Parched of Light

In a time before scribes and copyists, the patriarchs detailed the exploits of a peculiar order. Men sporting dazzling jade armor with no greeting upon their lips would not spare the smallest quiver of a smile. All they knew was a tirelessly labor wrought toward some great work. It was rumored in oral tradition that they only showed themselves in times of boundless peril. Each one had his own speckled horse laden with various maps and tools peaking out of leather pouches. The austere interlopers did not speak above a whisper. Their frequent retreats into the mountains unnerved hosting villages. It stoked fears of an impending deadline with unknown consequences. Never content to be in one area for more than a week, the itinerant group were numbered seven in one province, and exploded to forty in another. Only certain of them carried weighted shields. None griped a sword. The consternation over their visit boiled over to an impromptu election. Someone had to confront them with bold inquiry. This ambassadorship fell to a holy man, one of our own, who pressed them upon a private consolation with sea merchants. Adjuring the odd pilgrims to reveal all their intentions, the eldest of the group moved close to the prophet. As hard as it was to believe, these men set out to bottle the sun. They bore threshing instruments to pulverize the burning star into a drink. It was told the prophet that when kings cast mercy behind them and no longer regarded laws, they were commissioned to brew the unbearable cup. Every tyrant is compelled to drink it. By what power these mysterious travelers would not tell. Instead the eldest lifted his hands to heaven indicating that every star was a fallen prince made to sip from the chaliced light. The prophet surveyed the night sky and his breath was taken away. The record of man’s treachery burst his previous understanding. Before the prophet was minded to ask concerning the fate of a sunless people, the eldest opened his mouth to shine forth a blinding light. Through a protest of grit teeth and winced eyes, the prophet was told that the sun is nothing but an in gathering of sovereigns relearning compassion and justice.