The young man walked into the cave, hunched over and panting, sweat dripping from his forehead. Pyira looked at him and tutted. He must've done the whole climb in one go. The eager ones always do. Think they're too good to take a break at that campsite halfway up the mountain, 'only the weak and feeble need to pay some peasant for a tent for the night' they say to themselves as they march on by before collapsing of exhaustion two hours later.

The other seers saw him too.

Pyira sighed. "I got him."

She got up and walked towards the mouth of the cave, feeling the heat of the summer sun creep in through the entrance. Who the heck wants to climb a mountain in this heat?

The young man tried to catch his breath before sinking to one knee and bowing his head. "Prophet. I have completed your trial. I have climbed the mountain of Yawaog, traveled across the country to pick the herbs you demanded, and collected the blood of a pure-bred shark." They always added the pure-bred bit themselves, Pyira thought. What would a non-pure-bred shark even look like?

The man stood up and began walking towards her. "Ever since I was born, I've known I had a magnificent destiny. My family had ruled our town for many generations, we have used the man of our village to fight off countless invaders and cement our power. However, I know I have more to do. My father told me I have a greatness inside of me. Tell me. What is my destiny?"

Now he was closer Pyira could smell the sweat dripping from his skin. It soaked his clothes, polluting the cave with a foul odor. Her face instinctively squirmed, and she fought against the impulse. "Come, place the objects on the ground."

Nervously, the man opened his pack and took out the objects. He placed each one down with care, as though putting a child to sleep. Between each herb he looked up at Pyira, checking if the objects were in the right place. She nodded confirmation, wishing he'd hurry up and leave the cave quicker. Finally, he took out a small vial of blood and placed it by the herbs.

"Well done, traveler." Pyira said nodding, breathing through her mouth. "Now, do you have your donation?"

"Y- yes." The young man reached into his pocket and took out some coins, and reached out his hand.

She placed her hand beneath his and the coins dropped into her palm. As the copper hit, the visions came. Her head shot back, her eyes rolling into her head, as she saw every moment in the young man's history. His joy at his first horse, the time he and his brothers ransacked that neighboring village, the promises his dad made of his coming glory. And then she saw the future. What the young man wanted to know.

Pyira lowered her head.

"Did you see it?" the man said, standing. "What did you see? What is my destiny?"

Pyira thought for a moment, forming the sentences in her mind. "There is a great evil in this world, one that attacks people's souls, and turns their blood brown. This evil will come for you too. You will be a warrior against this evil."

The man nodded along, waiting for the next part. However, Pyira was silent. He waited for awkward second upon awkward second, his eyes nervously looking at the cave around him, trying to work out how to release the next part of the prophecy. "That's it?" he eventually blurted out.

"Yes."

"What evil?" the man asked.

"One not of human form."

"A dragon? A ghost?"

"The prophecy is what it is," Pyira said, waving her arm through the air with pretend symbolism.

"But. There must be more? Can you not tell me any more?"

"The prophecy is what it is." The same arm motion.

"Can you at least tell me when I have to face this foe?"

"Sooner than you may think," Pyira nodded.

"Soon?!" The man checked his sword was still by his side. "I will face this foe, I will defeat it and rid the world of this evil. What can I do to prepare?"

"The prophecy is what it is."

"But you saw my whole future. My destiny. Tell me what it is." There was a degree of anger in his voice that irritated Pyira.

"The prophecy is what it is."

"Come on. I climbed this whole mountain and now I have to rid the world of evil and you won't give me anything useful."

Pyira was growing weary with his moaning. "You must go now. The winds are changing." They are changing, Pyira thought, blowing more of your stink inside. "Your destiny awaits. Go. Onward to your destiny."

"But I need more information-"

"Quick. If you wait your destiny cannot be fulfilled. You must go."

That seemed to trigger something in the young man. His back shot upright, and he quickly grabbed his pack. "Yes. You're right. Thank you. Thank you."

Pyira stood with her hands clasped in front of her as the young man gathered himself and headed for the cave entrance.

She watched him leave and let out a long sigh, her body slumping, her stomach paunching out with the release of tension. The annoyance over, she turned back to the other seers in the back of the cave. "I dealt with the idiot, someone else can clean up that mess." She waved a hand over to the pile of herbs.

"We should add something," one of the others said. "Maybe the egg of an eagle and the claw of a lion? That sounds mystical but hard to get."

"Can we not just ask them to bring us a dog?" a younger seer whispered.

"No. No pets," an older woman barked. "Not again." She shook her head.

Pyira reached the group and took a seat around the fire.

"So what was his dessss-tiinnnnn-yyyyy" a woman chuckled. "He off to greatness?"

"He catches dysentery on the walk back down the mountain," Pyira said, placing the coins in a box. "Dies in a week."

More words at r/ArchipelagoFictions