Excerpt: The Reckoning

The People of Austin and their adherence to the law

And so did the Light Bringers go with triumph and sadness to their new land that was promised them. And after traveling but a short while Austin stopped them and did guide them to the village of his birth to meet and rejoin his family and those who taught and knew him from the day of his birth. And the people of the one God Almighty did meet those who hath said and spoken the law since their birth and were led to the father of Austin who had taught him the law and the respect for the law. Maya and the leaders of the people minus Edith did go unto his house and eat with him. There in the hut did the father of Austin, whose name was Eddy, did make this proclamation. “welcome fellow surface dwellers and those who follow the way and the form of the one God Almighty and blessings be to you on this day where you have triumphed over darkness to come here and be with us. For your people have related to me your loss in the caves of the hero Edith and although it saddens me beyond measure that you have lost such a great leader it also warms and comforts me that you are here beside us taking food with us and are able to relate such a story to us. Now I am certain that you have many questions about us and our culture and our laws and know that you have much to say to us about your trials against the king of the Dark and your faithfulness and adherence to the Creator and the laws of the Creator and all that was given to you. To answer your questions would no doubt take much time and I will attempt to give you all the answers that I can in this short time that we have you here. We knew of you because your coming was foretold. There was a message on the wind where we and our ancestors came out from the caves and the holes and the deep places in the ground that there would one day be a people that came from the west and that they would be good and faithful followers of the one God Almighty and that they would come this way to claim a promised land that was given to them by the Creator as promised to them long ago and with great urgency. There also was told us that the people who came here would have great faith but would not know and would need to know the law that was passed down to us from the one God Almighty and that it was our task and purpose to hand down and keep the law for these people as they would not know it and therefore could not follow it. So as we lived these many years in the light of day with the blessings of the Creator and all the bounty of our harvests and our song we also have passed down the law and the word of the Creator and had given our first born sons to the memorization and repeating of the law for when the great and mighty people who trusted and stove for righteousness in the sight of the one God Almighty could find us and than know the law from the mouth of one of our own. And the first one of us you found was the very best at this and this was my son Austin who has known and kept the law from before the days where we have even told him of the law and the meaning of it and the purpose that he was brought forth for. So than we have lived here in peace and with the blessings of the Creator awaiting your arrival on the way to the promised land and all that awaits there for you in the light and the truth of the one God Almighty.” And after Eddy had spoken the small form of Austin did arise and began again to say the law of the one God Almighty and Eddy and the rest of the village of the people of this land, called Ysmisk, which means resting, did listen and approve. And so it was revealed to the light bringers that there was indeed other people of the one God almighty and that they were foretold as a great and mighty people who had sought the promised land. And there was much speech and merriment and the songs were sung and the wine was drunken. But as the night did go forward the younger and rasher of the party and the train of Maya did wonder aloud on a question that was much in the minds of the people of the one God Almighty. He spoke “There is a question that is burning in my mind that has not been explained by your speech nor by your presence and bearing and that is a question on the minds of my fellows and all present who serve the Creator and this is, in fact the direction and the location of the promised land. For you know that it was foretold that we would arrive and that we would seek the law, which we do as all those who seek righteousness will do, but also we seek a home land that was promised to us by the one God Almighty these many years ago and seek where that land is and how to arrive there. Since you were foretold so much of our coming and our needing the law and what we have endured to get here could you not also tell us where the promised land is, in which direction we should go to get there and how long until we arrive at what has been promised us.” And when this was spoken a great silence and a sadness came over the table on both people and all felt in the air that an answer was forth coming and that it would not be an answer that would give comfort or joy to the Light bringers and their mission to find and live in the land promised them. In the silence the boy Austin began again speaking the law of the Creator and against this sound did Eddy answer the young member of the party whose name was Erik, or the impatient one. “Sadly my young friend that is not my question to answer. We are the people of the law and we have been given the law to say and to know and to follow but there is still much that the Creator has not given us in the way of knowledge. We know how to make some fruits of the field and not others. We can draw water and create wind from this and the fruit of the fields but the growing of flowers is not known to us. We know the law and follow it with our very being and with all of our strength, but the way to your promised land and the journey that you will undertake to get there is not known to us and not for us to know or to say. That is all we are given and all that we strive for.” And as Eddy did finish these words did Austin cease his saying of the law and did run from the table to his house for sleep. And did the tired and weary members of the train of Maya and did Maya herself return to the fields where the children of the Creator were and did go to them with a heavy heart and did speak to those still yet awake with great sadness and with a longing that was shown in the manner and bearing of Maya and all those with her. “People of the one God Almighty who are the bringers of light to this side of the breaking and are always on the mind and in the thoughts of the Creator who has chosen us. Although these are the people who have given us the law of the Creator and are righteous and good people who give thanks and praise to the Creator this is not the promised land to us and they also do not know where in fact the land is which was promised us by the one God Almighty that we have continually sought in our hearts and minds for a generation. There is good here, there is plenty here and the blessings of the one God Almighty abound here but these are the keepers of the law and not those who will lead us to righteousness nor to where we need to be. For the law and the following of the law is a good and upright thing to do but it is not the end of any journey but rather a way through it as it is here. We must be respectful and gracious to our hosts who have given us and taught us much but we must also move onward towards what was promised us in grace and humility and greatness. Say what you may we have not yet arrived to where we need to be and in the morning we must take our train and move through these lands to where the land is that is ours by the right of the Creator and take hold of the land and live as a great and free and mighty people.” The words of Maya did thus move and the crowd and there was a cheering of a sort although tired and weary as it was. And so did the people resolve to move past the people of the law, take what wisdom they could from it and move forward to their prize. There was but one this that still choked the children of the Creator and that was the Blood Flower that still clung to the pack of one of the followers of Maya as doubt of sustenance and plenty was still in the mind of many of the Light Bringers. When the creature known as the Blood Flower did hear the words of Maya it did smolder and churn and think on what now would it do to continue its existence and the existence of its progeny. There must be a way to keep itself even in this land and it would find a way to grow in the hearts and minds of those that carried it. And so even thought the sleep of the people was restless there was one mind in the crowd of the people that did not sleep at all but rather planned and woe to those who were involved in the dread planning of the creature known as the Blood Flower.