Chapter 2 - The Legend of Parrotise
“Hey did you hear that the old enchantress’s adopted grandson just turned 12!” a middle-aged woman gossiped to the shopkeeper.
“What? No way. Has it already been twelve years since that boy was born?” The shopkeeper replied.
“Indeed it has,” the middle-aged gossip queen sighed ruefully. “How old we’ve become.”
At this the both of them sighed again.
“Hey there always sighing auntie number 1 and almost always sighing shopkeeper number 1. How have you been this fine evening?” a blue-white parrot flew down from the sky and landed on the floor while cocking its head to the side so as to position its eye in a place it could see both the humans.
Seeing the parrot both parties let out a light laugh at its humor. “It has been a long time since we last met your acquaintance madame cloud parrot 1. We have been very well, how about yourself?” the shopkeeper asked.
Conversation like this was perfectly normal considering the high population of parrots and parrot descendant birds in this mountain range. It was said that the humans who lived here were long ago protected by a parrot god and so they came to revere the birds of the mountains. Thus, over the many centuries whenever new empires were established, sects formed and fell, the villagers living in the mountain range called Parrotise always remained safe and sound. Not just because they had the protection of the birds, but also because these were people without a culture of violence and they defended the birds with everything in their power. In order to avoid conflict they would never build up extremely destructive weapons of war so as to not be perceived a threat and also not venture out of their lands to avoid provoking others.
It was honestly quite strange that they had never been embroiled in a conflict, but at the same time it was not that weird either. Whenever enemies would venture into this sacred land it was an extreme rarity that they would do so due to a feeling of ill will and after being invited in and treated like guests, as long as they had even a shred of humanity they would become peaceful citizens. Due to this peaceful aura which prevented all conflict and put everyone inside it at ease, Parrotise become the number location for retirement. Essentially, a bunch of really powerful old folks that got tired of constantly being embroiled in war would come here to live out the rest of their days in peace.
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Take the middle aged gossip queen and the shopkeeper for instance. The former was a former princess of the Dark Ocean Kingdom who could transform into a gigantic sea serpent and the latter was the former supreme naval commander of the Dark Ocean Kingdoms greatest rival, the Clear Seas Kingdom. Both were major characters but they willingly lived in peace with each other in Parrotise. Additionally, with such illustrious characters all over, it would be strange if any enemies were to show up and not lay down their weapons and convert to buddhism. And by buddhism we are not talking about the buddhism that once tried to take over the government of Japan or China. We are also not talking about the buddhism which did all the worshipping of gods and sages, but the true universalist philosophy, “Be a good person, whatever that may be”.
If we were to think about any mishaps or conflicts which occured over this piece of land there is one notable one. It was when an alliance of 5 kingdoms tried to conquer the place for harboring a fugitive. However, the end result was the ever mysterious enchantress appearing. With one glare, all the soldiers in the army found themselves completely hairless… they literally lost all the hair on their head and the rest of their bodies including their eyebrows, eyelashes, nostril hair and ear hair. Then, with one swing of her mighty sword she roared, “Evil annihilating sword slash” and all of the weapons the soldiers wielded were fragmented into dust. Then she spoke.
“People say that weapons are not evil. Indeed they are not, for they are made from the same steel that is used to make the farming tools one uses in the agricultural arts and the same shields that are used to protect oneself from wounds, so indeed weapons are not evil. But they become evil if one points them at others. So if you wish to fight, than point your weapon at your opponent's weapon for it is your sword or spear or axe which is challenging theirs. Do not ever point them at another human being to take or threaten their lives. It is better for those weapons to not exist than to be made tools of sin.”
At that time one of the kings looked at the enchantress meaningfully. “Although that fugitive had committed many crimes in the eyes of us, the administrators of law, if she sincerely becomes a good person in Parrotise, than we have nothing to worry about. Rather we rejoice, for the arrival of another kind and pure soul into this world.”
Just like that, the 5 kingdoms pulled out. And so the legends surrounding Parrotise were developed over the years and some 13 years after that incident we arrived at the present day, when the grandson of the enchantress reached the age of twelve.