Lore/Story The Search For Enlightenment

Hey, here's a short story I wrote last year that I found recently, enjoy.


Robert was an old man and a hermit. There were many things he wanted to do before he died, but he waited too long to do them. He wanted to find out if there was a way to do all the things he wished he’d done.

One day, a man came to his house. The man said, “Come to the Church of the Great Bovine and become enlightened. It’s just on the outskirts of Elkurn, to the south. All are welcome!” The man left. Robert couldn’t stop thinking about what the man had said. He thought that becoming enlightened could allow him to do more with his short amount of life left. He went to bed.

The next day, Robert packed a few belongings, got on his mule, named Goat, and started travelling to Elkurn. It was nearly sunset when Robert could see the lights of the small village of Elkurn. He stayed at a small inn for the night.

The next day, Robert went to the Church of the Great Bovine. He was greeted by the same man he had seen the day before. “Welcome! I’m glad you came!” the man began, “This is the Bovemist Church. Here, we worship the Great Bovine that has given us our lives and our freedom. My name is Dalset and I am the head priest here. So, what brings you here?”

“First of all, nice to meet you Dalset, my name is Robert. I came here because I hope becoming enlightened will allow me to do more in my small amount of time left in the living world,” Robert explained.

“Interesting. Well, one does not simply become a disciple of the Great Bovine. You must go through a test. Take this dagger, go into the catacombs of this church, and sacrifice one of the Bull Guardians in the deepest chamber. Be careful. The Bull Guardians won’t go down quietly.” Dalset handed the dagger to Robert and opened the door to the catacombs. “Good luck, Robert. May the Great Bovine watch over you in life and death,” Dalset said as Robert descended into the catacombs.

The halls were dimly lit with candles and the air was thick in the depths of the catacombs. Robert clutched the dagger tightly in his hand as he quietly shuffled down the dank halls and stairways. In every hall there was at least one intricately decorated coffin. Robert wasn’t sure what kind of people would be put in them, but he wasn’t sure that he wanted to know.

The halls became progressively darker as Robert kept going deeper. After what seemed like hours, Robert came upon a large, circular room. It was extremely bright, but there were no candles. The light seemed to come from the walls themselves. There was a small altar in the center of the room. Robert approached it. Carved on the altar was the portrait of a cow’s head and a message that read, They will appear to those who can decipher the true word. Below that was a strange looking symbol.

Robert knew it was some kind of riddle, but he wasn’t quite sure sure what it meant. He began saying words that he knew were related to religion, but nothing worked. He started saying whatever word popped into his head, but still, nothing seemed to work. Finally, he took another look at the symbol and said, “milk”.

The glow of the walls faded and the carvings on the table began to light up. Suddenly, a bull appeared on the altar. Robert was stunned, and before he could react, the bull impaled his arm with a horn. Robert looked down and saw blood dripping down his arm. He knew what had to be done. He took the dagger and stabbed himself in the heart. The Bull Guardian disappeared and the walls’ glow returned. Before he died, Robert whispered to himself, “I’ve waited too long. I thought there’d be enough time, but there wasn’t. Nothing can be done now. Maybe the Great Bovine will pity me and give me a second chance. Maybe…”

The End



Feedback is appreciated.​

 

Here's a bump because there is literally no feedback at all.

 

It's a bit short, but don't worry, I like it! I like your writing style, it's much better than mine, hehe. :p

 

Interesting concept.
One thing for writing style, it's good, but it seems more like a summary than a story

 

I had to write it for school and I only had 2 class periods to work on it, so I didn't have much time to fully flesh it out.

 

In that case, good concept. Would love to see it fully thought out.