I moved along the west but I was not sure where to go, no one went through the hamlet where the Valen lived and survived to tell the tale. I was very unsure because the route I would have taken to get to the Glen, would have been sea.
I sat down a little defeated and the creature of doubt came to me. When I was sitting in the grassy knoll.
I did not feel like listening to him, I opened my satchel and just allowed the scroll to allow my weary body to rest. I just allowed it to shield me from his evil.
He did not leave and sat far from me as he was more than terrified of the scroll that wrapped my body in a cocoon. Regardless of his tenacity I slept anyway and deeply.
I awoke and could still see him sitting there. I propped myself up and allowed the scroll to still over my heart. I still had the hat from Pladius he had given to me as a gift. So, I could not hear this annoying creature and the scroll covered my heart and then I came to the place of Ultimate Sacrifice after a while. I had heard of this place in lore and I noticed the creature could not go near it at all and he vanished for now.
To cross the bridge one had to have their heart cut open and have the seed of love placed in them after they carried their cross up a mountain. Read the sign. I gulped hard when I saw my cross.
My cross had my name on it in huge lettering. In reflections I saw everything I had ever done wrong to the Author of Love, and I was broken. I almost could not look at the cross at all; it seemed to haunt me as I looked at it.
The scroll was there to protect my heart. Yet, now it went back into the bag, I would have to feel this journey in all the pain. I put the bag I was carrying on my front and fastened to my waist and then I walked slowly over to the cross and stared into the reflections. Not only did it show me everything I did against the Author of Love but everything I was going to do. I cried so much my wails echoed against the empty plains.
I picked it up and the weight of my cross I could not stand. I then had to carry it to the Cliff of Tears. I heaved in pain and started my climb. I was alone. No companions and suddenly the cross was talking and I could hear it whisper my deeds, every single one of them. Although I tried to take a small break the satchel would not open. I had no scroll and not the hat and all I could do was walk up the Cliff of Tears and buckle under the weight of my cross.
I saw someone or something underneath me collecting something but I could not see what the rocks tore into my hands and blood began to spill staining the rocks a deep crimson. The steep vertical climb I could not take a break and bandage them, and to my dismay the creature came to me.
"Getting tired are you? I bet you are, you can stop now. Look at all your dastardly acts you have committed, such a sinful soul you are. You cannot eat or drink, you must be getting hungry, and your mouth is parched and I am sure your lips are craving water or mulled cider?" His questions burned into me and in truth everything he was asking was making my climb harder. There were clear paths that seemed to veer off my climb but for some reason I heard mortals screaming.
I could not be deaf to them and the weight of my cross made my knees buckle. The climb was getting harder because the air was thinning out making my lungs feel like they were breaking under the weight of thin air, but there was no space to veer off the path. As I was crumpling under the weight of it all the creature was right there taunting me. I could not throw him off the cliff otherwise, I would have so the only idea that came to me was singing the songs the Valen taught me.
During their celebrations their hearts sang new songs to the Author of Life and they taught me the words and I started to sing. My singing drowned out the voice of who I know called the Demon of Doubt and my words forced him to go further behind me and the louder I sang the further he had to move down behind me.
Sweat was making my hands feel like oil on the rocks and I dared not look down. I could not sleep for if I slept I would plummet to my coffin bed. I just kept climbing for several weeks. I climbed and then at last I came to the top, but I could not release my cross.
My cross was still whispering of all my deeds, actions, and thoughts that brought the Author of Life shame. I could not hide my shame with my body broken and my sins openly exposed I then came to Sacrifice Point.
A little tiny man was there and as he looked at me, I realized he was Conviction. I could not hide and my body was so broken I could not even whisper I am sorry.
He took a book that sliced my soul from my body. Then I felt the pain of my fletch being crucified. I wanted to run. I wanted to turn away but I could not.
Every single sin I ever committed my own will, and every desire for the world and things that would keep me from the Author of Life was nailed to the cross. I heard my body scream. I saw my flesh die on the wood.
Then Conviction took my body off the cross and then took the seed of love and placed it inside my heart after slicing my heart in half. He buried the seed and after a while a tree bearing fruit came from my heart of flesh.
He placed my flesh back over my soul and I now had a countenance I no longer recognized. He bandaged my broken body and Conviction led me to the docks that would lead me directly to the monastery.
I was not sure what had happened on the Cliff of Tears and if someone was to ask what my journey was like, I simply would not have the words to describe it. I simply knew that I was not the boy that left home.
I was thankful for Tess's coat. The boat was freezing, and I think it was designed that way, because all I could do was sleep, it simply was too cold to do anything and for some reason I was not hungry or thirsty I just craved sweet sleep.