Information

Shahin has a minion!

Yusuf the Preod

Shahin
Legacy Name: Shahin

The

Common Experiment #870
Owner:

Lin

Age: 8 years, 8 months, 2 weeks

Born: July 31st, 2015

Adopted: 8 years, 8 months, 2 weeks ago

Adopted: July 31st, 2015

Pet Spotlight Winner
January 19th, 2019

Statistics

Level: 1
Strength: 10
Defense: 10
Speed: 10
Health: 10
HP: 10/10
Intelligence: 0
Books Read: 0
Food Eaten: 0
Job: Unemployed

I was always a skeptic. I believed in one thing: the weight of the gold in my coin purse. Nothing else mattered. The way I saw it, faith was just one more tool to turn an easy profit. After all, a plain copper amulet may be worth a mere trifle, but convince a potential buyer that it was personally blessed by some random saint... Well, then things change. I know the merchant's game. I've been at it my whole life – like my father before me, and his father before him, and so on. I could scam a beggar out of his shoes, if he has them. If not, someone else's shoes. It was never about greed, though. I was just trying to get by, which is never easy in a foreign country with nothing to your name.

I wasn't always in that position, however. My family had unimaginable wealth. We were part of a merchant's guild known world wide for its rare and exotic items. We sold everything, from spices to fine silks and gemstones the size of eggs. That, like a fairy tale, was once upon a time. Our family's ship was caught in a storm, taking the lives of all aboard save for myself. I wound up in some forgotten coastal village – the type of place that doesn't exactly get much outside contact. With little hope of finding my way back to London, I did what I could to get by, dealing with the local caravans for wares worth selling. Buying and selling was, after all, the only skill I had. I was a privileged young Brit. I'd never done a days hard labor in my life, and like hell if I was going to start then.

It wasn't easy, bartering with nearly nothing but the coins I'd had in my pockets that somehow survived the shipwreck, but I did it. As it turned out, the villagers didn't use money. They bartered in goods and services, something which I wasn't in a position to offer. So, knowing I could trade trinkets for food and a place to lay my head, I knew the only thing to do was to scam my customers if I wanted to survive. Perhaps it wasn't the best answer, but it was the only one I could come up with at the time. So I bought plenty of useless little bits and baubles from the outsiders that came every now and then. I'd resell them to villagers at three times the price, claiming they had fertility spells and whatnot cast on them. I even sold them back to the same fools I'd bought them from insisting that the village priest had blessed them. Eventually I had almost enough gold to get passage back to England. That was when my luck ran out.

The village priest approached me one afternoon while I was trying to peddle copper rings to a group of young women, telling them that they had a powerful love spell on them. At the sight of him, the women ran off. He was a sturdy man, old enough to be my father, but built like a brick ale house. Nothing about him felt threatening, however.

“We took you in, gave you food and shelter, and you repay us by selling lies and robbing us of our valuables,” He accused, in a tone that was neither harsh nor demanding. He spoke serenely, and had the air of someone that wasn't used to being disobeyed – probably with good reason. Well, maybe for an ignorant savage who still thought mystical sky Gods brought the rains and whatnot.

“I never robbed anyone; everything was willingly offered to me,” I replied, wondering how to con myself out of the situation. In London or India proper, no one would dare accuse a merchant of my standing of such a thing. But I was alone in strange place where my culture was alien and money meant nothing, never mind my status.

“Ah, but I never blessed anything, nor would it be my place to, not to sell anyhow. There is no argument you can make. Even you know of your guilt. You have a choice. Leave here with nothing but dirty rags and a single coin, or earn your precious gold,” The priest told me, in a stern yet calm tone.

“And how would you have me earn gold in place where gold means nothing?” I asked bitterly.

“You are wrong, outsider. Gold means everything. It is sacred. We have it, but never part with it. The gods give it to us not to barter with, but to forge scared relics from. Become my student, learn our ways, and one day you might be worthy to create such wonders that will be yours to do with as you please,” The priest explained cryptically.

“Look, I only want to go home. I don't believe in your Gods,” I complained.

“If, after you learn all I have to teach you, that is still your calling – then so be it. I know what our relics could sell for. You would never need to work again. But I have seen the future, and I know where it will take you,” The priest insisted. “Meet me at dawn in the temple, or leave by sunset with nothing. It is your choice.”

So for years, I studied their ways. I learned their crafts – everything from basket weaving to metal forging. I was never allowed to touch gold or silver, though. Only Iron and Copper. As the time went by, I gave up on going home. I preoccupied my mind by training my body. Despite endless hours spent in meditation, I never found peace nor faith. I found my calm by learning to wield a sword and shoot a bow. Regardless of my progress, I still never earned any true respect. Strangely, it was only Hiran, the old Priest who remained as any sort of companion to me. Always he pushed me harder, praising me when I did well, punishing me when it seemed I would lose my way. At first, I wanted to die. I was used to a life of luxury – silk sheets and clothing embroidered with real gold thread and jewels, to say nothing of the food and drink. Yet, here I was in a primitive village, sleeping on a hay pile forced to spend five hours a day in meditation. Eventually, I started to appreciate the little things – the colors in the sky at sunset, or the sound of village children's laughter as they played near the market.

About fifteen years since finding my way to the village after being shipwrecked, one of the temple's handmaidens came to find me where I was working at the blacksmith's hut. She told me that Hiran had fallen ill, and demanded that I go to him at once. Hiran was an old man when I met him, now he was positively ancient. Worried, I set off for the temple. Hiran was waiting for me inside, leaning heavily on his cane. One of handmaidens chastised him, begging him to stay inside. He ignored her and turned to me.

“I still feel it is too soon, but my days are numbered, so it is time for you to meet the Gods,” Hiran said, his voice hoarse and labored.

“Meet the Gods? How?” I asked, skeptical as ever.

“Follow me,” He said, leading me outside. For days we walked, through a narrow mountain pass that lead to a lush forest. With each passing night, Hiran grew weaker, but he carried on. I never would have expected anything less of him. Eventually the forest thinned, and soil became sand. We stood at the edge of a great desert, the sun sinking on the horizon when Hiran spoke to me for the first time since leaving the village.

“I will die here, away from my people, but it will be worth it knowing that I will not be alone. Nor will it be in vain,” He said sagely, and gestured toward the horizon. “We have further still to go, friend.”

Deep in the desert, we reached the ruins of a forgotten city. By the time we got there, I know that Hiran was at the end of his strength. I carried him the rest of the way, down the ruined city's winding streets that were littered with golden trinkets. I knew better than to touch them, even knowing that only one would book me passage to London. I didn't care about London anymore. It had been almost fifteen years. What was left for me there? My wife would have remarried, my youngest daughter probably didn't remember me... I kept my thoughts to the task at hand. Hiran was heavy, and the sun was hot enough to blister my skin. Eventually, I made it to a grand temple. Once inside, I laid him down on the ground as gently as I could.

“Now what?”

“There is incense, in my pack. Light it, and meditate as I have taught you.” Hiran told me in a labored voice. “No matter who you were before, I give you now the name 'Shahin'. For once you leave this place, you will no longer be the same. I will rest now, and see you in the next life, friend,” He said, quietly. They were his last words.

I lit the incense and breathed in the heavy scent. I knew it well, though I hadn't smelt it since before the shipwreck. Frankincense. It fetched a good amount at market, and I always liked it, so we always had a good amount of it on hand. At least it was something of a comfort to know that Hiran didn't expect me to smoke opium until I started seeing dead people. It wasn't the incense that was important, though. I realized, as I closed my eyes and began to breathe in rhythm, that whole place had a sort of strange energy surrounding it. The city wasn't as abandoned as I had thought. I could feel the presence of spirits everywhere around me. But how did I know that? I didn't believe in that nonsense. Yet... I could feel them. Even Hiran watching over me. If nothing else, I had to pass this final test for his sake. Granted, I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I cleared my mind, and tried to ignore the unsettling sensation that I was being watched. I fell into a trance. Time became meaningless, and everything else faded away. Suddenly, I was outside. The sunlight no longer felt hot, but pleasantly warm on my skin. The spirits weren't spirits, but solid forms of people as they went about their day. Gods, I knew, not people. This was a city for the Gods. Not the Hindu Gods, though, the village had it's own beliefs that were nothing like those of their Indian kinsmen.

“What is your name?” A woman asked me, startling me back into focus. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, with rich dark skin and piercing pale blue eyes. She had the poise and grace of a panther.

“Shahin,” I answered, almost stuttering over the alien name. Edward, I wanted to say, but somehow I knew that name was no longer mine. It made sense, though. I was no longer the man I was. I was someone new. Someone better.

The woman smiled and gestured toward the busy street. “Walk with me, Shahin. You may call me Harpreet.”

“Are you a goddess?” I asked as I walked no behind her, but beside her.

“I am she who weaves the threads of fate,” Harpreet answered. We stopped walking near the edge of the city. A winding stone path led deeper into the desert. “Bring to me the crystal sphere from my temple, and I will bestow upon you my blessing.”

Without hesitation I went. How long I walked, I cannot know. Minutes? Hours? ...Years? I came upon a rocky wall; the path led up it. If only I could climb it, I thought to myself. I was strong, and had trained my body well, but I knew I couldn't scale it.

“Then change,” A child's voice called from a ledge halfway up the wall. She was dark-skinned like Harpreet, with straw-like blonde hair and a tiny frame. “I bet a cat could climb this. Meet you at the top!” She called and vanished. A cat? Could I be a cat? Why not? What was a cat like? Limber, graceful, aloof... I latched my claws into the stone and pulled myself up the wall with ease. The young girl was waiting for me, sitting with her legs crossed in the center of a perfectly round spot of sand at the top of the plateau.

“I am Amrit, the spirit of change. You have changed a lot to be here, but you must change once more. Can you become the earth itself? You must to enter the temple below.” She said, her form shimmering and contorting into an older version of herself as she spoke. “If everything stays the same, nothing can grow, only stagnate.”

I took a deep breath, and melted into sand. I fell through the sandy patch at the top of the plateau, and trickled onto the floor in a dark, cool room. I became myself again, and walked into the chamber, torches springing to flame along the walls as I passed them. In the very center of the room, on a small pedestal, sat the crystal orb. I picked it up, and placed it in my sack, wondering what would happen next. Nothing did. Somewhat relieved, I turned back. I looked up and frowned. How would I get back out? I couldn't fly. ...But a falcon can fly. I was almost disappointed to shed my wings to become sand again to resurface. Once outside, I made my trek back to the Gods' city. Harpreet was waiting for me, and greeted me with a warm smile as I presented the orb to her. She then handed it back to me.

“Go home now, child. And place that on the altar of your temple, so that we may watch and protect your people,” My people? Were they my people now? Oh, I understood. I was meant to succeed Hiran as their priest. They were mine. Mine to protect.

I woke up with a gasp, wiping sand out of my mouth. It took me a moment to remember where I was. The incense was burnt out, and Hiran still lay motionless beside me. The sun was low on the horizon. Only a few hours had passed. I yawned and got up from the ground, startling myself as something heavy fell from my pocket. I just managed to catch the crystal orb gifted to me by Harpreet before it hit the ground. It was the same crystal sphere that had always sat on the altar in the temple, that I had never thought to ask Hiran about – other than how to properly dust it clean. Only now, it glowed with a brilliant white light. Carefully, I placed it in my pack.

I did the best I could to Give Hiran a proper burial outside of the city walls. I wasn't sure if it would be disrespectful to the Gods to do it in the city. The trip back to the village was lonely, but for the first time in my life I felt true purpose. Remember those little trinkets I would say carried the Gods' blessings? I knew how to do that now, somewhere in my subconscious. I could make real things like that. Not to pay for passage to Europe, however. No. I could do too much good for the world now to squander it by being selfish.

Back in the village, no one spoke to me when I returned alone. Three of the handmaidens from the temple met me at the gate. I presented the glowing crystal orb to them. One of them, the youngest actually gasped in surprised and threw her arms around me. The others, for the first time since meeting them, gave me sincere smiles. My only thought as I watched them place the orb on it's golden pedestal, was that I hoped above hope that I would make something of my remaining years that old Hiran would be proud of.