Resurrection, Continuum & Renewal

Steven Carlson

“You see the spirit draws us on - always a little ahead of us, always a little farther from us … into the lands of our destiny.

“There is never is an end to such a great story, for this is the supreme law of second chances: resurrection, continuum, renewal: that life goes on.”

And with that being said, Francis could feel his own future before him; he sensed the pull of his own heart, of his spirit calling to him with adventures and vistas to come.

He realized that at no point would anything ever be truly finished, or for that matter gone - for everything and every one transformed - and this was a good thing, a great thing - to go on.

He drew his blanket around his shoulders, and as with any good vision, it had made him so content he fell asleep returning into the land of wondering.

The great lion sat quietly beside the tired traveller.

“Bless you Francesco” he said most quietly, and then gently disappeared from sight.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

A Great Story

“Well that is not at all what I would call a very good story,” objected Francis, who genuinely thought he had heard better.

“It is not a good story, but a great story.”

“But the end is insufficient.”

“That is what makes it a great story,” said the Lion.

“No, I mean to say … it was wanting.”

“Yes.”

“But did he die in the end?”

“He was dead all the time.”

“Oh” said Francis.

“He just did not know it” said the Lion.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

The Tragic Climber

The lion began:

“A man stood on the top of a high precipice, on a rock that crowned a snow topped mountain. Its slippery coldness betrayed his foothold and his nails ripped in resisting the fall; and his skin was torn, grazed and sliced in the skid on the way back down.

"Yet his heart had been plucked and taken to an eagle hen’s lay - strident, nesting, resting on a bed of feathers and poop.”

“I believe I have heard this one before” Francis interjected.

The Lion continued, ignoring what he had said.

“Although his arms were seized with pain, and his legs ached beyond belief; this tragic climber struggled back to the summit in search of his heart that had been stolen from him. It was, as it were, that the very moment he ascended the final step to reach into the feathery nest, his lean betrayed him and he fell once again to the bottom.”

“Poor soul”, muttered Francis.

“Yes yes,” agreed the Lion, who then continued:

“Once again the heart called to the man below: and its magnetism drew him up, coaxing him every time he stopped.

"Just a little farther, just a little farther … and after what felt like many years, the heartless man once more came to the eagle’s nest - this time to find that his heart was gone. A silhouette of a bird could be seen in the distant sky, and the climber could feel his own heart moving fast away from him.

He looked down at the town beneath - the buildings and roads all in miniature - the streams and the rivers like silver ribbons glittering as they wrapped their way around the landscape beneath.

“What now?” asked Francis.

“What now indeed?” said the Lion agreeably. He stopped as though that were a suitable ending as any.

“Go on,” prompted Francis.

“There is no more to be said,” said the Lion.


Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

The Beast Shimmered

The lion sat back on his haunches and closed his eyes. Francis did the same.

As the sun stealthily rose Francis could see wings, large wings, drawn back behind this wonderful creature. He was not of stone, hewn not from any rock, nor was he with fur and fibre.

“You are no earthly creature” he blurted, “What do you want from me?”

The massive beast shimmered tossing his mane this way and that, as though he were shaking raindrops off his coat.

He opened his eyes and growled. “I want to tell you a story my son.”

Francis smiled ever so lightly; with a nod, he drew his blanket close.

- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Huge Golden-maned Lion

Francis had a way with animals - everybody knew that.

He enjoyed making a point of this amongst the mortals, believing it might encourage them to a higher compassion and comprehension.

He could do the unexpected, and frequently did.

But this morning he was not so sure of himself - he found his legs trembling, and his heart fast paced and thumping - so much so, it was difficult to catch a breath.

In his mind he was not frightened of the huge golden-maned lion before him. No, he said to himself - it was not that.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Whistle & a Ring

He knelt down to see his little son. Out from his pocket he pulled a small carved whistle, and solemnly gave it to him. It was engraved with a lion.

“I have a ring for you, if you will have it.”

He was so real, standing close to her now, it was him - it really was. All the sadness she had held back over the last few years, came rushing towards her and then ran on by. In an instant her happiness had returned.

“Is it made of moonbeams, gossamer or caramel?” she asked excitedly.

“All three. And some gold of course.”

He lightly brushed her hair back from her face, and she put her hands through his coat, to his waist, to pull him closer. And they embraced one another for a very long time.


- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

A Rider from Afar

Charley noticed some movement from afar, and within a few minutes she could just make out in the distance, a rider approaching the homestead below. She watched as the figure dismounted and went to the door, and then alighted his horse once again.

“Perhaps he is delivering the mail”, she said cheerily to Toby, who had forsaken his crimson gum leaf for a smooth bark-less stick, that he started to draw in the dirt with.

“Oh look, he is coming this way” she said, trying to get her young son’s attention.

The rider wore a long oilskin coat and hat that shone in the sun - it was near impossible to make out his age from the distance. He had long boots, and a saddle bag to match, and a dappled dark brown horse.

“That is my favourite kind of horse”, Charley said to her boy. He nodded, absorbed in his artwork.

“I think I will get you a hat like that.” she said, giving him a kiss on the top of his head.

“He can have mine”, came a voice from behind.

It was the rider, who appeared very suddenly at the back of them.

This voice was all too familiar. Charley turned to face him.

His long hair was tied back, his once beard was but a shadow. He looked well.

“Francis?” she said questioningly -

“Yes,” he said softly with a smile “Pietro found his way home at last.”

Francis had managed to reclaim his body the moment his father had withdrawn.

- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Gum Leaf Tune

Charley had a tight grip around Toby’s waist, as he sat balanced on the thick wooden post, watching the smelly sheep graze. His chubby legs swung to and fro, and in his grasp was some long grass he wanted to feed them with.

Both she and her young son had been staying with the newlywed Johnstone couple.

The days had been hot, and thick with insects, and the unholy fumes of dung and diesel, yet the two newcomers had settled in for their holiday with great zeal.

She had wandered into a paddock which looked out over the rolling hills, with a glittering dam to the right, shouldered by willows, and a winding road from the left, some dozy cows, and huddles of tall grey green gums.

Her little boy was preoccupied with a leaf - his grandfather had been playing a tune with one just the night before, and he was trying to get music to squeak out of his.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Lights Out

Pietro had been exhausted by centuries of activity and needed the replenishment that only a cosmic stay could give. Perhaps this time? It certainly explained a lot about his behavior now.

Being exiled into service at the seaside Hotel had been fine for a while, but once again, the familiar loneliness had exceeded the novelty of being once more a man.

The action of the intoxicants soon persuaded Pietro, that his very soul was fading; and worse than that bewilderment, was that he no longer cared to live at all anymore.

In spirit form, Francis stood by the bedside ready to catch his father as he flew out from the cocaine-strangled corpse he had become.

“Papa, I have come to fetch you” he said tenderly, as the pulsing light lifted up and out, and into the greater …..


- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

An Eternal Dance on Earth

Two young women, trailing skimpy couture, scurried hurriedly from the chaotic room; one tipping the concierge to call for an ambulance before joining her thinly dressed friend in the taxi that was waiting at the front of the Grand hotel.

Pietro-Chips had a acquired a taste for partying of late. After his shift he would find a vacant suite and invite guests to stay over - and they would embellish their fantasies with what alcohol and barbiturates they could muster.

Francis had been horrified at his father’s recklessness. He had been drawn to watch over him from the very moment he had departed his dear body at the bottom of the cliff.

One reason for this had been the natural attachment Francis had formed to his physical self. The very molecules in his body were his, and magnetically, inherently, they sought out his presence. And so, Pietro became like a living ‘mummified’ corpse - an astral attraction for its owner no longer inhabiting it.

Apart from this, Francis had made a promise many a lifetime, to help his father out from this eternal dance on Earth that he had been caught in. He desired to help Pietro find a gateway finally through to the Heavens - for that healing rest, that this soul did long for.

- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

His Gypsy Room

The thread in Granoldi’s saffron robe glimmered as the candlelight danced across his gypsy room. Puck tickled his nose with a peacock plume so as to wake him slowly.

There was a bowl of diamonds on his bedside table, and a half eaten rhubarb pie.

- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

A Faerie Bear

Puck pressed pass the clown. Side by side, he was twice his size.

There was a trailer on the edge, made up like a Gypsy’s caravan. A sign in gold, above the arched door, read: “The Great Granoldi”.

He knocked loudly three times and then entered. The great Granoldi was sleeping rather heavily, just as the midget had said.

He was - is - a Faerie Bear, not native to this realm, but having wandered from his own, this immortal chose to live in the Earthly space. That is, for the most part; for while he slumbers he returns to his homeland to roam the magical forests there.

“Does he understand any language?”

“Oh, he understands all language, but never learnt to speak more than a few.”

“But why stay here then?”

“I asked him that not so long ago, and he had answered: 'because it was amusing'. Bears are pretty phlegmatic you know.”


- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Coming to see the Bear

The acrobat leapt down, landing hard upon the teflon floor.

“Why is it that so many Elves end up working in entertainment?” Puck mused to himself.

The contortionist was looking over his shoulder at him - all knew Puck, and rightly so, for he owned this circus, as well as the freehold to the riverbank it was perched upon.

“I’ve come to see the Bear,” Puck mumbled under his breath.

“I’m afraid to say that he is sleeping Sir. You know that oldy - nothing will rouse him when the winds from the north come to get ‘im.”

Puck ignored this. The midget was, after all, a compulsive liar.


- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

The Beast’s Nature

“What is Granoldi doing?”

“He’s giving you the finger.”

“The finger? What in Heaven’s name, is he doing with that?”

“It appears that he pocketed it just before we put the hag into the cart.”

“Oh” said Tobias blankly, remembering that the grave was well and truly sealed over with a special layer of hardened lime, that had been poured over the top for good measure.

“Best give it to me then.” he said rather thanklessly.

Granoldi looked hurt.

“He tries his best.” Murmur defended the old bear to the agitated Monk.

“I have no time for this comedy,” complained Murmur, “and I do not understand why Francis insists on their inclusions.”

“Nor do I, yet perhaps it is for the merit of their innocence Brother? There is a chance that the animals’ simplicity may teach us, and no matter anyways, for it is surely our common duty to care for the least of us.”

“And yet it has been argued, that the beast’s nature may bring us down into their lowly habits. That their very scent and whine afflicts our higher beings? What say you to that?”

Tobias thought for a moment, looked over at Granoldi, and then answered defiantly on his friend’s behalf, “Piff and piddle, is what I say. Piff and piddle.”


- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

The Quizzlings

“Oh no! It's the Quizzlings! Who the hell let them loose?

“This was surely an empiric disaster: for the madness that infects the minds of men from these dire beings overtakes the best of men. It is they who have destroyed whole cultures … Rome disintegrated due to its philosophers' musings, and Egypt suffered the abysmal infinitude of the Sphinx’s futile questions.

“They have the key itself into the disease of madness, and the very end of logic with reason, the devolvement of justice, where no longer can commonsense and fairness accord in the heart and mind of men.

“For the babbling chatter and interference of these horrible Quizzlings never fails to bring their subtle chaos.

"Life is born of reason, Truth underpins and upholds this World - and without the gravity of commonsense, the souls of men are hurled repeatedly into the abyss of Hell."

Charley looked mortified.

“You can’t read that to a three year old”, she protested.

Her Dad had little Toby lightly balanced upon his knee.

“It's not like I showed him the pictures” he said defensively.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Making Humans

“My brain hurts", protested Goober, whilst Charley was giving him his annual haircut.

“Don’t be such a baby” she chided.

“Baby!” Goober turned to face her “Baby?” he could read her mind.

“Please don’t tell Dad - not yet - I’m not up to it”, she started to cry hormones.

A small dragon crawled across the floor.

“It's magic you know,” he said cheerfully.

“You do realize that you say that about everything.”

“I know - but this whole make-a-human thing - it's a deeper magic than I understand. ”


- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Charley’s Mirror

Robyn went to unpack, grabbing what she had to stuff into the wardrobe. Being ravenous after the long flight, all she wanted was some of her mum’s familiar cooking. She rummaged deeper into her suitcase, scrummaging for the mementos she had souvenired along the way to give the family. Something tumbled out from the bundle. It was Charley’s mirror.

“Oh no!” she said casually to Calvin. “I borrowed this just before we left and it must have been wrapped with everything else in my suitcase … I guess I can post it back.”

As she placed it on the top shelf and shut the door, Robyn did not notice its silver glowing, and the feint hum coming from its frame.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

At the Airport

At the airport both parents had made the journey to greet her. They had aged. Or maybe, they were always that worn, and she had not noticed before this just how tired they looked. Hot sun and hard work can weather the farmer.

After hugging and exchanging introductions, they bundled into the car for the ninety kilometre drive out to the farm. The gravel roads slowed them somewhat. Looking out at the landscape, Calvin thought that the greenery looked anaemic- this country was dry as tinder, a tangle of twigs, dust clouds and blackened trees. He kept his observations and comparisons to himself.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

The Mysterious

Calvin was not one to embellish his words - he preferred to say what he meant, and to mean what he said.

And so when he would tell Robyn that he loved her, it was sincere and heartfelt. They were peaceful in each other’s presence.

Equally so, there had been a shift of consciousness that had remained with him, ever since the healing on the beach.

Calvin had not been told about the details that followed. All he knew, was he had found himself praying, and Francis had literally come back from the dead afterwards, and God came closer to him in that moment.

He could feel, at the back of his mind, something that was familiar with this event. How could the mysterious feel so unmysterious - so natural? And yet, it was. This interior awakening to God the Father had felt more real to him, than reality itself.

As an Australian, Robyn was easy going about this change of perspective. She was fairly relaxed about everything - her nature never saw contradictions in people - only evolvements.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Plane to Australia

Calvin looked across Robyn through to the window, watching the blur of deep orange smudges, as the plane descended into the dust of Australia.

“I just know my family will love you,” she said happily, as though reading his apprehension.

Inwardly Robyn was incredibly grateful to have Calvin by her side - and to be going home at last - it seemed impossibly blissful to have her two worlds meld. All of the people she loved the most would be in the one place together - how great was that?

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

A Genuine Love

Love is unreasonable, it does not rest on, or require, qualification.

No word or chapter can lead or leap into love - and so, all we need to know, is that Puck once found a genuine love, beyond affection and attraction, for Marley; and, that she - though human - had known love with him also.

Love with one, does not preclude love with many. Whether human or other-worldly, the spirit within can love many with this especial substance - for there are aeons to fill, and places to travel.

However the passion between these two was perhaps made concrete in the mutual love for their daughter also, with a certain fixation for her wellbeing, having brought their orbits closer.


- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

The Intuited Connect

Love happens upon one with no back story, no mammogram for finding, no karmic recall.

It is in a moment, or collection of moments, where the airs of Heaven are breathed from within, where the intuited connect, where the spaces between one soul and another, gives birth to the fairy dust that will form the future worlds to come.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Water the Remedy

“The remedy for all ills, is therefore continually with us - it is all around us, and it need only be activated. Yes, the Fountain of Youth, is …. simply … water.”

“Tap water?”

“Yes.”

“Sewer water?”

“Yes.”

“Seawater?”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

Suddenly it dawned on her - the simplicity of deep magic.

“Nature has her wisdom, even if we don’t”, he said rubbing his forehead as though trying to evacuate the misthoughts of the Human world.


- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

All Water is Homeopathic

"Have you ever heard of Homeopathy?”

“Yes, well no - er maybe …”

“Let me explain it this way:

"All water is homeopathic, and it contains trace elements of minute particles from ages past.

"Even though they are undetected, these trace elements are present. Water holds infinitely small hosts of association: of cloud, of angel, of mineral, of all that it has dwelt in and around it.

"It has a memory within its nature, because has been a body of all these things.

"To all that which lives, Water has given life to.

“It knows life intimately, and traces of this remain within its shape-changing body."

- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Egypt of Antiquity

All roads go back into the Egypt of Antiquity - largely, it is said, because the people of that time can no longer go forward.

Mummification held a dual purpose in ancient times: it was to enable an eternal key into the spiritual worlds, whilst at the same time to block the soul from reincarnating its way back into the earthly realm.

Yet the soul is a separate being to its body, and the holdover attraction back, was only partial.

Now there are hundreds of thousands of individuals who are born and walk this earth feeling as though a part of them is missing - which, literally, it is, because it remains in particles locked within former corpse. Some of us have mummified remains locked in time.

Master Puck often would go into these catacombs to counsel the ghosts held there. He would blast the tombs one by one, to disseminate the particles, freeing the corpses, so that once and for all, their astral remains were released back to their owners.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

The Real Francis

She pushed back tears, she was missing the real Francis more than ever at this moment. Of course it was his baby - for she had not ‘been’ with him (his father) after his falling off that cliff - oh, why did he have to die?

She did not realize that his spirit stood by her as she thought this. She could not feel his hand upon her shoulder.

****

A solitary baby unicorn stumbled across the lawn - it had just been born, and was feeding from the dew on the grass.


- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Motherhood

"I've never really thought of myself as a mother - or being a mother - before” Charley said softly.

"Do you think you might need some counselling? Would it be helpful with coming to the right decision?" the female medic asked.

She had just confirmed the pregnancy, and Charley was obviously dumbfounded. She sat there wondering which Francesco was the father.

“We will run the usual blood tests and you can come back in a few days, and we can go over your options then”, said the professional.

“Righteo” said Charley, mimicking her friend Robyn - after hearing it on a daily basis, it was the ‘go to’ answer for everything.

- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Perilous Times

“Oh well then” … Goober sighed - “is no one safe? I mean - from attack, from disintegration, from this earthly world wearing them down? ”

“These are perilous times my friend,” Puck said, as he scanned the ethers for an answer.

“Will we ever find some peace to it all?”

“Not for awhile. Take a breath, if two Hobbots can stay steadfast, then we two can also” he said stoically.

Goober was not sure if this was said simply to be kind, but he welcomed the reassurance anyways. Puck and he had seen a lot of history in the last ten thousand years or so, and it could be tiring - yet he always found a project to throw himself into, something to better the human world with.

“I think I like this age the best”, he said to his friend with a gentle smile.

“I am inclined to agree with you. The magic is thicker and the spells invade their thinking, yet their spirits shine through. Not a bad time at all to be alive in and watch Mankind as it is becoming. ”

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Merlin you say?

“What can I say? some folk have talents for things …”

‘Folk?’ Goober never thought of Gandalfo as being folk. But for Puck the relationship came from the Golden Era of the globe - way before the Middle Earth crisis they had known.

“So, let me get this straight … you say he was into gunpowder back in the day, and went by the name of Joseph … was entrusted with the fate of yet another relic, conveyed it to Britain and gave it to Merlin?”

“No … he was - er, is, - Merlin.”

“Thats a lot to take in, but you know … it makes perfect sense.”

“Truth usually does” Puck nodded knowingly.

“Merlin you say? Joseph, of Arimathae was one of us?”

“Yep.”

- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

A Perpetude of Grace

Elves have a gift often of foresight, and Puck could see a Golden Age some distance away in the horizon. A time for Humanity to become immortal as they, and for the Immortals to develop their souls in self-consciousness like them.

Yes, he could see it, and it was grand. The boughs of Karma were untwined, and true happiness reflected back from Man and Elf alike. The Kingdoms finally could breathe together, with a cosmic pulse that aligned with the highest of the Heavens. A perpetude of Grace sustained all races, all creatures, all beings - with a constancy that would remain forever.

- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Mending the World

“We must help him [Gandalf]" he said. “But how?”

“By mending this World.” said Puck with sober meaning. “For all of our fates are intertwined. The noble and the novice, tied with the one silver cord, that pulls up, and it pulls down.”

Goober was disappointed to contemplate this - it appeared to be a perilously, miserably long struggle then, ahead of everyone.

“I’ll go get a bleach for the table then.”

“Thanks Peanut” replied Puck absentmindedly.


- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Living in a World of Visions

Gandalf’s milky eyes glazed over now to pure white - he appeared as a being who lived in the world of visions - seeing but a different time - displaced in the realm where his feet hit the ground.

“I want to help you” said Puck gently, placing his hand on the old Wizard’s shoulder.

His offer was heart driven, for this stern soul before him had given more to the World than the World had known.

“I am sure this is only temporary” he whispered in his ear.

Flinty led him out slowly. Although he suffered no pain or weakness, Gandalfo’s fix was uncertain, and his bearings incomplete.

“I will call upon you soon” called Puck after them.

Goober shook his head - dismayed to see the mighty one bereft of his ordinary senses.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Flinty

The study door opened and Flinty stomped in.

“I’ve come to collect ‘im”, he said deeply.

‘That’s a rather low voice for a little chap’ thought Goober to himself.

Flinty grunted.

Flinty was a dwarf from the highlands - the clan of the Keepers of the Trees. On Earth they now owned a chain of large home and garden depots.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Charley Pregnant

Marley [the spirit] was content to remain close by.

She constantly watched over her daughter Charley, who although she did not know it yet, was now pregnant and due to have her baby half a year away.

And then there was Puck.

She loved to watch him - it filled in her day. He could not see her, and from what she had seen of him, he had been faithful to her all this time. He had not been dating any women, or sprites - had no infatuations, no liaisons, no flirtations.

Their attraction was complex - and went way back - back to the times when they kept a rural charity, with his forest bred brethren encamped in the Nottingham scrub.

A part of her, longed to be with a part of him. Yet she could not show herself. And, until she was absolutely ready, he would not be able to see her in return. Perhaps she was closer this way? Yes, she would wait - at least a little longer …

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Metaphysical Hole

Marley had fallen down a deep hole and did not know how to find her way out. It was, more precisely, a metaphysical hole, yet those can be the hardest to find one’s way out from.

Brogan had slipped away from her - yet again - into another incarnation, she imagined … and she, all the meanwhile, chose to keep to her spirit-self, as there was still much of her time on earth remaining.

Most spirits become earthbound after a suicide or homicide - for they are tied to its atmosphere for the length of years and minutes, that the course of their ordinary life would have taken, were they not discharged so early.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

All I see is the Past

Gandalf’s coffee was swirling rapidly in his cup, and his plate dropped loudly onto the alabaster table.

It was a beautiful table - pristine white with veins of real gold patterning through it.

“Should have put down a covering cloth” Puck thought to himself annoyed at the mess all over it.

Gand’s pale blue eyes were almost as white as his hair, and were watering constantly. Goober was concerned the old fellow was crying, but could not tell.“All I can see now is the past” the sage confided.

“When I meditate, or reflect, when I ponder yon … when I try to cast thought into what may become … all I can see is the past, and I am deadlocked. It is as though some unsavoury spell has fixed my mind upon itself.”

“What is the very last thing you remember?” Puck asked.

“Cherry Juice.” the Wizard said flatly.

“Cherry Juice?”

“Yes, Cherry Juice as it spilt nigh.”

Seconds later the urn central to the meal started friskily rocking, only to then topple, spilling out and onto the table top in purple pools.

“I see” said Puck. “How's about we take our nightcap in the study?”

- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

He inwardly Cringed

John Howe 

“No, no more smoke rings my boys” he said, as though they were expecting the usual entertainment. Puck and Goober were more concerned that smoke was coming out of him without a pipe or a cigar having been lit.

“No rings,” he repeated, “just fragrant winds at both ends” he chuckled.

“That’s my man” thought Puck, as he glimpsed the former soul he had known and loved.

“I have something to ask of you” Gand solemnly said in his deepest voice. More smoke came out.

“Well,” said Puck hesitantly, “we all know how that went last time you led a cause". Although Puck said this jovially, he inwardly cringed.


- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Puff of Smoke from an Ancient Pipe

Alan Lee 

Goober quite nearly fell off his chair. The Wizard was known for his short temper with heated consequences.

But Puck knew otherwise - for he could see plainly that his preoccupation had a much deeper repose - nothing he could say or do would shift him out from it.

“The Mortals exhumed our history, to then exile it, and me, into the plains of allegory.” He sighed and a puff of smoke from an ancient pipe evacuated with it.

- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Magic in the Stew

"Notoriety changes everything” the sage agreed. He stroked his beard tentatively.

Puck waited for him to continue. Gandalfo had been picking at his food - pushing it around his plate - using his magic to separate the stew, idly waving his hand over it, whilst the carrots danced in perfect formation and re-assembled themselves back from the cuts.

The herbs even began to grow again … Absentmindedly Gandalfo had instilled a little life force into his dinner, which was now hovering an inch above the table.

“Stop playing with your food”, Puck berated the elderly Master.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Ring Thing

“Oh no, don’t go telling me that you are going to take credit for the ring thing, because I am not having it.”

It had crossed Puck’s mind. He did love a good story.

“No, of course I had no part in it - not the end bit, or the middle bit at least. But I would like a little credit in finding those little furry friends and introducing them to the old Wizard.”

“That was a very long time ago - let us just focus on the task at hand shall we? Was it meat pies or mince pies that this old pyrotech prefers?”

“Blackbird pie”, Goober said awkwardly.

Just then the bell sounded at the door.

“This is exciting" he said, “it's been far too long.”


- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Who's coming to Dinner

“Gandalfo? You’ve invited Gandalfo! Well, well - I say, we better get ready to prepare.”

Goober was beside himself. He had always been a suck for celebrities. He could not help becoming overwhelmed energetically by the famous and the powerful - their glamour was way too much for the humble Elf.

“I don’t see what the fuss is about dear fellow”, Puck said mildly.

"All too calm he is,” Goober thought to himself.

“We knew him long before he was memorialised in that epic” Puck chided, reading his thoughts.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Azlan on Worry

Worry is the transport of the minor demons, and as such, worries precipitate disease and malfunction.

Let life be life, and it will find its way.

Trust in the wisdoms about you - and if you yourself cannot add to a positive outcome, let those who can, lead the path forward.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Without a Worry in the World

Life was so much easier without a worry in the World. For it is only in this World that we have worries to dog our thinking, and cast doubts before we ever begin.

Heaven does not abide any kind of self lament, or tedious nag - and even with the greatest cares of all, they are manifest through love and purpose, and never defined by worry.

Worry is insatiable - it erodes the future ere it begins.

- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Miracles & Murmur

Willem van Mieris 

“What am I to do now?” the desperate man [Brother Theo] entreated.

“Go back to your vespers and give a prayer of thanks” - replied the sophisticated Monk somewhat heartlessly.

“But Brother, you do not understand.”

However it was no use, as Murmur had already gone - as was his want to leave straight away after a healing.

By all appearances this act had become no more than flinging mud from his sandal, as he found these miracles in his later years bewilderingly tiresome.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Heaven can Wait

Brother Theo was not an impious man, but rather, it could be said, that he was acutely dutiful - reprimanding himself unforgivingly for every infraction and untoward slip, continuously. For it was, that he sought the Heavenly reward far more than life itself.

His suicide was not really impetuous, for he had been preparing for it, for this, for most of his life.

When Murmur had discovered him, Theo’s neck was displaced, and his head faced the East, whilst his body faced the West.

In just minutes the deceased man was revived.

Murmur was no longer young himself, and as such, had witnessed so many resurrections he had lost count of them. He literally thought nothing of it.

But to the soul he had ‘saved’ it was an entirely different matter.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

The Dracula Principle

"And, (and here is the evility to recognize) it would [the serpent], and does, eat its very own in order to stay alive.

"It is verily the Dracula principle, one which holds contempt for every creature considered frail or beneath them, dismissing their existence mercilessly, as no more than sustenance or sacrifice for their own ends.

"Those who have given over to this reptilian coldness can be recognized in this World as being faithful to only one, and self-serving at the core.

"They may lie very well, professing altruism, or mimicking charity, yet they are but two faced forgeries.

"In truth, their own arrogance draws them into the serpent’s hole, as they justify harm to even they of their own kind. Thus the Dragon devours its own tail - the ultimate self fulfilment - closed to all else within an infinite cycle of self love and acquisition.

"Cannibalism is universally unworkable. It is a practice that comes from the invert worlds - and make no mistake, it is pure evil."


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Circle of Endless Cycle

The great Lion raised its paw and pointed to an invisible wall where a motif appeared there before them. It was of a dragon that had become a circle, eating its own tail.

“See the Ouroboros. Do you know what it represents to many?”

“Infinity” came the reply.

“Yes. And its imagery is apt - for the Dragon lives on.

"Firstly, this circle of endless cycle, represents a continuum of the same i.e. a constant death of sorts - an enduring world that refuses to break down or give way, one that clings to its own existence … a Luciferic sphere, that does not seek or tolerate change … wishing only to maintain that which it already is."


- Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Infinity times Two

"There is not just one type of infinity my child - but two. I shall explain to you now the very mystery and truth about good and evil.

"Yes, it can be told: one from the other. One is not the same as the other, as evil might have it … the principles of good and evil are indeed very clear, when you know them.

"And, equally, there are two ways of infinity."


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances

Ouroboros Serpent

Vlad would hold his inner gaze on this Serpent for hours at a time.

Later in life he despised all who he considered to be less than he. Weakness, he perceived, was a sign of unholiness. The weak did not conform to God.

In his alignment to the unnamed one, Vlad walked a lonely path - for no other came close to his private and personal elevation. He hid well this secret alliance. His certifiable smugness. This extreme and inverted egotism. He took his own counsel, and agreed with himself, that Vlad, and only Vlad, was worthy of the highest prize.


-Gabriel Brunsdon, AZLANDER: NEVER ENDINGS: Second Chances