I've gotten to the point with The Journeybook chronicle of this very tale that I've begun to forget some of the adventures I've had along the way. Looking back through the video chronicles I often run into chapters where I have "Oh yeah..." moments.
It's been a long quest. I've been to so many places, seen so many things. All of them extremely beautiful, many of them equally difficult. Now the end of the journey comes into view as the second season of The Journeybook sneaks up on the season finale where I will once again take on the challenge that injured me last year.
The second season of The Journeybook has primarily been a training season. All of these journeys testing a multitude of things and pushing the physical limits in preparation for one last great adventure and the ultimate goal of capturing the ritual of the final votive on film. A ritual - which last year proved - that is designed to be beyond all physical, psychological and spiritual limits. The ritual itself being a test - a proving of worth.
That failure comes with a price, same as any oath or promise broken to a God. And that price is to be paid before the final votive can be placed.
This photo (right) is an aerial view of the ancient Erinyes Crater, a portal to the Temple of the Furies. A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "those who beneath the earth punish whosoever has sworn a false oath".
Time and the Sister of Fate played a role in causing me to break my promise to Hera that the final votive would be placed upon the Summit of Sacrifice last year. Before I can attempt to do so again I have to pass the test of The Furies by traveling to the peak at the center of the crater and obtaining an artifact from their temple. One that they have no intentions of allowing any mortal to have.
There are other dangers to this next journey aside from the Furies themselves. The area is said to be plagued by melon heads. According to local lore, the melon heads were originally orphans under the watch of a mysterious figure known as Dr. Crow. Crow is said to have performed unusual experiments on the children, who developed large, hairless heads and malformed bodies. Some accounts claim that the children were already suffering from hydrocephalus, and that Crow injected even more fluid into their brains.
Eventually, the legend continues, the children killed Crow, burned the orphanage, and retreated to the surrounding forests. The same forests where I must travel in order to get to the crater.
I'm not the only one in history to know of the powers of this forest. Berea sandstone from this place was taken to build the foundations for many local buildings, including the Kirtland Temple, which was completed in 1836 after a man by the name of Joseph Smith was reportedly visited by "an angel" who directed him to a buried book written on golden plates containing the religious history of an ancient people. From the temple built of these stones rose the Mormon faith and the endeavor to build the city of Zion - which never happened. (On a side note: Lindsey Stirling, the violinist who opened up the second season of The Journeybook and has appeared in several of the videos just so happens to be a Mormon herself. She is also one of the sweetest people you could ever hope to meet.)
And so the plot thickens as the final battle with Zeus comes ever closer.
