Chronicle 1
Test/Faith
Compares vs. Identity
The Date is AD 300. Scotland was comprises of two different peoples at this time. The Picti and Scotti were known for 297 complaints against the Roman lands. The peoples united were known for their part in the evacuation of Britain of the Romans. This heartland of Dalriada is the homeland of Sir Brent of Dalriada and Sir Stephen his cohort and faithful friend. The highlands terrain was very steep and the lands below were way east of this mountain region. The land was quite treacherous and frigid for any man to bear. The peoples of the Highlands blend together in a sea of cloaks and shawls to cover and protect them from the ocean and surrounding seas winds traveling up the terrain. Aye, the highlands were indeed a home away from home which was southwest and across the sea below. The two friends gave up so much to come to this new land they call home. The rough terrain knit their bond as friends even closer as they tackle the mundane skills to inhabit this new land their people posses. You could clearly see from the gleam in Sir Brent’s eyes that he has great aspirations for the Highlands. Sir Brent never felt secure in this new land. He compares life to the riches they knew in the southwest lands and wants more. Sir Stephen is content and who he is, is where his strength presides. Sir Brent was clearly a different man here and longs for more. Sir Stephen is content and his direction is very clear to him. The highlands would surely test each one to their very core. One’s faith would be the only equalizer to survive this new frontier.
Noble men were terrified of Dragon sightings in the Highlands. The massive creatures were described with fierce scalloped black-red skin, which would tear your flesh open and horrendous breath. Fire would spew forth out of its mouth through the jagged teeth and forked tongue. They were four large men tall when it would stand straight up. The dragon’s eyes have been characterized black and scowl as a wolf. Outlandish sounds of rage would make one single man run off in a rash of fear and terror for his life. Just moving about the land, one could find himself in a trap coming over a mountain terrain and coming face to face with said dragon. Even the fastest man in the lands wouldn’t be able to out maneuver and progress away from this brutal and destructive beast. The said dragons weren’t conjured up involuntary images created by over exhausted peasants from working the lands. Vulnerability seems to be a characteristic we acquire to survive each day. One will find the company a man keeps around the Highlands is intentional strong peoples who deserve to live and breathe where most men would not go. A part of me hopes to come face to face with said dragon and face my fears and the fears of my people so we advance. Be a people full of character unyielding and whole. For surely such people will posses and the lands will be plenty and satisfy all those with courage to fight and survive the Highlands.
Surely ones confidence is measured and tested in the fires of life itself to consume us and show us prepared and unmoved by mire circumstance. As our forefathers before us swore to be purposeful and fearless and counted life worthy of every breath and moment. The very purpose of our existence was predestined before we breathed in our very first breath. On target we will indeed live for our One and our kin who sacrificed their lives before us. We have to be men of vision willing to give our very lives if called to do so. Do so we must! Our lives themselves are a very gift from the One who created us much like Him. Aye, I will surely live my life according to what His Instructions scribed to me from the wise men who penned them. I live my life presently with no excuse before me. Even though this one can’t read, I can hear and follow The One who rules the Highlands and paradise.
Aye, the darkness is near and we must make ready our camp for Sir Brent and me for the night. The winds are howling through the terrain and my very bones are beginning to quake and feel the emptiness and isolation. I have to nudge myself not to be caught up in Sir Brent’s questions and live on the truth where I will surely find freedom and rest for my soul without a home. Certainly, that is it. I can be home in the Highlands because The One is with me and will be resplendent upon my trail. The great pathfinder will fulfill the promises that lay close to my very heart.
My petition must thrust me closer to the One and not jaunt me off my path. I determine today with confidence to let The One attend to my steps each and every day I‘m vital. Aye, that will be my amount as I seek not just to sustain. I hope to bring change where change is our existence. Grandeur is certainly what brought each one of us to this universe.
Sir Brent and I find a crevasse and do our best to alter stones that encompass our camp and impede the winds that cut through us like a sword. The wind a cold dark night can weaken one’s mind and discourage the same one’s soul. Aye, we will have none of that! For this day we have been given just what we need and will not be left for naught. So, we lay to rest this solemn evening to be awakened and refreshed to push forward to our dreams from The One. The winds swirled around us and yet we found warmth in our cloaks and the stones. Enough for this one night and a well fought new life in the Highlands.
I was awakened in the dawn with white cool crystals frozen to my exposed skin and all over my cloak and the ground and stones which surrounded me. I brushed off the white crystals and sat myself up near the stones to have something to steady myself as I stood up slipping and sliding looking for a foot hold on top of these crystals that could take your steps away to see the Highlands covered in crystal from the bottom of the valley to mountain tops. I followed some sandal prints which lead to the valley where I saw Sir Bent footprints disappear in the crystals and turned into a body print which leads down the valley where I saw him trying to regain his footing to figure out how to get back to our stone encampment. Sir Brent totally looked overwhelmed from his current circumstance and I could see his circumstances were turning from bad to worse.
I lowered my stance to a kneel behind the stones and watched as a giant black winged animal with black eyes and a sharp pointed hooked downward mouth approach Sir Brent and it grabbed his cloak from the back and up lifted him to the air slowly higher and higher. I could hear the giant wings flap as it approached where I hid behind the stones and suddenly I heard Sir Brent wail out as the giant animal must have lost its grip and Sir Brent was finding his way back to the ground in a freefall from about four men high. I heard a puff as he landed about two men away in the crystals and attempt to crawl back to the stoned encampment. I was searching for a branch from the living tree to break off to protect us from the black air born animal. I searched around I saw the animal bank away from the encampment and fly over the mountain top with an angry call to the dawn sunlit skies. Suddenly, I lost total sight of the beast and looked to stretch out my grasp to grab my dear friend’s hand that seemed a bit angry from his circumstances. As well he should. He was huffing and puffing to catch his breath too. He didn’t seem at a lack of courage at this time, just distraught from uncertain steps that led him to devastating circumstance and out of control. Sir Brent was merely staking out the Highlands and the Highlands staked him out instead. I felt his hand in mine and helped steady my brave friend and he lifted his legs over the stone where we pondered quietly sitting back on the crystallized ground what we should possibly do. The clarity was found in the simple truth the crystals made traveling upward to the mountain tops impossible. Aye, but traveling down the mountain side very quick in our descent. We felt they crystals begin to pool around us as the sunlit dawn rose in the sky and warmed our finger tips and forehead. We could see through the cracks in the stone patches of the highland were beginning to be void of the crystals from the sun. Within time most possibly we might be able to venture out to where our destiny is. What was over the mountain top seemed more than two men could handle in our mind or in our soul. I looked Sir Brent in the eyes and we both knew we weren’t going to make any hasty moves. So, we voiced our thoughts convincingly back and forth as the sun rose and brought the Highlands back to the land we were familiar with before the night fell.
