An edited and improved version of this story is now available for purchase as part of the ‘Prophecies of the Drowned Oracle’ collection.
You want to search for Nessie huh? Do you think that’s wise?
No, I won’t stop you, I couldn’t if I wanted to. I know how you Cryptid researchers work. You’ll just find a way around, you always do. Can’t see when a line of tape is for your own safety and not just there for shits and giggles.
Nah, I can see it in your eyes, you’re still going to do it aren’t you? At least listen to me before you spend the night on that beach.
There’s a story of a woman who sought to find evidence of the Cryptids of the world. She started, like most people, right here at Loch Ness. But when she couldn’t find him, she didn’t give up, she tried her luck with other monsters; Bigfoot, Chupacabra, UFO sightings. Then, when she didn’t find them, she moved on to others; Mothman, Goat Man’s bridge… They got more and more obscure the more she got invested.
Once her sources on land went dry, she moved to the ocean. She searched for the Kraken, scoured the horizon for a glimpse of a sea serpent, and gazed into fogs for hours lest she miss a passing ghost ship.
She purposely steered into storms, got herself lost, found her way again. She sailed, then later flew, over the Bermuda Triangle.
But she found nothing.
She moved through Africa, the middle east, the far east. She learned of sacred places, spirits, creatures and monsters. She absorbed herself in the stories, in her search, in those places she visited. Like this she travelled the world thrice over, and still her journey hadn’t come to an end.
In Russia she learned of Babba-Yagga. She came back to England for it’s rumoured big cats, then was almost sure she saw a Sidhe instead.
Something was changing. She was getting closer, she could feel it. They watched her from the corners of her eyes, just out of sight, but there. The creatures of legend, of myth, of story, they were almost revealed to her.
The perception built the more she searched, the more sacred places she found, the more spirits she almost saw.
But she didn’t notice more than her perception change.
She didn’t notice her limbs getting slightly too long.
She didn’t notice her pupils getting just slightly too big.
She didn’t notice the way her shape flickered on the edge of the vision of those who saw her.
And so it is now that we speak of the Seeker, who travels the world in a never ending search for what she’s unknowingly become.
I don’t know for sure if the story is true. So many people come through here to catch a glimpse of Nessie it’s impossible for me to remember them all. If one of them went missing…
I’d advice you to stay away, but since that’s never worked before, I’ll just tell you to be careful. Don’t lose yourself.