Julius Calendar 894
Month Of The Withered Man
28th
--
A decrepit wizened hand lay loosely within Jaspers firm grip. His bronzed hands whispered tales of a strength that wasn't present four years ago. Like his hands his face which had once been gaunt and bony had now been properly filled out and was bursting with vigour, his skin however was still as sun worn as it had been. Currently contrasting the strength that was now found in his face was presently a deep sorrow. Two translucent streams of tears ran from the young mans shimmering brown eyes before dripping down his chin onto the weak pigeon chest of his father whom lay in a shoddy bed tightly wrapped in numerous animal hides. His chest fluttered delicately and frailly, seemingly threatening to stop its motion at any moment.
Four years this winter ago Rorin Valour had contracted a terrible illness. Within two months of the initial cough he had become entirely bed ridden. A racking hack that sat deep within his lungs saw the man often spitting up great clots of black blood. His original hearty appetite had shrivelled and withered much like himself and within four years he had turned from a strong middle aged strapping hunter into a emaciated skeleton. His chestnut hair that had once been long and flowing now was white and limp, covered in a thin film of sickly grease. His vitality had withered and after battling his plight for four years he now lay upon his deathbed.
“Jasper my boy. I won't be eating tonight, give those rabbits-” The weak seemingly elderly voice paused for a moment to shakily cough, a deep chested bone rattling cough, before continuing. “- the Rockfall’s. They struggle to eat” Although the mans eyes were clouded and misty the kindness that sparkled within them was still clearly visible.
Breathing in deeply through his nose Jasper held back his tears “Don't worry pops, I'll give them the deer carcass. But me and you are having those rabbits in a soup tonight you hear me? Gilda came over with a handful of carrots for us, I'll make a good job of it pops I promise” By the end of his reply his voice was breaking as he looked upon the sunken ill face of his father. Sorrow engulfed his heart as he contrasted the wizened features of today with the tenderly smiling face the father of his memories had.
Jaspers reply bought a small smile to Rorin’s ragged face “She's always kept an eye out for me and you that Gilda. Used to keep you with her whilst I went into the Axe” Rapidly the lifted edges of his dry and cracked mouth sank down again as he turned his unfocused eyes onto Jaspers young face. “Jasper you’re a good kid you know that?” His shaky voice contained volumes of emotion.
Softly smiling through his tears Jaspers grip tightened around his fathers bony hand “You ain't always said that pops.”
The weak man started to chuckle but it quickly turned into a wheezing hacking fit. Gasping for air he took a moment before wryly replying “you ain't always given me reason to say it is why son” Pausing he carried on “You got so much of your mothers blood in you Jasper.” Tenderly his clouded eyes swept past Jaspers face to the rickety wooden ceiling above. Adoration and love flooded his expression as his old eyes played benevolent tricks on him, hallucinating about an individual only he could see. “Your mother… Hilda. She was beautiful. Did I ever tell ya Jasper? God was she beautiful.”
A single moist tear spilled down his wrinkled face, slowly flowing through the deep creases of his skin. “She had the brightest red hair Jasper. It fell thick and long like. And her eyes. Oh Jasper her eyes. Not a good thing in a person she couldn't see with those kind eyes of hers” His frail chest rose and fell quicker as he described his sons mother to him, all the while tenderly staring at the ceiling, seeing things only he could see.
A sob broke free from Jaspers throat “Pops.” He grabbed ahold of his dad's loose weak hand with both of his own and held on tightly as if he was afraid he's dad would slip away if he let go. He dropped his head as rivulets of tears streamed down his face.
Smiling softly the ill man continued his smitten narrative “Jasper son, when your mothers belly first started showing with ya I can't even tell you how happy the both of us were. A child. The two of us were having a baby.” More tears began flowing from the mans misted eyes. “Then the baby was born”
Jasper couldn't hold back any longer and started sobbing, deep shuddering sobs on his fathers chest. Bone deep grief surfaced on Rorin’s pale wrinkled face as he kept talking but quieter now “Jasper you don’t know how much it hurt losing her” His voice slipped even lower. “Without me even knowing, my world had centred about her. Losing her was how I realised that.”
Rorins soft crying grew in volume. As two voices had cried together fourteen years ago when Jasper was born so those same two voices cried together now. Shakily sobbing the old man continued his narrative “Jasper you were all I had. My only family in this hard world” As he reached this point his crying voice once again dropped a note. “And you know what. I buried it deep down away but… but there was always a part of me that thought life woulda been better if she had never gotten pregnant you know?”
Hearing such a cutting sentence from his dad Jasper could only sink his head onto his fathers chest and cry out in reply “I'm sorry pops, so so sorry”
Taking a deep breath Rorin’s eyes regained a small portion of clarity, his unseeing gaze directed at the ceiling was broken and he peered down his nose at his distraught son whom sobbed across his chest. Smiling gently the old man weakly returned his sons tight grip back and slowly raised his trembling one free emaciated hand. With a great struggle he placed it upon the head of his child. “Don't be sorry son. I lost a part of me with your mother I'll admit, but you've gone a long way to getting it back Jasper. I said before didn't I, ya have so much of your mother in ya. Maybe not to look at, but she's in ya. Where it counts. She's in ya. You've a place in ma heart right besides your mum son. But I do miss her Jasper. I miss her so much” Smiling the little clarity that had descended was once again enshrouded by fog. “Jasper” The already quiet voice once again dipped in volume and strength.
“Yes pops” The sobbing young man replied.
“Look after Little Willow for me won't ya?”
“Always pops”
“Good boy. I do love ya y’know”
“I know pops”
A slight smile rested on the seemingly old mans tired face as he gently nodded in confirmation to his sons reply. Then his clouded murky eyes slipped shut. Jaspers wailing rose to a crescendo as his father whom had taught him, reared him and loved him closed his eyes for the very last time.
Jasper stayed beside his fathers bed for sixteen hours without moving. His dad's weak heart kept beating for as long as it could, struggling to fight the illness and live on for just one more minute. However eventually the inevitable came. Rorin Valour passed away in his sleep beside him his only relative, his one son. Upon the corpses lips lay a tender smile. His unseeing eyes finally seeing a woman whom he had yearned to be with for fourteen long years.
“He’s a damn fine son Hilda, let me tell ya”
--
Julius calendar 894
Month Of The Withered Man 28th
Rorin Valour succumbs to an undiagnosed illness
Jasper Valour’s only relative dies
--
Julius Calendar 897
Month Of The Weeping Angels
18th
--
An aromatic scented breeze wafted through the frigid air. The breeze danced about the outskirts of the limited confines of the glade before playfully rushing back into the centre, softly brushing against a jagged black tablet and a young man whom peacefully sat cross legged upon the daises the tablet was erected from. Two trails of steam could be seen blowing from his nose at regularly spaced intervals.
The young man was bare chested, wearing only a pelted loincloth despite the near freezing temperatures. His chest was streamlined and slim, well defined and a deep bronze in colour. The playful breeze gently swatted at the mans shoulder length brown hair lightly buffeting it. If one were to compare the skinny gaunt boy who stumbled upon this very glade and tablet eight years ago to the striking young man that sat here presently one would find little similarity. Only the bone structure could be called somewhat alike.
The boy from yesteryear was ropey and gangly, his face carried hints of hardiness however overall there had been an unhealthy sallowness to his face. Famine had sunken his eyes and he appeared similar to a starved wild animal in both appearance and air. The man of today however bore none of those qualities. His jaw was set and determined and across his brows was a faint trace of bravery. His cheek bones still slightly protruded, however it was clear this was naturally so and not because of starvation. The biggest contrast of course would be between the two frames of the individuals. The boy was little more than a skeleton, his dirty skin had weakly hung from his bones. Whereas the man of today, although he didn't posses a overly burly physique, was very well muscled. Every part of his body hinted at power and speed. This was of course a stark contrast to the child who had appeared nothing more than skin, rag and bone.
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
Deeply exhaling through his nose Jasper conjured a great cloud of steam in the cool environment before he slowly opened his eyes. For an instant something ethereal seemed to flash within the depths of his deep dark hazel pupils. However unless one was observing closely they would dismiss it as whimsies of the light. Sighing somewhat helplessly the young man looked down at his smooth palms that rested upwards on his crossed thighs.
Vigorously clenching his palm into a strong fist his brows creased in frustration as he bitterly muttered to himself “It's been nearly two years since I unlocked the sixth Gate and it isn't even half full yet.” Jasper spoke of abstract concepts only he understood. A distant far of light reflected in the mans eye as he reminisced about the past eight years and all he had come to discover and realise about the daises and his own body over that time.
Ever since he had stumbled upon this clearing as a ten year old and stood atop the daises he had been changed. The day after his discovery and initial interaction with the daises he realised he had changed. Everywhere he went he could sense the pulsing energy that lay beneath his feet. Not only that but he was stronger and faster, his hearing and sight both elevated. His body had reacted fluidly to his commands in ways that it hadn't done before, ways normal people's bodies didn't react.
After the first encounter Jasper had left shocked and scared but upon noticing the changes the curious ten year old boy eventually came back to the glade and the daises for a second time. Once again he stepped onto its cold black surface. This time he didn't pull away. Instead with a belly full of nervousness he welcomed the overbearing beating energy into his body.
He could still remember how he had shook and sweat as he observed a glowing network of veins spread throughout his body, pulsing in rhythm to the earths beat below him. The terrifying process thankfully only lasted for a mere five minutes because once the glowing veins had fully permeated throughout the entirety of his bodies exterior they then burrowed deeper into his interior. He could faintly sense the expansive networks inside of him that the energy was unlocking and it terrified the young boy. But it excited him more.
After an hour the energy had apparently entirely unlocked a great network throughout the interior and exterior of his body. Having finished its task the aimless energy then proceeded to pulse along the network it had just excavated slowly making its way towards the left side of his chest. It was a slow process as with every beat of the Earth the energy would only move a slight fraction through his body's recently excavated pathways, not at all like the rapid motion it had displayed the first time he had stood upon the daises. That time in but a single beat it had spiralled throughout his legs all the way up to his thighs.
Eventually the energy arrived at the point it naturally was attracted to in the boy's body. Thin channels filtered out into a small spherical pool that was nestled deep inside of the left hand side of his chest. It was this pool that the energy converged to. The boy became somewhat uneasy however as he realised the energy that was deposited in this pool started pulsing discordantly to the earths energy below him, adopting a somewhat unharmonised rhythm. Jasper decided upon calling the chambers Gates due to a later event.
After being deposited in the first Gate the energy that was discordant with the earths energy didn't stay idle instead it proceeded to climb upwards through a single wide channel to a second slightly smaller chamber that was buried in-between his collarbones at the base of his throat. This journey took substantially longer as the energy that was pulsing chaotically travelled far slower than the energy that was harmonised to the earths beat.
Eventually the energy reached the second Gate where it then proceeded to trickle through six other similar chambers that were positioned at regular intervals in a perpendicular line down the centre of his chest. Each successive Gate was smaller than the last. Curiously as the energy traversed through the eight Gates Jasper could feel small threads of energy break away and flit off on its own accord, nimbly bursting out of the chambers and into the wide network of pathways like a fish darting through water. After randomly travelling for a while the energy would seep out of the channels and into his muscles and bones, a soothing tingling warmth would always be transmitted to Japer from the place the energy seeped into. This meant that the end amount of energy that came to a halt in the ninth and final chamber that sat just below his navel was vastly reduced from what had set out from the first chamber.
Once the energy completed its arduous journey it came to lazily rotate within the ninth final Gate. As the energy passed through each Gate Jasper noticed the somewhat chaotic pulsing started to harmonise to a new beat. Once deposited in the ninth Gate it seemed to of once again found a steady tempo to pulse to that was significantly quicker than the beat of the earths energy. Jasper had a vague suspicion at first however it was only after taking his own pulse that he confirmed his own shocking assumption. The energy pulsed to the beat of his heart.
Harboured within the ninth Gate was an extensive number of small channels that were interlinked to the entire network that spread the expanse of his body. The ninth Gate was like a great dam with many tributaries flowing from it and when Jasper so willed it the dam was opened and the energy would flood along the paths he wished it to travel.
With but a thought Jasper could circulate the energy to any part of his body, having done so he found that the energy significantly empowered him. For instance directing the energy to his knuckles enabled him to easily strike trees as hard as he was capable of. Of course it still hurt somewhat to hit a tree. Trees aren't soft. But nowhere near as much as it should of. Once dispensed outside of the ninth Gate the energy would eventually return to the first Gate where it would be once again be distilled back to the ninth Gate, a harmonious cycle. The distilling process for energy that was synchronised to his heart however occurred at a much faster pace.
There was a maximum capacity his body could absorb when it came to the earths energy that slowly and gently filtered into him through the daises. The first Gate was quickly filled by the earths energy, the rate at which it distilled the energy to the second Gate was far slower than the rate at which it was filled.
Cold sweat would still bead upon Jaspers forehead as he thought of the the time the first Gate was saturated and yet still he remained on the daises. The steady beat of the earth continued to compress energy into the first Gate without relent. The feeling of the chamber being stretched out was excruciatingly painful. The ten year old Jasper had flown of the daises onto the ground and lay on the meadow for many minutes gasping and clutching at his heart which felt like it was about to tear and rip open. Never again had he repeated that mistake.
So it followed with the amazing discovery of the daises secrets that the routine of Jasper’s entire life was formed. From the time his father first fell ill Jasper would delve into the Axe every day under the premise of hunting. However instead he would directly come to the secluded glade and sit upon the mystical black daises. It took just short of two hours for the first Gate to completely fill. Once full Jasper would quickly depart and search for quarry. Of course utilising his newfound strength and heightened senses prey fell to his arrows all the more frequently. It would take an entire day for the first Gate to completely distill the collected energy into the ninth gate, a process which naturally occurred without Jaspers supervision. He could so chose to oversee the process if he were to pause and concentrate upon it, allowing the distilling process to slightly quicken. Obviously the ninth gate came nearer and nearer to full as he diligently practiced on the daises every day.
Eventually three months after Jasper wounded the white hart and stumbled upon the daises he completely filled the ninth gate. The sensation was unlike anything he'd ever experienced. A roaring that started off softly but quickly rose to a crescendo loudly echoed within his mind, his entire body felt flooded with power and a jubilant feeling that originated deep within his soul left him grinning for multiple days on end. His entire body became drastically different, muscles that contained great strength developed overnight and he grew a few inches over the next month. If he had to describe it he would say it felt like he had become something better, like a part of him he didn't even know existed had been unlocked. And so it was he came to name the chambers Gates and when he filled a Gate he came to say he had unlocked it.
After the first unlocking Jasper’s entire life began to revolve around chasing after that ecstasy of profoundly raising ones entire being to new heights. The gates were staggered in size. The ninth being the smallest and the first being the largest. It took him nine months of persistence and diligence after unlocking the ninth gate to unlock the eighth Gate. Then the seventh Gate took a year and seven months to unlock. He had half filled the sixth gate when his father had passed away. After his father died four years ago he had resolutely moved out of his old home, instead opting to live a semi secluded life in the glade, sleeping in a rough wooden lean to under animal hides. All for the sake of achieving the next unlocking. Two years after he buried his father he unlocked the sixth gate.
Presently Jasper unclenched his fist and the far off glaze that had shrouded his shimmering brown eyes disappeared as his thoughts returned from the past to the present. Gently inclining his head his eyes gazed at a thick tree that stood at the edge of the meadow, proudly defining the border between forest and glade. Upon the ancient barks surface many tally marks could be seen scratched. It was these crude inscribirngs Jasper now looked at.
Softly he spoke. His voice sounding light and unrestrained like a floating cloud, not a single hint of burden present. “Eighteen today eh. I guess I should go say hey to Pops and Ma as a man then.” So saying so he gently stood up and casually stepped forward. As if lighter than air itself he soared over five yards from the daises before gravity once again staked its claim on him. Gently landing as if he weighed no more than a leaf the bronze young man clad in no more than a pelted loincloth during the coldest most frigid time of the year casually strolled out the glade. Looking at his back that was broad and unencumbered one couldn't help but sigh, for though he seemed truly free there was a trace of loneliness that hung in the air about him.
On that day in the Axe as well as the usual jovial chorus of birds there sounded softly a freshly turned mans humming.
~Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me~
--
Julius Calendar 897
Month Of The Weeping Angles 18th
Jasper Valour turns eighteen
--