The Cornerstone

Imagine you are an eagle, floating on the crisp spring breeze over the land of Tasdu.


Below you lies the city of Dasuin. Its grey buildings and houses look mysterious, wreathed in swirling mist.

You fly closer, coasting on the light wind, lord of all you survey and master of the elements. Rain, snow, storm; what did it matter to the king of birds?

Look! Below you is a commotion of some sort. What is it?

Curious, you drop slowly.

Men scurry around the site like mice, going back and forth. They drive donkeys loaded with packs of planks and nails, mules hauling grey stone, and horses drawing carriages of supplies and workers along behind them.

Workers, wielding hammers and saws, are busy nailing, cutting, and shaping planks of wood.

What could be the cause of all the commotion? you wonder.

You stop for a moment above the workers' heads, adjusting your flight so you hang motionless in the cool air.

The workers halt and stare upward, pointing. You allow yourself a short moment of satisfaction. Even the so-called all powerful humans look up in wonder at your magnificence.

Taking no more time to show off, you tilt your wings again, flying nearer to the center of the commotion. You see a young man sitting tranquilly on an ornate chair of great opulence. His deep blue, tasseled robes hung on him, sticky in the humidity.

Numerous men run up every few minutes to converse with the man, as if to consult him with some delimma.

Your sharp mind soon comes to a conclusion.

He is building a house.



**************



In the land of Tasdu, building a house is like building life. Indeed, in the tempestuous climate of the Tasduian plains, a man's life may depend on his house. Floods, tornadoes, and an assortment of other natural disasters may ruin a poorly built house. And so, house building is almost as important as marriage in the Kingdom of Tasdu.

And Felias Jarvey was building a house, a house above all others.

Some of the people of Dasuin watched the house-building with foreboding clouding their faces, while others saw it as an attraction for new visitors. Still more people ignored it all together, but that number was dwindling as the planning grew more extravagant.

Felias took great pains in planning his house, even consulting centaurs with the timing of the house-building. And when they had declared the time right, he began to plan and build.

As Felias organized the workers, materials, and blueprints neccisary for building his house, he ignored all of the numerous opinions and superstitions of the townspeople.

The current day was a special day in Felias's house-building, however.

It was time to lay the cornerstone.



***************



Already a line of crossed out names had spread over the paper in Felias's lap as he surveyed each cornerstone brought before him. He had to be careful when choosing a cornerstone, for a bad cornerstone may cause the ruin of a house.

A cart wheeled into Felias's view, bearing a sand-colored stone formed into a strong rectangular shape. Felias studied it, and then barked to its carver, "It's too long. Next stone!"

This time, two carts pulled in simultaneously.

One of the carts rattled uncertainly as it pulled up, almost looking as if it would fall apart. It looked rickety, but as it trundled along the new dirt road, it seemed more sturdy at second glance. The carefully shaped, sanded, and smooth stone it bore sparkled bright white in the strong sun.

Beside the first cart, a larger and strong-looking cart pulled in, shining with glossy, laquered wood. The obsidian stone it held seemed to suck in the light of the day, rather than reflect it.

Felias looked at them both. The white stone looked reliable and strong enough to hold for a thousand years, and its curve slanted in just the right way for Felias's house.

The carver who had brought it had a strong, honest face, and deep chocolate-colored hair. As Felias surveyed the stone, the carver offered a gentle smile.

"I carved this out of Mount Crose myself," said the man quietly. "It will guide you through any storm that may come upon you."

Momentarily taking his attention off the stone, Felias noticed strange, deep scars on the man's wrists. "Where did you get those?" he asked.

The man smiled. "I received them carving this out of the mountain. I received them for you."

Felias stared at the carver, half in wonder, half in contempt.

Why would someone go to all that trouble just so he could carve a stone? Felias wondered.

The other man, standing beside his own rock, coughed in impatience

Felias turned his attention to the next stone.

When Felias looked at the black rock, his thoughts about the other stone--and its carver-- faded away.

The obsidian stone glinted invitingly in the noon sunlight, its jagged exterior shrouded by a dark haze. Its beauty seemed unmatched, in a sinister kind of way. It looked like the very thing Felias should need for a cornerstone.

Something in the back of Felias's head whispered danger against this stone. It couldn't be reliable, could it?

The second carver's clothes were completely black, as if to mimic his creation, and had the hard face of someone who wants something and isn't afraid to bypass the law to get it.

"This stone is perhaps the most beautiful cornerstone ever carved in Tasdu," the man began in a deep, soothing voice. "None can compare to it. Even the king would be jealous of such a stone."

The voice from before nudged him. And what of its reliability? It could not to drown out the carver's imperious voice, however.

"To think that such a stone could go to you," he went on. "Surely it is worth the price."

Felias found himself wanting the stone. It's not like it'll crumble beneath my house. After all, it sure looks a lot stronger than the other one.

He glanced over at the other carver, staring at him from beside his own stone, as if questioning the wisdom of the choice.

In a sudden instant, Felias made up his mind. "I will have it," he told the man with the ebony stone.

The man smiled slowly, revealing dark, rotting teeth. "Very good." Felias grimaced in distaste at the state of the man's teeth, but he didn't really care, as long as he received the stone.

Felias looked back at the other man, wondering what he thought about Felias's transaction, but the carver had already pulled his cart some ways down the road, leaving.

Before the carver disappeared around the corner, Felias caught a glimpse of sadness in the man's face.

Felias shook his head and took a deep breath, ridding himself of the feeling that he had somehow chosen wrong.





************





Several months later, you are again flying over Dasuin. Buildings flash underneath you as you fly lazily on the damp wind.

While coasting along, high above the earth, your sharp eyes glimpse the house that you had seen earlier; it is built.

It has three stories, dozens of rooms, and is ridiculously opulent. You make a snorting noise in your feathered throat. Humans are such wasteful beings

Far away, a long, and low rumble of thunder catches your attention. You hover in the air, your ears sharp, and your eyes searching.

You see dark clouds far on the horizon, still invisible to human eyes.

In a rush, you fly away, wings beating. You must find a strong place to hide, for this will be a storm to remember.

A king of storms.





*************





Felias rolled the die, coming up with a two. "Blast," he swore, reluctantly handing over five mastilis.

He glanced around at the dim, still unfamiliar surroundings of his new home. Felias enjoyed showing the house off to his friends, but he didn't quite enjoy it as much when his friends beat him at a game of Krasi.

"Your turn," he said, shoving the die to Gehr, the man beside him.

Gehr opened his mouth to reply, when a peal of thunder drowned out his words.

Gehr glanced up at the ceiling, and then stood up, tossing the die back onto the table. "If I get caught inna storm, th' missus will strangle me. I'd better be gettin' back to my home."

The other men stood up as well, making various explanations for leaving.

In a few minutes, Felias sat alone at his table, the candles flickering moodily over his brooding features.

He leaned back in his chair, staring at the three dice on the table. He started to clean them up when he saw what number to which they were rolled.

Thirteen.

Felias was by no means superstitious. But even he shivered as lightning flashed from the window, lighting the ominous numbers on the table.

He jerked out of his momentary fear and roughly swept the dice off the table, sending them flying across the room. He grabbed what money he had left and pounded back to his room.

Outside, it began to rain.



************



Deep below Felias, covered in dirt and water, lay the ebony stone.

Black as night, it held up the roots of Felias's house like Atlas, carrying the weight of a small world on itself.

Rainwater ran in little streams and eddies around it, dancing in the darkness and sinking into the soil. It grew heavier as the rain above began to fall hard.

Small cracks showed in the mortar surrounding the stone. The waters were slowly wearing it away.

The stone shifted in the mud, causing the timbers leaning on it to groan. Several cracks and snaps sounded out in the darkness.

The stone, seated on mud, slid again. The timbers it held up creaked warningly; they were at breaking point.

Crack!





*************



Boom!

Felias jerked roughly out of his sleep to the deep rumble of thunder, and tumbled awkwardly to the cold floor.

Crash!

The lights in the house were dark, long since sputtered out. Felias, getting up off the floor, lit several, peering out of the stained window at the storm.

Crrrrack!

A blinding strike of lightning lit up the land around Felias's house. He gasped.

Waters rushed past the house, swirling and tumbling in a mad dance. The water completely and utterly covered the the foundation, its current strong and tireless.

What am I going to do? he wondered. He stared at the rushing floodwaters. No going out, at least tonight, he thought. Gradually, the only thing Felias realized he could do would be to wait it out.

He turned, deciding to go back to bed, when the house shuddered violently. Felias froze.

It wrenched again, and then in one horrifying second, lurched sideways.

Water rushed into the house, like a beast eager to devour and destroy.

Felias couldn't help it.

He screamed.



***************





Far away from Felias, a man lifted up his head. He heard the terror in the distant scream.

His deep, rich brown hair plastered to his head from the rain as he listened, compassion on his honest face.

Again, a scream.

It was cut short.





***************





Water engulfed Felias, pulling him deep into its deadly embrace. Bubbles escaped from his mouth, and his lungs were shouting for air.

His hands reached upward, trying to take ahold of something, anything so he could pull himself up. A shudder of terror and an unvoiced scream ran through his body as he sunk deeper, dragged by the strong current.

His fingers brushed the edge of a spinning board, and Felias grabbed it.

Almost immediately, Felias felt a change in the water. The board tugged him upward, pointing him to the sky. Felias fought to swim upward, his head spinning from lack of air.

Felias burst out of the water, breathing in huge gulps.

In his arms, he clutched the board that had saved him. Felias gasped for breath, swallowing the pouring rainwater in the process.

The current bore him swiftly away. Felias had the board in a death grip, hanging on as the floodwaters again threatened to pull him under.

In the blackness of night, Felias smashed into something hard suddenly, knocking the breath out of him. Raw agony ran down his spine, and his head swam in bursts of color..

The floodwaters jerked Felias roughly away from the rock and bore him swiftly away in the current. Felias's mind hazed into tortured red mist.

Water tore at him again. Pulling him down.

Felias pushed back up to the surface, taking heaving breaths, his head pounding.

A stone loomed up in Felias's dim vision. Black as midnight, it glistened in the water and looked eerily familiar.

Felias realized what it was; his cornerstone.

The familiar longing for it coursed through him again, and he strained, swimming toward the rock.

As Felias drew near it, he attempted to grab it with one hand. As he snagged a cleft in it, he lost control of his lifesaving board, and it spun away downstream.

Felias screamed again, but no longer was it a scream of terror; it was a scream of total and absolute despair.





************





The echoes of the scream were closer to the man than they were before.

He gazed ahead, his face radiating love, striding forward on pure white stone.







*************





The pre-dawn light caressed Felias's face as he struggled to hold onto what used to be his cornerstone.

Felias bitterly regretted the day he had set eyes on this traitorous stone and its master. The stone hadn't brought him safety, nor had it protected him during the floods. It abandoned him on its first test, and if Felias survived this, he swore he would never make the mistake again.

The long awaited dawn lit the back of Felias's neck, and he felt its glow.

"Felias." A familiar voice called.

Am I imagining it? Felias wondered.

"Felias," the voice repeated. The voice came, unmistakibly, from behind Felias.

He twisted around. Blinding light burst into his eyes, and through it he saw a dazzling white stone in the midst of the floodwaters.

Then he saw a lone figure, outlined against the glorious sunrise, outstretching his terribly scarred hands toward Felias in love.

Felias knew. He knew who stood before him.

The carver, the one whom he'd rejected.

"Felias," the carver called again. "Come to me."

The carver's words pounded in Felias's mind.

" I recieved them...for you."

Felias gasped. The memory, the rejection, still blazed in Felias's mind.

"For you..."

"Why me?" Felias cried, aloud.

This time, the real carver answered. "Because I love you." His strong, kind voice echoed over the drowned, rain beaten plains.

"For you."

Relentless love overwhelmed Felias, causing his arms to weaken. Tears ran down Felias's cheeks.

"I don't deserve it," Felias said bitterly, still clinging to the traitorous stone as the waters rushed around him. "I don't deserve your love."

Felias could feel the warmth from the man's body radiating outward. "No one deserves my love," he said, "but all may recieve it."

Felias could not reply to this. His throat choked up, and his streaked face washed clean with fresh tears.

"Felias. Come to me. Let go of the cornerstone that betrayed you, and I will catch you."

Another emotion scrabbled at Felias's mind; he didn't want to let go. The stone seemed so strong and familiar.

"Let go, Felias."

He couldn't hold on. He couldn't hold on to the wretched stone any longer.

Felias took a deep breath, and let go.

For a heart-stopping moment, the raving current grabbed ahold of Felias as he dropped backward.

In the next, Felias felt strong, warm hands grasp him.



The End