Times of Reflection

[Greekbro33 105]

 

After a long time inside the Sutican Palace, A single Cloaked figure emerges, his prized mask in his left hand dangling at his side as he looks towards the sky. A large sigh escaping his lips. For he never felt like he does now. The time spent speaking with Lilyana, the amount of Stress, and bottled up Emotion he let out while doing so. It felt like everything he was searching for in life had suddenly appeared in front of him, In a blinding ray of Golden light.

 

He found his way to help people, like he wasn't able to do with his mother. He found a new path, one that lead down are more rugged, and bumpy road, rather than the simple and plain duty road of a guard. This all made him feel..

 

Relieved…

 

He begins to raise his mask to his face, when a blonde steward walks by. He pauses before grinning to him, knowing where he is heading

 

“Your Turn.” He says. Flashing him a very rare Grin. Something he felt was more natural to him for some reason.

 

The steward looked at him before walking off “You make it sound like a chess game” and with that, he disappeared into the halls of the Palace. Leaving the Cloaked Figure once again, alone with his thoughts.

 

And so, he walked on, a new goal just ahead of him as he walked back to his uncle's house, To pack his bags and to go on another Adventure, but this time, it wasn't to hunt monsters, to to gather herbs. Or even to sass a group of bandits and Killers. He was going to meditate. A practice he had forgotten about since his return to the civilized life. A thing he did for hours on end while on his Adventures in the wild with his best friend Kyro. Something that always nagged at him, but he never did, but this time, was different, he had to do it! No he wanted to do it!

 

So, he walked.

 

~

 

His entire form, taller, straighter as if ready to take on anything. As he removed his cloak, he realized just how much he has been hiding himself. As he removed it, hanging it on a coat peg, he realized how much it meant to him, how much of him it was. He felt like he just shed a layer of very thick skin, something that has been there to protect him. And when he laid his mask on the same peg, he felt naked. It's been so long since the world saw his flesh. The colour of his skin, now white from lack of sun. he looks down at both pieces of him

 

“This is the end Friends. I will no longer be hiding myself from people. This is a new leaf, and you.. Were the rock sitting on it.”

 

As he packed his bags. The words of his discussion from lily ringing in his head, The words that have set him on this mission.

 

“Take a Pilgrimage to a place of Solitude and reflect.”

 

He knew the perfect spot, A place his Father brought him many times when he was young to teach him about Life, and everything in it, A place where Father and son bonded, and learned there was a lot to love in the world,

 

“Write down your thoughts on what Light and what Dark is to you”
 

What light and dark was? To some those words mean nothing but to him. He was going to find out.

 

Therefore he left Sutica, heading into the mountains to the north, the one place where he could concentrate. As he climbed wearing nothing but a pair fur kilt. Simply for him to sit on instead of the snow, for he still dreamed of children.

 

Some day

 

~

 

After what seemed like forever, As Gray sat on the chilly mountain, his feet tucked under him and his eyes closed. The constant cold wind biting at all of his exposed skin, which is pretty much everything. A constant reminder that he isn’t focused enough. So he adjusts his breathing counting in his head to breath in… 1.. 2...3….4...5...6..7.. To hold it for a moment 1...2...3...4… And to release slowly 1...2...3...4...5..6..7...8 Over, and Over.. until his mind transcends into deep thought, forgetting all about the wind, and he thinks

 

What is light?

 

What is Light to him?

 

To him.. Light would be all the good he sees in the world, and all the dreams of the descendants in it. No one thing can be considered light, because true white light is made from every other colour of it.

 

According to Tahariae, Light is purity, and white light if the purest form. Those of the clerical order with the white colouring are generally the wisest of the group, and they maintain that purity, keeping the lights glowing while starving the darkness away.

 

But another form of Purity is innocence, in other words youth. The heros of tomorrow, the ones we must raise to follow the path of light fight off the evils of the world. And without the light, there is no tomorrow. No sunrise or sunset, no reflection on the moon. Just.. darkness

 

But what is Darkness?

 

What is Darkness to him?

 

To him, Darkness is evil, everything that wishes to see the world end, to make those who cannot defend themselves suffer. A darkness is when all light has been shut out. Because one cannot be born dark. Darkness is what happens when you follow immoral roads, or are taught by another dark being

 

And according to Tahariae the darkness is also the evil, the undead, the wraiths and ghosts. The ‘spooks’ as they have been dubbed by many of the descendants. But it does not include those who do evil deeds.

 

So that is where the lines fade together. Where is the line of one being evil begin? And where does it end? To him, Darkness can be murderers, bandits, slavers, and etcetera, but the holy aspects of magic do not work on them. So where would he have to draw the line?

 

As the man opens his from his meditation a shadowy figure sits across from him, covered in furs, holding some bread. His face hidden

 

The kilted man would jump up, doing his familar motion of rolling his shoulder for his shield which is not there so he just gets in a defensive pose. Before the fur clad man speaks, in that deep rumbling voice, the one that always made him happy when he was young

 

“Hello son, how have you been?”

 

He then raises his eyes to look up, the shadows falling away to reveal the face of a kind man, the familiar scar down the left side of his face from when he fought a bear, the blue and the gray eye. and the somehow well kept beard, and the smile that won over his mother. It was Ethro.

 

“Dad? What are you doing here? And why are you sneaking up on me?

 

A deep rumbling laugh comes from Ethro as he looks at his son

 

“Have I been away so long that I now scare you my child? And I am here for the same reason as you if you remember my notes. To meditate and think.. But why are you here meditating?”

 

The man frowns walking to take a seat across from his father, taking the bread he was offered

 

“I am becoming a cleric, My first task was to meditate on what light and dark is to me.”

 

He then frowns tilting his head

 

“What is it to you dad?”

 

Ethro would bring a hand to his face, scratching at his beard as he thinks. His eyes drifting to the horizon as he gets deep in thought, choosing each and every word carefully

 

“Well Gray, my son...Darkness is what took your mother from me.. It is the evil of the world, that can drive even the brightest of men insanity.. And the light are the people who fight against that.. In simple terms if it makes sense.”

 

And with that he stands up offering a hand to Gray to stand, and as they both stand together they embrace each other before his father whispers one last thing to his son.

 

“All I know is that you and your sister are the lights in my life. The ones who keep me from the dark, continue your chosen path and remember to never give up.”

 

They then release each other, locking eyes for a moment before a nod comes from each of them as they both turn in different directions. Both waving over their shoulders before Gray stops and turns

 

“Also! Archrim said hello!”

 

“Well Tell Archrim my beard is better!”

 

And with that he disappears. And Gray grabs his pack, putting it over his shoulder before walking back to the city of Sutica. His answers laid out before him.

[LadyRebecca 1050]

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