Every year, one youth from the tribe of Kithfarr of the Tosha Monastery made the
long pilgrimage to Avechna's Peak. This year, that youth was Kirin Farr, and
Kirin Farr would rather it wasn't.

The young Loboshigaru had never set foot outside of the Monastery in his entire
life. Where others in his family would rejoice at the coming of a lone
adventurer from one of the great cities far beyond the Razine Mountains, Kirin
would sit alone in his room with his head buried in age-old lore. The youth was
never the one who volunteered to venture outside on a foraging expedition, or to
gather herbs and plants for the tribe. He was more than content to keep his
profile low and attend to his studies. Kirin's cousins would tease him for it
every day on the path beneath his bedroom window.

"Ooh, well, if it isn't Kirin Farr, too scared to go outside. I'll venture he's
still suckling on his mother's teat!"

"Yes, yes, and playing on his father's knee!"

"Stupid Kirin, locking himself up with those nasty old manuscripts. What a
fool! Come on, we've water to carry…"

And so forth.

Kirin would merely sigh and pretend to go back to his reading.

Kirin Farr's sixteenth birthday arrived, and the tribal elders were again faced
with the challenge of choosing a worthy youth to go out and see the world on the
great pilgrimage to Avechna's Peak. It was Kirin's mischievous cousins who
recommended him.

"Father, I know the perfect candidate - pick Kirin Farr! He's always studying -
I'll wager he knows more about the outside than the rest of us!"

"Yes, yes, and he's got a good head for map-reading!"

"Studious Kirin, always locking himself up with those musty old books. He ought
to get a breath of fresh air, don't you think so, father?"

At this, Kirin, present at the meeting, flushed red to his tail-tip and
attempted to continue his lesson on rock formations.

Yet, somehow, the cousins' mischief had not fallen onto deaf ears. And so it
was that on the tenth day of Estar, the announcement was made to the
inhabitants of Tosha Monastery that Kirin Farr would be the year's pilgrim to
Avechna's Peak. Kirin, upon hearing this, promptly upset the sparkleberry tea
he was nursing and tripped painfully down the dormitory stairs.

Thus, Kirin Farr set out with naught but an oak staff in his hand and a stomach
full of butterflies to see the great god Avechna on his mountain.

The climb down the mountains was treacherous, and Kirin found himself having to
stop every few hundred feet down to rest his aching foot-paws. Yet the air was
effecting a change in the youth. As he journeyed, he came to relish the crisp
air of the open mountains. After a life spent in self-imposed near-isolation
and moldy studying rooms, the atmosphere was a marvelous change for the youth.
Within the next two days, Kirin Farr had made it down the mountains and now,
consulting his map, decided to journey to the great city of New Celest. From
his vantage point at the high foothills of the Razines, he could observe the
city from afar.

He was astounded by what he saw. At home, Kirin had been amazed at the scale of
the walls of the Tosha Monastery, but New Celest was an entirely different world
altogether. The huge, cerulean spires and twinkling blue lights emanating from
the city in the distance filled the youth with awe. This wonder was multiplied
when he reached the gates of the city itself. Stepping within, he saw a world
beyond comprehension. Magnificent Paladins, garbed in massive plate-mail armor,
strode forth with blades in hands. Strange bubbles seemed to drift on the
breeze. And the people-! Where Kirin had seen only Loboshigarus before¸ now he
saw such a vast array of species as to make his head swim. Humans, Dracnari,
Aslarans, and, of course, the ever-present Merians, with their fan-like ears
and blue skin – all made there home in New Celest, and none of them had ever
been seen by Kirin Farr outside of the picture books.

Once he had taken his fill of the grandeur of New Celest, Kirin Farr noticed
that he was not the only pilgrim in the city. Hundreds of pilgrims of all
different species clustered the city walls. All were headed for Avechna's Peak,
to see the god who kept even mighty Kethuru in thrall and was a great protector
of the innocent. Interestingly, citizens of Celest seemed happy to take the
pilgrims on the long journey to the Peak. Kirin decided it would be best for
him to find a willing adventurer of his own. It came easily enough. A young
Merian Aquamancer readily accepted Kirin Farr, and together, they quickly left
the city (though not without a certain reluctance on Kirin's part) and began to
take Ackleberry Road to the north.

Soon, the landscape became greener and denser with life. Animals played in the
branches of the trees that lined both sides of the road. Kirin thought he could
see green, almond shaped eyes staring at him and his Merian companion as they
walked, but it was, of course, only imagination. Wasn't it?

Soon they cleared the forest and a great sight greeted Kirin's eyes. The mighty
mountain of Avechna's Peak rose forebodingly before him like a mighty gray
citadel. At the top, Kirin knew, was none other than Avechna himself. With
fresh nervousness alive in his belly, he continued to follow his seemingly
unfazed Merian companion as they started up the mountain.

As they climbed the mountain, Kirin felt the air getting clearer, fresher. He
felt the temperature drop and the warmth of his winter coat shield him from the
elements. He felt as though he was returning home after a long voyage. This was
where he belonged – the mountains. As the year turns and spring again comes to
greet the world, so Kirin felt that after leaving his home, he was coming back
to a new one, yet strangely the same. He and his companion ascended the great
sets of natural stairs that led up the mountain, and made their way over the
paths that in turn gave way to more stairs, an endless cycle. Gradually, the
air became thinner, and it became harder to breathe. Kirin saw his cousins,
seeing him off into the unknown. Before him, they appeared from the mists of
the mountain. They approached him.

"Kirin Farr, looks like you've done it after all. But you knew you would,
didn't you…"

"Yes, yes, we knew you could do it. We knew you had it in you…"

"Kirin, remember us when you're gone, will you? We'll remember you…"

A scaly hand shook Kirin Farr awake. It was the Merian.

"We're here."

Before the young Loboshigaru was the indescribable being that was Avechna, in
all his grandeur and power. A gale-force wind blew over the top of the great
mountain, but Avechna paid it no heed. Neither did Kirin. The Merian smiled and
walked slowly away, a bag of a hundred gold coins, Kirin's gift to him, in his
hands.

As Kirin slowly knelt before the being before him, he experienced a great
revelation. He knew he had always known he could no longer return to his
monastery. Having seen the outside, he could no longer keep the simple life he
had experienced thus far as his own. The power and magnitude of the world,
which had at first overwhelmed him, which he had now tamed with his mind, was
not his to bring back to his first home. His previous life.

Thus realizing this, he walked down and stepped through, and the world before
Kirin Farr began to swim. A vortex opened up and swallowed Existence, leaving
Kirin floating in Nothingness. He found his footing, somewhere in Reality, and
stepped out of a portal of swirling colors and into the darkness, memories
fading like shadows into the dusk. Even the memory of stepping through the
portal began to dim, though through an effort of will, Kirin held on to the
fragile memory that he had just stepped through the Portal of Fate to be
initiated into the Mysteries.

Thus, Kirin understood, had begun the weaving of the fate of Kirin Farr in the
realm of Lusternia. For this is the truth written herein- every pilgrim that
ever journeyed to Avechna's Peak was, in doing so, searching not for the
meaning of existence, but rather, the meaning of their own lives.