41 Third Era, Mortal Realm

I was once told I was a monster. A creature of nightmare. Something to fear. Perhaps they were right to accuse me so. It is not as if I were fated to be anything but a monster. But, as I look into this cracked mirror, dusted by age, I cannot help but feel pity for the woman who stares back with those haunted eyes. She does not look like a monster. But, then again, I know what rests in her soul.

Kais grinned. Her wide lips curled up to expose white teeth chipped slightly in a few odd places. She jumped from her feather-down bed onto the barren wooden-floor, still cold in the morning light.

She did not mind the cold. It was always cold here in Denah. As her long, auburn hair swished in a cascading fan behind her, Kais busied herself in her armoire. Fancy that, an armoire! It had pale arms that curved in a delicate, suppline fashion which only enumerated the yawning expanse of its innards. As she flicked through dress after dress, her heart began to fill with warmth for her father.

He had gone through all this effort to please her. Not that she was hard to please. She knew a few of that type. Raina Bellnorth, for one. Kais grimaced as she pulled out a dress with enough lace to fit in at the Baron’s Court.

That girl was so selfish, a cat would think her so. Kais would have been perfectly happy with a small flower for Name Day. A daffodil would have been pleasant. A painting of the flower bloomed in her mind’s eye as she pulled the dress on over her shift. It reminded Kais of her mother. Or, at least, what little Kais knew of her. Her mother’s smile, so bright and shining, stood out among the sadness that hung over Kais’ memories of her like a shroud. But, not too sad. A death that could not be avoided, a fated death, no less, was no cause to mourn nor a cause for joy. It just was.

Bellodana Wellweather died of an illness fated to her on her own Name Day. A shiver ran up Kais’ spine as she walked with arching steps across the wooden floor of the cottage she shared with her father. Her own Name Day ceremony was only a few hours away. A thrill of excitement coursed through her, mingling with her growing trepidation. Her mother’s case was a freak occurrence. Kais knew of no others whose deaths were fated on their name day. And yet, Kais was worried.

She flicked her thumb and middle-finger together creating a small pop that resonated in the still morning. A nervous habit. But, all the same, it made her feel somewhat better as she walked up to the burly man lounging at the chipped mahogany table in the middle of the room.

Gemos Wellweather was younger than his features suggested. A craggy, almost sunken face, covered by a full beard speckled with the grey of too many winters, Gemos looked like an aged, granite rock. A few splinters showed in his solemnity as he turned towards Kais. A small smile lit up his face and crossed those slate grey eyes Kais loved so dearly.

She gave a giggle and curtsied like a lady’s maid at court.

“Dearest father, how are you this fine morning?”

Her hair, shining in the light of the red sun, hung before her like a veil as she bent low in mock humility.

She saw her father belt out a sharp laugh as he scratched his beard with a hand stained black by the Mines.

“Kais, you are lively this morning.”

She straightened and flashed a grin.

“It’s my Name Day after all. Should I not be joyful?”

A hint of her earlier uneasiness roiled through her insides and her smile became frozen. Kais had seen the look her father gave her. That look. Sunken, broken. Kais did not want to see it ever again. Gemos had slumped in his chair at her words as he remembered. For him, the memory would be like a fresh wound this day.

A false sense of cheeriness entered her voice as she stated, “It will be wonderful to be given a name. A true name. Think of it father!”

Kais could not help but feel a sense of accomplishment at her words. Even though she hadn’t done anything, Kais felt as if she had. It was as if this day was a giant hurdle and it was her duty to overcome it. Her father, her mother, almost everyone she knew had overcome it. Now, it was her turn.

It was natural to feel fear before a day such as this. A day where her life would be foretold to her in a nutshell. Her entire being subject to the laws and rules of the Syball. It was useless to feel fear. What would come, would come.

But, Kais knew her father felt none of that.

Her father’s beard was creased by a thin smile.

“A name is not all you will be in this world,” Gemos cautioned her as he rose.

“My true name is carved into my very soul and it only shows a part of who I am.”

“But father,” Kais said as she frowned, “You were told your fate, were you not?”

Kais let the question hang in the air as her father busied himself cleaning up the small mess he had left at the table. As he brushed a few wood shavings off the table, he said, his eyes affixed to the table, “Life is not so simple that it can be constrained to words Kais. I know that and your mother knew that.”

Kais could not help but flinch. Even though he spoke as soft as a summer breeze, his words were like a slap in the face. What he said was sacrilege. Some in the village would even call him a traitor for his words. He spoke so lightly about life outside of the Name. The Name was Life and all knew it. It gave and it took. There was no other way to see it.

“Father,” she hissed as she took two quick hurried steps to grab his shoulder so he would face her, “what you say is nonsense. What if the mayor heard you say that?”

Gemos waved a hand away as if to dismiss the matter.

“Bekal won’t do anything. He cares little for what Us folk say. To him, and the Speaker alike, it’s what we do that matters.”

Kais crossed her arms under her breasts as anger began to rise within her. She would not have her concerns taken so lightly. Concerns, she added to herself, that were valid and, perhaps, prudent to heed.

She supposed Bekal was a good enough man. Good enough meant little in a village the size of Denah however. A medium-sized mining village, Denah was important enough to Baron Cypri that he sent one of his own Speakers to advise the mayor.

As she opened her mouth, a slight tremor of anger jolted through her clenched fist. Yet, even before she could speak, her father forestalled her with a soft smile that lit his slate, grey eyes until they looked like polished rocks.

“Kais, it is not as troublesome as you think. Your mother’s…”

Gemos paused with his hand on the table as a shadow passed over him. It only lasted an instant before he began to speak again.

“Your mother’s fate was only the ending. She had a good life. Short, true, but good all the same. Nothing we could have done could have changed that.”

I did not understand my father’s meaning at that time. I thought he spoke of the inevitability of fate. That what one does, does not matter in the least. His words hurt me. They stung like a thousand hornets. Pinpricks that caused enormous, almost insurmountable pain. His true words were lost to me on the day I needed them most. It was only years later in which I truly understood his meaning. I ran from the room that day, furious at my father, and not knowing it would be the last time I ever exchanged words with him.

A few hours later, Kais found herself in the center of the town square. Her dress, the one she chose for this day, was wrinkled and somewhat mud stained due to her angry march from her father’s house. To top that off, the sun was beating down a wave of oppressive heat, unusual for Denah, to create sweat stains in all the wrong places.

The murmuring of the crowd milling around her had become agitated hours ago as all waited for the ceremony to begin. As Kais stood in a haphazard line, between the old, wooden constructs of Denah proper, a dais had been erected by a few Axe-Hands on top of the market square.

Every so often, Kais surreptitiously looked through the crowd for her father. She never saw him. It was her fault. She knew that. In anger, she stalked out of their small house without another word to him. For quite some time, she was furious at his patronizing attitude. But, as her anger past, Kais knew she had been in the wrong all along.

A father’s duty was to look after his daughter and a daughter's duty was to listen to sage advice. She wished she stayed to listen just then as Speaker Benson took the stage. As he tightened his long, blue robes with an amber-colored belt, he swept his thinning-hair out of his face to look down at the crowd with a flat gaze that bespoke all the enthusiasm he had for such a matter as this.

The twenty-odd Name Candidates stood in a loosely-packed circle under the stage. Anxious whispers and thumping hearts were the only sounds that came from their small group. Kais stood off to the side of them as she continued to look for her father but, again, she did not see him. It wasn’t like it was a surprise. There were thousands-upon-thousands gathered for the Name Day Ceremony. Well, not for the ceremony, per se, but the feast that came after the fact. That was an event no one in Denah would miss.

As Kais craned her neck up to the stage where Speaker Benson nodded to Mayor Bekal, a short, bearded man, with some thickness around his waist, with solemnity that seemed his manner. Kais did not know. In fact, as her gaze swept across the other Name Day Candidates, she knew few well enough that they would be called more than mere acquaintances. As she and her father lived some ways from Denah proper and the fact that her father was overprotective due to the death of her mother, Kais never spent great lengths of time with any of the others of her age. Those she knew best were probably the Miners who worked with father and the Shepherds who tended the sheep in the Eastern Marking Hills.

The clear note of a bell emanated from the stage. As Kais turned her head back to the stage, both the Mayor and the Speaker had walked to the front of the stage to face the crowd before them.

As the Mayor raised his hands in an encompassing gesture, his plain woolen clothes, a stark contrast to the Speaker’s, Mayor Bekal smiled. It was a polite thing. Not too friendly but not cold enough to alienate the crowd in front of him.

“My friends, my family,” the Mayor boomed.

“We have gathered once again to bring a new generation into the fold. A new day has dawned for Denah. Those of you will step on this stage and receive what Life has proclaimed is yours, rejoice, for you purpose will be given for all to see!”

There were some scattered, half-hearted claps at the Mayor’s words but he did not seem to notice as he turned to the Speaker who kept his flat gaze throughout the performance. Few people, other than family members, cared what Names were given to the Name Day Candidates. Sure, some gossip-mongers looked on eagerly, as the waited for the next juicy morsel.

Would Davon Markwhall’s girl Henna, a beauty, be given a future husband?

Would Raina Bellnorth have prospects as great as those as her brother, the Vice-Captain of the Baron’s Guard?

And would Kais Wellweather have a fate better than her mother?

“Let us all proclaim this day for Life,” Speaker Benson began.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Life has given us all. Life has suckled us like babes at its teet.”

Benson, Kais opined, was not a great speaker but he was not poor either. Adequate, to say the least, his words carried to the hearts and minds of those who watched his performance. Kais too was caught up in the words as he spun the tale of Life’s gift to humanity.

“...and that brings us to this day. This day when these young men and women will take the mantle of their parents and loved-ones and become a new generation that Life has given its blessing to.”

There were more claps at his words than the Mayor’s  and the Speaker gave them a small, tight smile in response.

The Mayor, once again, stepped back up to the front of the stand as he unfurled a document. Kais’ heart began to thump wildly as the Mayor began to read off names. She craned her neck to look for her father but to no avail. Her panic began to bleed into fear as the Mayor called the first candidate.

Henna Markwhall, a mere slip of a girl with dirty-blond hair that cascaded down her small frame, walked shakily up the stage and looked as frightened as Kais felt. Speaker Benson leaned over her and with a lithe motion, touched the upper-portion of her collarbone. A small flash of light began to shine from under dress and with a practiced motion, the Speaker felt, cautious of his intentions, the Name branded into Henna’s Soul.

After a moment, the Speaker turned and pronounced to the crowd, “Henna Markwhall, Core of Farmer and a Prominent Strain of Long-Lived.”

A smattering of cheers rose from the crowd. It was a common enough Name. Many in Denah had such. As Kais watched Henna grin with relief, the butterflies in Kais’ stomach seemed to dissipate but they almost immediately returned as Mayor Bekal announced the next name.

“Kais Wellweather.”

Kais’ face turned a pale white as sweat began to bead down her brow. Thoughts of her mother arose in her mind and she climbed up the stairs to the stage, her head lowered in expectant shame of her Name. She knew it would be bad. She just knew it.

She approached the Speaker, whose flat gaze made her falter even more, with hesitancy born of uncertainty. This was what she feared. This. Just this. Her heart boomed in her mind as the Speaker placed a delicate hand on her shoulder. With a suddenness that surprised her, a small but sharp pain tore through her body as a bright light flashed across the stage. As her eyes remained clothes against the light, her breathing ragged from the pain and fear, she felt the Speaker’s hand reach beneath her dress and feel the Name branded on her Soul. It was cold and soft but she felt the vileness of it all the same.

She inwardly shivered as the Speaker removed his hand. Was there a hesitation there?

Her eyes still closed, she heard the Speaker announced in a voice as hard as iron, “This one is no longer a child of the Light. She has broken her bond!”

A silence descended among the crowd as Kais’ heart clenched. Broken my bond? I didn’t know such a thing was possible! How? Why?

These thoughts tore through her mind as those who she called friend, acquaintance, and one or two enemies, began to whisper. Dark looks began to form on their faces like thunder heads as all turned to look at her-The pale, dark-haired girl on the stage.

Before the Speaker could say anything else, a shout rose from the crowd.

“It’s all because of the Bitch that sired her! She was tainted with the cursed fate!”

Kais could not see who spoke but it did not mattered. She could see muttering nods and acceptance throughout the crowd. She just wanted to run. Father! What would he do? What would he think of this?

Shame crawled up her spine and settled on her shoulders. Shame and fear. The fear had grown insurmountably as her Fate settled down around her shoulders. She knew the penalty for breaking the bond Life had given. She knew it and feared it. All feared it. Death was the penalty.

As two men from the crowd seized her by the shoulders and tugged a tight rope across her wrists, she did not resist. Despondency had overtaken her. There was nothing she could do just like her mother. She was just like her mother. Except, her mother had not broken her bond. Somehow, Kais had. She did not know how. That thought continued to run through her mind as she was dragged through the crowd by the two men followed close behind by the Speaker and the Mayor who shouted the vileness of her actions for all to hear.

She was not surprised the town had turned on her this quick. It one did not obey the spirit and letter of the law, they would find themselves in the same position Kais found herself in now.

As she was dragged to the center of the crowd, the two men unceremoniously dropped her on the grass strewn ground. Numbly, she fell in a heap as the Speaker stood over her, a scowl on his face.

“This creature,” he pronounced, “has broken all that came before and all that will come after. No longer is she under the sheltered care of Life but has chosen an existence outside of Her. Only Villains so foul that they would not be welcome by the foulest bandits would call her evilness equal. For breaking her bond, for that crime alone, I pronounce her death. Each and every one of you find the largest stone and break it on her. Break it, like she broke her bond. First though,”

Kais could hear the rasping of his spite-filled breath, a sentiment she had yet to understand, when he uttered the words that sent chills down her spine. “Her sire must go first. To sire such a bastard that became a traitor to the one who saved us, mind you saved us, she deserves as much pain as we can give.”

Piss began to trail down her leg as she cried in her mind, No! Anything but this. I have shamed him too much as it is. Not this. Not this.

A roar rose from the crowd as she heard her father, from the depths of the crowd, being pushed forward the front. After a time, the crowd began to settle and she saw her father, more gaunt and tired than she thought possible, before her.

He held a large, fist sized stone in his hand.

Her heart thumped a rapid, faltering beat.

Red-rimmed eyes met her’s and she saw the look in them.

He had lost everyone. Her death would destroy him. Perhaps, that was the point. Surprisingly, her fear, anger, and confusion became a semblance of calm. If she could do anything this day, it would be to try and save him.

“Father,” Kais called out in a tight voice, “You must do this. Actions are what they see.”

A soft reminder, but a reminder nonetheless.

He nodded, still reluctant but he gripped his rock with a white-knuckled grip and threw it will all his might.

It struck her in the throat and crushed her windpipe as she toppled to the grass.

Perhaps, he was trying to alleviate her suffering with that throw. He would never know it greatly increased it. She remained alive for the next hour, only able to breath a small amount of air through her damaged windpipe, as the townsfolk through stone after stone at her. They broke all the bones in her body, her head was crushed, caved, and bloodied, and anything resembling a human was destroyed.

Kais Wellweather died that day. She died because a single man pronounced it so.

Gemos Wellweather, unable to repent for his actions, hung himself the next day.

The land was broken and the sea was shattered. All living cried out for a savior. ‘Oh, how we weep! How we weep! The blood of our souls is twisted and rotten. Kings and Peasants alike plead for mercy. We wish our babes to sate their hunger and thirst. Oh Lords, of the heavens above, hear our call!’ And Life answered them. For unto them, he pronounced Names which granted all Realms peace unto the heavens. - From Bushu’s Translation of The Rhodri Phalast 1445 Second Era

~

41 Third Era, Thadun Realm

The gentle sigh of the wind drifted through the valley. Warm, musky air congealed with the heat of the Thadun. Red, craggy rock jutted from the ground like pillars up towards the heavens. Yet, no sky shone above. Only blackness with the twinkling of the Mortal Fires of the Earthly Realm. This was one of those places where the two Realms touched. One, full of life, the other, long since having become a desolate wasteland.

A cursed land it was. Mortals named it Hell once upon a time. If they only knew the truth. They spoke of the primordial bond of Life and Names and of the place those who broke that bond would go. How wrong they were.

Janpir stood on those craggy rocks and peered at the black canvas above. Thick of build, his tall stature made him stand out in this blood red world. Long, black hair cascaded down his shoulders as a sword, wide as a man’s fist, hung at his belt like Delthos, the blade of the Immortal Temri, reforged.

Perhaps it was.

Janpir gave a small grin to himself. It had been, after all, ten thousand years since any had last seen the Immortal. Janpir, himself, could be that Immortal. That would be a spectacle. He could imagine sauntering up to the gates of the High Speaker’s Palace and proclaiming himself to be such.

Janpir could not help it. He let out a laugh that shook the land around him with its thunderous boom. Rock tumbled about and the tall spires that loomed above grated with the pressure of his voice. But, as soon as he let loose, he reigned himself in. Foremost, any Speaker, at first glance, would know his Soul. Further, he knew that he was nowhere near the level of an Immortal. Even if he wanted to take revenge, those at the High Speaker’s side would never allow such a thing to occur.

He reached under his cowl and felt the branded Name above his breast. Hot to the touch, its meaning seared itself in his mind like a curse. It was the source of his power and of his pain. For many in Thadun, this forsaken of all lands, it was the same.

Three-hundred years past, he had broken through the barrier between mortal and immortal. Short in an immortal’s view, but to him, it felt like an eternity. An eternity in which he was trapped in this prison. A prison filled with the blood of those cursed by Life.

As he further depressed himself by diving deeper into this train of thought, a spark of Soul Energy sprang into existence a few kilometers off in the distance. Janpir jerked his head up in surprise. This was not an instance of gathering Soul Energy, rather the formation of Soul Energy. It was so weak but Janpir had honed his senses above all else. If he had not, there was no way he would have survived so long in Thadun. There were too many powerful warriors for that.

A new entity was being born in Thadun!

Cautious as ever, Janpir Soul Walked on the breeze until he overlooked the place where the feint, but thrumming, Soul Energy was forming. It could be a being from anywhere. A Jasaka from the Penthoras Realm, a Demi-Dragon from the Ashia Realm, or...Janpir’s mouth, ever thin, dropped open in surprise. He clasped a white-knuckled fist on his sword as he looked down in shock at the naked, human woman before him.