Dance of the Gods

The room the woman lead her in was dark. There were only candles illuminating the place, the windows were covered by large curtains. Most of the room's space was taken up by the big round table in the middle.

The table was veiled by a tablecloth, it had a bunch of stars and constellations, there was even a crystal ball on the side and a deck of some kind of cards. Behind the main chair was a fireplace where a strong flame crackled.

Everything Veronica saw made her think more and more, that this is a scam. It looked exactly like a charlatan from a movie or something.

'Maybe... Maybe she can still help me... Even though I highly doubt it... At least I'm not the one paying for it!'

She moved into the room and came face to face with the medium. Only now did she truly observe her. Her eyes were yellowish green, her hair was graying blond and her face was a map of wrinkles. The dress she wore was more like a magician's robe. Overall her outside demeanor was just as weird as her inside.

She looked Veronica up and down again. For some reason her face seemed confused, like something was wrong with her. When Veronica was about to question it, but she began talking first.

"I don't know if little Alex introduced me or not, but in any case my name is Madam Stout, I'm an oracle. Tell me about your problem and lets see if I can help you."

Veronica looked towards Alex, he seemed a bit worried and made an awkward smile at her. She rolled her eyes and sighed in resignation.

"My name is Veronica Navarro, and I have amnesia. I remember everything except who I am. I woke up like this a few days ago in an alley... Could you maybe... Help me recall my past?"

Madam Stout looked her up and down again for the thousandth time, then smiled and said, "Of course I can. Sit down and lets begin. Oh, but before we start you should pay. I only accept payment upfront. The price will be 20 gelt."

'Of course you only accept payment upfront, typical scammer!... That would be 7 weeks pay you just asked for casually!'

Luckily she wasn't the one who payed for this scam. Alex quickly pulled out 2 ten gelt bills. On its face was an artistic rendition of the current emperor of the Dracon Empire, Emperor William Dracon.

Madam Stout didn't even check if they were fake or not. Without much regard for them she took it and put it away into her pocket.

'That could have fed multiple poor families for weeks and you just act like its nothing?! I truly start to dislike her.'

As if she heard her thoughts, the oracle smiled and sat down in front of the flames. The fire's light coming from behind her played with the shadows and increased her mystical outlook even further.

Veronica sat down on the other side and waited for the woman to speak. Madam Stout closed her eyes and stayed silent for a few minutes. It made Veronica very uncomfortable, but when she looked at Alex he nodded and that calmed her a bit.

"Would you like to now your future as well?" Asked the seer, her eyes still closed. Then a grin appeared on her face. "Its for free."

'This is either part of the scam or she is just horrible at her job.'

"Sure. Why not..." Madam Stout's eyes snapped open and she snatched up one of Veronica's hands. She kept them on the table, and was very startled at how fast the old woman could move. Because of reflex she tried to pull it away, but then she spoke.

"Don't worry, I just need your hand to read the lines. This way I can divine your future and past." Veronica sighed and stopped trying to pull her hand back.

"Fine. But you could've just ask for me to reach out my hand."

"What's the fun in that?" There was a ridiculous grin on her face as she said it.

Slowly the smile disappeared and Madam Stout's expression became focused, her hand moved leisurely through the lines of Veronica's palm. Sometimes she made noises like interest or disgust. Her eyes closed and she began talking.

"Your future is very cloudy, unpredictable. Not much can be said about it, I get two very strong, distinct feelings. Sadness and loss. You will lose something or someone and that will mark your soul with sadness for the rest of your life."

Her hand became a bit faster but still unhurried.

'Sadness and loss?! I don't want to be sad or lose someone! Can't my future just be happy and nice. I don't want anything big, a simple life without anything to worry about will do just fine!'

Madam Stout didn't notice her lack of comfort and just continued.

"Currently you feel lost and hopeful. Both understandable given your situation, but there is something weird about it, like an external source is affecting your emotions, giving you strength to hold on. Maybe I'm just seeing things, but I said it in case I'm right. If its a ghost or evil spirit, then you will have to find your specific church's secre..."

Suddenly there was a loud coughing sound behind Veronica, she turned and saw Alex with furrowed eyebrows.

"I think you are getting of track Madam Stout."

She chuckled silently with a small smile.

"So that's how it is. Okay, lets keep at it. I read about your future and present, the only thing left is your past."

'No. We won't going to just gloss over that! What is it I can't know! After this session you will definitely answer my questions! I had enough of being kept in the dark!'

Her hands moved faster, but still quite relaxed. It ran through every line on her palm.

"Oh... Now this is interesting." Then she stayed silent and kept moving her hand.

'Really, you just going to keep me hanging like this? Elaborate dammit!'

It took her a few minutes to speak again. Those minutes felt like a lifetime to Veronica, but she didn't say anything just let the old woman do whatever she was doing.

"Your past is very unfortunate. It seems like you died and got resurrected. But wait... How is this possible... You didn't die here, but somewhere much farther away..."

Veronica froze, until this point she really thought the woman was just a scammer, but she couldn't know that she transmigrated. For her to be able to guess that... It was just simply impossible.

'H... How... How did she know?... That... That is not possible!... She... She is really a seer, but that can't be!'

While she was suffering from a small existential breakdown of the world she knew, old Madam Stout continued moving her fingers faster and faster. What she saw Veronica didn't know, but her face seemed really concentrated.

"Your past... It wasn't an accident... Someone planned it... But I don't know... NO! No one knows, they can't know... Even Gods can forget..."

She was starting to make less and less sense. Talking like someone who is having a stroke or something, her mind seemed to be degrading by the second. Her hand still moved faster and the speed with which she spoke increased.

"The past, he is the past... He wants to be the past... To make his future possible... The Gods forgot him, but the universe remembers... There is only one thing missing, once he gets it, there is no going back... The twelve was dead and their descendants forgot, about 'His' offspring..."

'What the hell is she talking about? Is this part of my past, or relates to how I got here?'

Seemed like Alex was getting more concerned as well, he approached Madam Stout and gently tried to shake her out of her trance. It didn't work and she continued.

"The key... You are the key, NO!... You have the key... Keep it away from him, don't let him get... THE THEATER..."

She shouted the last words, but that didn't really matter to Veronica.

'The theater? That crooked building from my dreams? What is going on...'

Alex tried to shake her stronger and even called her name to wake up, but nothing happened. She suddenly turned silent, her hand stopped moving as well. In a few moments she squeezed Veronica's hand really hard, she had way more strength that a woman her age should have.

It would've hurt, but something else happened which made the pain disappear and brought fear to her heart instead.

Suddenly Madam Stout screamed at the ceiling and using her free hand began to pull out chunks of her hair, then changed target and started scratching her skin everywhere. Large parts of skin fell off of her, but it didn't bleed. At every hole in her skin... An eye grew out.

She already released Veronica's hand but she was glued down to the chair, the fear didn't let her body move. She knew, whatever was happening with Madam Stout was unnatural.

The more skin Madam Stout pulled off, the more eyes appeared. They were pure yellow and just by looking into them it slowly drove a her mad. The scene was terrifying, but it became even worse when she stopped and slowly looked up at Veronica.

Her eyes her bleeding, every single vein popped in them. It looked like she was about to pounce on Veronica. From the horror she still couldn't move, all she could do was close her eyes.

When she thought her life was truly over, a gunshot echoed in the room.