When Bandits Wept

One day, while the Inspirer was cloaked in disguise as she has hidden her glow and her power, she has met a band of bandits. These bandits knew nothing of love or joy or of everything the Inspirer stands for.

“Well now, looks like we have an early catch,” one of the thieves said.

“Hmmm… doesn’t look so rich, though,” another commented.

Just then, the Inspirer held out a golden medallion and showed it to the thieves. “I am the Inspirer,” she said. “You cannot steal anything from me.”

The thieves were amazed yet didn’t know what to think. They well recognized the medallion but they could not recognize any power from the one claiming to be the Inspirer.

“If you are the Inspirer, where is your Defender?” one of the thieves asked.

“My Defender will be here shortly,” the Inspirer replied.

The thieves merely laughed however, for they could not believe the one talking to them. Still, they couldn’t discount the fact that she possesses the medallion.

“Inspirer or not, we are bandits and we’re going to do with you as we did with the rest who crossed our path,” a thief threatened.

“What are you going to do?”

“We are going to hurt you and then steal everything away from you.”

“Will you be happy if you do that?” the Inspirer asked.

“What kind of nonsense is that? Of course we’ll be happy!”

“I am the Inspirer, and even without my Defender, I can very well protect myself. But for now, since you said you’re going to derive happiness from what you are about to do, I am going to let you do with me as you pleased.”

And so the Inspirer let them hurt her and humiliate her with their taunts. One by one the thieves made fun of her and made her receive their blows.

All the while that they were hurting her, the thieves were laughing as though they were finding happiness in what they’re doing. Deep within however, they knew how empty they all are, how meaningless their laughter had been. They were miserable, and so they want to drag others into their misery.

As to the woman they are hurting, they couldn’t find misery in her eyes. No matter how much pain they inflict on her, they couldn’t see hopelessness, and so they couldn’t bear to look in her eyes any further.

They started to hate her, and soon they also hated themselves. If only they could break the Inspirer’s spirit, if only they could hear her beg for mercy.

And so they hurt her even more, hitting her with their rods ’til she’s battered and bruised all over,laying on the ground as she twitches in great pain.

They couldn’t take away the light in her eyes though. And they couldn’t stop her the moment she started to sing.

The song of the Inspirer seem to have lifted a veil from their eyes and they saw their empty hearts. They saw how famished their soul have been, how thirsty with meaning which the Inspirer is now freely giving unto them.

Tears soon fell endlessly from hearts that felt true sorrow for the first time. Sorrow for their emptiness, sorrow for their misery, sorrow for the many sins that they have done, foremost of which is their transgression against the Inspirer herself.

How could they have hurt her? How could they have laid their hands on her? How could they have striked her so painfully with their rods?

While the thieves were weeping over their transgressions, the Healer arrived and treated the Inspirer’s wounds. The Inspirer was immediately healed, but the thieves continued to weep. They wept for months for it took a long time for their souls to find healing. After which, each vowed to make retribution and all became Defenders of the one Inspirer who woke up their hearts.