A Quiet Sermon|Flux

[Kender Bard]

Dreamwarp sought out Adam. It'd been a couple days since their fiasco with her room and she'd left the brothers to their own devices for the most part. Now, though, she was itching to continue her teachings with Adam. Drake, she'd decided, would be best to teach via example, and with time. But Adam was scholarly enough to appreciate a sermon. She hadn't given one in a long, long time.

[tuo]

She soon found Adam in the library, but instead of reading he was gazing out the window at the city of Flux. He doesnt seem to really hear Dreamwarp approach at this time.

[Kender Bard]

Dreamwarp glides as silently up behind him as she can, looking out the window as well. She was in a somber mood this day, and so wore her black robes with the silver-thread designs. Eventually, she spoke. "What are you thinking about, Adam?"

[tuo]

Adam jolted in surpise and looked up at her. "Oh, I didnt notice you, sorry Dreamwarp. And..well I was just watching some of the priests put that bread out into the city..why do they do that? Just one basket I mean."

[Kender Bard]

Dreamwarp frowned thoughtfully and pulled up a seat next to him. "Well," she murmured softly, "To explain that it would be easier to explain all of Flux. I could do my best, if you'd like to hear."

[tuo]

Adam nodded eagerly. "I would like that. If it's not any problem of course."

[Kender Bard]

"Not at all."

Dreamwarp leaned back and chose her words with care. "A long time ago, longer than anything chronicled that we are aware of, it's believed that Flux was a normal city, where people could come and go freely. Then Soahc got up to his mischief and warped it into what it is today; everchanging. The priests were given warnings to stay in the temple and not come out for several months. This was possible for them to do, as they'd just recently restocked all their supplies. In the city, Soahc waited and watched. At first, life went on in confusion but otherwise it was fairly normal. Then as the supplies began to dwindle, crime broke out. The city started to fall into true anarchy as every man decided to fend for himself. Before long, it devolved into what it is you were raised in."

She paused to let this sink in.

[tuo]

Adam mulled over what Dreamwarp told him before nodding. "Okay..I can understand what it's like for those in the city..but what happened next?"

[Kender Bard]

Dreamwarp shifted. "Well the priests were finally allowed to see what had happened to the city while they kept absent from it. During that seclusion, I must add, that a type of chaos bloomed as well. The priests only had themselves for company and what was available to them. Cooped up for so long, they began to become a bit.. unhinged, shall we say? It set the precident for the rest of the priests to follow. I'm not sure if the priests corrupted future acolytes or if the acolytes just mimed their masters. Either way, I wouldn't have it any other way."

She steered her mind back to the city. "Ah, right, well. The priests at first started to do what they could to set the city to right again, but the high priest at the time stopped them. 'We are priests of Soahc,' he said patiently. 'Who are we to put to order what so clearly thrives in disorder? Here stands before us a perfect testimony to our Lord. Soahc imbued us all with flaws, sins, imperfections. The other Forces gave us the power to overcome these flaws and better ourselves, and yet, always, these marks of our Lord persist. They lurk under the surface, waiting for a chance to manifest themselves. Look upon this city, my brothers. These people could quite easily arrange themselves so that their city is whole and healed once again. They could share, rather than steal. Heal, instead of harm. And yet they do not. And so, I say, let them revel in their sins as we do in our temple. We will give them only what they need to survive until they can all cry as one voice, 'More! We want more!'."

Looking satisfied at her telling, she added, "That day never came. It likely never will."

[tuo]

Adam listened to the story closely and when it was finished he slowly looked out the window again. "..But what if that day does come..? What will Flux want more of..?"

[Kender Bard]

"For starters, food, probably," Dreamwarp laughed. "And then? Soahc only knows. Maybe that day will come. I think it'll be a sight to see. Until then, though, we can only watch from above." She reached out to stroke Adam's cheek. "How do you feel about all this?"

[tuo]

Adam gave a small sigh. "It makes sense to me...but I cant help but wish I could offer a little more help to them...even if it's adding a single loaf of bread to that basket.."

[Kender Bard]

"I used to feel the same way," Dreamwarp added, sounding quite melancholy. She debated informing him a little more of herself. It wasn't something she enjoyed talking about. With that in mind, she took the conversation into a different tangent. "I think everyone feels that way at first. Then we stop. All of us for different reasons. A good amount of us, I think, just don't want to think about it anymore. If our pasts were anything like Flux, then it becomes almost an obsession to forget. You and Drake might wind up that way too, someday."

[tuo]

Adam seems a little bothered by that. "I hope not..does feeling that way get in the way of being a priest or something?" He asks in a worried tone.

[Kender Bard]

Dreamwarp shook her head. "No, of course not. It's just..." She waved a hand helplessly. "I don't know how to explain it, Adam. Better to ask why a man gets drunk."

She let her hand fall back to the armrest and brooded. After a moment of quietness she admitted, "I know what it's like to grow up in destitution. Maybe nothing so horrendous as Flux, but there are bad places all over the world."