Oracle Seeker
Once upon a time there lived a little girl, Elena, who lived in the outskirts of Russia in a village doomed by the presence of a werewolf. On the eve of her 13th birthday, she found herself wishing to be able to do something more. You see, in this village, everybody had a role in defeating the wolf, but Elena was left to being a lowly villager until she turned 13 and the village decided her fate. Her father, Anatoly, was the village detective. He investigated villagers—but only one a day—and ran the risk of being bitten by the wolf if he happened to be investigating them. Elena wanted to join him in his quests but he always said it was too dangerous for a little girl. Her mother, Alexandra, was a witch in her youth days, but ever since marrying and bearing a child, she was confined to house duties. Elena would ask her mother for witch stories, but her mother would just shake her head, saying, “You’re too young to understand.” Some say Alexandra held a grudge over her own daughter because she was the reason Alexandra lost her powers. So Elena, being the curious girl that she was, went around the village one evening draped in a red cloak she found in her mother’s closet, hoping to get answers. She entered a tavern where grown men and women were loudly chattering and sat down at a secluded table in the back of the room. After sitting unnoticed for a good 20 minutes, Elena made the following conclusions from the conversations around her: the witch lived in the forest, up in the trees, and had an abundance of potions and poison; she would only travel to the village when a villager was bitten, bringing with her either a potion to heal the wound or a vial of poison for who she suspected was a wolf. The tavern suddenly became too rowdy, so Elena stepped outside. Once outside, she realized how chilly it had gotten and pulled her red cloak tighter around her neck and started walking. She hadn’t wanted to go home just yet, feeling like she didn’t get all her answers, so she decided to seek out the witch in the forest.
Elena had never been in the forest before because her mother prohibited it. She expected it to be much scarier from her mother’s descriptions. Finally, after what felt like hours of walking, Elena spotted an odd hut that was up in the trees. Not thinking twice about how to get up there, Elena started climbing the trees with ease. She knocked on the wooden door and could hear a voice mumble on the other side, and then a slot opened and a pair of eyes were staring back at her. “Who is it?” a lady voice answered. Elena, startled at the piercing eyes, replied, “I, uh, I’m looking for the witch.” The eyes’ gaze moved along Elena’s body and the lady said, “Oh, it’s you.” Then the slot closed and the door creaked wide open. There, standing in the doorway was a lady who looked exactly like Elena’s mother. “Ma?” Elena asked, surprised to see her mother standing before her. The lady laughed, saying, “Really, do you have no respect for me? At least call me Auntie!” The lady motioned for Elena to come inside and she closed the door. “Who are you?” asked Elena, “Why would I call you Auntie?” “Your mother didn’t tell you about me?” the lady stood right in front of Elena, much too close for comfort. Elena stepped back, frightened, shaking her head no. Suddenly the lady was walking around her dark and spacious hut, mumbling under her breath. “Why do you look exactly like my mother?” Elena finally asked. The lady smirked and replied, “I’m her sister, dearie.” Elena stood there, stunned. “She never told you about me, I see. She was the witch first, but when she decided to marry your father, her powers transferred to me.” The lady could see Elena’s confusion, so she sat her on the couch and brewed her a cup of tea in her cauldron. “What’s a little girl like you doing out in the forest alone anyway?” the lady asked. “I’m looking for answers,” Elena replied. The lady stopped stirring her cauldron and looked up at Elena. Then she sat down beside her and clutched her hands, looking her right in the eyes saying, “You’re searching in the wrong place. Go seek out the Seer, she has all your answers.” Elena had heard rumours about the Seer’s power of knowing everything, but she didn’t think she actually existed because everyone who tried looking for the Seer never made it back to tell the story. “There’s such a thing?” Elena asked, a glint of hope in her voice. “Of course!” the lady replied. And so the lady began to tell Elena how to reach the Seer’s dwelling. “Just stay on the path…”
Elena left her aunt’s hut with a pouch of stones that she was supposed to rattle if she ever came across danger so that her aunt would hear it and come save her, and an apple for an offering. Elena was so deep into the woods that she could no longer see lights from the village. Finally, she reached a stone monument with a small opening on the side and crawled through. Inside was a cave with fire lit torches on the walls and an opened tomb in the middle. Elena approached the tomb and saw the sleeping girl who was the Seer. Elena thought she looked so peaceful in her sleep, with the blackest hair and fairest skin she’s ever seen and hands laced together across her chest. Elena carefully recalled the steps her aunt told her, and placed the apple on top of the girl. Now, she waited for the girl to open her eyes. Just outside, the sun was starting to rise, signalling Elena’s 13th birthday. All of sudden, a gust of wind passed through the cave and all the torches were blown out. Elena could hear whispers of a thousand voices around her and suddenly the sleeping girl opened her eyes, except they were completely white. Elena, startled, started to reach for her pouch of stones when the girl grasped her hand tightly and caused Elena’s eyes to roll to the back of her head and she fell to the ground and into a deep sleep.
The next day, Elena’s parents gathered the villagers to seek Elena in the forest, but with no such luck. Years have gone by, but Elena’s body was never found, only tales of what happened to her survived. Until one day, a young hunter was out in the forest hunting for the werewolf when he came across the same stone monument. He ventured inside, curious, and it was exactly how it was years before when Elena first entered, except this time Elena was the sleeping girl in the coffin.