Chapter 124: Swan Song

Chapter 124: Swan Song

The two villagers squared up to each other.

There was a blinding white flash as the two lunged into battle, and, as it cleared, their whips could be seen, blazing like will-'o'-wisps as they whirled at high velocity through the air.

Each made several rapid strikes towards the opponent, only to be fended off just as quickly with either a shield or by the blades of a whip. They were using small, round shields, only slightly larger than their hands, but reacted quickly to ward off attacks.

Soon, the white glow around their weapons faded, and they both stepped back briefly to catch their breaths.

"That is the blessing of Ilmajes," the English-speaking guard said, turning towards the watching players. "Increases speed at beginning of fight. We show off a bit."

He laughed lightly, and the players joined in.

However, in seconds, his face took on a serious, focused expression again, and he jumped forwards back into the fight with a series of attacks. Although the fighters weren't moving as quickly as earlier, their blades were still a blur in the air as they spun in an immediate sequence of attack and response.

While, at first, Crucis found it difficult to make out what was happening among the whirring of blades, soon it seemed to take on a sort of order. Each combatant was keeping their Urumi in constant motion, making it dangerous for the opponent to approach, and venturing forwards to strike when they saw an opening. There were a few feints and sudden movements, attempting to throw the foe off their game.

The villagers anticipated each other's strikes, moving their own Urumi to cover their opponent's likely angles of attack as they carefully observed each other's stance. As each stepped forwards, their opponent's whip blades buzzed nearby, creating a buffer. As a result, they kept distance from each other, unless they saw a promising opportunity. Their attacks resembled cuts with a sword, and their whips cracked fiercely from above, sounding like the fire behind them. However, they were mostly able to raise their shield and duck out of the way.

Some of the villagers from around the fire had come along to watch, and were cheering on the fight. Crucis noticed that some of the villagers' faces had been deformed into petrified, screaming masks, slightly like an eagle, and this slowly reverted into a normal, tan human face as they stood away from the ritual fire.

Soon, the English-speaking guard managed to duck under an attack, then deftly channel his whips into a strike at his opponent's feet. He telegraphed his attack slightly, exaggerating his movement to make sure that his opponent wouldn't risk injury, but the angle of attack still took his opponent by surprise. His opponent, caught off-balance, had to jump out of the way, but lost balance and fell lightly to the ground. He playfully swirled his Urumi in a theatrical figure-eight above his opponent's body, before backing off. Smiling widely, the fallen villager held his ankle with one hand and shared a brief conversation and laugh with the victorious combatant. He seemed to be indicating that his ankle had sprained slightly, but took it in good spirits.

The English-speaking guard walked back towards the players, and said almost apologetically, "Is lucky, he was using old, slow whip. He beats me on most days."

"Well done," Starfighter said. "I have no idea how you guys did that."

A crowd of villagers was still standing on the nearby edge of the village, after watching the fight, with some slowly walking back towards the fire.

"You figure out someday," the guard replied. "Have you been upgrading whip skill?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"It's what I would do!" The guard laughed. "Maybe you could use the Urumi well now. But I won't make you show off in front of everyone!"

Starfighter smiled. "By the way, do you know what 'Whip Perk' to choose? It asked me to choose one, since my whip skill is at level 10."

"Um, only a few can be chosen at start, right? Best for you is probably called [Entangle], it means whip will easily wrap around opponent on hit. With bladed whip, that is very damaging!"

"I see. So can you use this weapon against armoured opponents?"

"Is best for lighter armour or no armour. Most enemies in wild are like that. Against armour, it will not deter enemy as much, but if it wraps around a weak spot then can still be painful. Is best to trip them up, then attack with sword or dagger. You can also dismount enemies easily. But since yours was gift of Dravaistaya, it will probably become enchanted once you injure fifty or hundred people with it."

"And what will that do?"

"You know the 'tentacles' of a jellyfish? It will sting like that, even if opponent is wearing armour. It is called [Death's Embrace]."

"Sure. I'll make sure to use it often, then."

"Best way to reach that is to ambush many people at once."

"Now there's a plan."

The villagers had begun walking back to the fire after the fight, but had sat around near it and were currently discussing feverishly what to do next.

"OK, so we will need your help for the next prayer," the guard said, turning to the group of players. "It is to a goddess of the Lami people, named Suwa. She is based on a woman from your people's mythology. That is called Leda."

Crucis laughed. "Leda? Of all the people for them to worship."

"The Lami myth is strange. They think all gods are good spirits, they live in the world and bless it. So Suwa is entangled with the god in form of a swan, and has become a goddess. She always appears entangled with the swan, which has grown into her. But what is story of Leda?"

"Well, that was an ancient Greek myth," Grisier said. "To simplify, Zeus was drawn to a woman named Leda, so he took the form of a swan to get close to her, under the pretext that he was being attacked by an eagle. He then forced himself on her, causing her to lay an egg, and her children supposedly included Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra, Castor, and Pollux."

"Ah, that is it. Good, we did not know, and have often failed in prayer to Suwa. There is also a legend of her laying an egg, it is said that the egg is hidden deep within the earth, and when it hatches her daughter's beauty shall cause people on earth to fight at the time of Ragnarok. Strange people."

"I see. Helen was involved in the Trojan War, and this seems like a similar tale."

"Yes, I see. Can you please write some lines, information, anything like that, on this stone? Maybe even draw, if it helps us to see what is happening." The guard held out a red stone, with a few small, finger-length white stones next to it which could be used to write.

"Alright, thanks. Grisier, take charge," DicingDevil said.

Grisier wrote a brief summary of the Leda story on the stone, including a few more details. On the other faces of the stone, the rest of the party scribbled a few lines and illustrations.

Thinking about the guard's account of Suwa, Crucis found it strange that the Zeus-based swan seemed to be reduced to practically an accessory for the female. The swan was employed as a sort of eroticised simile for her own appearance. However, he figured that this was probably something worth mentioning if they were going to be offering worship and praise. He added the lines, 'The swan's grace is a monument to you, / it asks no more; / its desire is to be lost in you.'

The guard quickly wrote a few translations for the lines, then carried them over to the fire.

The villagers around the fire began a chant, moving in an orderly and slow dance around the fire, as the guard explained what they were saying.

Swan-adorned beauty,

your pale, smooth marble expanse of skin shirks

(like a lily's skin)

from the earth's rugged gifts,

and you only respond, still trembling,

to the swan's embrace,

moaning as its wings pin your flightlike soul to earth.

Its grace is a monument to you,

it asks no more.

Its feathers' white will not diminish, bleached in your tears,

as it entangles in you,

and it consecrates the unearthly paleness of your skin

within the wildest wish to fly.

Though your beauty is firmly radiant

across the earth,

it is to the heavens you belong,

yet even the heavens shall never please you.

After this chant, there was the soft murmur of a feminine voice heard from the fire.

"Ah, they are asking a question about the swan," the guard smiled. "It happens often. We did not know how to answer before. Let us try now."

Q. How did the swan find its way into my arms, while I was in the mountain pool?

You wilted away from the stones' dry touch,

and from the creatures of the forest,

and the earth was barren and unbeautiful for you:

a weight to bear, like a heavy crucifix.

Then an eagle screeched in the sky,

its mouth agape

and its feathers hard and pointed like many mountain peaks,

with a face like a dragon's,

and charging through the sky like a dragon.

It was chasing a soft-feathered swan,

whose feathers spread like a peacock's

in luxuriant white,

as it spiralled through the sky

towards the pool around you.

In its imperilled beauty

you saw your own,

hooked by the sharp talons of this earth

which dragged your soul

from where it would leap.

You saved it, and held it close to you,

and its feathers were like an incense of white shade

glowing into the air

as if to paint your likeness.

It rested limply on the water, leaning into your grasp.

Yet the swan's reflection in the water

was the figure of the eagle,

staring up at you

with a gaze like a crocodile's;

the swan heavily reared up and took you by force,

and it nestled deep inside you,

trembling as your body trembled in bereavement,

it was absorbed into your skin's embrace,

and melted into you, never to be parted.

Your beauty chipped away its pride,

and its sole desire is to be lost in you.

Can it commit an offence in abasing itself that you might be exalted?

Q. Tell me the prophecy delivered about my child, Mikama.

'She shall be born of the crystalline egg

which is incubated in caverns beneath the earth,

and her skin shall be pale, as her mother,

and her graceful posture shall be as the swan,

and her hair shall be the red of bereavement,

'and she is known as the 'swan-child.'

She shall grow up a lonely youth,

passing like a ghost among a foreign people

who are strangers to this land,

'but her beauty shall soon begin wars between the nations,

that the heaven's strife of Ragnarok

may be mirrored upon the earth.

'Many shall vie for her,

and two shall claim her,

and she shall be betrothed to two.

And they shall tear each other's skin.'

"'A foreign people'?" Danemy asked. "What does this mean?"

"It means people like you, we think," the guard said, jovially adding, "But don't worry, it is perhaps not you. Although you are like a ghost, and I was scared because you spoke right behind me, and I did not hear you walk there."

Danemy laughed. "Okay, sorry. But my hair is black, and I don't have a posture as graceful as the swan."

He hunched over slightly, to illustrate his typically slouched posture.

"Well, perhaps it is best. Because it is said that she will be killed by her greatest fear, and by her greatest love. Quite depressing."

"Gives a new meaning to 'thrill kill.' But if her two husbands will 'tear each other's skin,' and perhaps die, then how will they find the time to kill her?"

"Perhaps this girl's 'greatest love' doesn't refer to either of those two boys," Crucis noted. "Perhaps it refers to cars and money."

"Actually very possible."

The fire flared up, and Crucis noticed that he had received a buff and an item.

"The prayer has succeeded," the guard said. "Thank you, it is the first time we have managed this with Suwa."

"You're welcome," DicingDevil said. "We also get some rewards for it?"

"Yes. You now have blessing called [White Peacock], that increases your Dexterity when your health decreases. It is for a week. You will also have a [Page of Prophecy]. It will not tell your fortune! It is a page that will remain blank for one day, then will show a prophecy about Ragnarok. It is like a [Lore Page]."

Crucis noticed this in his inventory. It was blank, as said. The description said, 'A page about the signs of Ragnarok, it appears as an innocuous blank page to viewers. You are lucky to have picked it out!'

"Great. So this 'Suwa' story might actually come up later here, when Ragnarok occurs?" Grisier asked.

"It is likely fable," the guard replied. "But the prophecy of Mikama is believed even among worshippers of Dravaistaya, so we believe there may be some truth in it. But Suwa? I think it is a common story of swan-female, and some other cultures had similar story before, so I think it is adapted. We know that she is similar to the Arkeet goddess Signis, though not entirely.

"Signis is said to be an albino young woman who was married to a wealthy, highly esteemed man, but, instead of indulging her husband, she spent years stargazing on a verandah and refusing to move. Finally, her husband came and grabbed her, in order to drag her into bed. He shouted, 'What the heavens have joined, do not keep apart!' However, when he grabbed her, she disappeared, and the constellation Cygnau, the Swan, shone brightly that night with a pale, sickly colour like hers. The locals were astounded, and realised that she was a goddess, not an ordinary person. But we do not trust this story, because it is based in the fabled ancient Arkeet city of Palacia, which never existed. I think it is a watered down story based on some earlier myths."

"I see. Yes, cultural osmosis is common with these kinds of stories," Grisier said. "I mean, the spread of a story between cultu-"

"No, I know what you mean," the guard snickered, as if to suggest that he could process and respond to English easily, and only talked like this because it was part of the game's standard setting for most remote villages. "It is obvious metaphor."

Crucis guessed that these villagers could probably speak more freely, like Sharak and Fahiz, because they were free-wheeling AI-based characters that could adapt more than normal NPCs. However, the default villager settings seemingly included a few filters and rules that limited this.

"So what's the next deity? I see the people are preparing for another ritual," Grisier said, seeing a few of the villagers stretching their legs and preparing for a new chant.

"Next one is easy," the guard said, "it is the 'black angel,' Avrai, who has a horrid appearance like a skeleton falling apart, and appears in a black cloak. But sometimes he will appear as an angel of light. The Maraki people, who are nomadic and used to inhabit Maraket before it was invaded, consider him as the god of unjust death. He was once an enemy of the gods, they said, but then they had to recruit him to do the dirty work that no other god wanted to do.

"He claims the deaths of those who are unjustly dead. We know him well, because he is a [Void Lich], a lich whose body is fully or mostly extinguished, and who appears as primarily a shroud of black mist. He is named Arve, and sacrificed himself wholly so that he could fully dedicate himself to Dravaistaya, and now many call him an 'angel of Dravaistaya.' As a result, it is simple for us, since he is like us."

The next chant began, with horrific, high-pitched screeching punctuated with a patter of softer squeaking noises.

The guard explained it.

Black angel,

why do you hover before me,

bloody-eyed, with your clawed feet extended?

Your hatred grips me.

As you grasp my chest, I feel as if Hell's fire consumes my heart,

as my body shudders to cremated death

you came as the crow flies.

"The last line was, 'you came as Odin's ravens to his hand,' but that is just a way of speaking for us, it is not a comparison. It means 'immediately,' or 'by straight path,' so almost same as your phrase, 'as the crow flies.'"

"An idiom?" Grisier said.

"Yes, is that," the guard said with a wink.

"It's appropriate, since it's a black bird for a black angel."

"That is why we chose this 'idiom.' But is important to grasp the meaning. Avrai is said to appear very quickly, and is startling and dangerous. The Maraki people are often too scared to pray to him!"

Soon, the fire flared up again, signalling that the prayer was accepted.

"Good," the guard said, "now our next three prayers will be more likely to succeed. Also we will gain more damage when opponent is lower in health. But you should help us with the next prayer. It is about the god of music and despair. 'Despair' meaning: religious despair, and isolation from the heavens. He is called Arshin, but he is based on 'Orpheus.'"

"Alright, what would you like to know about Orpheus?" Grisier said. "I know there were many myths about him, though I couldn't tell you all of them. But I know the basic story, obviously."

"Firstly, what is his wife's name? The Eira people say that she has died, and he goes every fortnight to the underworld to try and win her back, but he cannot. So he pleads with the heavens, to free her, so that his inspiring music can play again. I think she has the same name as in your myth, but we do not know it."

"Eurydice. There is a tale of her going to the underworld to retrieve her, but not every fortnight. That might be a part of the Eira myth, though."

"Yes, it is. It is because he is also known as 'Sisyphus' here. What is this?"

"He is known for pushing a rock up and down in Tartarus, as a representation of futile labour."

"I see. Anyway, you may write on the stone, and we will try to do this well."

The group once again wrote some information about the Orpheus story on a red stone.

Meanwhile, some of the villagers had draped themselves in capes and cloaks of regal, dark purple. Soon, the solemn chant began.

I have seen no fire's flare.

The waterfall is an empty cliff.

No light rises from our grave.

The unmoving seas make no sound;

the shore freezes in stone

that bleeds our feet to walk in it.

I have never known mercy,

and kindness fades when tested.

I tread the grave like a worm,

feeling my way with my hands,

for there is no light to be seen.

Cursed are we, bound in this clay,

to know nothing of the heavens!

And even your love, Eurydice, lies dead.

You listen to your lyre's music

and it does not stir you at all,

and you have abandoned it to the dust.

No beauty thrills us, and desire

is merely a grasping that taxes us

with Sisyphean labours to come.

And your dawn chorus never springs any more.

It is as Eurydice, departed from us,

drained away into the heart of this corpse

that we inhabit and wander across innocuously.

Shall heaven's light ever fall to the earth?

When comes dawn? And shall the light revive her?

Shall Heaven's light be violent waves, and flames,

despoil the doubt within you,

that they may reign as kings over you

and dull striving to philosophy.'

'Virtue does not belong in the heavens.

O virtuous, do not strive so hard!

I admire the beauty of your virtue here,

but it shall not shine in heaven,

and nor shall you be there.

Hear, you are the star that is rejected!'

Q. Tell me some of the 'sayings of hidden wisdom.'

'I have said, 144,000 shall enter the gates of Heaven,

and the great men of our time shall cry,

and rack their hands upon the tables,

and gnash their teeth,

saying,

This is unjust, and, They did not deserve it.

Yet the first are appointed by the lord of Heaven,

and the latter are appointed by Yaldabaoth.

Who shall say which is deserved?

For you, in your sin, cannot boast to deserve aught at all,

and all you receive is a grace,

and so I say, The last shall be first,

and the first shall be last.

For the lord of Heaven has despised Yaldabaoth,

and has appointed those who were meek and despised on earth,

and who were perjured and cast out,

and were executed to loud cheers.'

'They think they shall impress god with the luxury of their shrines.

I tell you, hold no pride in earthly property!

The servant has loved his master for his wealth,

so why should he be castigated for stealing?

One does not usher a man over, to keep him away.

Even so, if your God wished for your prayers, sacrifices,

monuments, wars, glories, sacraments, or relics,

then would you not be justified in stealing all he has?

Faith alone is not enough for god. But no more can be given him.

If you love this life, and seek eternal life from him,

then you shall not find it.

If you love wealth, and seek his endless stores of wealth,

then you shall be given none.

If you love virtue, and seek chastening by his watch,

that it might discipline you to greater virtue,

then he shall chasten you with fire,

and cast you out.

If you love power, and adore him for his power,

then he shall erect all others as princes over you,

to vaunt at your damnation.

If you love the world you know, and wish to honour its Creator,

then he shall burn you at the stake,

and call you a disciple of Yaldabaoth.

If you love a spouse, and wish God to sanctify your marriage,

then He shall protect it by casting you out of Heaven,

because in Heaven, there is no marriage,

and you shall each commit adultery with fire.

For God is like a priest in the temple,

He does not sanctify without a price.

If you love recognition, and seek God's acclaim,

then He shall not recognise you

because the fire shall char your face.

Thus I say, Do not worship a God who is greater than you,

but worship one who is poor and lowly,

and who is cast aside as a criminal.

Your earthly passion is offence unto God,

and your worship is a great offence.

For many will come to him, and celebrate,

and he will turn away, saying,

You do not know me.'

'Men cleave to their own family,

and their own people.

That is why they worship a God of their own kind,

a God formed from earth, Yaldabaoth.

And when I came into this earth,

and was made flesh,

I submitted to the yoke of Yaldabaoth,

and you see now his final victory over me

as I am hung up within his chains.

Yet this lawful victory shall not humble me,

for I am to this earth a visitor,

and its manners and customs are not my own.

For I have heard his own defeat ring loud in Heaven,

like a dam of sand overcome by flood,

and those who join me there will hear it,

and those who do not shall perish still thinking

that he is victor.'

'You have shown me your God!

For I am now helpless before you,

and you have pierced me with a lance,

and you have crowned me with a crown of thorns,

and so practiced omnipotence

over me,

and this is your God, who has oppressed the region,

and fought wars and erected kings

to rule over you,

and said that you are chosen.

And you are chosen! For he is within you,

and he is also of your kind.

And thus you have also freed another man

in order that I may be condemned,

for he has told you, One vessel unto honour,

and another unto dishonour.

Israel, the day that you are cast into the fire

is the day that your God shall perish!

For he is of your flesh,

and he is of your blood,

and in your defeat even he shall perish.

Thus, when you say to me, you are a devil,

come to vaunt himself over God,

then be warned,

for one day you shall see me standing

over a river of fire and ash,

and looking down, with a devil's coldness,

towards your God,

as my banners of fire spin across the air.'

'You have made yourselves God over me,

for you worship a God, Yaldabaoth,

who is your kin and father,

and he has chosen you as his people

to reign over earth like a God.

Thus you taken it upon yourselves to punish

your brother, and your fellow man,

for you have made yourselves the voice

of God's judgement.

But I proclaim, all must be guilty before God,

for they have partaken of the flesh

and have been conceived in sin.

And, if there is a God, he would not stand

to see others proclaim themselves lords

over right and wrong,

as if they were themselves gods,

and to proclaim that one man is a murderer

and the other is a soldier,

and some are guilty, others innocent.

He would smite them with a rod of burning coal.

Thus it is said, 'If you eat from the tree,

and seek knowledge of good and evil,

then in that day you shall surely die.'

And he would hold the blameless and the criminal

in one hall, and declare,

You are all guilty as charged.

No, even his son would not be spared,

if he mingled with the things of Yaldabaoth.

How much less mercy shall you receive?'

'One shall come, similar to me,

and shall proclaim his teachings

to a worshipful crowd

that seek a God to give them purpose.

And you shall know him by this mark:

he shall style himself as God,

but one which has lost control of the world,

enough that he somehow decries it.

Why should the almighty potter mourn the clay?

I am not a King of this world,

I am not a King of Israel,

but if he dies

then he shall be God and King of Israel,

for its people are blind in the mind and soul

just as the blind are blind in sight,

and so they are dead,

even when awake,

and the dead fool is their king.

For you may know that I am genuine

because the world has hated me

and it hates me still,

and it casts me aside,

and it will not worship me.

I speak the truth,

and he, saying what is akin,

may chance to speak some truth as well.

But what is truth?

It is nothing, or it would cause offence.'

'If my beliefs were orthodoxy

and dispersed among you,

then they would be another's beliefs,

and thus no longer my own,

just as when a shepherd covets his sheep

he does not sell them away to his neighbour,

because then they are not his.'

Finally, the fire roared deafeningly for five seconds, and towered high above the village.

The prayer had been accepted.

Checking his inventory, Crucis saw that he had gained several pieces of advanced tradeskill equipment, as well as a [Page of Prophecy].

He had also received the buff [Threnody], which seemingly had no description.

The guard bowed slightly, and the other guards around followed him.

DicingDevil matched this gesture, and said, "Thank you, and may the ritual go well."

"It will," the guard replied. "And you have all helped. Goodbye."

Summoning their mounts, the players proceeded back towards the Hunting Lodge, following a path which DicingDevil had marked out on the map.