The Calling Candle

Show me what lies ahead so I may see!

A decrepit man stumbles through choking darkness. The flagstones beneath his tired soles seem to fly past as he slowly progresses through the dark and boundless room. It's everywhere, this darkness, it's mocking him, taunting him, laughing at him from everywhere he cannot see. So he laughs back. The jovial, insane cackles echo out into the room. At least silence will not conquer him. But the darkness, forcing him forwards to he knows not where, drawing him to what he knows very well. A hundred more cackles, a thousand more steps, and the man's tattered robes brush past something in the dark. The rhythmic patter of his feet cease, and for a moment, silence reigns. Then, he turns, reaches out with his hands, and touches what seems to be an irregular pillar of stone, roughly hewn. Another triumphant laugh. He has beaten it, beaten the darkness. It has no hold on him now. He falls onto all fours, and scuttles like an animal around the wide base of the pillar, until he comes to a tiny box, from which he pulls a match. He strikes it without hesitation, and the darkness is vanquished in a spark of orange brilliance. Before him, on a plinth of stone covered in moss green veins, stands an old candle. It is half melted by now, the blobs of wax dripping down the plinth as if the seek to spread to each corner of the room and make it it's own. He leans closer to the candle and speaks in a grating voice: "Candle, come and call! Show me what lies ahead so that I may see!"
His hand draws closer to the candle, the flame of the match burning dangerously close to his hand, and the orange spark touches the candle's withered wick, which bursts into flame. As the wisps of smoke rise from the candle, The man stares intently into it, squinting, to see what it has to tell...
The Calling Candle: An item of great magical and prophetic power. Within it's smoke lie the answers to many great questions, showing luck and misfortune to all who dare to gaze into it's depths and question the spirits of prophecy that are bound to the candle. You can see stories untold, disasters unfold, and the mystical forces that threaten to play havoc with the lives of mortals. Though the candle is not yet spent or lost, it has already told it's last tale until the time is right, as the candle, since it's last prophecy, has refused to light.

History

The candle's origins are unclear, but according to legend, it was created when an eleven sorceress in times of old deceived a powerful spirit of prophecy and time whom she had met in a forest, and bound it into service to the candle. As the tale goes, she was walking in the forest, when she came to the spirit's tree and used her powers of divination to find the identity of the spirit whom resided in the tree. The spirit, impressed at her work, decided to grant her a number of correct prophecies, foolishly beleiving that she would ask for them there and then. The sorceress, however, knowing that it requires time to fully research a prophecy, knew that the only way for the prophecies to be correct would be to mull over it for a long time. Therefore, so that the deal could fully be realised, she bound the spirit to a candle, so that he may have all the time in the world to find the awnsers to any question she may ask. The spirit, furious, had one last trick up his sleeve, though. After asking many questions: the weaknesses of enemies, the fate of her friends, the present location of magical items, she decided to ask of her own death, knowing that if the prophetic image was misty enough, she could change her fate. The spirit told her therefore, that it was he who would kill her. Terrified, the sorceress leapt at the candle, seeking to destroy it and the spirit. In her rage, she forgot herself and her wild magical power, that, if unchecked, could influence magical effects around her. The flame on the candle flared brighter than ever, before erupting into a burst of fire, burning the sorceress to ash.

Rarity

Unique. The means to make the candle is now lost forever, as the spirits of prophecy that it calls apon now refuse to be bound into service in another such candle.

Weight

When it was new, 150g, which is now down to 72g.

Dimensions

Currently 17cm tall