvers isn't exactly cheap, six if it was the full service. But you could've charged more for the suckers here."
"Coin is not the only thing I value."
She turned around, walking further away. Allendis followed suit. The location also changes into something he had never seen before. Wyrms were flying, wyverns were breathing out fire, scales of gray and black meshed together so vividly that it had some sort of beauty to it. The sky was surrounded by draconids, their wings were almost covering the sky but what made him look was there was a draconid, slightly larger than the rest, with four wings and four limbs, with someone standing on top of them. Unlike the people he saw, their features were clear. Pale skin, raven hair that flowed upward, controlled by being tied up and armour that looked sleek and oddly draconian in nature. Metal that resembled black scales, grab that was blood red, and a lance that was good on horseback.
"Who is that?"
"Could be one of your future enemies–?!"
It was dark. Allendis could not see anything. It was a sudden shift. The only thing that processed in his mind that the vision changed was the Seer getting cut off. He looked around to see where she was, but he failed. He could sense her or even feel her, not even her voice.
"Hey! What happened? Where are you, Seer?!"
It seemed like someone kidnapped the Seer.
Kidnapped? That's right...Someone instantly cut her off. Similar to someone getting their mouth covered or maybe whisked away in a getaway. If that was the case, could there be someone else with them? He did not know the rules of how Seers do their future vision thing, but if he were to follow some sort of logic that this Seer showed him, then her abilities should only work on him, while she has control of the visions he provided, or rather the future memories. Could outside influence be a factor? She probably has some sort of plan for that, she's a wandering Seer after all!
So what was going on? If future memories or these visions came from him and only the Seer can show him what the future is, then is it because she disappeared that everything around him was just pitched black? No matter where he looked, there was no end in sight to the darkness. Note even a sound came aside from him.
He took a step. His steps were quiet, and while he walked, he raised his hand to his chest and opened it as if he was holding something that covered his entire hand. If the visions could accurately describe the smell of blood and the feel of the water, then it must be capable of directions too. The fact that he was able to stand means it has dimensions of sorts. He did not know if his actual body was asleep or in a…less than pleasant state. Luckily, he didn't need to go anywhere at all. Allendis focused a bit on his hand and he felt it become sturdier than steel. He could feel his veins move with precision, knowing exactly what he would do. He clenched his fist and tried to punch the ground. He didn't feel anything but if this was his mind then maybe something with a bit more impact would wake him up.
So he punched. Over and over and over again. He punched as hard as he could. The steel-feeling fist met with the unknowable void that pissed him off to no end because there was no impact at all. His fist was hitting something solid but it could not break anything.
"Fuck!" As he slammed his fist one last time. More powerful than the rest and yet the result remained the same. He was catching his breath. At times like this, he cursed his own body for being so weak.
"It is not your body but your soul."
Allendis snapped his head up and tried to look for the voice. He heard a woman's voice but it was not the Seer. this one sounded a bit deeper and…regal. It was something different entirely. He tried to look and it seemed like the voice came from beside him.
So Allendis walked. Walked towards the voice that he had heard. His feet could feel the uneven cracks against the smooth stone floor.
Stone? Cracks? He looked down and saw a stony surface that he was standing on, it had a somewhat smooth surface but it was clearly cracked in some areas. He looked around and saw he was on a platform of sorts. The stone floor did not reach beyond but it surrounded him instead. The cracks he felt extended to the edge like it was broken in half or shattered but was still kept in place. What the hell was going on?
"Is that you Seer?!" Allendis shouted. "Is this another future you wanted to show me?"
No response. Not even an echo where an endless space should cover the sound. Just him on this stone platform.
Allendis looked around to see some escape but all he could see was a statue in front of him. A statue…it was not there before. It was a statue of a woman, covered in stone. Her blonde hair covers her eyes and face and it appears to be sitting on a throne statue with her legs closed together and on top of that were her hands. The weird thing was the ornate blue and gold dress; it wasn't sculpted. It was something that he could see a high cardinal of a church or a royalty would wear. It showed more skin that he would care to admit, the statue's arm being exposed, and her dress seemingly being covered only at the front.
"Forgive mine unseemly form. Mine other half."
The voice came from the statue of the woman. Her head was moving, pointing at his direction. Her face was half stone that showcased her beautiful yet eerie visage. Her one good eye gazed at him coldly, bright blue eyes piercing his mind.
"What the fuck…"