A Bowl full of Tears - by Aelfric the Mad

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SighelmofWyrmgard
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Joined: Thu May 20, 2010 5:34 pm

A Bowl full of Tears - by Aelfric the Mad

Post by SighelmofWyrmgard »

A Bowl full of Tears, a Parable of Humility and Understanding - by Aelfric The Mad

The Glorious Lord, Aelfric the Mad,
Archconsul of Chaos, Silver Serpent Society



My Guild title, bestowed 'pon me by mine own father, might seem a trifle odd, but I doth consider it to be a validation of mine own worth and, also, a validation of the arguments of Lord Blackthorn, in his efforts to oppose any 'slavish devotion', particulary to our King's "Cult of The Virtues".

Whilst there doth remain many years of dispute betwixt mineself and my father, my father hath always been a noble, honorable man who hath, and wilt, fairly, always recognize 'worth'.

This tale might tell that, at least sometimes, 'worth' is not enough.

With apologies to my father, and to my King,

I am both Bard and Mage, and I hath earned love and esteem throughout the land as a champion of, and exemplar to, the people. Before the events I shalt tell, I didst believe that the demonstration of mine own perspicacity might inspire worthies to think freely, to do what is right because it is right, to trusteth in their own hearts and sensibilities to make, freely, their own correct, moral and ethical choices; never 'enslaved' to any flawed philosophy, however noble and well-intentioned the source.

Verily, rather than preaching, I shouldst get on with telling the actual tale, I doth s'ppose.

I was adventuring southwest of Trinsic, um, rather aimlessly, I must confess, when I was accosted by a grieving young woman.

For such I first thought she was: I looked more-closely, and my spine didst crawl; I couldst see through her ...

"Help him," she didst implore, weeping. "Please, help him: he's burning! Please, help him!"

I saw no one else, nearby. I hadst no idea what this apparition didst want, but I ventured to attempt to find out, "Who; what; what dost thou need of me?"

I didst not know if she couldst hear me; p'raps, she was ignoring me; she drifted away, still wailing, "Please help him: he's burning!"

Intrigued, I didst elect to camp there.

During the night, I didst awaken and saw, some distance away, what looked to be a bonfire: excepting, only, that it was moving. I moved to investigate.

Bah, a Fire Elemental ... Is this what the apparition hadst been lamenting over?

With a little contempt, "An Ort!"

The spell didst achieve nothing, except to attract the creature's fury. I defended myself, and the grieving woman reappeared, "No! Damn thee! Don't hurt him!" She transform'd from the image of a grieving young woman into a skeletal 'angel of death'; "Don't hurt him! Damn thee! He's burning!".

Betwixt the onslaught of the two I was nearly overwhelmed ... As a Bard, I invoked music to attempt to provoke them against eachother: to no avail. I didst flee.

Never hadst I been so resoundly defeated. Once I was well-away, and sure of my camp, I slept; I needed to.

Next morn, I didst return, warily. I searched-about the area and discovered a ruined, fieldstone, cottage: it hadst seemed to have been destroyed not by abandonment and neglect, but by fire.

I entered the wreck and looked-around and didst behold what seemed to be the ruin of a Mage's laboratory: most-of-which, consumed by a great conflagration.

The grieving-woman reappeared. As if the events of the previous night had been forgotten, she resumed, "Please, help him: he's burning!"; her insubstantial tears poured down over her insubstantial face.

I didst look about and saw two things that caught my attention: what appeared to be the burnt silhouette of a human skeleton, on the stone tiles of the floor, and a still-intact bowl, on the other side of the demolished hovel.

I doth not know, intuition or epiphany, what didst come over me. I seized that bowl and ran to the apparition, "Weep for me, my dear. Weep for him, please. Weep for him."

Ghostly tears fell from her face and water didst gather in the bowl ...

This persisted until well-after sunset: she couldst only cry so much, so fast, after all.

The Fire Elemental appeared, a small distance away, but immediately didst bear down 'pon me.

The bowl was nearly-full. I hadst no idea if I was right, but I wouldst stand my ground, regardless.

When I deemed it time, I took away the bowl and used the water to wash-clean the floor of that burnt-skeleton-silhouette.

Fire Elemental and grieving-woman-apparition, both, didst disappear. I heard the voice of the grieving woman, "Oh, I thank thee, bless thee! Bless thee!"

Now, with respect and gratitude to my father, and to my King,

I doth apprehend this now: beyond 'worth', at least sometimes, 'understanding' might be key.
SighelmofWyrmgard wrote:
uosa44 wrote:For sale, by original owner:
1 Human Brain, never been used, only slightly damaged, still in original packaging.
$1, obo
FTFY.

SS
uosa44 wrote:The inability for this person to respond in such a crazy manner proves my point.

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