The Seer

He entered the Seer’s chamber. He supressed the shiver that ran down his spine every time he set foot in the room. The light was poor, only candle light casting dancing shadows on the litter of furniture that filled the dusty, dank room. He didn’t know why they refused to install the new lighting system that Tesla had designed; the arc lamps gave off such a radiant glow it could have made this room a lot less foreboding.

And yet, she would still have been sat in the middle. He had known her before she had become the Seer. As his eyes finally settled on the figure strapped into the machine in front of him, he was reminded of how she used to look. They had studied at university together, both fascinated by the sciences. She had always had a glowing complexion and dancing eyes, always excitedly talking about some advancement or other. Her hands were not delicate like a lady’s, she had spent far too much time working on her machines for that to be true. She had smelt of oil and engine grease. Now, all he smelt was dust and decay.

He could no longer see her eyes having been covered by a metal strap. They told him it was so that she was not overwhelmed by sights in the room around her but he felt less than inclined than to believe them. Her complexion was not as vibrant as it once was. The bronzed metal contrasted against her pale, white skin. She sat on a chair that could easily have been called a throne. Cushions lay underneath and behind her, keeping her comfortable as she did not move. Her right arm lay along the arm of the chair, wired plugging into the back of it, some to pulse electricity through her and others to keep the human part of her sustained. Her left arm held the sphere. Despite his scientific background, he had no idea what it was or how it worked. If he ever got too close, someone would appear and ‘encourage’ him to move further back. It was a glass-like globe which had lights that danced and swirled. They were most active when the Seer was at work. At this moment in time, the sphere seemed dormant.

Gears and cogs whirred into life on the head unit. The Seer was waking up. He stepped forward. His friendship with her before her life as the Seer had positioned him well to take up the role of Messenger. It was not a job offer you could turn down. When the Seer had a message, it was his job to receive it and give it to the government official that most needed to see it – occasionally the Queen herself.

He could feel my pulse speed up as her body straightened. Things had been getting more dangerous. The eyes of the guards around the outside of the room seemed to bore into his neck. They were pressed so far to the edge of the room, he could not see them himself but he knew they were there. It was always a worry one of them would hear the message and he would be found out but so far hhe had managed to keep one step ahead and with that, so did the Rebellion. Her Majesty had become unhinged, she needed to be stopped, our Empire needed to fall before they all became enslaved. And that meant feeding false information.

The Seer’s mouth moved but he heard nothing. The sphere was exploding into colour, the patterns dancing wildly throughout the glass. He leaned in closer to the Seer, ready to hear her prophecy, her vision to further our great Empire. Her voice was barely a whisper, this was unlike her, he had to move closer.

“I know what you’re doing Sebastian,” her words made me freeze. This close, he could feel the movement of the cogs on her machine, smell the dust and stale sweat. Time seemed to pause, the world on a knife-edge. His brain whirred but he had no idea what he could do and then she spoke again and all became clear. “Finish it.”

Writen in response to prompt 104 on Finding Clarity