by W. C. Jasper
As everyone waited for Aleph to join them, Aleph stood still. He did not come. He did not howl. He did not mourn (at least not in any way that could be seen). His eyes like silent oceans blinked unhurriedly. After four slow blinks, during which he swallowed all the words he wished to speak, he quietly and sluggishly turned away, slowly walking away into the dense forest behind.
As two young wolves decided to chase him, Jiraai barked in rebuke. At once, the young wolves stopped and looked to Jiraai for further explanation. Jiraai growl-barked in a low voice. The young wolves had now received their clear commands to not move. Even so, General Thayman added towards the young wolves as if speaking to humans, “Sometimes, one must walk a lonely path, young ones. Let us return home.”
Prince Jeraash responded in a voice that betrayed his grief, “I’d like to stay behind with Jared for a while. You all please go ahead. We will get home with Jiraai and Rorin.”
“We will give you some space,” replied General Thayman, “We will wait back over there, near that rock. Take your time, children.”
Lady Hesaai embraced and kissed both of them and as she drew away from Prince Jared, she spoke, “You be strong. Your brother is carrying far too great a burden. Be his pillar, be his aide, be his staff, be whatever he needs you to be. Okay?”
Prince Jared nodded, stifling his sobs.
“Good boy! You are strong boys. I am proud of you!” she said and kissed both of them once again before she walked away.
Sitting on a rock a little way away, General Thayman and Lady Hesaai watched the young princes’ backs being bathed in the wavering moonlight. The teen princes who shouldered unspeakable burdens, sat leaning on each other. For the moment, they chose to not worry about their burdens. For the moment, they chose to dwell on the memories of their father. When they had sat leaning on each other for about 35 minutes, a stray wind carried a few of their words precisely to their uncle as he heard Prince Jeraash say to his brother, “—can ever know about it. I will never be able to forgive myself. Understoo—”
General Thayman’s gaze quickly shifted to the moon as he caught sight of two birds headed towards the young princes. General Thayman continued watching with thoughtful eyes as the birds landed on the young princes. As the birds sat on the prince’s heads, each one taking a seat on each prince’s head, his eyes widened in surprise. For the one that sat upon the elder Prince’s head was a dove and the one that sat upon the younger Prince’s head was a raven. The white dove had golden eyes shining like large fireflies and the black raven had silver-white eyes shining like tiny stars.
General Thayman wondered, pondered, and speculated about all the meanings this could carry. The dove was well known to be a symbol of confirmation of a future appointment in Jerudia’s religion. That made perfect sense to General Thayman - for the next king was being confirmed for his future appointment in front of his eyes. But the raven was what shook him. He thought back to the deep lore of the ravens and their significance in the lore of the god-heads. He was puzzled as to why a raven would descend on a prince of the House of Rash-Yaph. His thoughts raced along all the different shores in his mind and failed to make sense of it. As he struggled and failed to understand what it could mean, a great shadow covered the majority of the plain.
As everyone quickly looked up, they noticed at a great distance two gigantic birds covering the moon as they glided across the sky and soared towards them silently. Even on a night of strong winds, the giant birds rode the air in absolute silence as if they had a pact and a partnership with the air itself. As they grew nearer, they noticed people riding on both the birds - two people riding on the bird on the left, and three people riding on the bird on the right. As the birds grew even closer and flapped their wings once to stabilise their trajectory, the deafening sounds of their wings and the powerful gales of wind descended upon the Royal Family like thunder.
While General Thayman and Lady Hesaai were already standing, the princes got to their feet now almost unfazed by the cold and powerful stormy winds bearing down on them. As the princes set the dove and raven on their shoulders and tied up their long, handsome locks of hair into a bun and continued to wait for the most gigantic birds they had ever seen to arrive; they noticed that the two giant birds were of different breeds.
With a wingspan of 41.45 feet, the one on the right was a wedge-tailed eagle with black, shiny brown, golden, and white feathers. It was called the wedge-tailed, crowned eagle. It held many titles - the persecuted king, the transcendent emperor, the upperworld messenger, and more. It was known as the king of all birds, one bound entirely to its responsibilities and devoid of any ego. While Prince Jeraash usually did not have good relationships with birds, this was one bird whose soul would harmonise with his as he would soon find out.
With a wingspan of 39.6 feet, decorated with elegant patterns of white, grey, and black throughout the body; the one on the left was the lybert kite. It was titled - the son of liberty, the grey knight, for it was the most free-spirited, combat-gifted, combat-relishing, playful, and child-like bird of all. This was one of the birds who would not have a smooth relationship with Prince Jeraash, which could be considered odd since this bird was essentially Prince Jared in bird form.
The giant birds landed on the ground a little away from the burial grounds. As the magnificent, giant birds set foot on land, and the storm of dust left only two huge shadows visible through the moonlit dust clouds; the princes wondered profoundly about who could be riding on the giant birds. As their brains strived, struggled and failed to make any educated guesses about who it could be, they felt General Thayman’s hands on their shoulders, “Sons, let us meet some old friends. You two remember what your father said to you, right? - ‘Death is not only an ending, it is also a beginning.’ He was mainly referring to the fact that even though his time on Earth had ended, his life in the next world had now begun. But it would seem that those aren’t the only beginnings he was speaking of this time.”
As the four of them started to walk towards the storm of dust that was only now beginning to settle and the moon suddenly hid behind the clouds, General Thayman mumbled, “But I do wonder how he set into motion their sending…”
