Ebon Dream

Ebon Dream

In the annals of history not of earth, there lived a king known as Jorn. The mighty king ruled with love and compassion over his kingdom, accompanied by his loving wife Samantha. The years were good to his kingdom, and Jorn prospered with family and wealth. Samantha gave what she had to the poor and sought the well being of her people. The ruling couple showed all that was benevolent in rulers and just in law, yet sorrow was not beyond them. War with the wild folk of the north had set Jornâs heart bitter, so much so that his people began to feel the strain.
Man and beast were subjugated into the iron army, to march against the onslaught of evil. In hopes to quell the burden upon her husband, Samantha went searching for soothing stories and pleasant things within the kingdom. Samantha came to her husband one night, and told him of a stranger she had met on the road. The stranger spoke of hope and joy, beyond what riches could provide. Yet instead of being soothed with hope, Jorn was outraged that his own wife would bring a strangerâs boasts of superiority into their house. Samantha went away weeping and later that night a cold chill gripped her and she died. Jorn was devastated and felt the chains of ruin surround him in his sorrow. There was no proof of men that pronounced her death natural, so Jorn assumed some spell cast by the stranger had taken his wife. Jorn flew into an outrage and called for all his finest brewers to make for him a bastion of relief. The king drank himself to sleep, and there his dreams turned to darkness.
King Jornâs eyelids slammed shut, like the lid of a coffin. No light could stir the king from his drunken stupor, nor would any dare to try. Behold the fog of the kings dream took form, and he stood in a massive cavern surrounded by stone, and darkness. The chasm seemed wide with its roof unable to be seen. The stone seemed almost incorporeal, the closer the king came, the further the stone seemed. A faint light emanated from the kings body, and the light seemed to shine brighter before him. For reasons unknown, the king was drawn through a large opening in the stone, drawn by a dim glow not his own. As the king passed the threshold, he no longer had any desire to look back. Jorn looked out and saw all manner of beasts and fowl all existing for a moment and vanishing, one after the other. Some creatures howled in pain and others stayed silent. The king saw a path above the endless hordes of what he thought to be spirits, yet not too high. The noble man made careful his steps across the wet stones, making sure not to slip. When he reached the bridge the kingâs light seemed to grow, illuminating the path down the bridge. Though he traveled down the distances and dimensions of all around him stayed the same. The bridge wound and burrowed through the rock, all the wile the sounds of wild beasts roared below.
The old man moved slowly to a wide outcrop of rock, only to be met by the dim glow he saw before. The light of the king swirled around him like a veil and the harsh light melded across him illuminating the way like a torch. Beyond he heard what sounded like the chatter of a thousand crowds, all as quiet as the dripping of cave water. The kingâs heart felt heavy in his chest as he walked on, he could see floating orbs with the images of his people and those he knew not. The sight was intense, with a deep sorrow looming beneath the veil of what was known. As king Jorn moved closer toward the source of the light he saw something, which truly filled him with fear. Before the heart of light could be reached, there sat a being of legend, âCaâhuul.â The reaper, death, all were titles of âCaâhuul The Thresher.â Though weary, Jorn was unable to find the strength to turn from the creatureâs presence. Closer and closer he crept until finally the blind fiend turned his head toward the king. âJorn son of Nirn, king of Bastalla,â said the reaper. âYes that is my name o culler, why do I stand before you?â asked the king. âSouls seek answers the mind only dreams,â said the fiend. âIf you are as you seem monster, do you know of my wife Samantha?â asked Jorn. âDead on the 4th night of Arcâtray, in the year of Den. Yes I know of her,â replied Caâhuul. âThen by my right as a husband, and a ruler over men, I demand to know what has become of her!â shouted the king in his grief. The being merely began to laugh, but the emotions literally seemed to melt off of its face like wax from a candle.
âWhat are you to bark orders to death o king? What can you buy, what will you command with a crown of gold beyond the grave. I have taken your wife from her world, like I have done since the beginning of time. The fate of your bride was no different from every other mortal, her status could not save her,â replied Caâhuul in a very civil tone. âShe was a mighty woman of righteousness. She loved her people, gave to the poor, for what crime did you take her so early?â yelled Jorn with his veil of light now like fire. With a simple breath Caâhuul extinguished the fire around the king. âYou see o king, even the fire of your passion is not spawned of its own volition. Do you think o king; I feel pleasure when I end life? Do you think that human life means anything to me? I am a tool, a part of existence, the fate of all great and small,â said Caâhuul. The king stepped back for a moment, unnerved by the frailty of his confidence and the total lack of fear in his quarry. âMonster answer me the truth, where is my wife and will I see her again. Why was her life cut short?â asked the king. The creature now seemed irritated, yet similarly the emotion crusted and broke off his face, as the shell of a molting insect. âJorn, son of Nirn do you want to know the fate of your wife? Then know, all your species is dwelling in a cesspool of its own lusts and greed. The best of your efforts is to be but as a cloth that draws up dirty water and returns the same pollution diluted to the whole. If there was but one thing, one word to describe all mankind it would be this,â said Caâhuul building into silence. âAnd what word would that be o reaper?â asked the king. âGuilty!â shouted the creature. âThen what of hope?â asked the king as his spirit stilled and his anger sobered? âTo find hope o king, you must find one with the power to appeal menâs iniquity and acquit his guilt. In one who can do these things of power and love, there will you find hope.â said Caâhuul. The old man stood silent, his responses stripped from his lips. âNow go o king and live your life, and we will see if you have found your absolution when next we meet,â spoke death. Like the sharp sting of a hornet, the king awoke and his eyes set upon a new dawn. Jorn looked out his window unto the east. With a deep sigh the king stirred and remembered he was but a man. The loving king went unto his brideâs old room and collected her diary and within the last page it said, âTo my beloved husband, I have found hope.â