Chrysalis — The Dawn of Mooland Tales

UPDATED: 2024-11-21 8473 WORDS

7

WORK IN PROGRESS! — v0.8/15

7. Peaklands: Visionary Heights ¶

The first rays of the sun were barely above the horizon as Izzy and Manny awoke from their slumber, both surprisingly fresh and well-rested. Manny was more of an early morning creature. Izzy not so much. They packed their backpacks and wanted to bid farewell to Sister Moomama. She was still asleep, so they just tagged a note of gratitude to the door of her hut. "Ssh! Quietly! Watch your steps in the dark!", whispered Izzy. Not to wake up the sleeping sisters who had earned the calm of their rest after a very busy day of caring.

Ammoolia had left them with a precise map of Mooland to help plot their routes and not to fall into harm's way. Manny had memorized almost all of it. The decision was to take the eastern route to the Peaklands. Peaklands is a mountainous half-band of a realm beyond the Highlands, towering tall above the northern realms. It stretches from the East through the North all the way to the West of Mooland, bordering the Strangelands and the Heatlands in the southern hemiscookie. (Which is the proper scientific term used by Mooland cartographers. The term hamiškooky is also in use and more common in the southern dialects.) The terrain of the East Peaklands would be easier to trek and it leads to the more densely populated areas around the Mantisian Academy.

Settle Down: Foundation of Peaklands ¶

Nearing the inner edge of the Peaklands brought a distinct change to the landscape. The roundness of the hillside began to yield before the sharp and rugged features typical of a mountain realm. Orchards and abundant flowers were absent from these mountain steppes. In their place, we had low-growing shrubs, herbs, and hardy grasses scattered in patches of mostly poor soil supporting life amidst the harsh and rocky terrain. The sort of fodder you might like to cook first. Izzy wasn't particularly picky about choice of food as long as it provided the nutrients necessary. At any rate, this here was the natural boundary of Highlands and Peaklands.

The eastern sector of the Peaklands, where Izzy and Manny had just arrived, was typically more approachable and in some ways similar to the higher regions of the Highlands. If you were headed to the northern sector, you'd usually pack your trekking gear for the road. There are countless ridges, narrow passes and, of course, the caverns where many a Mantisian shrine had been set up. Extremely tall mountains dominated the landscape of the western sector. West Peaklands is a sparsely populated and very isolated region, mostly inhabited by reclusive Mantisian sages, along with a handful of visionary pioneers who set camp there in search of novel insights.

It's time to settle down and orient again. Homework of the Earth ahead. Manny was all enthusiastic.

"So Izzy. What all do you know about the Peaklands?"

"Wouldn't this be your area of expertise, Manny? We're at the ancestral lands of the Mantisians. This is where your family comes from."

"True that. Let me see. We come here in search of clarity when the winds of the Highlands confuse our antennas. Mountains open for us a door to our unclouded perception and reorient us with a vision of what actually is. We gain new insight from above the clouds into the things that matter. Fog of life clears away. We return from the peaks with clear perspective and focused direction. Much of the Mantisian Cultural Tradition is guided by the importance of clear vision. But you've been here with your family Izzy, haven't you?"

"Did you just speak like a Mantisian priest. Yes, that was way back in the days. Grandma brought us to the shrines for a special event. I can't remember what it was all about, I was so young. But she'd remember — it's all so fresh in her mind. I do remember I saw ranges after ranges of mountains, far into the high horizons. I even saw the Central Ocean from there in one amazing view!"

"That's absolutely a view you'd remember. Hey Izzy, here's an idea. I really liked our mooditation at the Grasslands. But I'd like to try something new today. In the Mantisian tradition, they teach us the basics of the adamantition technique. It's also a kind of meditation. The priests always ask us to practice it at the shrines. They say it helps you focus and makes sure your efforts will be on the mark. I think it might help us catch the basic character of this realm. I can give you a crash course. See how you find it."

"Sure Manny. Sounds like a useful skill. I'm often floating around with my moods. It might help me focus a bit better. We're going to need all the focus we can find on this journey. But I'm not going to start seeing fractals like you, am I?"

Manny taught her the brief basics of this ancient Mantisian technique. Basically, first you sit down and close your eyes. You have to be very still and form an adamant intention to keep yourself focused. No drifting. Always returning to your intention and sharp attention. Then you take on a particular point of focus and hold it steady in your mind. If you keep at it, your mind is compressed like a diamond. Then you only see the essence of the object you focus on. Your vision sharpens into a beam of laser. There's nothing else for you at that time. Not even time. When you break your concentration, you may find a very short or a very long time has passed.

Manny has a special mind. When she turns her attention to something deep or complex, her mind races spontaneously to a prismatic focus. All those bewildering fractals are the result of this special trait. Some Mantisian sages develop such capacity through dedicated cultivation in solitude. She's a natural but by no means an adept yet. We'll be learning more about this when Izzy and Manny consult an elder at a remote peak toward the end of their Peaklands expedition. For now, let's return to Earth and their pending homework.

Izzy and Manny agreed to first focus on the rugged and rocky landscape in general. All the shapes were clear and well-defined and easy to hold in the mind's eye. It was therapeutic for a mind saturated with much muddled content. Then they switched focus to the sky-scraping peaks and chose one mountain in particular, its captivating peak sharp and radiant against the canvas of the clear blue sky, towering above all others like the magister of Peaklands. A crisp sense of unflinching high vision held their minds at a singular point. When they focused on the caverns looming at a distance, Izzy began to drift and lose focus. Manny was flipping out with too many fractals bursting into her mind and saturating her field of vision. They both snapped out of it and figured it had been quite enough. A fair hour had suddenly passed. They must have spent a long time attending to that highest of peaks.

"Wow that was intense!", Izzy yelped. Manny was collecting herself from the avalanche of her visions. "What do you make of all that? Can we come up with a line about the essential character of the lands here based on that? Manny? Hello?"

No response. It looked like Manny might need a while longer than usual to recompile her mind. Must have been the influence of her ancestral lands, possibly in combination with the thinner mountain air and the fact that they had skipped breakfast. "I'll just write this for now. We can revise later. 'Unflinching attention and sharp vision. Clarity on the core character of things.'"

"That's good Izzy. It's clear. A good kernel." Saved by the clear kernel, Manny gained focus and was returning to her normal senses. "Are you okay, Manny?" — "It's fine. The caverns took me for a ride. There was something unusual happening in my mind. I think I'd like to consult the Mantisian elder about all this when we find her somewhere in the upper ranges." — "Of course Manny. We know there's something unusual about your mind since before you were born. Your mom has told us the stories. Let's see what we can find out."

Tune In: Flow of Life at Peaklands ¶

Peaklands climate was famous for being on the chilly side even at the lower altitudes. At the eastern sector, it's still just pleasantly fresh and crisp. Further toward the north where most of the shrines are, it gets frosty to a point where you'll want to wear a jacket to cover your hide. There are a couple of high-ridged little valleys that become heat pockets in the warmer season and support a richer than average ecosystem, including some fantastic wildflowers. In the snow-capped peaks of the western sector, air thins to a point of concern. Keep that in mind if you ever aspire to trek as far as the Uppermost Viewpoints. These majestic peaks may trigger a sudden episode of vertigo — even when seen from the safety of lower altitudes with more saturated air.

East Peaklands shares much of its seasons with the general climate of Highlands, though temperature is more likely to drop below freezing point during the colder quarter of the year. In the north, there are really only two seasons, the frosty season and the not-so-frosty season with warmer waves of air flowing in from the lower realms. Wind can be unpredictable as it funnels through narrow passes, nowhere near as constant and smooth as at the Highlands. Eerie mists and fog are very frequent. West mountains only ever experience one season, the very cold season, with regular snowfall throughout the year. A shining white blanket covering this sector conjures an otherworldly aura of constant clarity, invoking high sages and visionaries into this inhospitable environment.

Vertigoats are a common sight at the lower altitudes and around the shrines, effortlessly climbing up and down the steepest of ridges to graze on the shrubs growing in all sorts of inaccessible and impossible spots. In the Mantisian Cultural Tradition, they are revered as symbols of the ascending spirit and its challenging uphill journey. Then we have the mythical Mantiwyrms, an early and bizarre offshoot of Peaklands evolution, often found lurking in the deeper caverns and rarely seen in the daylight. They have antennae very much like a mantis, and a bioluminescent third eye bulges spooky amidst their foreheads. Hawkaims are another iconic species at the Peaklands, soaring high across the skies and even across the highest of the western peaks. There's a belief that the Hawkaims carry sacred knowledge of what lies beyond of the edge of the Mooland cookie. It's unfortunate that no-one understands their language.

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A long trek and a late arrival with an elaborate settling-down session had run the day well into the high noon. It was time to venture out into the realm and tune in with the comings and goings and flowings of the Peaklanders. Izzy and Manny decided against doing two round trips from one end of the Peaklands to the other, with the western sector better left for later. They'd be lucky to reach the western sector and the higher altitudes before nightfall — even without attempting to trek there and back and there again.

Landing at the east side, Izzy and Manny were close enough to the Mantisian Academy grounds. Quite the bustling community had grown around this prestigious educational institution. The brightest of the youth from every realm of Mooland were sent here for higher learning. It was obviously a fair long way away from most of the realms, except for eastern Highlands, and most students lived in campus housing or at one of the nearby villages. Some even lived here with their families on a temporary basis.

It was mostly the students roaming about, in between lessons, eager for insight to bring back to their realms. Once in a while you'd see a Primary Orientor walking about and observing the premises. Manny's uncle was one such Primary Orientor, really an associate professor at this point as he'd been teaching at the Academy for decades. Most of the teachers were Mantisian, but there were quite a few Moocow professors too, typically focused on fields of knowledge that deal with Grasslands, Riverlands, and Highlands.

At the north side, Izzy and Manny toured many of the better-known and more accessible Mantisian shrines. Manny had a fairly good idea of the lay of the land and the routes there. It wasn't the first or the fifth time she'd been here with her family. They would visit the shrines at least once in a season, if not more often, holding true to the heights of their Mantisian roots. These shrines were typically tucked away in caves and caverns, though some stood on cliffs and high boulders, gazing over the vast panorama of Mooland. Each shrine had its distinct themes and tunings, typically influenced by surrounding landscape and dominant features of nature.

Not much anyone lived here aside the Mantisian Priests taking care of the shrines, assisting visitors and pilgrims in traditional ceremonies and guiding them in the practice of adamantition. They were priestesses really. Males of their species, seen as physically less able and often a bit daft, mostly handled auxiliary duties. The Mantisians were traditionally a matriarchal society and, while the practice of "biting his head off" is considered barbaric in modern culture, this inequality of genders is still reflected in their traditions.

As for the west side, it was indeed a long way away, even when seen from the farther shrines. In a direct line of sight it was just as near or as far as the Mantisian Academy. Alas, Izzy and Manny were not Hawkaims soaring from one point to the next across the sky. There was a lot of up and down ahead there. Mostly just up really. In order to tick the box, they shared some of the stories they had heard about the Uppermost Viewpoints, sitting on a cliff facing the tallest peaks in the west. "I wonder what lives there, if anything at all. I don't think there are plants under the snow there. It's all frozen." — "I'm sure there's a flower growing somewhere — next to a high mountain spring!", said Izzy, ever the optimist. Would not the springs be frozen too? We'll find out once we get there.

It was hard not to let your imagination run wild with Visionary Pioneers on the list of local folks to meet. There's the saying, "Solutions to problems are found on a higher plane." These pioneers were prodigies and polymaths from the various realms who commonly sought the elusive "extremely high plane of awareness", a legendary vantage point that'd provide answers to all questions and solutions to every problem. Most of them returned to their realms with just a particularly advanced particular point of view, leading to inventions and creations with promise to usher in a new era of skill and insight. Izzy and Manny knew a number of them from the pages of history and had heard about their contributions to Mooland, but they had never met a Visionary Pioneer in person. It was a bit unnerving.

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"Why don't you summarize this, Manny? The feelings and expectations we've found here."

"There's insight and clarity at the Peaklands. It elevates my mind, though I'm feeling a bit aloof. Promise of a clear path ahead, seen from a higher plane. A conviction that unclouded vision will lead our journey to the destination we seek. There's a calm here that reminds me of the Grasslands, but it has a much higher pitch. It's more of a mental calm. It's soothing for my fractals."

"Ammoolia did say the Grasslands and the Peaklands are the low and high children of Earth."

"Wow that's true, she did! I was wondering what she meant there. Now we are experiencing it."

Gear Up: Meeting the Peaklands Natives ¶

After a significant trek from the shrines back to the Peaklands Academy region, Izzy and Manny had serious doubts about the planned itinerary for the rest of the day. It was already well into the afternoon. Chilly winds biting into their faces in some of the shadowy passes would be a challenge to cross again, even just as far as the major shrines — and continuing toward the western sector after nightfall was unthinkable. Preparing to stretch their Peaklands survey over two days, they had inquired at the shrines about the possibility of camping overnight. That option was looking increasingly likely with even the Academy still ahead of them. Distances between sectors at the Peaklands are significant and the terrain easily doubles or triples the travel time across most of this realm.

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First Destination: Mantiland Academy. Izzy and Manny had their marks set high — aiming straight to the top with their first choice of informant. They were hoping to score an interview with the Principal Orientor herself. They'd actually checked in briefly with Manny's uncle and asked if he could link them up with her. Uncle Mantrana was still quite impressed with the table of elements he'd helped the girls sketch together and organize. He'd also reviewed the survey checklist with an eye to retract any of their possibly silly questions. Setting up the interview was no problem for him and he was quite curious about hearing the Orientor's answers himself.

The senior faculty of the Academy all had their offices at the higher floors of the significantly multi-storey main building with a peak tower office reserved for the orientor in charge. It was quite the hike up there over a spiral staircase with almost a thousand steps — but Izzy and Manny got there in the end. Catching their breath for a moment, they knocked on the door. "Come in!"

"Good afternoon! We are Izabella and Mandalika from the Highlands. We understand that you are the Principal Orientor here. Would you have a bit of time to spare for our questions?"

"I understand from Mantrana that you have a set of excellent questions primed for the interview. Do go ahead."

The mind-piercing clarity in the Principal Orientor's chill demeanor was hard to ignore. Her opening line amplified the already significant high-pitched tension in their minds. This wasn't going to be like yesterday's relaxed interviews at the Grasslands. They had an idea that something like this was ahead of them and had decided to use their full proper names for the introduction.

"Could you please introduce yourself briefly?"

"I am Orio Mantagelan, seated in the high tower as the Principal Orientor for Mantiland Academy. I've taught and oriented students here since long before you two were conceived. I have one of the most acute minds in the region."

Now it was clearly high in the realms of stressful. Her mere presence forced Izzy and Manny to sit upright and sharpen up. It invoked significant attention to the meticulous clarity and correctness of each and every word that should escape their mouths in this office.

"We are always learning and wish to hear about your skills and expertise. What do you do here — and how and why do you do it?"

"I am evidently the Principal Orientor. Take good note of that and remember everything I say. I preside here to ensure that each and every student understands exactly the import of the teachings we provide. I orient, organize, and regularly audit the Orientors to ensure that they remain properly oriented and convey the teachings in good form and perfect clarity. We sharpen the intellects of the realms. We are the pride of Mooland's higher education and strive to ensure that every realm receives the exact insights they require in life."

"Thank you! Highly significant skills and duties. One day we may return to Mantiland Academy to inquire of these in more depth."

"If you do, then leave the chatter and the scatter of your minds behind. We are here to focus on one thing only — the subject matter of our teachings. Was that all, or did you have other questions?"

"We are also collecting stories from all the realms of Mooland. You have unique skills and insights. Not to bother you with all the details of our project, but is there something particularly important to keep in mind?"

"It sounds like an ambitious undertaking. Are you certain you're up for it? First of all — Clear and undistracted attention at all times to everything you may observe during your expedition is vital. You must record the stories in their thorough and accurate form. Then you must ensure that each major and minor point in your story stands out clearly. If your stories are muddled and lack attention to detail, no student will ever gain insight from them. If you do succeed and publish a proper compendium of stories, it will make for a valuable contribution to the Mooland corpus of knowledge. We should then like to have a copy for our library."

"All of that we will keep in mind — and put our best efforts and attention to it! Thank you so much for your time."

Izzy and Manny let out a sigh of relief as they left her office. They weren't quite sure if they were holding their breaths for the whole duration or just for parts of it. The stairs back down were a stroll in the park in comparison to having a conversation with the Principal Orientor. They would not dare to forget her answers. It would've been difficult even if they'd dared to try and forget — what with the way she had engraved it all into their minds with the sharpest of pencils. Upcoming points shall all be made clearly then!

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Second Destination: Shrines of Orientation. It was already twilight by the time Izzy and Manny reached the region of the shrines again. Many of the Mantisian Priests they'd observed earlier seemed rather aloof and preoccupied, and even obsessed, with attending to their specific rituals and practices. A certain priestess at the Shrine of Starlight had caught their attention. Her vibe was different.

"Good afternoon! We are Izzy and Manny from the Highlands. We understand you may be the High Priestess here. Would you have a bit of time to spare for our questions?"

"I did see you from a distance earlier today — and I did see you from a distance once again as you crossed the path on the high ridges to return to our shrine. Yes, Izzy and Manny, I and the stars will attend to your questions."

In stark contrast to the Principal Orientor, her presence was very comforting. They felt a vivid aura of concentrated insight and clarity — but hosted in a broad and spacious mind. Typical Mantisian Priests can come across as rather narrow-minded with their particular fixations, but this didn't seem to be the case with those devoted to the starlight. A broad ethereal calm prevailed in this shrine.

"Could you please briefly introduce yourself?"

"I am Lady Missty, the High Priestess at the Shrines of Starlight. I've lived at this shrine for most of my life. My mother, too, was a devotee of the starlight. When she passed away, I decided to become a priestess here. It was my calling from the heights."

"We are always learning and wish to hear about your skills and expertise. What do you do here — and how and why do you do it?"

"I am here on behalf of the stars. I gaze them at night, often all night, and I absorb the spread of their rays into my soul. Rays of insight from the stars guide me through the day 'til the night falls again. I assist the pilgrims with their ceremonies and various requests here. We also hold regular adamantition retreats for those who wish to clarify their minds and behold the realms of life from the orbit. In the tradition's belief, we assist them in their ascension and return to the stars. But I'll say this to you, young seekers: Such a view has never brought peace to my soul for its final aim. I know that there's something beyond — and I know that the stars know it too."

"Thank you! Such fascinating skills and duties there. One day we may return to Shrines of Orientation to study all of this in more depth."

"If you do, then may the stars guide your passage. Was that all, or did you have other questions?"

"We are also collecting stories from all the realms of Mooland. You have unique skills and insights. Not to bother you with all the details of our project, but is there something particularly important to keep in mind?"

"Such an inspired quest you two have, Izzy and Manny! If I should say to always keep the stars in your mind, I mean to say this: In every story there are many layers of insight. Seek not only the intimate and the immediate meanings at the ground level. The higher lessons are seen from far above — and it is these very lessons that guide you beyond the context of the story, to the meaning recorded in the stars. There are essences of the universe in all things you'll encounter — hold tight to the heights of your vision!"

"That was very wise. Thank you, Miss Missty. All of it we will keep in mind! Thank you so much for your time.

"Our plan was actually to continue toward the Uppermost Viewpoints, but it turned out to be a very long day and it's already dark. We met one of the caretakers here earlier, the one looking after the violet flowers just atop that cliff there. He said it'd be okay if we camp here for the night and continue tomorrow morning for the western sector. Is it okay?"

"Of course you can stay here! But you must spend a part of the night star-gazing with me on the roof of our shrine. You don't have to, what I mean to say is, I'm sure you would like it very much. I have woolen blankets for you here."

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Third Destination: Uppermost Viewpoints. Stars were returning to their secret abodes. Rays of the sun peeked into the Shrine of Starlight, reaching the cosy corner Izzy and Manny huddled in with their extra blankets. It was time to hit the road again. They bid farewell to Lady Missty and promised to visit again and gaze at every star with her — and next time for a longer while. Last night demanded for a proper rest, regaining strength for their trek into the remote and inhospitable western sector of the Peaklands.

A coat of frost over the terrain grew thicker by the step as they circled westward in the direction of the viewpoints basecamp. There was a lot of trudging through the snow and slipping around on ice through most of the sector. Izzy took a good tumble down the slope and landed in the heart of a huge heap of snow, luckily all safe and sound. Her hooves didn't quite have the grip of a vertigoat and she packed quite a lot more bulk than Manny, slender and agile as the Mantisians usually are. A silver-foiled tent loomed at a distance after many long hours of struggle on the challenging trails. There was a watch-mantis keeping an eye on the basecamp.

"Well by the old Magister Peak, I'll say! Whenever have kids ventured here before? What are you doing here? Did you get lost? There's a path back to the Highlands due east." — "No ma'am, we are trekking to the Uppermost Viewpoints to meet the Visionary Pioneers. We are on a mission."The watch-mantis evaluated them, scanning head to toes and back up again, rolling her eyes and jiggling her antennas, reflecting on the young twinkly-eyed Mantisian with a snow-coated Moocow tagging along. "You two are not geared up for the trek. I'll take you to the astral teleporter. We usually only teleport high dignitaries and visionaries with urgent matters. But you two youngsters seem to be serious with your mission, so I'll make an exception and help you up atop via the fast track. Once you're at the top, look up the Prime Pathfinder. Others may not have the attention to spare for you." – "Wooow. Thank you!"

Few Moolandians had ever heard of the astral teleporter, tucked away in a cave not too far from the basecamp. A certain visionary veteran, Sir Borgflash from the Strangelands who had a background in occult harmonics, had constructed the device to aid his fellow visionaries. It operates with the help of a quantum entanglement slipstream and casts an equivalent version of the teleportee to the other side. But it must always be a two-way trip, otherwise there are no guarantees on the stability of your subatomic matrix. These were the sorts of insights and inventions that some of the brighter visionaries conceived in the solitude of their peak alcoves.

Izzy and Manny stepped hesitantly into the teleporter, both surprised and astonished with the strange and sudden adjustment to their trekking plan. The watch-mantis began to jiggle her antennas and vocalized a series of very precise high-pitch sounds in very particular patterns. An eerie field of resonance filled the cave and — whoosh! — in an instant they were zapped to the topside. And straight into the alcove of the Prime Pathfinder at that — our watch-mantis had some mad skills in calibrating resonance matrices. The Prime Pathfinder was used to these sorts of surprise visits. There was to be no knocking on doors or hailing of hellos here, standing as they were right before the prime visionary in her spacious alcove. Reorienting for a brief moment, they rolled on with the program.

"Good morning! We are Izzy and Manny from the Highlands. We understand you are the Prime Pathfinder here. Would you have a bit of time to spare for our questions?"

"I can and I will respond to your queries. My responses will be compact, thorough, and essential. Gather your best attentions."

"Could you please introduce yourself briefly?"

"I am Margatama — the Prime Pathfinder at the Uppermost Viewpoints. In absolute focus, I attend to all that merits attention. I direct my gaze at will, I pierce the targets of my vision to their core. I extract the kernel in all things."

Much more unsettling than anything so far. Not as confrontational or intimidating as the Prime Orientor, but they felt absolutely naked before the Prime Pathfinder's prowess of vision. There was a stellar ethereality to it, as with Lady Missty, but a much sharper tuning of a much higher pitch. If Missty had her vision tuned into the wide-band ultraviolet, then here we had a conduit of concentrated gamma-rays — a radiant force of vision that would effortlessly penetrate your soul and journey into the far reaches of the universe.

"We are always learning and wish to hear about your skills and expertise. What do you do here — and how and why do you do it?"

"I reorient the collective of visionaries. If there are blockages on their paths of inquiry, I direct my all-specifying gaze into their cognitive processes and the objects thereof. If there are conflicting outcomes of inquiry, I direct my all-unifying gaze into the superstructures of their respective premises and reconcile their abstract kernels. I resolve and unify their voyages of discovery. As for the visionaries, they each have their respective domains and trajectories of inquiry — philosophical, spiritual, scientific, and so on — each with their specific quests for insight and innovation. Through unflinching focus and dedication, we cross above and beyond the vulgar mind, reaching extraordinary visions and insights."

Izzy and Manny honestly had no idea of what half of this meant, but it all sounded very interesting. "Thank you! Those are unbelievably high-level skills and duties. One day we may return to Uppermost Viewpoints to study all of this in more depth."

"If you do, then sharpen your minds into a laser-like focus. Reform your cognition into a network of concentrated beams. This network of thorough and all-grasping attention is the Absolute Eye of the Beholder — the eminent capacity of uncluttered and comprehensive vision. You will then behold and comprehend without constraints. Was that all, or did you have other questions?"

"We are also collecting stories from all the realms of Mooland. You have unique skills and insights. Not to bother you with all the details of our project, but is there something particularly important to keep in mind?"

"Stories are the media of the masses who fail to directly perceive and engage the abstract principalities of existence. Regardless, narratives are a necessary intermediary in extracting the attention of the populace, in redirecting their focus into the universal principles that govern all of unobscured actuality. In your stories, identify such abstractions that lend themselves to broad-ranging parallel applications. Ensure that diverse concrete renderings of parallel principalities are well-bridged together. The minds of your audiences will be reformed into harmonic matrices of consciousness. The world will then benefit from your work."

"Could you please repeat that? I will have to write it down, word-for-word, and unpack it over time. I'm going to need a dictionary. Everything you've said we will definitely keep in mind! Thank you so much for your time."

"We would also like to meet an elder in this realm. Someone who knows all the legends and histories of the Peaklands. We've heard of an elder Mandakini, a certain Mantisian sage dwelling somewhere up here. Could you point us in the right direction?"

"Oh Mandakini. Yes, I consult her at times. She's seen it all. She has access. Exactly 1440 mantihops, 12 degrees north-west from here, locate a patch of wildflowers near a mountain spring. You'll find her abode there."

Soar High: Elder Essence of Peaklands ¶

Snow was thin and powdery on the rugged and almost invisible path leading to elder Mandakini's abode, thinned by constant high winds scavenging these desolate altitudes. Izzy and Manny had packed several layers of warm under the thickest of jackets they had brought. It was absolutely freezing cold up there! Manny's typical agility was all but gone. Underneath the bulk of her gear she was almost as clumsy as Izzy on her better days. It was an effortless path to navigate with the precise coordinates given by the Prime Pathfinder, especially as she obliged to point out which way the 12° NW actually was.

After a good 1440 mantihops, with one good hop a rather long span to cover in this climate, they reached a patch of flowering shrubs and a mountain spring. It was much like the vista of the optimistic painting in Izzy's imagination the day before. For some peculiar reason, snow was sparse in this idyllic setting. Clear horizons extended in all directions, broad panoramas with open views as far as the eye could reach. The multicolored Highlands clouds were distinct in the east — but at this height, no longer above their heads.

A mystifying glow tinted the distant western horizon, looming beyond a landscape that only the Hawkaims would ever dare to cross. "Are you seeing this, Manny? Whatever is that glow in the far horizon?" — "Could it be... it might just be that, Izzy, you know... I've only ever heard legends of the golden halo at the edge of the cookie. I've never seen anything like that. Just wow..." Their eyes were sensitive to different spectrums of light, so whatever Izzy actually saw may have looked quite different in Manny's vision. Awestruck and mesmerized with the otherworldly radiance, they gazed into the farthest known reaches of Mooland. These were regions few had ever witnessed in person. This was the stuff of legends — but the real legend was still a few steps ahead of them.

There was no-one in sight at this little plateau. A cave not too far from the spring seemed like the only conceivable place for a dwelling. Manny, whose high-pitched voice carried farther than Izzy's, called into the darkness through the opening: "Hello?". A long series of echoes repeated her words in varying pitches. Out of the blue, really of the pitch black in this case, a trilling voice responded. "Hello, Mandalika. Please come in, both of you." Multicolored lights began to emerge from the ceilings of the cave in tune with a high-pitched melody. An all-around surreal experience, beautiful in all of its intensity, unfolded before their eyes.

"Yes I know you are Mandalika and Izabella from the Highlands and you have your questions for me. Spare your words. Have a seat, don't be shy. Fractal visions and the circuits of your mind, Manny, we shall discuss in due time. Let's cover the hops you've prepared."

They were stunned and star-struck to the maximum with Mandakini's opening. Referring to the survey checklist was clearly pointless. "How could you possibly know my name already?" Both were still in utter disbelief of the ongoings in this cave. "I have known you, Mandalika, since the day your visual cortex began to crystallize in your mother's egg-pouch." In short order, Manny connected the threads with her mother's stories. "You are the one who named me before my birth?" — "Exactly so — Mandalika. It's been long since our last meeting. Your maturing compound eyes are a delight to see eyes-to-eyes. But let us tick the boxes in your checklist first."

"So. I am Elder Mandakini. I dwell in my solitary abode, beholding dimensions you two are yet to begin to imagine. When I meet folks from the realm, I share slices of my visions for their insight and orientation. I too was a priestess in the shrines once upon a time — greetings to Missty when you next meet her. You still carry a spectrum of her lovely aura. I ascended to the Uppermost Viewpoints on a vision quest in my younger days, seeking to gaze beyond the stars into the uncharted mysteries of being and becoming. I am here."

"We are absolutely thrilled to meet you, Elder Mandakini. First of all, we'd like to ask about the basics. Is there a motto or an aphorism that's well-known in the Peaklands? A short statement to help everyone understand what the Peaklanders are all about?"

"There certainly is. Every Mantisian would know our ancestral maxim:

"Of the shrines to the peaks of insight — we orient, envision, ascend!"

"Thank you! A very clear statement of intention. We'll write it down for all to remember. We'd also love to hear a poem or a song. Tunings of feeling and flow of life that resonate with the Peaklands."

"Why certainly. There's a Mantisian rhythmic invocation called 'The Eye of Ascension' —

Behold the zenith, let your vision fly; A peak within me lifts my spirit high! Attention, Ascension — We congregate to clarify our fates! I fix my vision in the brightest sky; Master the spectrum, meet the sacred eye! Attention, Ascension — We concentrate to reach the ancient gate!

"I've heard this recited in the shrines. They usually repeat the second half of each verse in chorus, right? It's a classic high invocation, very nice, thank you Elder Mandakini.

"Then, can you share with us the greatest challenge the folks of the Peaklands have ever met — and how they overcame it?"

"I was still an acolyte at the shrines when the Obscure Glow-Fog fell and blanketed the Peaklands. It was severely disorienting. A blurry shimmer blinded our vision and confused our bearings. It was like a thick hood pulled over our heads. At first, we thought this was an atmospheric interaction from the recent heavy rainfall at the Highlands. Then we considered an origin at the Riverlands, where the Flavored Springs had been pumping out extra flavor. Even the Occult Operators at the Strangelands were lost as to the cause. An eerie hot shimmer of precious substances was reported from the deeper rigs, but that didn't help much at all.

"It was my predecessor Mandisari, once dwelling in this very same cave, whose vision pierced through the obscuration and unveiled its actual source. An undetected leak at the Essence Islands was the culprit — and there were strange things brewing in the depths of the Central Ocean. The Moophin Collective was aware of an ongoing anomaly but never thought its effect would reach as far as the Peaklands. Barely detectable arcane mists of confused essence were rising to the atmosphere and, interacting with the celestial dome that sheaths the Mooland cookie, became ionized at higher altitudes. Most of us had retreated to deep caverns by then.

"A coalition of our brightest visionaries, accompanied by high priestesses and their acolytes, were dispatched to the Deeplands. I was one the acolytes recruited for the task force. We pleaded our case at the Moopetals and sought assistance from the Elemental Ministers of Fire and Air. A multi-stage operation was set into motion. Our team concentrated on locating the scattered essences, each dialing into an acute tuning for a particular key frequency. The coordinates were translated for the Moophin troops who had no trouble echo-locating the escaped substances, fetching them back from the depths into clear daylight's revealing embrace.

"The Minister of Fire and his retinue took stock of every essence and analyzed their particular properties. The Minister of Air and his assembly organized them all into proper relations. Reflecting upon this significant assortment and its integration into the planetary sphere, the guardian of the Rainbow Spire gave it the celestial stamp of approval. It was a harmonic order that would remain stable for a thousand cycles. Guidelines were sketched for the archivists at the Essence Islands to prevent the makings of another disaster. In short order, the obscure glow-fog began to dissipate and life at the Peaklands returned to its normal orientation."

"So uncontained essence can have a negative effect? I thought all essence was basically good."

"You see, Mandalika, essence only ever remains pure when it exists in isolation or in a harmonic assortment. When essences are in a haphazard order and left to freely brew, they can be quite reactive. But it wasn't only that. Some of the archivists had been sloppy and stored unrefined essence — still contaminated with all sorts of particulars from the realms. That's a recipe for a disaster. You must keep your essences well! Only then will the goodness of essence bring its true benefit to you and those you may meet."

"Thank you, we will remember that well and make sure our essences are pure and orderly. Finally, we wish to hear the most meaningful story that you can remember from all of the history of Peaklands. What would it be?"

"Surely the Epic Visions of Manisee. Manisee was the founder of our Mantisian civilization. In the ancient of days, we were barbaric tribes scattered about in the mountains, every other tribe claiming themselves the true Mantisian Imperium. Bloodshed and biting off heads was a routine affair. We had neither good sense nor orientation. Manisee, troubled to the core by what to her seemed like a mindless existence, sought refuge at the Uppermost Viewpoints and found some solace in gazing at the golden halo of the edge of the cookie. In time, her vision broke past the boundary of the realms — she ascended to the "extremely high plane of awareness".

"Wherever she directed the piercing might of her vision, there she found reservoirs of concentrated clarity and essence. Gazing at all of existence from beyond the finite sphere of the realms, actuality was no longer bound by the clutter of particularity. She beheld and journeyed in a dimension of pure abstractions, transcending all subjective confusion, and studied the principles behind the world as we know it. As years passed and her visions matured and concentrated, a youngster of her temperament ventured to the heights to find solace and clear direction — only to discover Manisee sitting in deep trance in this very cave.

"Our bright-minded youngster, my ancient prime predecessor and the first matriarch, took it upon herself to encode Manisee's visions into an organized codex that became the foundation of the Mantisian Cultural Tradition. As Manisee and her acolyte descended from the heights and into the realm below, visiting one tribe after another, transformation followed in their wake. It wasn't only for the knowledge imparted — the halo of Manisee's breakthrough had an orienting power of its own. This very breakthrough is still the source of inspiration for the Visionary Pioneers who dwell here. The shrines you've explored in the northern sector are each dedicated to a chapter of her visions. We owe her the debt of a world of clarity, the greatest gift ever bestowed."

It was the story behind all stories. Izzy, while not a Mantisian, was deeply touched with the legend. It seemed to resonate with the mission they pursued. While perhaps not as ground-breaking as Manisee's visions, they both felt deeply the orienting potential in the best of Mooland's stories. Compiled with the counsel of the brightest and deepest mind of every realm, the transformative potential was evident — the sort of potential that leads to reorientation and attention to things that truly matter. "I'm wondering, Mandakini, is there such a story for the Moocows as well?" — "That, Izabella, you will find at the Riverlands. I should not spoil the story for you."

"So then, we could say that Manisee was like the first Primary Orientor, the first Mantisian Priest, and the first Visionary Pioneer, all in one?" — "Very much so, Izzy. She was all of them — yet she was none of them. These are all potentials we have here at the Peaklands. Most people follow a particular calling and step into particular roles. But Manisee was the best of everything in us. When your vision breaks through the golden halo at the edge of your world, you reach into a new sphere of freedom where you can become anything, or everything, or even nothing at all. That was our Manisee. Such is life beyond the cocoon of the limited self."

"Can I become like you one day?", asked Manny. Of course she should ask such a thing. "You, Mandalika, are already like me. We are but in different points along the stream of time. I did not become me by seeking to become someone else. Why don't you spend the rest of the day and the night here. We still have much to discuss. But for now, I have a buffer of incoming visions I must tend to. Do wander about the plateau and, the both of you, spend some time with the golden glow too. We shall reconvene at nightfall."

❇︎ ❇︎ ❇︎ ❇︎ ❇︎

Izzy and Manny left elder Mandakini to her pending visions at the cave and set out to explore the little plateau. Mandakini recollected her resonant projections and reabsorbed into the trance she had set aside with Izzy and Manny's arrival. The glow in the cave slowly dimmed and returned to pitch black again. "I think I'd like to go watch the halo for a bit. Then we can sit down and wrap up our experiences from the Peaklands. What say you?" — "Yes, let's! Something very soothing to it. When I saw it earlier, I felt like my heart returned to the source of the Flavored Springs at the Riverlands. One wonders what the beyond of the glow is like."

The cold seemed not to bother them — or perhaps it wasn't that cold in this spot — as they set for what turned out a good long session of glow-gazing in the early afternoon sun. The patches of flowering shrubs along the path, their colors tuned to the higher spectrum of light, were a curiosity — alive and well, and even quite robust, despite the harsh environment. Izzy and Manny filled their bottles with crystal clear water from the mountain spring and, waiting for Mandakini to conclude her chores, got into their wrap-up meeting.

"So, Manny, conclusions? How does this relate to the other realms?" — "Peaklands is like the beacon of Mooland. We come here to regain our bearings and discover a clear vision of life. The unity of the realms depends on a shared vision. We all cherish our particular essences, but they are like the shrines born from the visions of Manisee. Each of them is important — but none of them is the most important. If we reach the highest viewpoint, we will see eye to eye and understand. The confusion between us will evaporate."

The opening of Mandakini's cave began to glow like a rainbow soon after the minutes of their meeting were jotted down. "Clear!...", echoed the announcement from Mandakini's cave — followed by the good elder herself. She sat down next to Izzy and Manny, still in silence as she wrapped up the tails from the trails of her visions. The spectral glow in her eyes was slowly subsiding.

Manny's Circle of Thousand Colors ¶

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