Who Are You?

The winter is coming and it’s coming fast. Hang on, m’dear, you’re in for a bumpy ride. This may very well be your last season together; what are you going to do? Your father asked you to find a book of parchment yellow with age. His dying words were written down upon it in red ink long ago. Do you not remember this? Your hand scribed those words, three lines that hold the key. You held him as he died, his blonde hair stained with blood. Do you not remember?1

Turn now to your mother. How much does she need you? She too can feel the changing of the seasons, and knows what is coming. Once more she must stand with her children and bury their father. Will you be there with her with your arm around her shoulders? Will you be there to summon up the vines to lower him down? Or will you instead light for him the funeral pyre then send him to the gods in ash? Where will you be?2

Look out your window and see the leaves fall. Smell the air – snow and frost are coming. Are you ready yet? The dead grow restless a the veil grows thin. If they come through what will you do? Will you greet them with a feast and an eternity of silence? Will you greet them with magick, either to bring them flesh or to banish them forever? Have you a clue? When the day arrives, will you summon your army to fight the battle against evil? Now is the time, but are you ready? Can you do it? Will you do it? More importantly, where will you stand when the war begins?3

Child, now you must choose. Will you be a healer and tend to the wounded, watching as everyone falls? Or will you take up the sword of your father and be the son he never had claim the line? Which will you do? Which can you do? Would it kill you to see them suffer? Will it kill you to bring the enemy down? If it came to it, child, could you slay your own brother? Wielding the sword of your father and his father before him, will you fight your brother? For you know well that if you pick up that sword you have accepted your family line and sealed your fate. You will be forced to fight him at the end of the day atop a hill as the sun goes red in the sky. The outcome of this lone swordfight will determine which side will triumph. It is your choice, child, but you must make it.4

Who are you now?5