I was only five years old when my father punished me for sneaking into the cave where White Fang had lived. White Fang was 398 years old at this time. I remember it now…but when White Fang was still quite young, perhaps eighteen years old or so, he came here with his elder sister, and two other females from the Da’Khaee. One was his wife, and the other was from another tribe…some said she was from the tribe of Cerral, or some extinct tribe, according to others. White Fang had heard that the Beastkin would pose a threat to his clan so he endeavored to gain more followers to resist him, but many refused to follow him and shook off his warnings with contempt. So he took two only families with him.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh8jdS1HCrQ
White Fang knew he would face many enemies if he decided to settle in the plain fields. He must dwell in places with tough conditions, where others would not dare to go. He journeyed to the center of the mountain ranges, and climbed higher and higher to the place that was topped with snow all year round. He was prepared. He carried extra fur coats for himself and the females in his company, and simple tools he could build fires with. And as the group walked through the snow, he heard the voices.
White Fang sometimes heard voices which would tell him things. He said the voices were not heard through ears, but with his heart. Regardless of what it was, he simply believed the voice. It was the voice that told him to leave his original dwelling, and it was the voice that led him to the cavern that nurtured our tribe of the Chin'Re for centuries. We call it Misty Rift.
Some said it was the voice of the bloodstained emperor Phattis.....but I think most people did not believe that, as our god, Phattis had fallen and became a daimon. This is what led to our being hunted by angels. Phattis was too busy corrupting this world to keep his eye on our teeny tiny tribe.
Some said it was the Great Spirit, turning into a bird that whispered to him.
Some said it was his own voice or conscience that spoke to him.
Whatever it was that spoke, he heard the voice, and followed it faithfully.
It was at that time he heard the voice telling him to move on and head for the other side of the mountain, a place that could offer them shelter. It was evening when the voice uttered, and the wind was growing colder and stronger. Logically, they should hurry to a nearby place and hide themselves; otherwise the frigid winds in the night would freeze them to death. But White Fang believed the voice over his judgments, and he headed for the other side of the mountain. Legend had it that some mysterious magic shrouded this place, and it could only be seen when you were near enough to enter. Between three high mountains was a large opening or rift. This opening was so high it could stack up to the height of ten men, and still not reach the ceiling; its width so wide if you stretched all the people from the Chin’Re tribe in a row you could barely reach the edge of it.
Its entrance was not found easily, hidden perhaps, by the magic that concealed it. Mountains surrounding it were high and steep; no one would find them there.
Alas, the opening to the rift was found. They hurried through the entrance, as the wind blew stronger and stronger. As each went in, they found the opening similar to the larynx of a human, curving downward. The opening grew steeper as they walked; they feared they would slide down if they kept going. But they couldn’t stay where they were, and without a place to get out of the cold wind, they would certainly freeze to death.
White Fang improvised by having each person draw their own sword and forcefully jam it into the stone ground. Then he took ropes—one side bound to the swords and the other to the waist of every person—and then led the company, like mountain climbers, slowly descending into the “larynx” where the wind would not blow. When everyone had safely made sure their swords were thrusted firm, White Fang himself, also rappelled downward.
They had found their sanctuary from the elements!
Albeit with discomfort, they were at least safe. They could hang there through the night and look for other places to shelter upon daylight.
Unexpectedly, a gigantic rock gecko appeared. Have you heard of such a thing before?
It was a type of giant lizard living underground whose claws had toes with nails that allowed it to creep against the rock walls; and the skin of it was harder than rocks.
How big was it? Well, about the size of a big crocodile. It could swallow a wolf whole without even chewing it.
The giant lizard leered at the group, as it crept towards the woman from the foreign tribe. Her screams provoking the vile creature.
All of them were defenseless, hanging there, without being able to use their swords.
White Fang made a quick decision. He couldn’t just let it eat the woman, so he began to swing the rope from side to side, hanging on as it rocked back and forth until a sword came loose. He seized the moment just before he was about to fall. The sword dropped, and he leaped down, stepping on the head of the rock gecko. He caught the falling sword, and thrusted numerous times into the head of the creature. Wailing loudly, the rock gecko let go of its claws, and both the man and the beast fell down.
White Fang’s wife screamed, and the others cried aloud, shocked at what had just happened.
However, soon the sounds of a struggle—White Fang, and the rock gecko—in a battle to be sure! A moment later they saw White Fang riding up from the bottom on the back of the rock gecko! White Fang’s sword was stuck in the skull of the rock lizard, deep enough to cause it pain, but not enough to kill it. White Fang would put pressure on the sword to get the rock gecko to obey his commands.
Calming his small family, White Fang told them not to worry. The surroundings beneath were shallow, plus, they were covered by a thick layer of luminous moss of soft texture preventing them from falling to their death.
The elder sister of White Fang was first to believe. She untied the rope and fell. The other two females then followed. Each in turn followed as a yellow light met them when they fell. They found that the yellow light was from the soft luminous moss, and down there was another rift awaiting their adventure.
Eventually, due to White Fang’s wisdom and courage, our ancestors of the tribe of Chin’Re could finally live safely and settled at the Misty Rift in peace.”
∙ ∙ ∙
“Whoa.” Dawsama couldn’t clap his hands, so he chose to pat on his thigh. “Bravo. Bravo!”
Billogot flashed a smile, pretending not to care about the reactions.
“I suppose the story has not ended, has it? When we return to the camp, I will surely open urns of nice wine to go with the full story.” Dawsama turned to Rieza with a smile on his face. “What about you? Do you mind sharing some stories?”
“Spare me from this,” she laughed. “My story was not that good.”
“No story is bad.”
“Well…I was less serious about memorizing historical tales like he did. What I have is my own story.”
“The story about oneself is good enough,” said Dawsama. “Come on. We shall know more about one another.”
Rieza sighed, her cheeks grew flush. Close combats with cold blades with the paladins hunting down her family would never make her a bit nervous; but having her speak before people would make her somewhat shy.
“Alright, I will tell this story, only…” Rieza thought about it once more, “please do not mind if it is not that good.”
“Never will,” Dawsama said as his lips curved into a smile.
Rieza’s Story
“Well, what am I going to tell? Perhaps I could only tell the story about my childhood.
It begins when I was little, before the age of ten. I never had an opportunity to become an apprentice to anyone.
Do you have this custom? Some become an apprentice to their parents, or other craftsmen, and then learn what they are required to in order to serve for their tribe. My mother was specialized in planting, and one of the most important staples in the Misty Rift would be the soft luminous moss. The plant could serve more than source of illumination, it could be consumed by livestock as food, and people from the Da’Khaee would eat it…but the taste was so bad we’d only consume it when we were out of food. The moss could be used as tinder when sundried, or furthermore, we could grind the sundried moss to powder and blend with some water to make some mixture and apply it to our skin for treating bug bites. What became my parents’ nightmare was, my skin condition was bad. Rashes would break out all over my skin as soon as I touched the soft luminous moss, sometimes it even made my skin ulcerate. That was why I could not be an apprentice to my mother. I do not have a father. I was never told why. At least back then, I knew nothing about him.
At the time, no one would take me as an apprentice, therefore, the only things I could do were the most inferior things…scooping up the feces of rock geckos.
The feces of the rock gecko were the most prime “soil” to soft luminous moss, and also the source of nutrients. We scooped a bunch of feces and made piles upon spots needing illumination or planting, and it did not take long for the moss to gradually grow.
Well, the era mentioned in Billogot’s story was the time when our ancestors first reached the rift, so our ancestors only met few geckos which were not domesticated. In the years when I was little, many households kept rock geckos as pets, and their feces could be utilized.
However, the kids in our tribe all hated me, calling me the girl who scooped poop.I was born a timid person, and I struggled to get along with them well; plus, at that time, only people at higher status could own carabiners. What is a carabiner?
As Billogot had said earlier, the rift was in fact deep inside, with four levels; basically you could not exit without a carabiner. Plus, the weather out of the rift was extremely cold and the rift was covered by snow in all seasons, I could not go out in my sheer dresses. However, other kids with carabiners and warmer clothes could go out and play. I could go nowhere but stay at the rift, therefore I had difficulties relating to others.
As time went by, they started hating and excluding me. They also bullied me in various ways, like throwing rock gecko feces at me, or hiding my shovels. I endured it. My mother also told me not to mess with others, so I could only keep it to myself.
As I was about to turn ten, I started hating days like this, but I had no clue how to end it.
Sudden Turn of Events
On my tenth birthday, my mother planned a celebration for me, but I did not want it, besides I would be having my coming of age ceremony at thirteen anyway. At this age, all I knew was scooping feces. A person after coming of age would have the same job for life.
The kids my age gave me a present…which I did not enjoy a bit. They found a pit, stole a small rock gecko from a household, and threw it to the pit. As soon as the gecko wanted to leave the pit, they batted it back and kept irritating it; then, they tricked me to come there and pushed me into the pit where I was bitten by the rock gecko. Small as it was, less than half the size of a regular gecko, a ten-year-old girl could easily be bitten to death. I had no choice but to run in circles around the pit, while the kids laughed loudly above it. I was lucky that the rock gecko could not creep fast.
But, the leader of the gang, Kasper, in the excitement slipped down to the pit. He tried to escape, but the spot he slid to was too near to the rock gecko. He got bitten on the leg. As the rock gecko kept shaking its mouth, Kasper started screaming. At that moment, I knew nothing about what happened, I abruptly dashed, grabbing a nearly shovel and battled against the rock gecko.
I really can’t remember the details of what happened, I only knew there were several injuries all over me, many scars of which have hung upon me until now.
You can still see them… look, here, and here. Rieza pointed them out.
As I came to my senses, the rock gecko had already let go of Kasper, and Kasper was holding his leg crying; as for my shovel, it had broken in half, and my clothes were torn. At the moment, our Grand Master Zephyr leaped in, snatched my shovel, the half with the metal piece, and held it tight. He had a surprised look on his face and chopped twice upon the rock gecko.
Kasper was taken away afterwards. He had broken his leg. It took a long time to heal him, and he ended up crippled for the rest of his life.
Back then, Zephyr the Grand Master was amazed by me. He thought it should be me who should have been hurt so badly; I was a skinny and fairly small girl. Maybe I was born with greater strength? To my thrill, he decided to accept me as an apprentice.
This was literally the best birthday present I ever had! I was no longer a feces scooping girl. I could be a warrior or a Sword Master in the future.
I have never scooped any feces since then…almost. Sometimes I would do some favors when necessary. But I seriously do not want to smell that stench ever again!”
∙ ∙ ∙
“Being a Sword Master? Why are you so shy? You are the Grand Master of us Chin’Re.” Billogot said in laughter.
“Don’t…mention that. I am not half as good as this fellow here.” And then Rieza turned to Dawsama. “You are also a Grand Master, aren’t you?”
Dawsama laughed and shook his head. “I know nothing about the Grand Master. All of us here are teachers that learn from one another.
“That is Fine.” Dawsama said, patting his thigh. Billogot and Rieza both nodded.
The Girl with Smiles like Sun Rays
“I am going to tell a very pleasant story,” Dawsama began. “I have plenty of stories, and I love telling stories; however, this is different. This is a story about a girl. You will see this girl. However, I don’t think I will tell you who she is.
This girl is a human. Not an ordinary human, but a hybrid of the Da’Khaee and an angel. It might surprise you, since angels and the Da’Khaee are like water and fire, which will not be blended for good. It was neither a marriage nor romance, but an angel doing what they were taught not to do. And the result was the birth of this girl.
As you know, as with all races in the continent, anyone copulating with others from a different race would produce a human offspring. Humans are weaker and have less strength, plus, they cannot use the power of the gods gifted to the races in ancient times.
Therefore, as this girl stayed in the tribe, she was hated by all. Not only because she was a human being, but also her physical trait of an angel with blue eyes.
You never find a Da’Khaee who does not hate angels. This girl had very, very tough days. But this was unusual. Truly strange. Usually a person fed with darkness when little would become a person with a dark personality. What was bizarre was that she was not dark at all! She had been outgoing, and every time you’d see her, it felt like the sun shining through the winter clouds. Even when bullied or insulted, such rays merely subsided a tad; nothing could stop the light. The ray was shining; the bigger the obstacle she had met, the brighter the ray would be. Many people sympathized and pitied her, but only treated her well secretly, and dared not reveal it to avoid angering the Chief or the War Chief.
However, one day, when she was eight years old, she had a horrific encounter.
Horrific, I say, as we all have been there. That is, angels invaded to destroy her tribe.
I will spare the details so as not remind you of the tragedy still fresh in your minds.
But as the girl faced the angel annihilating her fellows and slaughtering its way before her, she, already wounded and fatigued by fleeing, when she faced the angel, the smile of sunshine came to her face.
The girl once told me, it was all the same to her. The Da’Khaee bullied her and so did the angels. She smiled at them both the same.
Then, that angel hesitated. It was not certain if that was due to her smile, or due to her eyes. The girl with the eyes of an angel. The angel took her as his own, and found a place to hide her. He told her, “Hush. Do not make a sound.” And it went back to join its gang, killing other Da’Khaee.
Eventually, the angels went away after annihilating the tribe; however, the angel who rescued the girl returned to retrieve the girl and took her away. It kept wandering, and wandering, until it finally found a Da’Khaee. Which was me.
I never thought he would treat me nicely, so I could only do him likewise. He said to me, “This is a child of angels and of the Da’Khaee. Please take good care of her.”
I said, “Why don’t you bring her to paradise?”
He said, “Heavens do not accommodate human beings. Humans are not allowed in heaven, and she could not live on Earth.”
I said, “Then why would we treat her differently?”
He said, “Perhaps her smile. It reminded me of someone.” He did not explain more and flew away. I therefore took the girl and have tended after her to this day.
The girl with smiles like sun rays.”
After hearing the story, all three of the family were in awe. Dawsama just laughed without saying anything.
“How could…it be? An angel would spare someone?” Billogot asked, breaking the silence. “And he talked to you?”
“Was this true?” Sora chimed in for the first time.
“Be polite,” Rieza said. “This Grand Master made a conscientious narration of the story. It must be real.”
“Hahaha. It may be hard to believe, just take it as a legend,” Dawsama blinked. “You will see her, and her smile.”
The three stared at one another, speechless. Dawsama poked at the campfire, and unexpectedly put it out. The dark night engulfed them immediately.
“It was my fault. I forgot to add some firewood,” said Dawsama. “I was careless, telling stories for such a long time.”
As Dawsama attempted to restart the fire, Rieza stood up to help. They suddenly heard something moving in the forest, and whatever is was seemed to be huge. Billogot’s family grew nervous, but Dawsama told them not to be afraid. In seconds, two giant spiders crept out from the forest. In the dark they could merely distinguish their contour: feet almost as long as trees, hair-covered bodies, as gigantic as a horses, compound eyes so red that they nearly glowed, and saliva or venom drooling around their pincer-like mouths. Amazingly, they then saw Darcy riding on one of the spiders, with the reigns in his hand!
“That was fast. I thought we had to wait until tomorrow,” Dawsama said with a smile. Darcy did not respond, but one could almost imagine the look on his face.
The two spiders crept before the four people and knelt down to allow them to hop on their backs. Sora was about to climb behind Darcy, but her father grabbed her arm, preventing her.
“You have never seen any blood spiders before, have you?” Dawsama asked. “We call this wild species the Mountainous Emperor Spider. They are not originally native to this place. Blood spiders were caught by our ancestors several centuries ago, and we domesticated those with bloodbinding. They could be fierce and combatant, but cause no harm to the Da’Khaee.”
“Might be similar to the rock geckos we keep,” Rieza uttered under her breath.
“Come on. We should go to the camp to allow you all to rest fully.” Dawsama helped Billogot hop upon the other blood spider and returned to help the mother and daughter. Then, he heard the two whispering to each other.
“We will know who the girl is when we get there,” Sora said. “The girl’s eyes are blue.”
“The eyes of the girl are no longer blue,” Dawsama laughed and said upon hearing this. “She dyed the color of her eyes using bloodbinding to disguise herself from foreign tribes. It will be her smile that will give her away.” Dawsama helped the two hop on Darcy’s spider, flipped onto the other one, whispered something to Darcy, and whipped the reigns hard to drive the blood spiders through the forest.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6pRIxGtzR
