We Saw the River Flow (literature)

We Saw the River Flow (Lo'Oi: Zás Koli Láz Dé’i Adáro Ralé) is a spiritual story authored by Arika Ronango'O based on the first person accounts of the Blessing of the River Gonf outside the city of Renapheus. In game, when in a book and quill, the text is called The Apparition (Lo'Oi: Dé'i Jahani). It is honored among many members of the Makerist (sometimes colloquially called Gonfist) religion, and sees readership from other local folk religions like practitioners of Mari Paganism and Oxinto.

The text is based on actual events that took place in Renapheus in 268 TE and the event is considered the catalyst for the spread of Makerism in contemporary Serrona. It is the first religious text to be authored by Arika Ronango'O, who later became a Laysister for the Core Makerist Church. The text was authored in 275 TE.

It follows the story of Mestur Nethin, who was an ethnically Najer citizen of the USSE, and a construction project to expand the river that surrounded the city of Renapheus out Eastwards towards the city of Ythmyrr Beach. During this mission, Mestur chooses to call strangers from across Eldham to help with the project before his coworkers alert him that they are running out of food and tools to supply the many people that had heard Mestur's call and came to help. In an act of desperation and after multiple challenges in the construction project, he begs whichever god is watching over them to help them. It is then that an apparition, identified as the spirit of G0NF, brings numerous blessings to Mestur and the construction people in exchange for their vow to follow the customs and 'pillars' that G0NF demanded.

=We Saw the River Flow= Ay, the beautiful Spring tulip rose that morning and the sunflowers that filled the fields faced the Lord above. Simple agendas marked the schedules of Adalor’s working people, with the year 268 TE having approached their calendars. Work and labor came, and O, they had no concept of the love their Lord had for them.

They worked under the bright Aether’s sun and its rays touched every pore of skin and its light filled the crevises of the ravines and the slopes of the distant volcanoes. These were people who had never known the word of their Lord despite the testament that reigned on their tan skin and on the rocks they chipped away.

The river was to be built, O, something of a canal. The sweet cities of Renapheus and Ythmyrr shall be connected; so said the demand and contract of the Commission. As such, the loyal men, women, and workers set their scaffoldings and strings to work and designed the most elegant river to be built at the foothill of the great volcanoes that breathed the unruly essence of the End. Under Hrma they built, and O, they made great troughs in the land and sturdy scaffold bridges outside the Maker’s dear Renapheus. A young man, his name Mestur, called unto Eldham in great pride of their people’s coming holiday—Sulinza. He lived as a humble worker and contractor; an orphan from a lineage of farmers in Najer who was adopted by the elusive Serebra family of Eldham. In that same breath of great pride that he bestowed, he wished to make their humble work a gathering for love, humility, and labor. He selflessly said to the countrymen and compatriots of all Eldham: “Ay, come all who gather under the sun! We shall make a river.”

The people were quick to hear his message from all corners of the realm, first in confusion. They say “O, the building of a river?” and “All of Eldham is invited?”, ay, only a fool would surely make such an invitation. The wide discourse considered such acts to be a suicidal gesture, begging for bandits upon their doorstep. Mestur however, cared not if the bandits shall show, for even they can be great in the eyes of the sun. With each flick of the tongue and invitation to all of Eldham, he remained with all humility. He was no man worthy of refusing the compassion and hard-working aptitudes of others.

He continued with generosity, “I know you all speak curiosity, so hear the call! Come to Renapheus and help build this river!”, to which a countryman of his remarked bitterly “O Mestur, won’t you replant the trees in my state before you terraform a giant river?” and lightning struck above as if the Aether itself was challenging Mestur to a battle. Perhaps he had neglected some duty of his and the river was to some degree, an overzealous project. He [Mestur] stopped in his tracks, recognizing the call from the land above, and sat with himself. He spoke, joined by a handful of his greatest workers, “To whomever believes I have not done work for the benefit of my people, perhaps you are right! So my people shall not only build a river, but replant the trees! Not only shall we replant the trees, we shall build a livelihood for all!”

Joined by his compatriots Magerius and Raistlin, the group preached once more to the choir of Eldham, “All who come are slaves of the Gods, as lightning strikes above us on a clear day, they recognize our work! Do the trees not require the flow of water from a river or rain? We shall build this river, and not only shall it be constructed, it shall bring nourishment to this desert. So hear it, when we are finished, we will continue to work and bring life to all things! Come to Renapheus, we are here to build!”, and once more, bolts of light seemed to strike from above no longer in a condemning manner, but in approval. People came from all around the realm, some spoke odd languages and tongues that none recognized but despite this fact, no person was refused the ability to help build the great canal. So they—the workers—labored through the day until the night sky of Henu shined their holy light. They had worked so fully that within a month or two the canal could be completed; though Magerius was quick to notice the logistical problems. He spoke to Mestur, telling that with all these great foreigners and hard workers, the Commission in Renapheus would run out of food by the week’s end—and lest not forget that these humble workers remained in a desert. Likewise, Raistlin noticed the storehouses were low in tools and that the durability of their shovels and pickaxes could soon be an issue of importance.

Mestur went out from the small worker’s camp along the planned river,  and went directly into the deep trenches and troughs of the canal. The soil was dry and crumbly, with petrified wood of old sometimes bursting forth from the soil like columns and footstools for the Maker. He did not know what he was wishing for and he remained unsure what exactly could be done. Despite this, he knew someone in the Aether was watching as evidenced by the greatness they had experienced thus far and the lights from above.

He sat on a small section of broken scaffolding that had fallen into the trench the day earlier, and he looked above in one of the many locations where the lights had bursted prior. He began to speak, taking a breath, before deciding this was no job for a sitting man. He rose from the scaffolding and stood atop it, and once more took a breath. He stopped only to take a deeper breath; changing his mind from a light and breathy request to a loud and powerful plea: “Won’t you please hear my request O Aether! We have done the most great things here, but we will fail without you. I know you have seen us, and we have seen you! Our workers, they are to be without food, we only have a sixth of what is needed to finish the river that you have seen us slave for!” left Mestur’s lips.

The rocks beneath him began to tumble about, and scaffolding from above collapsed. Flashes and bursts of light from the heavens began to shake the stars and night sky from their place and Mestur was certain he was about to die; certainly he had enraged the Gods. Then, a single incomprehensible blast of light struck down from the midnight moon above and in its wake was left a figure. Green and blue orbs levitated around the silhouette which found itself in the center of a slowly fading beacon of pure light before the orbs bled into the silhouette and the light departed back to the Aether and left an apparition in its place.

“Ay, do not let fear soak your heart, you wish for food?” the apparition stated as the blackness of the silhouette took on a fleshy tone and a humanoid figure became apparent. Mestur found himself in an almost drunken stupor from the initial bout of fear and responded with a stutter, simply saying “Ay.”

Immediately the long arms of the apparition struck outwards and back, as rocks began to levitate from the ground and condense into a foreseeable group of forms. Then, the bones from leftover meat dinners, the skins of vegetables, and the tails of crustaceans all from the worker’s meals shot through their tents and from the shallow pits for food disposal and grouped into the rocky forms. All within a few seconds, bundles of leads appeared in the hands of the apparition and connected to what had become two dozen bulls which bore halos of glowing light.

“Shall this suffice?” said the angelic apparition despite already knowing the answer was in the affirmative, and once more, a gulp left the throat of Mestur and a simple “Ay” was repeated; at which point the apparition brought out its muscled arms and Mestur shakily took the leads. With his leads now in hand, Mestur fell to his knees atop the scaffolding—still being dwarfed by the tall and mighty apparition. With the first ounce of confidence he bore in the conversation Mestur uttered “O, what must I bring you in thanks? I cannot orally give you remotely enough to thank you for this—I must offer you something material”, and the still upraised arms of the apparition rose, halting Mestur.

With no need to think of what to say, the apparition powerfully exclaimed “I have seen you embody the pillars I demand most, you are a servant to the Aether despite not knowing its name nor call; continue as you have in humility and acts of faith and you shall enter the realm above you in death. Know that for as long as the Henu and Hrma—your sun and moon—shine above Eldham, I am watching all people. I require no material to be pleased, only the devotion of you and your people, and as you have given me your word and world, I shall give you and your people the blessing of the Aether.”, as it was said, lights shined in the sky once more and in their place apparitions of green and blue orbs flew about.

In certainty, Mestur kissed the feet of the primary apparition and stated without daring to glance at its face, “What shall I tell people? What shall I tell them your name is? What shall I-” before being abruptly cut off. In equal harmony with the orbs above, the combined apparitions said “You shall tell them of the pillars and preach its word, in mortality their holiness was known as merely Gonf, a name irrelevant to your people now, and he ascended to the heavens for all peoples in sacrifice—your task is to follow the wisdoms and words of their holiness if you wish to enshrine a legacy of peace and ascend to the Aetherian realms in death.” and Mestur steadily rose to his feet. The sole mortal, still refusing to challenge the authority of the apparitions by looking them directly in the face, said, “O, believe me, I shall never abandon the principle of their holiness, I shall tell my people of their word. I am a slave to their holiness for infinity.” and immediately the apparition, which Mestur supposed to be the resemblance of Gonf, rose to the skies above the trench and the orbs followed him in a circular manner. Then, feeling air beneath his feet, Mestur too began to levitate. Rocks from the ground shot upwards and built a platform in the air, and the broken scaffolding that found itself along the trough broke into the air to support this platform and construct a bridge connecting both sides of the trench. The bulls likewise filled the bridges of the platform on either side, bearing witness to the greatness.

By then, dozens of the workers from all the worlds in the encampment heard the commotion and lightning and had peaked from their humble tents. All heard the word of the Maker and Gonf —who remain the same in immortality—and regardless of the languages they spoke, all understood what their holiness preached to Mestur.

Blue torches began to fill the platform and walls as it formed a kind of pagoda, each levitating above the last, a notion of holiness that resembled the orbs that surrounded the apparition of Gonf and the Maker. Then, with the flick of a wrist from the apparition, a massive guardian materialized above the pagoda before bursting with light and dissipating, and the rocks burst forth and found themselves laying on the sides of the trench as the canal found itself with months of work completed in minutes as rocks could be seen departing from the soil miles away all the way to Ythmyrr. The apparition took its flicked arm and pointed it to one side of the bridge, and Mestur guided his cattle away from the pagoda and bridges and towards the encampment in understanding. He said one thing to the primary apparition, exclaiming “O, I shall be yours forever”, and the apparition stated “Ay, forever I shall belong to all people” before waves of seawater began to flood from either side of the canal and the river found itself flowing; when the two waves met, they crescendoed into a giant ray of water along either side of the pagoda to the great applause of the many workers that bore witness to the blessing. As the meeting rays of water met the apparitions, lightning struck from all about and their holiness had materially disappeared, leaving the great blue torches and blessing of the river in its wake. As the wave settled, the river began to flow consistently Eastwards.

All the people began to fall to their knees and exclaim to the sky and pagoda “Blessed be Gonf! Blessed be the Maker! We are your workers, you shall be our commander!” Bandits arrived soon after to the surprise of meeting a worshiping crowd which was engaging in acts of charity and feasting on various stewed beef dishes. Mestur’s initial invitation to all of Eldham was truly heard by all, and bandits swooped in with the intent of punishing him for his hubris, but as they arrived—they too found themselves transfixed in the holiness of the blessing and put aside their weapons to engage in worship.

Mestur and the remainder of his compatriots continued to live lives of humility and followed to the best of their abilities the pillars of Gonf. He preached on to the people of Renapheus and all of Eldham of the Maker’s holiness and blessing. Ay, when his time came, Mestur ascended to the heavens with the love of his people before him and the love of his Maker alongside him. That day, all of the realms saw the river flow.