Posted by Gobnait on February 21, 2000 at 00:51:37:
In Reply to: The Lifebringer, a tale of a beginning posted by Gobnait on February 21, 2000 at 00:51:01:
A tale from the beginning
There are tales how magic was given to the world, only to be split between mages of order and chaos, who strove endlessly against one another.
But there was another force born in that early struggle, whose tale I tell today.
It started with one person..
Alas, the legends dim as time goes on and the name... the identity of this person is lost with time.
Perhaps it was a woman who saw no sense in the unceasing battles for ascendency, the struggle to control this bit of land, as compared to that bit.
She traveled the lands and watched, looking for those who might be saved from the destruction the wars brought.
With little but poultices and bandages, she rescued many of those left behind for dead by the armies.
Some thanked her and saw that those they thought had been their brothers had simply left them behind when they could no longer fight.
They joined her and learned her lore of setting bones and staunching the flow of blood.
The Gods looked down and noticed this little growing force of lifebringers, who sought to heal the wounds of all.
The Gods were moved by the lifebringers' dedication to healing, mercy, protection, and peace.
The one who lead the group, now a wizened crone of a lady, looked out on the trampled fields of the latest battlefield.
She saw that the magic the gods had granted had led to nothing but death and destruction and she wondered why those so interested in creation had let that happen.
So she raised her voice in prayer: Why do the powers you grant mortals bring only destruction? Can mortals not do else with the powers granted them?
She knelt beside the trodden fields, awash with the blood of the armies and prayed for enlightenment.
But a young soldier called out to her, and she could hear the pain in his voice.
She sighed and went to him, a bandage in one hand, to see what she could do.
The soldier asked painfully: Who are you?
The lifebringer replied: One who seeks to save you from the destruction you bring.
The soldier looked at her with little comprehension, but she could see the pain in his face and moved to help him anyway.
Fortunately, his injury was more painful than serious, and she soon had him bandaged.
The soldier had not said a word the whole time... and she was saddened but turned away to resume her prayers.
The soldier asked: Why do you seek to save us from what we bring ourselves?
And the lifebringer replied In the hopes that there need not always be war, that there may one day be peace.
At that, the soldier carefully got to his feet, and the lifebringer was surprised that he showed no signs of pain.
Then the soldier asked softly: Would you take that quest on yourself? To one day bring peace to the lands?
The lifebringer replied: Of course I would. I have already taken the first steps on that road.
And continued: And yet it seems hopeless to strive against what the gods have wrought themselves.
The soldier looked thoughtfully at her, and she suddenly noticed how strange his eyes were.. they seemed to be full of stars.
The soldier said: Perhaps... perhaps not...
And it is said the soldier reached out his hand, and the lifebringer was suddenly overcome by an enveloping light, which filled her with peace.
The lifebringer looked at the soldier with awe.
But he vanished in a blinding light.
And that is the story of how clerics first gained the power of the gods and first began their long quest for peace.
As you know, many things have changed since then... and only the gods know for certain how it all began.