A lost traveller in the Otherworld
Following on from last week, here is the second piece of fiction that was at the end of version 0.18 (never released). It was inspired by some of the Poetic Edda.
A lost traveller in the Otherworld
The man stood on one leg. His right foot was tucked in behind his left knee. He had a large brimmed grey hat and a black patch over his left eye. His face was full of ancient knowing that scarred his old skin. A crow perched on his right shoulder and another perched on the long staff in his left hand.
I was lost so I said to him “I have travelled for three days on this road. I’m tired, lost and weary. Where does it lead?”
He smiled, as he looked me up and down. My blue-stripped pyjamas were dirty and torn from my walking. “Where do you want to go? The road is long and never-ending. It is made from the stuff of dreams and leads nowhere and everywhere.”
“I have travelled for three days on this road. I’m tired, lost and weary. I do not know where I should go or even how to return home. Where shall I go?”
The man unbent his right leg and stood. The crow on his right shoulder flew off into the blue sky, making a loud caw sound as it went.
“If you go north, you’ll find the cities of Flias, Gorias, Finias and Murias. They are the most beautiful cities in existence. There elves dance with men and the Gods feast on the passion of life.
“If you travel to the mountain that glows bright even in daytime, you’ll find the Halls of the Olympians. It is a long journey.
“Between them is the land of Asgard, where the greatest warriors fight by day and feast by night in the hall of the Gods.” The crow returned to its perch on the man’s right shoulder and the man fed it some crumbs from his hand.
“I have travelled for three days on this road. I’m tired, lost and weary. I know nothing of Gods for I am just a mere mortal who has lost his way. Where shall I go?”
“Below us is the land of Nightmares. It is filled with goblins, dwarfs and monsters. Beside it there is the Lands of the Dead. Hell and the Land of Shadows exist there. Angels of Death and Demonic monsters search the desolate plains for lost souls. Charon’s ferrymen work the deadly river Styx to ferry ghosts to their afterlives.
“Beyond the Lands of the Dead, there is the Land of Eternal Youth where no one grows old and they feast on the apples made of wonder. Beyond the Underworld of Hades is the Elysium Fields where every wish is granted and hope is fulfilled in memory of a Golden Age. And beyond the tortures of the limbo realms and the ever-screaming hells there is the nine Heavens where the Angels sing eternally.”
“I have travelled for three days on this road. I’m tired, lost and weary. My heart beats, my throat thirsts and my mouth hungers. I am not dead. Where shall I go?”
He laughed a little. “I am glad to hear you are not dead. If you turn back you can find the many worlds, the Shards Worlds. It is the middle earth. Midgard, you seek, where your mortal family wait for you. There is also the world of ladies and gentlemen and there is the world of the great metropolis ruled by a great emperor to describe but two drops in an ocean. But be careful for the poison of the dying lands ever spreads.”
“I have travelled for three days on this road. I’m tired, lost and weary. Every time I turn, I see a flicker of a dark and terrible shadow. What is it and why does it frighten me?”
“Ah, it is the great serpent that surrounds everything. From it the world was created and eventually, at Ragnarok, the world will return to it. It is the darkness. It is the void. It is everything and it is nothing.”
“I have travelled for three days on this road. I’m tired, lost and weary. You have told me much but you have not answered my questions at all.”
“That is because you did not ask the right questions.”