The Mad Man
There has never been two Spokesmen before.
Perhaps, one will hear and speak a different message from the other.
And as the gods are many, more than one Spokesman will encourage them, each one empowering his own Spokesman different from another's, to disagree and cause chaos in heaven and earth.
The gods can disagree. Yes.
That is why the clouds and the waters of the river are apart from each other. That is why Manlum's darkness pours over the land when the Moon crosses the Sun's path. That is why the gods, fuming in anger, blow cold mighty winds across the land, and that is why the gods cry.
I think these thoughts concerning the gods because I am like a god. I have seen - through the eyes of Ouwl'El - past the deception of Manlum.
Yet just as the gods and the people have mocked and turned against Ouwl'El, the god of gods, calling him a traitor, the King of Gardutkar has turned against me.
Because another stands in my place, telling only good tidings to the King; saying words he has been given by a mere man to please that man and his friends.
He has never heard the gods speak, he has lies and greed in his eyes. And I fear, for these things, that I will die by his hand.
There has never been two Spokesmen before, and today, it is still ever true. The house of a Spokesman is defiled forever, therefore, I am no Spokesman. Not anymore.
Look at them. They jeer at my childlike heart.
The King of Gardutkar and the Spokesman call me a madman because I have seen Ouwl'El and a prophecy no man has seen before me and no one understands for what it is.
Let me be a madman, but let me see truth, and shame all of existence, for what it has become.
Let me be a mad man.
~ Rotyuk, son of Ouwl'El, lost writings of Rotyuk.
Kanaka
One thing led to another and she told Kanaka what her mother said.
“Rotyuk never told me that he had a sister.”
“He did not know himself.”
They could not talk as freely as they used to because many things rang through their minds very loudly, they could not think any other thing straight.
“So, I am… your brother?”
“Yes… Did Rotyuk ever tell you that you were brothers?”
“With y… err…” he laughed, “With him? Not exactly, but he treated me like one. And he used to say ‘we are all brothers, children of the gods’. I think I asked him once… I was 10 years of age. He told me the same thing.”
There was another silence as revelation built upon revelation.
“How did Rotyuk die?”
“They say he was found dead at the shrine.”
“With the truths we have unfolded, I don’t think that is completely true. Your nightmare –“
“I didn’t kill Rotyuk. It's not possib...”
“I didn’t say you did. The nightmare –“
“Bringing the nightmare up, you can’t... –“
“Maybe someone else did it?” She asked, cutting him off, raising her voice to match his in loudness.
Kanaka just sat there unmoving for a long moment. He had earlier thought back to the days before this one and realized that there really was nothing like coincidence; not in his life at least. The gods had brought him to Sapas, even though it was someone else he had sought after for answers. He meddled with one small mind boggling thought, and when he looked into Sapas’ eyes, he knew that she had the same in her mind.
Bantaik.
“Rotyuk never told me that he had a sister.”
“He did not know himself.”
They could not talk as freely as they used to because many things rang through their minds very loudly, they could not think any other thing straight.
“So, I am… your brother?”
“Yes… Did Rotyuk ever tell you that you were brothers?”
“With y… err…” he laughed, “With him? Not exactly, but he treated me like one. And he used to say ‘we are all brothers, children of the gods’. I think I asked him once… I was 10 years of age. He told me the same thing.”
There was another silence as revelation built upon revelation.
“How did Rotyuk die?”
“They say he was found dead at the shrine.”
“With the truths we have unfolded, I don’t think that is completely true. Your nightmare –“
“I didn’t kill Rotyuk. It's not possib...”
“I didn’t say you did. The nightmare –“
“Bringing the nightmare up, you can’t... –“
“Maybe someone else did it?” She asked, cutting him off, raising her voice to match his in loudness.
Kanaka just sat there unmoving for a long moment. He had earlier thought back to the days before this one and realized that there really was nothing like coincidence; not in his life at least. The gods had brought him to Sapas, even though it was someone else he had sought after for answers. He meddled with one small mind boggling thought, and when he looked into Sapas’ eyes, he knew that she had the same in her mind.
Bantaik.
Bantaik
“Yes. The thing is… when a Spokesman blesses a King or curses him, it is not from his mouth, but from a higher authority; the gods. More often, a Spokesman speaks prophecies, a lot of them even he does not understand.”
“Yes. The thing is… when a Spokesman blesses a King or curses him, it is not from his mouth, but from a higher authority; the gods. More often, a Spokesman speaks prophecies, a lot of them even he does not understand.”
A very long silence ensued as they walked into the darkness of the forest, pushing the tall plants and the hard shrubs aside to see the road clearly.
Kanaka broke the silence again, “Bantaik cannot speak lies because the truth is not his to speak, but to convey, and he cannot turn the truth around. What he can do, is to keep from saying it.”
“So anything he ends up saying is true, but what he doesn’t say, by not saying it, he has not really lied?” Sapas maneuvered through the reasoning at the best she could understand.
“Not exactly, but yes… And if he was as terrified as he had looked that day at the palace, then I think I know what he saw.”
“What is it, Kanaka?”
“He saw the same thing Rotyuk saw… from the familiar look in his eyes. Do you know the full story of Rotyuk as a Spokesman?”
She sighed. “When he became a Spokesman, we hardly spoke, and I could not understand him any longer. Then I stopped seeing him around the palace just about the same time I was chosen to be a servant there. Then I heard he was taken by the gods.” Now he had brought up something she knew she didn’t know, and the information altogether was wearying. “What did Rotyuk see?”
They had to lower their voices, because they both heard something.
Like someone was pushing tall plants and shrubs aside too, following them.
Sapas held on to Kanaka. Then they confirmed that it was nothing and continued.
“I cannot say, but in the least, he saw impending chaos upon this land.”
“You mean like, what happened before King Mogg – “
“Worse; it is something we have never imagined would happen in this land. Everybody dies, even the land. Total destruction; I’m not yet fully sure whether to believe it or not.”
She sighed a cold sigh, but before she could ask more questions, the hut was just a few steps ahead of them. Kanaka had been the one to raise an objection when Sapas had suggested that they pay Bantaik a visit in the Forbidden Forest.
“A boy wandered into the forest and came back out without his manhood!” Kanaka had warned.
“Do you believe that story?” Sapas had laughed.
“Another person went there and never came out, but if you listen well, he sings at night warning people not to even come close.”
“Then we should find out how Bantaik and Rotyuk lived in it and survived!”
“They are messengers to the gods, surely, they cannot be victimized by the evil in the forest.”
“They are like us… or we are like them.”
And that was how Sapas pushed Kanaka until he budged.
They got to the hut and it was easy to assume that it was the shrine because no one lived in the forest except for the Spokesman. Kanaka felt his scarred arm heat up. Walking gently, in order not to alert Bantaik until they eventually decided to, they went around the hut, Sapas clinging to Kanaka’s arm firmly, as they checked to see where exactly Bantaik was.
They found his lifeless body lying in a pool of his own blood.
They looked at themselves and bolted into the house. There was a large hole through Bantaik’s chest, and his heart lay to one side of his body. One could not really tell if the gouging out of his heart was what killed him, because his body was extremely charred even though there was no fire anywhere that could have possibly done that.
The same way they had come in, they took it and went out quickly.
That was when Bantaik came out of the shrine holding his scepter and laughing, but they had gone too far to see him rise from the dead unscathed.
Kanaka broke the silence again, “Bantaik cannot speak lies because the truth is not his to speak, but to convey, and he cannot turn the truth around. What he can do, is to keep from saying it.”
“So anything he ends up saying is true, but what he doesn’t say, by not saying it, he has not really lied?” Sapas maneuvered through the reasoning at the best she could understand.
“Not exactly, but yes… And if he was as terrified as he had looked that day at the palace, then I think I know what he saw.”
“What is it, Kanaka?”
“He saw the same thing Rotyuk saw… from the familiar look in his eyes. Do you know the full story of Rotyuk as a Spokesman?”
She sighed. “When he became a Spokesman, we hardly spoke, and I could not understand him any longer. Then I stopped seeing him around the palace just about the same time I was chosen to be a servant there. Then I heard he was taken by the gods.” Now he had brought up something she knew she didn’t know, and the information altogether was wearying. “What did Rotyuk see?”
They had to lower their voices, because they both heard something.
Like someone was pushing tall plants and shrubs aside too, following them.
Sapas held on to Kanaka. Then they confirmed that it was nothing and continued.
“I cannot say, but in the least, he saw impending chaos upon this land.”
“You mean like, what happened before King Mogg – “
“Worse; it is something we have never imagined would happen in this land. Everybody dies, even the land. Total destruction; I’m not yet fully sure whether to believe it or not.”
She sighed a cold sigh, but before she could ask more questions, the hut was just a few steps ahead of them. Kanaka had been the one to raise an objection when Sapas had suggested that they pay Bantaik a visit in the Forbidden Forest.
“A boy wandered into the forest and came back out without his manhood!” Kanaka had warned.
“Do you believe that story?” Sapas had laughed.
“Another person went there and never came out, but if you listen well, he sings at night warning people not to even come close.”
“Then we should find out how Bantaik and Rotyuk lived in it and survived!”
“They are messengers to the gods, surely, they cannot be victimized by the evil in the forest.”
“They are like us… or we are like them.”
And that was how Sapas pushed Kanaka until he budged.
They got to the hut and it was easy to assume that it was the shrine because no one lived in the forest except for the Spokesman. Kanaka felt his scarred arm heat up. Walking gently, in order not to alert Bantaik until they eventually decided to, they went around the hut, Sapas clinging to Kanaka’s arm firmly, as they checked to see where exactly Bantaik was.
They found his lifeless body lying in a pool of his own blood.
They looked at themselves and bolted into the house. There was a large hole through Bantaik’s chest, and his heart lay to one side of his body. One could not really tell if the gouging out of his heart was what killed him, because his body was extremely charred even though there was no fire anywhere that could have possibly done that.
The same way they had come in, they took it and went out quickly.
That was when Bantaik came out of the shrine holding his scepter and laughing, but they had gone too far to see him rise from the dead unscathed.
To be continued...
- Telsum Bini
2 comments:
Wow! What an awesome story... This is cool...
Thanks boss. Keep reading!
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