Mid-summer's Passing

Ishnu-alah,
It has been several weeks since my last update on the happenings of this fine summer. With the solstice passed the air has been very warm and dry, leaving the ground plants striving or even the smallest bit of moisture in wait for the coming monsoons. At the same time they are fortunate to not have suffered any forest fires recently, giving them a chance to live again when the rains nurture the soil. All of this until yesterday, in fact, when we've experience our first life-giving monsoon this year. And with the rain being repeated today, we are promised with a wonderful rainy season once more. The ground finally getting gentle doses of moisture is coming back to life with bacteria and worms and plant oils; the smell of the fresh dirt is nigh overwhelming as one steps out into the open forest after a short rainfall. Soon the vast fields of grass will become thriving myriads of color; seas of beautiful wild flowers with a pleasant aroma that one can smell from a mile away, wind direction dependent, of course. Also with the rain comes the frogs, insects, and bats and night, singing and dancing in wondrous harmony and the sun sets himself to give focus onto beautiful Elune to illuminate the night.
      Also with monsoons comes a cool evening and night. during the spring and early summer on this forested plateau, the air can be very stuffy, leaving one more than hesitant to dress properly for an occasion, but every afternoon sees a front of cool and humid air. This means that nights are perfect for wearing just about whatever type of garb you desire. Why should we all not take this time to dress up and enjoy ourselves in proper fashion while we are comfortably allowed to do so? I can think of no reason not to. It is not often we can look our bests and take pride in ourselves--not without reason and a certain amount of humility, of course--and show the world our culture.
     What of the Solstice? I'm sure you're wondering. For the Solstice I was invited to an outside celebration south of here to play music and entertain the folk at the party. It is not without saying that I was fairly excited at this proposition and was more than happy to oblige. The even was cool, and the sun shone late into the evening. The gathering was full of merriment and amidst various sets of songs and celebratory musings to the others, I was lavished with offerings of some very excellent food and drink. I am no stranger to attending gatherings the majority of people I'm not familiar with so I did not find it in me to decline such offerings. In fact, I find a almost a bit rude to be invited to festivities as an alien only to turn down the hosts' delights. All of that being said, I rather enjoyed myself and am glad to have attended regardless of whether or not I was able to have a small fire-celebration of my own.
      Now I find that I am reaching the point in this post where I should properly be wrapping up my thoughts. There are always an endless stream of things to write about but I fear that rambling on and on would lose the interest of too many readers. So, as opposed to rambling, I would like to wish everyone happy and pleasant summer. May your nights be late and don't be afraid to let loose just a little bit. If you find yourself in a comfortable lounge with good music and the wafting smoke of incense, remember my words, savor the moment, and feel free to invite a friend or two. While the simple things are a personal enjoyment, the bigger things can certainly be shared and rightly should be. Also, be sure to find your way outside of any city walls if not more than a few times while the whether is warm and less hostile than, say, the winter months. Say hello to the forest gods, Elune, and Helios. Perhaps if we all share an enjoyment of a simpler time we can find ourselves in a world were people are nicer, more friendly, and less likely to wring you out for gold or just for the fun of it.

     Now now, I have gone on long enough.....

Ande'thoras ethil da-lah
Elf

Commission Slots are OPEN

Greetings all,

The air is clear, the breeze gentle, and the nights full of chirping crickets and frogs as summer blooms to it's most wonderful in this time of year. With Beltaine long over and the solstice fast approaching, the annals of another winter will soon be forgotten as as the next aproaches in what seems an all-too-distant future. With the bone-chilling wind and snow gone, but the midsummer monsoons yet to come, the air is arid dry and pleasantly warm.

      And in the midst of the early summer pleasantness there is an important note to be made; I have rum. This is not any normal rum kids these days drink to get wasted at a party--I'm an elf of tastes here, let's not be brash--but rather finer rums or more drinkable, smaller batch rums like you would find back in the heady days of no air conditioning and hot, humid Caribbean nights. The rum I have is rum (not spiced rum, that's for the colder months) from Barbados. It is soft, flavorful with strong notes of the cherry casks from Spain within which it was aged and hints of cinnamon and vanilla. That's not to forget the molasses from which it was distilled. A deep amber-brown in color, this rum is thick with the cooling flavor of sugar cane which is a must for rum. in fact, that is why you drink rum in the summer time; no matter how hot it is, it always tastes cold making rum the perfect choice for tropical outings.

     While few things bring you back to the bowls of Stranglethorn Vale like a smooth and chugable rum, some of you are probably wonder about my commission slots being open. Let's be honest here, I don't do commissions. I chose the title in light of that particular title seeming popular this weekend. Also, this upload was merely in regards to my own desire to just fucking write something (for once), which is good. that being said, if someone wanted to throw money at me to write something for them, I'd be more than happy to oblige given the compensation was of a satisfiable amount and the subject matter acceptable. I'm also willing to ghost-write for slightly more compensation because a professional writer is not afraid of doing that.

    But enough about me and my rum and non-commissions and such; it is about time to wrap this up. I suggest you, dear reader, to get up and get outside while the weather is nice--minding that the weather IS nice wherever you are--and enjoy the weekend with some find drink and a nice breeze. IF, however, you are finding yourself in the southern hemisphere, get up and out and enjoy the winter. Remember, there is no bad weather only just bad clothing. In that regards there should be no clothing where I am.

With regards,

Elf

Post script: Never mix a good rum. Drink it neat and room temperature. 

So I was spending an early evening just outside Darnassus enjoying the sounds of the wood and generally being a night elf, when this spider comes up to me. Now, normally I would have attacked in defense immediately but this spider was different. This was a five-foot-tall spider that was humming to itself. I thought this very strange, so I asked, "dear spider, are you humming to yourself this fine afternoon?" to which the spider replied, why yes I am, it is a splendid evening here in the wood, is it not, dear elf?"

"Yes! The night is just beginning and there is much adventure to be had but it is lounging time to enjoy the wood for now before the moon, Elune, reaches her zenith and it is time for lunch"

"Yes! I have not eaten in some time and I am actually growing quite hungry."

"Oh, then you should indeed eat. It would be terrible if you were to waste away from hunger. What have you planned for our midnight feast?"
"How interesting of you to ask, elf, for I was going to eat you." Its fore leg twitched.

"Hm, I do not think that would be in your best interest, my eight-legged friend."

"And why is that?" the spider inquired as it simultaneously made an advancement towards myself, making wretched hissing noised and generally violent ruckus.

Immediately realizing the thread this very peculiar spider faced me with, I summoned the roots of the trees to my aid, which they gracefully responded and entangled the raging monster, seizing it in its place. After very briefly expressing my gratitude towards the plants, I careful sent a ball of nature-fire to quell the foe without harming the roots that held it in place. There was screeching noises and terrible cursing in what I assumed was the language of 'intelligent spiders'. But very shortly after the inferno set by me began, it was over and the evil creature that had show clear intention of being my demise was cooked.

Midnight lunch that day was good. I gather some berries and tree nuts to accompany my roasted spider kabobs.

Somewhere in the Dark

It was a chilly and very wet afternoon during the summer monsoons. I had ventured out to the canyon just a league into the woods as a crow flies, but nearly three times that distance if the beaten dirt track was used. It had rained lightly for a while--this allowing the plants and overgrowth to nearly glow their most brilliant shade of green and the dirt to darken to its true, earthy tone--but I had to seek shelter from heavy rain and hail for a short time on my way to the caves. Once the rain had let off enough to resume my journey, I did exactly that and was soon navigating a narrow and rocky path with high canyon walls looming over me. Between the dense foliage every now and again a narrow span of blackness could be seen in the canyon walls. Venturing up towards the blackness, the air grew more chill than it already was and a distinct, musty smell wafted out of the dark. Grottoes, caves, and fishers these were, all home to bats, insects, and various things which dwell in the damp lack of sunlight.

While I was still deep within the canyon, the rain began to steadily pick up its intensity and i once again took impromptu shelter, this time into a cave deep enough that, even as my eyes adjusted to their maximum sensitivity, was much too dark to see the end. The clouds darkened above the looming walls outside and the rain grew more intense, and i made myself more comfortable. I began to wonder what secrets these dark fissures held, and how many more there were. I was somewhat disappointed in my inability to explore them further, but I hadn't any sort of supplies with me. With thoughts of adventure and the danger of the unknown and finding what so few ever chance to see, gentle music from a harp, a wimple melody that carries so much weight, began to drift its way into my ears. A soundtrack to a secret place. Indeed, there were secrets here, and the tune played itself over and over again, for hours while the rain persisted, reminding me of the fantasy world I really live in.

Do You Believe in Dragons?

As I assume the answer to the posted question is a stout "no." I will follow that with, "WHY NOT?" What is that is so hard to believe? There is enough anecdotal evidence surrounding the Sasquatch mystery that there is an entire community of millions of people who take that particular search seriously; then why is there not someone who takes seriously the notion of a living dragon? There is plentiful anecdotal evidence to support a reasonable investigation beyond medieval history, but I'm not here to present that evidence.

Is it truly a wonderful world we live in when the sense of wonder that comes along with things that aren't entirely mundane is instantly suppressed and punished even as children? For the past hundred or so years there has been a deep worship of what we call "Science" that has evolved to a sickening strength and devotion that pummels to a beaten and bruised state the things that we COULD know about if we actually pursued the proper definition of the word "science" and tried to truly figure the why of things; "why did they believe in fearies" and "why did they think this or that?" In my honest and sincere opinion I think it is terrifyingly ignorant and crimson to think that the entirety of the human population, until now, has been suffering from some mass delusion that has spawned entirely from irrational fears and superstitions and subconscious psychological processes--terrifyingly. Simply because the math works out in a number of instances does not mean we really know what is going on in this world, and simply because we cannot see things anymore with our own eyes does not mean that it never existed in the first place. People in times past, and in certain parts of the world today, saw, and see, things that the modern paradigm would exceedingly quickly dismiss as imagined nonsense or the effect of a chemical imbalance in the brain.

I am very skeptical. I am skeptical towards the modern scientific paradigm as much as I am towards the paranormal--or what have you--and this is exactly why I do not, and cannot, discount the things  like giants, dragons, gargoyles, Sasquatch, faeries, elves, and gnomes. To me, mathematical evidence is moot when it still utterly fails to provide a simple (or even complex, for that matter) explanation for, or even an understanding of the basic mechanics of things like gravity, the week force, electromagnetism, and so on. If you, dear reader, can explain these things to me then shoot; I've read my share of theoretical physics and quantum mechanics books and have concluded an inconclusive answer to my questions. Because of this I have to still take into account the anecdotal evidence--things people have seen and experienced with first-hand accounts--and I have to take it seriously, and I think much of the world needs to start doing the same before things really hit the proverbial fan and the realization the world was wrong comes too late for redemption.

On that note, let me share a story with you.

I was out near Oak Creek, Arizona, mountain biking with a friend of mine just below Chicken point as the sun of a November morning was shining its early rays over the tall rocks and the edge of the Colorado Plateau. Stopping to take a breather, happenstance had it that I would glance towards the freshly illuminated spires at Cathedral Rock exactly as a large winged something glided to directly behind the spires and disappear. The point that it disappeared is very important--from my vantage point not too far below and to the west of Chicken point (perhaps a hundred feet) I could distinguish the two sections of the spires and between them, very clearly, the sky beyond. This thing glided from the north-northeast to what appeared to be just exactly behind the first (northernmost) cluster of spires but I did not see it continue past the first (northernmost) cluster to where I would have seen it between the two sections of spires and to the south of the spires. It was well above the base rock and its trajectory was such that it would have been very clearly visible had it continued it's path to the south-southwest. It's speed was that of a small plane very similar to the ones often taking flight from the Sedona Airport directly north of Cathedral Rock but were it a plane, there is no possibility, based on its very clear trajectory, that it could have either turned or dove before being seen between the two sets of spires. That, combined with the appearance of translucent wings and central figure likely too small for a plane, ruled out the option that it was a plane (and let me be very specific that my initial thought was an airplane and that I did carefully rule it out based on the evidence mentioned).

After ruling out an airplane, my immediate and second thought was that is was a hang-glider. This second option was very quickly debunked as I took into account the evidence mentioned above as well as the the extreme unlikelihood that a hang glider would have been able to maintain the observed altitude from any landmark with in a reasonable range. One final note that would quickly rule out the hang glider is the size of the object. I will say that it definitely flew behind the spires from my vantage point (to the west) and, given a reasonable judgement of distance as well as the spires being used as a reference point, I deduced the wingspan to be close to fifty-five or sixty feet and the main body to be about the same in length. Not only is this inconsistent with a typical hang-glider but it is consistent with recorded reports of not only the dragons of old, but only the lesser-mentioned Thunderbird of the American southwest. Having carefully narrowed the options down to the latter two mentioned possibilities, I took into account the apparently translucent wings of the object and am left with one, hardly believable (even for me) option.

Know that I did not come to the conclusion that I did just over night, but over the course of about a week's time. I believe I saw a Draconian creature gliding from the north-northeast to the spires at Cathedral Rock and bringing itself to an immediate halt and landing on the western side of either the spires or the rocks below at Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona. I witnessed the creature, or object, for the time span of about an entire second before loosing visual. You, dear reader, may make of it what you will, but I have done my best and have came to the most unbiased conclusion I could given my knowledge and what I had seen.

On Scrolled Parchment

These are increasingly dangerous times and my thoughts becoming increasingly dangerous as they yearn for release. Yes, my thoughts push at the bars of their cage with a force that grows ever stronger with every day that passes in a successful attempt at becoming words. Knowledge I should not know, and wisdom I should not posses all but screaming within and becoming deafening so that it all might be heard by the outside world. It is not like the voice that tainted Illidan's path, or tempts Rand al'Thor against his will; no, it is myself alone that calls. Though among that knowledge is the experience of lives passed enough to know that patience yields some of the greatest rewards. I know I can speak now and my words, like those of some many others before, will be all but lost to the winds with not a single ear--or heart--to hear them. I do not know, however, if the time will come where I can speak and be heard is even in this life, or the next. It is like a seed of the great Oak tree that is straining grow and blossom in soil that becomes more rocky everyday, but the Oak is strong, and lives a very long time, and so will prevail in a time of greatest need to the life around it--as it was; as it is; as it will be.

I came here today to maybe speak, but I came quickly to realize that it is not yet time. I do not know my destiny, nor do I know how much of it I can control. I will be my own Hero--a legend to myself--but how much of that will I be able to share with others? More importantly how many others will there be that are apart of it. They Eye of Avo blesses those below and the Eye of Skorm awaits the unwitting. There is crisis on the horizon, and we may yet see forces unveiled that have not been known on this planet in twenty-six thousand years--old barriers weaken and things that once were are born again. In the days there will be hardship greater than we have seen in many, many years. In this nation what was the Great Depression will look like so much fluff compared to what the people are not prepared to face. Know that when even scrolled parchment is a potentially dangerous medium, many things go unsaid. The Dark One has eyes in everything and is as intelligent as he is deceiving--more intelligent than most could ever imagine--and his power grows; oh, it grows and bends the worlds to his will like a flaccid stalk of celery. Be wary of the light that shines and remember the name of the Fallen One. Be true to your heart in all that you do, and that is all I say for now.

2000 years
time has passed
The prophet's time has gone
hear the words
misunderstand
tainted by the darkness
deception reigns
the evil dwells
waiting for the final battle

Faster and faster the end drawing near
my quest for my soul be fulfilled
see the light and fight the darkness gather one and all

one by one
open your eyes
dropping the scarlet curtain
gather them all
calls to us all
Armageddon horizon

Faster and faster this life will go on
know now our fate and be strong
be the light and and fight the darkness gather one and all

The moon eclipses the sun
And Venus hides in its wake
Without winter there can be no rebirth
This is the end
My soul is trapped so near to escape
I can taste the fire in my fire
the burning desire
Shrouded the moon this demon conquers
he conquers all under the sun.
Oh why must it be this way?
Why can't I find a way?!

Prophecies
Ancient gods
see them rise from the soil
Their anger will punish us
and I'll know no sympathy
as I watch the fall of Rome again

Oh beyond! My life will go on
Know now this fate and be strong
I am the light, I'll destroy; you're monster
My life will go on!
My soul will live on!