This character is a fisherman, about 20 yr's old. While fishing.. he catches something in the water.. this item is the source of him becoming marked as a sign of prophecy beginning to be fulfilled. What could he have fished up? An ordinary item? A glowing orb? A talking fish? A weapon? Just looking for some input.. thanks guys!
How about his fishing lure catches on something, he's forced to dive in and untangle line where he finds a treasure in the water.
That could be interesting as well. When the item is removed from the water, somehow others would be alerted to it's discovery, not knowing who found it, just that it had been found. Thanks!
There could be something inside the fish, found when he gets it home and starts to clean it for supper, that no fish could reasonably swallow.
Old Crusader cross or coin. Others are searching for it and when it is released from it's protection or watery grave the others sense it's released because it has powers that they want. Just an idea.
The fisherman happens to pull up a book. It is bound and waxed and remarkably well-preserved. He opens it ashore and is stunned to find... it is your very book in which he is the protagonist. This is very powerful, because he can look ahead and see what happens next. Since it is written in the third person, he can also know what others are doing and thinking whenever they do something important. In it, he finds all the keys to becoming the chosen one! If only he had the courage to look at the last chapter!
A good tradition in the fantasy genre is to find a wondrous item that is now bonded to your character, but he doesn't know how to use it. Perhaps he finds an ancient magical sword that has chosen him as it's wielder. This sword is said to change the balance of the realm for good or evil, but it must be in capable hands. Now your hero must seek guidance or training, but the presence of the magic blade alienates him from others. They fear what the weapon might do. Alone and scared, he seeks to travel to a distant land where he's assured that no one will know him or what he's carrying... Just a thought
My own idea felt familiar, and I finally remembered: the silver buckles found inside squashes in “The Huckabuck Family: And How They Raised Popcorn in Nebraska and Quit and Came Back”
He catches a shark, and when they are cleaning it back home finds a license plate that has properties, and go.......
What culture does the prophecy come from - where did it originate? A trawl through information on antiques/historical artifacts (especially the little, seemingly unimportant, even domestic items that could be made slightly spooky/mysterious) will probably give you ideas. If it's a modern prophecy, then any bit of popculture (an action figure with no head or hands, for instance) that's been lying in water for a while can come up looking suitably creepy and decayed....
Without a better understanding of the story is setting, Earth, not Earth, past, present, future, culture, it's hard to just throw things out, but I'll give it a shot. Body Part: Here's one that's really creepy, a body part that's withered but not decayed. It belongs to something like a lich or an undead villain that's trying to reassemble himself. Obviously something the good guys don't want to see happen. Ye Old Relic of Powerful Awesomeness: It is indeed a stable of fantasy, yet it can also take on so many different forms and have such different abilities, that if done right it can still be interesting. A lot of them also tend to have 'one charge left' so when the hero fires the sucker off, that's usually it. Reason being, if it's so powerful, once the hero figures out how to use it, doing so repeatedly can quickly turn it into a dues ex plot killer. Book of Hero Marking: Similar to what @soupcannon mentioned, pulling up a book with some dire, but annoying vague prophecy, which seems to have a PS stuck in there somewhere saying the person who found the book is the ultimate hero of destiny. The Book of the Story You're Writing: A bit of a comedy wanker, or serious depending on how you write it. The main character finds a book containing the very story you're writing about him, and tries to do something other than what's written. Avoid his fate, change the future, or perhaps something else?
He could pull up a plug, the prophecy could be etched on the bottom of it, as he reads it he doesn't realise that the lake he's floating in is getting smaller and smaller as he tumbled down to the 'port-hole'/portal and into a fantasy world. A pair of boots also. it's an old cliché to fish up a boot, but perhaps the boots have some magical quality to them or even are just a sign like a royal crown. if he's seen wearing some pretty nice boots around town.
