Shadow and Sage
II
Smashwords Edition.
Copyright 2011 Elaina J Davidson
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Sages’ sayings and sage suggestion from the shadows of souls
Dedicated to those who see a tale in an excerpt
Excerpts from
Ancient Fire, Walker of Realms, Lumin Kindred, Walker of Realms and Animated Spirit
Downloads available here:
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/elainajdavidson
Find more here:
Nature
The wind whispers of tidings ill. Do you hear, listener?
It’s not only trees that tell tales, Enchanter. Rocks can do so. Yes, it’s harder to hear them because they are so old they find it hard now to communicate...still, if you listen very carefully...very, very carefully...
Efur
Cold is pretty. Ice forms lace and the air is so clear it heralds angels. Leave me here; I am happy.
Aris, Druid of Akanth
A forest is a lake is a mountain is the sky. This cannot be, you say. Why, you ask. My answer hinges on a feeling, friend. A forest is a lake is a mountain is the sky because each engenders in your soul the same awe.
Awl
Time to gather in the sheaves!
Rope those sheaves, slave!
Shake the sheaves and gather the seeds. Winter is long. Keep it dry.
Whisper to the elements. Natural magic is ever more efficient.
Awl
I stood at the water’s edge and sighed. Such beauty, such tranquillity. A testament to man’s ability to work in harmony with nature. May all societies be as blessed as this one must be.
Nea of Cèlaver, about a harbour on Excelsior, a note in her secret diary
The spark that burns is a fire of change.
Arun, Druid
Play with fire and you get burnt.
Earth saying
An oasis in the desert isn't always a blessing.
Arc, poet
Come forth, friend and enemy, and feel the bite of the cold.
Arc, poet
Drawing circles in the sand isn’t that creative.
Arc, poet
When lights shine in the heavens, hope is reborn.
Arun, druid
The trees whisper, the mist thickens and the stone is slick and cold. Sharpen your knives now and bring forth the sacrifice.
Arun, druid
Truth
Face your fear...or hide in the dark. Both carry risk.
Never can another truly know your soul. You could name this as a defence against the unscrupulous, but the real truth is this: no one will know your true self.
Unknown
It hurts; every battle is pain.
There is no justice to appease the slaying of a loved one. Only time heals.
Clean up is a bitch.
Only in absence is togetherness appreciated.
Certainty is forged from the fires of choice.
Not all light is wholesome.
Life and death, parting and union, the two faces of daily life.
Fire is life.
Love is life.
Your light space is a moment of peace.
Words are sacred.
If it isn’t created with hands, friend, it isn’t real.
To reconnect with an absent friend is the best tonic for depression.
Listen to the inner voice.
‘…dreams are often far more than mere symbology…’
How comforting the unchangeable past is.
Wishful thinking can be destructive.
Time is intangible...and time touches all.
Unknown
What have I done?
Lament
Scroll of Wisdom
When life bows your head and you cannot straighten, go then to someone who stumbles with bent back. Help him or her, and know your own troubles are a drip in a puddle. Never, however, make the mistake of feeling superior...or it will be your back bent beyond recall.
A candle is a small blessing and always welcomed.
Be wary of words uttered in haste. It will be difficult to retract.
Uncertainty is darkness. Certainty, on the other hand, is not always lightness.
Often we find help in the most unlikely places, unasked for. Never deny it when it is given unselfishly.
A spark leads to fire. Fire is change. Beware the spark. Know your spark first.
Book of Sages
Never underestimate a situation. Chance is random and is able to undo every preparation.
News of arrival, when wished for and hoped for, spreads swift and requires no magic.
The most beautiful is also the most intangible. Often true beauty resides only in memory.
Freedom is more a state of mind than a condition of circumstances. Of course there are factors that need be in place to ensure the process, whether physical or emotional, and yet freedom is of and for the soul first before all else. In darkness and confinement a soul can yet experience freedom, although few will know...and few will agree. There is another type of freedom and it is flight. Free of gravity a soul is also free of cares.
Every plan feels like the best strategy, but every plan has an alternative and each can twist out of control. The best laid plans refer to those sketched in brief, ever allowing for the unforeseen.
Even after all has changed, time has a way of bringing forth the familiar. One day you look around you and remark: ‘Nothing has changed.’
Trust your mind to reveal the truth. See it, feel it.
Every desert is special, for in its lifelessness it contains the secrets to life.
Seeing is believing. Sometimes, yes, that must be the way of it, for matters alien to perception are difficult to comprehend without the proof of sight. Be wary, however, of following the tenet as gospel. Sometimes one needs take certain matters on faith alone.
The wise tell us home is where one’s heart is. This, I believe, is to still the longing when one is in an unfamiliar port. Home is home, is it not? The stone, the earth, the sky above, the rustling tree of our first steps, of growing up...of leaving. If one is blessed, one may return...if only for a moment.
Bloodline: descent from a common ancestor, parental lineage, family relationship, kinship, racial or national ancestry, direct line of descent, strain, pedigree
The surprise of fresh surroundings engenders insight.
When others speak:
A medallion is worth more as decoration than the event it was awarded for. Why? People forget, friend, and move on. But the glint of a glitter upon your chest can and will engender a question or two. Perhaps you may then relive a past glory, but do not count on it.
Icarus, retired gladiator, to Grunt, winner of the games on Beacon Farm
Remember me! Remember us! Please, traveller, don’t forget! We didn’t ask for this anonymity!
Beggar to passer-by
Know from the outset every relationship, whether of love or friendship, is fraught with possibilities...and danger. Your responsibility is to remain objective in the viewing of it...while being emotionally involved also. Not easy, friend.
Awl
There is always a third path.
Awl
I am lost. Save me.
Unknown
Men speak in tongues, angels in action, demons in deed. Gods do not speak.
Efur of Shyala
Beware of plans made without every fact. And if fact is there, beware of being too rigid. Remember that the best result frequently transpires from an impulsive act. Factor it in.
Harriet of Beacon, mayor of District 611
Please be my brother, please.
Ornery’s Children’s Tales
What are monsters of worlds?
That which your fear most.
Unknown
It is easier to remain anonymous. It is easier to keep talent under wraps. That way no one can use you. Of course, you will be as nothing.
Awl
Change in full glory and emotion is again upon us.
Unknown
What is duality? It is the two sides to each of us. On a good day we smile, on a bad day we growl. A simple answer, yes, and a simplification of the state. We are, after all, simple folk. True duality comes with great events, and accident of birth or long years. The kind no simplification works for. Long years is easy; give someone enough time and time will reveal the two sides in all, including the inner war. An accident of birth curses society with the sociopath, the one able to smile on the surface while feeling nothing. Hmm, perhaps that isn’t duality. Great events, now, is something more. A soul, a heart, a mind is forced into choices, and in the aftermath the questions lead to illumination; ‘I am two people, I must be, to do this and then that because my mind tells me to, while my heart denies every action.’
Arun, druid of Apanthus
Shine the light, friend, where shadows are supreme. Force them to retreat. Do not waver.
Awl
I find it exceedingly strange to see people together...and behave as a unit. Most often it is a matter of disunity. What, pray, are we teaching our children? Values? Really?
Ocan of Beacon, preacher
Dream well, sweet child. Sleep tight. I love you.
The universal mother
Kneel before your maker, sinner, and repent.
Unknown
What is this strange power? Men call it science. The study of atoms and DNA should lead to proficiency in the realms of magic, should it not? Why is it different for them?
Krallin of Yltri
A Dragon cannot play with a bipedal.
Kallanon saying
And now we reach the end of one road and step onto another. May it bring us new experience.
Glory Mahone, President of Beacon, at a ground breaking ceremony
Be at peace, brother, and allow this quiet to infuse you. Tomorrow war will find you and then you will hanker for this time.
Kras, Eagle leader, to his counterpart Funl of the Falcons
How we are born is not as important as why. Where we are born is not as important as when. Thus, when we ask who we are, we should hark to the reason for our birth and the timing of it.
Astrology Facts, a Beacon publication
Mortals take the shorter view of history and destiny and that is as it should be. Why burden oneself with matters of nuance if one won’t live long enough to see results or understanding come to pass.
Beacon’s political writings
Bricks and mortar do not a home make, nor stone and thatch.
Shadof saying
How to begin anew when hope is sundered? How to lift a head when life has no meaning? Why is it this hard to feel? Someone, please, throw disaster and suffering at me...I need to feel!
A cry of despair from the last Malnas
When the forces of Darkness outnumber those of the Light, then goodness will flee. And life will become as nothing. Hark, poet, to your actions, not your words.
Taranis, Lord of the Guardians
His diary - a note in a margin
Aris and Arin stood tall in the sky and raised their lead and silver swords. When blade met blade mortals shivered...and great jagged rents formed in the fabric to plummet to ground as bolts of absolute light.
The legend of Aris and Arin, Halo Mark Era
Blood is thicker than water.
Earth idiom
Danger lurks in shadows and in the corners of curves, those being in the mind. Keep eyes open even in daylight.
Awl
Nothing exists in a vacuum. Goddess help her children when the Sleeper returns…for he will awake only when we give him reason. Beware your dark thoughts, my friends, for that is enough to reach out through the spaces of worlds to find him. He will hear you!
An excerpt from the speech of the Honourable Peacekeeper Le Moss Mar Dalrish on the day the Domes of Xen III came down forever.
We looked up at the reptile and we were afraid, but the gentleness in those alien eyes gave us all pause. We listened and we were amazed. And when the Dragon brought forth the mighty yellow sword, we believed also. Mother Universe must be inordinately proud of her son.
Anonymous – from an account In the Dignitaries Diary
After the visit of Queen Abdiah, Dragonne Ruler, to Beacon
How do you choose a cabinet you can trust to back you in times of crisis? You try your best, and when you’re disappointed, you learn from your mistakes.
Beacon, political writing
Listen to your youth, Mr President. They are the future of your society.
A note in Beacon’s political manifesto
How many gamblers does it take to play a game of chance? One, only one.
Unknown
Listen to your youth, Mr President. They are the future of your society. And try and listen to your aged. They know more than you are willing to admit.
A note in Beacon’s political manifesto
How many fools does it take to play a game of chance? At least two.
I wish I was blind, deaf and dumb. Then I would feel nothing.
An inmate’ call
The dead do not speak. The living put words in their mouths.
Arc, Poet
I dreamed of joy I know not in life. What a blessing a dream is.
Anonymous
‘And now lay your head down to sleep...’
Wake, friend. Open your eyes. Please.
There was Glen and there was Glory, a man and a woman so enamoured of each other they could not see how they hurt others. Glen, you see, was betrothed to another, and Glory was her best friend.
From Glory Days, a Beaconite novel
‘This is untenable. Change it.’
Healer to soldier, a refugee camp
...home and stone, hearth and heart, home and stone, hearth and heart, home...
Chant
‘You cannot change it now. I’m so sorry.’
Words of support, lament...a damned platitude
The road to heaven is boring, some say.
The universal joker
There is your army. Pray.
Arc, poet
Blood and water, the main ingredients of choice. Blood is thicker than water, or some such inanity...
Friend and enemy are one.
Arc, poet
Absence is not missing. Presence has more to it than being present.
Awl
I am not who you think I am.
Everyman
‘Light drives out the dark; sun after night, candle in gloom, fire at gathering, star against velvet Aaru. Even the shadows play their part, for they are proof that light shines somewhere. What a gift, light.’
Queen Abdiah, Dragonne- final words murmured with tears to her successor
I dreamed a dream and saw it come to pass.
Unknown
Now bear the consequences, friend.
Awl
We have to forge a new path if we are to survive this. Look to your right and I’ll look to my left. The first to find something new on the horizon must whisper it for the other’s benefit.
Anchor Falks, writer
Men should not play at gods. And naivety is no excuse.
Awl
Think before you act. Listen before you speak. Does that help?
Awl
Great minds think alike.
Earth saying
Kneel, penitent. The time for prayer has come again. Lower your head, penitent. The time for inner reflection has come again.
Arc, poet
‘True repentance is a rare occurrence; absolution is rarer still.
We need past mistakes in judgment in order to grow in wisdom;
Forgetting negates that.’
Father Rees
They will love you. I swear it.
The manipulators in politics
Now it gets interesting...
Curse
All together now...deep breath...
Music teacher to young students
An omen is plain only when a believer views it firsthand. To a non-believer, any sign or portent is pure gibberish.
Arun, druid
Pray in this, your final hour.
Men build castles and forts as fortresses against enemies of future generations. A castle, after all, requires decades to raise, and the enemy during the raising may not be the enemy a son or grandson must face after completion. Palaces are a different matter. A palace has little to do with protection; ostentation, proof of wealth and status (proof that frequently leads to debtors prison)...unless the core is the fortress and the trappings of wealth the lure.
Excelsior, Manifest of Buildings
Every factor needs inclusion in every battle. This is not as simple as it sounds.
General Arkans, Excelsior
Most times, in direct confrontation, it pays to keep silent. It forces the other to say words that fill that silence, thereby revealing far more than a dual conversation would.
General Arkans, Excelsior
‘These are loose ends. Will we ignore them?’
Glint of the Sagorin to Llettynn of the Siric, on the subject of Drasso
Tattle’s Blunt Adventures:
Mark the auguries! Hell and Damnation!
Grievous bodily harm! How dare you, you filthy animal! I’ll have your head and your liver as payment for this injustice! Better wear a chastity belt from now on, you blithering idiot!
Ooooooh, how novel! A thing with many faces! What is it now?
Fortune favours the brave. Heard that? Claptrap! Complication favours the brave.
Alis loved her men hairy, the more of it the better. Little did she realise a slim blade could be hidden in the curly matter about a man’s genitals...
This is just creepy, boy! Everyone is bonkers! We must make ourselves very small now...hear?
We are formed of fairy dust, friend. Mother Universe has magical pouches.
Play the fiddle, fiddler! Dance a jig, jester! Serve your king, slave! Do this until you have nothing left to give! Kings have no conscience or compassion...and neither do I!
Oh hell, why me? I’m just a plain soul! Why ask me to step into this mess?
Froth and spittle, what is it with men and women? How could the Creator set such disparity together?
Bloody hell, where do you see this lightning ball? The drink has addled your brain!
Play the fiddle now! Give us music to mark this time!
What do cows dream of, I wonder? Sweet grass? Or revenge?
Play your fiddle again, Master Rat! Kings are one and kings adore music!
The dead are dead.
Well, damn, they should be.
Mr Fox enjoyed the sport...until he got caught!
Silver fish and yellow snake swam together in the pond. What odds, friend? Who will eat who...and when?
Time to play that fiddle, master musician.
Tell everyone! Tell them now!
How enamoured we are of shiny things. A delusion worth losing wealth and reason to. Strange.
Ooh, there’s more! Look, more guests! How lovely!
Let us play with the snakes. Lovely little creatures. They do no judge.
I enjoy being different. Don’t you?
Maren of Rual refused to listen to his inner voices. Why, you ask? Because admitting to hearing voices was regarded as a sign of insanity. Hmm, it still is, I suppose, but I tell you this: Maren died a lonely and unhappy man. If only he had ignored others and harked to what remains a healthy attitude- those voices are the sounds of instinct.
Tattle to his scribe
Suffer the rewards, imbecile! Did you not ask for this? No? Then something you did caused it!
Tattle to his scribe
Well, the bells toll and confetti litters the pavements. Did someone get hitched here this day?
Fairy lights on a hilltop doesn’t necessarily mean fairies, friend. There are things in the world that rely on subterfuge.
Tattle’s scribe
A cauldron can cause great misery...if the mixture within is stirred in the wrong direction.
Hell, sister sparrow, why is your nest untidy? Brother sparrow will return home soon!
Oh dear, oh dear, how do you fix this, my friend?
Tattle
A shiny circle, really? Are you insane?
What lies beneath? Tell me!
The Valleur and Ancient Oracles:
When a sun is weak a world is cold and life shrivels with time. When an atmosphere alters components a world is poisoned and life shrivels swiftly. And yet life is amazingly tenacious. Lift a rock in a desert and find it there, hidden...thriving.
Ancient Oracles
During the time of Vintari (205th Vallorin) a peace settlement was sought between the Valleur and the mud people of Dinor. At first it went well, for the adversaries were weary of the lengthy war. Fighting had become pointless and starvation was becoming a stark reality. Two Valleur generations passed peaceably enough and then the 7th Dinor ruler since the settlement rose up against the accord. Vintari, although nearing the end of his reign, went to war again, and that time he showed no mercy. But for a small kernel of resistance the Valleur put an end to the mud people. The Dinor swore they would one day find a way to revenge the terrible insult.
Excerpt from the 2nd volume of the Valleur Oracles
‘Explain to me the concept death.’ Llettynn of the Siric
‘I cannot. You will know only when you die.’ Torrullin
Mother Universe chose a path of objectivity. We revere her for that, for she cannot judge; she simply is. Many say Mother Universe is not as uninvolved as time would have us believe, however, for are we not her children and do we not judge? Are we not subjective in our thoughts and deeds? This is a debate for our sages...and still we whisper of it among ourselves.
Ancient Oracles
May the Goddess forgive me. I am a prince among demons.
Torrullin, the Ancient Oracles
‘Hell, man, you sure complicate your life...’
Augin to Torrullin, on Shyala
There is a legend of a Sleeper who will one night awake to claim the sword of previous awakenings. We await.
The final words in the tale of the Enchanter, Ancient of Days
Peace of the soul you may never find, Rain, or, in finding it, find yourself unable to hold
it close for long, but know you will never be alone, even when it seems that way, for your blood will take many forms, now, and far into the future. Some will cause pain and sorrow, while others will give you reason not only to live, but to hope. I speak in riddles, I know, but you will know whereof I speak when the time is right. You will forget now, but many tomorrows past my words will return to you. Trust this: reach out to him, take his hand, for he will make you whole and he will return to you the essence of the other; he whose loss you will know to the end of days.
Mantra’s cryptic words to Rain, he would become The Enchanter
‘...beware the Pathfinder...’
The unborn are special. Revere them.
Ancient Oracles
The webs we weave ensnare us.
Torrullin
Be careful, adept. Lumin power is wonderful, but it can be as addictive as darak. A sorcerer worth his weight knows to hold back, always.
Ancient Oracles
I had a vision, a little boy listening to his father tell him of the One, Torrullin was his name, the father said, the Immortal who lived long ago and brought hope and joy and peace, and would one day return when he was needed…
Caballa’s words to the Enchanter before the destruction of Torrke
‘A gift given may never be withdrawn, cannot ever be negated or ignored, and when the gift-giver returns to you, know the essence of that gift is carried in his palms and is eternally felt in yours.’
From Brother Key-ler’s diary, Academia of Truth
Ask the name of the stranger if you desire understanding. A name can reveal more than features are able to.
Ancient Oracles
‘…a state of abstraction, a trance in which a series of images, ideas and emotions occur involuntarily. This altered conscious may occur during the hours of sleep or, more disturbingly, while the subject is awake. Neither should be discounted. Ever. Hark to that inner prompting…’
From the Ancient Oracles
‘Your salvation lies in the courage to enter that temple of dreams, torn soul. Offer it up, all that you still have hidden in your deepest recesses, and look with an empty vessel into that abyss.’
The Ymirian Rosenroth on the Enchanter's dream
The man stands uncertain before the precipice. He cannot trust, cannot take that leap of faith. It is dark below, black as eternal night, and he is afraid of what lies in those depths. She steps up to him, in the end the only one who truly knows, and takes his hand. His fingers are cold, deadly cold. Grey eyes, blue eyes.
Lowen’s vision, fourteen years after the Enchanter entered that other invisible realm
‘…you will all suffer for this…
I swear this on my unholy soul.’
Tymall, during the incarceration that led to his suicide
‘…I give you my word, the day we count ourselves safe, is the day Luvanor and Valaris will hold a celebration that will reverberate throughout the entire universe…everyone will know us then, Valleur, that is my promise to you.’
Torrullin’s words to an unnamed guard at Valla Castle on Luvanor
‘Simply put, he is a god. No worm can creep under a stone without him knowing, no place is too dark or too bright, too small or too huge for his all-seeing eyes. It is a heavy responsibility, and the cries of billions will soon assail him as he hears also.’
Emperor Teighlar
‘You are the Animated Spirit. You are Transformation. You are Beginning and End. You are the Potion of Forever. You see with the Eye of Time into the Eye of Eternity.’
Rosenroth, on explaining what ‘Elixir’ is
Many will laude him. Many will curse him.
Llettynn, on the subject of Torrullin
Words of Bards:
The invisible realms, where invisibility refers to the unseeing state of mortals commonly, and included are the majority of the Immortal races. The invisible realms, where time is eccentric, and frequently not measured in linear fashion…and when so measured has no bearing on the physical planes of reality. The invisible realms, where nothing is as it seems, or everything is precisely as it appears.
Sanctuary: A sanctuary is a sacred place, whether of religion or from a personal ideal, but it is also a place of safety for fugitives, dispossessed, abused and hopeless souls. It is both first and last resort and is a state of mind, as well as a place to lay a weary head.
A dreamer is an old soul
A dreamer is a new spirit
A dreamer is an alter-ego
A dreamer is unique
A dreamer is everyman
Dreams are problem-solvers
Dreams are healers
Dreams are magic- makers
Dreams are time-movers
Dreams are rift-breakers
A dreamer is logical
A dreamer is insane
A dreamer is strange
A dreamer is opportunistic
A dreamer is fatalistic
To grant absolution in a dream means something will be taken from you, and to receive absolution in a dream means you will be scorned.
Dream symbology
Repentance: The state in which forgiveness is asked, in which regret is sincere and the soul releases its monsters.
Absolution: To be granted forgiveness, where the sin is both sincerely forgiven, akin to a second chance, and where the sin is also, more profoundly, forgotten.
Why? Can anyone answer that?
Legend tells us, in the misty dawn of time, an extraordinary presence developed, a body and soul and heart of decidedly female leaning. She was not a person of race or creed, but the idea of thought and compassion. Her mission, her passion, it is said, was Life. How, we do not know, but she created a heritage for others to hold, to take up, to further the cause of living. She was and is the Lady of Life.
Protect what you love most. Do not waver.
Arun, druid
Secrets: kept from general knowledge or view, tending not to disclose information, clandestine or confidential, beyond ordinary understanding, mysterious, known or shared only by initiates (rites)
It’s time to release the monsters.
For love of a child...
Who am I? WHO AM I?
What is my name? WHAT IS MY NAME?
Let us play in the dark...
Unknown
Excerpts from
Ancient Fire, Walker of Realms, Lumin Kindred, Walker of Realms and Animated Spirit
Downloads available here:
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/elainajdavidson
Find more here: