The Message

A piece of fanfiction written under the pseudonym of K.A. Storm, found on Tumblr.

Alfred had always felt a strong connection to the divine. He had grown up attending church every Sunday and had studied the teachings of the saints and the Bible with great reverence. But as he grew older, he found that he needed more guidance than what the church alone could provide.

One day, he decided to make a pilgrimage to a small church nestled in the hills of Ireland. It was said that a saint lived there who could provide guidance to those who sought it. Alfred traveled for days to reach the church, and when he finally arrived, he was greeted warmly by the monks who lived there.

He was led to a small room where the saint sat, surrounded by candles and incense. Alfred felt a sense of awe as he gazed upon the saint, who looked at him with kind eyes.

As Alfred addressed the saint, he was taken aback when the saint replied in a language that was unfamiliar to him. It reminded Alfred of a passage from the Bible that he had read, where the prophet Jeremiah spoke of the “ancient paths” that his people had forgotten. In that moment, Alfred felt as though he had stumbled upon one of those ancient paths, a way of connecting with the divine that had been forgotten by many.

Despite his confusion, Alfred was determined to communicate with the saint. He drew upon his knowledge of the Ogham script and began carving his message into a piece of wood. While he carefully etched the letters into the wood, using the ancient script that he had learned from his studies, he was reminded of a verse from the Bible that spoke of writing the divine commandments “on the doorposts of your house and on your gates”. In a way, Alfred was inscribing his message onto the doorposts of the saint’s room, hoping that it would reach him and be understood.

With careful precision, Alfred etched the Ogham letters onto the wood, crafting a message that expressed his deepest concerns and desires. When he presented the piece of wood to the saint, he was heartened to see the recognition in the saint’s eyes. It was as if he had invoked another verse from the Irish Bible, where the prophet Isaiah spoke of the divine promise that “they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles”. In that moment, Alfred felt renewed, as if he too had taken flight and transcended the boundaries of language and time.

As Alfred left the church and began his journey home, he looked back at the saint’s small room, feeling a sense of wonder at the power of language and the ways in which it could connect people across time and space.

From that day on, Alfred would often visit the saint, and they would communicate through the Ogham script. Alfred felt grateful for this new way of communicating with the divine, and he cherished the guidance that the saint provided.