A Different Kind of Monk

[Skittlebug]

When he had first started out, Demetri had had all sorts of noble thoughts and intentions, ideas of adventure in new lands and who knew, maybe enlightenment. He'd set out with a group of others headed toward the north, nearly all with different reasons. None of them had counted on the demon problem getting so much worse, pushing so much farther into all of the lands. Many of the group had decided to stop at one place or another, thinking it was safer than continuing on. Demetri had been of a mind with the part of the group that decided it would be safer to try and keep ahead of the threat, and continued on to his original destination.

The trip had been harrowing, even in a group (dwindling or no), but he had made it to Skyheort seemingly just in time, just before things had gotten really bad. Or so he'd thought. Turned out that not long after he'd arrived, the city became the target of some terrible demon that turned everyone insane, and kill happy. Though he survived the ordeal untouched, it had been terrifying ,and had affected him more than he realised. He pitched in with the cleaning efforts after everything was sorted out, found a place to bunker down for the time being, and spent a good amount of time worrying about his family back in Humontis.

For a time he found himself simply caught up in the general terror of what was happening to the world. Then, it suddenly seemed over. No one knew why, but the demons, most of them at least, seemed to have just left. Or headed elsewhere. No one could seem to offer an explanation, but no one was complaining. Cautiously, things seemed to return to at least something close to normal, and Demetri finally felt safe to explore Skyheort. 

Even diminished as it was, the city was still terribly impressive to him, it even reminded him a little of Obsidian. Before doing much exploring though, he sent a bird home, two actually for good measure. He needed to know that his family was all right before he could worry about himself. He did his best to keep himself occupied while he waited for a response, found some odd jobs, met a lot of people, and so on. 

When he finally received word from his family, that they were safe, he was overjoyed. That same day he resolved to finally see to the reason he had come to Talen'sul in the first place. After he thanked and said goodbye for now to the people he had stayed with and befriended, and gathered up what things he had, he set out from the city.

During the trek from the city into the mountains he felt strangely exhilarated. Sure, there was no guarantee that this would be what he was looking for, but he was finally back on track and doing something. Though there had been so much hardship in the last months, and many lost, things had turned from bleak to hopeful. And that was how he felt, hopeful.

It certainly helped to bolster his spirits when the path finally turned from sparse forest to the beginnings of a mountain trail. Now this was familiar, and welcome. Sure he had only spent two seasons per year under the mountain for most of his life, but that meant that the underground was like a second home to him, ad heading in the mountains all but promised caves and caverns of some sort. 

It didn't take him too long to get to the entrance of the monastery, nearly at the top of the mountain. Once there, he took a few minutes to admire what he could see of the place (not to steel himself, no of course not). There wasn't much to be seen out of what jutted out of the rock, but it felt solid, a part of the mountain in its way. He was very curious to see just how big it was on the inside, no way they wouldn't at least let him in, right?

Right, that was enough standing around. He made his way up to the doors and, using the knocker, knocked a few times.

[Kender Bard]

The doors opened after a short bit of waiting and a middle-aged man looked out. He was dressed in plain trousers and tunic and sported a wide, grey colored band of cloth about his waist. He favored Demetri with a smile and asked, "May I help you?"

[Skittlebug]

Demetri smiled back at the man, "I hope so. My name is Demetri Stoneway, I came from Humontis to see this monastery. I'd like to learn how different it is here than then monastery at home."

He didn't particularly want to get into all of his reasons at the front door of the place, and it was the truth anyhow.

[Kender Bard]

"Of course," the monk murmured with a smile, beckoning Demetri inside and closing the door behind him.

Rather than be pitched into darkness, the interior of the monastery was actually quite well lit. Long channels were cut into the rock in carefully spaced locations, allowing copious amounts of light to filter in. The ceiling also was painted in a breathtaking fresco of a blue sky with the clouds taking various artful shapes (not to mention all the fauna of the sky in evidence as well.)

The inside of the building was fairly spartan; the rock walls were smoothed but the floor was pure stone with nothing in the way of carpeting. There were sconces where torches would burn at night but little else covered the walls. As the monk went deeper into the monastery there began to appear signs of art--a painting here, a statue here, a tapestry or a rug there. Nothing was uniform and it didn't match, but there was great skill in each piece as they came up.

Other monks could be seen, all of them wearing the same outfit. Their belts were mostly black or gray, but some contained a few colored stripes. It was impossible to guess at the symbolism at a mere glance, however. Men and women glanced at Demetri and his escort curiously as they passed by.

Overall the place was incredibly quiet. The monastery was clearly an impressive size, having the whole mountain in which to spread into, and there was certainly a fair number of monks in evidence even on their little walk. But there was a hush over the entire place similar to a temple.

After a while, the monk led Demetri into a small room containing a plain rug and what looked to be two pillows on the floor. The monk gestured to one. "Please, be seated. I will fetch one of my superiors who will be able to answer your questions more completely than I could. Do you require water?"

[Skittlebug]

Demetri smiled and followed the monk inside, looking about curiously as he did. He was a little surprised at just how plain and stark the place was for the first while, though it felt very good to walk stone on solid stone. Curious about the light filtering in, he looked up and stopped for a moment to admire the fresco. After a moment he blinked and realised he was letting his guide get away, and walked quickly (trying to be discreet), to catch up to him.

As they got deeper he enjoyed pieces of art and similarly nice things scattered here and there. He found the fact that they seemed so half hazard actually nice, it gave him enough time to look at each of them as they passed by. He wondered if the monks had made the pieces themselves, and made a mental note to ask at some point.

Where he saw other monks in the compound looking at him curiously, he smiled back, a part of him enjoying being an object of curiosity. The quiet of the place was slightly unnerving though, he wondered if it was always like this.

He found the two pillows on the floor of the room he is lead to a little confusing, though of course he said nothing about it. He shook his head at the offer of water, he'd brought a water skin with him for the trek from the city. "I'm fine, thank you."

He waited until the monk was gone to sit down, being unsure if there was some way he was expected to sit. Cross-legged? That was a meditating type...thing, right? Probably for more flexible people, he had decided after trying it and being unable to get his legs to comply, only managing to scoot the pillow around a bit. Legs straight in front of him was out, that just felt childish. As did both knees up, though that came with an added air of petulance.

He had finally settled on one knee up and an arm thrown over it when it struck him that maybe he was supposed to take his boots off before walking on the rug.

[Kender Bard]

The door opened softly and a new monk stepped into the room to interrupt his thoughts. This man was dressed as all the others but sported a white belt which hadn't been seen yet on other monks. He was young, not quite middle aged, and wore his brown hair into a topknot. He was lean and tall, but managed not to seem imposing. Instead, he flashed Demetri a smile and went to the other pillow, settling himself down cross-legged. "Welcome to the Eresserod Monastery. I am Grand Master Vasil. I hear you have some questions?"

[Skittlebug]

Demetri looked up with a smile when the door opened again, and does take note of the white belt, he'd have to find out just what the colours meant. He felt like he should get up to greet the man, out of politeness, but he had been told to sit down so he stayed where he was.

Ah, so crossed legged it was. He felt a little self concious at his own pose and shifted a little. Though when Vasil introduced himself he stopped fidgeting, brows raised. Grand Master, like in charge of the whole place? And he was the one who came to talk to some guy who showed up at the door. It threw him off quite a bit. "Thank you, um, yes. My name is Demetri Stoneway, from Humontis. I'm curious to know how different the monastery is here from the one in my home. The monastery at home is spiritual, but very military based as well. I've heard that it's different here?"

[Kender Bard]

"It's quite different," Vasil agreed with a smile. "I've only given the Humontis monastery one visit, but I doubt it has changed much in that time. First, to dispel a notion you may have, we are not complete pacifists here. Plenty of the monks do learn how to fight here. But we learn other things as well. In Humontis, the emphasis is on military means because the monks are an extension of the army for both Humontis and the church. They follow the church's creeds, but they are warriors. In Erresserod, our goal is to find harmony and balance within ourselves and with the world around us. We are spiritual, but not bent on any one Force." He held up a finger. "Or Element. You won't find monks praying to the Earth Mother or Trae here. That is the key difference between us, but it is a world of difference."

[Skittlebug]

Demetri nodded as Vasil described his monastery, it was quite different, but maybe in a good way. He never had been overly religious, and while he did want to learn to fight, he wasn't too keen on joining a military sect like at home. He had come looking for a place to find himself, and Vasil was making it sound very much like this could be it.

"You make it sound very appealing." He fidgeted a little, unsure how to go about asking what he wanted. 'Hey, how about you let me be one of the monks here too, it sounds fun' wasn't really going to cut it. "How does someone become a monk here?"

[Kender Bard]

"By asking," Vasil replied with a wide grin. "Anyone can join our ranks. Of course there are some ground rules to explain first. For starters, your personal possessions are, largely, taken away for the first couple months unless they are things that are critical you keep near you for whatever reason. It's not to be cruel, but we want to clear your mind of the need for material goods. We live a sparse lifestyle here as a part of our training for harmony."

"Simplicity is one of the virtues exemplified here. Eventually, the items would be returned to you. Everything you should need however, is provided by the temple: food, shelter, clothing, and such."

"Next, all initiates must take a vow of chastity. Mastery over the body includes throttling such base passions as lust and anger. Again, this can be renounced later on in training."

Vasil made a gesture of his hands of something shrinking. "In case you haven't noticed, the idea is that an initiate is reduced to their core so that they can work from their core to attain balance and then slowly focus outwards. We remove as many distractions to this as possible. One wouldn't teach someone who is new to the sword, for example, by bombarding them on all sides at all times. A pupil must be able to focus, and the training of the self requires utmost concentration if one is hopeful to succeed."

[Skittlebug]

On board, on board...maybe not so on board? The vow of chastity bit threw Demetri off a bit, but if it could be renounced later maybe it wouldn't be too bad. He wondered how many of the younger monks ever got caught with a new best friend lefty or righty.

Vasil's explanation of stripping everything away to a clean slate actually made a lot of sense to him. It actually felt a lot like what he'd sent out to do, really find himself, and something about it just felt right. He might not have the most patience or concentration now, but that was stuff you could work on right? Besides, by this point he felt that he was far enough into this already that he had to at least try to see it through.

"What you're saying makes a lot of sense, and to tell the truth, I came here hoping to find a place I might be able to find and better myself. If it is all right with you, I'd like to ask to join your monastery."

[Kender Bard]

"Then it will be done," Vasil said with bright approval. "Now of course nobody can be expected to walk the first tentative steps of harmony by themselves. Every novice is given a mentor to help them." Vasil crossed his arms and flashed Demetri a grin. "And as it so happens, I don't currently have an apprentice. So, if you don't mind, I'd like to take you under my wing."

[Skittlebug]

Demetri's eyes widened at that, he never would have expected the Grand Master to take on apprentices himself. Weren't the people in charge of places usually too busy for that sort of thing? But hey, he certainly wasn't going to refuse a chance to learn from the top of the chain.

His grin widened, looking a touch silly even. "I would be honoured."

[Kender Bard]

"Before we throw you into the middle of things, would you like to look around?" Vasil asked. "Or do you have any questions? Of course, if you rather we get you set up in your quarters first, with your new things, that can be done swiftly."

[Skittlebug]

Demetri thinks for a moment, he's mostly still just curious about the place, and the other monks. "I would like see the place actually, and I'm sure I could come up with a lot of questions if you let me. Like are there very many other newer monks, or at least younger?"