Portent IX of Broken: a riddle in rhyme

In the novel Broken, there are 24 portents fortelling the events of the unfolding saga.

Start with Portent I here.

These and other riddles in rhyme are gathered in the Portents Directory for you to explore.

Enjoy!

At advent cold the prince returned
In urgency through palace wrought
Allegiance traced and traitor bought
By grace of distant lessons spurned

Awash in pain to see all things
The grieving prince rejects the kings
Adrift and lost in freedom's rings
The mortal slain and wisdom earned.


Can you decode the future Tales of the Known World?

Share your interpretation!
Comment below with your take on this portent.

Despite its short length, this portent has an interesting rhyme scheme. It opens a number of scenes in Part 1 of Broken, and it predicts a painful ordeal through which someone ascends to enlightenment.

Who do you think the grieving prince is, and what is his wisdom earned?

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Download the Prophesy Appendix:

The merfolk culture is built on the prophetic Gift. Nearly all men produce a portent every twenty days, and they devote their lives to interpretation. For more about the role and inner workings of prophesy, check out the Prophesy Appendix above.

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Alongside every prophesy is an attribution block. This block contains a byline giving the name of the person who said the prophesy, and a dateline giving the day the prophesy was first said. Here is the attribution for this portent:

Karyeh Njuyek Gusya III
2:3:1:3/5, III:IX

The portent attributed here has not yet been interpreted. It was said recently, and it will be repeated every twenty days until either it is correctly interpreted, or it comes to pass.


That's it for this post! Up Next: By sea to land where daemons roar...

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Life is an adventure.
Are You Ready?

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