Seer and Sword
I hold in my hand a mosaic of light,
The future never looked so bright,
With this crystal ball,
We will never fall,
With our might avoiding an endless night.
Forum game format:
- At the end of each story post there will often be multiple choices the reader can make. Each choice will hyperlink to the next part of the story once it has been written. These subsequent stories can either be dead ends or lead to more branch paths.
- What these choices actually are will be decided by the readers.
- This creates two forms to this forum game: those who are caught up and trying to decide the next action in a story arc and those trying to navigate down the story without reaching a bad end.
- It is my hope that there will be enough written hints before each choice to allow a reader who is paying attention to avoid bad ends. However, I can't promise that they will be obvious. The clues may not even be on the same story page and may be hinted in previous chapters.
- Any discussion of these written hints regarding choices should be spoilered. If you feel the clues aren't sufficient to avoid dead ends then spoiler those as well and I will do my best to explain my logic and failing that I may write revisions.
- I will be keeping track of story arcs and clues using yEd graph editor, (a free program.) I may also be uploading a file if this game is successful and becomes complicated enough to warrant sharing.
The fly flies around Mattias, then lands on his face. Mattias slaps his cheek. The fly flies again, lands again and Mattias swats again. After a few minutes of this, he no longer tries to swat the fly. Sitting at a bar table, he drinks from a glass, a fly on his nose and no smile on his face. Having nearly emptied his drink, he looks down on his nose. Slowly, ever so carefully, he tips the glass up and drinks the dregs and leaves the top of his glass resting on the bridge of his nose. The fly, maybe smelling something, (if flies can smell) climbs up into the glass. Feeling its little legs leave his face, Mattias ever so slowly lowers the glass upside down onto the table top. Smiling now that one source of worry has been put aside, he watches as a stranger comes and sits across from him.
"Clever" the stranger praises, pointing at the glass. It was a feminine voice, yet the robes she wears don't reveal much else about her. He can barely even see her face, he muses. Curious, he stares pointedly until the message becomes obvious to her, she lowers her hood. Finally seeing her face, he sighs.
"What?" She says, slightly annoyed.
"I was expecting red hair." He quietly answers, wistfully.
"Oh? Seers can't have brown hair?"
"... lets just say you've destroyed a childish mental image I've always had and leave it at that."
"... right ..." Sitting down she pulls an orb from her cloak. Placing it in an iron mount, it rests on the table halfway between them.
"Shall we begin?" She asks, smiling finally.
Taking a slow breath, Mattias crosses his arms. "I didn't invite you here for a telling." Her arm still outstretched to her crystal ball, her brow lowers dangerously. Wordlessly she asks 'what - did - you invite me here for, then?' So, quickly, Mattias carries on. "I have no doubts as to your ability to foretell the future, I want to be a part of that! I want to know what tomorrow will bring and guide us, this town, this country to better days!" He answers passionately, swinging his arm about.
An awkward silence rests over the table until finally she laughs.
"Shut up, you were rushing me!"
"hah...'rushing' he says... So, what? You want to be a seers apprentice? Is that what you want?"
"Yes."
Staring suspiciously, "Why? Usually people don't believe in fortune telling. Or they shun us. Why bother becoming a part of that?"
"...my mother was a seer..." He answers quietly
They lock eyes, The Seer to try to see a hidden motive, Mattias to prove he's serious. They stare for a long time. Until the seer looks down at the crystal ball, looking at something else.
"Ok, ok. I get it, you want to foretell the future like me. Prove you have some aptitude. Foretell something. Right here and now."
Surprised by the suggestion, Mattias searches for something in this dusty old bar that will happen this late at night. If it's too obvious, she won't be impressed. If it's too hard and he guesses wrong, then again: she won't be impressed.