Briar walked ahead of me with Mydrn between us.
As we walked, my mind wandered as I remembered my vision in the cabin four days ago.
I gazed into the tree line, trying to focus on anything else.
Briar couldn’t know the truth of what I saw.
I pulled Brabin fruit from my pack and began to eat it. The bitter taste keeps the visions from swarming my mind. I clenched my jaw. I had to think of anything else.
After finishing the Brabin fruit, I grabbed another from my pack. You are only supposed to eat one; it lasts at least eight hours before you are overtaken by visions and have to eat another. It lets you control the visions, not the other way around.
Without Brabin fruit, Seers would be lost in visions and talking nonsense.
But since touching Briar’s forehead back in the cabin, it’s like the visions keep trying to take over. The Brabin fruit lasts minutes, not hours.
I get flashes of what I saw, then other visions; it’s constant. Seeing the past and the future mix together in a way that makes my stomach turn.
As we kept walking, I fought the urge to grab another Brabin fruit.
Just in case. Just to keep my thoughts as mine. The visions didn’t get to claim me.
My eyesight blurred as I hunched forward, unable to breathe as a vision overtook my body, and I landed hard on the ground.
A woman screamed in pain as my vision began. I stood in a room full of tapestries, a room that was reserved for births.
She lay on a bed, in the midst of giving birth. Her hair clumped against her face as she pushed.
A cry joined hers as the baby was lifted into the air and handed, not to its mother, but to a Seer.
The Seer stood near the head of the bed, holding the small naked child. They pressed their fingers to the child's forehead, triggering a vision of the child's future.
“He will be a Seer.” The man announced joyfully as he placed the baby in the woman's arms.
Tears fell from the woman's eyes; everything halted. Then the lights flickered slightly, and the woman let out another scream of pain.
The midwives gathered around and told the woman to push again.
Her screams of agony filled the air as she did what she was told.
Until the small cry of another child began. The room was heavy with possibility.
The child was placed in the Seer's arms, and the same motion was performed.
“She will be a Seer!” The man yelled, holding the screaming child away from his body as if the small thing could hurt him.
“She is to be destroyed!” His voice held out the cold grip of hatred.
“In due time,” a voice in the corner said coldly, as a skeletal man walked forward. Green robes hovered around his frame as he point at the girl. “We will first keep her in the Tower of the Damned, to be judged when the time is right.”
Then the skeletal man turned to the woman. His voice rattled as he stated. “You had one child tonight. Name him well.”
She shook her head frantically as she desperately tried to get up from the bed. “No! There has to be a mistake; please don’t take my baby!”
“You already have your baby. This one never existed.” The skeletal man nodded to the Seer, and they walked out with the wailing newborn.
Midwives hovered around the woman as she reached for the door. Her screams filled the room. “No! My baby!” The midwives mumbled small comforts.
“What is his name?” Asked one of them.
The woman, still distraught, looked down at her son, whose cries had taken over the room with her.
“Castor,” She said distantly.
The vision faded as the forest came back into view.
The dirt beneath my hands was hard as Briar shook my shoulders. “Castor, are you alright?”
Worry filled her face as the realization of what I saw hit me.
I shook my head and sat up, Briar already pushing a Brabin fruit into my hand.
“I think…” I began trying to form the words. “I think I have a sister,” I mumbled before I took a bite.
“A sister?” Briar asked, her voice a little unsure. She pulled her hand back slightly.
“My vision was of my birth; after I was born, a girl was born. She was destined to be a Seer.” I told her.
Briar lifted a hand to her mouth. “No, female Seers are killed at birth.”
I nodded, “But they said they wanted to keep her in a tower. I have to know if she is still alive.”
Briar nodded, “Of course! We will get Mydrn to Gyra, and then we will look for your sister.”
“We need to go to the palace first; I have questions for a few people.” I took another bite of Brabin fruit.
“We have a plan then,” Briar stated, standing and putting out a hand for me.
I gave her an unsteady grin and took her hand. The bond hummed in a way that told me she needed me to grab her hand more than I needed the help. I liked the sound of her saying ‘we’.
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