A Tale of Death, or a Simple Prologue

All right. So it is rather late, andI missed a day. Not a good thing, I shall try to keep up. However, sitting here, i've been madly pounding at my keyboard. I like the way that all of this came out. I took a simple break to make sure that I still have some other creative tallent. Some of the names in the small prologue that I used are taken straight from the Seasons. The names however are in Finnish. I was flipping though a random languages on Wikipedia, looking for some inspiration on something completly differnt. I also insist that one should always learn somethign new. I found them actually in wikipedia. A wonderful sight. There is also the Omniglot site. There, they have the listings of all languages that arae written in the world. I assume that it too will play a part. tell me what you thinkof this. The Tale is completely different than that of the orriginal Oracle. I will start Oracle again in a few days.



This tale that I tell will be my last. My time upon this coil, this wheel, has almost come to a close. The wheel has spun many into my eyes and past, and I fear that I should tell of this before it all comes crashing down upon my head. My name though, you must know by now, it must seem quite a pity to you. This story is only told, so that it will be remembered. No one needs to know my name, but I fear the Ravens, so I shall not speak it. My eyes however, must have given it away by now.
However, have you eve supposed what it was that Death thinks? Yes, she is indeed a free spirit, born from the worlds beginning. She was always there, and she has her own jobs to do. She is as she ever was, but she too has her won tale. It has often been called Death’s Tale, but you shall know what becomes of it…

The woman sighed and pulled her shawl tighter around her frame. As she sat next to the fire, she stared into the flames with dark eyes. The fire was only a small blaze against the chill that winter brought, but that was to be expected, as was the person who was coming to the door. She waited for only a moment and then spoke, “Enter.” Her voice was slight, but projected across the one room cabin. There was a slight shuffle at the other end of the door and it opened, brining a chill wind in.

A man stepped through the open portal and into the small living area. He was tall and dressed against the chill of the cold, unlike the small woman sitting near the fire. “Close the door.” He obeyed her command quite swiftly and she smiled to herself. As soon as the door was shut, she bade him to come near the fire. “It is after all rather cold outside. Would you rather not be warmer inside?”

The man shook his head. “I am quite fine where I am…” She brought up a single hand to stop what he was saying. “There is no need for that,” she spoke evenly. His green eyes flickered at the gesture. Her skin was a light shade of pale, and as the firelight danced off of it, he moved a few steps closer. “Leave that horrid thing by the door.” He stopped unaware at first to what she was talking about and then realized. He slowly swung the bundle from his back and placed it by the door. He also took of his cloak and hung it on a peg near the door as well. His boots however, he left on.

“There is no need to have them on while you are in my dwelling. You may take them off. I do not mind.” Hesitating, he shook his head and left them on. “Suit you,” was all she said. “What is it that has brought you here to find me of all people?”

The man shook his head, his silver hair cascading around his neck in a common warriors tail. “The same as all others seek from you. I wish to know what it holds for me, the future.”

The woman laughed, “Yes, they all seek the future, but not all of them will be in it.” The man took a tentative step forward and the woman turned back to look on him with sightless eyes. “Stop where you are Talvi, I do not wish to harm you.” The woman looked down and Talvi sensed a slight bit of regret in her demeanor. “Talvi, what is it that you wish to know? Weather or not you will be in the future? Why is it that you wish to know of it?”

“I want to know if I become what I have always wanted…”

The woman’s eyes glowed a slight red. At that moment, she began to speak in a monotone voice:

“Broken are promises that the First have made,
Spoken and written have they not been obeyed?
Pact made with Death’s own rules,
Find that they are only mere tools.
Seasons may come to rise in power,
But it shall fail them in the critical hour.”

As she finished, she slowly slumped into her chair. Her shawl, fell limply along her shoulders. Her skin was beaded with sweat. To tell as she had had taken much out of her. She was too old to issue such. That was why she had come to live alone in the cabin anyways. She looked towards the back where bookshelves were piled with books, journals, papers and other such, all written by her hands or another when she was too week to do so. They were all of the prophecies that she had ever made. Some had been told and they had come true, others yet still had their times to come.

Talvi stood there with his deep green eyes searching the woman for signs of anything else. She just heaved breath after ragged breath for a while. He stood there patiently for a while and then said, “Is that all you have to tell me?” The woman shook her head and then said, “That is all I dare tell you. Do not ask me anymore, least I tell you something you do not want to hear…”

“So what you said was for my amusement then?”

“No, You know I cannot speak naught but the truth. Do not ask me to See anything else.”

Talvi grinned a rather selfless grin and stroked his pitched white beard. It had been trimmed to fit his square jaw and accentuate it. He was not quite used to it yet, but it would suit him. He nodded to himself a moment and then spoke. “Thank you. I shall see if what you have Seen will be reality.” The woman turned her sightless eyes on him and then spoke in a rather harsh voice, “Have I ever been wrong that you know of?” Talvi shook his head.

“Old woman, you have never been wrong, however, you are getting on in years…”

“I was alive before your great grandfather’s times boy. And don’t call me old woman.”

Talvi shrugged. “All the same, I would not take it past you that you will soon no longer be able to See. Be careful now.” With his words hanging on the air, he picked up his sword and then placed his cloak back over his shoulders and then walked out back into the cold. As the door slammed shut, the woman smiled a sad smile.

“Come out,” she spoke, “I know you are there old friend.” Within the darkness to one side of the shelves of books another figure cloaked in a black cloak stepped out into the light, a rather tight hood covered their features and upon one shoulder, sat a single raven. In one hand, the specter carried a scythe on witch yet another Raven sat.

“You ever were able to sense my presence my dear,” the figure spoke. The woman smiled and then pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders again. “Perhaps it is because you and I are old friends, but then perhaps it is because I danced out of your clutches ever again and again.” The figure laughed. “Well met indeed friend, well met indeed.” The woman smiled and motioned to a chair that she could not see.

“Please, warm yourself by this fire.”

“You know that I can feel n warmth of it, I am cold as ice itself. However, the thought behind it is accepted gratefully.” The woman nodded rather thoughtfully as the figure sat.

“Take of your hood. You should be all right in here. There will be no one else coming for a while.”

The figure laughed ruefully. “Did you See that?”

The woman smiled, “Perhaps.”

The figure shook its head and then pulled of the cowl to its cloak. A cascade of silver hair flowed out into a pair of elegant shoulders. Dark brooding eyes, completely white in contrast to the woman’s own black, were but a pale reflection of the person’s demeanor. Her lips were full and lustrous and her skin was as pale, if not lighter in paleness, that the woman who sat in front of her. As she had leaned her scythe against the wall, the Raven on her shoulder cawed and then flapped its wings to join the other that had made a perch of it.

“What you saw for Talvi, do you know when it will come about?”

“I know no more than you my dear. If I had known more, I would have told him.”

“What of the part that you did not tell him?”

The woman smiled as her gaze was directed back to the fire. “That was for you neither. It is something that will be written down, taken note of, and when the time comes Ages from now, when the wheel spins back once again to the Age that created us, even after, scholars will pore over these texts trying to find again, what has happened, what will happen at that time, and what is yet to come.” She chuckled to herself at that moment and the other woman flashed her white eyes.

“Do not try and mock me Death. I know why you are here, but I know that it is not because you need to take me. You wished for me to see the future for you too. I know. So if you remember what I told Talvi, then you should be good. After all, that was just as much for you as it was for him.”

Death’s eyes narrowed to thin slits as she peered at the woman in front of her. The woman merely smiled right back at her. She dismissed it with a toss of her head. She looked back at the shelves and sighed. Even after her death, who would take care of them? The woman nodded. “Yes, who indeed…?” Death’s head spun back to her as the woman gazed into the fire. Sometimes she wondered whether the woman was an empathic, but she knew it not to be true.

Death stood up from where she had been sitting and slowly smiled at the woman. “Is there a reckoning coming?” The woman turned sightless eyes upon Death. “Is that a question, or a Question?” Death smiled unforgiving. “It is neither,” she said, “Just a thought.” The woman near the fire chuckled to herself and nodded. “Indeed Death, we all know that thoughts are what kill people more often than not.”

Death stood up and looked at the old woman as she once more regained hold over her scythe. “I am not going to be here to take you, you know…”

The woman looked up, a startled look on her face. “Oh,” she smiled, “I know. It would be sad though. After all, we have become such good friends you and I my dear.” Death smiled, something that was meant for this woman alone, something that no other mortal had seen before. “Yes indeed, we do get along.” The raven’s cawed once, but retained their perch on her scythe. The other raven finally cawed once in the ensuing silence and flew to perch on her shoulder.

“Oh, I have some cakes in one of the cupboards for your two darling ravens my dear. Hold on a moment before you go so I can give them to you.” Both Ravens cawed in delight as the old woman got up and walked to a cupboard on the sidewall. As she pulled out the small grain cakes from the cupboard, the Ravens took wing to her side in order to have them. She held out hands and passed one to each and then pulled out two more. She slowly walked back to Death and placed them in her hand. “For later, the little dears.”

“If I’m not careful,” Death said, “you will spoil them rotten and then how will they be able to do their jobs?” The old woman made a face and waved her hand in the air. “Oh don’t be so crass. They deserve a little treat every now and then.” Death smiled once again her enigmatic smile and then spoke once more. “I hope to come back and see you old friend…”

“Don’t worry death, you will see me again. I See that.” The woman chuckled.

“I hope you are right… Oraclé.”