Curse of Sacred plain

The Great War  was raging through lands, but for long the life went on as usual in the secluded villages scattered through area, where Sacred plain is now located. The names of those villages are long since forgotten, but not what happened in them. The people living in the area of Sacred plain though that they were blessed as the goddess of wind Adelyn  had found their huge oak tree as her favorite place, so they were certain that the horrors of the war would never reach them. Little did they know that Adelyn had left them and the war drew closer to them with every passing moment.

It is not clear whom they were that reached the villages, but one thing is clear they were enraged founding out that the people of the villages were acting like the horrors of the war they had witnessed never existed. In their rage they started to kill the people: the men, the women, the children, the old and the young... no-one was safe from their wrath.

When they were done with the people, they took everything valuable with them and set the buildings on fire. The blowing wind spread the fire from buildings to the autumns dry grass and trees forming inferno that consumed everything on the area: the buildings, the plants, the animals and the few people that had managed to escape the murderers. The fires licked even the bark of huge oak tree, but did not destroy it.

The sole survivor of the fires and massacre was young farmer who witnessed the events far away from mountains. When he reached the area the fires was gone and the land was ash. He cursed the goddess of wind, who had abandoned them to face the horrible fate. For revenge he ripped of the slightly burned wind chimes hung to oak tree for Adelyn's honor, used the chains and the least burned ropes to hung the bodies of the deceased to the tree, so that Adelyn could revere over the results of her actions.

It took years before the war was over and Adelyn returned from the wilderness. In that time the demolished and ashen land was turned into a beautiful blossoming meadow. Adelyn was inconsolable when she found the bodies of her beloved people from her tree. In her remorse and rage she decided to curse (or sanctify) the land so that no-one will ever forget what have happened here. She took the part of the souls of the deceased people and tied them to the ground and the tree. From those souls the ghosts occasionally haunting the area where formed, that guards the plains from any evil people. Adelyn also made the tree immortal, so that it leaves can transmit the voices of the deceased eternally.

Variations & Mutation

There are some variation in the myth depending on the teller. The main variations are on the gender of the survivor and whether Adelyn cursed or sanctified the place. Some of the versions also mentions that Tree of Adelyn was also cursed to suck life out of any tree that tries to root on the area, but among the scolars and historians this is generally accepted to be later addition to the myth as it is none of the oldest versions that are recorded.

There is also debate over what happened to the survivor. Most common version is that after he had hanged the bodies to tree he also hanged himself to tree. Other common version is that he went seeking the murderers and took revenge over them or died trying. Third version is that he became adventuring hero who traveled across the land doing good deeds or bringing down destruction where he went. The version thought to be most heretic is that he actually stayed there waiting for Adelyn and ambushed and slain her when she was startled by the bodies hanging in the tree.

Related Locations

• Sacred plain

Relation with other myths

The myth is tightly related with the myth  Life and death of Adelyn as they both describe in some part the same event. In the most versions of this myth there is no mention of death of Adelyn as it is about the curse (or sanctification) of the plain.