Perils of faith?|Obsidian, Humontis

[Northen Light36]

Windfall smiled as he made his way into the temple. He'd been on the road for long enough to be very glad he was home safely and it seemed only right to give his thanks to Efil for the safe journey.

Making his way to the shrine to Efil, he knelt and closed his eyes as he prayed.

[Kender Bard]

The usual susurration of the temple that gave it such an air of calmness and peace continued on, even in these troubled times.

But there came an interruption. Softly, in his mind, came a voice--at first it sounded like many voices speaking in unison though towards the end of her speech it became decidedly more feminine if still eerily multifarious:

Windfall, faithful servant of mine. I am the Force of Life, returned and made anew. I have cast my eye out over the world and see now that the words my priests speak which once I thought were truths are now no longer so. If you have faith in me and are willing to serve, rise, and walk over to my statue likeness and touch its hand.

[Northen Light36]

For a moment, Windfall hesitated out of sheer and complete shock, but he could no more disobey that voice then he could breathe underwater. Rising, he made his way to Efil's statue and lightly touched its hand with his own trembling hand.

[Kender Bard]

Abruptly, the statue's hand closed over his, though it was a gentle pressure. The temple faded away and was replaced by a green field with bright blue skies overhead and a gentle breeze, perfumed with the scent of early summer blooms, blew steadily.

And the statue was no longer a statue but neither did it look like the image of Efil that it had depicted.

She stood, tall and graceful, but the beauty that was clearly inherent was marred. Her large, shimmering white wings spread lightly but one by one the feathers slowly seemed to char and blacken, turning to ash and falling out, though new feathers grew to replace them, streaked with soot. Strange, exotic markings covered her body--blue, green, red, white-- pulsing faintly, ethereally beautiful. Scars covered her skin in a few other places, some pale and faded and some pink and new-healed looking.

But most striking was the cut near the corner of her left eye, slanted and curving like some macabre design. Blood trickled slowly from this and gave her the look of bloody tears from that eye. The right side of her face was not so marred and was still as lovely as the statue. She gazed at Windfall with pearly white eyes. "I knew that I could trust you to serve, Windfall. But I hope you have the fortitude to do as I ask of you. Will you hear me out?"

[Northen Light36]

Windfall fell to his knees. Even changed as she was, there was still something about the Force before him that he found not only awe-inspiring, but beautiful. "I-I will, my Lady. I could never not, though I know not how I could be of service to you."

[Kender Bard]

Efil bent and gently lifted Windfall back to his feet. "I have been absent from the heavens. I needed to cleanse myself from the staleness of long years of unbroken change and the pain of a lovesick heart. So I took the Efil that was and cast her off, giving myself back to my true essence of life itself and slumbered in all of humanity and everything living." She brushed the colored whirls on her skin. "Near my own creators..."

"And during that time I felt and breathed and lived everything that lived. The pain of the world was my pain and its joy my joy. And I came to learn that life is now not what it was when I first drew breath at the dawn of the world."

"Life is... so much, so many things. I precede all of my siblings, for what is growth, thought, chaos, death, without life?" She shook her head slightly, a small frown of concentration on her face as she struggled to reorder her thoughts again. "But it is suffering. There is so much pain in the world. Humans are filled with it, near to bursting with it. The Morilantans are not so wrong to call me the Prolonger of Pain. And what is being done by those who wear my colors and speak in my name? Sometimes... nothing."

"This is what must change. This is where I need you to help me, oh bard. I need a messenger for my new decrees. Someone whom I can trust." She reached out and poked his chest lightly. "With a pure and devotional heart."

[Northen Light36]

"I am only a humble bard," Windfall murmured, his voice shaking slightly. "I am neither powerful or wise. But I will serve in whatever way I can, and try to be worthy of the honour of your trust."

He simply didn't see how he could do so though. He was a bard, nothing more. Certainly not a King or Lord who would be heard and listened to by many.

[Kender Bard]

"Those who claim great wisdom are sometimes the most lacking," Efil remarked in almost playful tones. "No... I think you will be just the person. But know that this will not be an easy task. There are some who will listen and heed your words, but there will be those as well who find what you speak to be distasteful to them. They may call you a heretic or a blasphemer and you may even be persecuted, even though you speak words that I shall give you directly."

She seemed saddened by this. "I fear my people will be torn. But I must put my faith in humanity." She laughed softly, sadly, at the ironic twist in such a statement. "Serve me well, and I will grant you a heart's desire. Are you prepared to embark on this journey despite the danger?"

[Northen Light36]

Windfall didn't hesitate. He had no family to provide for or any true home to miss. He'd lived his life on the road since his parents had passed on and he could think of nothing he'd rather do. "My life and service are yours," he replied simply. "I will do all I can."

[Kender Bard]

"I will send you back," Efil explained. "And when you do, you will remember speaking with me, but not of this place for mortals cannot remember life in the Veil. When you return, there will be a rolled parchment in your hand. It contains a number of the new beliefs I hope to spread through the world. Read them, memorize them. You may pray to me if you have confusion or questions and I will do my best to clarify, though it will be through dreams."

This meeting she arranged had been difficult. She was still not fully... settled.

"You may start wherever you wish but I want you to go to all the temples all over Naruta and speak what I have given to you. Do everything in your power to make sure the words are heard, even if none actually care to listen. Speak them wherever else you feel they must or should be spoken but the temples will reach the largest amount of people the quickest."

She took his hand in her own. "Good luck, my faithful." Leaning forward, she kissed his forehead and squeezed his hand. Just as abruptly, he was back in the temple. The statue no longer held his hand, but the promised parchment was in the other.

[Northen Light36]

Still feeling stunned, awed and a little shaken by the experience, Windfall made his way out of the temple and home to the two room 'cottage' he rented. It wasn't large or well furnished, but it was home, and it was quiet. Sitting down in the only chair in the building, Windfall began to quietly read over the scroll.

[Kender Bard]

Much of what was written there was not so different from the Codex of Essence, though there did seem to be a greater emphasis on bettering the quality of life and an almost complete editing out of the passages that spoke gaily about the joys of life and living.

Towards the end of it all, Efil re-iterated much of what she stated in the scroll in what had the air and feel of a closing statement a priest may give after a lengthy sermon:

Life is suffering--a continuous stream of pain, punctuated by moments of joy, peace, and happiness of pure radiance made all the more brilliant by the backdrop upon which they are cast.

Suffering begets two primary responses--humility and cruelty. Those who react with cruelty will seek to alleviate their suffering, however temporary, by inflicting their pain upon others. The faith of Morilanta and the following of Evil best illustrates this point. What they refer to as the transference of sin, however, is merely the pleasure that can be gleaned upon seeing your own pain lifted above another.

Those who choose to act with humility will seek to lessen their own suffering peacefully or to assist in helping others which provides much of the same effect.

It is the will of Efil that all mankind work towards humility, to help others rather than to harm them. Cruelty only begets more pain in the self and in others, providing an endless wellspring upon which to draw on. Humility and kindness serve to alleviate what can be alleviated.

Blessed be those people who risk furthering their own pain in order to lift away some of the same from others. The measure of a life is not in their worldly goods, status amongst peers, power, or anything else so material--it is the impact they have had on the lives of others.

[Northen Light36]

Windfall smiled at the scroll and it's message, but he could see how it wouldn't go down well with everyone. He would have to think carefully about how to handle this.

---

The next morning, Windfall headed to the poorer sections of the city. In many ways, the lives of the poor were much as Efil had described life in general. They would take the negative parts of what he had to say better than most and the rest might be uplifting for them.

Standing on a wooden crate, he flared his wings out and began speaking as loudly as possible of his vision and the message Efil had given him, quoting the scroll as he went along.

[Kender Bard]

Many people stopped to listen, if only out of curiosity, thinking at first that the man might be performing or giving a rousing speech. But many lingered despite finding out that it was a sermon, for it was a sermon that they had never heard before. And while not everyone agreed with his words, there seemed to be no outward hostility.

Until a passing priest heard him and decided to stop and listen as well. Rapidly, he grew more and more infuriated. "You speak lies of the great lifegiver!" the priest finally protested, interrupting, unable to hold himself back any longer. "Life is NOT suffering! It is a wondrous gift, given to us by the Forces, to be treasured and enjoyed!"

[Northen Light36]

Windfall looked at the priest calmly. "I speak no lies, only the words given to me by Efil herself," he replied. "If there is no suffering in your life, that you can deny my truths, then you are a man who is truly blessed. But it is a rare man indeed who has never suffered heartbreak, pain or hard times."