HOLLER was about in the streets. All were festive for the celebrations that occurred yesterday. Yet along their path was a curious woman; one of silver hair and red raiment, who dragged a pristine, golden, but oversized chest. The people seemingly avoided her, curious of her toil, but not enough to ease her plight.
The woman strained herself, pulling a long chain tethered to the heavy chest. All anyone would do was give her curious looks. Though soon some sought to help.
“Might you need assistance with that?” they said. But when they took a glance at her face, they saw her strained expression turned to a glare.
“Sorry, we’ll be on our way!” they cried and scampered away.
A strong but unknown force bound her, and she could only sigh. By its power, the resistance toward any approach only seemed to heighten. As the onlookers went on their way, the lone woman was left to herself.
“If only the forefathers could have granted me reprieve in these awful conditions, I must abide!” she muttered. “What would I give to return home. After having left for so long, not a single person seems to engage. I am left alone to contend with the plights of the world, with the last of the items I do hold! Why have they forsaken me so?”
And like that, she exited the city, passing the gates, where the guards seemed intimidated by the long chain and the anchor on the great chest. Its golden design glimmered in the light and they marveled at the sight of its form, but they could not gaze for long. They moved out the maiden’s way. While they could have halted her trudge, it seemed unwise at the time. And so they gave leave, and she passed by, giving her curses to the town that ignored her.
For many days she dragged the chest, leaving great tracks in the dirt. And her labors only seemed to grow as the time passed. Many passersby would slow to see this display of the seemingly frail maiden dragging a heavy chest. And once again, if they sought to help, they would be dissuaded either by the maiden’s seeming anger or some other unknown entity that kept her at bay. Though there were some that tried to rob her.
Indeed, as she passed toward the plains, a group of cloaked men came wielding daggers. They halted her movement, and said, “Whereabouts do you think you are, maiden? We see this rather pretty chest and would like to take it for ourselves. Now you have a few choices but I’d say—”
Before they could finish, the maiden swung her chest, and cried, “Away with you, fiends!”
The chest crashed into the thieves. Their faces smashed, and their teeth cracked, and in a single moment they were sent into flight. Their trail of screams carried far above as they soared like a missile. The last of their echoes became as like a sigh of the wind, and they disappeared, leaving only a glimmer of a star.
The maiden of silver panted and fell to the chest in exhaustion. “Whatever keeps most folk away seems to ignore the ones who would do me harm! What a splendid curse I have been given!”
She proceeded onward in her path to her next location, dragging the items of questionable import. She could not find reprieve nor help nor aid nor any other wishing to question or engage (lest they had evil intent).
Soon she came to the edge of the forest, and taking a deep breath, she entered the woods. She walked past the trees that glistened in the sunlight. Their leaves gently swaying in the wind that seemed to give murmurs in the air. Great shafts cut through the canopy, and though their light was dim, it was enough to give sight for the maiden’s path. The moss crept over the soil and shadows edged near toward the rim of the trail. The path was set with flowers and many animals seemed to wander about. When the maiden came near to them, they frolicked and danced about her without a care, almost seeming to mock.
“What is with these beasts of the forest?” she said, irritated. “’Tis something I find suspicious. To what do I owe these creatures who gaily move without a hint of dissatisfaction? Ah! When will my toils end?”
She continued to move along, trying her best to ignore the creatures about her. The chain pulled hard against her shoulder as the chest seemingly became heavier. The birds above started to tweet, the deer about started to cry, and they came and danced about her, directing her elsewhere. It seemed they wished to show her something.
“Well, if there is something there, bring me to it,” she said.
The animals led her through many winding paths that moved up and down the slopes. As they proceeded farther into the thickets, the animals seemed to move faster and farther from her. She tried to keep pace. And she very well could due either to some mysterious power or the endurance she built. She dragged the chest with as much force as she can muster and hurried to her guides.
She heard noise in the distance, that seemed as like rushing torrents. The air became moist and the leaves above danced in the mild wind. The dim gray light brightened, and it was as if a golden wash came into the forest, covering her in the splendid designs of the world that reminded her so much of her home.
The path became level, and the beasts slowed in their movement as they waited for her. Soon she reached their position and suddenly, light flooded her view!
Her eyes opened, and she saw a grand waterfall before her. Trees were set about the rims of the open cavity and, as her eyes wandered, she saw even more falls, and together, the noise resounded like a stampede of bulls. It reminded her of the tempest of the lightning god and, looking down, she could see the grand pool that was like a great lake. On its surface abounded many kinds of fish, birds, lotuses, shrubs, and much more she had not yet seen.
“My! What is all of this?” she said in joy. “How have I not seen such a place before? There are other places in northern Ārhmanhaḥ alike to this, but never had I thought a location to be found here! At least some gladness can be had with such sights in this dull world.”
She felt a nudge from behind her and suddenly she fell. She screamed as she plummeted. Her hands grabbed to the chain, but it proved futile, for the chest by her weight collapsed the ground underneath and it fell with her toward the pool. They impacted with a great splash. And when she surfaced, she moved as fast as she could to escape the rapid falls.
She cried, “Why have you betrayed me so, O beasts of the wild? Did I truly deserve death? Was I not as like a friend to you; why must you make me suffer like this? ’Tis not right.”
The animals then did something rather unexpected. They plummeted from their position and fell into the rapids as well. They moved to where she was and helped her across the pool to the edge where she could rest the chest that strangely floated above the surface. Not that she minded. She lifted herself up on a ledge and drained her clothes of the absorbed water. With a snap of her fingers, the excess moisture evaporated, and she was once more dry. She sat next to the edge of the pool and sighed. She shook her head in disappointment.
“I wonder when I can find a place to stay before having yet to seek the cruel mission that my forefathers gave me so. Much time has passed since then with only few that have conversed. And now I seem to have gone mad trying in my feeble attempt to talk with animals that surely cannot understand me! Perhaps it is the path toward madness. There is nothing more I can do but wallow in this despair that has now come to me, and ’tis a shame; a great shame indeed.”
The deer pushed her into the water and the maiden cried, “What was that for? You have already plunged me once into the waters. Why now again? These beasts really are nothing more; to think they would show me some fondness that most hoped to only have it dashed by the end. I know not what more I can do.”
The deer did not take kindly to her remarks, nor the birds nor the monkeys nor any other beast around, and they swarmed her and assailed her with their pecks and their claws and stags, or any other appendage they could use.
“Stop that,” she cried, “stop it now! I did not do anything to offend you. Let me be so that I may go elsewhere.”
The animals stopped. They seemed to sigh, their expressions becoming almost human-like. The maiden became curious at this. They moved away from her and she chose to follow after them. She with a great swing removed her chest from the water and walked behind the beasts, who took a path into the next area of the forest.
The light slowly became dim, and the ground was covered in the shadows of the great trees. Predators seemed to prowl in the dark spaces, but gave no heed to the maiden. In fact, they did not give any heed to the animal guides, ones that would surely have seemed delicious to those carnivores in their famished state.
The air became dry, and the golden light was replaced by one that was gray. The breeze that was there before became gentle and only the scents of sorrowless trees could be smelled.
The trail soon dipped, and she was careful to scale it. She could not have her chest push further than her and drag her in its movement. She looked above to see the faint traces of light shafted through the canopy, seeming as like the rays of the Light himself, one she so yearned to be close to but who would not come, at least not as she expected, for he had many other things to attend to and scarce that she know where he was.
She began to reminisce of the things of her home, the joys she experienced beside all her friends and peoples in the land that many would find so wonderful and strange. They were of a different kind; a kind she would not express to others and let them fancy their guess, whatever that may be.
She had many questions as to why they did not defend her when she was to leave. They became complacent and seemed more attached to their joys than to her, for none of them would follow and none of them resisted the decree for her to be sent off alone.
“Why is it that you did not defend me, O forefather?” she muttered to herself. “Why did you remain silent when I was given so surely a task that was unfair. To have to suffer in these lands all by my lonesome, where not even the most destitute would seek to approach me? What had I done to deserve this? I know our peoples to have duties that they are bound by, as are all the Ṃārhaḥn, but no preparation nor toil was I given before my flight.”
The memory of the day she was to leave came to her mind. At the time, there was a grand procession. All about walked on the plains of what looked like clouds toward the exit of their home. They alighted their powers and give a grand spectacle on her exit. She said her farewells to her friends, to those she considered family, and those great beings that stood watch from behind, all of whom she thought she would never see again.
When she turned, she was cast from the exit and fell to a place far from what she knew. She wandered the lands, asked many a question, tried to engage with the peoples, only to be left with little resolve to continue. In every case, being held back by a force that prevented others from engaging. She did not realize at the time what that was, but she knew something suspicious was about.
It did little to ease her loneliness.
She continued on her trail with sadness about. The animals seemed to mimic her expression and walked slowly in their steps, hanging their heads low. When she looked to them and saw their strange behavior, she asked, “Why do you act as such? Something seemed amiss when we plunged into the pool. Why do you act as if you were human and mimic what I feel? What I think. But what good is that? Why not return to tend to your young if you have any or perhaps find food or shelter or sleep? Is that not what you beasts do?”
They halted in their movement and looked to her. She could see a fire in their eyes, one that blazed with determination, but toward what she did not know. Her mind shifted toward other things, and she thought hard to only see them as mindless in their approach, lacking the faculties she sought in another.
The animals cast away their glances and continued onward. They held their heads high and the maiden’s sullen face was replaced by one of curiosity. Their behavior had caught her interest.
She continued to follow, now a little cautious, but held trust to where these animals would take her.
The trees about began to arch and their boughs entwined as if to be like an entrance. She passed by the trunks that looked like pillars. There was an aura about this place that seemed different from what she knew. She continued onward and the animals, one by one, halted.
“Why do you hold creatures of the forest?” she asked.
They did not move, remaining still as statues.
She turned forward and saw in the distance a grove. Myriad lights were set about and the canopy was lifted to give open sunlight. She hastened her movements, dragging the chest quickly behind her. Before she realized, the grove had turned into an open plain. Pockets of trees dotted the expanse of flowers and meadows that were all about, and the beasts that were there all moved to a single position where there stood a strange woman; one who was tall, but her hair like gold, her face like milk, and her raiment similar to the silver maiden’s but altogether more splendid and beautiful.
She looked on in amazement at this person, catching the gaze of her hazel eyes.
The maiden of silver walked toward the maiden of gold and asked, “Who are you? Why are you here? You seem like a spirit, yet you are not, and you do not resemble a god or celestial or any other that I might know. You seem fit for royalty, but not here. No, you seem to come from somewhere else. But where I cannot say.” The maiden of gold looked to the one of silver with a gentle smile. “Why do you not speak? Can you not open your mouth?” She shook her head and the maiden of silver was confused by this. “Well, no matter, seeing as you are the one who most likely rules this place, might I ask that you grant me leave to rest here? I do not intend to stay long, only to give myself enough rest so that the aches in my arms and my legs might subside and then I can continue on with my mission that, I am assured, is hopeless.”
The gold maiden moved from the animals and coming before the maiden of silver, she bent herself till their eyes were leveled. It was as if she could see what the silver maiden was all about. Her eyes questioned the other’s intentions and thoughts and anything else that the silver one would be remiss to mention.
“When she looks to me as such,” said the silver maiden to herself, “I cannot help but feel both relaxed and uneasy in her presence. ’Tis something I have not felt since I left home. This woman’s presence now brings worse thoughts to mind. What does she wish me to know?”
She peered into the hazel eyes of the golden, and she became transfixed. Those eyes seemed to glisten with the light of the cosmos, shining like jewels. She felt transported to some other place that was far and strange from what she knew as she traveled through the bespectacled darkness.
She came to a world of blue with a continent that was green. But toward the north, there were pockets of black and it seemed that great wars were erupting all across its surface. There was a location to the south. It seemed peaceful, and here she saw this golden woman playing outside her palace without a care in the world. Her family watched her: an aged king and queen. And her brother, a prince, who looked on in delight.
This happiness, however, was altogether removed. Specters of black assailed their home and the cover of black snow and ash were all about. Great fires erupted from the palace and in the city she beheld a great many of the people that were either captured, slaughtered, or had worse done to them.
This golden woman was taken by the horde, and upon the backs of serpents, she was carried away into the night to not be seen for a long time again. Time progressed quickly, as the city, while survived, became as like a ruin desolate and hopeless in its form.
The brother returned some time later, only to see the carcass of his home. He mourned and wailed loud and made a great promise to defeat those who destroyed his family. His oath was sealed on the fire and the specters were left to fall to their demise.
The vision ended. When the silver maiden regained her thoughts, she cried, “Telāhita!” She immediately prostrated and clasped the golden one’s feet. “O Telāhita, Telāhita! How could I have not recognized you? The one who had to suffer so much, but became as like a ghost and a demon to her people.” The silver maiden lifted herself and with her cries turned to wrath, she pointed to the golden one and said, “Why do you abide in this place? Should you not have risen with your brother past all else to the domain where none might return? Why do you not speak? Tell me! Did the forefathers send you? Perhaps the light? Speak! Why is it you are here, O most sorrowful of the Ṃārhaḥn?”
But this woman would not speak and continued to remain silent. She walked away and returned to the animals and acted as if nothing happened.
This made the silver maiden furious. She called to Telāhita, and said, “Why do you not speak? Why do you remain silent? Answer me!”
Telāhita’s frame became small, and she had the animals scurry away. She beckoned the silver maiden to follow her. And she, with suspicion, followed Telāhita.
They walked across the plains, following the trail through the grand meadows. The sky was clear, and the sun beamed on them with full force.
Telāhita was unfazed, but the silver maiden began to tire. She sought to rest her hands that burned on the chain and the weightlessness of the chest slowly vanished until it became as it was and burdened her. Her pace slowed to a trudge as her arms were beginning to burn.
The maiden of silver looked to Telāhita, who seemed to pass farther into the distance, all the while leaving her exhausted and panting. She looked about and saw great stone edifices that seemed to have come from another time and on them were written words in the old language. She moved toward them.
When she was in reach, she placed her hands on the surface and felt the wear. As she read the characters, she realized that what she was looking at was a gravestone. Her eyes shifted past and she could see whole rows and columns that gathered far into the rolling hills. She could see the ruin of great statues that were sunk into the earth.
She said to herself, “These must be the Pateshrhaḥn grasslands.”
She looked at Telāhita, who was now even farther, but the maiden of gold remained in her position and looked to the one of silver, seeming to wait on her. The silver maiden continued on the path and slowly made her way to Telāhita.
The silver maiden asked, “I do not expect you to answer, but I wonder to myself if your grave might be here. I find it curious that the gravestones should litter such a site when even in the ages before those of your ilk were burned.” Telāhita smiled and nodded her head. The silver maiden’s eyes glowed. “Finally, you respond!” she cried.
Telāhita proceeded forward, and she slowed her pace to stay by the silver maiden’s side. She touched the chest, and it began to float. The silver maiden was overjoyed, and she said, “My gratitude to you, O one of purity!”
They moved down the slope where the grass cut in its height. They passed around the rim and many more ruins were now in sight. But they did not stop to look, and on they passed from one stone slab to another. Much time passed on their trudge. And soon the slabs began to widen in distance until they formed a rim at the base of the hill. The two stopped and looked to a lone hill where stood a great banyan.
They moved quickly to it and on reaching, the silver maiden saw a much smaller stone slab covered by the descending branches. She ripped the branches away and, looking to the surface, she saw Telāhita’s name. There was also another: her brother. “I cannot think that this is where you rest,” said the silver maiden. “But why is it here? Who erected such a thing?” She turned and Telāhita was gone.
“Telāhita, where have you done?” she cried. “Return! Forgive me! Do not leave me.”
Telāhita did not return. The maiden of silver sobbed and cried for a long time, calling repeatedly for the maiden of gold to return. But her pleas went unanswered, echoing into the distance, and passing into the wind.
In defeat, she rested for some time underneath the tree, wiping away her tears. She looked into the distance to see that the rows and columns of the ruins seemed to circle one another. Indeed, they spiraled, and they seemed to do so along this lone hill.
It was at that moment she saw the day pass as the sun moved across the horizon and began to set along the rim, and as it did so, lights began to surface among the ruins. And these lights surged great to the sky and seemed to serve as beacons for the wayward. All about her passed great spirits, many seeming to be from the prior ages; their form standing well-nigh three times her size. They moved to a location away from the ruins, and the silver maiden sought to know where they went.
So she rose and clasped the chain and dragged the chest on her way to the destination of the souls.
As she walked beside the fallen, she could see that most were soldiers clad within scaled fhorlia in either golden or silver cuirasses, all tinted a yellowish purple by the light of the setting sun. She continued to follow them for what felt like many days. She could not tell how much time passed, for it seemed time stood still at the precipice of dusk.
These wayward ghosts did not seem not to see her beside them. She felt alone within their procession, but she continued to strive to meet them at their hold so she might understand why it was that they were here and where it was that they would seemingly depart.
The path slowly flattened when the ruins were no more in sight. Only grass and small hills lay in the distance. The clouds had cleared above, and she could see faint traces of stars that sparkled in the dusk. They soon reached the riverside and all the spirits that had come prostrated to it. The silver maiden followed in their motion and prayed as well. After a few moments, the ghosts rose, and they moved into the water and bathed within it. And when they were satisfied, they freed themselves and washed away into the waters where their forms became as like small lights that journeyed into the sky, leaving only a faint trail of their presence. And so was it that when they passed, she was now left once more alone, now only with their lingering lights.
She turned behind and saw that there was a trail left of all the items that were in her chest. She ran to it, looked inside, and saw that it was emptied. And looking out, she could see the trail of items stretch far into the distance. She sighed and said, “I suppose this is as far as I can take this, though I do not know how long I can carry without lingering on thoughts of home. Still, let it be free so that my mind can pass to other things.”
She grabbed the chain of the chest. With a great cry, she swung it above like a whip and tossed it into the river, where it struck itself against the rocks and remained as like a jewel piercing through the currents. Beside her, she saw a lone cedar and went to it. She slept underneath and for at least that time, her worries were gone.
