He is Gumbrodd, he can do anything! But in spite of unrivaled magical abilities, the cure for his mother’s ailment eludes him. Witness the birth of Gumbrodd, the tragedy of the pestilence befalling his mother and his quest to find a cure. Witness the rise of the God Okaya and the Winged Ones’ fall from grace turning them into the Fallen henceforward to be feared and hated by the population of the world.

This is an independent* companion book to “Under Dark Wings” (also by Sascha & Tatiyana Witt) delving into the mythology of the world of “Under Dark Wings”.

* It is not necessary for the reader to be familiar with the other novel to understand and enjoy the plot and story of “Path to Ascension”. But fans of “Under Dark Wings” may find additional information in this volume which further explores the mythology and religion of the world.

VII. Gumbrodd performs five wonders

   There are an almost limitless number of anecdotes describing Gumbrodd performing amazing wonders during his time at the monastery.  It is not certain that he ever really performed all of the wonders attributed to him.  And it is likely that some of the stories tell of the same event, even if the setting or details of the wonder have been altered in the various stories.  I have chosen five basic themes that keep occurring in the stories.  These are Gumbrodd solving conflicts that seem to be unsolvable; Gumbrodd healing crippling injuries; Gumbrodd curing epidemics of dangerous illnesses; Gumbrodd performing feats of control over inanimate objects; and last but not least, Gumbrodd feeling where to find life.  Of those I have chosen one anecdote each and described the events in this story, which is in fact a collection of five different stories.  It should also be pointed out, that the story of the healed cripple is in many ways reminiscent of the healing described in the last story.  It may be that in the actual history of Gumbrodd only one person was cured of a crippling injury during Gumbrodd’s stay at the monastery.  Or it is entirely possible that he cured several cripples in the surrounding villages.  What is certain, however, is that Gumbrodd performed a series of spectacular wonders prompting story tellers across the known world to tell of these feats.

Scholar and scribe Zarlon of Feldria

   Gumbrodd had advanced quickly from novice to disciple during his stay with the brothers.  Many of the monks thought the young man was advancing too quickly.  They argued that Gumbrodd entirely missed the greater purpose of meditating in the peace and serenity of the monastery.  These monks argued that it was not the purpose of the monastery to teach wondrous skills.  And according to these voices it was not the purpose of the monks to perform wonders among the common folk like gypsy magicians.  Much rather, they argued, the purpose of life in the monastery was to gain spirituality and enlightenment.  By the same philosophy some of the most important skills a monk could learn were patience and humility.

   Gumbrodd on the other hand was highly skilled and very ambitious.  He did not know why others came to monastery.  But he knew why he had come here.  And that reason was not in order to sit around doing nothing and seeking enlightenment.  His reason was to learn skills of healing and to return home with them in order to cure his mother of the pestilent rot.

    “The purpose of your life at the monastery is to gain spirituality and enlightenment,” one of the brothers might have said to Gumbrodd.

   “If you think you serve a higher purpose by sitting on your arse doing nothing, do not let me stop you brother.  But I am here to learn, not to waste my time being patient,” Gumbrodd would undoubtedly answer such a statement made at him.

   “You must learn to be patient and humble,” another brother might have said to him on another occasion.

   “Patience and humility you say?  Are these not just the excuses of the lazy and of the unskilled to explain why they are not able to perform even the most basic skills taught here at the monastery?” Gumbrodd answered to such a statement.  And it was what he believed.  Gumbrodd believed that the monks were wasting their time.  He had not seen any of them, not even the grandmasters, having gained enlightenment or having gained more spirituality.  All of the other monks’ patience and humility had gained them no more than that: they were humble and patient.  Many of them were patiently waiting for their enlightenment all their lives, only so they could die knowing that their patience had been in vain.  Gumbrodd considered such an attitude very silly.  He knew that if you wanted something, you needed to go out and take it.  Waiting patiently and humbly would not help you gain what you wanted or desired.  Aside from that, Gumbrodd could not agree with the brothers that their abilities were only side effects of their path toward enlightenment.  The young man knew that the abilities were an end to themselves.  He was the living proof of his own philosophy.  Gumbrodd did not seek enlightenment or spirituality.  Yet the abilities that the brothers condescendingly called side effects, Gumbrodd too was able to develop.  And since he made it his purpose to learn these skills, he soon surpassed the other disciples, most of the so called masters and even a fair number of the grandmasters in the monastery.

   While the other monks called Gumbrodd arrogant, it was Gumbrodd who regularly left the monastery to use his skills and abilities to help the villagers in the surrounding villages.  Was it any less arrogant to possess abilities that may cure a man of illness, but to keep it to yourself instead of helping the sick man?  In Gumbrodd’s mind this was much more arrogant and cynical than anything he was doing.  All he did, after all, was to point out, that the abilities and powers of the monks were not side effects, but were a purpose.  And they were a good purpose, one that had the power to do a lot of good in the world.

   “Perhaps this is the enlightenment all of you claim to seek,” said Gumbrodd in one of his numerous discussions with the other monks on the subject.  But the others never believed him, even though in his own mind at least he was making sense.  He was making much more sense than the brothers.  This did not mean that the other monks did not like him.  They did.  They were worried about him when he left the monastery to make his rounds through the surrounding villages.  They were happy to see him when he came back.  They were even happy about his skills, especially when he cured or healed one of the brothers.  They just refused to take his arguments serious.  They were convinced that they were right and he was wrong.  And that was the end of the discussion for them, except to say that one day also Gumbrodd would learn to be humble and patient.  And when that day came, he would understand what they had tried to teach him all along.  Little did they know that this day would never come!

   The first of the five wonders Gumbrodd performed was a wonder of control over inanimate objects.  Along with a group of other disciples Gumbrodd received a lesson about the power of the soul.

   “The ways of the soul are such, that, if you have faith, you can gain control over the world around you, even without using your hands to grab or move things,” the monk teaching the disciples told them.  After having explained that to the disciples, the monk stared at a smooth pebble placed before him.  A few moments later the pebble was floating in front of his eyes.  Without touching it the monk turned it around, turned it upside down and let it spin in place before him.  Then he told the disciples to try and duplicate the skill with their own pebbles.  He warned them that it might take many days before they might succeed.  And as usual he told them that, however, patience and perseverance would lead them to success.

   While the other men were staring at their pebble intently and were almost straining to make it move, as much as this was possible for someone who did not move, Gumbrodd just took it easy.  If the monk showing them the feat could make the pebble float, then so could Gumbrodd!  There was no doubt in the young man’s mind about that.  Neither did it take very long for him to succeed.  Within mere moments Gumbrodd’s pebble was floating before him.  Like the monk he turned it this way and that way and made it spin around.  Then he used it to trace circles with it in the air.  But what good was it to float a pebble?

   “Can also larger items be moved this way?” asked Gumbrodd.  The monk answered that according to legend grandmaster Juckrin was able to float up to twice his own body weight.

   “But that is only a legend,” said the monk and claimed that he had never seen anyone move more than a fist sized stone.

   “Then perhaps no one you have seen had had enough faith?” said Gumbrodd.  It was not lost to him that at the beginning of the lesson the monk had claimed that it took faith to gain control of the world around him.

   “Some things are just impossible young Gumbrodd.  Also with your hands you are limited at how heavy an item you can pick up.  It is no different with the power of the soul,” explained the monk.  But Gumbrodd was not willing to accept such an explanation.  To him it did not make sense, that the soul would be as limited as the material body.

   There was no point in arguing with the man, however.  There was no point, if all Gumbrodd had to do was prove him wrong with actions rather than with arguments.  Still circling and spinning the pebble before him, the young man looked around.  With a devious smile he then fixated on the rock the teacher was sitting on.  The rock alone, he guessed, weighed at least five times his weight and the rather corpulent master sitting on it would add another two to three times Gumbrodd’s weight.

   “Things are only impossible to those who limit themselves,” stated Gumbrodd in a tone of voice that suggested that he, not the monk, was the master.  The teacher tried to argue the point.  But his mouth stayed open as the rock underneath him suddenly shook, almost dropping the monk to the ground.  Then the rock started to lift off the ground, with the monk still sitting on it.  Anything the master may have wanted to say in argument remained unsaid, as he stared in disbelief first at Gumbrodd, then at the rock beneath him and then back at Gumbrodd, who still let the little pebble spin before him.

   “As you can see, with a little less patience and humility and a little more determination, even impossible things become possible,” said Gumbrodd, as he carefully lowered the rock with the monk still sitting on it back down to the ground.

   Gumbrodd often traveled to the villages surrounding the monastery.  Also a few days after showing the master, what could be done, if one was determined, Gumbrodd set out to travel to the villages and offer his aid, if it might be needed.  The villagers always awaited him eagerly.  They knew he would be healing their injuries and would be curing their illnesses.  Like Gumbrodd as well, the villagers wondered, why so few of the monks ever traveled to the villages to offer their skills to aid the people.  Gumbrodd felt his own opinions confirmed by the words of the peasants.  And he reveled in the gratitude and the recognition the people were offering him for his services.  Sometimes the people paid him.  But he did not need material wealth.  There was little use of material things in the monastery.  The gratitude and the recognition on the other hand did his soul good.  He was right and the brotherhood was wrong.  That was the truth of the matter for Gumbrodd.  He was right in learning the skills as an end in itself, not as an accompanying effect.  And he was right when he claimed that it was a duty for those who had the skill to also use it to make the lives of others easier. 

   Reaching Morningvale, Gumbrodd asked the villagers, what it was he could do to help them.  Like every time he got there during his travels, the people soon lined up to have minor injuries and illnesses healed and cured.  Like most of the time, the need was not so great.  Gumbrodd spent his time healing cuts and bruises.  Not all of these injuries were completely innocuous, not if they were left untended.  But Gumbrodd had no problems with healing any of them.  Some people were ill.  But there too, most of the time it was only some common illnesses, a cough or a blocked nose, sometimes a bit of fever, but nothing that would be a danger to anyone.  Gumbrodd was so skilled with the art of healing by this time that it took him only the time of a single breath to cure most of these illnesses.

   Then, however, several young men carried their father to Gumbrodd.

   “A few days hence he has fallen from a ladder,” said the oldest of them and explained that since then the old man could not move anymore.  Gumbrodd examined the man and told his sons that they were lucky that their father was still alive at all.

   “His neck was broken,” said Gumbrodd and took a few deep breaths to concentrate on the healing of this injury.  Unlike the minor injuries, healing the man from a broken neck and from paralysis was exhausting for the healer.  Any man with less skill than Gumbrodd would have had a hard time healing the man at all.  But Gumbrodd knew he had the necessary skill and strength to perform the healing.  Gumbrodd first fixed the bone in the man’s neck.  Then he had to put life back into the man’s body, so that the old man could move again.  It took some doing.  The old man’s body resisted the healing.  The old man himself seemed to resist the healing granted to his body.  But failure was not an option for Gumbrodd.  He had agreed to heal the man.  And there was only one thing he could not cure.  To his great dismay, that was the pestilent rot, the disease his mother was suffering from.  But granting a paralyzed man his movement back was something Gumbrodd could do.  He was not willing to fail in this matter.

   In the end he was exhausted, but the happy looks on the younger men and the look of disbelief on the old man, when he could suddenly move his arms and legs again, was a great reward for Gumbrodd.

   “You are not a young man anymore mister, perhaps in the future one of your sons can climb the ladder instead of you,” said Gumbrodd, while the happy family was still praising him for his wonder.

   During this trip to the villages the healing of the paralyzed man was the most noteworthy feat that Gumbrodd had performed.  After four days he returned to the monastery to continue his studies.

   When Gumbrodd travelled through the villages he was healing the peasants of their injuries and curing their illnesses.  But he was also very good at telling the truth from a lie.  And he was a good mediator in any issue of strife.  He was known amongst the people to be impartial and fair in his judgment.  Gumbrodd also had a skill to tell exactly what the issue was in any conflict.  He could tell exactly what either side really wanted.  This allowed him to suggest compromises that both sides were willing to accept.

   Because of these skills Gumbrodd also acted as a judge when he visited the villages.  Like with his healing skills most of the time his services were used for minor things.  Gumbrodd was called upon to settle petty squabbles.  But sometimes there were situations where Gumbrodd with his skill could really shine.

   One day he arrived in Morningvale.  In the village he was already well known for many healings and curing he had performed for the peasants there.  And he was well known for his skill and his fairness as a judge as well.

   On this day the villagers had had a very difficult task for him.  In the village two of the most influential families, the Graden family and the Harken family, had been feuding for generations now.  No one alive remembered, what the original offense may have been, but both the Gradens and the Harkens could cite a gross of reasons, why the other family was at fault for the feud.

   From the other villagers Gumbrodd also learned that at least three dozen renowned judges had tried to lead the feud to a favorable end for both sides.  But all of these judges had failed.  There was no common ground they could find for the Gradens and the Harkens.

   Gumbrodd decided to prolong his stay in the village this time.  He listened to all of the villagers telling their knowledge of the feud between the two families.  And he allowed all of the adult members, both the men and, unlike many of the other judges, also the wenches, to tell him their personal version of what this feud was about and what atrocities were committed by the other family during the years.

   Gumbrodd wrote down all of the statements made to him and all of the stories about the feud given to him.  Then he spent three days reading over his notes.  Except when he had another question to one of the people telling him one of the stories, Gumbrodd did not allow anyone to talk to him during this time.  And he spent time in meditation, during which he could look at all of the statements made to him, while he was free of his own emotions.

   After the three days had passed, he called the family elders of both families to him and informed them of his judgment.  He judged that any offenses committed at a time prior to the time, when any living members of either family were not yet in their adult age, would be forgiven and forgotten.  Such judgment had been passed by most of the other judges as well.  But unlike his predecessors, Gumbrodd was very convincing.  Some say he used the powers of the soul to appeal to the souls of the feuding families, so that they were willing to receive and accept a fair judgment free of preconceptions.

   For both of the families Gumbrodd had identified the issues that bothered them the most.  And for both families he had identified the most heinous crimes they had committed on the other family.  With each case he first looked for a case of the other family and recommended that similar crimes should be considered to cancel one another out.  Thus, the murder of young Ferdin Graden could be considered avenged with the death of Gertrude Harken.  The destruction of the Harken family orchids was avenged with the burning of the Graden crops.  The Harkens may have slaughtered one of the Graden’s milking cows, but was this not avenged by the loss of four sheep from the Harken’s flock, when two Graden boys opened the pen in the middle of the night?  And similar deals were worked out by Gumbrodd.

   Once more, such a suggestion had been made many times before.  But once more, Gumbrodd succeeded where all of the other judges had failed.  He managed to convince the family elders that such a judgment was fair to them and to their families.

   For the offenses that remained, he allowed the damaged party to make a suggestion on how their family might be compensated and urged each of the elders to make reasonable demands.  No one would have thought it possible, but each of the compensation demands was fair and was often accepted by the other family without even attempting to haggle about them.

   In the end both families thanked Gumbrodd and invited him to dine with them and to share bread and salt with them.  A feud that had lasted for generations had been put to rest.  And only a few months later the first of many Graden – Harken weddings was celebrated.  Gumbrodd was invited as a witness to the wedding and once more basked in the praise and gratitude he received from the two families.

   On another occasion when Gumbrodd travelled to the villages, a man and a woman frantically approached him.  It appeared that their son had run off to play in the nearby caves.  But the boy had never returned.  The couple was worried that the boy may have lost his way and was now trapped in the caves.

   Gumbrodd briefly closed his eyes and tested the caves with his soul.  As he opened his eyes again, he spared a friendly smile for the worried parents.

   “Your son is alive, but he does need my help.  Take me to these caves now and you shall soon be reunited,” said Gumbrodd.

   The father of the boy took him to the entrance of the caves, where Gumbrodd requested a torch and then told the man to wait outside.

   Taking deep breaths and for a moment closing his eyes again the disciple opened his soul once more, like his teacher had taught him.  With his soul rather than with his eyes, he looked for the missing boy.  Or more precisely, he looked for the life that he had identified as the boy before.  Then he just trusted his instincts to lead him straight to the boy.  The cave was like a maze.  But Gumbrodd did not take a wrong step, not when he was going in toward the boy, nor when he was coming out, while leading the boy to his waiting father.

   “I assume you have learned that the caves are too dangerous for a boy like you to play in,” said Gumbrodd to the boy.

   The boy’s parents, especially his mother, were overjoyed at Gumbrodd’s success.  They offered Gumbrodd great gifts out of their scanty possessions.  Gumbrodd appreciated the gratitude and appreciated that they gave him his due.  But he could tell that the family was not very rich.  So the only gift he accepted was the invitation to dine with the family that evening.

   “I appreciate your gratitude and your generous offers, but I have not saved the boy so that he can then starve in his parents’ house.  Keep your possessions good people, you need them more than I do,” said Gumbrodd, as he refused to accept the other gifts offered him.

   Once during his travels, Gumbrodd arrived in the villages at the darkest of times.  Already from afar he could hear the wailing and the crying of the villagers.  As he approached Morningvale, a young man armed with a spear warned him to stay away.

   “Stay away my friend.  The plague has struck Morningvale.  Only death awaits anyone inside the village,” said the man to Gumbrodd.  But the disciple did not fear the plague.  He did not fear any type of disease.  For with the exception of the pestilent riot, the disease his mother was suffering from, there was no disease in the world that Gumbrodd could not protect himself against.  And there were very few diseases that Gumbrodd still had not acquired the skill to cure.  The plague he could cure.  In spite of the quick spread of the disease among the population, like a wildfire in a dry forest, and in spite of the disease causing death so quickly, any healer with any skill to his name could learn to cure the plague.  And Gumbrodd had more than a little skill to his name.  He could cure the plague not only in a single person.  He had acquired the much more difficult skill of curing whole groups of people of the disease at the same time.

   “Do not fear for my safety good man,” Gumbrodd answered the armed man and instead of turning away from the village he approached it.  He reminded the man that he was well aware of Gumbrodd’s healing skills.

   “Many an injury have I healed and many a disease have I cured.  I can cure the village of the plague, just as I have cured it of a cough so many times before,” said Gumbrodd and strode past the guard and toward the village.

   In just four days since the plague had arrived in the village, it had ravaged the settlement.  Eight out of a dozen of people were suffering from the disease.  One out of each dozen had already died.  The villagers were scared and were without hope.  Even the arrival of Gumbrodd did not give them hope, for they had no confidence that the disciple would be skilled enough to cure them, in spite of all of the wonders he had performed for them in the past.

   There was solemn silence in the village as Gumbrodd strode onto the village square.  Some of the villagers eyed him and a shimmer of hope appeared in their eyes.  But most of the peasants had already lost all hope.  Even Gumbrodd’s arrival could not dispel the ghosts of pain, hopelessness and suffering for them.  The plague had already taken some of their loved ones from them.  The world was bleak and gray and death ruled the village of Morningvale.

   “Hear me good people.  I have come to end your suffering.  The plague has no power over me and I can dispel the taint of the plague,” called out Gumbrodd.

   Initially he was not received as well as he had hoped.  The first people that came to him accused him of being too late.  What good could his presence do after their son had already died?  What help could he possibly be, after the husband has already been taken from a family with fourteen children?

   Also Gumbrodd knew that next to the pestilent rot the one thing he could not cure was death.

   “Not yet,” he told himself.  But so far he had not heard of any human who could raise the dead.  But there were legends of the winged ones possessing such power.  And that meant it could be done.  And if it could be done, then also Gumbrodd would learn how to do it!  But at this time Gumbrodd had to admit that for the people who had already lost their families he could not do anything.  But there were people in the village that had caught the plague but had not succumbed to it yet.  And these people he knew he could help.

   He asked the villagers to bring out all of the sick to the village square, where he would work his healing and would banish the evil taint of the plague from Morningvale.

   Not everyone trusted him, even though it was Gumbrodd they had before them.  No one really dared to believe that their suffering would come to an end.  But also none of them had much to lose.  One by one the people of the village appeared before Gumbrodd.  The sick, the ones who could no longer walk by themselves, were carried to the village square.  Gumbrodd started his meditation.  He had never tried to heal so many people at once.  This would be a new challenge for him.  But it was a challenge he knew he could master.

   “Have faith good people of Morningvale.  Your salvation is at hand,” said Gumbrodd.  Then he used a technique the monks called spreading out the soul.  Gumbrodd and some of the more sensitive people felt how his soul touched theirs.  He felt how his soul touched the souls of everyone present.  Then he called upon the power of his soul and through his soul sent waves of healing.  And the taint was lifted from the people like a dark cloud that rose high into the air and then dissipated in the wind.  The people who had been sick and dying were well again, albeit a bit weak.  The people who had already been tainted were cured of this evil taint, before the plague could strike them down.  And those who had not suffered from the taint yet gained protection, so that for three moons and three days no sickness could befall them.  This had given the people enough time to weather out the current plague without risking picking up the taint again within these three months.

   The villagers celebrated for three days and Gumbrodd was an honored guest throughout the celebrations.  Gifts were offered him from every family in the village.  Some he graciously accepted.  Others he refused, because he knew that the person offering it could ill afford to lose it.  Also of the other gifts, the gifts that he accepted, Gumbrodd in turn gave away most of them again, turning them into gifts for the local children.  Only a few items that could easily be carried did he keep for himself.  Gumbrodd knew he deserved the praise.  And he much appreciated the praise that he received from the villagers.  But while he was staying at the monastery there was little use for him to collect a lot of material possessions.  It was important to him that the people thanked him and that they offered him these gifts in gratitude.  But it was not important to him to actually have these items.  It was the gratitude behind the gifts that Gumbrodd took as a reward for his work.