Gate: Two of Swords
I passed through the vision gate and was standing on a dark surface that seemed to absorb the light. The surface moved slightly as I stepped on it like the outside of a bubble and, as my feet applied pressure to the ground, the darkness of the ground turned to light. I walked forward to explore the realm further, leaving a trail of brightly glowing footprints in my wake.
After some time moving through an empty world, I sensed movement above me. A winged horse descended from the skies above and atop the horse was an armored warrior with a spear. The horse landed gracefully in my path and the warrior spirit dismounted to stand proudly upon the shadowed earth.
“I am Jason,” the warrior said. “I followed your progress through this realm because of the light that follows in your footsteps. Would you, spirit of the sun, join me and my men on our quest?”
“I’m afraid you have me mistaken for someone else,” I said. “I walk more often beneath the light of the moon than the sun. My name is Heidi and I am a servant and messenger for a higher power. I have come to this world seeking its true nature and have yet to encounter anyone other than you, Jason. Therefore, maybe I’m here to be of assistance to you. I’m honored to join your number, if only for a brief moment in time.”
The warrior smiled. “Come on then, Heidi of the moon and sometimes sun,” Jason said. “My warriors await my arrival.” We climbed onto the magnificent winged horse and took off into the sky. As we flew, the ground beneath us took on the normal appearance of earth rather than a shadow realm of darkness.
“What is your quest?” I asked, wrapping my arms tightly around the warrior’s waist in order to retain my seat.
“We seek the golden fleece!” he exclaimed. “A treasure of legend and myth, and one worthy of the combined search efforts of a prince such as I and my honorable companions.”
“That is an epic quest,” I said, brushing some strands of hair from my face. “I’ve seen a lamb or two on my journeys through the Inner Worlds but none with a fleece of gold. They’ve all been examples of typical sheep with cream or ivory colored coats, soft to the touch but otherwise unremarkable.”
“The golden fleece will return my throne to me,” Jason said. “If my uncle keeps the promise he made before the gods and any who would listen.”
“Sometimes promises are not kept, especially when it comes to an exchange of power,” I said. “However, I hope we find the fleece quickly so that you may resume your place as king and anointed leader of your people. I know a thing or two about not being able to find or hold the place that was meant for you in creation.”
“What seems to be your difficulty around that issue, Heidi?” Jason asked. “Do you lack the power to assert yourself? My men and I could help you with that once we finish our own quest.”
“I have serious memory issues when it comes to the other worlds, Prince,” I said. “If there is a place I belong, I can’t remember it and therefore can’t find my way back. But I do appreciate the offer of assistance, and if I ever do remember where my home is, you and your companions will be the first I call upon when the time comes.”
Silence fell between us as Jason’s horse flew swiftly through the skies and we eventually touched down among a group of heavily armed warriors at the foot of a mountain. As soon as Jason and I joined their number, we began to scale its formidable heights. A bright light shone at the top of the mountain which I assumed was our final destination and the location of the treasure the men sought. The path that we were ascending was winding and exceedingly difficult so, after some hours of struggling, I brought the company to a halt.
“Great Warriors, why can’t we just fly to the top of the mountain?” I said. “This walk is arduous and it doesn’t need to be so.” The men looked at me in confusion so I showed them how I could rise through the air with a thought, as easily as a dust mote upon the breeze. Instead of approval, the company looked at my aerial display with horror, grabbed my feet and brought me back to earth to walk among them once more.
“We cannot go that way, Heidi, like spirits of the air or sky,” Jason declared. “If it was that simple, I’d just use the son of Pegasus to ferry us up there one at a time. The fleece belongs to the gods and the struggle is part of the journey and our sacrifice for its acquisition.”
“As you wish it, Prince,” I said, holding myself back from further comment. Internally, I thought the warriors were being overly superstitious but if they wanted to continue the difficult way up the mountain, then I was not going to prevent them. Our struggles to ascend the mountain continued for an unmarked period of time.
Finally, after much effort, we came to the summit where a gleaming, white staircase led to a temple that emitted a shining, golden light. Cautiously, Jason moved forward to begin the steps with his warriors and I following closely behind him. Suddenly, there was a piercing shriek and a dark figure hurtled down from the sky and landed on the steps. Her arms were wings and she was clothed in darkness. Fire issued forth from her eyes and her tongue was a living serpent.
“Jason, wandering prince of a lost kingdom,” the creature screamed. “You shall go no further. Turn back now or I will be forced to slay you and your host.”
“It is a harpy!” Jason exclaimed. “We do not fear you, demon spawn.” The warriors gathered themselves about their prince, preparing to attack the harpy. Before they could throw their weapons, I rushed up the steps and put myself between the two opposing forces.
“Harpies are sacred messengers of the Lord of the Underworld,” I said. “Perhaps she has some information for us that will help us on our way.” I turned to the creature. “Have you a message, Storm Born? If not, these warriors spell your doom for you are but one and they are many.”
The harpy laughed in my face, the serpent upon her tongue spitting poison. “No, foolish one, it is your doom you see before you,” she said. “The one who sent me will speak with you now. Listen well and die.” The darkness increased around the harpy and she began to grow in size. Her feathers became dark robes and she turned into a god, crowned with iron and dressed in shadows.
“It is Hades himself! Zeus have mercy upon us all!” Jason yelled and all of the men in his company went mad in the presence of the Lord of Death. They foamed at the mouth and groaned, throwing themselves to the ground in agony. I ran to Jason but his eyes were rolled back into his head and he gave no indication that he heard me as I shook his shoulder and tried to bring him back to my reality.
When the god finally spoke, his voice was deep but very soft, barely perceptible above the moans of the suffering war party. “My message for Jason is that he shall not have this fleece,” Hades said. “The completion of this quest is the start of his death and it is not yet time for that.” He walked a few steps towards me as I stood from Jason’s side. “My presence does not drive you mad,” he observed. “Who are you and why do you walk with these warriors of old?”
“My name is Heidi, Lord Hades,” I replied. “I walk with Jason and his companions because I was wandering lost in this world until the prince found me and invited me to do so.”
“You are not from this place or time,” the god said. “What are you doing here, Heidi?”
“I have come from another world to learn whatever lessons that you and the ruling powers of this realm may teach me,” I said. “I was called to this path by a vision from beyond and will walk it until my time upon the earth is through.”
“This journey you undertake may bring you to the end of your time more quickly than if you didn’t walk the path at all,” Hades said. “But I suppose there is no avoiding destiny when it presents itself in your experience as you have described to me. I will answer your questions, Heidi, but what might one learn of death other than fear and madness?” The god came closer still, descending the steps as smoothly as water down a hill slope.
“The Divine Mother taught me that death is the other side of life, the other half of a tunnel. As our eyes open, so they close,” I said, fighting a burgeoning fear in my heart at Hades’ unstoppable approach. “She showed me this truth and she bid me not to be afraid at any step on my life’s journey. So though I still feel fear when I contemplate death, I know I should not. It is an eternal struggle with the shadows of creation inside my own spirit.”
When I finished speaking, I felt an object like a smooth stone appear upon my tongue. I reached into my mouth and removed the star that the Divine Mother had placed there once upon a time in a different world. “May this form from the Mother prove the truth of my words,” I said and, bowing in respect, I gave the shining star to the god.
“The Great Mother spoke with you?” Hades said. “I was unaware of any who walked the earth who yet value her wisdom as I do.” The god raised the star to his lips and swallowed it. The gift from the Divine Mother glowed within him and whereas before he had been all darkness and shadows, now he was lit from within by its softly glowing splendor. “If she deemed you worthy of instruction then so shall I, Heidi,” Hades said “Come with me to my realm if you would learn the lessons of the Underworld under my tutelage.”
Hades offered me his arm. “I will go with you, Lord Hades, if you swear to me that Jason and his men will recover,” I said, viewing my friends who still suffered, writhing in pain upon the ground. “I could not free them from whatever nightmare your mere presence provoked. Please have mercy, Great One.”
“Our departure will provide immediate relief to those who walked with you,” Hades said. “I do so swear it.” Accepting the god’s word, I took his arm and we sank through the mountain with the Temple of the Golden Fleece through the shadows and into another world.
I blinked and found myself seated at a long feasting table to the left of Hades. To his right was a spirit in the form of a delicate looking woman with long flowing hair. “You see before you my dearest wife and most treasured companion, Persephone,” the god said, handing the goddess his own cup from the table. “Dear One, I have brought someone to lift your spirits,” Hades said to his wife. “She is from another world like you.”
Persephone drank from the god’s cup and nodded to me once in greeting but remained otherwise silent and as still as a shadow. “I am honored to be in your presence, Great One,” I said and, when I received no response from the Queen of the Dead, turned my attention back to Hades.
“You are Lord of the Underworld which I expect is a weighty calling and places many demands on your time,” I said. “How do you spend your days when you have the freedom to act as you wish?”
“I call up the shades of the past, and Persephone and I learn much from them. Whom would you speak to?” Hades said. “Though the dead carry shadows from their lives with them into my domain, they still retain some memory of the lessons they learned in their most recent life journey. My will strengthens their memory even further, leading to some surprising revelations before my throne.”
“Please call whoever you believe will teach us the most to this time and place, Great One,” I said. “I bow to your wisdom and long experience with the dead.”
Hades inclined his head and I felt a new energy pouring from the god, an inescapable summons to those who dwelt in the realms of the Underworld. In the open space in front of the god’s table, the shining spirit of an older man who was reclining on a Grecian couch rose from the ground. He wore a white robe and had a cup in his hands that he was just bringing down from his lips.
“Be welcome to my table, philosopher of old,” the god said, sending the spirit a piece of fruit from his own plate and it placed itself in the ancient one’s hand. “You will answer my guest’s questions then I will return you to your eternal slumber. If your answer pleases me, I will send you into a dream of such happiness and joy that you will believe yourself to dwell in the house of the most blessed in existence.”
“As you wish, Lord Hades,” the spirit said, rising somewhat from his position upon the couch to consume the fruit. The food seemed to have an invigorating effect upon the spirit as he took on more substance and light after its consumption. “Though I have zero complaints about my treatment in your domain thus far. You did not insist I drink from a poisoned cup for my thoughts.”
“Who are you, spirit?” I asked, curiously.
“When I walked among the living, I was called Socrates,” the spirit replied, blinking as if awakening from sleep and looking around Hades’ throne room as curious as I. “I must be dead though I do not remember passing through that final doorway. In fact, now that I consider it, I remember very little beyond my own name. I wonder what happened to my guiding daimon? He was always so forthright with me.” Socrates threw the cup he was holding over his shoulder and it vanished.
“Thy daimon wanders my halls and awaits thy arrival among the blessed,” Hades murmured. “Never let it be said I separate ancestral spirits from one another in the seat of my power.”
“I am humbled by your beneficence, Lord of Death,” Socrates said, bowing his head once in reverence. “This is ironic for my death was ordered for my impiety. You bless even those others deem worthy of your scorn. You should instruct your priests in your ways.”
“You are known throughout the ages for asking many questions, Wise Socrates,” I said. “May I ask a question of you?” The spirit nodded, good naturedly. “What drove you to act the way you did in life? What was your guiding star and moral compass?”
Socrates paused for a moment in reflection. “One may as well ask what causes the sun to rise each day,” he said finally. “As the sun rises, so too is the genesis and animating intelligence of Socrates. What can the sun do but shine down upon the living? What could I do but guide my illuminating thoughts to the shadows and questions that walked in the worlds of science, philosophy, mathematics, the minds of men? As the sun also sets, so too did my time upon earth end. I hope my students and treasured companions remember that the sun will rise again and those who nurture and grow the sum total of knowledge and philosophy of humankind cannot be kept from shining, no matter how many cups of poison they hand out to the unjustly accused for speaking their minds.”
“Do you feel like you helped people throughout your life’s journey?” I asked.
“Who knows? None but the gods,” the ancient scholar responded. “But I certainly made them wonder about universal truths and this is a worthy pastime. When you walk the halls of the Underworld in your appointed time, find me, curious spirit, and we will drink a cup of wine together and speak of all the unanswered questions of the world of philosophy. I look forward to our future meeting.” With those words, Socrates faded away, sinking back into the floor of Hades’ palatial dining hall.
“I’ve always liked him,” whispered Persephone, so quietly that at first I thought I only imagined she spoke. “The next spirit is of my choosing, seeker from another world. Attend his words carefully.”
Another shade rose in Socrates’ place, a tall man with a sad and far-away look on his face, dressed in a dark suit and stovepipe hat. He reached up and took his hat off as Hades gave him a piece of fruit from his plate as he had with the philosopher.
“You will share your wisdom with us, Abraham,” Hades said. The ghost nodded as he chewed the fruit and became more substantial than he had been before. “If your words please me, I will send you in a dream to one of your descendants and you will be free to share your wisdom and knowledge with them as you do at this moment before my table.”
“You walked the earth often in my days upon it, Lord of Death,” said Abraham Lincoln. “I do not relish standing in your presence again, but the Lord God always protected me as I set about serving my country at a crucial hour of its existence. Speak your questions and I will answer with as much wisdom as He allows me.”
“Hello, Mr. Lincoln, thank you for your patience and generosity of spirit for appearing at this place and time,” I said. “I learned from the historians of our world that you lived a life of great courage and sacrifice for the good of all. I would know whatever you wish to share with me from your life experience, that which you deem most important.”
“I will speak with you as I said but first I would like to know how you know my name. Where am I?” the great statesman asked, confusion taking the place of depression upon his features. “My God promised those who believed in Him an eternal existence in heaven. This place looks nothing like what I expected and you do not look like an angel either, more like a mortal woman who could have been friends with my wife.”
“I am no angel, Mr. Lincoln. I am simply a woman who walks the Inner Realms seeking wisdom and the answers to a vision I had once upon a time. You are dead, sir, but I would venture to say most if not all Americans alive today know your name and perhaps those from other countries as well,” I said. “Heaven waits for you, I know it is so because I have been there and spoken with God. They and their angels are all that was promised in your religion and you shall be held in their arms in mercy and peace until time itself comes to an end if this is what you so desire.”
“Then I may lay down my great burden at last,” Lincoln said, relief animating his tones. “Learn from me, wandering spirit, that those of faith are rewarded in death and receive goodness and mercy from a God who can seem so distant and absent on earth. Now that I have spoken my truth, I find myself remembering that so many soldiers died because of orders from me. I must go and thank them all for their service and dedication to a cause that they may not have even believed in.” He handed me his hat and turned to walk away into the shadows.
“Wait! Mr. Lincoln,” I said. “What is it that made you, yourself? What drove your life and acted as your guiding star?”
He looked over his shoulder. “The thirst for learning and the desire to be of service to God and my country drove me forward all my life,” Lincoln said. “My family as well. I remember so much now, how could I have forgotten my family? I want to see my wife and sons. Please let me go to them.” Looking to Lord Hades who nodded in agreement, the great spirit faded from my sight and I was left holding his iconic hat which disappeared shortly after the man did.
“This is an amazing learning opportunity for me and I hope you fulfill the promises you have made to these shades, Lord Hades,” I said. “It’s a wonder to my mind that you are ever able to accomplish anything with the combined knowledge of those who lived before at your summons.”
“Those who sit at my table and speak with the dead bring their own priorities with them though they may not know this or even be aware of that which drives them,” Hades said. “Who is your god, Heidi? And what have you learned from the shades thus far? In your answer, you reveal yourself and your secret heart so speak the truth as well as you are able.”
“The god of my fathers is the one Lincoln just spoke of,” I said. “Though I have strayed from the teachings of my childhood, I retain from them the lesson that God is Love and thus I consider myself a servant of Love as well as a messenger from the one who put the universe in motion. I call them the Creator of All and though I have not seen this being with my eyes, I have heard their voice in the throne room of the Living God in the heaven of the Christians. They seemed to me to speak with the voice of every god and goddess at once but then, for my own ears, sometimes they sounded like a singular deity who said they loved me and all in existence.”
“As for the lessons I have learned at your table thus far,” I continued. “I consider Socrates to be a spirit of learning from the ancient world and treasured hearing his mind at work through the words that fell from his lips. He ended his communication with us with an invitation of friendship and companionship, a message of love. President Lincoln spoke of duty and service to his God and country first but then seemed to remember more of the great loves of his life, his family, at the end of his communication as well. I am driven by Love and seem to invite those around me to express themselves in this manner in my presence too.”
“My beloved wife also spoke with you,” Hades said. “She has not stirred herself to speak in some time and I am greatly pleased by the cheering effect you have had upon her. Despite her nearly comatose appearance, I can feel her spirit at all times whether she walks in my world or any other. As you were learning at my side, you performed a service for me today and I will return the favor to you. May your gods of love and creation witness what comes next.”
Hades raised his wife’s unresponsive hand to his lips and gave it a gentle kiss. “Remember we may speak with anyone at all, Heidi,” the god said and nodded his head in summons one more time. “Because of your presence here, this last spirit I call in honor of my beloved wife and the love I bear for her. When you return to your waking world, remind them of this love in addition to what you have learned from the shades of the past today.”
In response to the god of the Underworld, a shade came up from the ground with his arms outstretched as if in supplication to the sky and a crown of thorns on his head. He bled from his hands, feet and side from terrible wounds to his body. I waited for Hades to offer the spirit fruit from his table, but the god remained still, holding his wife’s hand and observing my reaction to the spirit’s appearance. The shade of Christ opened his eyes and looked directly at me as I sat at Hades’ table in stunned silence.
“Is it done then?” Christ asked, lowering his arms to his side. I nodded, not trusting my voice as tears filled my eyes at his tortured appearance.
As I wept, Persephone’s eyes suddenly lit up as if filled with the moon at its fullness and voices began to emerge from her open mouth, streaming from her spirit in an unstoppable flood of emotion and grief. “My son, son,” the goddess cried. “What have they done to my beloved son? My husband, my love, why you and not another? Why the one I love? Father, father, do not leave me in this world alone. Father come back to us, come back to us.” Hades took the edge of his dark cloak and covered his queen’s shining face, as he did so, the voices ceased and Persephone resumed her silent but watchful presence at his table.
“Servant of Love,” Hades said. “I give your sacrificed god back to you. I claim no dominion over him and never have.”
I had no voice to respond as the wounds on Christ’s body healed and was covered in a shining robe. “Do not mourn, woman,” he said, noticing my distress as my tears began to dry. “All is as it should be.”
After Christ spoke words of comfort to me, I found my voice once again. “Great One, how do you know that all is as it should be? The spirit is perfect but the body is not and dies as surely as any other creation in the world beneath the sun,” I said. “Where do you find your faith in the Creator of All and the strength to walk the paths they ask of us? To know that sacrifices are not made in vain?”
“You ask me where I find my faith and I would ask the same of you, woman. Do you not remember that what animates me animates you?” Christ said. “I called this force God the Father and He is everything, you, me, all the worlds and the creations contained within them. There are none who walk the paths of existence outside of His unconditional love and mercy.” Jesus turned his face from me. “Walk with me and remember all you once knew. Come with me through this realm and we shall see who is here from the Father, waiting for my arrival among them to spread His message of love and forgiveness through a sacrifice made for all in creation. In this way, woman, you will know me and my essential nature.”
I stood from Hades’ table as if in a trance and followed the god who didn’t fade away like the other shades but seemed to grow with light and become more solid the further he traveled into the Underworld. The darkness and shadows fled before his illuminating presence and everywhere he walked there was light. I walked in the footsteps of Christ and saw with my own eyes the effect he had on those around him.
Deep within the realm of the dead, we came to the shore of a wide river and a boat stood on the banks. When Christ nodded a greeting to Charon, the Keeper of the Boat, the ferryman transformed into a shining bridge of light over the river.
Jesus placed himself at the entrance to this bridge. Shades of the dead, no more corporeal than mist, rushed forth from the shadows behind us. As they passed through Christ and over the bridge, they ignited from within by simply touching his energy and became solid in appearance just like him as they passed into another world. I approached the bridge, unconcerned by the crowds pressing by us which were far too numerous to count.
Christ’s light touched me and I lit up like the shades as I took my first step upon the bridge. “The bodies of the living make us forget our essential natures and strip our faith from us,” he said, speaking to all who stood near or took the bridge. “Do not forget that you are love. The Father is me and also you and all others.”
Jesus and the bridge disappeared in a brilliant flash of light and I found myself sitting under a large, golden tree covered in fruit. I felt someone calling my name from the tree so I walked up to its trunk and was absorbed into it by a power outside of my own. For a time, I became the tree, stretching up high into the sky and deep down into the earth with my roots, living a simple existence as a plant in creation with no demands on my consciousness other than to be exactly as I was. Then in another flash of light, I found myself at the foot of a staircase that was wreathed in clouds and led to unimaginable heights above.
On a throne at the top of the stairs, there sat a god dressed in robes, carrying a flashing light of bright energy in the shape of a lightning bolt in his hand. The clouds moved around us in a gathering storm as I began to take the stairway up to speak to a god of the sky. “Zeus, Jupiter, Father hear me,” I called upwards as I climbed. “I hope my appearance here isn’t unwelcome. I come seeking your wisdom.” The wind began to blow fiercely so I ceased my journey, waiting for the storm to pass so that I could continue onwards.
“I hear you, young one, and I respond,” the god said and, seeing I could not make it through the storm, began to descend the steps towards me. “I did not expect to see you at this time but you are not unwelcome. How did you come to this time and place? You were not here then suddenly you were, as unexpected as a bolt from the clear blue sky.”
I sat on the steps at Zeus’ feet as I recounted traveling with the heroes on the mountain ascent, meeting his brother Hades and our descent into the Underworld, passing across the bridge of light with the god who died but lived and becoming the golden tree, reaching the present moment. Zeus smiled at my recitation and stood from his seat upon the stair. “What a storyteller you are, Heidi. Now you are here to learn from me a lesson of the ones who dwell in the sky?” the god asked. I nodded. “Follow me then. My brother is not the only one of our pantheon who knows how to impart a message.”
The god changed his form from an elderly man into an enormous swan and took off into the sky, launching himself from the marble steps. I transformed as well into a much smaller swan and flew with him, following Zeus from the sky to the earth far below.
We landed in a clear, still lake surrounded by woods under a full moon at night. Zeus went to the forest edge, transformed himself into a hooded figure and began to walk down a path that appeared in the moonlight. I turned back into myself and followed. The god led me to a busy tavern at a crossroads with many spirits eating and drinking within.
Once inside, Zeus went directly to a table with a group of warriors who seemed to be downcast. I recognized them as Jason and his warrior companions whom I had last seen going mad at the feet of Hades.
“Why so glum!” The god-in-disguise asked the men. “It is a fine night for drinking and the telling of epic tales.”
“We have failed in our quest,” Jason said. “And return home with nothing to show for our labors. I shall never claim my crown now.”
“Is that so?” Zeus replied with a twinkle in his eye. “Care for a game of chance with me to change your future prospects?”
“What is the prize?” asked Jason, frowning. “I’m afraid my future is set in stone now, no matter the treasure on offer. The gods have turned their favor from me.”
From a bag at his side, Zeus pulled out the edge of a shining object. “When I was your age, I had many adventures, some of which have been told and others that have yet to find their way to listening ears. As a prize for gaming with me tonight, I offer you the golden fleece, taken from a protected temple under the sky god’s dominion among the clouds,” said Zeus. “Is it a rich enough reward to tempt you to further action and shake you from your depressed torpor?”
Jason and his men gasped in amazement at the turn of Fortune’s wheel. “We would play your game, stranger from the sky, but we have nothing to offer you that is near the worth of that,” Jason said. “What is it that you desire upon the surface of the earth that we could provide to you?”
Zeus tilted his head at the great warrior. “If I win, you give me the youngest member of your party to do with as I please,” the god said. “Some treasures beyond price walk around upon the surface of the earth disguised as ordinary men and women. I will play for these stakes and you and your warriors will call me ‘Father’ when you address me again, win or lose.” The prince and his companions looked at each other and quickly agreed to the deal.
The god brought forth some dice made of bone and they played a game of chance that I didn’t understand though I tried to comprehend the unspoken rules as the players rolled. The game was over so quickly that I assumed Zeus had purposefully lost as he handed over the prize of the golden fleece. Jason and his men rose from the table and prepared to return home in triumph.
Before they left, Zeus instructed them, “Tell the ones at home that you fought the harpy and won. It makes a better story.”
“We shall speak of this night as you desire, Father,” Jason said. “Thank you for giving my kingdom back to me.” The prince and his warriors disappeared into the night, waving cheerily to me as they exited, not recognizing me as the lost woman who walked the beginning of their journey with them only as a companion to a mysterious stranger who changed their lives for the better.
I purchased two flagons of beer with a coin I found on the floor and sat down next to Zeus at the busy bar, knocking elbows with the friendly strangers around me. I offered the god a drink and we sat together enjoying our beverages as the noisy crowd rolled around us like the tide upon the shore.
“Sometimes, Heidi, it is all about the roll of the dice and the construction of a good story,” the god said. “I can’t tell you how many epic quests succeeded or failed on a moment’s chance or turn of fate. When all hope seems lost for you, remember my words and continue onwards in the knowledge that there are those who desire a happy outcome for you and whoever you encounter on your path to self knowledge. Take heart and never give up, Servant of Love.”
I raised my glass to Zeus’ words, drank the last swallow of the vintage and found myself on the dark, bubble-like ground from the beginning of the journey. As the light faded from my sight, I began to wander through the world again, looking for someone to talk to and learn from while leaving easily followed footsteps in my wake.
There my vision ended.
The Light Congress 