Lions and Lambs

  "So this is it then eh?" Keephus wondered

  "Yeah, it'll be a hard trip sir." Rorian replied

  "I know this Rorian, but it must be done."

  "What direction must we go?" I asked.

  "The old man said west,that is all I know," Keephus responded

The arid desert lay before Keephus and Rorian and I, Coreandur . Keephus was large and rugged,he had dark brown hair and large shoulders. He was the type that was quiet,and when he spoke, everyone listened. Rorian was small and slender,like a rapier. His blond hair was blinding in the desert sun and he talked quite often. I had sharp chiseled features,messy dark hair and he carried a smirk on his face constantly. I was the leader of this motley crew. We were only 3 members of a large guard force known as the Guardianship. The force had been started over 100 years ago in the village of Demyr. Our numbers were many, and many were now elsewhere. None of the guardianship stood a chance against our newest threat: The Storm. No one knew where The Storm had taken the thousands he destroyed. This monster behind the group would destroy anything it touched. It set us at a breakneck pace, for we knew that it would devour us whole. Now our faces were set and our gait was determined,we could not stop for death. We carried the world on our shoulders. We both ran from and followed The Storm; we had to stop it... " Leave us Demon!"

The Storm had a reputation among the tribes of the forests. It was first discovered in The Middle Forests by an elderly man by the name of Bastillus, the village storyteller. Fate is often humorous in it's endeavors;the village thought it was a fantastic tale to scare the children to sleep. I wager that the children weren't the only ones scared when The Storm swarmed our village and demanded it's first victim.

It was a late June day and all the children in Demyr were out playing under the watchful eye of their parents. The birds were singing a symphony of new sounds from their homes in the trees when unannounced Bastillus came crashing from the woods. "Run! Run you fools! The Storm is coming! the end is near!"

Lyric, an unmarried man in his mid 30's patted Bastillus on the back and said "Come Bastillus! More tales of your red dragon arrive already"? In that instant the man was wretched from the earth to which he was born and never again met with it. The villagers ran and locked their doors and hid their children. but The Storm could not be stopped. He sought out the unbelievers and cruel first, devouring any who stood in it's path. 5 more died that day. A saying in the village stated "Dust to dust ashes to ashes,so do we return to the earth from which we are from." These victims had nothing left... They was never given the right to return to the earth... "You have destroyed them!"



Over the next day many men and women came to face the same fate that became of that man. The Storm came and left as if it owned the village. He would appear without warning,destroy whoever he willed to die,and then leave. It was not until sunset of the second day that the village leaders could prepare a meeting. It was composed of the three lords of peacekeeping, the 2 stewards of power; the village commander,Lirius; Bastillus; and three representatives from the Guardianship (that would be your ever so humble narrator, Keephus, and Rorian.

I knew not the names of the other leaders, but I knew their representation mattered. One of the lords of peacekeeping came forth, "Bastillus! what is this blight you have brought upon our peaceful home?! You are the storyteller here, let us know the story of our dooms!"

" My good lord,surely you do not infer that i brought this curse upon our kind. I have told the story before and will proceed to tell it once more."

"Proceed carefully dear old man," Lirius cautioned.

"As you wish my good leader. I was traveling upon a deep green wood,a deeper green than you have ever seen. This wood was a good deal away from where you or I are now.

I sang to myself as i walked along for i was lonely and singing soothes my soul; as I sang I happened upon a clearing from which a red light was cast. I began to investigate, thinking only of the marvelous tales of the red sun in the green wood. From this clearing I saw life and death." he paused.

" Surely life can not spring forth from this leviathan we call "The Storm"!" I interjected.

  "No boy,you are right," he replied "before me in this wood were two animals of the likes I had never seen, one was a large cat with sharpened teeth and an unreasonable amount of fur around it's head. The other animal resembled a goat,but lacked horns and it was covered in a coat of some manner of natural hair."

" From the goat animal came other animals and beings. I saw a newborn Fawn spring from it's side as if it had given birth,but was never pregnant."

"As for the large cat, it was followed by a procession of old and ill animals. From the same wood that the fawn disappeared came an older buck that was pierced by an arrow and was drawing it's last breath. It limped weakly to the cat and laid down in the field. The cat consumed it's body and released his soul into the beyond."

"This seemed to be the natural order for the cat and goat,but then a disturbance occurred. One of the animals the goat had created, a young child stumbled from where the furry goat was creating life to where the great cat was pacing. All was fine until the child touched the cat and became sickly, this pleased the great cat. It opened it's great maw to finish the child that once belonged to his rival. The jaws were already upon the child before the goat could respond. The cat opened his mouth and out came the sickly child that had once belonged to the goat."

"Before my very eyes the child grew and was twisted. The child's perversion took only seconds. First i noticed only that he would not cry or move, then came the haunting transformation. The child had grown and changed as if thirty years of his life had been taking place. His hair grew long,his skin became red and moved as if it were on fire. His eyes changed color constantly,from yellow to white to black all in seconds. The creature standing before me was no man. The hatred filling it's eyes was terrifying. it's muscled arms twitched with excitement. This pure child had become a storm of anger and bitterness. I could see that he hated himself and his curiosity toward the great cat. Now he belonged to the cat for his mistake."

' Hello my child!' the cat bellowed ' We are going to become such good friends'.

'I do as you wish,' the man replied with a sound of sorrow.

'Good, I have a job for you youngling, I need you to go into each of the forest villages of the world and devour those with the slightest bit of hatred in their hearts. Anyone that has done wrong to another is free-range for you to feed upon. Then once each village is wiped clean,you must go west to the desert and wait for my next commands. Three will follow you and try to trick you. Do not listen to their plea, you serve only me.'

'Yes my lord.' the man replied. And then the man grew in power as he devoured each animal in the cat's procession. He became a swarm of red insects that could morph into together to shape any form he wished. After witnessing the sundering of this child's soul I ran back to the village to tell the people what I had seen. They made a mockery of me" Bastillus finished.

" And who do you propose we send?" commented one of the stewards.

" What do you mean?" questioned the old storyteller.

"Three must be sent." he replied.

"I've no idea! i am trying to leave this nightmare alone before it comes to haunt me! Leave the decisions to Lirius!"

    At that moment The Storm appeared from nowhere and devoured Bastillus whole.

" If you seek to stop me,then send three warriors into the deserts of which you spoke. and i shall only accept these men," he bellowed as he pointed at the three men of the Guardianship. The whole party acted very quickly,all with swords and bows drawn quickly to attack the beast,.but he disappeared before the first arrow was even taken from a quiver.

" Well" Lirius said as he composed his nerves. " I suppose we have our three".



The next day was spent trying to pack for the journey ahead of us,which was relatively easy,but i received little sleep that night for 10 more were eaten.

The morning of our departure the entire village came to send us off... a company of 12 sending off 3 men to face a monster that had eaten hundreds if we had guessed right. Our village was the closest to the desert and a reasonable last target. Our journey into the desert was smooth for the first hour or so, at least as smooth as endless sand can be. The sun was halfway through it's fiery trail when we stopped for lunch, it was a meager piece of bread and cheese. We had to stay on the trail. We could stop only long enough to grab our provisions and get back on our horses. After galumphing through the sand for about 3 hours we began to feel the effects of our meal wearing off.

"We only have a few moments before the sun goes down" commented Keephus. He was the first that had spoken in hours. "We should bed on the next rise".

By the time we arrived at the top of the dune it was already dark. We prepared our fire,bedded in the sand and fell into a deep sleep from exhaustion.

"So this is it then eh?" Keephus wondered the next morning at sunrise

  "Yeah, it'll be a hard trip sir." Rorian replied

  "I know this Rorian, but it must be done."

  "What direction must we go?" I asked.

  "The old man said west,that is all i know," Keephus responded

  " What is that ahead?!" I shouted to the other two.

  " I don't know Coreandur, I am willing to wager what we look for is at the top".

    In front of us,not even two hundred feet away stood an obelisk that stood at 50 feet high. It had a small door and at the top it was rimmed with glass all the way around.

  "23, 24, 25," Rorian counted off as he took each stone step around the spiral staircase we had found on the other side of the door.

"Okay Rorian, we can count, we know how many stairs we have gone up".

"I was just trying to calm my nerves, sorry," he replied with a frown.

I felt bad, he was just expressing what we all felt. "It's okay Ror, I am sorry for getting frustrated"

We had finally arrived to the top of the stairs as I said this. Another door with the image of a flame stood in our path. We turned the knob to find it unlocked. The events that ensued greatly humbled and terrified us within one glimpse. The door opened to a small room that contained only a large floor-to-ceiling mirror, a lantern, and a coal marker. Along the smooth cylindrical wall names were written in dark black and claw gashes. Among the names listed I found Bastillus and Lyric. The lantern's reflection shone throughout the room via the tall four-sided mirror in the center of the room. All at once we peered into the mirror. There was something special about it that i could not tell at first.

  "It only shows you, not the background behind you, It usually shows an ugly beast depending on who looks upon it. You really are a rare variety" came a sweet, deep voice.

I turned around at once to find a red silhouette standing in the corner.  This was The Storm.

  " It is the Mirror of Truths. It shows the real beast within. you must be pure."

  " Are you The Storm?" i asked for he now appeared as a large man with elongated features.

  " Yes, I don't like my job you know. Some people change from the mirror to the mouth," he insisted " they leave an odd taste of recent conversion."

  " Then why do you do it?" Keephus questioned

  " I must or the natural order will be destroyed".

  " You can change, Storm. You don't have to be his puppet," I reasoned.

  " He prefers Lion".

  " Help us set things in balance,Storm! We can restore you to what you were!" Rorian all but shouted.

  " I have my orders,stand and face judgment before me!" Storm roared.

  " As you wish, demon." I boldly accepted. All three of us were engulfed by his huge maw, but we did not die. We were transported to the clearing in the green wood. In front of us was a large goat with no horns and fur all over it's body as the storyteller had described. Across the field was Lion followed by many people that I could recognize from the forests, they were chained by arms and legs with iron shackles that kept them to each other. This was where the men and women who were devoured came. But why weren't we in the other procession?

  As if reading my mind the goat spoke, " You were found pure in the eyes of The Storm. Even his affliction could not touch the truly righteous."

  "How can we save them?" i asked

  " You cannot do it alone, you must be infused with my help just as Storm was helped by Lion. You must become one with me, I am Lamb."

  " And how do we defeat Lion once we are with you?" Rorian asked

  " Only I can defeat Lion, my child, you must destroy the bonds he has on them through me. This is the order set in the Rules of Balance"

  " Who keeps these rules of balance?" Keephus came in this time

  " The Shepherd , dear child, He watches the Sheep and Lion. When the time comes he will use what is coming to happen against Lion and your people will be free through me," came a soft reply.

The whole world seemed to stop in that moment as we bonded with Lamb. we felt strength and bonding from this weak animal. He made us alive. The four of us rushed the other forces of Lion in that moment. We attacked the chains that bonded the sick and near dead. All of Storms work had come undone because of the power Lamb had given us. The sword in my hand cut through chains as if they were water. I thrust my sword into each link and soon the men and women were free. But as I became preoccupied with cutting bonds, Lion came upon me. I was losing grip of the power set in me. I forget the source. With one snap of his mighty jaws it was finished. I had barely enough time to turn around to see Lion open his great mouth before Lamb jumped in front of me. At that moment I would have given anything to be the one in the mouth instead of Lamb. This was a creator of life and power,he sacrificed himself for me and the prisoners. I knew that this death was my fault, A sacrifice was needed for my selfishness. As Lamb was dying he made each word clear to every person present, " Your hatred and fear have gotten you here,turn away from it or this will be in vain."

Lion closed his great lips and Lamb was gone... Each of the prisoners wept for the animal that had given them another chance. As Lion came to devour his next victim his feet became numb. He could not move any further from where he was. Lamb was holding him there to the ground so we could flee.

  Each villager ran back to their home village with the memory of Lamb's sacrifice in their hearts, knowing that soon The Shepherd would avenge his beloved Sheep.

I am writing this story because a Prophet of Lamb wishes me to tell my story to the village for the anniversary of Lamb's death and our deliverance. I shall never forget the impact that Lamb had on me, he saved my life by losing his own.