Self-Ascension: Chapter 1 – Goodness Without Grace

Chapter 1 – Goodness Without Grace

Everyone wants to live in a place where they feel comfortable. What people may not realize is that they would prefer living around people who share the same views in a small residence more than living in a comfortable house near people with who they fundamentally disagree with. What’s the point of talking to someone who values different things than you do? You might as well be speaking a different language to them. Children work and go to school for careers that will financially sustain them, but not all jobs are meant to be worked by everyone. As a result, many are miserable as they take their place as another cog in the machine where their parents work and struggle to find their way out or at least a way to cope with reality.

“Hmm, what to do, what to do…” Adela says to herself as she tends her parent’s garden in the backyard.

While gardening, she remembers the gardening shop on the corner. She remembers the kind woman, the fun conversations they had together, the hope that she gave Adela, and her shop’s closing.

“The plants are looking healthy today,” someone who she thinks is her father says.

Adela fumbles with her gardening tools and is too ashamed to look behind her.

“Da-dad. I was just doing my daily duties. Nothing more. I’ll start studying and looking for a job-”

“Adela, you know why you can’t be a gardener.”

“I know it’s not financially smart, but it’s what I want to do. It’s what I’m good at and I’m willing to take the risk if you’ll just let me prove myself to you. If I fail, then I’ll learn.”

“Is that how you really feel?”

“I’m sorry, dad, but it is.”

Adela closes her eyes and winces; however, she is surprised to feel hugged. When she opens her eyes, she doesn’t see her father’s arms around her, but still assumes that she was hugged.

“It’s okay. What kind of father would I be if I didn’t want to see my daughter happy doing what she wanted to do?”

“Dad…I…”

With a smile on her face and thankfulness in her heart, Adela turns around and sees only a snake in the garden and not her father. She looks around calling for her dad.

“I’m here, Adela, but I’m not your father,” the snake says.

Adela has to take a second to accept the fact that the snake spoke to her before she says, “You…spoke to me? In my dad’s voice?”

“Yes, I did,” the snake says as it changes from her dad’s voice to its true voice, “Hello, Adela.”

“Who are you, and what do you want with me?”

“I know who you are and I know your pain. I see the potential to change the world within you if you’ll only let me help you.”

“Help you change the world? I just want to be a gardener.”

“You will be, but don’t you also want to change the world around you? I’m sure you want to at least change your parent’s way of thinking. Don’t you love them?”

“I want to.”

“Then let me help you.”

She considers for a little bit before deciding, “I will. How will you help me?”

“Open your mouth and I will replace your tongue with myself. In this way, I will help you convince the world to change.”

“Replace my tongue with yourself?” Adela gulps at the idea. “How will that help?”

“I convinced you that I was your father and I have a very sly way with words. Besides, you can’t change the world on your own and I know what we should do. In addition, if you continue on this path, you’ll end up like that gardener you were friends with or worse. You could be like your parents.”

“Okay, fine. Do it.”

“I promise to be quick.”

The snake enters Adela’s mouth, eats her tongue, and becomes it. By the time it’s done, Adela feels as if she’s had surgery done to her mouth while being completely awake and aware of the pain.

“Wha-what. Is it over?”

“You can speak, so yes.”

“Thank you.”

“I said it would be quick, but I didn’t say anything about it not being painful. Trust me when I say that this will probably be the least painful thing you will endure in your journey. Speaking of that, we must visit that friend of yours. The gardener.”

“We’re going to visit her? Where is she?”

“In her shop.”

“She’s still there? It’s been closed for a while, and I haven’t seen anyone enter or leave it.”

“That’s because the people who run the city have better things to do than to clean up some dusty closed shop that few cared about to begin with.”

Without wanting to ask any questions, Adela heads out to the shop and looks for a way in. Once in, she finds that the once beautiful garden that she helped tend to is now dead along with everything else in the shop. The entire place reeks of decay, and speaking about decay, Adela finds the corpse of the woman she once looked up to hanging by a noose in her room. She can hardly handle the sight as she tries to look away but can hardly muster the strength to do so.

“This isn’t real…this has to be a bad dream!” Adela says aloud.

“It is reality,” the snake says.

“Why…why did you want me to come here? Just to see this?”

“It is one of the reasons. This would’ve been your fate if you had not accepted my offer. You would’ve tried to live your life the way you wanted to only to be crushed by it, and with no one to help or care for you, you would’ve given in to despair and ended your life. The second reason is this.”

The snake goes out of Adela’s mouth and seemingly brings the woman back to life. With the spark of life back in her eyes, the corpse of a woman struggles to free herself with fingers that appear to have already struggled to do this because of the marks on them.

“Adela…Adela…” the woman tries to say.

“I’m here! I’ll find something to cut you down!”

“No, it’s too late for me. I only have a short time left here because of the snake that same snake who helped me make my dreams come true even for a short while. The snake is the reason why I was able to get a shop to begin with, but I didn’t follow its directions. Come here and open your mouth, so I can part to you a baptism to strengthen you so you could do what I could not.”

“What? Why?”

“Do as she says, Adela. You’re a strong girl and this blessing will give you the strength you need for the future.”

Adela nervously does as the woman says and opens her mouth. Suddenly, the woman pukes at her until her entire body explodes while Adela herself gets sick and pukes out some of what she ingested.

“What-what was that?” Adela hardly manages to say while sick.

“You were given the blessing that I gave her. Now, you are stronger than before. Who else would be brave enough to do what you’ve done? The day isn’t even done and you’ve proven yourself stronger and more selfless than most in the world.”

Adela leaves the room with the little strength she has and sits in the dead garden while wiping her face with her hands.

“Now…now what do I do?”

“Now, we meet some of my friends. You didn’t think that you would change the world by yourself, did you?”

“No, but I still don’t know what to think. I don’t even know your name.”

“Since you keep asking, you can call me Veritas.”

“Okay, Veritas. After I clean up, where should I go next?”

“There’s no need to shower because you’re going to go to the sewers. You’ll find my friends there and a shortcut in the sewers will lead you to the next area I want you to go to.”

“You’re really asking a lot of me. All I’m good at is gardening.”

“All heroes and idols went above and beyond for the causes they believed in. If you want to garden in peace, make your parents proud, and live in a happier world, then you’ll have to sacrifice gardening for now.”

“…okay. It’s not like there’s anything better I can do.”

“There’s that light in you that I saw that made me chose you. You don’t know it yet, but you will be an icon that people will look up to. You’ll be among the greats.”

Before going to the sewer entrance, Adela takes one last look back at the dead garden and the shop. She silently vows to make the woman she looked up to proud as she turns away and starts her unexpected journey.