A Record of Ash & Ruin: The Grieving Lands

Book 3: Chapter 49: Blossoms in the Wind

Nurture your own strength and wisdom so that trust flows effortlessly from others to you. And when one has become powerful and wise, it will become easy to trust others.

- The Human Question by Gideon de Salavia 378 AC.

Chains of bone and bronze bound me to four stone pillars. I stood in a wide, dusty plain, beneath a gray sky, the sun a dull presence overhead. The wind blew through, stirring small tornadoes of dust that drew the eye. This place was filled with emptiness and parched with longing.

There was more here than mere Death made manifest. I had the sense that such a trite word could not fully capture the concepts that had taken shape around me.

I tried to move, but I was tightly bound. The limited movements I could manage felt slow and sluggish. Helplessness overtook me. "Put aside your burden, rest," a sweet, sultry voice whispered. "Surely it is better than suffering. Embrace the comfort of the end."

My will began to falter, swayed by the voice. Yes, it would be easy to finally give up and rest. This was a dream, after all, was it not?

Greenery started to grow around the base of the four pillars. Leafy invaders, tenacious and sudden, grasping vines that grew like snakes, tendrils of fresh life spreading across the ground to my armored feet.

Yes, even in my dreams, I wore armor. For me, it seemed to be the only protection against the madness of this strange place.

Life bloomed in ardent rapture, a rebellious statement against the finality of the dreamscape. White flowers bloomed in unrestrained fever. Something formed from a blizzard of snow petals, coalescing into a form that could only be called Divine.

“You have escaped my attentions for too long…” she drawled, her eyes hungry, and her voice husky with desire.

Iasis, Mother of Monsters, had come.

I tried to speak but my tongue could summon no words.

She looked at me in confusion for a moment, an expression I would not usually associate with a goddess. “Oh, yes, lest I forget…”

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The goddess waved a delicate, naked arm, and the chains that bound suddenly disappeared as if they had never been. Against my will, and suddenly free from bondage, I found myself kneeling.

With a snake’s smile, she looked upon me. “Much better.”

I felt something give way, a snap of a twisted thread. “What are you doing?” I asked her, relieved that some control had returned to me. However, I could not help but notice that my words sounded distant, and not quite my own.

“Why, checking on one of my new and interesting pets, of course,” she cooed. With this, I felt the familiar stirring of a forgotten anger.

My voice came sharper this time. “What and why are you doing this? If this is a dream, then I am the master of this realm!” I shouted, my voice slowly becoming more my own.

I scrunched up my eyes, and willed myself to wake up, only to open them moments later. The goddess was even closer now, the subtle musk and flowery scent of her threatening to overpower my senses. She drew a sharp nail across the line of my jaw.

“Be grateful that I grace you with my presence. There have been many who would have given their lives for such an audience,” she stated, looking me directly in the eye. In the dark ink of her eyes was a primal echo of a different time, a place where one could get lost for an eternity. “And you, currently, are my most favored of all. I am glad that you have visited another of my temples with the mark of devotion upon your chest. For that, and the new life you have brought about, you have found even more favor with me.”

“What are you talking about?” I barked, my anger clouded now with confusion.

“Since times of yore, initiates have come to struggle against my other creations in their devotion to learning more of my mysteries. Fail and they become a sacrifice…”

A scent of lilacs and lavender filled the air as the plants and strange vegetation erupted again suddenly, in fresh ardent bloom. A many-colored carpet coated the desert, but beneath it all lurked a few stray notes of rot.

Wearing nothing more than an enigmatic smile on her sensuous lips, Iasis walked towards me. Where the Divine trod new riotous rainbows of growth leaped up to mark her passage. Kneeling before me, she traced the line of my face before looking me in the eye.

Against my will, I felt drawn to her, and lust bestirred itself even here in this most strange dream. How I longed to wrap my hands around that slender neck and squeeze the life out of her… How sweet it would be to get a measure of satisfaction.

“I skirt close to the lines of Concord in trying to help you, but then again, I have always preferred a more direct approach in my dealing with mortals. Think upon my words and your recent deeds and the meaning shall become clear to you,” she explained gently. “Now will you be a sacrifice, or will you be more?”

My thoughts spun, whirling before they settled and delivered the only suitable answer. “The Adventurer’s Guild,” I whispered.

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The Goddess’ smile of conquest was infuriating in its knowing superiority. “Oh is that what you mortals call it these days… how droll. Now, I wonder how much my high priests are earnest in their devotions in this age…” she mused, twirling a finger through hair of liquid ebon.

Iasis frowned for a moment, disrupting the perfect symmetry of her face. “Perhaps you are not yet ready to accept another of my boons. Instead, I will leave you with this little tidbit, watch the one who hears the laughter of the Wind. That one is no longer bound and will soon be consumed by her essence, and form a Calamity.”

She spoke only in senseless riddles. The woman, the thing, sought to toy with me. I would not have it.

“Are you here to help or hinder me!?” I barked, summoning all my will. I was growing tired of this.

She looked at me, her playful expression changing into one of distaste. “Why to help of course. How direct you are… how exquisitely male of you.” She paused for a moment, allowing a pleasant smile to resettle upon her face before continuing, “These things are a matter of timing. You will pray to me in your most desperate of hours and, unlike the others, I will answer you, mortal.”

Resentment boiled supreme in my gut. I would wring out more answers here and now. The voices surged within and I leaped forward to tackle the Divine to the ground. The world exploded in shattered glass and there was a sensation of falling into inky blackness.

My hands shot forward, grasping at nothing but air as I broke free from the dream. My heart drummed wildly in my chest as I continued to thrash for a few moments. Slowly my eyes adjusted to the gloom and I came to the realization that I was no longer in the dream, but in the waking world.

A message, as incongruous as ever, flashed across my inner vision.

You have gained 1 Wisdom.

Laughter soon won over my earlier episode and I found some measure of cathartic release. As my emotions settled, I wiped the sleep from my eyes and got up from the bed. Splashing some water on my face from an earthenware bowl at my bedside, I washed away the last dregs of sleep.

Someone had conveniently left my gear freshly cleaned in one of the corners. More out of boredom and habit, rather than any real caution, I began the arduous task of donning my armor. It was a devil to do by myself and took me quite a while before I was done.

I took up the hammer, testing its weight, and for a fraction of a moment, there seemed to be a buzz of energy. The weapon rested more easily in my hands, or that was at least how I felt. Perhaps, like me, the magic of the weapon had awakened.

I hung it loosely from my back, the cover of the weapon acting as an ad-hoc baldric. It was heavy, of that there was no doubt, but the solid weight of it felt comforting. The weapon was ideal for smashing through armor and crushing bone.

Against my better judgment, I picked up the dreamcatcher and hung it by the window. As I did so, I cursed myself for being a fool and giving in to primitive customs. Still, it could do no harm, I concluded.

By estimations, it was very early morning, and with nothing to do I found myself going downstairs. Despite the rather early hour, there were people already going about the business of preparing for a new day.

Naira, bent over and washing down a table, paused in her task to look at me curiously. She took me in and surprise showed for just a moment on her face for I was in the gear of war.

“A good morning to you, Gilgamesh. Are you already expecting trouble?” she opened.

I sat down at one of the many free tables before giving my response, placing the Lucerne across my lap. “Naira, I think it is still a little early in the day for that,” I remarked glibly.

The woman sighed for a moment and continued with her task for another minute. Unexpectedly she put away the cleaning rag and wiped her hands on another cloth. Grabbing a pitcher and two mugs from the bar, the woman sat down uninvited across from me.

She filled the mugs with watered wine and offered me one which I accepted. Naira took a small sip.

“I need your help,” she started without ceremony. “Though I understand you have no obligation to help us.”

I wet my lips before giving my reply, “While I am under your roof I have at least an obligation to hear you out.”

She looked away and fiddled with a loose thread of her apron. In that moment, Zariyah’s mother looked surprisingly girlish.

“Zariyah… she needs your help,” she stated.

“Oh, she does, does she? Have I not helped your daughter enough?” came my flat response. I had to stop myself from gritting my teeth. “What is it this time?”

“I fear she is losing herself. Her new willfulness is not entirely her own. You may not know this, but she is gifted, blessed by Mana. But the spark of the One God that resides within her is of the Wind… Those of that element, their path can lead only into madness. It is the way of unmoored freedom, without a guide or compass. Please bring her back and bind her to you. She needs an anchor and a rock.”

“What on earth are you talking about? This sounds like a lot of mindless babble to me,” I replied, taking another lazy swig.

“I see the way you look at her. You could have taken her against her will, but instead gave her the freedom to choose… A choice made in just kindness, but a choice that has perhaps doomed her,” she explained further, her expression strained. “You care for her do you not? I am not so young as to be blind to these things.”

There was silence, a pregnant pause as she awaited my answer. I, on the other hand, was waiting for a message from the system. When no offer of a quest came, a sneer stole across my face and my response was harsher than it should have been.

“You think of me as some simple lovestruck youth. Madam, I may be short in the count of years but I am not a fool. I will not chase after someone who bears me no regard. That she has shown on more than one occasion.” The words came out almost as a hiss. “Bind her to me? Nonsense, I will make no barbaric contract and perpetuate an idea that is slavery in all but name. This is a matter of pride for me.”

I drew a deep breath, wanting to end the conversation on a softer note. “I will help her if I can, but I will not go out of my way, nor make any promises I can not keep. I owe you both that, at least. I will never enslave another being for any reason. Now then, there are many pressing matters that demand my attention. You will have to excuse me,” I finished, getting up

All she could do was nod, knowing that she could press me no further, she decided instead to try another tact. “Do you know what it is that women find most attractive?”

Despite myself, I found myself stopping as curiosity ruled me.

“Status, good looks, the usual nonsense,” I answered with a sigh.

The woman looked at me with a wane smile. “No, Gilgamesh. It is devotion. Think on that, for a moment.”

To this I snorted, thoroughly annoyed, and went back upstairs to wake my companions.

We had wasted enough time, and we had a long day ahead of us.