“I came from very far,” the man of graphite said from a distance. There was a strong wind all around him and snow drifted on the maddened currents creating a cascading wall. The man of graphite was not bothered by the temperature, but he wore blue cloth that wrapped his waist down to his knees that were buried in snow as the man of graphite knelt before the peak of the large mountain. The cloth that the man wore recorded his life, the many streaks of white marking important moments in his development.
“You should not have come,” the Vodun said from the peak. He was not yet the Vodun that he would become, but he was still very mighty, and the few Fonlanders who existed then, would bow to him instinctively when they met him. As he sat on the peak, he was just a dark figure behind the carpet of frantic snow and the whirling of the strong winds.
“But I am in need of your help. The situation is so grave that I braved this treacherous summit to find you. I am in need of your aid and the Ore Amulet…”
“Stop!” the Vodun said forcefully and then descended the peak to stand at a distance from the man of graphite. The Vodun waved a hand and the winds stopped still, the snow that had been floating madly cleared the area in a wide circumference around the Vodun and the rocky mountain that had been buried under snow was exposed like a crater formed around the Vodun’s feet. He was tall and his body was hard with muscle that made it appear as though he was constructed of boulders under the form fitting tunic and short pants that he wore. He had the appearance of a young man, younger than the man of graphite, but the Vodun was the elder of the Disc in its infancy.
The man of graphite was on the rocky mountain in the circumference cleared by the Vodun and he stood despite the urge to prostrate, squaring his shoulders as the Vodun stood before him.
“They speak of the amulets even in the mountains that bore me, they are said to give regular Fonlanders like me the powers of the Vodun. I would not insult you by asking you, in all of your magnificence,” the man of graphite surveyed the Vodun head to toe as he said this and he stumbled in his words for a moment as he considered the impressive form in front of him. “I would not ask you to assist me if it wasn’t important. A new wolf kin known as lupaster has thrived in the rocky forests as of late, and some have become vicious creatures, calling themselves the Canis Pack. The homun have the blessings of Agê because they protect the forest in ways that larger Fonlanders cannot. The Canis threaten to decimate their population which will be disaster for the rocky forest. The homun commune with the trees and they help to satisfy desires the trees cannot fulfill in their sedentary state. I know that you care nothing for the trees, you are the Vodun of the rocks, but I fear real calamity if the homun are allowed to be hunted and chased into caves, the forest will not thrive as it has.”
The Vodun, Sakpata, listened despite his anger. The homun were among his favorite kin of all the Fonlands. The small-statured, humanoid homun were among the early dwellers of the Fonlands and Sakpata used to watch them from his high perch with his far reaching gaze as they scrounged around the new grass that was budding from the seeds that had been swept across the Discs from the Disc of Jo. The homun gathered seeds at the behest of Agê who was much more personable with others than Sakpata, and they planted the forests and the jungles around the sturdy plants that were already blooming up from the ground. The homun had been born in the overlap of Sakpata and Agê’s Discs and they existed in substantial numbers in the mountains away from the rocky forest, but Sakpata had developed a particular affection for homun of the rocky forest because they happened to be in his eyeline when he sat atop his perch on the high summit facing east. Sakpata only watched when he took breaks from his work, when he was surrounded in a blob of gray that was often chaotic at its edges in the winds that blew through the high summit though the magic was strong and coalesced around him like a moving blob of gray syrup. Sakpata spent more time than any of his siblings practicing his arcane right as the Vodun child of the Mother-Father. Sakpata was well versed in Xêvioso’s pattern that seemed to wrap itself around the wizard and to flow through him as though Xêvioso was the pattern made Vodun. By the time in Sakpata’s history that the man of graphite stumbled onto his high peak, it was clear that Sakpata’s gift was the patience to learn and practice and he was almost as skilled as Xêvioso in manipulating the pattern. When he was on his high summit, he ejected his psyche from his body taking a spirit form that he used to practice identifying and tapping the pattern as well as arcane movements that were much more difficult to complete in the spirit form, his body solid in its place and near impossible to assail. It made him sad to hear that the homun were threatened, he’d been in his spirit form for long enough that their carefree existence had been threatened by these Canis lupasters.
“The amulets are a myth, graphite child of Molo mountain in the deep south.” Sakpata took a step closer to the man and they stared at one another intensely. “They were dreamt up by star-eating witches far away and their lies have only spread. A child of Molo like you doesn’t need anything but steadfast devotion to become as powerful as a Vodun, and I would welcome that. But there is no shortcut… tell me your name.”
“Nova,” he said and bowed his head slightly.
“Nova, I am fond of the homun, they are peaceable and as you said, they are beneficial to mine and my sister’s Discs, but I don’t believe that we Vodun should intervene in that way. You said it yourself, the Canis will decimate, reduce by a tenth, not annihilate, and that reduction in their population will allow for something else to be birthed by the Fonlands to fill the void it leaves. The homun will persist, and who knows, maybe they are more resilient than you think. You can help them with your considerable powers. Do you know that you are gray nature, thoughtful and contemplative, made for the deep study that will produce unbridled power? If you start now, you will eventually be more than the Canis can handle even on your own.”
“Give me the amulet and I will be your student for however long you will have me,” Nova said it more forcefully than he meant to and despite the size difference between them, Sakpata was at least a foot taller in his current form, and when Nova realized that he was pressing the Vodun, he took a step back and bowed his chin to his chest. “Forgive me, Sakpata, but we are wasting time and each moment that passes, an innocent homun is slaughtered and both yours and the Disc of Agê become more violent. It does not have to be this way, the Fonlands can be a paradise, nothing has to die, we don’t need to kill to survive. The Canis do for the thrill of it, the rush of consuming another’s Essence and that should not be the way of the Fonlands.”
“You mean to dictate what the Fonlands can produce as dwellers of the Disc?” Sakpata asked with feigned shock.
“No,” Nova shook his head slowly, thoughtfully, “but we all share these Discs, and we can teach one another how to be.”
Sakpata nodded thoughtfully.
“If the amulets are real,” Sakpata said after a moment, holding the graphite man’s strong and rigid body in his gaze, “and I don’t believe that they are, but if they are real, then they are in the pillars that support the Lofted Disc. And if they are real, then they were created for a special purpose and cannot be easily attained. I would imagine that if your purpose aligns with the intentions of the amulet, you will be allowed to extract it from the pillar, but if your intentions do not align, I wonder if there is a punishment of some kind for being unworthy? And once the amulet is freed from the pillar, does it return to the pillar when you have completed your quest that it deems worthy, or are you charged with its safety until the end of your existence? These things are very mysterious, Nova, and again, I doubt that the Mother-Father would allow artifacts of such power to be loosed on their beloved Discs. If they did though, you should be assured that they are more than meets the eye and laying hands on them will not be easy. These amulets would be the distillation of the power of each of the Vodun, the array of seven magics in seven colors, and that would not be something easy to contain. Would you risk all of that to stop this violence that you and a band of others who are strong like you could easily put down? Your gift is your thoughtfulness, but do not allow yourself to be so narrow minded that you cannot think of things from different points of view. You have much to learn and I would teach you, Nova.” Sakpata put a hand on Nova’s shoulder. “We can teach one another, and you can be powerful enough to shape my Disc in ways that please me, and ultimately the Mother-Father. Go, fight for the Disc you envision, then return here so that we may begin.”
Nova nodded dutifully and left. *
“This will not stand,” Jengi said angrily before the gathered homun. He stood on a mossy rock that glowed Essence blue as Sakpata’s Jewel set in the distance, and the other homun stood around him in a tight crowd of thirty. “We will kill one of them for every one of us that has fallen, and we will wear Canis hides as a trophy!” The group called words of agreement, some cheered loudly. “You are all here because you are the trusted leaders of the march of your homun bunches that roam these Discs, and I can see in the light of the moss that you all agree with me. We have never begged for wars or physical confrontation, we are the planters of Agê who live in the good graces of Sakpata, ever loyal to the Mother-Father. We deserve our place and we must stand against the slaughter of our kind by those who view us as weak victims! We must gather the strongest…”
“You are so eager for battle, Jengi, you don’t think about the increased numbers we will lose if we engage the Canis in war. Or maybe you do think of it, but it is of no concern to you.” Beng was angry when she interjected and she stood among the crowd that was enthusiastic for Jengi but practical enough to listen to one as wise as Beng. She was the march leader for the largest bunch of homun in the Fonlands who foraged around the forests of Agê’s Disc in regular nomadic patterns, planting seeds or harvesting the fruits of their labor from previous plantings during their nomadic pattern. The activity of the homun is so significant that even if other Fonlanders of the forests have not laid eyes on the homun, they can discern their presence by the appearance or disappearance of foliage around the forests; the calendar of the Disc of Agê is based on the nomadic movements of this homun bunch that rejuvenates the forests in regular intervals. There is another substantial bunch of homun in the jungle side of Agê’s Disc and Beng helped to forge their path in the jungles to provide a similar renewal that the forests receive.
“She is right,” Yaka, another homun, said somberly, “we can send our young to fight and I know that we have the spirit to repay their cruelties to us in the Rocky Forests, but I am of the mind that the homun of this territory move elsewhere, it is what we homun do best. I would gladly welcome any from the forests to my bunch in the mountains. There is plenty of space as well to start a new bunch, and plenty of other bunches to join. We do not lose anything as a kin by abandoning the Rocky Forests, and it is possible that the Canis will just move on and allow the homun to return to their preferred dwelling.”
“So we are cowards,” Jengi said, not to Yaka only, but to the crowd. Many were still stirred by his voice that was calming but also authoritative and reeked of competence. “Being a nomad is running from an enemy that hunts us for sport? Not for the homun, we wander to sew and the Fonlands reap daily. We are not run from the land, we leave it when our time has come to an end. And it is not our time to abandon the Rocky Forests.”
As some cheered Jengi on, Beng shook her head. It was clear that factions were forming and she dreaded a future where only a few bunches of homun create an army to face the Canis and are slaughtered.
Beng moved through the crowd that had devolved into smaller groups of intense discussion. She moved to join Jengi on the mossy rock and Yaka was climbing the opposite side of Jengi to stand next to him as she was. They spoke amongst themselves as the groups below had their discussions.
“Yaka is right,” Beng said to Jenji. “You have no right to come here and to force expectations on these homun who are being killed. You have earned the respect that you enjoy, but this is not your place.”
“You cannot field an army in the Rocky Forests,” Yaka said. He was not threatening, but he was firm as he stared at Jenji. “I understand why you have come here, word of the slaughter has traveled far and we homun are so connected that it is a wound to the spirit to lose anyone of our kin, but the wounds we will sustain as a kin if we engage in widescale warfare could be far worse. There may be some among us who would welcome this fight, but you must gather them in the way of homun, wage warfare in the way of the homun to turn a small force into an invisible and omnipresent lethal force of the forests. Use your head Jenji. Send these leaders of the march home, help the homun of the Rocky Forests find a way to safety, and plot revenge for the fallen later.”
“Why don’t you do it, Yaka?” Jenji asked. He was angry but he also seemed tired, resigned to the reason that the other leaders had pelted him with. “You are always sending others to do your bidding, but you are wise enough to take charge here and make this all moot. Why do you not act, Yaka?” “This is not the volcanoes,” Beng said. “You are too prone to violence, and jump to it as a quick fix for everything you encounter. That obviously works for you there, but you will only cause further strife here. I know you mean to help, that is evident to everyone, but you are acting to be demonstrative, Yaka acts when action is needed. He knows his place as the leader of the march in the mountains, helping to keep the homun there safe as the leaders of the march can do here. You should not have called us.”
Jenji’s anger was subsiding to shame as Nova appeared from the thicket of trees. He was very tall to the homun with the blue fabric streaked white hanging from his waist.
“You all are the march leaders of the homun?” he asked them as they all turned to him. “I heard that you were here discussing the issue of the Canis. I would help you all if I can. Please tell me how I can be of service.” Nova knelt as he talked and Jenji, Beng and Yaka had made their way to stand in front of the large man of graphite.
“Who are you?” Beng asked angrily.
“This is a friend to the homun,” Yaka said as he smiled up at the man. “It is good to behold you again, Nova.”
“I thought I recognized you, march leader Yaka, but it is strange to see you so far east. Do you all lead the homun bunch in the Rocky Forest?” he asked, referring to the three homun before him who looked like children compared to the size of Nova.
“We are all homun and gather to stop the senseless slaughter in the Rocky Forests,” Jenji replied. “Have you come to fight with us against the cruelty of the Canis?”
“There will be no more loss of homun life,” Yaka said firmly. “We will insist that the homun of the Rocky Forests march west with us.”
“But the homun keep these forests,” Nova said looking around himself with concern on his face that was like an emotive sculpture of graphite. “They water the flowing suckle that feed the aggressive beehives, keeping them docile enough to avoid conflict with the bongo kin that grazes the moss on trees and rocks. I’ve seen it before when the homun aren’t marching through the Rocky Forests on their regular paths, it only leads to discord and I have found this place to be a true oasis in the hard mountains that bore me. The Canis cannot just take it away so flippantly. I understand if there are no warriors among you, but allow me the chance to communicate with the Canis that the homun are not for hunting before you lead them away from their home.”
“Do you think that you can stop what is happening?” Beng asked. “The Canis are cruel and seem to revel in carnage, can they be swayed with reason?”
“They cannot,” Yaka said. “You must be prepared to fight them or you are only wasting time.”
Sakpata chuckles at the news from Xêvioso, Agê and Lêgba, news that they deliver urgently to their siblings. “This really doesn’t seem like the appropriate time for laughter,” Lêgba says. “If we can’t reason with this thing, if Agê can’t heal it, then we are in for a fight that will span the multiversal structure!”
“Calm down!” Xêvioso insisted and Lêgba crossed his arms petulantly, glaring at Sakpata. “Do you have something you would like to say, Sakpata?”
“I didn’t mean to interrupt. I was listening and then I was reminded of something long ago when we all were closer to the beginning of our existence. Before Nova became the first Gray Mage, he faced a considerable challenge in the Rocky Forests…”
“Big brother,” Jo interrupts, “with respect, what are you going on about?”
Sakpata laughs. “My point is that, he told me that the homun faced the same delima that we face now. Can we use reason with an enemy or is the only option to wipe them from existence. Nova tried reason, but the enemy, the Canis, were brazen liars. They made promises, reneged on those promises and slaughtered hundreds of homun. Nova mourned them as he raged on the Canis, driving them out of the Rocky Forests. He still mourns the homun to this day, and he regrets not doing what he should have. He should not have trusted an enemy that had shown him its nature. We should not either. Agê, convince her that we believe she can be cured, that we will do anything to avoid conflict, and meanwhile, use your powers to understand what she is, what animates her. And we will use that information to systematically wipe her from the realms of the structure.”
The Vodun nod solemnly, Gu with a smile on his face.
“As soon as the list of Une-impacted realms is compiled, I will go with a team that I will choose, to assess the situation. Xêvioso, continue to coordinate the attack on Une. I am sure that if we are successful at the existence of her source, it will make everything else easier. We will do this. The pattern tells me that Une is clumsy, even if she is more knowledgeable than she was. We are the Vodun of the Fonlands, children of the Mother-Father, and nothing is more powerful than our combined efforts, even if we must split up to face an enemy on many fronts. The pattern favors us because we will maintain it, we will not disappoint.”
Sakpata dismisses the meeting of the Vodun that Xêvioso had assembled and Sakpata goes to wait patiently in the Smiting Chamber for the list of realms he will soon visit, and to assemble his team to travel the multiverse.
PRL Serials 