The Allegory Of Triberias: The Call Of Destiny .

Shadows and Wolves

THE ELYDRIAN FOREST,
West of Bethesda,
2420 A.A,

Havillah's trek through the woods continued and with every step that she took forward, her mind continued to ponder this new discovery. She had heard of it before, the fading of the newborns that is, whose first robes had always been a lovely cream white, the purest glory in that day and age which 'faded' when the children came of age sometime during their second year.

With their ascension in rank, the colours would change. Their robes transformed to reflect the potency of their Virtue and thus, the occurrence that they called the Fading.

"You can't tell me more about it, can you?" She questioned her Guide even though she now knew very well what his answer would be.

"Not yet." Her Guide confirmed her thoughts. "After all, it is not just the end that is important, but the means to the end as well. You cannot truly appreciate all that you accomplish. All that it is worth until you have walked the full length of the journey and discovered it." 

Havillah mulled over the words in her mind even as she shook her head at the empty space that was beside her.

Empty, not because there was no one there, but rather, because she was not yet enlightened, whatever that meant. All in all, the words sounded weird. They were not straight forward, neither were they cryptic enough to warrant a moment of awe. Instead, the words were just- there. As if they had just been construed only for the sake of further boggling her.

"Mmm...Some

The wind stirred as Havillah struggled to rise up. Her aching bones protesting against the bindings that were her heavy Triban robes tightly wound around her sleep laden body.

Something had woken her up. Alerted her, but now, Havillah could not recall exactly what. She was still groggy from her sleepy. Her exhaustion fogging her mind so, making it quite difficult for her to process her whereabouts and even surroundings.

What was it? She forced herself to sit up. Prodding her mind for answers in an attempt to strip back the layers of the mental fog that seemed to wade back with every effort that she made. Her frustrations increased, even as clear thought remained tenuous.

Where was she? Havillah blinked as she rubbed her eyes. It was still dark out and the cloud that had just rolled in, masked the stars and the glimmer that would have enlightened her.

Then, she finally heard it. The howling of the wolf that was close by.

Everything began to make sense now. The sounds being much clearer in her mind and much nearer than she had perceived them the first time.

That howl. That had been the cause behind her waking up. Instinctively, her subconscious mind had allowed her to wake up only to trip over her robes and rolled in them resulting in the wrapped up form that she had woken up to.

Even in her sleep, her senses had been sharp enough to sense the danger. They had roused her from her deep slumber and for that she was extremely grateful and would have bragged her prowess had she known that her Guide would answer her.

Havillah looked around. This way and that way, but in the deep darkness that the cloud had brought in, she could hardly see anything. She could feel with her hands though. The feel of the blades of grass crashed beneath her hands and the icy wind that was whiping through her hair, gripping her as it tore through her flesh like jugged ends of biting teeth.