Lily sat in a dark alley just off the main street in Brendenbor. There were strange smells and shadows seeping from the dead end just behind her. Strong enough that you weren't sure if you wanted to gag or just run hoping the smell hadn't burnt itself into your nose. The buildings were all made of logs, but needed to be repaired over a century ago. The mud filling had long since fallen out, and the wood was cracked and weathered. There was trash piled so high you couldn't see what the back wall would have looked like even just ten years ago. Though this alley was the worst in town, it matched the status of the entire village. Old, tired, dirty and forgotten.
Even though there was a strange green tinge to the ground there was no grass in the alley, not even true dirt. It was mud, but its source was not by clean and refreshing rain. Though it came nearly every morning, rain in Brendenbor didn't serve as a refresher, it made everyone and everything miserable. The roads became impassable, roofs leaked, outhouses flooded. Despite it being a daily occurrence no one had thought to fix the problems.
The mud in the alley though was made by sludge seeping from the large pile of garbage. The bugs were so thick you could hear the buzz well outside on the main street, people passed with rags over their faces glaring at the garbage as if they didn't all contribute to both its size and age.
Lilly had sat here for so many days she didn't even notice how bad it truly was. Her hair was matted into tiny little ropes of yellow straw and dirt. Her clothes hung off of her in strips, she couldn't even claim rags at this point. Somehow she always managed to keep her face and hands clean, mostly because she couldn't afford to get sick and die. The smell around her seeped from her pores and radiated out from her hair and clothes, but when the plague had taken half the town, she had never fallen ill. Lilly never had any money to buy soap, so she had to wait for the rare occasion when someone threw a tiny sliver in the trash pile. It wasn't that she wanted to be dirty, or just didn't care, she simply had no choice. She was a shunned human in Brendenbor, because of her oddity. When she had survived the sickness time and again she was nearly burned for being a curse on the town. But that would have taken more effort than the apathetic humans could muster, so after shouting and some pushing they had all walked off muttering about the smell.
Lilly rubbed her temples and brushed her shaggy, filthy hair out of her face. Below all the grime, if she looked up from her hands that she wrung constantly these days, were eyes that took your breath away. Not one color, but a whirl of every color,spinning and spiraling in her eyes. With her visions growing worse, her eyes were glassy giving her an even more look of wrongness. She was having them during the day as well as dreaming about them at night. Her eyes darted about the opening of the alley staring at the women passing in their fine dresses. None glanced at her, just covered their mouths with a rag and looked determinedly in the other direction.
A few months ago, some of them had come to her for visions of their future; she had a bit of money then, enough to afford a room and a shower once a week. Now she could only see the future of one woman, so no one paid her. They no longer sought her out in the dark of night desperate for answers about their fates..
Normally Lilly thought of something to say, a future to frighten the rich women with, as of late though her mind was filled with so many visions she could focus on nothing else. She didn't notice the group of young men creeping up on her with a large bucket of water. She sat there thinking hard about the woman in her vision and when the water hit her she screamed and jumped up.
The boys were doubled over laughing and stumbling backwards. Lilly looked at them and smiled evilly. Those passing by stopped to watch the scene. Not much happened in this little backwoods village, so a raving craze seer was great entertainment.
"I will remember your faces, all of your faces, and when you beg at the paws of the King of Greatlings I will make sure he feasts on your heads slowly."
The boys cackled in glee, having gotten the show they desired everyone hurried away shaking their heads and laughing whispering she was insane. That was just fine she decided, the more people that avoided her the less likely one of them would try to burn her again.