Paying for the Past -Chapter 9

Jagged black rocks in the riverbed not worn smooth yet, even that could be taken both ways. dang this! "I cannot serve both of you!" he shouted into the air. The palomi herbs he had ingested were taking full effect now, and were doing their job.He wondered if Abbot Jeling had suggested the herbs to help resolve the confilct or if there was some other sinister motive. He burst out laughing at that, with the echos of the laughter returning eerily after what seemed too long a time. he flashed from laughter to paranoia and then back to laughter at his own fear of nothing...

At least the herb had given him the idea of the Cherubim Temple. There the wise Cherubim would be able to help him with his question. how long had he been searching for an answer he thought to himself, parts of his head screamed back at him from the fringes of sanity while another part gently chided him for taking the herb..knowing it was the wrong choice.. but the only choice that presented itself ...If he could only find the entrance to that temple.. and the wise ones within.

The water was frigid, but the herb did not allow him to feel it. He might have turned back if he had.. but instead he continued through the water.. directly under a huge arch of black rock.. with.. what seemed like glowing blue runes inscribed on it...

Immediately the effects of the herb were gone. A clear head asked the logical question.. what happened? He didn't have time to contemplate it.. he was changing..shifting.. morphing into a smaller creature.. as he saw himself walking into a cave as a child. The child form of himself was walking up to the mother of this creature he had become.. his mother now.. The lightning came out of nowhere.. and killed her. He had not known the little creatures were there.. He had not seen them when he called lighting down from the heavens to destroy the creature that had frightened him.. but he did not care.. he only wanted his mother to move.. to breathe .. she lay there cold, still, until hunger finally took his own life.. and released him from that form, but still not himself. Never himself.

He watched himself walk into the room, his wonderful son. He had not known his mother had loved him like that.. the feeling was.. overpowering. Asking where he had been, already knowing the answer, he was shocked to hear himself lie. While smiling at him, her.. he had lied while smiling at her.. that hurt deep inside.. but somehow he managed to smile back and continue to love his beautiful son.

He wanted to reach out and strangle himself.. he didn't have to lie to her..what was the point?

The blast of pain on his feet seared his thoughts to nothing. He was strapped into a chair with several other grey robed students gathered around. He could not see their faces but he knew which one was himself. He saw the form in the robe and mask reach back and strike hard at the bleeding soles of his feet with a stiff reed. The initiation was meant to bond originally, not to harm. He knew that and had said nothing, giving in to peer pressure.. The pain was incredible.. he felt the blackness of passing out creeping up, but unforgivingly it never reached him.. leaving him to feel each and every blow the whole group had given him..

The chimes of the bells were music to his ears. Today he would be lifted to the status of emerite, only one level from becoming a priest! All he needed was to pass one last test, and as he entered the testing hall, he saw himself there, ready to administer the test.. he knew what was comming then.. and knelt down and began to cry. He would not make emerite today.. On it went, form after form of the past..never himself.. each time feeling the hurt he had inflicted on others, some harsh, some mild, so many..



Por heard the splash in the water from the fig tree where he was restocking his supply. Rushing over he grabbed the nearly frozen body from the water and began carrying it to the braziers burning across the courtyard. As he set him down, Jin arrived, having seen the comotion from his perch on top of the building, he brought blankets. Por tended to him as Gunter and Lady Herodias arrived, Gunter asking quietly of Por "What do we have here?" Por simply waved him away as he continued to tend to the cocooned form. Some time later Por joined Gunter and Lady on the steps of the building looking grim. " I haven't seen anyone come out that cold. Our priest may not survive." Looking shocked Gunter was the first to speak" A priest? Why would a priest need to be cleansed?" Lady answered him in reply "Every person.. no matter their profession or task in life must be cleansed before entering the Anon Tae. Our Family brought us here as children, when the task of passing beneath the archway was but a formality and a bit chilly. Once you have been through it.. you may enter and leave unmolested. Apparently this is the first time this priest has arrived here. And from the looks of his condition he had a heavy price to pay.. are you sure we shouldn't strap him down? He might be violent when he awakens" Por replied while chewing a fig "No, the archway kills any human without pure intentions that tries to enter." Thinking for a long while of his own experience through the archway, Gunter spoke softly. "If you survive friend.. you are welcome here. Your past is your own."

The young man looked to be sleeping in the blankets, but his garments had been removed to dry by the fire. Looking closely, Gunter noticed the hand wraps were inscribed with the name Aeternalia Tenite. Looking to place a face with the name, Gunter pushed back the blankets from his face. It was then that he noticed the man was dead. "aye" por whispered to him "he has passed" Let him be for now..


~From the Archive's of The Cherubim Knights
A record of the death of Aeternalia Tenite





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