A Story of Forever

Part 10

Now remember that the Yemars came from the waters which rose forth out of Puri. The Yemars were connected with water. Water was what gave life and healing. It flowed through all the land, nourishing and vitalizing it. It flowed through all bodies, nourishing and vitalizing them. Blood was the element of water that was within all bodies. It healed everyone from all sorts of afflictions just as water purified and washed the earth. 

Oella was one with the rain. Wherever she went, she could summon the rain to come. And she could make it rain anywhere. 

Oella snuck out to the lands of the living sometimes. There she met and planned with the living Yemars who were also planning for the final battle. She made sure that the two sides of the battling party could fight in tandem with each other, the living and the dead. She made sure that the living were making their side of the preparations for the final battle and the dead were making theirs. 

She made these visits seldom, and made them quick. For there was always the possibility of getting caught, the possibility of Karkion’s spies being able to see through her cloaking magic. She did not want to try her luck any more than she needed to. 

It was on one of these days when she was hurrying back from a meeting with the delegates of the living Yemars that she met Avulci. Now, Oella was in the form of a beautiful maiden, one of her three forms. Her other form was a skeleton and her third form was half-maiden, half skeleton. In her maiden form, she was ethereally beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful in all the lands. Avulci saw her and the Uzra wanted her. 

Now Avulci was a minor Uzra, holding no powerful position but holding the power that came with his race. His life was agreeable, and flavourful. He thought himself deserving of all favours. 

He looked at Oella, who was still yet a child-maiden at this time, and his heart wanted to possess her. And so he asked the child-maiden, if she would come with him to his hall. Oella replied tht she would not. He asked her again, and again she said no. He promised her gifts of fine gold if she were to follow him. But still she refused. Finally, he threatened her.

He said that she was a maiden out amidst the edges of the wild lands, where no maiden should go alone. If he were to tell Karkion of such reckless behaviour, he would surely have words with her. So thus it was better to come with him, and he could keep her safe and keep her honourable as all maidens should be. 

Oella grew terrified at this, but she was clever. She did not let it show on her face. She told him that her father knew that she was out here, and he did not object to her adventurous spirit. But she told him that if he could impress her she would give him a chance. 

The minor Uzra then recited for her a love ballad. And she pretended to be quite enthralled. So she went with him on the path leading to his abode. But when he had let his guard down, unwary and trustful, she made it rain from his heart. All the blood dripped out from his heart and left it empty. 

And thus he died. And Oella wept. She had never killed a person before and she thought that all people, even Uzra, deserved to be dealt with peacefully as much as possible. She knew she would not be seeing his soul in her domain. But before she left she took his body and set it in his bed, to be found by whoever cared about him. 

But this was not the last time a man accosted Oella on account of her beauty. Many a man from time to time pushed her to lay with him. But she always scared them off by draining the blood from some part of their body. She never again killed a man. But she warned them not to accost any girl ever again. 

After the latest of Mamon’s children had been taken away from them, Mamon sat in the forest and they wept. They wept like they had never wept before. Not only for the children who had been taken away now but for the children who had been taken away before, who had grown up without them being able to see, who had undergone such immense hardship without them being able to help. Mamon wept at the fates that had befallen all of their children. And it was like Puri weeping for Their children after They died. It was like the all-consuming grief that Puri felt. 

Naia came to Mamon in the forest. And she sat down and she cried. She cried as Puri cried for Their children. She cried as Mamon did for theirs. She cried as the earth cried for its life. She cried as a mother cried for her young. They both cried together. And they both held each other through the pain and the sorrow. 

Naia leaned in. And Mamon leaned in. And at the end of what seemed like an infinite moment, they kissed. 

And this was the start of a new chapter of their relationship. 

Now Mamon was friends with many Yemars, including a young girl named Kiyanon and her parents Liue and Karti. They loved the child as if she were their own, and they vowed to protect the child however they could. 

Tragedy fell, however, when it was planned that the girl would be separated from her family. Mamon knew they had to stop this, however they could. But they didn’t know how they were going to go about it. 

They realized then that the man who was coming to take Kiyanon away was not nearly as powerful as Karkion, who had taken Mamon’s own children away. If they could take him by surprise, maybe he would be defeated. But the plan would only work if there were no witnesses. 

First Mamon disguised Kiyanon as a grain of corn in a vast corn field. But the man came looking for Kiyanon. He came upon the corn field and he plucked each individual grain of corn within. So Mamon had to call the child back to them and the two had to hurry away before they were seen. 

Next Mamon disguised Kiyanon as a pebble in a field of rocks. But the man came looking for Kiyanon. He came upon the field and he turned over each and every rock. Before he could find the rock that was Kiyanon however, Mamon called her over to them and the two fled. 

And still the man was looking for Kiyanon, and still demanded that she be sent to him. 

Mamon knew that they would have to raise the stakes of this dangerous game. So they conspired with the child and her parents. And together they made a plan. This plan was a terrible plan. But it was a terrific plan all the same. And the four steeled themselves with the resolve they needed to carry it out. 

Late at night, they took the girl on a boat and took the boat out to the most stormy, distant waters within reach, where no-one would see them. Then, they turned the girl into a scale on one of the fish that was caught on the boat. Then, the two of them waited. 

The man came to Liue and Karti’s house, and demanded to know where their daughter was. The couple pretended to be terrified, and they pretended that it was with great reluctance that they told him where the girl was. 

The man went to the distant, stormy waters and saw Mamon in the boat with the fish. He thought that perhaps the girl was disguised as one of the scales on the fish. And so he took each fish and began to closely inspect them. 

But at this moment Mamon flew over to the shore, right in front of a rocky cliff side in the flow of nature. They called Kiyanon close to them, and Kiannon flew likewise to be with Mamon. Kiyanon took shelter behind Mamon. And the man who sought to steal her saw her there behind them. 

He began running towards the two Yemars, over the water and over the land. But right as he was about to reach Mamon and Kiyanon, Mamon took the girl and she sprung up high into the sky.

The man was going far too fast to stop himself. He lumbered off of the cliff and fell into the rocky plains below. No-one was there to see his death and no-one was there to see who was involved in his death. Mamon knew that they would think he had simply fallen off of a cliff. They knew that he would now leave Kiyanon alone. He would have to. 

But Mamon still knew that it was no light thing, taking a life. It was heavy and horrible and should always be grieved no matter what. Even though they were relieved that the man would be bothering the family no longer, they let their soul mourn for his life. They had to let their soul mourn for his life. Because otherwise would their soul be worthy? 

Kiyanon knew this too, and she knew the importance of mourning the dead. She knew the blood that was now on her hands. And she knew that she had to pay the man some respect, even though he had never respected her in his life. Her heart was as heavy as it was light and it was as weary as it was exhuberant. 

So Mamon and Kiyanon knelt by the cliff side. They said a prayer to Puri for the departed soul of the man. And they burnt some grass as an offering. And they let themselves feel grief. 

Afterwards, they stole back to the simple, humble lodgings of Kiyanon’s family. And Kiyanon hugged her parents and they hugged her back. Mamon joined the group hug. They all cried for a long time. Tears of relief. Tears of love. Tears of joy. Tears of grief. 

And so Kiyanon was safe for now. At least Mamon could save one child. 

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