Rolin’s Tale

The Story Telling Poet

All have heard tales of the Broken Mountains. Strange things seem to happen around them. People tell of witches and faeries and of beings that have no place in our waking world. Few stories, though, reach far enough back to see the why of it all, to try and make sense of the mystery.

I’ve heard of one such tale. It’s said that those mountains served as a barrier between realms. A realm of our reality, and a realm of something different. Something magical. All there is to see beyond the mountains is a vast desert so many stop their journey right there. But if we believe the stories, our realm stops at the mountains, and if one has the strength to cross the Desert of Bair, they would be granted leave of this world and entrance to another. This tale is a tale of what lies beyond.

Long ago, before books, even before history, there were two kingdoms. One was a kingdom of man as we are today. The other was a kingdom of something more ancient even to these men that time forgot. It was a kingdom of beings that defy reason, a kingdom of monstrous creatures that were part beast and part man.

The kingdom of men was ruled by a council, many working together and ruling side by side, none above the rest. Beloved by all the people, they were wise and kind. For time untold, they lived alongside the kingdom of beasts. While there was a form of peace between them, it was unstable and unspoken. For these half men, truthfully more creature than man, could not speak. The very image of one sparked fear in all who gazed upon it. Tall, fanged, and clawed, these beasts, covered in hair, resembled more something of nightmare to our eyes than another form of human. Despite their fearsome appearance, peace had prevailed.

With no words between them, a seed fear and doubt was planted. That seed grew to resemble anger and some started to toss accusations of crimes against the beasts. As time is never ending, the accusations only did increase in amount and severity. They accused them of stealing children, of destroying crops and of conspiring with the spirits to destroy the peace. They accused them of poisoning minds and causing man to commit adultery or murder. They were accused of everything that went wrong.

With no voices to defend themselves, many found the beasts guilty without proof or trial. Too fearful to attack, the accusers voiced concerns to the council of rulers. All agreed that the kingdom of half men must be responsible. All less one. The most beloved of the rulers spoke on behalf of the beasts. They had no voice given to them so his own voice he lent. He spoke of the peaceful intent of these creatures who were living at one with nature, eating only enough, and never destroying. Men, on the other hand had, destroyed forest to build cities. Man drove many animals to extinction with over hunting. The beasts were purer than man who all knew had been corrupted by the spirits. We must not shun these creatures but embrace them and live our lives in their image, he pled.

His speech, while moving, did not sit well with the kingdom and the other rulers of man. They cursed Kaedrig’s name and accused him of being taken by a spirit himself, a chosen one for the Demon King. His sentence was death. The ruler of the half men, name lost to time, heard of this, and was deeply saddened. For what he saw was a pure man being sentenced to death for standing up for his people, people who could not stand in the human court themselves. He made haste to try and convince the men that his people were peaceful and that he wanted no blood spilt between them. He tried to speak to the rulers of man, but they could not understand him; they could not hear his words.

They chained the two rulers up and planned to drown them to cleanse their souls. Kaedrig prayed to the gods and begged his fellow men to think about their actions. They refused and spat upon him for mentioning their beloved gods. The ruler of beasts had no fear. He knew true magic and had power over all. He moved his hands and the two rulers disappeared.

Seeing this, the whole Kingdom of men were stunned silent until fear shook the stillness from them. If one beast could possess such magic, surely they all could. They deemed the only reasonable course was to destroy the beasts before they themselves were destroyed.

Preparations were made. The men would lay siege to the forest kingdom of the half men under the cover of that very night. The men marched the many miles over the broken mountains to the forest, ready for a fierce battle. When they arrived, there was no forest; there was nothing. Nothing, save a still burning fire. From the fire, they heard noise. As they walked closer, they heard the howls of wolves.

Steadfast and with purpose the war party ignored the fire and moved on. The beasts had magic, true,  but the men had resolve and were determined to crush the threat to save their families, to save their kingdom! They walked for days. Those days turned to weeks, weeks into months. The men had not prepared for a journey so long and began dying of heat and dehydration. The nothingness they found themselves in was a barren desert so vast they could not fathom it. Yet still, the rulers pushed on. Five months of travel. Few men remained, but in the distance the landscape had finally changed. As the men grew closer, they saw it was a fearsome storm, and within the center of that storm they saw the forest that they had searched so long for. As they rejoiced at the thought of their mission ending, they rushed into the storm, and stalked through the forest. But they saw no life, not even animals. The further they went in, the more they noticed the silence of the forest. All was quiet; all was calming. As they reached the center of the forest, they found a small pond surrounded by trees with glowing golden leaves. Near the pool was their former leader, Kaedrig. He spoke to the men in a different voice.

“Welcome brothers. You stand here and now on holy ground. Your journey here, misguided though it was, has shown me the strength of your hearts. Though you will not find the quarry that you seek so desperately, I pray that you find peace in its stead. For peace is the only way we can live and honor our fellow man.

“I have seen with my own eyes the path that our future has and I say to you now it will not be easy. Our hearts are so easily corrupt and they will lead our children further into the darkness of sin before their children will finally be free to see the light.

 “Please, come stay by my fire and rest. If you are deemed worthy and the anger has fallen from your heart, your journey will end in the morning. If when you wake you still yet are filled with anger, then you will need all of the energy you can muster for your journey will be far from over.”

The men, without choice, made camp by the fire. As exhausted as they were, and peaceful as this land was, they found sleep easily. When they awoke, they found themselves by a fire, but it was not the one they slept by moments before. This was the fire they had passed on the beginning of their journey so many months before, at the edge of the broken mountains and still burning. As they tallied their numbers, less than half remained. The rest were gone, never to be seen again. The few lucky men returned to their kingdom with news of their journey. They did not find the beasts, but they were never be seen again. The forest was forever gone as well. Shortly after their return to the kingdom, there was an uneasiness amongst the men, a darkness shaded them all. The kingdom of men was plagued with civil wars, one kingdom became two, which became ten. Many men died and sins beyond counting were laid bare for all to see. An age of evil had begun.

The time of peace had ended. Kaedrig had been right. The path of man would not be easy, and that path would only get darker.