Once upon a time, there was a family. The family consisted of two very wise parents and seven sons. These seven sons were raised to be kind and gentle; helping tend to the several needs of the people they lived among.
Their mother taught them to be fair and respectful to each other as they learned to craft meals, clothing, and tools from raw materials. The sons were also raised to be strong and determined; they hunted regularly with their father and other men — becoming skilled with bows, arrows, and slings.
The boys learned humor and friendship as they fished together with their friends, from a nearby stream that flowed from a glacier at the top of a mountain. They assisted in repairing and building homes, digging wells, and planting crops. The family avoided contention in their home and within the community; however, the sons still learned how to defend themselves and those they loved.
The boys grew older and they along with their parents became the stronghold of this small community; the mother and father were eventually elected as leaders.
The seven sons all in turn married to noble and beautiful women, who bore children of their own.
AS PEACEFUL YEARS PASSED by, the sons felt a desire to leave their beginnings and go start and lead communities of their own. Through much counsel, it was decided that each son — exempting the eldest — would, over the next six years, take a portion of the community and lead them into the wilderness at spring time. To find new and distant land. Leaving in spring allowed for ample time for each company to find fertile land and settle before the winter. All pondered the risks associated with this, yet also could not quench their unified need to journey.
For the rest of that year the second oldest son prepared himself, his family, and his portion of the community to journey into the wilderness. The winter continued with early days filled with preparations, and late evenings of sitting next to the fire enjoying one another's company; laughing together, crying together, and reminding each other of the valuable lessons they had learned thus far in their lives. This family was close and open with each other.
As spring came the community bid farewell to the second oldest son and his company. They parted with kisses and hope, affirming their love and trust in one another. As this first son left and disappeared with his company into the wilderness, the mother could not help but cry out. Restraining herself she fell to her knees; the father descended to her, and held her gently as she wept into his chest. The other sons watched on sacredly; each silently propelling their feelings of love and confidence out to their traveling brother.
The community carried on respectfully with their day, and returned to their several duties. However, the eldest son remained at the departure point of his younger brother for hours. As evening descended he took seven large stones and stacked them on top of each other. The cairn rose to the brothers rib cage. He leaned on the cairn as he watched deer fly past the horizon. He then carefully etched on the top of the highest stone in the stack, the name of his younger brother. The community watched the son from afar — bathed in evening sunlight. Eventually the mother went out and sat with her grieving son.
THE LEADERS TRUSTED IN each son's ability to lead; they all had become strong men. The parent's hearts took courage as they trusted in the training their sons had received over the years, and the wives they had chosen. Yet, their hearts broke as they saw each of their gentle boys leave in opposite directions year after year. Following each departure the eldest son repeated his ritual and created a new stack of large stones. When the community remembered the sons and their departed loved ones, they gazed in the direction of the several cairns that began to surround the community.
Those painful yet exciting six years pressed on. As each brother departed and settled in the far corners of their world they faced both cruel challenges and blissful blessings. Each brother became ever more proven, gentle, and strong — as they relied on their wives, the members of their community, and the enduring character and lessons their parents had given them. Each son pressed forward through time, and their settlements prospered.
Back at home the parents took comfort in their eldest son, and commended the remaining community to his care.
Every spring following those six years, the eldest son would lead his community in joyful celebration and remembrance, singing songs, playing music, dancing, and taking turns sharing stories of their departed friends and family at the foot of each brother's stack of stones.
AS CENTURIES PASSED, THE quaint community of the eldest son had become a mighty castle, this castle expanded and nestled into the base of a northern mighty mountain range. What was once a small glacier stream the seven sons enjoyed with their friends, had been overcome by an overflowing mountain valley lake, fed by the sea. This mighty river now flowed along the side of the castle.
Large wooden ferries allowed for convenient transportation and exchange of goods and people, between the castle and the neighboring village west of the castle across the river. This village was surrounded on its western side by massive crops and stores that sustained the life of the kingdom. Massive amounts of fish from the distant sea were captured as they exited the mountain, by large nets let down three times a month.
Seven miles south of the castle the river split into three smaller rivers that flowed down through the kingdom. The kingdom now covered massive amounts of land, and the three rivers were speckled randomly with quaint villages, positioned on the banks of these clear flowing waters.
The mighty river that flowed from the sea out of the mountain, that split just past the castle and its neighboring industrial village — like arteries from a heart — allowed for the castle to provide the kingdom's southern settlements with life, information, food, supplies, craftsmen, and entertainers.
Because of the mighty rivers, the land had become much more lush, and was full of wild forests. These forests were filled with wild animals and bandits.
YEARS AGO, WHEN THE kingdom had become unprecedentedly prosperous and populated — before the southern settlements were established — a large portion of the kingdom followed a rebellious royal, in an attempt to overthrow the king. Darkness, envy, and hatred had been growing in the heart of the king and queen's second oldest son, Emortuus. The rebellion failed, and many died. The surviving rebels followed the king's fallen son into the dark forests.
SHORTLY AFTER THE KINGDOM settled from the revolt, the civilians felt an innate desire to journey spring from within them.
As civilians felt inclined — and as the king advised — the king and his courtiers would assemble teams of brave men and women to take boats downstream, and settle these villages along the banks of the rivers.
For years communication and supplies flowed strictly south from the castle, making it possible to communicate with the settlements — yet, they were restricted in their ability to help — due to the lack of communication from the settlements back to the castle. If someone attempted to travel upstream along the banks of the river, they risked being robbed by desperate and cunning bandits, running low on provisions, or attacks from curious and defensive beasts.
As time went by, despite these challenges, many brave men and women had made journeys back to the kingdom successfully, however, many did not. The most successful journeys north consisted of smaller companies that traveled light, with great speed and stealth.
Over time a well worn path was born and communication to the castle increased; the king was now able to better regulate trade and defense to these southern settlements. Eventually guards and walls were stationed regularly along the path, making the journey north safer and faster.
Despite minor disputes within the settlements, difficulties arising from a lack of communication back to the castle, and attacks from beasts and bandits — the southern settlements became strongholds.
THE KINGDOM HAD BEEN led through the rebellion by a very wise, powerful, and gentle king, along with his elegant and noble queen. They were characterized by their unity and excelled in all forms of diplomacy. They were heartbroken at the fate of their second oldest son and the third of the kingdom that followed him into war and darkness. They marveled and would think to themselves, "we have always ruled with such kindness, what more could we have done?"
On the other hand, the king and queen's other son, Vivere, elder brother to Emortuus the rebel, had not wrought such disappointment, but quite the opposite. Shortly following the conclusion of the rebellion, Vivere the eldest prince, along with the other civilians, set out to journey. But unlike the other civilians whose aim it was to settle riverbank villages, this brave and mighty prince set out to find the ancient and lost six kingdoms.
The six cairns had been preserved over the centuries. They rested in a garden nested behind the home of the king, each cairn protected by four foot stone walls, creating a distance from the stacks of about five feet. The ancient cairns were covered in beautiful green, orange, and white mosses; upon the top of each stack was still found the engraved names of each of the six sons. The eldest prince grew up admiring the cairns, and was overcome by an unquenchable need to find and potentially reunite these kingdoms; he had memorized every name.
Late one winter night, the father found his son sitting on the small stone border surrounding one of the cairns, wrapped in a warm fur. Sitting together in the light of the moon, the son confided in the father his feelings of distress about the task that lay ahead of him. "I know son ..." the king paused, and looked to the cairn. With tears falling from his eyes he gently stated, "... but you're the only one who can do this." The son set out on his lonely journey the following spring.
AFTER YEARS OF ABSENCE, many thought the prince had failed in his quest, and was long dead. The son had yet to have returned to his kingdom, and his location remained unknown to his family and friends. But despite their doubts, the eldest prince had found the lost six kingdoms; he had become acquainted with each one’s history and rulers.
Twelve years after his departure he gave the kingdom assurance of his life and the fulfillment of his quest. Guards stationed along the walls surrounding the kingdom, found a small wooden box bound by cord wrapped in the skins of a deer. The package was delivered to the king and its contents quickly unveiled — within were maps and letters.
The maps and letters contained clear direction from the eldest prince on how to safely navigate to each kingdom, a brief history of the kingdom, and a description of each current ruler. The kingdoms had fared well over the centuries; each of the seven sons had survived their travels, and had successfully laid the foundation for mighty and unique societies! At the conclusion of his notes the eldest prince addressed his parents and the kingdom, promising he would one day return. The joy of the king and queen, as well as the whole of the kingdom was ineffable.
THE KINGDOM'S UNIQUE WORK and joy was maintaining their kingdom while also creating bonds between the other kingdoms. Within ten years after his son's delivery, the king had made personal contact with each of the six kingdoms and their rulers; together the kingdoms were developing safe and swift roads between one another.
Great joy was found as they shared in one another's industry, culture, and history. Each ruler shared a love for the king's eldest son; the father enjoyed hearing the stories they told about him.
After many peaceful years of developing prosperous settlements and safe paths, the king and queen strove to ensure an heir for the kingdom, and miraculously had another child — a young prince. However, in equal opposition to the kingdom's joy was their sorrow, for the queen did not endure childbirth and died late in the night.
The father was consumed by his grief, yet among the pain strove to do his best to raise his youngest son well.
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