Epilogue

A Chapter by Prakhar

The Gods prepare for the long war to come.

‘Do you think Blackshadow is going to help them?’ the younger boy asked the older.

‘They’ve never refused Muni,’ the older one replied. ‘And Muni believes they won’t this time either.’

‘Do they fear him?’ the younger questioned again with a curiosity laden voice. ‘Like he’ll destroy their harvests or call the winds to rampage them?’

‘They know he’ll do nothing like this. That’s why they follow him. Everywhere.’

They were young boys; young boys, who knew nothing about their assignments. They thought they’d nothing to do with those matters. Their entire task, they thought, was to follow their tutor’s orders.

Today, they stood on a cliff, facing the large settlement of Blackshadow with the huge Black Mountains towering in its backdrop. They were waiting for the flock to arrive. A Sinster had arrived earlier today before the sun had shone. The older boy was standing in that room beside his tutor when the man had arrived. Like all other Sinsters, he wore a grey cloak with green patches �" those which would readily dissolve his identity in the trees. ‘Muni arrives today with his Flock. He gives you his best regards and expects the arrangements to be made.’ That was all he heard, and his tutor sent him outside the room.

From this height, Blackshadow appeared to be a group of scattered houses. He couldn’t notice any humans roaming around in the grounds. The young guy beside him was repeatedly kicking poor stones off the cliff. He could feel him grow impatient. The giant Holy Fire of Blackshadow spat out fire like a volcano at the entrance of the settlement. It was the highest flame he had ever seen. The last time he had viewed Blackshadow from the cliff was five years back, the year when he was brought for his training. Those were different times, and Blackshadow was a different place then �" less noticed, less known. It’d been turning into an urban city now, and the High Men here didn’t want this to happen.

‘Deep inside their hearts,’ he told his companion, who was trying to trace the path of a pebble as it feel down the cliff, ‘they hate outsiders. They want their secrecy to be maintained. You know this?’

‘They tried to stop Uncle Rupert’s son from travelling to Upper Vellecena,’ his companion replied. His voice was turning strained now. He was growing restless. The older boy wanted Muni to arrive quickly, but he didn’t expect to see it very soon. ‘The boy was sad �" I saw it in his eyes. What’s the deal?’

‘They don’t want to diffuse the knowledge of what we do here �" to the alien world.’

‘And what if aliens come to know about this?’

‘Things beyond our control will happen, Dazy says.’

He was an old guy of eleven and his companion was an old guy of eight. Their tutors said they didn’t remember the last instance the two guys had committed an act of immaturity. They were experts at following their tutor’s orders. Everyone said it was the thing that would lead to maturity. And they believed they were mature now.

The setting around Blackshadow was not the one a traveler would love. But travelers visited Blackshadow �" and the High Men hated it �" and the travelers loved the things they witnessed. It was a hilly terrain, with a stony path snaking between the cliffs, advancing towards the Holy Fire. There was no animal to be found in and around Blackshadow. There were no birds in the sky above Blackshadow. The mountains at its behind were considered cursed and a huge battalion of Priest’s Army kept the watch at their lap �" allowing no one to wander near them.

During the rains, the path turned into a fierce river that the city men actually boated through to reach the port of aliens. Otherwise, it would be a rough journey on foot from the Holy Fire to the port. The older boy had witnessed a large part of the journey himself, and he still didn’t recommend walking through the way to anyone.

‘What do you think can happen?’

‘You want to know about my opinion?’ the older boy replied with a taste of modesty in his voice. ‘They try to dissuade us �" the High Men �" they’re selfish. Not all men are the same.’

‘I wish,’ the little boy raised his tone, ‘I could shout out from this place and call everyone out there. I am bored of the frowning faces everyone in here has stuck to their heads.’

Behind them were the endless woods of the Black Forest �" a labyrinth where young men from Blackshadow were sent for their final journey by their tutors �" a journey towards wisdom, they called it. Everyone who the two boys had witnessed being pushed into the forests had returned empty handed. And then they began the ‘regular life’ �" a life which couldn’t be more boring �" of selling rags, or of begging, or of singing songs at the Holy Fire or a lot more unworthy jobs.

The settlement of Blackshadow was a highly limited place. A lot of men from the Eastern Valacia wanted to be tutored there, which the two boys found to be worthless. “The brainless aliens,” they called them. And a lot of men from Blackshadow wanted to escape to Vellecena, but the Priest’s Army never allowed the “Leaking of Men”. These two little men were a very mediocre people who fell into this category. They were a long way from their final journey, but they already found their lives lacking considerable happenings.

The air was extremely dry and the rocks below them had begun cracking in the heat. Their noses hardly smelt any odor. The prolonged mercilessness of the Water Gods was evident from everything around them. The next rain, as the High Priest of Blackshadow had once prophesied, won’t be down very soon but would be in plenty. The two guys, who had begun to miss the sound of rain smashing at the ground and the wet smell of moisture laden winds, waited for the day to arrive relentlessly.

They were brothers �" two old brothers from Blackshadow. They were the receivers of something not everyone from the great Valacian lands received. They had a respect for the place, but they consistently felt that it was worthless. Their day started with the taming of cattle, leading them to the lap of the hills under the scrutiny of two army men who would interfere into almost anything they did. For some reason, even laughing was forbidden below the Black Mountains. On an unexpected scale, the two army men would allow them to bath in the Mihansa River as their cattle grazed the infinite stock of grass around them. The next thing they would do on returning downhill was to atone themselves individually in front of the Five Gods of Wind, Fire, Water, Land and Love. The practice generally took away the next three hours of their day.

Standing in front of the respective elements with their hands spread open for thirty minutes was a tedious and boring task. They hated it, and so did every other student in Blackshadow. Themselves, they never saw their tutor worship any of the Five Gods.

‘Do you think you’ll complete the Final Journey?’ the young boy began again. The questions of life and destiny were those which popped up in his head while staring at the thin air. ‘No one has done it for ages now.’

‘I won’t return from the forest,’ the older boy replied, thinking rather too deeply to be sound. ‘Rather than living an awful life in the village, I would pass an awful life in the forest. Adventure is always welcome.’ He looked down and smiled at his brother. Everyone in the village said that he was too tall for his age and tat his little brother would follow his suit. But for now, the little boy stood two feet shorter than his brother.

Then came a second when the things deviated a little from the median. There was no wind but a rustle in the trees behind their backs. Both the boys stared at each other’s face for a moment and turned around. The forest was as desolate as the last time they viewed it. But there were sounds from inside the trees �" slashing of some sharp object through the branches, the thud of branches falling down instantaneously, those of the humping of horses against the ground, people talking in faint voices, the trees rustling with each other, all battling a silence that tried fanatically to gulp them.

‘Are they here?’

‘Probably.’

The trees had broad, brown trunks that showed the wrinkles of their age. The soil was completely hidden under the wreckage of the wood. Everything was dry for a few inches, and then the soil turned unnaturally black. The wetness was evident. Both the boys were told about the Black Forest, but not determinedly �" ‘There is something magical about it.’ Everything about Blackshadow was full of secrets, at least for a boy of their age, and everyone around them wanted to secure the mysteries. Everything was boring when you followed your tutors. The broad trunks of the trees steadily blocked the inner forest from their view. Under a sunshine where the two guys struggled to keep their eyes from shutting close, the forest stood silently dark, restricting any light from entering it.

As if out of nowhere, a black horse jumped into their sight - a horse that had nothing special about it. Above the horse sat an old man holding the reins. There were several, deep wrinkles around his mouth and on his forehead. His eyes appeared to be falling into their sockets, although, the black circles were not apparent. His hair, however, was still a young shade of grey �" shining in the sunshine which it appeared to have not seen for ages. His lips were swollen at their bases and shrunk into his mouth upwards. He appeared to be older than any person the two boys had seen in Blackshadow. He wore a black cloak that tended to touch the ground beneath him. Something that the boys were not entirely sure about was a huge lump near the man’s belly, inside his cloak �" as if he carried an infant inside his cloak.

He narrowed his eyes and stared at them.

Two more horses jumped from the forest’s void onto the rock - brown horses �" young and healthy �" analogous to infantry horses of the Priest’s army. Two girls �" one considerably older than both them and the other almost similar to the little boy sat on one of the horses. The other horse carried a man in his youth �" probably twenty, the older boy guessed. The girls had long hair and deep black eyes. The man was similar, with long brown hair that covered his head, and deep black eyes. Vellesinians.

Everyone from Blackshadow who had failed their Final Journey wanted to escape to Upper Vellecena. A prospering city blessed with the God’s wills, they had known about Upper Vellecena, it was the capital of the Great Valacia and the state of Vellecena. When he was a few years old, the older boy thought about the city before sleeping. There would be huge green patches of gardens, he had thought, and the sky would always be ready to rain. There was nothing he craved for more than rain. The Gods were so happy with Upper Vellecena, he had heard, that a majority Vellesinians didn’t even need to worship the unkindly Gods.

The High Men of Blackshadow had a special hatred for Vellesinians �" a hatred that crossed all the limits. They hated the chanting of the word. The tutors had the tendency to dismiss their students at the use of the word. They hated Vellesinians more than they hated the severe draught which had brought deaths with it.

‘They are Vellesinians,’ the older brother stepped forward to Muni.

‘Yes, they are,’ Muni replied. He was known to be staunch. And generous. He was the God of the city of Wings �" one of the three Gods on Earth according to the tutelary legend. The only known God on Earth. Long disappeared. Long forgotten. The Sinster who appeared today at the court of the older boy’s tutor brought with him a shocking surprise. The God who had disappeared since when The Six ruled in Amacia would appear in Blackshadow today. What did his “flock” mean? His tutor was amazed by his words, but he didn’t ask the Sinster to repeat. His tutor waited this moment. ‘The Gods are very generous, little boy,’ his tutor had told him. ‘And when he comes to Blackshadow, all our worries will be gone. I await him.’

‘Which God shall visit us?’ he had asked his tutor. ‘Which of the Five Gods?’

‘None,’ he had received his answer. His tutor was true to his word. Now that he stood in front of a God, staring him into his eyes, his little brother wordless, he had never expected himself to question him.

He bowed his head, and settled on his knees. ‘Bow down,’ he told his brother. ‘Welcome, our Lord, to the city of Blackshadow. The Holy Fire blooms at your arrival.’ He bowed his head even more.

‘Raise, my sons, and rise,’ Muni said.

‘I am sorry, my lord, but the High Men have no affection for the Vellesinians,’ he rose to his feet and spoke with dignity in his eyes.

‘They’re ought to serve me,’ Muni said as his horse neighed below him. He jumped off his horse and came in front of the boys. ‘Take care of the little girl, my sons. None of them will be as welcome in Blackshadow as you are. Valacia shall be no man’s land soon. And when the humans will break into a war, we will all have a role to play; and your destination will be the beginning of your destiny.’

‘My lord,’ he bowed his head.

‘Get on the horses,’ Muni commanded.

Very soon, the horses began climbing through the cliffs and onto the rocky path that led to the Holy Fire of Blackshadow.

Muni walked on the cold, wet sands of Blackshadow towards the Holy Fire. It was the black of night, illuminated yellow and orange by the giant flames of Holy Fire. Through the rays, the God of Wings walked like a phantom, his cloak matching both his shadow and the night. Every being in the village was in their bed. The fires were extinguished inside the houses and a dead silence flourished through the village.

He had a child in his hand �" a boy of not more than a few months old. Occasionally he would peep into his eyes. They were unlike everyone in Vellecena and Blackshadow. Grey eyes with a light, red ring popping out at the pupil. The child looked like a soft toy molding according to the shape of his hands. Both of them stared into each other’s eyes for a second, and then Muni moved towards the Holy Fire.

There were three Holy Fires in the Great Valacia. The Blackshadow Holy Fire was the smallest of them, yet it spat the brightest and purest fire of the three. Carved in white stone from the banks of a forgotten river, the giant flambeau had been burning day and night, since it was erected thousands of years ago. The fire was brought from the horrendous lava of Mt. Valacia, long since covered under the wraths of the Black Forest and also forgotten. Every visitor of Holy Fire was ought to bring with him a pack of woods in order to savior the fire. The fire would burn until eternity, the High Priest believed, because it was the might of the Gods, and cast its lights upon the grounds of Blackshadow during the day and the night.

From the distance of a hundred yards, the fire would show its effects. Near the pedestal, it was warm enough to wither young leaves. Around the torch were placed several flasks filled with wax, liquid up to the brink, and hot enough to burn the skin. Muni placed the child on the ground. He was covered in several layers of cotton clothing. Yet, the wraps did nothing to prevent him from crying. Muni let the whimpers go unnoticed and moved towards the terrible heat radiating out of the torch. His small silvery-grey hair gleamed in the reflection like the metal of a sword. Not a single drop of sweat did escape his single layer of clothing.

He threw a bundle of woods into the flames through the window that served as the opening to the fire chamber. He was too unhuman to feel the heat. The light of the embers burning inside would have blinded a human, but it didn’t affect him. He was the God of Wings, and every element that the humans worshipped served him unconditionally. He stared into the fire chamber �" the walls, the floor, the air �" everything gleaming in a bright yellow color, shimmering in the immense heat.

He turned around and lifted one of the flasks and began to trace back his way towards the child. He stopped besides the little being. He was beautiful, the little boy. Muni knew he would hate himself for a long time after committing the act he had on his minds.

‘The future is in the boy’s hands,’ he told himself. ‘He’s the final hope for a better tomorrow and I am bound to do anything to keep him safe.’

He felt the burden of duty turning into a physical burden over his head. The little boy’s father had left him on Muni’s feet, and Muni remembered having his eyes full of disgust. He hated the boy’s father, but he loved the boy more than anything.

He bended his knees and stroked the boy’s cheeks slowly with his right palm. Soft like the petals of any flower; beautiful like the snows of Black; he could find innumerable references to express the attributes of the child. A raindrop fell flat on his head. The first rains for Blackshadow since the ancient days of glory were here, and the men were going to celebrate. He smiled at the sky, and looked back at the flask of burning wax he had brought with him.

Like a bound slave, he brought a shivering hand to hold the vial. A stream of tears leaked from his eyes and mixed into the pouring water. Slowly and carefully, he dropped a stream of wax on the child’s face �" his hand shook like leaves shake in the winds. The wax fell on his face and deformed the perfectly carved skin, leaving behind a trail of brown remnants and burning blisters. The child seemed not to feel a bit. He smiled at his grandfather like he always did. The frozen wax reflected the dark sky on the burnt skin as the rain drops began to splatter everywhere.

‘It’s raining!’ a distant villager’s cry echoed everywhere around the duo. Muni rose back to his feet and casted a final look at his beautiful grandson whose beauty he had burnt to ashes. Then, he disappeared into the air, leaving behind him a whimpering child being attacked by the gushes of wintery winds and frozen rains.