SABIS the SURVIVOR

Chapter 5: Walking With Balance

Chapter 5: Walking With Balance

Elders Bullis and Eldris were strategically located in the Hall of the Ancients when Ravis entered. Bullis stood just inside of the entrance, while Eldris sat on his throne, about ten paces to the rear.

"Ah, Ravis my young Stone Games Champion, what took you so long to find your way?" Bullis inquired.

Ravis matter-of-factly responded: "The parchment attached to my trophy stated that I should present myself to the Hall of the Ancients after one half of a steam cycle, but not more than three."

"I see. So you can follow instructions! How divine. I thought that you preferred to march to your own drumbeat. Don't you love to tell people where they should go? Rudely at first, then if they don't obey your commands, you won't lose any sleep if you lop off one of their fingers or earlobes."

Ravis thought that he had come at a bad time. Maybe Elder Bullis had been in an argument with the other Elder just before he had arrived.

"If this is a bad time for my lesson, then I can come back ... "

Elder Eldris, still seated on his throne, spoke up:

"So now you want to leave? And just when things were becoming interesting."

Ravis shifted onto his right foot and furrowed his brow in puzzlement.

"Ravis, we may be Elders but we know a criminal when we see one. And that is you!"

A tight band of frustration began to envelop Ravis' neck and icy tendrils of fear rooted themselves in his heart. Did the Elders always speak like this when they hung out in the Hall of the Ancients? He followed his instincts and let out his rising discomfort in a quick repartee directed at Eldris:

"The only crime committed here is how long you have been sitting on that throne." He straightened up to his full height, smirked, and ranted:

"It's a wonder you have any fingernails left since you must need them to climb up to that height. Do you have such a lofty throne in your home cave? Oh right, I remember now, Elders don't need to use the toilet since they don't give a shit for anybody."

Eldris barely blinked and continued his reproach:

"We know that you wish this tribe misery, pain, and suffering. You hope for a lifetime of hellish fire to reign down on the heads and bodies of the people in charge of the Survivor tribe. Frankly, we think that you are filled with rage, so much so that your pores ooze out toxic waste that poisons those people around you.

We know that you lose sleep every cycle and that you don't let out what ails you. You won't do this because you want to feel hate, you want to live your life in a haze so you have no idea what is coming ... this way you can live in your hate-filled Arena while the rest of us have to deal with our feelings of loss, confusion, love, fulfillment, forgiveness, and resentment."

Despite his initial bravado, Ravis started to feel woozy, as if he were going to wobble and fall over on his side. He opened his mouth to comment on whatever the two Elders had told him but he had no breath. It was as if a gravity well had sucked all of the air out of his lungs. He looked around the long and wide Hall for somewhere to sit down but the only seats were about ten strides away, near to where Eldris sat.

"There is so much more that we can tell you, my young Champion. All you have to do is ask for our guidance." Bullis chimed in. "We can support and nourish your spirit, soothe your weary mind, and secure your identity. We know who you are Ravis Griffin, but do you know?"

Dread. That is what Ravis felt. He was being chastised by the Elders and it made him feel like something bad was going to happen. Waves of fear rose from deep within the recesses of his earliest memories. He could see his Mother soothing him, bouncing him on her lap, and distracting him from his Father's antics─yelling, throwing objects, and unrelenting disses. His Father the tyrant had made Ravis a fearful person, all the way to his core.

Now these Elders were dredging that deeply-rooted fear out of him. He felt like he was standing on an icy ledge and that if he moved one way or another, then he would slip and plummet to certain death.

Now both Elders spoke in unison:

"Ravis, it is time for you to let go of the fear that has been your constant companion. From this time onward, fear is a choice rather than a necessity. You do not have to rely on fear or anger for motivation. Let go of resentment. It is a prison."

Both Elders approached Ravis slowly, as if nearing a lethal beast that could pounce viciously at any moment. Ravis steadied himself despite his momentary swaying. He drew a long and slow deep breath. Then another. He imagined inhaling peace and exhaling strife. He thought of breathing in love and letting out hate. Harmony and collaboration, fulfillment and success would enter into his mind and seep into his bones. Disease and affliction, sorrow and regret would leave his marrow and be given back to Mother Earth so that she could deliver them into her core and incinerate them into tiny particles of nothingness, finalizing their path into oblivion.

Then Eldris untied his robe sash, pulled it free, and with two hands he looped it over Ravis' head so that he and Ravis were standing almost face to face. Since Eldris was a full head shorter than Ravis, Eldris craned his neck upward, leaned back and said:

"Ravis, you need to learn to walk with balance, both physically and spiritually. So turn around and I will pull you with my sash in different directions. Your task is to walk a steady path."

Ravis thought he might like to yank the sash out of Eldris' hands and wrap it around his neck for all of the negative comments and criticisms about how he had been ruled by fear and hate. But, there was truth to what they had told him so he went along with this exercise.

"Walk forward!" Eldris commanded.

Ravis started to swing his arms in his normal walking motion but Eldris adjusted the sash firmly around both of his arms to prevent them from swinging.

"Walk backward!" Eldris shouted.

Ravis attempted to put one leg behind him but almost immediately Eldris pulled forcefully downward on the sash causing Ravis to almost fall backward.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," Ravis calculated.

"Now walk sideways!" Eldris ordered, then he pulled the sash towards himself with his left hand while relaxing the grip on his right hand. Ravis almost spun around as he tried to move sideways.

"Aagh! What are you trying to do? I can't walk in any direction that you ask me to when you keep pulling me in the opposite direction."

"Exactly, my young Champion. This is your lesson. You can only walk the path that you are meant to walk when you are not pulled in another direction by hate, resentment, fear, and self-criticism."

Then Elder Eldris let go of the sash. It fell to the ground.

"Ravis. You have the choice to walk a path that can cure your self-recriminations and heal the Survivor tribe. I need you to accompany me on a mission to find two young warriors who have been sent into SkyGod's domain to find a cure for the warrior affliction."

Ravis nodded then asked:

"Who are these two young warriors?"

"Sabis from the OverStrata and Claris from the UnderStrata.