By: Flaerian Posted on: March 30, 2004
Alrian smiled, looking up at the serene face of his father. His family was all
around him, and everyone was feeling happy. The days alone in the wilderness
were over – he had found his way home. The young boy and his family walked
slowly back into their house, his mother remarking on how hungry he looked.
Darkness. Alrian groaned, and rolled over. Why was it so dark? It was warm, the air humid – almost hard to breathe. The darkness, though – it was so strange. Alrian slowly opened his eyes, looking around. He was in a small cavern, and a fire was crackling in the corner. He looked around, frowning – how did he get here? He felt his head, checking for bumps. None. He looked around the cavern for a second time, carefully. In a small, neat pile were his all his belongings – a worn scabbard containing a rapier, a backpack full of food (or loaves waybread, if that can be considered food), a kitbag with a small sum of gold in it, and a pile of vials. He moved over to his gear, continuing his examination of the surroundings. The walls were damp and smooth, as if the cavern had been eroded by water, but there was something strangely wrong with it.
"There's no way out," he muttered, picking up his belongings.
Or no way in, he added mentally, quite puzzled. He threw on his backpack, and buckled on his scabbard. And then, in a single smooth motion, drew out his rapier. It rung brightly as he pulled it free, and the sound of it echoed loudly off of the walls of the cavern.
"Stand firm, Alrian! You need to be balanced!"
Alrian cursed softly as his opponent advanced, rapier in hand. Alrian took a few quick steps back, raising his own rapier slightly higher, making several corrections in his stance. His opponent lunged forward, rapier point flying out. Alrian moved to parry, but the attacking blade was gone – it had disengaged under his blade, and it took a second for the fifteen year old to realize that the point of the enemy's blade was now at his throat.
"What did you do wrong?"
"I stopped to think,"
"Right. Rely on your reflexes! Again!"
Alrian blinked, and sheathed his blade. He moved up to the fire, and blinked – there was no wood burning. The fire seemed to be coming out of the air itself.
"By the Gods," he muttered.
He moved up to the wall, running his hands over it, searching for crevices or defects. He searched most of the cavern wall before coming to a slight indent. It was the size of a thumb, perfectly circular, and only about a centimetre into the rock. Alrian pushed into it, and a door sized segment of the rock wall opened.
"Classy," he muttered, and ducked through.
The light of the fire illuminated the long corridor he now stood in slightly, but the light only extended a few meters. Unsure of whether or not he was willing to plunge into the darkness, he stood still a few seconds. The doorway closed shut behind him.
Alrian spun around quickly, and began feeling around in the blackness – he was blocked off from the firelight. He searched for another indent, hoping the door could be opened from each side, but found nothing. How did I get in there, he thought.
Groaning, he slowly began making his way down the corridor.
Alrian was shaking wildly, his breathing fast and erratic. He could see nothing, and he had never been so afraid in his life. He remembered the time when he was small, and was lost in the wilderness. People had looked for him, and he had found them. They'd look for him now, wouldn't they? But no, he was older now, seventeen years old. They wouldn't look for him for a long time, thinking him out having fun.
He was scared, so scared – but he stood, trying vainly to gain control over his breath, and began stumbling through the darkness.
There was a light ahead. It was faint, and for quite a while Alrian thought it was in his imagination alone. He drew closer, however, and soon saw that it was real. Unless I've gone mad, he thought – it was not impossible. As he drew nearer to the light, he noticed that the corridor wall felt different. It had a soft feel to it, and was obviously not rock. He moved onwards, and as the light grew nearer he made out that the wall was covered in some sort of tapestry – but the light was by far too dim for him to make the images out.
He walked onwards, and soon arrived at the light's source. It was another cavern – much larger then the one he began in. It was, in fact, gigantic – it was brightly lit, and seemed to go on and on forever.
Alrian stopped in his tracks, amazed. He could see no rock at all upon the walls – an endless tapestry covered it all! He stared, attempting to take it all in at once. The tapestry was beautifully woven – a true myriad of colours. He could not, however, identify any pattern in it.
Alrian began moving slowly, and a dark red thread caught his eye. He saw that it wove all throughout the tapestry – intermingling with other threads for quite awhile, and sometimes seemingly all alone. It went up and down, and around – and for a small section of the tapestry, it was a dominant feature. And then it faded into the background, and then seemed to disappear altogether. As he had followed this single thread, Alrian had wandered deep into the cavern. When he could find no more of the read thread, he looked around once more. And then he heard a soft laugh in the distance.
Alrian's hand dove for the hilt of his rapier, and he was dancing on his toes, attempting to find the laugh' source. It had echoed throughout the cavern, however, and it was impossible to determine where it came from exactly.
"Well," he muttered, "There is really only one direction from which that could have come from."
So Alrian continued walking through the cavern – constantly amazed by the size of the tapestry, and yet forcing his attention to lie on listening for more sound, and on searching for any sign of life.
Presently Alrian saw a hunched figure sitting in a rocking chair. It was surprisingly close, and he cursed his wandering attention.
"Hello," he called.
"Ah, so you've arrived," an ancient woman sat in the rocking chair, and Alrian was stunned by the wisdom and awareness he saw in her wrinkled face.
"You were expecting me? Who – what is this place?"
"This," the woman said proudly, "is the home to the Tapestry of Life."
Alrian blinked, frowned, and then stared blankly at the woman.
"The tapestry of, uh, Life?"
"Yes," the old woman said, nodding slowly.
Alrian spun around, his mind slowly beginning to understand what the vast tapestry was – and the importance of a single thread. He found his eyes following a green thread, but then he stopped, and turned back to the woman, a frown once more on his face.
"You cannon accept that?" she asked. "All life came from Sarapis the Logos," Alrian said.
"I know, I have not said anything contrary to that." "But you said –" "I said that this is the Tapestry of Life," the woman said, cutting Alrian off.
"It is not from the Tapestry that all life springs. Nor is it where all life ends."
"Then what is it?"
"It is the final step of a Soul passing between worlds,"
Alrian pushed the lion away from him, receiving a terrible bite on his arm as he did so. He was almost to the base of the mountain, but his body was battered and beaten. His hope was that once he left the mountainous region, the creature would leave him be. He whipped the beast with his rapier, and then delivered a powerful jab, and began running as the lion recoiled.
He could feel the beast breathing down his neck, felt the claws rake at his back. He felt the health elixir flow through his body as he drank deeply from the vial, knowing that the damage being healed was not enough. He reached the base of the mountain, but the pursuit continued. He ran on, however. One the lion leaped upon him, forcing him to fight a moment before running on, twice he was nearly killed by the dangerous claws.
And now Alrian was breathing heavily, barely capable of moving onward – but onward he moved. He saw the ocean in the distance, and in that vast body of water he placed his hopes. He drew irid moss from his rift, drank the last of his health vial, and pushed onward.
Alrian reached the water, first wading, then attempting to swim. The lion grew bored, and began making its way back to the mountain. Alrian, however, did not know how to swim.
"I've died?"
The old woman smiled sadly, and nodded. Alrian sank to his knees, disbelieving his own memory.
"Its happened before, though. He made my body Grow when my own allies could not bring me back."
"Yes, He brings many back."
"Why not me!" Alrian yelled, his voice echoing through the cavern.
"He brings those who have not reached their Time back. This is your Time. You journey has just begun."
"Begun," Alrian muttered, barely even registering the meaning of the word.
"Stand, Alrian." The old woman said.
Alrian found himself moving to his feet, and the old woman took his hand. The old woman guided him to a small needle, attached to a thread that seemed very familiar to him, and he took it. In a moment of utter clarity, he took the needle, and pulled the very end of the thread through the tapestry.
Alrian smiled, looking up at the serene face of his father…
Alrian cursed softly as his opponent advanced…
Alrian spun around quickly, and began feeling around in the blackness…
Alrian pushed the lion away from him, receiving…
In a small cavern that exists upon a plane of its own, an old woman tidied up the end of a newly completed addition to the tapestry, and returned to her endless task of keeping up with the lives of countless Achaeans.