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Fëanor
Senior Member
Registered: Jan 2004
Location: Winterfell
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An attempt to emulate...but here goes-part 1
Days uncounted Uëlgard wandered long; every step a struggle, every movement laboured. His hunger unsated, as there were no animals to hunt. His thirst a constant reminder of water yet to be found. Yet, what little he had, hope he had even less. The unchanging land dim and grey stretched before him to no end. Soon the last rays of the sun vanished below the western sky as the world was blanketed with the blue colors of night. At the last, Uëlgard’s valiant efforts failed him and he fell to his knees. Soon despair would overtake him. Utterly alone and without aid, he unsheathed his long knife and raised it before him. Head bowed, he placed the flat of the blade to his forehead and spoke silent words beneath clenched teeth.
Lifting the knife, he turned it about to his heart when hope finally left him. But before he could thrust the deathblow, the Heavens opened brightly above him. So bright it was filling the sky entire; he felt the power as he reeled back. Vainly he shielded his eyes with his arms to no avail. Then a voice from above spoke with clarity and with such authority he could do nothing but hearken to the words and feel humbled.
‘Yea! O man, wouldst thou end thy life now when thou art so utterly close to the end of thy journey? Thou hath but to continue hence but for three nights north as the crow flies shalt thou then be paid in full for thy trials.’
Bitterly Uëlgard spoke in response yet cowered before the light and the voice. ‘Paid? In what deed have I committed that I should be paid so? Nigh a fortnight since, have I not lost all that I knew? Betrayed we were to the bitter end. And yet I was spared the path that many were unjustly given.’
‘Of this I say, their deaths were for naught,’ said the voice. ‘For thine wouldst hath been so. In thee, there is still hope for those past and for those yet to be. Thy destiny is in this O man. Verily I say to thee then, that thy house is the hope unlooked for. For I deemed it so. Deny this, then all surety of it is lost to all. Take it openly, then surely the enemy will fall.’
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Jan 26th, 2004 05:19 AM |
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Fëanor
Senior Member
Registered: Jan 2004
Location: Winterfell
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Part 2
The man felt the weight of the words spoken. Though words spoken from no mouth, nor heard to no ear. Yet he felt the truth in it as certainly as if he had thought it. Daring to open his eyes so that he may behold the light; but there was naught there when he did so. A moment bewildered, he looked about. The world had not changed nor had madness overtake him. He stood from where he knelt, and looked to the unending horizon west north and south. There, to the north he knew in his heart is where his road would lead him. To its end, he knew naught else. Changed he was from that moment. No longer was he that man of his past, but of what destiny has been deemed.
‘On this eve, I am no longer Uëlgard, but on the morrow I shall be Theälbäen. For I shall be the bane to all who has caused much injury to me and mine henceforth.’
After a while, he set upon the road once more. With renewed strength and of a mind determined, he willed himself forth. And so it was, that Theälbäen pressed his march. The night passed and day began again, yet the sun lay hid behind grey clouds. By mid-day, Theälbäen bespied the jagged edges of the Iron Hills looming ever closer. The day ended as before as did the night, yet he marched ever onward. On the second day and the passing night, Theälbäen felt his strength weakening. Not yet fully reached to manhood, Theälbäen had vigour of youth. Even then, it would soon betray him for he was still man. And will of steel cannot sustain long the body beyond its endurance. He let pass this thought, focusing solely northward. He no longer heard nor saw the land that slowly passed him by as his legs trudge ever onward. Yet, to him they felt leaden with a great weight. On the third day as the mountain grew to cover nearly half the sky, Theälbäen saw a great castle buttressed against the south face of a towering spire. Thereupon, he knew he had reached its end. It was still half a day away from where he stood. With downcast eyes, Theälbäen fell to his knees and wept. No sadness were these but of relief much earned. Taking his sword from its sheath and lifting it high, he swore an oath of fealty to all the gods known and unknown. His salvation assured, he wept no more nor ever after. The hour had passed the mid-day sun when Theälbäen reached a great moat.
Then all strength left him. As he looked above to the parapets, he saw the movement of men clamouring yet he heard no sound. Then the vision blurred, the shapes less formed and against clarity. Theälbäen could withstand no longer as he fell to the ground as a mighty tree fallen. Now all that he had and all that could sustain him ebbed slowly away as darkness soon was the last that he saw.
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Jan 26th, 2004 05:21 AM |
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Nitrion
Member
Registered: Jan 2004
Location: United States
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"Gee Golly Gosh!"
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Jan 27th, 2004 08:07 AM |
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