Emerald of Elaysia

On the southeastern banks of the Lakes of Pleea stands the village Elaysia, crossroads between The Quarmallian Empire, The Kingdom of Klesh, The Kingdom of Lankhmar, and The Independent State of Kokgnab. While Elaysia is principally known for the exotic fish harvested from the Lakes of Pleea, one of the village's shining stars is a fortune teller known as Emerald.
Emerald is originally from a small family enclave a few miles east of Tëkhâsh. Hers was a family of spiritualists and seers, whose talents were amplified the day Emerald was born; her psychic and psionic abilities were not only the best of the entire clan, her energy was so strong that her mere presence enhanced others' psychic and psionic abilities. As she grew in body and power, the elders of her clan agreed that she should be the shaman for their tribe. After a few years, a plague that swept through the Jungles of Klesh killed over two-thirds of her clan. The remaining survivors, having prophesized this event many years ago, knew that this was their fate and that they must abandon their lands to find new homes and start new families. Thus, Emerald made her new home in Elaysia, leaving the Kingdom of Klesh altogether.

Emerald by Chad Watson via Midjourney

One morning, nearly a year ago, Emerald was approached by a woman requesting her help to find her missing daughter. Her daughter had gone missing a few days prior and her mother feared the worst. Emerald readily agreed and asked the woman to return at sunset, giving her the day to psychically tune in on where her daughter may be.
The woman agreed and left quickly. Emerald shut and locked her door to the round hut she performed her magics and ceremonies in. She walked slowly around the circumference of the hut, grabbing things from shelves and tables with scarcely a look as she did so. A clump of dried dandelions, bat fur, linseed oil, and a hollowed femur from an unknown humanoid creature became her strange ingredients to prepare for her psychic hunt. Satisfied, she walked to the fire at the center of the hut, muttering something indiscernable as she approached. She sat down fluidly into a criss cross seated position before the fire. Still muttering, she rubbed the dried dandelions and the bat fur together between her hands. A few seconds later, she threw the fur into the fire, keeping her eyes on it as the flames slowly curled around its edges. She then took the femur in her left hand, and with her right hand, poured the linseed oil down into its hollowed center. The bone absorbed the oil and nary a drop left from its opposite end. Emerald then held the femur to her eye, looking through it as if it were a telescope, aiming it at the bat fur.
The femur became as a kaleidoscope. At first, colors danced around in her eyesight in geometric pattern. Finally, these patterns slowed down to show Emerald a frail girl of about 7 years old, locked away in an underground prison. The girl was not alone, but amongst a few dozen other children of about the same age.

Little Girl in Emerald's Vision by Chad Watson via Midjourney

"Where are you", she said aloud, more as a statement than a question. Her vision then pulled away from the girl, going backwards through the prison wall and upwards through three levels of dungeons, through a very large and very dark cathedral, out of the cathedral and high into the sky above it. She looked around in her vision and saw the Lake of Monsters to its west, and the small town of Blüm to its south. Emerald smiled, as she recognized the town, having traveled there once before.
Her smile melted as the vision swooped back in to focus back on the girl. She saw the prison's door opening and there stood a beast of about 7 feet tall. He looked very "orcish" but her vision would not reveal the features of his face, instead showing her only a shroud of mist surrounding his head. The "orc" mouthed some words she could not hear, and all the children within filed out of the room, following him down a corridor.

Orc with blurred face by Chad Watson via Midjourney and Photoshop

Her vision remained along-side the girl as she walked down the corridor and into a large, circular room that was filled with very bright light -- so bright that Emerald had to squint her eye from its brilliance and intensity. The orc pushed the little girl towards the epicenter of the light. From within the light's aura, she could make out the outline of what appeared to be three motionless people. Again, the orc pushed the little girl further into the center of the light's globe. The girl stumbled forward and fell on her knees. The perspective of the vision then shifted to allow Emerald to see through the little girl's eyes. After a few seconds, she saw a blackness emerging from the light.. a blackness in the shape of something larger than the girl, but smaller than the orc. It was low to the ground. A dog?, she asked herself. What is this...
No sooner than she completed that thought, the black figure leapt forward at frightening speed, and clamped its jaws around the little girl's neck. Still seeing through her eyes, Emerald's vision turned bloody red as the capillaries in the little girl's eyes exploded, filling her eyeballs with blood. Before the vision faded to black, Emerald saw a black, leathern wing, and then, nothing.
Emerald jumped back from the fire, still in her seated position, dropping the femur onto the ground before her. Emerald's mouth hung agape, then tears spilled from her eyes. She sat there for a few minutes, allowing the feelings to wash through her, then from her. She planted her palms firmly onto the dirt floor, willing the negative energy to flow from them and into the earth. As Emerald returned to a calmer state, she stood up and opened her hut's door, walking out into the street to draw in some fresh air. It was dark out already. As was common to her trances, time slipped away. At times, her visions would seemingly last hours, yet when she broke trance, only a few minutes in "real time" would have gone by. Other times, it would be the opposite -- a few minutes within a vision would last through the entire night. This time, it seemed about 11 hours of "real time" had passed in what seemed to her to be only 2 or 3 minutes.
As she collected herself and her mind become more "one with the here and now", she saw the child's mother walking from a distance from up the street towards her.
"How am I going to tell her this?", she asked herself, her heart breaking all over again.
"You will tell her everything in detail, child. And you will hold her as she cries, until she is done with you.", she heard a voice say. Knowing the voice before she even looked, she said out loud "I know grandmother. You are right. But, I don't want to". Emerald then looked to her left and smiled weakly at the apparitions of her ancestors that stood across the street from her. They all beamed at her with love in their eyes. They faded as the little girl's daughter approached.
Emerald took a very deep breath, then smiled at the woman. "Come in, hon. Let us talk about your daughter".