"Kalande's Journey"

"There are always more lessons to learn, so it is best to learn the important ones young."

— Excerpt from 'Lessons', Chapter One

In the old days before the first Emperor, there was still the Carefree Wanderer, and stories about the deity's travels are told to children. Most of this has been collected into a single story over the generations, and most of it is the basis for the contents the Order of Roads has written in "Lessons". Even so, the story told of "Kalande's Journey" is more like several smaller stories stitched together in an order determined by the author. Much as the way "Lessons" has various forms it's been written in, the story of Kalande's Journey has been written in many different orders. Almost every version contains eight specific passages which are said to correspond to ancient cities, but reliable records of their existence have been impossible to locate. However, adventurers from out of Pendelholm have continued insisting these cities are real, and they have visited the ruins.

The following fragments concern these particular cities:

• The Silent Mists: In this tale Kalande visited a city in the east where the streets were shrouded in a light mist, and the residents would not speak to the Fortunate Son. During his visit, the wanderer noticed there were no people who chose to speak with him. Rather, they spent their time quietly weeping in the mist. From the mists would come whispers of people from the past, heaping blame on the living, but Kalande knew the voices were not to be heeded. And so the Wanderer passed through, unable to free those who lived in guilt.
• The Lost Paintings: Kalande visited a city in the northwest where every house has a frame for a painting, and the people sat in front of it to admire what is within. While he watched, the painting changed to represent various places in the world. None of the residents seemed to leave their houses, as servants delivered food to the door and remove trash in silence. As these people would see the world but never truly understand it, the Carefree Wanderer left the city in its ignorance.
• The Oblivious Scribes: Above a southern forest of massive trees, Kalande reached a city of large halls with tall windows. In these halls, people sat writing down everything they have seen or heard, in order to remember it. None of these scribes answered questions, absorbed only in writing on their scrolls of parchments. The scribes produced beautiful work, yet it was empty and without soul as they concern themselves only with recording experiences of others. As they do not seem to comprehend the world is more than memories, the Fortunate Son takes his leave of another city.
• The Bloody Stone: Kalande climbed to a city in the west built on a tall hill with a single stone rising at one end of the city. From this stone there was blood running from cracks in it, and it would be collected in a basin around it. When the Fortunate Son tried to ask about why the stone was bleeding, he found the people would wipe ash from their eyes and explain. Life is an existence of pain, and so the stone weeps for those who hurt. The stone cries blood for these wounds, and so the people cry dust for the wound in the stone. The Carefree Wanderer realized he could heal neither the people nor the stone, and so he wandered on.
• By Fire Forged: On a tall mountain in the north, a city was built around a magnificant forge. What came out of the forge is a beautiful red-gold metal which even Kalande finds impossible to damage. Curious, he entered the building of the forge to find the smiths within throwing people into the crucible with the ore. When he protested, the Fortunate Son was chastised for interfering in the choice of others. These people volunteered in order to be part of something greater, it is said, and so the Wanderer has no right to interfere. Frustrated by such poor understanding of what it means to sacrifice, Kalande departs for the next city.
• The Unliving: Amidst desert dunes Kalande entered a city with ample water, and plants he had never seen before. The residents seemed perfectly healthy, but they only would eat from the fruits growing in the city or drink from the channels of water flowing along the streets. None of the people seemed to do any sort of work, only wasting away the day watching the streams and walking. While they were perfectly healthy, they were dead inside, and so the Fortunate Son continued to travel.
• Doors to Anywhere: A city of several plazas held doors which were unattached to buildings, yet one could pass through them and wind up elsewhere. Kalande spent days trying to find someone who would not be walking through the doors in a hurry, and finally resolved to stand in the path from one of the doors. After days of people avoiding him, the Carefree Wanderer chose to leave with unaswered questions which he decided were not important enough to keep asking.
• The Tolling of the Bell: The last city which was visited by Kalande sprawled to take up an entire island, and people would claim it was the greatest city in the world. The streets were made with silver and lit by golden lamps, with crystalline glass scattering the light so it left everything in an iridescent glow. But the more the Fortunate Son looked, the more things he could see which were signs of problems. The golden lamps were made from fool's gold, which was very pretty but not as durable. The silver making up the streets was said to be pure, but there was tarnish on the edges showing wear and tear. And in the center of the city there was a great bronze bell which would ring on the hour, all the residents stopping to listen before resuming their tasks. Kalande could not stand to see a city ordered in this fashion, nor one in denial of its nature, and so departed back to his home to appreciate it more.