THE HIGH TABLE
Established: 2023-11-17
Chat room: #BARBARUS
- No holds barred
- Weapons
- Extreme violence
- Blood
- Death
A worldwide organization of men trained for violent, bloody, and even deadly combat. Their competence is indicated by their qualifications, from the lowest to the highest, reserved for an elite.
441 members
1170 stories
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I. The House
Some miles beyond Chalyth stood the House, its gardens too carefully tended to be innocent.
Two Eclipsarii brought the captive into the courtyard—their faces covered, whether from holiness or shame.
Oryn looked down at the naked man on his knees.
20:50 Oryn_of_Vaelkor: So, Roland's bondsman.
Some part of Red expected this.
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Red kept his eyes lowered.
20:50 Oryn_of_Vaelkor: Look at me.
Red obeyed.
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<Oryn_of_Vaelkor> How fortunate. We begin there.
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II. The First Corrections
19:16 Oryn_of_Vaelkor: Welcome him.
19:18 Erynd: Yes, Master
Red's skin had begun to flush.
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17:49 Red_Bondsman: Are you his servant?
<Erynd> I have been many things here.
<Erynd> You may call me brother.
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: 
Red turned. A disembodied figure hovered in the doorway—one of the Unhoused.
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<Erynd> I am sorry, brother.
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19:20 Erynd: Look up.
The guardians watched.
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And watched.
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And watched.
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19:22 Erynd: We are always in his gaze.
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One was different.
19:22 Erynd: He says that is you.
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What followed Red remembered imperfectly.
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The Unhoused at the edge of sight.
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Suspended, he could not tell whether this was punishment, measurement, or prayer.
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In Oryn's House, these were not necessarily different things.
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IV. Investiture
Weaponless before his master.
V. The Mouth
Beneath Chalyth lay the Mouth.
To the priests, a sanctuary.
To Oryn, a gate.
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Oryn opened a passage.
Something was taking shape inside.
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When Red saw the mirror, he fought.
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Four Eclipsarii were required.
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For an instant he saw his reflection.
It had wings.
Behind it, flames.
They pushed him through.
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VI. The Other Country
There are places where a man dreams he has become a monster.
In the Other Country, the monster remembers having been a man.
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Red woke above Oryn’s works.
The wings chafed.
Below him furnaces breathed among mineral gardens.
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The country was neither hell nor paradise.
Plants grew in impossible forms.
Stone flowered.
Pools reflected events that had not yet occurred.
Pale figures carried vessels, fulfilling instructions received centuries before their deaths.
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20:48 Erynd: So. This is what he has done.
Red touched one membrane as though it belonged to somebody standing beside him.
<Red_Bondsman> What am I?
Erynd shook his head.
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20:50 Erynd: He will tell you.
Red listened.
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20:49 Erynd: Remember Skarrow.
Red looked away.
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VIII. The King Below
There was no crown.
Nothing so trivial was required.
Red knelt.
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<Oryn_of_Vaelkor> Some part of you came willingly.
<Oryn_of_Vaelkor> That will permit us to go much farther.
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IX. The Mirrors
The mirrors did not distort Red.
They corrected him.
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In one he melted.
In another Skarrow burned behind him.
One showed no Red at all.
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<Red_Bondsman> Which one is true?
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There was one mirror Oryn made him look into alone.
There is no account of what it contained.
Afterward Red lay on the stone floor, his wings crumpled around him.
The mirror continued to shine.
Oryn waited.
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X. Roland
20:57 Roland: My failure. My punishment
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Roland looked at the chains.
20:57 Roland: These I remember. They are called flowers.
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<Red_Bondsman> So he remembers?
20:59 Oryn_of_Vaelkor: What he was.
<Red_Bondsman> What was he?
20:59 Oryn_of_Vaelkor: An ox.
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21:00 Oryn_of_Vaelkor: He calls his confinement peace.
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21:00 Oryn_of_Vaelkor: See what was taken.
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21:01 Roland: Can it not be undone?
21:01 Oryn_of_Vaelkor: Ask him.
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21:01 Roland: Can you put it back?
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21:02 Oryn_of_Vaelkor: Now you will correct him.
21:02 Oryn_of_Vaelkor: He will learn to worship it.
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Published: 12 days ago, viewed 57 times.
Freaker
10 days agoThe Correction of Masters creates a strange, dark and fascinating world where punishment, transformation and worship become almost indistinguishable. The line "Do not mistake gentleness for mercy" perfectly describes Erynd, whose apparent kindness only makes his obedience to Oryn more disturbing.
The sentence "In the Other Country, the monster remembers having been a man" captures Red’s transformation and his gradual loss of identity. Later, "The mirrors did not distort Red. They corrected him" reveals the true power of Oryn’s world: it does not merely torture its victims but reshapes them according to its own rules.
The final reversal between Red and Roland gives the title its full meaning, the former servant is transformed into the instrument of his master’s correction. Thanks to Oryn of Vaelkor, Red Bondsman, Erynd and Roland for publishing this haunting and imaginative story in The High Table!