The Exile of Aspheyeat

The Exile of Aspheyeat is an Utlian novel published in 610 TT by an unknown author. The book became renowned as an Utlian classic upon being discovered on 5-8 341 TT. The novel itself is fairly short, originally organized without chapters and written in a dual Eutan/Utyis dialect, this, along with a lack of punctuation throughout made it a challenge to reproduce on a mass scale. The book is included in the Utlian National Cultural Register. Despite the novels topic of afterlife and belief, it is not Azztanist in nature, taking inspiration primarily from Merriyem folk stories and creatures.

Summary

Set during the first Mersenite uprising in 644 TT, the plot follows a man who is exiled in a traditional Utlian manner, being placed on a raft and sent into the storm. The man is sent east, off of the coast south of Unlaunen. The man, Aspheyeat, a criminal convicted of two counts of robbery and one count of treason for his acts against the Utyr during a Mersenite uprising. He eventually dies in the storm but awakens in a kind of afterlife world where he is an outsider. The chapters added on in modern reprinting separate the book into each region of this afterlife he visits. The regions he visits all follow a general theme and represent some ideal, believed to be the authors own ideology.

• Aspeth: A relatively normal land of nature worshiping people, meant to represent the balance of man and nature.
• Eurniane: Frigid, icy realm of xenophobic half-snake people.
• Inclemyey: empty, shadow creature filled with abandoned obeslisks and towers.
• Ooten: a leafy city of lights and pagodas that seems to never end, inhabited by friendly people.*

Translated text

*Translated by Yehen Berhjeyk*

Chapter 0

I am being tried where the blue flowers turn green, a place no man wishes to see, south of civilization and west of unending chaos, the sad town of Mesyetet is nothing more than a place where people die. The local economy is held up by the courts and exilers and longboat makers, its a truly sickening sight if you aren't benefiting from it, most of the men in the cells beside me are of Mersen, they speak a tongue i am a novice in. Despite my lack of proficiency I understand the men entirely, its a base feeling beyond language, they complain, they yell, they wait. I was caught much further north, between Mersen and Tinlea. The men who captured me however were not of the area and decided to keep me as their field army's, a signal to the other marching units that they had done something, anything of value during the uprising. I was transferred to a much more official Royal Army party and then eventually sent to where I stand now. Today however I will be transferred for the final time, as am i alerted in the morn that my sentence is over, the court of Mesyetet has scheduled my Yekajyu for today, ahead of the two Mersenites. I believe they moved my day up purely as an act of fear, to show that even good Eutan men can be put to the storm if they act out of line. I spend the morning mulling my actions over, it is the season of bloom, the most lively Nuriit of my life, even in the stables you can smell the flowers, I think about how that wont even get the pleasure of being the final smell of my life, the brine and salt takes that trophy Im afraid. The Mersenites speak in broken Utyis, they ask me the usual questions you ask someone who knows the exact date and time of his death, their voices are slimey and through the cracks in the cell walls i can see bloat, grylbo fat and myloe drink does not make a pretty face, "Oh Kelnaborn how does youts feel abouts it!" "Do you feel alone down here in the sunny meadow!" These men know they are next on the line but their spirits are jubilant, they joke and laugh throughout the day. After conversation with them for what feels like an entire uewen, two men wielding pikes walk down the steps of the slightly sunken stable prison, both in official garb, they have the sash of Yek draped over them and their helmets are bloom white, these men are to carry out my Yekajyu, their purpose is to oversee my exile and as such, they get to wear the ritual garb. The two men make their way to my cell at the end of the hay covered floor, the taller one fumbles for a key while the shorter one stares at me. They are not the usual guards, no these men were called in from Unlaunen to do this, as is customary with war criminals such as myself, or other extra villainous offenders who end up in the south. The taller one is clearly more experienced, his Yek sash features seven pins while the short fellow only three, the tall one also gets the keys which i assume is some subliminal show of authority and power, to say "I am above you because more people have seen me last". As they unlock the cell the Mersenite men begin to hurl insults, slurs and vague attacks at the men, the Mersenite men know what I did to be here, the Yekmen do not. Despite my generally avoidant demeanor, its hard not to form a kinship with the people you have been stuck with for nearly a full cycle of bloom and falter. They continue their verbal barrage as I am dragged to the ground above, to no response from the exilers. A blindfold is placed over my head as we exit, a glimpse of the light before being thrown back into shadow. The men drag me along the path to the coast aligned Mesyetet gathering hall, in reality its an outdoor courthouse with uncomfortable wooden trunks as seats. I am placed on the ground and the blindfold is removed, the light is blinding to a point of agony, eventually my eyes adjust and the so-called judge of my trial begins his speech, there is no trial of course my fate was chosen when i got caught. I turn around, the audience seats are empty save for two gossiping work-women and an elderly beggar. "You, Apheyeat are of Kelna originally, a stronghold of Aremt ideals and yet you defected from your nation, joining the vile Mersen cause, for the crime of transporting supplies, including Royal Army weaponry to the Mersen Front you are hereby sentenced to Yekajyu, your body will not decompose in Utlian soil and as such, will never arrive in the deep. Your longboat awaits." The speech is short, I heard they always were but was still surprised at how concise he managed to make the most eventful saga of my life sound. As the horns begins playing, the Yekmen take me down the steps of the dock adjacent to the gathering hall, it is quiet. The steps are old, this dock was built with one purpose, it does not get repaired often. The dock shifts under the waves, the smell of flowers and honey are gone, the seabird droppings and salt are what remain. I drift... I drift... I continue to drift, they call these vessels longboats but they are glorified rafts, I check the pouch of supplies i was given to keep me until I reach the storm, the bread is covered in mold, the crab has blackened with rot and the compass shattered. The land i come from is gone, part of me misses it, part of me just awaits for whats next, even if i were to not be caught and sent out in this drawn out torture method my homeland is gone, for Eutania is no longer and it has not been for some time. In my pocket I keep a flask, a piece of contraband stolen from the initial field-army that captured me. I had been saving the eiyye held inside for this moment, to hold me over into the next step of life, to carry me from this plane to the next. As the raft drifts further and further from Mesyetet I get cold, colder than what I dealt with in Mersen, colder than the lerpok spent in that cell, its colder than i could imagine, the wind does not help and neither does the rain. It is dark and I have fully drifted into the abyss of the storm, the thunderclouds are angry at me, the lightning they send down contains an air of aggressive direction aimed at me, as if to insult me. I believe I see fish occasionally, in the murky waters below, I consider attempting to catch some of them, plans run through my head involving taking unneeded wood of the boat and fashioning it into a spear. These plans are crushed by the realization that it would do nothing but prolong agony, there is nothing out here and there is no salvation for me, so I tell myself to stop thinking and conserve energy. Im not sure why I try to save my energy, keep my health, if i truly believed with every part of me that this ends in death I would simply jump off the raft, but if i were that principled I would've ended my life back on the Mainland. Eventually I get tired even of thinking, my best hobby, I lay on the cold raft and shut my eyes, I know in my heart that this is it, the final rest before I turn from living breathing honorary member of the Mersen Front into food for whatever hypothetical beasts lurks further in the abyss. It is freeing to not fight against nature anymore, to accept it, the only comfort provided to me on this journey in a way. I close my eyes for the final time, in these final moments before slumber I occupy my mind with memories of Kelna, its great forests and rivers, places I have spent much of my life. I fall asleep.

Chapter 1

I awake. The smell is overwhelming. Thats the first thing I notice, before my eyes have adjusted and my brain awakened to its full ability. It smells like death, it of course being me, I smell like a corpse dropped into a vat of grease and left untouched for weeks. The second thing I notice is that I am not floating somewhere maybe south, maybe east of the Unified Kingdom of Utlia, left to rot in the storm. I am in a cave, lush and overgrown, light peers in from every crack and surface. It is unlike anything i have ever seen, The third thing i notice is the arches, seemingly holding up the cave, they are made of stones I cannot place and they are taller than anything i have seen in life. I set aside my confusion and head towards the gaping entrance letting all the light into the hole. Upon leaving the cave I find myself along a path, smaller, broken arches line a ruined road that runs along a river. I rush to the river without thinking, I need to wash myself before I do anything else, so that is what I do. I wash to the best of my ability and while my Lieen and pants begin to smell better, I cannot make even a slight improvement in my body, I eventually give up, deciding that the clothes will have to be enough for now, praying that I somehow get better over time. I walk along the ruined path, finally having enough room to take in the forest around me, it is similar enough to the ones on Utlia, there are pale trees here that remind me of the hyerk back home, except these feel like they watch my every move. I continue on the path anxiously, asking myself questions like where am I and where did I come from. These thoughts plague my mind almost as much as hunger does, I have not seen another sign of life in my entire time in this place and its becoming a problem. I eventually veer off the old path and find my way to a hill, here i setup a small camp, lighting a weak fire with whats left of my supply pouch. I threw the bad food away back in the river, it was another matter of stench I was able to resolve. As night begins to fall I spot something, a small animal wandering near my camp, I quickly grab a nearby stick and sharpen it using the metal from the broken compass in my pocket. It is not a good job but it will do, I throw, hit, hear a cry and begin to run to the corpse, its an animal I have no memory of, it resembles around a dozen species of Utlian ground avians, so it resembles none truly. I do not care though, I skin the small bird and walk back to my makeshift camp, I cut the creature into digestible chunks and lay it on the fire. It tastes like nothing but fills me up, I have a level of energy I have not had in many cycles of bloom and falter. I feel alive again. I lean back against the tree adjacent to my camp, the branches and leaves droop enough to cover the area I had set up. I close my eyes and think of death, and how I appear to have denied it somehow, I dont craft theories or think about how or why, now I just thank Azzta that I did infact best the one true certainty about life. I fall asleep. I wake up early in the morning, not by my own accord but by shouting, not just any shouting but shouting directed at me. There are five people surrounding my camp, all wielding pikes, I get a flash of bad memories, two of the people are pointing their weapon at my neck and for some reason, they begin yelling at me. They speak Utyis, the official tongue of the Unified Kingdom, a bastardization of the Eutan and Frish languages, made so one group doesnt feel slighted or prioritized. I ignore their questions, not being able to fully parse whats being said, I simply ask "Where in Utlia are we?". The two men look confused, "Utlia?" they say before continuing their line of questioning, "Are you aware this is sacred land and by both camping and hunting on this territory you are a committing a major offense?" "Huh?" I respond behind the two interrogators I can see the other three searching around the fire. "I ask again and for the final time where you come from and what your purpose here is" I give a clear answer, "I come from Kelna in the Unified Kingdom of Utlia." "You are hereby detained and will follow us to town" They speak dryly and without wit, charm or humor.The fellows carry me to a path of clean, well maintained stone, the kind of masonry that would make some men i know back in Kelna weep, they are silent during the escort, not even speaking amongst each other, i think about how much they must hate each other to not even banter a small bit. At the end of the path is a large clearing, and within that clearing, a village, its small, no more than 200 people could possibly live here. There is a large bonfire at the center of the settlement, a kind of log I have never laid eyes upon before keeping the fire alight, its dark greyish blue and no matter how long i stare at it, the state of it does not change, like it will never stop burning. They have stables, a kind of weird Brenya creature is being held there, the men continue to drag me thru what appears to be the main street, eventually stopping at the largest building in the vicinity, its made of that same log, its three stories, clearly an important place. My brain tells me this is a courthouse but the inside is decadent, beautifully intricate rugs lie across the perfectly cleaned floors; paintings of vast landscapes line the walls and chandeliers hang from the ceiling, it resembles a theater house more than a place of sentencing. I am led into a small, well decorated room with only a table and two chairs, the soldiers tie me to one of the chairs and I take a seat. Eventually a new person enters and without saying a word sits down across the table from me, he is clearly wealthy, he has a coat of some bright animal fur, a helmpiece of pure gem and carries himself with the stride of nobility, before even meeting him i can feel hate building up inside of me, he reminds me of every ignorant noble in Tinlea, or the Aremt buffoons who run my occupied homeland, taxing anything they feel we dont need, putting on events for their little circles, wonderful parades for all of 50 other idiots while people starve. I cannot help but stare in anger, both at his noble appearance and my predicament, he opens his mouth "You are not from here, that is obvious" the first words he speaks are calm, understanding lines the edges of his sentences, "I understand you are not of our custom and I have to hold that in my mind during our conversations, however, you have still committed a grave offense. I am not sure where you come from or what you do but im afraid you wont leave her without sentencing" his words are sorry but his face is locked into a smile, the kind of smile you receive after being given words of praise, "surely i can be excused, call it a beginners mistake" I try to bargain with the man but he does not budge "Im afraid its serious enough to require a full ekern to take place" he says, staring past my irises. The nobleman talks for what feels like hours, he talks about the village, apparently the capital of this realm called Aspeth, he talks about the wonders of nature, mentioning the logs i saw before, he calls them "forever wood" he says its the greatest fuel in the realm, that it can burn for up to ten lifetimes, he claims its how the village has been so lucky, though he seems to forget that I am not native and have not an inkling to the history of this place. He eventually finishes his ranting and my half sleep state ends, he gets up and leads me out and further down the hall from the room I was just in. Eventually the hallway ends and we enter a large, rudimentary auditorium, there is a stage front and center of the sky-light lit room. The seats are similar to that of a Brenya saddle, a kind of unpleasant leather stretched over wood.

Discovery and investigation

The novel was discovered 5-8 341 TT by Kielen Myrn, an anthropologist, the book was stumbled upon during an investigation into what was believed to be a military barracks, eventually burned and buried

Reception & legacy

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