The Gathering

[Koli]

It took everything within Koli to keep to his feet. The power he witnessed encompass his body was so immense it took his breath away and expended the majority of his energy. His arms grew weak and his legs wobbly. He dropped to one knee to catch his breath, taking several deep breaths in to regain a small amount of strength.

What was that? In all of his years, and all of the magic that he had dealt with, he had never experienced magic as ancient and powerful as the one with which he had just interacted. And the most unsettling part yet: Koli's spirit told him that he had only experienced a mere fragment of the ancient power source. The geyser of magic held but a mere shard of the ancient power's capacity. No limit would be set on the dark- or light- that this source could be used for, if all shards united into one source like in the ancient days. But the longer Koli thought, the weaker he became. He could not go much farther.

But surely the nearest city couldn't lie too far away; Koli could carry the young man there and they could both hold up at an inn and recuperate. He drew another deep breath and rose to his feet, continuing his trek to a safe space. With every step, he could feel the weight of his new companion weighing him down. His vision blurred and faded away; Koli's monk intuition guided him now. A technique that he had learned as a boy, the priest drew in not only a breath, but also life from the surrounding organisms as he trekked. The priests had an understanding with the universe that they would freely share life force when in dire need; however, all that one borrowed, he would surely repay later.

The priest pleaded with the life around him; he couldn't make it by himself. He had the will; he had the driving force, although not his own, within him. He just needed the way. If only he could see. The priest lifted his head up, death nearly upon him as he slowly came to the realization that he would not reach his destination. Pure starlight came into focus amidst the black night sky, as the feeling of the ground's rhythmic pounding beneath Koli's feet reached his mind. He lowered his head to look on the horizon in defeat, and saw the gates of the city of Davenport ahead in the distance.

Farmland teeming with crops of all sizes, lie just over the fence that lined the path to his left, to his right, a rolling hill of grassland, littered by domesticated animals. Shanty shacks littered the base of the city wall just ahead, which rose about ten feet in the air. The gate barely remained in focus as the rest of the world blurred from Koli's vision.

"It's a traveler!" One of the guards on the wall said as Koli approached from about 30 yards off.

Koli slowed to a walk and continued without stopping, as he knew that if he stopped he would not be able to start again. He looked up in the direction of the voices, unable to bring them into focus.

"You there, state your business."

He used his green, soothing eyes on the men.

"He is a priest," the first voice came back in a much more relaxed tone. "He carries an unconscious boy. Open the gates."

As Koli reached the gate, a young boy took his arm and helped him to an inn, keeping him upright and preventing him from falling. There was a faint, spectral glow to this boy, yet he looked so real. Koli reached the door to the inn and looked to the boy to thank him, but he had vanished.

There was one room remaining in the inn. Koli sluggishly tossed the gold needed for a week's stay at the innkeeper. His vision went black, and even with help he barely made it to the bed. He placed the young man he saved on the bed and was unable to lay his own head down before he collapsed onto the floor.

"Jalaphar, you always push yourself too far. You know your limits." Koli spoke softly, tending to his friend's wound.

"But if I don't push myself, how will I get better?" Jalaphar answered, rubbing a lump on the back of his head.

"There is a difference between pushing yourself to injury, and pushing yourself to your limits." Koli responded, wiping the blood from Jalaphar's wounds.

The two monks recently returned from a training exercise focusing on balance with precision and speed. A large river flowed down stream past the monastery, and the monks had built a stone path across that one would jump from stone to stone to cross. Move too slow and the current would take your feet off the rocks and into the stream. Move too quickly and fall into the stream.

Jalaphar always injured himself on these missions. He wanted to push himself to get better, but always went beyond his limits. Koli crossed the river first, gracefully jumping from stone to stone on one foot at a time, until he was across. He made it look easy, and Jalaphar always wanted to appear to be as advanced as Koli. He did fairly well at the start, but very quickly got ahead of himself. His foot slipped from one stone and he fell into the river. His head hit the rock he jumped to on his way down, and the stream carried him a long distance, smacking his body against sharp stones repeatedly.

"You are lucky you did not die, Jalaphar. You must be careful."

"You always make it look so easy, Koli." Jalaphar replied with his head down low. "I will never be as great a monk as you."

Koli paused. Jalaphar never said anything like this before, and Koli could feel his body tensing in defeat. Koli lifted Jalaphar's head and looked him dead in the eyes. His eyes glowed a bright green and he calmed Jalaphar. A sense of peace filled the room, and Jalaphar took a deep breath.

"You don't need to be a monk like me, what you need to be is a monk like you. We need more monks like you."