Gate: The Hierophant

I stepped through the vision gate and found myself on the back of a giant, black raven.  She was flying high and fast through the mists and I clung to the bird’s back.

“Heidi,” she croaked. “You’re here. This is good. He has been waiting.”

“Who has been waiting?” I asked.  The raven didn’t answer, but continued her flight towards the unknown.  I looked over the side of the bird and saw green forests and blue oceans beneath me.  We passed on and on through the mist.

Finally, the raven touched down at the base of a crumbling stone staircase, leading up the side of a mountain.

“Go now,” she squawked. “He has been waiting!” and left without another word.

I turned to the steps.  As I began the staircase upwards, the stone could hardly take my weight and it splintered and fractured at the slightest touch.  “I think this was designed for a much smaller person,” I said as I continued to struggle up the mountain. “I require a guide for this place.”

There was a flash of light and a familiar lizard popped out of a small hole in one of the steps.  “Hello, Heidi!” said my friend. He ran up my body and wrapped himself around my neck. “What’s the game today?”

“Hello again, Lickspittle,” I said. “I have no idea where these stairs lead. Finding out together is a sort of game if you’re up for it.”

“Anything to break the boredom,” the lizard said. “When you’re away for long periods of time, everything gets so dull. Where do you go, by the way?”

“Where do I go? Nowhere,” I said. “My waking world is one fight after another between the shadows and the giant warriors of light. Generally, I try to keep my head down and take care of my loved ones while the powers that be take shots at one another. What have you been up to since I last saw you?”

“Dwelling beneath the stars and stairs,” Lickspittle answered. “Holding open the gates, building the bridges between this and that.”

“I thought you were a guardian…” I said.  But before I could finish my thought, there was a rumble from farther up the mountain and a small rock slide skipped past us and took out one whole side of the stairs.  “Whoa!” I exclaimed, nearly losing my balance. “This mountain isn’t entirely stable.”

Lickspittle wrapped himself more closely about my neck.  “I am a guardian,” he replied. “And also a way through, a support beam, a lintel.  You will make it up these steps safely because I am with you and I say that you will. The earth elementals and I have an understanding.”

“I’m fortunate to have you as my friend,” I said and the stairs changed, solidifying beneath me with Lickspittle’s words.  “The last time I tried to have a conversation with the gnomes, we had serious communication issues. They didn’t even know what a woman is.”

“The trick to organizing the earth elementals is to keep it simple and brief,” Lickspittle said. “They don’t have the capacity for more complex thought.”

“That’s not a very nice thing to say,” I said, pausing on the steps to catch my breath. “The earth is not worse or better than any other element, just different.”

“So say you,” Lickspittle said. “I say they’re all dumb as a box of rocks.”

“Never say that to them,” I said. “Politeness is very important when moving through the worlds.”

“Why?” Lickspittle said, his tongue darting out to clean his eye. “Lots of elementals are jerks to me. Why shouldn’t I respond in kind?”

“Because it hurts your spirit, Lickspittle,” I said. “It is a denial of the fact that at a most primal level of existence we are all one. It is like throwing a rock at your reflection in a mirror. Does it do any good? No. And all you’re left with is a broken mirror.”

“Maybe some mirrors should be broken,” Lickspittle said. “Anyway, I didn’t know you felt like that. If they stop throwing rocks, then I will.”

“Is that a promise?” I said.

“Sure, why not,” the lizard said. “If the others declare peace, so will I.”

“I’ll remember you said that,” I said.

“That doesn’t scare me,” Lickspittle replied. “You never remember anything at all.” We continued onwards in easy conversation, climbing upwards through the swirling mists until we reached the top of the mountain upon which we discovered a wide plateau with a sweeping view of the ocean.