Time and Time again

Some things, once seen, can never be unseen.

This is the phrase that best describes my life to this point. And I know that it will describe me in the future.

It always does.

First, some background. My name is Emilian Landun. Named for my grandfather on my mother’s side, Emiliani Zaneski. He was the patron of my mother’s caravan and was none too pleased when she left the family caravan to settle with my father in the quiet town of Sandpoint.

My mother was Varisian in all that implies. Zeldana was quite beautiful and stole Samuel Landun’s heart the first time they met. Samuel was a simple man, but a good one. As the story goes, grandfather was so furious at the so called betrayal to the family that the shouting scared away customers for days. However, no duels were fought, no blood spilled.. Curses? Well... that I have often had my doubts on, but both my mother and Madame Niska say no. Regardless, when the Zaneski caravan left for parts unknown, my mother stayed behind.

A few years later, I was born. Madame Niska was a close friend of my mother’s and was there as I entered the world. A former traveler herself, she was instrumental in helping mother adjust to the civilian life. As such, I rarely remember a time in my life when the old woman wasn’t in my life.

My earliest life was uneventful. My father owned a simple shop and we were happy. Around ten, things, started to happen. Things.... that were confusing.

Sometimes I would repeat what others said... Sometimes I heard them repeat themselves. Some days, I would be asked the same question over and over again... Things, moved around me. I never saw or felt it, but if I put something in my right pocket, the next time I needed it, it was in the left.

I thought I was going mad. Mother said I was blessed by Desna, but it was little conciliation to a small child suffering torments. Father didn’t understand anymore than the others in Sandpoint did. Madame Niska insisted I only speak of my ‘episodes’ around her or mother. They would help me to cope.

It worked for a while... though as I got older the episodes happened more and more frequently. As I aged, sometimes I could see the consequences of my actions before I did them, sometimes I could see the possibilities laid out in front of me. Mother claimed I was a natural seer. I had the ability to see the future or the past, to help others make the right choice...

Not that it always worked, I... spend a lot of time lost in a sea of possibilities, never certain which to take or even which moment I was in. It was very disorientating.

Madame Niska taught me to channel my focus. How to search the threads of fate and find the likely outcomes. Mother gave me her cards and taught me how to read them. With these cards I became fairly good at reading the future of a person. Some of the time...

Quite frankly most people don’t want to know their future. I certainly don’t... While some honestly come seeking a nudge in the right direction... most just want a confirmation of what they have already decided. Madame Niska was a master of that. She knew how to tell a persons body language and attitude and know exactly what they wanted. Then she found a way to give them that. These lessons would serve me well in the future.

Most of my visions focused on myself or those close...But as I grew older, some did not. Sometimes... just sometimes, it seemed like the years would bleed through me. Things I would touch would age and wear before my eyes. This... was more then simply seeing the future.

Mother had no idea what to make of it, but Madame Niska had theories. She had seen more and forgotten less then anyone I had ever known, and she told me she had seen something similar over half a century ago. A young girl that the gypsy claimed was a nexus. A place where possibilities met and mingled.

Her theory was that for every possible choice, some version of me had made that choice. It happened to everyone, but the veil was unusually thin around me. Each version of me was different in some way, affected... by the choices he’d made. Sometimes I could see a poor choice and change my fate... sometimes they could see me, and base their actions on my own results. It was... difficult to wrap my head around to say the least.

When things moved on me, she theorized that some other version of me was left handed... or wore something different, and the nexus was trying to merge us somehow... When I dropped something and it skidded across the room, that may have been an unseen version who had kicked it accidently. Sometimes if I needed something out of reach, it would come towards me...

This nexus as she called it worked both ways. All points met at me, and I could see and affect all points. In time I would learn to control it better, for now, focus small, use my cards, try to focus on the here and now.

Then came the attack.

Goblins have often been a problem in sandpoint, but in 4710 they were especially bad. So bad that a band of heroes rose up to defend us from them. Well, most of us. That was the first time my visions truly failed me. I was working the crowds at the Swallowtail festival when the attack came.

The goblins came in a grand swarm of chaos. Panic spread though the street. The newly christened Heroes of Sandpoint were of some use to stem the tide and bring order back, however they did not save all.

My parents were amongst the victims.

There was a time I resented the Heroes for that... but Madame Niska helped me get past the anger. Since that time I realized a very important fact.

They were fated to die. I received no visions, no variations, no possible futures because there were none. Sometimes, things are going to happen in every possible timeline. Some destinations will always require the same first step.

Most don’t realize this.

I do.

It gives me a ‘unique’ perspective.

It happened again a few months ago, though this wasn’t as great a surprise. Since my parents passing, I have been taken under the wing of the Mvashties. Kova I knew fairly well. She was Madame Niska’s daughter, though to me she became sort of an aunt.

Regardless... Madame Niska was ancient when I was born. Ancient when Sandpoint was born the people said. Her death was no surprise, and there were no variations in her timeline... On that time, on that day, she was going to die. It was heartbreaking to have seen that before it happened, and she must have seen it in my face when I visited her that day. Truth be told, I suspect it wasn’t a surprise to her either. She could read a harrow deck better then I could.

One thing I did not expect was the knowledge that Koya was going on a trip. Madame Niska made me promise to protect her when she left. I think with anyone else she would have used the term if... For us, it was when.

When was a nebulous term however. I saw the caravan leaving, but I have no idea when it will happen. I suspect it will be sooner rather than later.

Frankly the suspense intrigues me.