The Shores Beyond
They say when we die, they skies beckon us home, for the earth with not have us. Horizons forever in the distance, one step closer, yet remain in place. I am here I am left, may we see each other again, on shores beyond horizons.
Interlude:
In the garden of life, on soils blessed with sacred heart beats, vast and endless. A journey that knows no end, can you hear me? Grant us yet another day, wishing to see more of what those notes have made. Chance again the times when we lived, chanced twice more for a life yet lived. Between those gardens, burns a bountiful sun to grace the skies.
A lonesome journey, as not a single soul can live life for you. Ones soul is always in ones own keeping, the journey, the path was always a choice. A choice given, yet no question ever was asked. Grant us yet another day betwixt things that defy the mind, a chance of wonder, a chance of awe. When the sun sets the garden glows with the light of the stars and and songs of night fill the cooling air.
Yet when the gardens end, we are met with a vast and endless plain, as the gardeners of this lovely place look back to us with loving gazes. Placing in our hands seeds and the knowledge in the heart that the garden may grow beyond its boundaries, beyond its mossy walls. As the patience and wherewithal steady our unconscious minds.
As one steps forward, we know we are not alone. The visions of the things seen in the gardens stay with us, that memory to take root. Only then do we know, the garden grows not where our hearts beat the blessed soil, it grows first inside us. That choice, that root, what will you grow into? What will you see? What lesson do you have to pass? What do you do when it's the only place left to go?
Significance:
The "Shores Beyond" is a commonly held term by many of the faiths of The Great Tree as the name for the afterlife. In many interpretations the Shores Beyond is viewed as a place for the soul to go to after their life has ended in the mortal world. What this Shore borders is where many of the Faiths differ. In Dwarven culture this shore is a seen more as an endless rolling hills across vast fields of grass that a soul must find their way to. Taking the lessons of the nomadic life into the unknown and finding home once more.
In Calphiti culture this is seen as a void that a soul must fall through, waiting with the Faith of the Sands to bring them falling into a new life in a new mind and body. Where both life and death are viewed in the same way, when one life ends the hourglass must flip and begin again. These Shores to the Calphiti are simply a new life to be lived.
For the Vast majority of Humanity, the Shores are seen a resting place. Where there was no starting point, a life and thus it's soul must weather the storms of life while finding their way to those Shores. Life is never a calm affair, and never has been. The rougher the ride, the deeper the rest is when the soul finally makes it's way to those quiet beaches.
To many of the other peoples of the world, mainly the Mistwalkers, the Goblins of the Skullbrood Clan and The Tribe of Hate, these Shores are home. When the trial of life has ended, it is not a resting place, it is not a new life to be lived, it is not a test of faith or skill, but a return home. To worlds on foreign skies, to places seen in fleeting dreams.
The Truth:
They are all right in a way. A test of skill, a resting place, a new life to be lived, a welcome home. Yet these were never things that were meant to happen in death, this phrase; "The Shores Beyond" was a common and bitter saying made by the Children during The War of the Shadows. "To see each other again, on shores beyond" was simply a phrase for the children to say to help them reconcile their own mortality. The Quartet had never built an afterlife for their children, as they were effectively immortal and ever expanding.
The Shores beyond is nothing more than a sweet lie told by the Children to other Children knowing there was nothing after. That their souls when extinguished would fade from the songs sung by their gods, or that their own voices would rise to join the songs sung to them. This isn't known by the modern world, but the gods they praise are not capable of creating an afterlife for them. In the end there is nothing waiting for you, your story is told in your life, not in your death. Sing louder Child, Sing till the world listens and Sings back. Sing and live until the shores beyond beckon you home.
Oh thats harsh but beautiful
I'm glad you liked it! The truth is rarely ever kind