Friday, April 24, 2009

Chapter One

Once every age a boy is chosen to keep the golden goat fleece of Aclborn. Usually this is not a difficult task for the fleece is handed from Keeper to Keeper in the monastery at Dingu. But this age was different, for the Westerning Winds had come and frozen shut the doors of Dingu Monastery under many feet of ice. And so, the Keeper took the golden goat fleece to a different city. They never made it.

It was a time of plagues, distrust, and poverty. Yet there was a light at the end of this dark tunnel - a nameless boy of twelve winters. It is the custom in Aclborn to name children on Naming Day in their twelfth winter. On Naming Day every child of age visits the Oracle of Aclborn to receive their name.

The nameless boy had no great expectations. His family was the poorest in Delmar Village. He had shaggy brown hair, piercing green eyes, and little meat on his tall frame. He hoped for the name Fisher or Shepherd, though his brother had been named Sweeper, like their father, two years before and his sister Maid, like their mother, just the past winter. So, unlike many, he did not look forward to Naming Day with eager anticipation.

Yet, nothing can hold back the hands of time. This evening his rucksack sat by the door. It was filled with his few meager belongings for this may be his last night in the home of his family. Once he receive his name, he would enter the house of a like named man.

After a restless night he kissed his mother, bid farewell to his brother and sister, and left with his father to journey to Dingu Monastery. Fortunately, it was a short journey of two days, for the winter had been hard that year. His mother had brought his sister the previous year and the weather had been much better.

They were greeted at the doors of Dingu Monastery by a guard, "Name?" "Sweeper." answered his father. "Fifth hallway on the left, last room on the right. The Guide will call you at your time." In the fifth hallway on the left, last room on the right they found one other father and son, a short boy with greasy red hair. The parents nodded to each other but said nothing. They would be returning home with a boy that evening, but it may not be the child by their side. It happened often enough and all parents expected to take in other children, though they did not desire it.

At the appointed time the Guide came for them. All four gathered their belongings and followed the Guide. "Follow closely," advised the Guide "the way is not easy." Passing room after room, hallway after hallway, they walked briskly toward their future.

The Temple of the Oracle of Aclborn was a place of magnificent wonder. The many columns were covered in gold and inlaid with precious woods of many colors. The mosaic floor held paths of red, blue, yellow, and green. At the end of the red path stood the Oracle, an ageless woman who towered over all in the room.

The short boy with greasy red hair stepped forward first with his father. The Oracle looked at him closely, "Child, I name you... Sweeper." The boy smiled at his father and they left by way of the blue path to the right.

Now was the time. Now, he would learn his name - his fate. The Oracle gazed at him for an interminable time. "Child, I name you...... Keeper."

No comments: