The Words of WarSan (3)
November 6th 2009 03:41
For three days, we waited.
The cave on the beach sheltered us, and on that first morning, as the sky began to lighten, I and the tribe went out on to the beach to watch.
The beach was a tiny thing. It was long, but the strip of sand was barely three paces wide before it met sharp rocks. From beyond the rocks was dark soil, from which large trees were growing, so fast that before the true light came to the sky, they were mammoth.
The dawn twilight took a long time. We were patient. We ate fruit, we held hands, we spoke to each other of the wonder of life.
Always, OmTa and I were hand in hand.
The whole tribe was sitting quietly on the beach when Twisun came into the sky. First, we saw an immense, glittering cloud. Then the edge of a bright sphere, moving, and so suddenly, within breaths, it had risen above Om's circumference, far off to our right, two spheres of pure light, revolving about one another in an incandescant cloud.
In silence, we watched it, filled with awe. It brough light. It brought warmth. By its light, we saw the land rising about us, still bare and brown, but with trees growing. Thus far the only greenery was around the cave mouth.
For three days we ate fruit. We talked, we slept.
In dawn twilight of the fourth day we walked to the castle. It took us some time. We saw the black spires of the towers jutting to the sky, and followed our path towards them.
The castle, when approached, seemed a dreadful place. I could discern no smell, but it seemed repulsive to me, as if it pushed us away. The rock that made it was so black, the lava flowing thickly about its base.
We sat on the dirt, and waited.
Before long Kalla and Lucifer came forth. They stood on the drawbridge. Behind them came their followers. Some were missing, and at their loss I felt a knot of helplessness inside.
We watched each other.
I understood, she wanted to destroy us. She had planned to hunt us. That we had come for her had made her uneasy. She was reluctant to attack. I realized, the beast knew a kind of fear, an uncertainty. Perhaps, that would be the beginning of her downfall.
I had no doubt, the bitch would fall.
At the prescise moment it seemed none of us could wait any longer, Twisun rose from its bed and bathed us in warmth and light. The witch flinched, and her consort covered his eyes. I understood - the light hurt them. One group would have to move.
But before we could a great cry split the air. It seemed to come from everywhere at once, from above, and below, a great exaltant shriek.
I smiled. For the first time, I knew confidence.
From above the spires of the castle a white shining form appeared. Its wings filled the sky, its form glowed, reflecting and absorbing light, so it seemed made of crystal, glittering, shining....
Like a blazing star.
She arrowed towards us, the wind of her flight stirring up dust and mist. She landed between us, the drawbridge and our tribe, slightly to the left of me. OmTa grasped my hand, and I felt her smile match my own.
The form was dragon, and such a dragon! She could have crushed me in her great talon as I could crush a small nut, so great was she. Her face was detailed and beautiful, with huge yellow green eyes and slitted pupils. Her wings were reptilian yet feathered on the ends, great whispering fronds. Her neck and tail weaved with incredible grace. Her scales were each one a different shade of iridiscent white, cream, pale beautous shining coulours from which the light of Twisun glanced and shone.
Her ear flaps were like her sisters, long finlike appendiges at the top of her dragon skull. She had a pair of crystal horns, and between her horns was a crown of shining pearls.
"I am Areyamathea, Queen of Dragons." She spoke, in a voice like music, trilling, deep, resonant. Her reptile eyes fixed upon the frozen form of Kalla.
"You cannot stop me, Curiosity!" Screamed Kalla, all the power of her voice and form dwindling before this great Queen, "I am rage, I am Fear, I am Bloodlust! I am first, and I direct this creation!"
Areyamathea tilted her great head to the side, observing her. "You are split, demoness, in your representation. Because you hold three, and I am only one, I am greater than you. My potency is deeper."
"But you cannot defeat me!" Hissed the witch, "I live in mens hearts and womens souls! I cannot be killed!"
"What you say is true," The dargon smiled, and such a sight that was! "But greater forces than you exist in this universe. There is that which can defeat you, and that is what we witness here today! Behold the Queen of Goldenstone!"
Areyamathea clapped her great front claws together, rearing back on her hind legs to do so. The force of her clap shook each of us, and the red witch looked fearfully into the moat by her side, which had begun to bubble.
I realized then, that we are slaves to our human shape. Though we represent and embody specific emotions, we were each creatures capable of experiencing the full spectrum. Even her, the witch.
The bubbles in the lava grew larger, and all eyes were locked on to that place. The lava sighed, heat, mist, was released.......And from the very lava rose the shape of a woman. She came fast, in only a breath she was there, fully formed, feet hovering above the lava. The rivers of red ran off her skin until she hung there clean and white with skin as pale as the stars themselves. Her long hair swirled over her shoulders, thick to her waist and black as night. Her eyes opened, and they were blue as the sea. As the final drops of lava red fell from her feet, the moat turned blue as her eyes, a sudden flash of colour that raced around the base of the castle.
Smiling, the woman spread her hand and floated through the air until she hung above the earth. She reached down with a dainty toe and placed both feet upon the earth.
Something screamed - every cell on Om's skin shrieked in exaltation. Areyamathea had her great eyes closed, claws digging gently into the soil. As the womans feet touched the soil, a great flood of green grass sprang from the earth and flew across her surface like fire. Suddenly everything was green, so many shades of it, up in the trees, in bushes and grasses, and beautiful blue and purple flowers sprang up around her feet, trailing away from her in joyous tendrils.
"I am Xiara!" She cried, "I am the Queen of Goldenstone!"
At her words the walls of the castle seemed to crack, the black skin flaking off, crumbling, falling into the moat to be swallowed by its purity. Underneath the walls were pure, pearlescant gray of clouds, some shot through with ivory viens. Every fifth stone was a pale gold.
Lucifer was on his knees, weeping. Those who followed them were all confused, some looking at us, others at Xiara and Areyamathea, and there were those who kept their cold hard eyes on their queen, Kalla.
Kalla stood straight and true, taller than Xiara, staring at her enemy. The two faced one another.
"You." Spat Kalla, "You are Choice"
Xiara assented with a tilt of her head. "I am choice. I am its form. My presecence enables those without great will to choose......For you. Or against you. Feel their hearts, Kalla. Feel their souls. They do not choose you."
Kallas green eyes narrowed, "It matters not! I cannot be killed! Rule if you will Queen of nothing! I shall remain, with my consort and my followers, and know that while I live I shall gather strength to move against you! Ours is the way, we are the stronger, and your kingdom of peace shall fall to me!"
Areyemathea spoke, "That cannot be allowed to come to pass"
Kalla looked at her in horror and shock, finally sensing that events were fully out of her control. Areyemathea gathered herself and let forth a burst of green dragon flame from her mouth and nostrils. Kalla and her followers dived for cover, out of the way.
The flames had engulfed, obliterated, the form of Lucifer.
On her knees, Kalla screamed, "He cannot be killed! What have you done with him!"
"His form is no more," Areyamathea said. "He resides in Om's molten core, safe, protected. From there he may whisper, but he shall not have physical form again." Her eyes fixed upon the witch.
Kala reached out, grabbed one of her followers. This ones eyes had cleared upon seeing the dragon and the queen, and now looked terrified. This was one who had not known there was choice.
Kalla placed a splayed hand of sharp edged nails on the womans belly. I saw something red pass down her arm, from hand to womb. Defiantly, Kalla faced the Dragon.
"Destroy me then! Take my form! But know this - into this innocent woman I have placed a babe. It shall wear my face and have my form. From this curse, I tell you now, into every generation my body shall live. Into every generation there shall be those who choose to worship me! If they desire, they can call my soul into the form that was once mine. This shall be called The Cult of Lucifer, in honour of those emotions that are truly strong, that truly rule the world and direct the universe! So destroy my body you may, but I can never be destroyed!"
She faced the dragon, looking straight into its eyes.
Areyemathea engulfed the witch in flames. To my horror, the witch laughed as she was burned to ashes.
Those who had remained true to her, perhaps eight of them, ran into the newly made forest. One, a female, stopped, turned, looked at the one who was now pregnant with the witch's body. She looked long, to affirm she could not forget the face, and then followed her breathren.
"WarSan," said the dragon, "I have a task for you."
"Anything, Great One"
"I am prophetess, I am Saviour. Omecka herself has beseeched me to give you this great task. This mistake shall not ever be repeated. Some of her peoples must ever be set apart from the rest of life. You are to choose ten males, ten females, and travel south west into the high crags of the Wolf Mountains. Life will be hard, but Om and your faith in her shall serve you. "
I stood. "As you will it, great one." I gestured with my hand, and OmTa and a crowd stood. I did not need to choose them, now that Xiara was here, they were able to choose for themselves. They began to walk south west, knowing the journey was to be a long one. I looked at Areyemathea for the final time.
"One more thing, WarSan." The dragon whispered, "Om would not have you worship her. You shall revre her, if you wish, and give her homage, but she shall not be your God. You shall worship the first animals to walk her soil"
From behind me, I heard small footsteps.
I turned, and racing towards us were great, large, furry creatures. Patterned white, black, grey, with long snouts, four paws and high fluffy tails. They raced past me, through my tribe, to race ahead and leave us a path of paw prints to follow.
The last one, the largest, stopped and threw her paws on my chest, panting into my face. Each paw was easily the size of my chest muscles. She barked once, and chased after the pack.
"Wolf" I whispered, the word rising unbidden to my lips.
"And you shall be the Wolfen" Said Xiara, " Apart from all clans and tribes, alone in your worship of The Mighty Wolf Pack"
"So shall it be" I whispered.
OmTa beakoned, "Come husband!" And I followed, turning my back on the dragon, the Queen, and the peoples left behind.
These are the words of WarSan.
This is the stroy, as it is told by each Great Chief, passed down generation by generation.
These are the Words of WarSan as spoken my me, Om-Ra, the seventh Great Chief of the Wolfen Tribe.
The cave on the beach sheltered us, and on that first morning, as the sky began to lighten, I and the tribe went out on to the beach to watch.
The beach was a tiny thing. It was long, but the strip of sand was barely three paces wide before it met sharp rocks. From beyond the rocks was dark soil, from which large trees were growing, so fast that before the true light came to the sky, they were mammoth.
The dawn twilight took a long time. We were patient. We ate fruit, we held hands, we spoke to each other of the wonder of life.
Always, OmTa and I were hand in hand.
The whole tribe was sitting quietly on the beach when Twisun came into the sky. First, we saw an immense, glittering cloud. Then the edge of a bright sphere, moving, and so suddenly, within breaths, it had risen above Om's circumference, far off to our right, two spheres of pure light, revolving about one another in an incandescant cloud.
In silence, we watched it, filled with awe. It brough light. It brought warmth. By its light, we saw the land rising about us, still bare and brown, but with trees growing. Thus far the only greenery was around the cave mouth.
For three days we ate fruit. We talked, we slept.
In dawn twilight of the fourth day we walked to the castle. It took us some time. We saw the black spires of the towers jutting to the sky, and followed our path towards them.
The castle, when approached, seemed a dreadful place. I could discern no smell, but it seemed repulsive to me, as if it pushed us away. The rock that made it was so black, the lava flowing thickly about its base.
We sat on the dirt, and waited.
Before long Kalla and Lucifer came forth. They stood on the drawbridge. Behind them came their followers. Some were missing, and at their loss I felt a knot of helplessness inside.
We watched each other.
I understood, she wanted to destroy us. She had planned to hunt us. That we had come for her had made her uneasy. She was reluctant to attack. I realized, the beast knew a kind of fear, an uncertainty. Perhaps, that would be the beginning of her downfall.
I had no doubt, the bitch would fall.
At the prescise moment it seemed none of us could wait any longer, Twisun rose from its bed and bathed us in warmth and light. The witch flinched, and her consort covered his eyes. I understood - the light hurt them. One group would have to move.
But before we could a great cry split the air. It seemed to come from everywhere at once, from above, and below, a great exaltant shriek.
I smiled. For the first time, I knew confidence.
From above the spires of the castle a white shining form appeared. Its wings filled the sky, its form glowed, reflecting and absorbing light, so it seemed made of crystal, glittering, shining....
Like a blazing star.
She arrowed towards us, the wind of her flight stirring up dust and mist. She landed between us, the drawbridge and our tribe, slightly to the left of me. OmTa grasped my hand, and I felt her smile match my own.
The form was dragon, and such a dragon! She could have crushed me in her great talon as I could crush a small nut, so great was she. Her face was detailed and beautiful, with huge yellow green eyes and slitted pupils. Her wings were reptilian yet feathered on the ends, great whispering fronds. Her neck and tail weaved with incredible grace. Her scales were each one a different shade of iridiscent white, cream, pale beautous shining coulours from which the light of Twisun glanced and shone.
Her ear flaps were like her sisters, long finlike appendiges at the top of her dragon skull. She had a pair of crystal horns, and between her horns was a crown of shining pearls.
"I am Areyamathea, Queen of Dragons." She spoke, in a voice like music, trilling, deep, resonant. Her reptile eyes fixed upon the frozen form of Kalla.
"You cannot stop me, Curiosity!" Screamed Kalla, all the power of her voice and form dwindling before this great Queen, "I am rage, I am Fear, I am Bloodlust! I am first, and I direct this creation!"
Areyamathea tilted her great head to the side, observing her. "You are split, demoness, in your representation. Because you hold three, and I am only one, I am greater than you. My potency is deeper."
"But you cannot defeat me!" Hissed the witch, "I live in mens hearts and womens souls! I cannot be killed!"
"What you say is true," The dargon smiled, and such a sight that was! "But greater forces than you exist in this universe. There is that which can defeat you, and that is what we witness here today! Behold the Queen of Goldenstone!"
Areyamathea clapped her great front claws together, rearing back on her hind legs to do so. The force of her clap shook each of us, and the red witch looked fearfully into the moat by her side, which had begun to bubble.
I realized then, that we are slaves to our human shape. Though we represent and embody specific emotions, we were each creatures capable of experiencing the full spectrum. Even her, the witch.
The bubbles in the lava grew larger, and all eyes were locked on to that place. The lava sighed, heat, mist, was released.......And from the very lava rose the shape of a woman. She came fast, in only a breath she was there, fully formed, feet hovering above the lava. The rivers of red ran off her skin until she hung there clean and white with skin as pale as the stars themselves. Her long hair swirled over her shoulders, thick to her waist and black as night. Her eyes opened, and they were blue as the sea. As the final drops of lava red fell from her feet, the moat turned blue as her eyes, a sudden flash of colour that raced around the base of the castle.
Smiling, the woman spread her hand and floated through the air until she hung above the earth. She reached down with a dainty toe and placed both feet upon the earth.
Something screamed - every cell on Om's skin shrieked in exaltation. Areyamathea had her great eyes closed, claws digging gently into the soil. As the womans feet touched the soil, a great flood of green grass sprang from the earth and flew across her surface like fire. Suddenly everything was green, so many shades of it, up in the trees, in bushes and grasses, and beautiful blue and purple flowers sprang up around her feet, trailing away from her in joyous tendrils.
"I am Xiara!" She cried, "I am the Queen of Goldenstone!"
At her words the walls of the castle seemed to crack, the black skin flaking off, crumbling, falling into the moat to be swallowed by its purity. Underneath the walls were pure, pearlescant gray of clouds, some shot through with ivory viens. Every fifth stone was a pale gold.
Lucifer was on his knees, weeping. Those who followed them were all confused, some looking at us, others at Xiara and Areyamathea, and there were those who kept their cold hard eyes on their queen, Kalla.
Kalla stood straight and true, taller than Xiara, staring at her enemy. The two faced one another.
"You." Spat Kalla, "You are Choice"
Xiara assented with a tilt of her head. "I am choice. I am its form. My presecence enables those without great will to choose......For you. Or against you. Feel their hearts, Kalla. Feel their souls. They do not choose you."
Kallas green eyes narrowed, "It matters not! I cannot be killed! Rule if you will Queen of nothing! I shall remain, with my consort and my followers, and know that while I live I shall gather strength to move against you! Ours is the way, we are the stronger, and your kingdom of peace shall fall to me!"
Areyemathea spoke, "That cannot be allowed to come to pass"
Kalla looked at her in horror and shock, finally sensing that events were fully out of her control. Areyemathea gathered herself and let forth a burst of green dragon flame from her mouth and nostrils. Kalla and her followers dived for cover, out of the way.
The flames had engulfed, obliterated, the form of Lucifer.
On her knees, Kalla screamed, "He cannot be killed! What have you done with him!"
"His form is no more," Areyamathea said. "He resides in Om's molten core, safe, protected. From there he may whisper, but he shall not have physical form again." Her eyes fixed upon the witch.
Kala reached out, grabbed one of her followers. This ones eyes had cleared upon seeing the dragon and the queen, and now looked terrified. This was one who had not known there was choice.
Kalla placed a splayed hand of sharp edged nails on the womans belly. I saw something red pass down her arm, from hand to womb. Defiantly, Kalla faced the Dragon.
"Destroy me then! Take my form! But know this - into this innocent woman I have placed a babe. It shall wear my face and have my form. From this curse, I tell you now, into every generation my body shall live. Into every generation there shall be those who choose to worship me! If they desire, they can call my soul into the form that was once mine. This shall be called The Cult of Lucifer, in honour of those emotions that are truly strong, that truly rule the world and direct the universe! So destroy my body you may, but I can never be destroyed!"
She faced the dragon, looking straight into its eyes.
Areyemathea engulfed the witch in flames. To my horror, the witch laughed as she was burned to ashes.
Those who had remained true to her, perhaps eight of them, ran into the newly made forest. One, a female, stopped, turned, looked at the one who was now pregnant with the witch's body. She looked long, to affirm she could not forget the face, and then followed her breathren.
"WarSan," said the dragon, "I have a task for you."
"Anything, Great One"
"I am prophetess, I am Saviour. Omecka herself has beseeched me to give you this great task. This mistake shall not ever be repeated. Some of her peoples must ever be set apart from the rest of life. You are to choose ten males, ten females, and travel south west into the high crags of the Wolf Mountains. Life will be hard, but Om and your faith in her shall serve you. "
I stood. "As you will it, great one." I gestured with my hand, and OmTa and a crowd stood. I did not need to choose them, now that Xiara was here, they were able to choose for themselves. They began to walk south west, knowing the journey was to be a long one. I looked at Areyemathea for the final time.
"One more thing, WarSan." The dragon whispered, "Om would not have you worship her. You shall revre her, if you wish, and give her homage, but she shall not be your God. You shall worship the first animals to walk her soil"
From behind me, I heard small footsteps.
I turned, and racing towards us were great, large, furry creatures. Patterned white, black, grey, with long snouts, four paws and high fluffy tails. They raced past me, through my tribe, to race ahead and leave us a path of paw prints to follow.
The last one, the largest, stopped and threw her paws on my chest, panting into my face. Each paw was easily the size of my chest muscles. She barked once, and chased after the pack.
"Wolf" I whispered, the word rising unbidden to my lips.
"And you shall be the Wolfen" Said Xiara, " Apart from all clans and tribes, alone in your worship of The Mighty Wolf Pack"
"So shall it be" I whispered.
OmTa beakoned, "Come husband!" And I followed, turning my back on the dragon, the Queen, and the peoples left behind.
These are the words of WarSan.
This is the stroy, as it is told by each Great Chief, passed down generation by generation.
These are the Words of WarSan as spoken my me, Om-Ra, the seventh Great Chief of the Wolfen Tribe.
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