Seer believed in the power of knowledge, but he had never anticipated the weight that knowledge could carry. As a scholar, he had spent years immersed in ancient tomes and forgotten languages, decoding cryptic texts that most academics dismissed as legend. To Seer, prophecy wasn’t just superstition, it was a science waiting to be unravelled, and he believed that through careful study, the future could be predicted and even manipulated.
When Cogsworth approached him with the Fate Engine project, Seer saw it as the opportunity of a lifetime. The machine’s design was unlike anything he had ever encountered, a perfect blend of mechanics and mysticism. At the heart of the project were glyphs inscribed on the machine’s core, symbols Seer was tasked with translating. As he deciphered the texts, he realized the machine could control probability itself. But what truly intrigued him was the sacrifice requirement.
In the beginning, Seer believed the sacrifice was symbolic, a representation of shedding the old to make way for the new. But the deeper he delved into the translations, the more troubling the truth became. The glyphs weren’t metaphorical; they were literal instructions on how to channel the life force of a living being to fuel the machine. Seer should have stopped there, should have warned the others, but he was too invested. He told himself there was still time to find an alternative.
Then the visions began.
They were small at first, flashes of blood dripping on the floor, the sound of a man’s scream echoing through empty halls. But the more he worked on the glyphs, the more vivid the visions became. He saw Jacob’s body twisted and broken, Dave lying in a pool of blood, and Agony, his hands bound, his face twisted in terror, pleading for his life. The most disturbing vision of all, however, was the figure standing at the edge of it all: Jeff , his eyes glowing an unnatural red as he watched the chaos unfold with nails standing erect out of his skull.
Seer tried to convince himself that the visions were just warnings, possibilities that could be avoided. But deep down, he knew they were inevitable.
On the night of the betrayal, Seer stood near the Fate Engine, his fingers trembling as he traced the glowing glyphs. Agony struggled against Jacob’s grip, his pleas falling on deaf ears. Dave was restrained, shouting warnings that Seer tried to block out. And then there was Jeff, standing near the entrance of the workshop, holding a toolbox and looking confused.
The moment Jeff entered, the machine reacted violently. The glyphs flared brighter than Seer had ever seen, and the machine emitted a low, droning hum that made his skin crawl. “Get him out of here!” Dave shouted, but Seer was paralyzed. He had seen this moment in his visions, and no matter how hard he tried to convince himself otherwise, he knew it couldn’t be stopped.
The machine activated, and everything unfolded exactly as he had foreseen. Agony’s screams tore through the workshop, mixing with Jeff’s as the vortex consumed them both. Seer’s eyes darted around the room, searching for any sign that he had been wrong, that there was still a chance to fix it. But the explosion came too quickly. The last thing he saw before the world went dark was Jeff’s red eyes glowing through the chaos.
When Seer opened his eyes again, he saw nothing. The curse had taken his vision as punishment for his silence. He lay on the floor, listening to the sounds of the machine sputtering to a stop and the dying echoes of Agony’s and Jeff’s screams.
As a ghost, Seer is a shadow of the man he once was. His spectral form is gaunt and hollow, his once-bright eyes reduced to bleeding sockets that drip endlessly down his cheeks. Faint glyphs flicker across his translucent skin, remnants of the prophecies that haunt him still. He wanders the workshop aimlessly, muttering fragments of warnings and cryptic messages that often confuse more than they clarify.
He blames himself for the curse, believing that if he had spoken up, none of this would have happened. His encounters with the other ghosts are strained. He avoids Agony’s ghost whenever possible, knowing that Agony will never forgive him for his silence. Jacob’s guilt mirrors his own, but Seer struggles to forgive Jacob for following orders without question. His relationship with Dave is complicated, Dave tries to protect him, but Seer knows that Dave also resents him for staying silent.
Jeff’s presence is the most terrifying for Seer. Without sight, Seer senses Jeff’s gaze everywhere, as if the glowing red eyes are always watching him from just beyond reach. When he whispers apologies to the shadows, it’s Jeff’s gaze that he imagines burning into him.
When the living encounter Seer, they mistake his cryptic warnings for riddles, but they are actually desperate pleas for them to leave before the curse consumes them too. “You can’t fix what’s broken,” he mutters repeatedly. “You can only stop it before it spreads.”
But few listen, and so Seer’s loop of guilt continues, his blind eyes forever searching for a redemption that will never come.