Quell the Beasts

It was still very dark in the early morning hours when Inigo awoke. He knew, like the rest of his fellow villager’s did, that soon, the dual suns would rise and bring with them both vibrant light and searing heat. But for now, it was dark and cool. This was Inigo’s favorite part of the day; he cherished the darkness, the quiet and yes, of course the coolness. This morning though, he was unable to savor the dark coolness, for he had a journey to begin.

He had been chosen by his fellow villagers to make the Journey of Sacrifice in hopes of appeasing the twin water gods, Nyx and Nilinah. The selection was a great honor to him, an honor to all who had received it times past, in fact. The villager selected was chosen for their attributes of wisdom, fortitude, and physical strength. Also, though unspoken, his fellow villagers held the belief that their chosen one possessed the mystical powers necessary to communicate with the twins Nyx and Nilinah.

           After lighting a candle, Inigo rose and began gathering his belongings and other items that he would need on his long trek. If his journey was uneventful, it would take him the passing of seventeen moons time to walk to the seas. It was unlikely that his journey would be uneventful though, no previously recorded Journey of Sacrifice had been.

He gathered dried fruits and berries, cured meat, a journal to chronicle his trek for others, a faded map showing the way, flint, water stone, and tattered pages from a book detailing the history of the twins. All of these things went into his sack, which had been made from the pelt of his first kill as a village leader. Dangling on his right hip was the sharp, double-edged knife that had always served him so well.

           Exiting his hut, Inigo turned right and walked to the obelisk that had been erected generations ago to pay homage to the gods and protect the village. Closing his eyes and opening his mind in meditation, he began to visualize his journey. His mind saw places and creatures that he had never seen before. Sensing others nearing him, he opened his eyes, turned around and saw Tegan, the village elder standing in silent prayer to the gods.

           Silent prayer complete, Tegan opened her eyes and greeted Inigo with warm, friendly eyes. “The hopes of the village rest heavy upon your shoulders” she said.

           “I understand Elder Tegan. The weight of our hope is no lighter than the Journey of Sacrifice itself” Inigo replied.

           “The prayers of a village, grateful to you for undertaking this task, will help to ease the weight you carry. In addition to all that you already carry with you, take these as well” Tegan said, handing him a wrapped package and two pieces of stone, one of black obsidian and one of labradorite. “One will help protect you from negativity, within and without, and the other will bring you luck. Go now, Inigo. We will await your safe return.”

           After three moons had passed, Inigo came upon the outskirts of their sister village. He recognized the two children, Ozias and Azaria, at play just outside the gate. They stopped their play as he neared and, upon recognizing him, they ran to hug him.

           “Where are you going?” Azaria asked.

           “I am on the Journey of Sacrifice to appease the twin water gods, Nyx and Nilinah” he replied.

           “Why?” Azaria asked.

           “The water has become poisoned, child” said Inigo.

“But we drink the water” Ozias said, in childlike innocence. “Why is the water poisoned?”

“Our villages have water that is safe for us to drink Ozias, but the supply will only last for so long. The reason that the water has become poisoned is simple. It has become poisoned because people are careless, disrespectful, wasteful. Thus, they have angered Nyx and her twin brother Nilinah” he replied.

“Oh” said the brother and sister in unison.

“How long will you be gone?” Ozias asked.

“Many passes of the moon, Ozias. I must continue on my journey now. Mind your elders, young ones.”

More moons passed as Inigo walked along. He had not passed another village since leaving the sister village. Along the way, he passed many strange creatures that he had never seen before. Some creatures stood on two, heavily furred legs with pincers at the end of their arms. A flying creature whose eyes were on antennae that hung below its body, followed during part of the journey. He wondered if anyone had ever seen creatures like these before.

All of the creatures that he saw stayed a distance away, as unsure of what they saw as he was. Neither knew if the other was predator or prey and neither was willing to find out, at least not yet. He was not upset with that unspoken, mutual agreement either. The stones from Elder Tegan must be working, he thought

With each new creature he saw, Inigo stopped to sketch the creature and describe the surroundings, adding as much detail as possible. Elder Tegan had always told him they were nothing without information and he wanted to give her as much information as he could. It was impossible to say if they might encounter these creatures again, or if they did, where that encounter might be and whether it would be peaceful or not.

When Inigo woke the next morning, he sensed that he was close. The wind had shifted sometime during the night and now he smelled something different. The scent carried on the wind was no longer one of wet leaves, rotting wood and flowers. This was a scent that he could neither place nor describe well. It smelled like a combination of things to him which did not make sense. He smelled salt, wet earth and a permanent decay hung unseen in the air. The scent grew stronger, more pungent the further he walked.

Another two moons passed before he finally found himself unable to proceed. He had finally reached the end of the land; the ocean lay in front of him, an endless expanse. The easy part is done now, he thought. It was time to summon Nyx and Nilinah, offer the sacrifice and hope that it was appeasing to them. If they did not stop poisoning the water, the villages would soon die.

 Removing the tattered pages from his sack, he read through the pages, committing them to memory as he read. After he finished reading, Inigo set out among the tall, thin grass that was adjacent to the soft, wet, gritty ground that he found at the end of the sea. He carried stone after stone to the edge of the water, aligning them in the pattern described in the pages he had read. Next, he gathered as much driftwood as he could find, piling it in a twisting heap five paces from where the stone patter lay.

From the pile, he selected seven pieces of wood, each as long as one of his arms, and matching them in thickness. These he aligned with the stones, one end of the driftwood resting on the gritty soil, the other end leaning against the ends of each other. Next, he stuffed the center with dry grass, smaller pieces of wood holding the grass in place should a gust of wind come unexpectedly. Finally, he opened the sack, removed the flint and using the hilt of his knife, struck the flint in the dry grass until a small flame caught.

Replacing the flint for safe keeping, he placed the sack near the pile of driftwood and returned to the fire he had started. Slowly, Inigo tended and grew the fire until flames licked the salty air clean and smoke rose in coils to the heavens above.

He closed his eyes, tilted his head back, extended his long arms their entire span and then, in a low, steady, guttural voice, began the incantations. He had remained in a trance-like state, unaware of how much time had passed, uttering incantation after incantation until a deep rumbling penetrated his mind.

Sensing that the time was not right yet, he remained kneeling with his eyes closed, head tilted back and arms extended, continuing to utter incantations.

“What is the meaning of this?” a deep voice rumbled, like thunder ahead of a heavy, devastating storm.

“It’s another human, Nilinah.”

“I see it’s another human, Nyx. What is it doing here? What does it want?” Nilinah said in his deep, rumbling voice.

“Human” Nyx said. “Human, you may stop calling for us, we are here. Open your eyes and speak to us. What do you want from us?”

“Majesty Nyx” Inigo began “I come from a village a great distance from here. Our water is being poisoned from where we are not able to determine. Our water source is from rivers near the village or from holes in the ground. I journeyed many moons to beseech both your Majesties to please end the poisoning of our water. If the water remains poisoned, we will all die.”

 “Foolish human, how dare you summon us for something so trivial!” Nilinah boomed, water shooting from his mouth, drenching Inigo. “We are millennia old. We have seen countless civilizations of you and your kind come and go. One thing has remained constant from one civilization of you pathetic humans to the next, your lack of respect for the water that we so generously provide. Do you really believe that we have time to worry about the water source for one, small, insignificant village?” Nilinah’ s watery features had turned into a white, foaming undistinguishable mass.

“What my brother says is true, human. We are not responsible for the poisoning of your water but we can help you.”

“Thank you, your Majesties. Forgive me for asking, but if you are not poisoning our water, who or what is?”

“Look inside, human. Nilinah is correct, though you would not think so because he lets his temper get in the way of his explanations. Long before your time, humans have always taken us and the water we provide for granted; as if they own it and it was for them and them alone. Civilizations past have used it to move heavy objects to far-away lands and for that purpose, we did not mind. The next lasting, grand civilization following what we called ‘the sailor generation’ was a civilization that Nilinah and I refer to as ‘the poisoners’ because that is what they did not only to us, but to the lands that you call home as well.”

“The poisoning of our water is the result of what the generation that you refer to as ‘the poisoners’ did, then” said Inigo.

“Yes” the twin water gods said.

“How do my fellow villagers and I fix the problems caused by previous civilizations?”

“I will make a deal with you, human” Nyx said. “Nilinah would not offer this to you for his patience for humans is all but gone; however mine is not. I will clean the water that your village uses and in return, you and your fellow humans in this village of yours will give water the respect that we deserve. As your civilization advances, you will not use our bodies as a place to dispose of that which you no longer need, those things that provide you no more return. Remember this human, whatever you throw into our bodies has been cast from your sight but returns to you in ways you do not understand. Water is universal, not only is it necessary for the survival of you humans, but it is also necessary for the survival of everything else as well.”

“Majesty Nyx, I have one more question to ask of you.”

“Yes, human?”

Opening the wrapped package and careful not to drop any of the wrappings, he held up the contents and asked “What of this, then? I have carried it on this Journey of Sacrifice expecting to find use for it with your Majesties.”

“Oh, why I haven’t seen one of those in eons” Nyx laughed. “That, human, is a water comb. It is a way some humans in previous generations tried to clean us. Throw it into our bodies, then pull it back. I must warn you though, I find it quite ticklish, myself.”

Holding onto the rope attached at one corner, Inigo threw the flexible square into the air where it fell into the ocean. Pulling on the rope, he discovered that it easily glided back to him only now, it was no longer empty. Inside was a flat, black disk with a hole in the center.

“This is an example of what I told you. This is something that someone from a civilization long ago deemed was no longer of use to them, so they threw it into our bodies.”

“What is it?” Inigo asked. “There is strange writing on the side.”

“Eventually, you will learn what it is and for what it was used. But for now, take this with you and use it as a reminder that there are other ways to dispose of what you no longer need.”

“Thank you, your Majesties.” Inigo turned to extinguish the fire he had started but before he could take a step, Nilinah coughed, causing a wave of water to cover the fire, extinguishing it, and soaking Inigo a second time.

Turning back to the ocean, Inigo would swear that he saw a slight upturn at the corners of Nilinah’ s mouth.

Seventeen moons later, Inigo approached his village and saw the same, warm eyes of Elder Tegan greeting him.