| The two girls cried aloud and beat their breasts, mourning the losses of life and homeland. "What can we do now?" Clara wept. "All that we had -- both friend and property -- all gone." "We were never warned," Kat said, wiping her eyes. "How could such a thing happen? It seemed so unnatural." Clara suddendly stopped crying. She then went looking furiously among the debris and bodies for her possessions. At last she came to an old history book, lying underneath a broken door. She flipped the pages of the book furiously to find the desired page. At last, Clara found her page. On it was an ancient list of prophecies, once spoken by a long deceased holy man known as Methiosan, a rat, who lived 1,200 years earlier than Kat and Clara. A follower of the widely-practiced religion known as the Church of S'Allumer, Methiosan often hypothesized about the imagery of his dreams and the state of his homeland. His prophecies, although rewritten word for word all over the world, were said to be the result of his supposed insanity. Methiosan died when he was 93 years old, an unusually high age for a person whose health was rapidly failing, even as he approached the age of 50. His prophecies, thereafter referred to as The Great Hypotheses of the Prophet and Holy Man Methiosan, was an immense collection of his ideas and beliefs, most of which were dismissed as falsehood. "These are Methiosan's prophecies," she explained to Kat, who stood over her. Her finger ran down the page, until she abruptly stopped it. "Here it is! 'Let it be known to all in our great world that our periods of enlightenment and prosperity will not last forever. May it be known that on any ordinary day of our lives, the winds will change from calm into violent, and they will then undertake unusual patterns. And the winds will sweep down to overtake and destroy all in their paths, save only the purest of heart, those who have obeyed the teachings of S'Allumer. These chosen few are selected as the children of S'Allumer, and together will help to rebuild our dying world.'" Kat couldn't believe it, nor could Clara. All their lives they had disbelieved all prophecies of the prophet Methiosan, and only on this day would even one of them come true. "I cannot even begin to tell you how I feel," Kat said, a tremble in her voice. "Now I am one of the chosen people, and so are you, Clara." "What must we do, exactly?" Clara asked. "I am merely a young woman; I know nothing about how to save the world. I know nothing of the rest of the world, and neither do you, because we have never journeyed outside of what was once a village." "Perhaps," Kat began, "but the prophecy is, as far as we can tell, correct. You and I are possibly the most religious of any man, woman, and child in the world. We therefore must fulfill our duty to S'Allumer, so that if there is another event like this, we may again be spared." Clara smiled. "I think you might be more religious than I," Clara said. "No, you are," Kat replied. "You are the one who reconverted me to this faith. I wish, then, to better myself and be more like you." "So what should we do now?" Clara asked, looking around at the wreckage of the tornado. "All is lost here, save for you and me, our swords, and this book." Kat walked about the crushed and scattered stones and bodies of villagers, when then she came across an empty cloth bag with a shoulder strap. "Here, Clara," she said, opening the bag. "Place the book inside. We will take it with us as we depart." "Depart?" Clara asked, with a desperate voice. "Depart to where? Where can we go?" "Out there," Kat said, raising her right arm to the wilderness. "The rest of the world is now our home. Together, as the children of S'Allumer, we will journey to rebuild our world, and possibly better." "A journey?" Clara asked. "Are you willing to leave this place with which we have become so familiar?" "Overly," Kat said, smiling. "I'm willing to risk everything to make everything right with our world. I'm willing to adventure to every spot on the planet, and I'm excited to spend every moment of the adventure with you." "Do you truly believe that you and I can change the world for the better?" Clara asked. "We are still but young villagers." "If we are chosen by S'Allumer, we are then worthy of the task, as well as capable. Alone, we are vulnerable, but together, we are invincible. Nothing will be able to conquer us, so long that we remain inseparable during this adventure. Even though you and I have different backgrounds and ideals, we can combine what we know and what we believe in order to overcome the powers against us. Now, let us be off. It is a perfect morning out in the wilderness, truly a great day for adventure and justice." So Kat and Clara set off on their first day, across the Plains of Clay, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. At the time of departure, Kat ran across a blank book on the ground, something else spared by the killing winds. On it she wrote the title: An Adventure for Worldly Glory with My Beloved Friend Clara. Back to Stories Back to "TAOK&C" Back to Home |