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Achirlut's Journey

Summary

Achirlut's Pilgrimage is an epic about a dragonkin boy who wanted to save his tribe but ended up on a quest to save the world.

Born in a time of war, Achirlut lost his mother and father at an early age. Parentless, he was raised collectively by his tribe. He grew up training to fight in the skirmishes against the birdfolk tribes.

Born with yellow scales, he was considered favored by the sun. This didn't mean much to him nor did he receive any special treatment for it. But when we came of age, instead of joining the patrols and battles, he was sent to The Tower.

The Tower was a large stone tower erected by the Sun God. At the top of the tower, the Sun God had placed a boon. One that would give anyone who could reach it the blessings of the sun. No one was sure what that meant, but both dragonkin and birdfolk tribes believed it'd let them finally win the long war over the other.

Many had tried to best the tower and failed, losing their lives in the process. Birdfolk could not fly to the top of the tower and the walls were impenetrable, so everyone started at the bottom. By the time of Achirlut, the tower and the ongoing war had claimed so many lives, no one attempted it anymore.

The sorcerers of Achirlut's tribe believed he'd be the one to finally reach the top. And he wanted to end the war between the tribes, not just win a few skirmishes. So, hopeful, he agreed.

Reaching the tower itself was no easy task. He had to travel far to distant lands and he had to train along the way. There was no telling what was in store for him. In his travels, he met and helped many unfortunate souls, victims of natural disasters, monster, or worst of all, outsider attacks. Sometimes, he was too late and all he could do was help rebuild which the people always appreciated.

By the time he reached the tower, he was a man. He'd come to understand the state the world was in. He still needed to stop the fight between his tribe and the birdfolk tribe, but there was a greater evil at work in the world.

Through many trials and tribulations, he reached the top of the tower where he received the sun's blessings. He was in the realm of demigods.

And so, with his newfound power, he trekked the path he took back. Stopping in the places he'd been too late before, he tracked down several powerful outsiders to put an end to their destruction. Though this nor his earlier battles seemed to have slowed the raids of outsiders on his world.

And at long last, he made it back to his tribe. He found many of his friends had died in war and the tribe elder had passed due to old age. He mourned these deaths and took to the skies in search of the birdfolk tribe.

In his youth, he would've used his powers to force the birdfolk into surrendering. But his travels had made shown him force only leads to resentment and bitterness. So he instead used his powers to force both tribes to come to an agreement.

They refused of course. Too much had been lost to settle it with talking. But Achirlut was determined and he did not grow tired. So he forced every battle, every skirmish to a stalemate against him, destroying weapons and armor in the process. When the tribe leaders were forced to acknowledge Achirlut could keep this going without end and all they were doing was wasting resources to fight a war where neither side could make progress, they agreed to meet.

After many attempts at peace, a treaty was finally signed and Achirlut finally brought an end to the long war.

He watched over them, negotiating small squables until he could no longer ignore the growing threat of outsiders. He warned the tribes to respect the treaty and bestowed minor powers onto trusted aides from both sides to keep the peace.

Then, he left to go hunt down outsiders who threatened his world and try to stop the oncoming threat.

The story ends there. Goose's parents forget what happens afterwards, but they say clearly he did save the world.

Annotations

Goose's parents know several other legends that are possibly about the person Achirlut is based on that corroborate the epic story.