Meadow 28

We find ourselves woken well before dawn by the cloister keepers. They have prepared a simple breakfast of porridge, biscuits with honey and jam, fruits, and smoked fish and cheese. We eat our fill and pack some fruit and cheese for the journey. It is still before first light by the time we finish eating. We each leave and do our final preparations before we depart for the Shrine. Darius Greyborne, the honorary abbot of the chapel, has offered to accompany us on the first let of our journey.

As we leave the area of the chapel we again enter the very dark and dense woods. Abbot Greyborne discusses the basic nature of our assent. He says it is demanding physically but seems to tailor itself to the individual somehow, but he says the real challenge with be the physiological ones. He also warns us it can be dangerous to give up and return or even to stop the assent for any length of time. ãYou will need to demonstrate your will powerä.

As we continue, the forest begins to thin and I notice a bloody carcass high in the crotch of a tree. Upon closer inspection it appears to be an antelope of some type. It is to high up to see what might have caused is death but there are tracks of a large cat around the base of the tree. I question Raven, with a smile, and ask if she slept well last night. She said she had and does not know anything regarding this kill.

The trail continues itâs slow steady rise and finally the trees end and we find ourselves overlooking a large grassy plane. In the distance we see a spur of the mountain range that forms the backbone of the Island of Bliss forming a tremendous peak on the distant side of the valley. What is special about this range is the way it shimmers from the abundance of crystals. But it is the peak that is incredible. It looks like a solid hand carved crystal with brushstrokes of green sitting on a limestone mesa. The limestone mesa is pitted with caves and carvings that gives it a true impression of a table. There seem to be large carved columns intermixed with waterfalls giving it the sense of legs. We can see the trail wind its way through the valley and up one of the legs of the table.

Abbot Greyborne bids us fairwell, leaving the rest of the pilgrimage to us. I will also leave the accounting of the rest of our journey to the individuals of our party, to describe in their own way. For I believe it to be of a personal matter, something not to be scribed in our company log for the perusal of wandering eyes. To those who wish to make the pilgrimage I wish you my best, and I hope that your public journals do not disclose the secrets and wonders that lie ahead.

Steven BlackHawk Fox