Lonely and forgotten by time, as if the earth had opened up and swallowed the small monastery for centuries, it lay there, its silhouette timidly rising from the fog..
Schönthal... in crooked and smudged letters, so it was written on the letter, the date
April 2, 1525.
Dear Albrik,
with dismay I have heard your bitter complaint about the death of our beloved parents.
How cruel the authorities can be, just to satisfy their claims to power and greed.
What is left for our parents and you?
To lead a lesser life than a common rat?
To toil to death, without hope for a better life?
How well I can understand our parents when the news came from Württemberg to join the uprisings.
Who could have guessed that from a spark, a firestorm would break over us..
I hope the letter reaches you before your escape...please come to me, beloved brother...
Everything else then.
Benjas
Albrik, at the end of his strength, was glad...
Glad to forget the past and the painful memories of those he had to leave behind, if only for a moment...
Glad to be able to place his own life in God's hands, diverting the fatefulness and knowing that from now on he would lead a virtuous life, in harmony with himself.
Yet he was aware that the penance he would have to do could hardly be compensated for in one lifetime...
With his last strength and in the protective fog, he reached the monastery wall; slowly feeling his way, until a small side door caught his attention.
The three short knocks on the wooden gate echoed in the fog gray..
Suddenly something stirred behind the door... footsteps could be heard, frantic activity.
All at once the door fell open and Albrik stumbled inside.
Immediately a dense, warm smoke met him... a smoke he still remembered from his uncle.
He was a cooper by trade and had loved watching his uncle burn the barrels since childhood.
Childhood... that term he had long forgotten..
His eyes watered, but through his tired pupils he could make out a shadow that, becoming clearer, approached him.
"My dear brother, you made it"
Benjas, completely wrapped in animal skin and leather, stood before him...
His brother had become smaller and thinner, where once a monastic robe had concealed his belly, only a penitent shirt now peeked out, fluttering loosely beneath the leather garment.
"Let me see you, brother"
..Albrik had also changed, his cheerful and benevolent eyes had almost entirely sunk into his skull, the wrinkles on his forehead deep, hair only present in a few places.
Benjas was startled:
"Come, brother, sit down, you must be thirsty, drink"
Benjas handed him a bottle with a thick substance..
"This will give you new strength, our monastery's own liqueur mixed with a bit of honey and various spices, that awakens the spirits of life"
Taking a large sip, Albrik immediately felt a pleasant warmth rising within him.
How long had it been since he had slept, let alone drunk or eaten anything...
All tension left his face.... there he was again, his brother, for a brief moment just as he remembered him, before Benjas had moved into the monastery, only for, as the bottle had not yet fully touched the table, his face to once again be thrown into deep wrinkles.
"You must be tired and exhausted, here you are safe....come, I will show you your room, there you can rest, we will talk tomorrow"
Benjas led his brother through a narrow corridor into a small room, sparsely furnished with a table, a chair, and a bed.
The air in the room was somewhat stale and smoky, but that didn't bother Albrik much; he simply enjoyed the pleasant warmth, probably also because he hadn't felt it for a long time.
"I'll let you rest a bit, if anything happens, my room is directly opposite"
"Thank you, Benjas" ... these were the first two words Albrik had spoken since his arrival...
"You don't have to thank me, you are my brother...never forget that"
Due to the liqueur and the weeks of deprivation, Albrik fell into a deep sleep...
Nightmares gnawed at his soul like threatening shadows....
There he stood at night, his spirit detached from his body, alone in the middle of the village square...
the houses around him burned, unable to do anything, he looked down at himself...
warm resin flowed around his feet, from afar the voices of the damned...
growing ever shriller, two dark figures approached him, arm in arm...
emerging from the smoke, they were now clearly recognizable...
it was father and mother....
but where once their faces had been, pig heads adorned their visages..
a black, hot mass spewed forth from their mouths...
"Father, Mother....forgive me..... I could not save you"...
falling to his knees, more and more of the black liquid poured over him, until only his head protruded...
everything had become silent, almost peaceful...
only a black sea...
"I just have to submerge and let go"
he sank completely into the darkness and...
awoke!
Drenched in sweat and gasping for air, he awoke...
It was dawning on the horizon...
Sleepy and still feeling the night in his limbs, he stumbled through the corridor..
Where were the other monastery brothers..?
He knocked on his brother's door, no one opened..
Cautiously, he crept further down the long narrow corridor, suddenly coming upon a large, soot-covered door..
He slowly felt for a round doorknob and pulled on it boldly..
With a loud creak, the door flew open..
Albrik, somewhat surprised by his own strength, was immediately blinded by the rising sun!
As his eyes adjusted to the light conditions, he found himself in the monastery courtyard,
many of the monastery brothers were in the monastery garden tending to the vegetables and the shrubs growing there.
The sun's rays warmed his face and from the reflection of the stones shining in the sun, his brother stepped forward.
He put his arm around his shoulder
"I may not be able to take away your pain, but together it is possible for us to find a new home here"
Tears filled Albrik's eyes...
He knew it would be a long road for him....
but now....
now he could let go....
Elemi resin
Frankincense
Labdanum
Cistus
Ambergris
Angelica
Benzoin
Castoreum
Cedar
Clove
Honey
Oud
Beeswax
Birch tar
Coumarin
Leather
Papyrus
Georgeman
Rachelg
Danny264
Theris
Schalkerin
NuiWhakakore
Bosworth
JonasP1
Brida
Licorice
