Part LXXIII... a part I have had planned since when I first decided on what the culture of the goblins in Arquenia would be like. I've been awaiting this post for a while... and now the plots and schemes of Freglak will get a bit more complicated...
Part LXXIII: Murmurs of Awakening
Date: Kornun 20th, 114 A.U.
High Priest Jaine applied the holy oil to his forehead, bowing several times as he approached the Mother Tree, now deserted and forsaken of all of its former followers. Although his thoughts were supposed to be empty—leaving his thoughts open for the Mother Tree to imprint her conscience upon, they were anything far from it. Before there would have been an audience—priests and goblins coming to see one of the monthly addresses to the Mother Tree. Instead today, Jaine could only see a couple goblins who were standing around, but Jaine could see that they weren’t here to see him.
Everything had gone wrong for the Mothertree. It had all really started with Freglak’s uncle, and the scheming plans he had devised before they had managed to replace him with his nephew Freglak—a disastrous move in retrospect. Freglak had learned too much from his uncle about why the priests were evil and how he was to thwart them. Jaine had been itching for month to gain the leverage to be able to replace Freglak.. But it was his alliance with the Elder Dragon that had broken the nearly-frayed bond between them. After that, they had had no choice but to publicly denounce Freglak and replace him as Lord, electing a goblin named Narlen in Freglak’s place, a goblin they had thought they could easily influence.
Unfortunately, the populace was well against them and quickly decried this move. With Freglak a hero, Narlen had received several death threats from anonymous goblins before he publicly renounced the Mothertree and pledged himself solely to Freglak. And then… Along with Freglak’s public mockery of the Mothertree and the continual victories being won out by the Elder Dragon, their group of priests had turned into a laughingstock. The believers fled—even many of the priests renounced their vows and joined Freglak’s side. And Freglak was anointed the sole Lord-Protector of the Great Forest, marking the completion of his rise to utter dominance.
Now all that was left of the worship of the Mothertree was a corpse—a ghost of what their belief once was—the only remaining priests ashamed of their duty—and all their believers scared into hiding to avoid the public mockery and shame that was now synonymous with the worship of the Mother Tree.
“Great tree of the ancients,” High Priest Jaine muttered, invoking the holy script. “Sole protector of the Forest.” A title which the heretic Freglak has claimed for himself. But Jaine tried to ignore the thoughts within him as he continued his prayer. “Oh Great Mother of us all, the Tree from which we gain our life and meaning!” he cried out, but he knew his heart was not in it.
“Oh… Oh Mother Tree…” Jaine fell on his knees as he broke the long-held ritual, with no one else around to see the first break in their ritual in the past one hundred and fourteen years since the Mothertree saved them from the elves. “Your people have forsaken you!” he cried out. “The Lord of the goblins has committed sacrilege, usurping your title and power for himself as he tries to make war against the elves without you! He has broken the traditions, spurned the holy symbols, and committed sacrilege against you! Your followers have dispersed—forsaking faith and fearing shame and have so rejected you! Only a handful of your true followers remain! Am I to be the only one who still believes in the promises?” Jaine cried out in distress. “Am I to be your last one standing when all else have gone away? Am I the last in a long line of believers? Why have you rejected us and let your people to go astray? Your people have forsaken you for another—bring vengeance upon them! You have seen what the heretic Freglak has done—how he has made an unholy pact with the Elder Dragon of old—how he has spurned the use of the old weapons with the profane guns. You have seen how he has publicly put himself forth as an alternative to you—wrestling the status as ‘Protector of the Great Forest’—a status which belongs to you alone! Rise up and be our deliverer! Bring your call of vengeance!” Jaine slowly looked up, tears streaming down his face. “Don’t let your knowledge pass out of our memory…” he whispered.
A pulse rippled out of the Mothertree as the grass stalks bent and the trees swayed in the invisible storm that shook the earth as High Priest Jaine stared up at the rippling Mothertree, the moss peeling off of it as it shuddered. Before his eyes, a door opened up, the wood moving and twisting aside to form a dark passage that descended into the Mothertree.
“Come.” High Priest Jaine stayed kneeling, too breathless to move—too scared to dare that his wish might have come true.
“Come,” the voice repeated. “Come. And I will teach you the secrets of the Mothertree. You will be the scythe in my hand to wrack vengeance upon my foes. Come. And I will teach you how you will be my prophet.”
And High Priest Jaine entered into the Mothertree, which slowly closed behind him.
Question of the Day: What will the Mothertree tell Jaine to do?
Part LXXIII: Murmurs of Awakening
Date: Kornun 20th, 114 A.U.
High Priest Jaine applied the holy oil to his forehead, bowing several times as he approached the Mother Tree, now deserted and forsaken of all of its former followers. Although his thoughts were supposed to be empty—leaving his thoughts open for the Mother Tree to imprint her conscience upon, they were anything far from it. Before there would have been an audience—priests and goblins coming to see one of the monthly addresses to the Mother Tree. Instead today, Jaine could only see a couple goblins who were standing around, but Jaine could see that they weren’t here to see him.
Everything had gone wrong for the Mothertree. It had all really started with Freglak’s uncle, and the scheming plans he had devised before they had managed to replace him with his nephew Freglak—a disastrous move in retrospect. Freglak had learned too much from his uncle about why the priests were evil and how he was to thwart them. Jaine had been itching for month to gain the leverage to be able to replace Freglak.. But it was his alliance with the Elder Dragon that had broken the nearly-frayed bond between them. After that, they had had no choice but to publicly denounce Freglak and replace him as Lord, electing a goblin named Narlen in Freglak’s place, a goblin they had thought they could easily influence.
Unfortunately, the populace was well against them and quickly decried this move. With Freglak a hero, Narlen had received several death threats from anonymous goblins before he publicly renounced the Mothertree and pledged himself solely to Freglak. And then… Along with Freglak’s public mockery of the Mothertree and the continual victories being won out by the Elder Dragon, their group of priests had turned into a laughingstock. The believers fled—even many of the priests renounced their vows and joined Freglak’s side. And Freglak was anointed the sole Lord-Protector of the Great Forest, marking the completion of his rise to utter dominance.
Now all that was left of the worship of the Mothertree was a corpse—a ghost of what their belief once was—the only remaining priests ashamed of their duty—and all their believers scared into hiding to avoid the public mockery and shame that was now synonymous with the worship of the Mother Tree.
“Great tree of the ancients,” High Priest Jaine muttered, invoking the holy script. “Sole protector of the Forest.” A title which the heretic Freglak has claimed for himself. But Jaine tried to ignore the thoughts within him as he continued his prayer. “Oh Great Mother of us all, the Tree from which we gain our life and meaning!” he cried out, but he knew his heart was not in it.
“Oh… Oh Mother Tree…” Jaine fell on his knees as he broke the long-held ritual, with no one else around to see the first break in their ritual in the past one hundred and fourteen years since the Mothertree saved them from the elves. “Your people have forsaken you!” he cried out. “The Lord of the goblins has committed sacrilege, usurping your title and power for himself as he tries to make war against the elves without you! He has broken the traditions, spurned the holy symbols, and committed sacrilege against you! Your followers have dispersed—forsaking faith and fearing shame and have so rejected you! Only a handful of your true followers remain! Am I to be the only one who still believes in the promises?” Jaine cried out in distress. “Am I to be your last one standing when all else have gone away? Am I the last in a long line of believers? Why have you rejected us and let your people to go astray? Your people have forsaken you for another—bring vengeance upon them! You have seen what the heretic Freglak has done—how he has made an unholy pact with the Elder Dragon of old—how he has spurned the use of the old weapons with the profane guns. You have seen how he has publicly put himself forth as an alternative to you—wrestling the status as ‘Protector of the Great Forest’—a status which belongs to you alone! Rise up and be our deliverer! Bring your call of vengeance!” Jaine slowly looked up, tears streaming down his face. “Don’t let your knowledge pass out of our memory…” he whispered.
A pulse rippled out of the Mothertree as the grass stalks bent and the trees swayed in the invisible storm that shook the earth as High Priest Jaine stared up at the rippling Mothertree, the moss peeling off of it as it shuddered. Before his eyes, a door opened up, the wood moving and twisting aside to form a dark passage that descended into the Mothertree.
“Come.” High Priest Jaine stayed kneeling, too breathless to move—too scared to dare that his wish might have come true.
“Come,” the voice repeated. “Come. And I will teach you the secrets of the Mothertree. You will be the scythe in my hand to wrack vengeance upon my foes. Come. And I will teach you how you will be my prophet.”
And High Priest Jaine entered into the Mothertree, which slowly closed behind him.
Question of the Day: What will the Mothertree tell Jaine to do?
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