Pawns to Distant Gods

Seeker Len looked as if I’d slapped him. “Y-you refuse?”

“Yes.”

He struggled to speak, sputtering and starting a sentence only to trail off into silence. Finally, he managed to settle on a train of thought. “But by refusing this, you will doom us all. Every last spark of life will be extinguished.”

“If you say so.” I kept my tone cool, professional.

His eyebrow twitched. “Why in the name of the gods would I lie about such a thing?”

“You’re talking as if we know each other,” I snapped. I had reached the end of my rope and I would rake this man across the coals until I was satisfied with his answers. “I know nothing about this place. I’ve accepted that you stole me, that you ripped me from my world, but everything else is words. Telling me something is not enough, especially when people you’ve sent to me are sworn to secrecy so how can I verify anything.”

He blinked at me like an owl woken midday. “I . . . well . . .”

“And even if you happened to be telling the truth, why should I help you?” I folded my arms. “All I want is to go home and you admitted to me that you have no idea how to do that. So, there’s nothing you could offer me that I want in exchange for trekking up a huge mountain and supposedly getting the answer to the apocalypse.

“I–but you would die as well,” he said. “Do you not value your own life?”

Of course I did. Dying wasn’t part of the plan. The plan, barely formed as it was, involved getting the whole story and figuring out a way to get home. I refused to believe I could be summoned here but not sent back. In order to achieve that end, I’d say whatever I needed to say.

“Is a world that steals souls from other realms to solve their problems worth saving?” I asked.

Seeker Len went white and sagged into his chair. The severity of the situation had hit him in full. Silence settled over us like wet snow, growing heavier as time passed. I examined my nails and waited, projecting the sense that I had all the time in the world.

A loud knock on the door interrupted our stand off. Seeker Len jolted upwards and went to the door. “Y-yes, just a moment.”

The door opened and revealed two young ladies and two guards. The girls were perhaps ten or eleven years old, both with sleek dark hair and ink black eyes. On closer inspection, they had to be twins.

“Greetings, Seeker Len,” one of the girls said. She wore a bright yellow robe with a cream tunic and a pale yellow skirt.

Seeker Len’s smile was a bit shaky. “Ah, greeting Princess Akiko. You honour us with your presence.”

Akiko smiled in response. “The honour is mine. We heard that the Seer has arrived, may we see her?”

Seeker Len hummed and hawed, but if royalty here was similar to royalty on Earth, there would be no question of denying them. In the end, Akiko spotted me behind Seeker Len and simply let herself into the room before he could say anything. Her sister followed close behind her while the guards took up the rear.

“Greetings, Seer,” Akiko said. Her voice was clear and high like a small bell. Her sister lurked beside her and said nothing. The sister wore a light purple skirt, black tunic, and plum robe.

“Hello,” I said, unsure what else to say. Not standing up when approached by a princess was probably a faux pas too, but how am I to know?

“You’re from another world,” Akiko said, excitement evident in every syllable. “How exciting! You must tell me everything.”

“Aki,” the other girl said, disapproval colouring the nickname.

Akiko laughed. “Oh, calm down Kaede. I’m only teasing.” She turned more serious. “I know you are unable to speak about where you came from. But surely, you could just answer yes or no to questions I ask?”

Seeker Len appeared to have found his courage. He stepped in, placing himself right next to the princesses. “I’m afraid that is quite impossible, Your Highness. Seer Rin cannot even respond to questions you ask, the gods will not allow it.”

I considered telling the girls something about Earth anyway, just to spite Seeker Len. However, I had provoked him quite a bit already and if I pushed him too far, he may refuse to negotiate. Still, at least I knew this wasn’t strictly true as I’d told Vris about green eyes being rare back home and neither of us got smited.

Akiko pouted. “How unfair. Can you answer questions about yourself? How old are you?”

Her total acceptance of a stranger from another world was amusing and a little offputting. This question seemed innocent enough, so I said, “I’m twenty-seven.”

Akiko’s eyes lit up. She opened her mouth, but was stopped from asking yet another question when Seeker Len jumped in. “Princess Akiko, I must insist that you do not question the Seer any further. She has only just arrived and is in a delicate state.”

I fought to keep my face neutral. Delicate didn’t describe how I was feeling in the slightest.

Kaede tugged at her sister’s sleeve. “We’re late for archery lessons as it is.”

Akiko glared at her sister before letting out a long sigh. “Very well.” She turned her attention to me. “I hope we’ll be able to speak again soon.”

I nodded. The princesses drifted out of the room with their guards following at an appropriate distance. Then it was just Seeker Len and I. He returned to his desk slowly, brow furrowed.

“Seer Rin,” he said. “I have heard what you have said and understand your concerns. The difficulty of our situation lies in a few facts which I feel are important to share.”

I gestured for him to continue.

“Firstly, this problem is an old one. The End of Days was prophesied centuries ago. Each time we have averted it entirely due to a Seer being drawn into Wosurei. Much like evil can never truly be vanquished forever, The End of Days will always reemerge and a Seer is the only way we can face it.” Seeker Len seemed older now, the full weight of his years visible.

My blood ran cold. They’d been doing this over and over again? Tearing people from their lives to serve as pawns to distant gods?

But Seeker Len had more to say. “My master was the previous Seer. He was in his forties when I met him as a boy, having saved Wosurei a decade prior. He greeted our world with open arms, refusing to say much of his previous world. I gathered that he didn’t have a particularly good life and he didn’t seem keen to go back. You must forgive my surprise at your vehemence to return, I thought you would be of the same mind as him.”

“Can I speak to him?” I asked, a new hope rising in my chest. This man would understand me in a way no one else could and there’s a chance he might know how to get back to Earth. Even if he didn’t, there must have been so much he’d learned and could tell me.

Seeker Len smiled sadly. “My Master is no longer with us.”