Of Gordon and Julio

Of Gordon & Julio

Author	Johann Kümmel
Country	Elysium
Published	1 July 2023
Pages	10

Of Gordon & Julio is an Elysiumite short story written by Johann Kümmel. The story covers Gordon Alvate - a snake personified as the lord of a manor after the death of his father - who is on a quest to determine the truth of Julio Lee, a semi-mythical lord and founder of the fictitious city of Leesburg.

Plot

The short story is divided into 3 parts, each roughly 2-3 pages long. The preface describes a brief story of Julio - a snake who greeted the Emperor of Elysium while visiting Congaree National Park, which resulted in the Emperor bestowing upon him his name - as well as of Gordon, another snake which was stated to have been "immortalized through the symbols of the Empire" after being found by the Emperor.

Part 1

Gordon Alvate - who is lord of the Alvate manor after the death of his father, Jerome Alvate of Princeton - is busy in his study, attempting to figure out the truth behind the legend of Julio Lee, the semi-mythical founder of Leesburg. This angers his court - who are planning to go to Nuukfest, a religious holiday in Elysium - and, because of this, one of his assistants enters into his study and demands he put off his work to attend the local Nuukfest festival in Josephina. After a brief back-and-forth - where Gordon points out that the assistant and the rest of his court tell their children the tale of the "Goblin from Greymont" - he obliges to go attend. However, right after this, he resumes his previous work, further angering his court.

Sometime after this, a stranger appears at the Alvate manor and asks to speak to Gordon - one of the members of his court, a lord of a nearby fief, denies this request at first until Gordon enters the court room and grants him an audience, to the dismay of the court. The stranger states that he is descendent of Julio Lee, which Gordon questions by quizzing him on the story of his ancestor, to which he answers perfectly. After this, the stranger reveals his name to be Hosea Lee of Leesburg and tells him that Julio established the city after "the Emperor's visit", which Gordon recalls was in one of the stories.

Part 2

After sleeping the night, Gordon sends Hosea back to Leesburg. We learn from the narrator that, after this, they exchange letters from time to time (from which we learn the names of Hosea's and Gordon's fathers and their respective backstories) - they also invite each other to parties after the birth of their sons, Joel Lee and Jonah Alvate, who eventually conscript themselves in the Elysiumite military and are sent off to garrison Kárhawísta in Greymont.

Sometime after this, Gordon receives word of an impending invasion and decides - alongside Hosea - to go up to Greymont to defend the castle at Kárhawísta. They - alongside the men that came with them - receive training, with Hosea & Gordon being conscripted as officers in a cavalry regiment and their men being conscripted into infantry. Time passes by before the invading force arrives - the invading force takes heavy casualties in the end, although Gordon was shot in the head and killed while trying to shoot an enemy soldier. His body was taken back to Josephina and a funeral was held; after this, Jonah Alvate was declared Lord of the Alvate Manor by the Emperor of Elysium.

Part 3

Gordon wakes up in heaven after being killed - he then thanks God for allowing him to enter heaven, for he thought that he'd rather be in purgatory for not following God's law at times. After this, he notices the appearance of Heaven is similar to the Book of Revelation and later notices Julio Lee amongst the crowd of people near the throne of God. They discuss the stories about Julio - where it is revealed that a portion of these stories surrounded his death in combat in Leesburg - as well as their lives and the story of Joseph Lee, who had founded Josephina.

References

• Text of Of Gordon & Julio