Memoirs of an open mind

Part five: Two wishes

 

Sir August accompanied Celica through the meadows. It appeared as the knight had explained: No spirit could hurt her, or maybe they wouldn’t? She wasn’t so sure.

They were headed to the other end, Celica had explained it was quite impossible to do so for her tiny legs but Sir August said he had a cunning plan. On their way to wherever Sir August intended to lead her something came to mind.

“Sir August?”

“Yes girl?” he answered.

“How come you spoke so… Funny when we first met?” she asked.

“When a true gentleman presents himself in front of a lady it is most crucial to keep a good appearance, and speaking as one once spoke is only befitting the occasion, wouldn’t you say? That way you can without a problem identify how long I have walked this planet.” Sir August proudly explained.

“Sure, okay.” giggled Celica.

 

“Ah! Here we are!” the knight stated after a little while.

They had arrived to an old hut, no more than three walls left of it though. A molded ruin.

“Why are we here?”

“You mentioned you knew Gwarockies so I figured we had a mutual friend. They are not the talkative kind, there’s only one who is.” the knight explained. Then he turned around and shouted: “GNARLY-JARL!”

Celica reflexively started blinking rapidly and yes, she could see how the shadow around the old hut started moving towards them.

“Your humble servant, Boss-man.” Gnarly-Jarl said.

“Wait a minute.” Celica said in amusement. “No way! Are YOU his superior?”

“Is it so hard to believe?” the knight asked puzzled.

“What are you doing here little one?” Gnarly-Jarl asked. “Oh I get it! Our plan to get you here worked I think.” it said.

“No, you told me not to go here. You wouldn’t even say why, no one or no thing would. That’s why I had to go see this place for myself.” Celica responded.

“Exactly.” Gnarly-Jarl chuckled. “Nothing tastes sweeter than the forbidden fruit.” Celica felt dumb, fooled like a little child. Gnarly-Jarl noticed. “Anyway, don’t beat yourself up about it. It really was the smart thing to do, you are the most intelligent being to come out of your village in over fifty years.”

“I don’t understand why we are here.” Celica said.

“Gnarly-Jarl,” the knight interrupted, “has the ability to travel further distances faster than any spirit. He can also bring you with him on the journey you must make. You will have to go with him and you will have to be back before sunrise, then Gnarly-Jarl will lose his ability and it will all be lost.”

“Why will all be lost?” Celica said.

“If you don’t succeed then we will all be cast out of limbo and cursed.” Gnarly-Jarl said. Then he corrected himself. “Or at least all Christian beings, no one will curse us Gwarockies. So yes, there it is. Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow a new religion will be formed and all Protestants will be cast out down to earth.” Gnarly-Jarl said.

Celica felt her head was going to explode if any more of this was told, she felt like something had been forcefully beaten into her skull. And still she wanted to know more. “What can I do to hinder this from happening?”

Sir August cleared his throat once again.

“This is going to be a good one.” Gnarly-Jarl whispered.

“I do not know child, but I am fully aware that Gnarly-Jarl here knows. He will tell you as you move along.” the knight smiled. “Is there anything else you’d ask of me before I send you both away?”

“Why do you call yourself a knight from Castle Feathergun? I wonder since we had a tavern with that name once.” Celica asked.

“Ah yes. You see girl, we were once three noble knights living inside the walls of castle Feathergun. Our mission was to guard these grounds you lay your eyes upon now, in death it became natural for me to assume charge over anything spiritual as I had assumed charge over the living. The other two knights lost their faith after my untimely death and got themselves into an enormous debate over morals. Eventually this debate got one of them to renounce Christianity completely in order to find his own path in life, the other only left his life as a knight behind and ended up owning a tavern with the same name. In some way it must’ve been to honor our brotherhood. The tavern must’ve existed for at least seven generations before it too was lost and forgotten. One of my friend’s descendants burned in your village. They are all here, in some form.” Sir August considered what he just said. “Oh, but not my friend Callaghan, he renounced our religion so I have no idea where he might be.”

“It sounds a bit sad.” Celica said.

“It all is, yes very sad indeed. But you have the power to make it undone. All of this.” Gnarly-Jarl said.

“But how?” Celica asked.

“Enough with the talking, let’s be on your way.” Sir August said.

Celica said goodbye to the knight and he in return wished the best of luck to both of them.

Gnarly-Jarl told Celica to reach out her hand, Celica wondered how they were supposed to travel great distances. She imagined something of a fairy-tale where the ghost took her hand, but as Gnarly-Jarl seemed to be missing any limbs it was all veiled in mystery for her.

Then it happened. Gnarly Jarl swooshed around her until she was surrounded with a thick transparent shadow, then she got pulled up in the air as though an invisible hand had pinched her. She was now flying at an alarming speed, she barely could tell what was going on a few meters below on the meadows. The air caused her eyes to tear and she blinked, below her she could see the spirits as they flew by faster and faster. They were all one blur after a little while.

 

It didn’t take long before they arrived at the other end of the meadows, mere minutes. Although-considering the speed-they might have travelled a great distance still. Celica had no idea how far, it all felt very surreal.

“Now listen to me little one and listen well.” Gnarly-Jarl started. “Sir August won’t tell you what this is all about because on some level he still believes part of the superstitions to be true and he does not wish to part with them. He will let me do what needs to be done though, as long as I keep him from admitting the truth.”

“What is the truth?” Celica asked.

“Religion is made up by humans. It’s as simple as it sounds. We-us otherworlders-have existed for many centuries and we don’t even know how we came to. Nowadays we don’t bother with the questions and tend to our duties. Although you are a superstitious sort, all you do is looking for answers to things you can’t neither understand nor explain. It just so happens to be that your belief has been fueled by your superstition and it has grown strong enough to create rules in our universe. That’s why you have started occupying pockets which weren’t yours to occupy in the first place!” it said.

“What are pockets anyway?” Celica asked.

“Look at the stars.” Gnarly-Jarl responded.

“Is every single star a pocket?” Celica wondered.

“No silly! They are just stars. I only wanted for you to gaze upon the great sky.” Gnarly-Jarl saw the confusion in Celica’s eyes. “OF COURSE THEY ARE POCKETS. You have trouble with sarcasm little one.”

“Oh…” she understood.

“Yes, and most of them nowadays are filled with different kinds of souls simply because your belief has willed it to be so. If there were no religions in your world then you would all go to one single star, and the evil-doers to another. Two stars instead of twenty, thirty, hundreds of stars being occupied because you quarrel about differences instead of accepting that all humans know nothing until after death.” Gnarly-Jarl explained with a smirk.

“How am I supposed to undo every religion? I am living in limbo and can’t even breach through to the other side where humans live.” Celica wondered. Then she remembered. “Rrx gave me two wishes. Can’t I just wish for all religions to become undone?”

Gnarly-Jarl laughed. “It’s sweet of you to consider the gift of a fairy to contain such a power that it can undo the fabric of time itself.”

Celica’s eyes widened. “THAT was a fairy?!” she shouted. “It looked nothing like a fairy!”

“Well aren’t you the expert on fairies, have you ever seen a fairy before little one?” it asked.

“No. No I haven’t, but I’ve heard of fairies. They were supposed to be...” she never finished her sentence.

“Pretty?” Gnarly-Jarl asked and laughed when he saw Celica nodding. “Oh girl, did you really think you’d be in a fairy-tale?”

“I guess I don’t know. Sorry.” Celica answered.

“No need to feel sorry little one. Now, what lies beyond you is a path made out of a rocky road. At the end of this path you will find a wall stretching far to the east and far to the west. Its height higher than any human could climb. The wall itself is made of bricks, each brick a manifestation of each different category in every religion. This wall did not exist for many years until humans developed, then it started to assemble itself down here in limbo.”

“What lies on the other side?” Celica wondered.

“Your salvation and the end to every superstitious belief, a way for all humans to spend the afterlife together. By destroying a part of this wall you will level the whole thing and thus release what lies beneath.” Gnarly-Jarl said.

“Why can’t you do it?”

“Only humans can destroy what humans create, it’s another silly rule we have to go by.”

“How do I destroy it.” she looked puzzled as she asked.

“I wish I knew, you can only wish. Goodbye little one!” Gnarly-Jarl said as he disappeared.

“WAIT!” Celica cried and fell forward as she tried to hinder the Gwarockie to leave, too late. “Typical. Now what should I do?”

She got up on her feet, turned around and started walking until she saw a rocky road. Then she continued. Celica figured she would think of something clever as she went along.