The Shepherd

‘A good shepherd keeps an eye on his sheep’ My father used to say ‘he watches them day and night, and if ever one goes astray from the flock, my sons, he goes forth searching until the sheep is found.’ So, to search for my lost sheep is my task until it is found. And searching has brought me at the foot of Mount Ara, the mountain feared for the rumors of it being residence to a bloodthirsty monster left behind by the Great Separation-of-Worlds that occurred long before the time of our peoples grandfathers  grandfathers. But rumors are nothing more than just that: rumors. Baseless statements, no way of proving themselves to contain a shred of truth. Thus I continued to search for my dear sheep. The flat ground meets the mountains foot at a shallow slope, the slope being covered by patches of some manner of grass that reaches a little above the ankle and never being a bother while I walk, or climb. Here and there a big rock, and occasionally, a boulder, is half exposed from the earth covered in green moss. Around me are different kinds of trees, some their branches are covered in rough wrinkly bark, some bear fruits that are highly sought after, and some trees have leaves larger than my head. All trees are unevenly spaced, but never so close that it would make it difficult to pass between. Beams of light filter through the leaves, as if coming through a hole on a tin roof.
  All the while I walk I whistle, as whistling attracts my sheep toward me.  All the while I whistle, but still no sheep. I keep on moving and whistling until twilight, and decide to call it a day and camp for the night. I gather firewood that are scattered about and start a little fire to keep me warm while I sleep. At nightfall I open my leather pouch and take out a handful of sundried beef, then said my thanks before eating my dinner. As I eat, I ponder on what might be happening with my brother. Is he doing ok with watching over our flock of sheep? Is he safe? I worry for his safety, such a young boy, twelve years of age, having to herd sheep through the hilly terrain of the Acabacia Region, all alone, and there I was burdened with having to search for one sheep. Burdened to carry on the family tradition passed on from generation to generation. Was that my fate? Me and my brothers’ fate? To live off herding sheep? To carry on with an endless cycle: bring sheep out in the morning to herd them in the grasslands, return in the late afternoon, do the same thing again in the next day, teach our children to herd sheep, then they teach their children to heard sheep. The thought made me feel an empty feeling in my heart, my soul, my very essence of being, yet also a feeling of overwhelming immensity, weighing down on me and feels about to explode on me on any given moment. As I pondered these I felt drowsy, and before I knew it I was asleep.
Astonishment, disbelief, and a sense of wonder filled me when I opened my eyes and saw that my surroundings drastically changed. The grass and the leaves glowed cyan, casting away the darkness of night. Fireflies of varying colors were twinkling like stars in the sky. As I go about inspecting my surroundings I spot a firefly that shines brighter, unlike any around me, which gave rise to curiosity and fear within me. Eventually, my curiosity took over. As I cautiously approached it it suddenly disappeared only to manifest itself a few meters in front of me. I approached it again, and the same thing occurred. This went on for about three to four times, and then I realized that it was leading me to somewhere. But where? Then it came to me: The rumors about the monster. What if the rumors were true? The thought horrified me. Immediately I ran away from the glowing firefly, towards the bottom of the mountain. Running as fast as I could, I passed different trees filled with glowing leaves, rocks and boulders covered with glowing moss, patches of grass glowing. “A little more” I said to my self as I hurried “and I’ll be at this mountains foot!” recognizing my surroundings to be where the mountains foot is close, but as I traveled a few meters more, I met a sight that brought me utter disbelief and terror: The campfire I lit was right in front of me! Compelled by fear I ran without a heading, as far as my strength would bring me, only to be brought to the same site again. Then finally my body gave in to tiredness, and collapsed.
 When I regained my senses I looked around to survey my surroundings. It was still night, the vegetation around me still glowed, and the firefly that was leading me to somewhere hovered near. I stayed on the exact spot where I awoke to come up with something to do. I reached for my bag filled with sun dried beef and ate some to regain some energy I lost from running, and drank from my canteen. I gathered my wits and came up with three options: I could keep going down the mountain with the hope of eventually reaching the bottom and not getting myself back at the campfire, I could travel towards another direction and hope that doing so would get me somewhere safe, or I could follow the firefly to where it’s leading me and hope that a monster doesn’t tare me apart and pick its teeth with my bones. With these choices comes the problem of maintaining myself throughout the journey. I had originally planned on foraging most of my food for my search of the lost sheep, and bring only some meat, but I became worried because of the drastic changes that happened to my surroundings. The fruit, though still bountiful around me now glow cyan. I feared that their outward appearance might not be the only thing that changed. The fruits could give me food poisoning and other unwanted effects.  At that time I only had enough food and water for one meal. Going down would use up all of the energy I had, not counting the food I had with me. I didn’t know how long and how much energy it would take to find a safe place going another direction, so I figured that going down was the safest step to take.
Being physically and mentally prepared to begin my search for safety, I descend. Nothing has changed since my last attempt to reach safety by going down the mountain. The same trees, rocks, and grass patches remained where they were. As I travel towards the bottom, I think of what I’m going to do if I reach the campfire at the end of my travel again. Going another direction was what seemed to me the safest action. If I ran out of food and water doing so I could take my chances with the fruits and hope eating them won’t kill me. But what if another direction still got me back at the campfire? Should I just follow the firefly? Once again I come to the point where another meter or two would lead me out of the mountain. I pause to eat and regain my energy, and I continue, hoping that in a few more steps I am out of the mountain and closer to safety and comfort, but to my dismay, is the sight of the campfire. I lay down the glowing grass to relieve my exhaustion, regretting the fact that I chose to go down the mountain again and losing precious energy in the process, only to yield the same result as when I ran toward the bottom the first few times. After what seemed to be hours of lying on the grass, I got up and decided to go towards another direction with the hope for safety. Facing away from the direction I recently came from, I went left. For about an hour or so I walked between trees, boulders, going around and climbing above any obstacle that comes in my way, and then I saw the campfire again. This surprised me for some degree, because I thought that I had to travel much longer before seeing anything of interest. I immediately set forth towards another direction, and I had the same results: about an hour of travelling through some obstacles, and then there was the campfire. Upon reaching the starting point for the latest time, it came to me that the only choice I had was to follow the firefly. There was nowhere else to go that would lead somewhere. I could stay on the camp and take my chances with sustaining myself with the fruit. Eating it could kill me. If not I’d be stuck in the mountain forever. No one would come to help because everyone is too scared of the rumors surrounding the mountain, except my little brother, upon being worried for me taking too long, but I didn’t want to risk him suffering the same fate as me. So I made up my mind to follow the firefly to wherever it might lead me. I looked around for a suitable stick to defend myself if ever I be put in a situation that I need to. Fortunately, there was a low lying branch of a tree that looked perfect for the job. I snapped off the length of the stick taller than me and with twice the girth of a thumb. I summoned my wits, and walked toward the glowing firefly.
 Every moment that I would come within three feet to the firefly, it would suddenly disappear, and then reappear a few meters ahead. It led me towards the peak of the mountain. I followed through the usual sites of my last travels towards the mountains top for about half an hour and then an unexpected sight surprised me. I came up to a level area clear of any trees and vegetation and untouched by the cyan light emitted by such. The clearing being illuminated by lanterns being held up by stone statues of humanoid felines. The cat-men statues stand erect on human legs, have cat ears sticking out of their head, life sized, and are holding a single lantern by the handle in front of their faces with, instead of normal human hands, cat paws. These are numerous throughout the clearing such that the area was brightly illuminated. Between each statue are red dyed wooden pillars several meters high, decorated by golden images of cat-men hybrid wearing long robes. On top of each pillar is a statue of a cat-man as I have described. These pillars, like the statues are also found throughout the clearing. In the middle of it all there stands eight statues of cat-men several meters in height. These, unlike the others that are randomly scattered about, are arranged in a circle, each facing the center. The most obvious difference there is between the smaller statues and these eight are their outstretched arms which, instead of holding a lamp, have their palms facing forward. In front of these forward facing palms hover large stone balls about twice the size of the head of these statues. From these stone balls emanate bolts of lightning that strike the edge of a broad circle in the middle of the eight statues. From the edge of this circle emanates a wall of red light. Within the circle, in front of each statue are large iron bolts, each are connected to their own respective chain. In the middle of the circle is a small silhouette of a creature with yellow eyes, containing thin, vertical pupils. This creature, whatever it may be, is bound by the chains bolted to the ground in a way that it cannot move its limbs or move away from the center of the circle. It watches me, and does not take its eyes off me even for a second. ‘So this is it’ I thought to myself ‘The monster that lives in this mountain that is talked about by so many people. The rumored man-eater.’ Right where I stood I trembled uncontrollably, fearing for my life. But then I realized that it’s chained up, not able to come near me, and probably won’t bring me any harm like that.
My brother and I inherited a great amount of books from our father when he passed away. These books were inherited by our father from our grandfather, and he inherited them from our great grandfather and so on. The contents of these books greatly vary, from scientific writings, philosophical studies, religious texts, all the way to grand tales about people, fables and the like, and some are diaries of my ancestors. These books have given us great knowledge and insight about many things. Things that people belonging to our standing in life never bother about. Great things such as how the world was created, what is the true meaning of life, proper worship of God, and the like. Among the things that I read was the notion that what people did came to be because they all follow a universal rule - knowingly or unknowingly - stating that all actions are products of taking the best course towards achieving of their goal. At that time it seemed to me that that notion is correct. I saw that people wanted to preserve themselves, and they took measures to do so. They ate, provided themselves shelter, bettered their life. I saw people wage wars so that they could achieve their goal to protect or benefit their homeland. They marry so that they could be with the one that they love, and so on. On that clearing on that mountain, however, I unintentionally broke that fundamental law that all men follow, that law that all men abide by. I stared the creature directly in the eye, then I went closer to its prison. Against my goal of preserving myself, of preserving my life, I walked towards the circle in the middle of the statues, and, for no valid reason, attempted to release the chained thing.
Holding in my hand the long stick, I moved toward the circle, going between two statues. A few paces towards the circles edge I let go the stick in my hand and paused, feeling the monsters stare at me with its yellow eyes of a snake, and I stared back and beheld those yellow eyes to my hearts’ content, a mixed feeling of dominance and helplessness fills my being. Then I fixed my gaze towards the wall of light, and slowly lifted my hand to meet the wall, while the monsters eyes followed my hand that I tried to make contact with, but as my palm was inches before the red light, the lightning emanating from the large stone balls focused on my location, running through me, filling my body with pain that I had never felt before, but the fact that I still stood there alive and physically undamaged was nothing less than a miracle. Steeling my will I mustered my strength to touch the wall of light, and as my hand made contact, the lightning disappeared as the levitating stone balls fell and shattered along with the eight statues surrounding the circle. I fell face down to the ground, relieved that the pain I suffered has gone. A few seconds later the red light disappeared and I heard the clanging of breaking chains. It was free, and it sounded like that it was coming towards me. As fast as I could I attempted to get to my feet, but on that moment I found out that the lightning that struck me disabled me to make any fast movements and paralyzed my left arm, so I hurried to my feet as fast as my body would allow me. As I was able to stand the monster lunged at me and wrapped around my torso as it made an ear piercing sound coming from its lungs, throwing me back onto the ground I just recently stood on as I let out a scream that nearly matched that of the monster, and not even getting a good look at my attacker. I struggled to break free but my movements were lethargic due to the lightning bolts that struck me, thus I couldn’t shake off the monsters embrace. Knowing of my impending doom brought about my actions, I screamed on the top of my lungs as the monsters grip tightened. Thoughts of my brother came to me. First his father, then mother, then me. He was going to be heartbroken due to my death. But then, not long after thinking this, much to my surprise, the monster let go! Immediately I scurried away while I lie on my back from the monster, but what surprised me the most was what it looked like! Instead of horrid features like warped facial features, long, sharp claws and teeth, and a face-melting breath to match, instead what stood before me was a little girl! She was about the age of my little brother, half my height, bearing the most adorable smile and looking at me with eyes that betray wonder and happiness. But it was not exactly a little girl. This little girl had cat ears sticking out of her head and cat paws in place of human hands like the features of the statues around me. I laid there on the ground, scared, and utterly bewildered as I gazed upon what was before me. That was the monster? A little girl? A little cat-girl? Why?
I laid there and trying to make sense with what was happening, but before I could, she spoke. She spoke words I could not understand. It was as if she was speaking a foreign language, then once again she lunged at me suffocating me with a crushing bear hug and, as I did before, screamed at the top of my lungs. Once again, I tried to break free but I still could not, but just as before, she let go. She spoke again, seeming like she was trying to tell me, or explain to me something. Then she stopped mid-sentence, and it looked like that she had just realized something. She raised her hands towards the sky, chanting words, and then a flash of light. ‘Hey, don’t be afraid… why are you afraid myam?’ she said to me in a high pitched voice ‘There’s nothing to be afraid of myam.’ While trying to distance myself I said ‘Stay away from me, I’m warning you’ then I grabbed a handful of the ground, raised my fistful of earth toward her and said ‘I have… dirt.’ ‘Hey, don’t be threatened, why are you threatened myam? I only wanted you to come here so you could free me from that seal you freed me from earlier myam.’ She stepped closer, ‘Don’t come near me’ I said. ‘Hey, come on, don’t be afraid’ she said ‘I’m really not going to do anything to you, and I’m grateful to you actually. I’ve been chained up for so long that I lost track of time that I’ve been there. I’ve been through a lot of cold nights, cold and rainy nights, so alone… I was abandoned, but now all that changed since you came here, you… set me free from all that, I’m so grateful to you… thank you, myam.’ She bowed at me. So far up my journey I encountered things that many people had never and probably never will: a forest that brought light to the night, a firefly that glowed as brilliant as the suns, sculptures depicting creatures that are far from the ordinary, and a cat-girl that was once sealed for ages right up to that moment when I first met her. These are extraordinary things, absurd things so much so that someone might think of me as a person who’s lost his wits if I ever told anyone. Those things I couldn’t believe my self at that moment, but in my heart wanted to believe so badly because it was so wonderful, and if that was the case, I wasn’t going to die on a forsaken mountain, so, as I lay on the ground I asked her ‘What are you.’ She looked at me with delight and said ‘I’m a spirit! ‘A spirit?’ I replied. ‘That’s right, myam.’ She said. And then I asked her ‘So, you’re not going to eat me?’ She broke her gaze at me and looked up as if trying to recall something. ‘Eat you? I don’t really eat humans, or anything actually, myam. I saw other spirits eating things like fruits, birds, but I never actually tried to before, myam.’ Curiously I inquired ‘So, you don’t need to eat to live?’ She replied to my question ‘No, not really, myam. I never really felt like I needed to eat anything myam. But hey, enough about me, myam’ her eyes sparkled as she looked at me ‘You’re the first human that I ever met, myam! Tell me something about you, myam!’ I was wary of giving personal information to a cat-girl spirit at that moment. What if she could harm me by knowing something about me? But I thought how could such an innocent creature bring any harm to anything? But if she doesn’t do any harm, why was she sealed? Hoping for the best I said to her: ‘Well, I’m a shepherd, and I’m looking for my sheep.’ ‘What’s a shepherd, myam?’ she replied, looking at me with eyes flowing with pure innocence. With this I wondered how much of her life she spent trapped in that seal. ‘A shepherd is someone who herds sheep for a living.’ ‘What are sheep, myam?’ ‘Sheep are animals. They give all sorts of stuff like milk, meat, wool. But before they do you need to take them out in the fields so they can eat grass.’ I explained. ‘So anyway one wandered away and I’m looking for it here.’ ‘Can I come with you, myam?’ She inquired enthusiastically. ‘I’m tired of this place, I wanna come with you please, myam?’ She seemed safe. How can something that innocent be of any harm? So I figured, why not?
The first morning sun crept upward towards the sky, showering the mountains mossy stones and trees with its gentle warmth. I was glad things were going the way they were. I was alive and safe, I had a great story to tell, and it was time for breakfast. As we head toward the top of the mountain to look for my sheep, the cat-girl and I came across a blas tree. I stepped closer for a better look. ‘Where are you going, myam?’ she inquired. I replied ‘I’m going to get us something to eat’ as I attempted to climb up and reach a blas fruit. I lifted myself up to a branch and stood on it, reaching for a fruit. I grabbed it with my hand as I used the other to hold on to the trunk of the tree for balance, but it was too firmly connected to the branch. Deciding to let go of the tree trunk I grasped the fruit with both hands for a better grip and more force and then pulled, but as I did was thrown slightly off balance. ‘Hey, be careful, myam!’ The cat-girl shouted at me from the bottom with concern. Once again I pulled and, finally the fruit was mine. Unfortunately though I fell. But fortunately, I was unharmed. ‘I got it’ I said to her, while still lying on the ground from falling. We sat down under the shade of the tree and I tore in half the big blas fruit for us to eat, exposing the white and juicy flesh and gave half to the cat-girl. ‘Try it.’ I said to her. Then she put the fruits skin into her mouth. She looked at me: ‘It’s rough, myam.’ and made me giggle at her adorableness. ‘No, you’re supposed to eat the soft and juicy part, like this.’ I tore off a piece and ate it, savoring the sweet and sour flavor of the fruit, and she did exactly as I did. Immediately her eyes widened. She looked at me and said ‘This is great, myam.’ still chewing on her food. ‘By the way’ I said while I tore off another chunk ‘You never told me your name. Mine is Eisen.’ All of the sudden she looked sad, bearing a pout on her face. ‘They never gave me one, myam.’ She spoke sadly, mouth full chewing on the flesh of the blas fruit. ‘They? Who are they?’ I inquired. ‘The others…’ she paused to swallow her food. ‘…like me, myam.’ ‘There are others like you?’ I pressed. ‘Yes, they put me in that seal, myam.’ She tore off another piece of the fruit and put it in her mouth and chewed. ‘But they’re all gone now, myam.’ ‘Gone? Can you tell me what happened?’ I asked her. She answered whilst chewing on her food ‘They didn’t like me because my fur is white, myam. So they put me in that seal and guarded me, and no one was allowed to come near me, myam.’ She swallowed, tore off another piece of fruit, put it in her mouth and continued.  ‘I asked them to let me go and said I’ll be good, but they didn’t myam. Then one day they just disappeared, myam.’ And then she started sobbing, still chewing on her food, and I felt sorry for her. I thought about what she went through and looked at it through her eyes and felt her sadness. Someone as young and innocent like her, craving for affection from someone and that someone gave her the opposite, and to have endured that for an eternity. That love, so close, but yet unachievable. I sat by her and thought of how to lift her sadness. ‘Hey, don’t be sad. I’m here now.’ I leaned close and gave her a tight embrace and she returned me one. ‘I could give you a name if you want.’ On that mention she looked up at me with teary eyes, ‘Really, myam?’ she said. ‘What name would you like?’ I said ‘How about that word you always say? Myam. Yea, that’s right. Myam. It’s cute and adorable, just like you.’ ‘I love it, myam!’ Myam replied as I wiped her tears off her face. ‘We’re going to climb up the mountain to climb Aras’ tree to get a better view of the land to see where the sheep likely wandered off. It’s really beautiful.’ ‘Really, myam?’ She replied excitedly. ‘Yes. From up there you can see a lot of different places.’ ‘I wanna go now, myam’ Myam replied, with her pout and teary eyes giving way for joy and excitement.
Myam and I continued our trek towards Aras’ tree. The first sun is about half way up to its peak and the second is just beyond the horizon. All of the mountain creatures are up. The birds are singing up on the trees. From far away the sound of a mountain moose reverberates through the woods. Some flowers bloom for the first time of the day. I watched Myam took in all of it like a child seeing something for the first time. It amazed me – that brilliant sparkle shining from her eyes as she looked up to see the colorful singing toucan, as she leaned closer to smell the vermillion flowers, as she breathed in the revitalizing atmosphere. All of it brought my thoughts back to my little brother. I thought of his innocence, much like Myams. I thought of the fact that he always liked herding sheep because it brought him to many places, he saw a lot of things. But he never met a lot of people, because our home is in an isolated area in the Acabacia Region and the routes that we commonly use to herd sheep passes only a few solitary inhabitations much like the one we live in and his only contact with others is the time that we need to have the sheep sheered when we go into town. I always saw this as unhealthy to his growing up. I thought that living solitarily wouldn’t be good for us, that it would only stagnate us. Then it came to my mind to sell the sheep and use the money to buy a business in the city. But that would be throwing away what our father had left for us, what he poured his sweat and blood for his entire life for us, and what he had entrusted us to do. But I also wanted to better the life of my brother and me. ‘Hey, what are you thinking about, myam?’ The words rattled me out of my world of deep thought. ‘What? Oh, nothing…’ I replied, not wanting to ruin her happiness with my problems. ‘Really, myam?’ ‘Yea, nothing. Come on, lets go.’ And we moved on…
The first sun is just about its zenith and the second is had just risen from the horizon and on that time Myam and I reached the top of the mountain where Aras’ tree stands. The tree looked ancient so much so that one could not fathom its age and so enormous that it dwarfed all other trees in the surrounding, standing far taller than any man made structure that I had seen then. The girth of its trunk is wider than that of any land on which houses stood upon that I have seen then. We rested for a bit, and after creating something sort of a makeshift bag out of vines that were hanging on other trees so that Myam can hitch a ride on my back, we proceeded to climb this gigantic tree. The trees rough bark was perfect for getting a grip while climbing.  As I moved upward, always trying to get a firm hold on the tree, I noticed here and there were little saplings growing out of the bark and also other full grown trees that blended with the trees branches. As I climbed I would pass a branch, as I climb further I would pass a tree and so on. Halfway through I felt that my body would not be able to carry on, but luckily though there was a nearby tree full of fruits on which we rested on and replenished our energy. ‘When are we going to see the beautiful stuff, myam?’ she asked me while we were eating. ‘Once were on top. Up there you can perfectly see all of the surrounding places.’ I told her. After regaining our energy we continued our climb. From the bottom, we climbed for what seemed to be like hours, and finally we were only a few dozen feet from the highest branch where the view would be perfect, then, suddenly, a familiar sound rang through the air. ‘What’s that sound, myam?’ ‘I can’t believe it. It’s my sheep! It’s my sheep!’ The sound seemed to come from the highest branch! With all my strength I hurried towards the top branch, and when we reached it: the sight of the impossible. ‘My sheep!’ I rushed to it and grabbed it and held it tight in my embrace. I let Myam out of the vine bag. ‘Myam, this is my sheep.’ ‘Wow! Hello, myam.’ She joined me in rejoicing in finding my sheep and also gave it a tight embrace. ‘She’s so fluffy, myam.’ She said as she touched its soft, white wool. Then, as we were celebrating, there came before us a gentle air. It caressed my face as it passed by, plucking me out of that moment and placed me on a beautiful new world. I saw this great scenery. The far flung great cities. The stunning beauties of nature. It was breathtaking. Then I felt the presence of Myam as she stood by my side and grabbed my hand. ‘Why is there so much white there, myam?’ ‘That’s the northern snowlands. The Mythren Region. Every year during the last months, snow comes to that land.’ I said. ‘What about over there, that tall thing by that big hole in the ground, myam?’ She pointed towards the west. ‘The big hole’ I said ‘A fissure, is called Earthmaw. It’s what separates the Acabacia Region to the Ath region. The tall thing is an observatory, something that studies the stars. On Acabacias side of the rift is the city of Ozendan, on on Aths side is Pell.’ ‘What about those white things, and what’s that thing , myam?’ She asked, pointing to the south. ‘Those are Dagans peaks.’ I replied. And that thing is what’s left of Dagan the old giant. It’s said that long ago, there were four great nations, with each of them having a great creature protecting them and the peace they enjoyed. But for some reason, there was a war. One thing led to another, and there he is, Dagans skeleton is laying on the side of that mountain with a big sword stuck through its chest.’ ‘And over there’ I said to change what we were talking about ‘Is Aristen. That land is bountiful. They say no person is poor and that each man can have whatever they want for their meals. There are a lot of big farms called chateaus there.’ After I had spoken there was silence as we stood there, the wind on our hair, taking in the beauty of the world. We were at peace, not a single burden to bother us. And finally, Myams gentle voice came. ‘It’s beautiful, all of it.’ ‘Yes, yes it is.’