Happy new year everyone! :) Here, have a nice big chunk of preview for Rising Star... the beginning of the Disciple's Book!
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A Foreword
Dear reader,
As I'm sure you're aware, in your hands you hold one of only a very few recreations of the Disciple's Book: the tale of the Signless and the only true, original source we have of his words and teachings.
In this recreation, I have done my very best to remain as faithful to the original as possible, but some allowances must be made. The text of the actual Book is not the easiest thing to read, after all these centuries: the original Book is physically ancient, of course, but in addition to that, the language it is written in is archaic compared to the Alternian we speak today.
For this reason, this recreation is no small amount 'translation'; while I have done my best to make it as accurate to the original texts as possible, there are some words and phrases for which we simply do not know a definition, and must make our best guesses based off the context and other, similar words.
There is, of course, a great deal of debate surrounding all of this, as there must be with anything from so long ago, of whether to copy it directly, or to 'translate' it, or to do both and include all possible definitions for the best chance at finding the 'correct' one; but my hope is that a simplified 'translation' such as I have chosen to create will make the Disciple's words - and through them, the Signless's - more accessible to more people. I will leave the haranguing over specific word choices to the scholars.
In this translation, when there are words for which the definition is unclear, I have given the most commonly accepted guesses at their meanings in brackets; for phrases, I have chosen to use a literal translation of the words, even if it doesn't make much sense in modern Alternian.
If this is your first time seeing these texts, please, read with an open mind and a welcoming heart. Some of the ideas presented by the Signless are quite radical, and this work may not be the easiest or most understandable introduction, but it is the closest thing that we have to the Signless's actual words. If you have trouble understanding or coming to grips with a concept, I recommend you bring it up to whoever has introduced you to this work; if they are not able to help you, they will likely know who can.
This recreation of the Disciple's Book has been my life's work. It is my hope that it will bring the Signless's words to life for you, as reading her Book did for me so long ago.
And so, as the Signless said:
Go with love, and love will carry you.
-DC
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This is a true tale of brotherhood and love.
This is a true tale of the way lives were changed.
This is the story of my brother and of our family.
This is the story of the Signless.
Long and ago, when I was only three molts a wriggler, I watched a night fall alone, for only the nightfall before I had found my lusus broken and bleeding unto death. And that was the darkest and blackest night I had ever known, and I was frightened and alone; and though my lusus had taught me to fend for myself, I felt all was hopeless, for what is a wriggler without their lusus, especially one as young as I?
But a young mind can only sit in [idleness/silence] for so long, and an empty stomach is a powerful motivator; and so, though I was afraid and alone and felt all was hopeless, I still set out from my cave-home once dusk had fully settled.
And I wandered for much of the night, seeking the tracks of prey my lusus had taught me to find; but I was young, and inexperienced, and grief-stricken, and I found nothing that night and had to return to my cave-home hungry and ever more alone.
And the next night I tried again; but again I found no prey and nothing with which to fill my empty stomach, for it was deep in winter and the prey hid through the long nights and all the plants I knew slept in the cold.
And the next night looked to take the same course; and hungry and alone and afraid I wandered the forest, resolving not to return to my cave-home until I had found something, for I thought it better to die of the cold than to waste slowly away from starvation.
But that night was fated not to be the same as the others, for it was on that night that he found me.
And he was small, when he came upon me huddled in the bushes, and had a ready smile and a readier hand to extend in help; and when he found me, though I hissed and bared my teeth and snarled to drive away one who I thought might be a predator to me, he only waited until I, with little energy to spare, tired. And then, when I had no strength left with which to protect myself, he did not attack; he only asked my name.
And I did not trust him; how could I, when all my life I had known that any others I found would be, at best, [competition/rivals], and at worst, a true enemy seeking only my death? For my lusus had been the only friendly face I had ever known, and he warned me long and again of the perils of trusting.
And so I did not trust this troll who knelt next to me, and I said nothing, and bared my teeth again at him. But he was not afraid, and he was not deterred; and as I would not give my name, he asked instead if I was hungry. And I thought this to be a cruel jest, and drew my strength together to snarl at him, but he held up his hands and told me, “Peace, sister! I mean no ill.”
And I did not believe him, but he found from within his robes a wrapped package, and he placed it on the ground in front of me for I would not take it from him; and then he rose and backed away, so that I felt safe to take it and that he would not take advantage of my distraction to attack.
And I was very hungry, and the package smelled strongly of food, and I was only a young wriggler, alone and scared; so once he had backed away, I fell upon the package as though I were truly feral. And I devoured every last crumb within the package, and he watched from a distance, until at last it was gone.
And then he approached again; and I watched him warily, for my lusus had raised me to never trust anyone, but I was young and alone and my lusus had gone where I could not follow, and this wriggler was at least as young as I, and smaller than I, and showed no indication he intended to attack, and he had given me the first food I had had since my lusus had gone, and I could not keep myself [apart/isolated/aloof].
And so when he knelt beside me again, and again asked my name, this time I gave it. And he smiled, and greeted me by name; and he gave me his, and I greeted him by name; and I felt already a bond beginning to grow between us.
And he asked me where I lived, and who with; and though I wept I told him of my cave-home, and of my lusus who had gone where I could not follow; and when he did not scold me or take advantage or seek to [overcome/cull] me for the weakness I displayed, I felt braver, and I told him of the nights that had passed since. And he looked as near to weeping as I was when I told him of the nights I could not find food, and I did not understand why he would be distressed, and he could not explain to me in a way I understood.
And he told me, “Come with me to my Mother, for she will protect you and raise you as she does me, and you will never face another night with an empty stomach.”
And I did not believe him, but I wanted to, and I had nowhere else to go; for had I not already consigned myself to die of the cold that very night should I not find food? And I had not found food, but it had been given to me; and so I believed it was either [fate/destiny], or [miracle/luck], and either way I should go with him as he asked, for the worst I believed could happen was my own death, with which I had already made peace.
And so when he rose and offered to me his hand, I took it; and he led me through the forest a long way, until we reached a cave I had never seen before. And he kept my hand, and led me inside; and I expected to face his lusus, but there was no white beast in sight.
“Mother!” he called into the cave; and thus I discovered he had no lusus, for the one who responded to his call was no lusus but a troll.
For he travelled with the one he called Mother, she who was jade; and it was explained to me that she was all the lusus he had ever had, for he was a mutant who would have been culled at hatching but for her intervention, and no lusus would have ever taken him. So it was that she [played/acted] the lusus to him, and took care of him, and protected him; and when he explained what he had learned of me to her and asked her for her help, she agreed. And so I became part of what he called his family - just her and him, to begin, and now me.
And nights passed by, and nights passed by, and together we grew, from third molt to fourth, and so on. And those molts were the only time we saw other trolls besides our family - for we had no cocoons to ourselves - though Mother Dolorosa kept us well away from them and we stayed only as long as our molts required before retreating back into the forest.
And nights passed by, and nights passed by, and together we lived and learned from each other and loved each other in a way no troll before us had done, for we had formed a family, a thing outside of the nature of trolls: mother and children, sister and brother we were together, words taken from the words for beasts for no words existed for trolls that described our bonds. And together we lived in harmony.
And nights passed by, and nights passed by, and all was good.
