The winter-spirits that Ya-Shuur called iceflies were taking a lot of interest in Ya-Shuur's herder-wolves this cold season. Swarms of the little ice insects were swarming them. This caused some of the herder-wolves to bark and roar. Their barks were extremely loud and were usually enough to scare off predators. But the iceflies did not seem to register them. Now and again a herder-wolf would whips its tail around and accidentally hit a few of them or snap its jaws swiftly and destroy others because they were very aggressive towards anything foreign and unfamiliar and this was the first time they had seen iceflies. There were also a lot around the big she-wolf and around Ya-Shuur. They flew around his horns and some of them sat on it and started making little sculptures on them. Ya-Shuur looked at them. They were made of snow and ice and had wings of ice crystals with a span of one foot and they flew very easily. They looked around from two spindly protrusions on their heads and walked around on small legs that looked a bit like icicles. Some of them had two wings and some had four and some had more but they were always and even number. It was the same with their legs and with their eyes as well. They had made a lot of little sculptures around the landscape of flowers and grass and sometimes little creatures.
In the trees there were some crows with eyes of glowing coal that watched Ya-Shuur and his herd. They followed them everywhere. They had followed them down to the south when they went into the Forestlands and then again when they visited the Mud Spires. And they had kept following them when they went again to the Lakelands. And they had come with them again here to the Snow-Lowlands. Ya-Shuur had grown used to them but found them very strange as they didn't really have any reason to be following them. They did not need him for protection and they did not eat from him. They just followed him and his herd everywhere. It didn't help that there was something odd about their shape. They seemed almost like shadows and not real.
His herder-wolves were now all grown up. They were huge creatures and Ya-Shuur was easily able to ride one. From snout to tail-tip they were 8.8 metres long and 2 metres tall on average. Some were entirely white and some were entirely black and some where mottled. Their skin was very hard and difficult to cut and their bones were strong. None of them had ever broken a bone even though some of them had leapt from huge heights. But maybe that was also because they could fly and that had something to do with it. They were very good trackers and had tracked lost goats across the island. They were also very fast both when running and when flying though they were much faster when flying. Their bite and teeth were very strong like their sire's and they could open their jaws far wider than was normal for a wolf. They were digitigrade and their claws were also thick like their sire's. Unlike wolves their huge claws were protractible and their paws were more versatile. Most importantly though they were very obedient to Ya-Shuur and very intelligent. So with good training they had become brilliant herding animals though Ya-Shuur was sure that they would excel in other things if they were reared to do them instead. On the other side to their absolute loyalty was their suspicion and hostility to anything foreign. Anything other than Ya-Shuur, the goats, and the fellow wolves immediately received hostile attention from the herder-wolves. Because Ya-Shuur had trained them not to kill but scare off potential predators they knew not to attack immediately. But their natural suspicion set in if a stranger did not go away after being warned in which case they became lethal. They were strong on their own but were even more effective together because they were natural pack animals because of their wolf ancestry. Like wolves they were monogamous unless their partner died in which case they got another partner.
Ya-Shuur was now able to leave the herd completely unwatched for weeks and know that his herder-wolves would be able to take care of them.
Ya-Shuur sees some winter-spirits which he calls iceflies. He also sees some shadow crows. The herder-wolves are now grown up and are good herders and their abilities are described in more detail.
By now Ya-Shuur could see how useful this beast’s skills were in protecting the herd. It could fly. It was huge. It was very obedient. It was extremely fast so it alone could protect a huge herd. But he had an odd feeling that it would not be staying with him for long. The fact that it was already tame and understood commands meant it had another master. It would obviously have to return to him at some point. He also saw it staring off into the distance a lot. It was as if there was something it had to go and do. So Ya-Shuur was thinking to himself that he could try breeding it with another animal to get a more efficient herder than the wolves so that he did not lose its skill. He decided that this was wise and began trying to do it.
The first problem was that the beast didn’t seem to have any way to reproduce. The second problem was that he did not know what it was exactly. If he could find a creature similar enough to it then he could breed them. He thought back to how Li’Kalla had been able to make things just with her will alone. He had never tried but he thought maybe he should. He started with something simple first. He found the two horns that the beast had torn on its arrival and he focused on them. After a few moments, he released them and found that they were floating. With his will he made them fly towards his head. His hair parted and made space for them. He thought it would hurt but the bonding of the two horn to his head did not hurt at all. For an hour or so afterward his head felt weird and heavy but then he got used to the extra weight and he felt happy that he looked more like the goats he loved. Now that name of Goat Defying the Darkness felt more right.
Now that he knew he had power just like Li’Kalla he went to the beast and stroked its head. Then he focused and tried to give it reproductive organs that were like a male wolf’s. When this was done he inspected his creation to make sure he had done it right. He could not be sure until he saw the results. So he went to the wolves and picked out a strong female. He brought her and inspected her. First, she would need to be bigger to handle the stress of mating with the beast. So he strengthened her and made her bigger. Then he focused hard and tried to make it so she could safely bear children from an exceptional creature like the beast. When this was done he led her to the beast and stared at them. They stared back at him. “Uh. Um. We-well go on.” He said. But they just stared at him. “Uh. I’ll leave you two alone then.” He turned away and left them hoping that they would be able to work it out. Surely the female’s mutations would make her identify a suitable mate? He would wait and see.
Soon enough, the two had returned to Ya-Shuur with the back of the female’s slightly rougher than how it was before but overall the two were fine. The beast looked down upon the demigod before it laid down on its side. He flipped onto his back and looked at the Shepard expectantly, despite its massive size over the young master. His tail went back and forth slightly as it awaited some form of reward. Ya-Shuur rubbed its huge stomach and praised it and he told it that as a reward it could go hunt and play around the island for the rest of the day. When it had leaped into the air and cannoned away he turned to the big she-wolf. She was lying down calmly. When he approached she got up suddenly and began moving away.
Ya-Shuur glanced at the herd and then followed after her. He found her trying to go into a den but she was not big enough. He patted her and gently told her to follow him. Because he had traveled the area a lot now he knew of a good place she could stay and he took her to the cave. It was big enough for her and deep. She settled down and curled up. Everyday Ya-Shuur brought her a goat and he also brought the beast with him to teach him how to be a good mate. Eventually, the beast was taking animals it caught to the pregnant she-wolf every day. She gave birth nearly seventy days later. The creatures were as big as grown wolves even though they were still newborns. They looked a lot like a wolf but their tails were long and had a sharp protrusion for bludgeoning like the beast's. They had a longer face like a wolf but their mouths could open really wide like the beast. They didn't have teeth yet but Ya-Shuur could see that their teeth were going to be something in between their mother and father. They had sharp bones protruding at various parts of their body like the beast. They were deaf and blind for now like wolf cubs when they were born.
Because she trusted Ya-Shuur the she-wolf let him stroke them. They sniffed him and became familiar with him. Every now and then one of them might sneeze and accidentally launch themselves into the air because they could fly like the beast. When they did they their mother gently brought them back down because they could not control their flight yet. Ya-Shuur also watched how the beast interacted with the litter of six.
The beast, upon being introduced to the litter, sniffed the pups and cocked his head curiously at them before he turned away from them. He walked away from them a few steps before laying on his stomach and gaze into the air, seemingly sniffing for something that was not there. It seemed that the beast was distracted before it let out a whimper and laid its head onto the ground. Ya-Shuur found this behaviour odd. He had noticed the beast staring off into the distance as though searching for something many times before. Only his voice seemed to bring it back to doing as he told. But now it seemed disinterested in its own children and that was strange. He walked towards it and stroked its head. “Are you ok? What’s wrong?” He could feel that it was anxious and a bit conflicted.
The beast only let out another whimper looking out to the sky in a very clear distraction. It’s muscles tensed up as it held a clear desire to be on the move, yet it would not move from its position next to Ya-Shuur. Such was it’s prerogative to remain close the kin of its master, even if Ya-Shuur knew not who the beast had come from. However, it did move forwards a little bit, crawling a few insignificant motions before it stopped again. The animal’s actions would confused anyone else. But because Ya-Shuur had become more attuned to animals ever since he discovered the name of Goat Defying the Darkness he understood that the animal wanted to go but that it now felt tied to him. He smiled and encouraged it to go. “Don’t worry. Go on. But visit me when you can.”
Its massive head jerked upwards and turned towards Ya-Shuur, almost as a look of shock before it jumped up to its feet to lick the young demi-god. After the licking, the beast pressed the top of its head against Ya-Shuur as one last symbol of fair before it turned and bounced into the sky. After a while it looked back to the young demi-god and its mate before howling a final goodbye as it quickly began to run away. The she-wolf came out of her den and looked at where her mate was disappearing. She paused somberly for a few moments. Then she howled at the sky. Ya-Shuur left her to be sad and went in to the den with the litter. He thought about the beast and how it had developed a bond and duties towards him. But it also had other duties too. It was a dutiful beast. He had taught a lot about justice but it had also taught him. He looked at the cubs and stroked them and then he spoke. “The fulfillment of duty is laudable. Those who forego their duty are to be shunned. Those who do not forego but are unable to fulfill their duty do no wrong. This is Justice.”
Ya-Shuur reasons that the beast will leave one day. So he decides to breed it with a she-wolf to create better animals to protect and herd his flock. He tests his powers by putting two goat horns on his head and making them part of his head. This is for free and doesn’t cost any might or free points. He gives the beast the ability to reproduce for 1 free point. He transforms a she-wolf into a bigger wolf and gives the ability to mate with creatures of phenomenal power safely. This costs 2 FP because she is a phenomenal beast herself now. They mate and a litter of six cubs is born. This costs 3 might points to create a species of phenomenal power that is also tame and this contributes 3 might points to the Animal Domestication portfolio. (I will write about their abilities more in my next post when they are more grown up). Then the beast sees its children but it seems conflicted and Ya-Shuur tells it that it can go but it should visit him. It is very happy and it goes. And Ya-Shuur makes a new maxim because he learned about duty from the beast. The new maxim is that: “The fulfillment of duty is laudable. Those who forego their duty are to be shunned. Those who do not forego but are unable to fulfill their duty do no wrong. This is Justice.”
Ya-Shuur had now managed to dress himself better. It had happened by accident when he was inspecting a goat's carcass and noticed that its bones and muscles were kept together with very strong sinew. As he was digging around in the carcass (which was very disgusting) he realized that it was quite easy to pull the hide off. Excited by this he began wrestling with it and trying to get the hide off but it was hard to get it off the feet. He tried ripping it. It took a while but eventually he was able to. He thought that if he could find some way to cut it rather than rip it then things would be much easier. He looked at the goat's horn and felt it. It was not very sharp but its point could be used to cut things. He tried to break one off but it was too thick and strong so he gave up on that.
He washed the goat's hide in a stream and got rid of all the blood and gore. Then he left it to dry. Over the next few days he did the same with four more goats until he had five goat pelts. He also had sinew he had managed to remove and dry at hand. He used some thorns to make tiny holes in the hides and then tied them together using the sinew strands. It was a difficult and lengthy process but by the end of it he had a long poncho made of goat hide. He wore it so that the goat hair was against his skin. This kept him warm and also meant that the waterproof side protected him from the rain. Ya-Shuur was extremely happy at his success and showed his new clothes off to the goats. They bleated curiously. One of them stared at him angrily and he felt a bit guilty.
Ya-Shuur had now begun to recognize some of the wolves. One pack in particular stalked him and his herd but never attacked. Instead it waited on him to come out with a few goats. Sometimes he had even seen members of this pack chasing off bears and other wolves trying to attack his herd. Ya-Shuur found this very interesting. Whenever he saw them doing this he praised them with words. Sometimes he even took a goat to the specific wolves right after they guarded his flock.
As his herd grew Ya-Shuur had realized that he would not be able to protect them all the time. Goats were very curious and were prone to wandering off. Sometimes large groups wandered off and it was many days before he could find them. Sometimes he only found their bones because one predator or another had eaten them. The wolves had been watching him and just like he did they had started running at goats or yelping at them when they saw them running off. But wolves were wolves and they sometimes got over-excited and attacked the escaping goats. Ya-Shuur punished the ones who did this and did not feed them for some time.
One day a large group of goats broke off and Ya-Shuur began to head towards them with the rest of the herd. He shouted to get their attention and bring them back. But they were not listening and were off. After some time he was surprised to find them running back with three wolves yelping and barking at them. Ya-Shuur was extremely pleased and walked towards the wolves. They looked at him with caution as he approached. He brought his hand close to one of them and it snarled. But he spoke gently and eventually managed to pat it on its back. "Well done. You did very well. Well done."
As he sat one a rock one day watching the wolves protecting and herding his goats for him Ya-Shuur could not help but smile. He took his stick and wrote in the snow: "Kindness is done to to whoever does kindness. Those who reward kindness with unkindness are to undo their unkindness. If they do not do this then kindness is to be withheld from them. It shall be withheld until they repent and undo their unkindness. This is Justice."
Ya-Shuur learns how to use a goat's hide. He also learns about how to use sinew. He makes a poncho for himself from goat hide. A relationship develops between Ya-Shuur and a pack of wolves. He feeds them and they protect him and his herd. It is not perfect because the instinct of some of the wolves sometimes make them attack the goats. It is slowly working though. Ya-Shuur learns a new maxim from this: "Kindness is done to to whoever does kindness. Those who reward kindness with unkindness are to undo their unkindness. If they do not do this then kindness is to be withheld from them. It shall be withheld until they repent and undo their unkindness. This is Justice."
Ya-Shuur spoke softly to the pregnant goat as she bleated. He rubbed her back and massaged her stomach as slowly her baby emerged into the world. He gripped the small creature's head and guided its passage into the world. This had been weird for him to do the first few times, but he had grown used to it now. In fact he was proud of every time he helped a goat give birth with success. He was able to take care of his flock and protect them.
In his travels around Li'Kalla's island he had discoverd that he occupied the south. This area was full of cold forest and was where Li'Kalla's manor was. It was also where he had run away from when he got out of her sphere. So there was a lot of forest in this area. The goats liked the abundance of food here and the easy shelter from the rain. They didn't like the abundance of predators though and Ya-Shuur had to keep running bears and other predators off so that they didn't eat any of his flock. As he travelled with his flock to the east he found that the forest disappeared. They gave way to huge spires made of clay and mud that left small valleys between each other. This area was damp and muddy but there was plenty of grass for his goats to graze in the valleys. The rain was unceasing and they could not find any shelter from it. The goats looked miserable and wet despite all the fresh grass. So he took them back to the forest where they stayed for some time and were safe from the rain.
After that Ya-Shuur wished to explore more so they headed west. Here there were ponds covered in beautiful strange flowers and moss. The area was inhabited by frogs, ladybugs, butterflies, dragonflies, and other seemingly harmless insects. The goats seemed to enjoy the new place bereft of dangerous predators and full of greenery and water. But like the east there was nowhere to take shelter from the rain here either and after some time Ya-Shuur led them back to the forests where they wandered around for some time and Ya-Shuur chased off some bears that took an interest in the goats. By this time there were now many goats and Ya-Shuur noticed with worry that they were eating everything. Because he kept them safe none were being eaten. But they were eating everything. There was now an imbalance. This worried Ya-Shuur but he put off thinking about it too much for now. He took the herd north this time. Here they found a mix of snowy forest and a sprawling network of canyons filled with seawater. The goats took to the snow very happily. They ran here and there and played with one another and seemed very happy that they had found a place without rain. Ya-Shuur found it very cold though with nothing but his poor excuse for a loincloth.
He sat thinking one day as he watched the goats prancing in the snow chasing strange butterflies that had wings that were one foot in length. One such butterfly flew right up to him and observed him. He was hunched up with a frown on his face because of all of his thinking and the cold. The herd had now gotten enormous and he knew that the bigger it became the worse things would be for the environment here. He had to find a way to balance things out. Many animals needed goats to survive. Him protecting them meant those animals had lost their food. This saddened Ya-Shuur especially because he knew that the goats were not in danger of being killed completely if some of them were eaten. And it would be better for the balance of the island overall.
He thought about this. His goats were alive. They desired to continue living. There was no reason to take away their lives. His maxim covered this: “Hurting others for no good reason is evil.” This raised the question of what was good reason when it came to hurting his goats. The first was the reason the bear had. The bear hunted goats to subsist. The bear also desired to live, just like the goat. To live it had to eat. To eat it had to kill. If it did not do so it would die. So subsistence seemed like a good reason that was covered by the maxim to Ya-Shuur. In the same way the goat had to eat. To eat it destroyed plants. If it kept eating without anyone to hunt it then it could destroy life on the island entirely. So there had to be a balance. The bear ate the goat to live, so he hurt it with good reason. Then the goat ate the plant so it could live, hurting it within reason for good reason. That made sense to Ya-Shuur.
There was also another reason in his mind why hurting a goat could be considered to be for good reason. Too many goats could end up eating too much and destroying what Li'Kalla had created on the island. So it would be justice for him to kill some goats to prevent them from destroying life on the island. This destruction would even affect the goats eventually if no one intervened to create a balance. So it was right for the bear to kill so it could eat. And it was also right that the bear should kill to preserve the natural balance of the island.
Ya-Shuur held his stick and placed it in the snow. How could he word these into a maxim? “The desire for subsistence is natural. Those who hurt within reason so as to subsist do no wrong. Those who transgress beyond necessity have done evil. They must undo what they have done. If they do not do this then they are to be hurt. This is Justice.” He looked at this maxim and was satisfied. Then he placed the butt of his stick elsewhere and wrote another maxim. “The maintenance of harmony is good. Intentionally hurting some to preserve the well-being of the whole is a necessary evil. It leads to good for all. It is to be done. This is Justice.” He looked at this third maxim for a long time. He knew that he would have to return to it and think about it more. For now though he would hold to it.
The next day Ya-Shuur gathered ten of his goats and led them to the forest. He left them there for the bear and the wolf.
Ya-Shuur explores Li'Kalla's island. In the north there is snow and the goats seem to like this place best of all. There are now many goats and this worries Ya-Shuur because it has created an imbalance. He sees some winter-spirits and one of them comes near him and watches him as thinks. He thinks a great deal and comes out with two new maxims: “The desire for subsistence is natural. Those who hurt within reason so as to subsist do no wrong. Those who transgress beyond necessity have done evil. They must undo what they have done. If they do not do this then they are to be hurt. This is Justice.” “The maintenance of harmony is good. Intentionally hurting some to preserve the well-being of the whole is a necessary evil. It leads to good for all. It is to be done. This is Justice.”
After sitting and staring into the rain for a long time Ya-Shuur decided that he would travel. There was only so much he could see while staying in one place. Travelling would grant him knowledge. So he stood and walked through the rain until he came to the beach. Here it was raining as well. He stared out into the fog and unknown and he felt scared. The sea was endless and dark and the clouds were overcast. Staring out into it he felt truly insignificant and weak. He shook his head and turned away. Maybe travelling was not for him after all. It was not a good idea to go blind into the unknown. At least here he was on stable land. The unending rain was frustrating it was true but it was no reason for him to leave. He looked out again at the sea. Despite his terror it still held an allure. But he was not ready for it. This was his home and he would stay here.
As he walked back in the forest he felt that something was watching him. He looked around for a while but saw nothing that was unusual. But the feeling didn't go away so he looked harder. At last he saw some kind of creature taking shelter under a tree. He paused and looked at it but could not quite make out its features so he approached. It was a small horned animal that bent its head down and bit into the greenery every now and then. It looked very unhappy about all the rain. Ya-Shuur smiled at it and waved his hand. "Hello little horned creature. What are you doing there?" It looked at him for a few moments then released a terrifying screech that made Ya-Shuur jump and back away quickly. To his surprise it followed after him. He sped up into a jog and he saw that it stopped by a tree and stared at him. Relieved that it had stopped chasing him he returned to his cave. It seemed like the world was full of terrible things!
Some days later as he was exploring the up the stream near his cave he came across the same creature. Only this time it had two others with it. Ya-Shuur stared at it from across the stream and it made a sound at him that sounded like a "baaa". It was nothing like the strange screech from the first time. He laughed and thought they looked almost cute from here. Nothing like from up close when they turned into monsters and started chasing you. He continued up the stream and was shocked to find they started walking up with him. Terror gripped him and he turned around and began running back to his cave. The little horned creatures didn't give chase this time. Ya-Shuur was relieved about that.
Not long after that he was walking along the beach. He had been walking aimlessly for some time when he realized that he was searching for something. What he was searching for he did not know. But he kept looking until eventually he spotted the very same creature from that day he had decided not to leave! It was confronting something in the woods. He could not really see it. But that moment seemed to last forever. Ya-Shuur stared at the animal as it defied the unknown darkness. "Goat..." he said to himself, "Goat Defying the Darkness." He thought there were tears in his eyes but they might have been rain. As he watched a huge bear emerged from the forest and growled at the stubborn goat. Instinctively he ran forward. He picked up a stick and shouted. The bear looked at him and roared. "Here! Here!" he shouted and the bear did not like it. It stood on its hind legs and lashed out with its paws to warn him off. By this time the goat had scurried away. Ya-Shuur stopped and found that his heart was beating stupendously in his chest. His hand was frozen in fear around his stick so he couldn't drop it even as he turned and ran away. The bear stared after him and roared in victory. Then it looked around and realized the goat was gone and it mewled in confusion.
When he was back in his small cave Ya-Shuur found himself trembling. That had been a terrible experience and he would never do anything like it again. A sound disrupted his fearful mind and he looked up aghast. Coming towards the cave was the goat and maybe six others. The first goat came right up to him and baa'd gently. Ya-Shuur chuckled nervously and patted it between its horns. "Y-yeah. You were very brave back there." He leaned back and looked at the goats. He looked at the stick and smiled. He remembered the name that had come to him in that strange moment. Goat Defying the Darkness. He liked it.
Ya-Shuur thinks to leave the island but is too scared. So he decides to stay. He sees a goat and greets it. But it makes a scary noise and he runs away. He sees the goats a few more times but is scared of them. One day he sees the goat confronting the darkness and discovers his soul-name. (I'm not sure if I did this right? It says you have to be searching for it so I made Ya-Shuur be searcing). A bear then comes out of the forest and Ya-Shuur helps the goat run away and then he runs away. He is very scared but is then proud of what he did. The goats come and he seems to have made friends.
The rain was unending and Ya-Shuur was drenched. His hair was plastered to his face and his beard was leaking onto his chest. It was also quite cold. This form was not very good at keeping him warm. He remembered that Li'Kalla had placed stuff on top of it, and she had housed it in the mansion to protect it. Ya-Shuur thought that it would be good for him to do the same. He gathered leaves from all the trees and stared at them blankly. He collected twigs too, but he was not sure how he could turn a pile of wet twigs and leaves into clothes. He watched some of the creatures on the island. There were bears with thick coats. There were mud pillars that did not need clothes. There were birds with feathers. He found a few carcasses and dragged them to the pile he was collecting. He unfeathered the birds and then stared at the bear, trying to work out how to use its fear. He picked at it like he had picked at the feathers, but that did not seem to help. At last he left it, deciding that it was not going to be very useful.
He twisted the wet twigs together messily. They barely held. Then he began tying the leaves to it. Some broke, but some held. He decorated the mess with the feathers and attempted to tie it around his hips. It fell off and fell apart. Ya-Shuur frowned and looked at his poor attempt. He had nothing to properly bring the different parts together so they would not fall apart on use. He stroked his beard as he thought. He touched his beard a bit more with both hands. “Maybe that would work...” he said to himself. But he did not have enough hair to make experimenting a good idea. He looked at the shaggy carcass of the bear. That could work.
So he got to tearing off the bear's hairs and tying them together until they made decent enough string. Then he began tying the twigs and feathers and leaves together. When he was done he was able to cover his waist well with it. Ya-Shuur was satisfied and now set to finding a shelter that would keep the rain away. The place he chose was near the sea so that he could see it, but it was also in the forests. There was a stream flowing by. Not too far away was a rocky formation that created a tiny enclave in the rock. It was just deep and large enough for him to be able to sit down in it and bring his legs in so that they were safe from the pouring rain. He was satisfied with this and sat down there staring out through the trees and rain.
Now that he was clothed and out of the rain, he could think more clearly about what had happened. He knew that what had happened was bad and should not have happened. It was bad because it had caused suffering. It had caused Li'Kalla to suffer, Vakk to suffer, the mud clump to suffer, and him to suffer. But despite that Vakk seemed to have been happy with it when he left, so Ya-Shuur thought that maybe Vakk had gained something from it. So that made it good for Vakk somehow? If it was good for Vakk then why should Vakk not do it? Ya-Shuur thought about this and was uncomfortable with it. It was selfish. He knew selfishness was bad but he could not think of why. Wasn't it normal for someone to want what was best for themselves? But if everyone acted like that... it would lead to bad things for everyone wouldn't it? Yes. But if everyone was aware of this and so tried to not be selfish, that meant that selfishness became viable again since only a few people would do it. They would be able to take advantage of everyone else who was unselfish. Ya-Shuur scratched his drying head.
Maybe he was thinking about it wrong. Vakk had hurt Li'Kalla. Li'Kalla should be able to hurt him back surely. But that did not benefit either Li'Kalla or Vakk. It did not undo the hurt done to Li'Kalla. Ya-Shuur thought about this. Undoing the hurt was a good thing. Perhaps if Vakk undid the hurt then there would be no need for Li'Kalla to hurt him in return. But could such a hurt be undone? Li'Kalla had been turned into a monster after all. And could Vakk be convinced to undo it? He had no incentive. He was happy about what had happened and seemed to have benefited from it in some way. Ya-Shuur rubbed his head. He could have an incentive... Li'Kalla would not hurt him. So fear of retribution. Fear of punishment.
Ya-Shuur placed his finger in the mud and wrote: “Hurting others is evil. Those who hurt others are to undo the hurt they have done. If they do not do this then they are to be hurt.” He thought about this. This could easily become circular if no caveat was put in place. So he wiped it away and wrote again: “Hurting others for no good reason is evil. Those who hurt others for no good reason are to undo the hurt they have done. If they do not do this then they are to be hurt.” He looked at the words as they were slowly wiped away by the rain. What would he call this? He thought for a few moments then wrote again in the mud: “This is Justice.”
Ya-Shuur tries to make clothes for himself but it is very hard! He also finds a cave near the see but in the trees. It is near a stream. He thinks about justice and finally comes out with the maxim that "Hurting others for no good reason is evil. Those who hurt others for no good reason are to undo the hurt they have done. If they do not do this then they are to be hurt. This is Justice."
Ya-Shuur was starting to like Li’Kalla. It was nice watching her playing in the snow and making friends. But he also noticed that this island she had found was burnt and many souls had been suffering. It made him want to do something about it. All he could do for now was comfort some of the souls as they went away. Then Li’Kalla went home and started playing in her bedroom. He did not want to spy on her when she was in her room. So he decided to leave the mansion and explore her sphere some more. There were many things in this world and he wanted to see more. But then he heard a strange sound and felt a criminal presence.
Vakk screamed at Li’Kalla and torturd her, and Ya-Shuur was horrified. He tried to come close so he could tell him to stop, but he could say nothing. And getting close to the fighting gods was hard. But soon he was close enough and tried to reach for one of Vakk’s tentacles so he could help Li’Kalla. But it was too late and there was suddenly blood everywhere. It splattered all over him even though he was not a physical creature. He felt it reacting and mixing inside him. It was the blood of the both of the gods. And then Li’Kalla turned into a monster. Vakk’s words had driven her to madness. “No…” Ya-Shuur murmured, and there were tears in his eyes. He blinked and reached for his face, and he realized that his face was transforming. An energy wave from the fighting gods came at him and he was flung back.
He saw Vakk running away then. Li’Kalla was eating something. He realized with horror that it was that mud creature she had befriended. He was not safe here anymore. The longer he stayed, the more physical he became, the more likely it was that the monster would find him. Sadly he turned and ran away from all the crimes.
Outside of the So’E he looked at his newly formed hands and found that they looked like Li’Kalla’s before she became a monster. Horror tore through him at the idea that he might have accidentally taken away her kind shape and turned her into a monster when the blood spattered him. “No no. It wasn’t me. It was Vakk.” He told himself. But the doubt would not go away. He looked into a puddle. A kind bearded face looked back at him. His beard was brown and long. His hair was the same. It curled down until it reached his shoulders. His skin was darker than Li’Kalla’s. He shook his head. It could not be that he had stolen Li’Kalla’s kind form. He looked nothing like her.
Somewhat assured (but a small doubt was niggling at the back of his head still) he began walking through the mud and rain. There was a deep frown and sandness in his brown eyes. He kept looking back behind him. Even though he wanted to help he was completely helpless and lost. If Li’Kalla could not help herself (and she was such a powerful creature) how could he hope help himself let alone her? The thought made him sad and he walked away.
Ya-Shuur was still with Li’Kalla and he saw her fight with Vakk. He tried to help but could do nothing and was instead spattered with blood. This grants him a physical demigod form. He runs away from Li’Kalla’s monster form and has some doubts. He wonders if her turned Li’Kalla into a monster. Sad that he could not help he goes away.
When Ya-Shuur became Ya-Shuur the first sound he heard was the screaming. But for a while before he heard the screaming, he was the screaming. The screaming that he heard came from a never-ending swarm of souls. He saw that these screaming and wailing souls were being thrown into many furnaces that were dotting the emptiness of space. Ya-Shuur was horrified by it all. But he could do nothing except watch helplessly. Ya-Shuur did not understand why this was being done. There seemed to be no one he could turn to for answers. The screaming was the question. And screaming was the answer. Just screaming.
In all those screams there was one scream that was different. When Ya-Shuur heard it he knew that it was not coming from a soul that was crying out against the injustice of the waiting inferno. And it was not screaming at being condemned without a hearing or a trial. It was the cry of a mighty and powerful creature. And this made the cry bizarre to Ya-Shuur. So he followed it. He wanted to know why a creature so powerful and so mighty would be crying out against injustice done to it. “Can injustice ever be done to a mighty and powerful creature like this one?” Ya-Shuur asked himself.
It took him a long time to trace the cry. Finally he found the one who had screamed. She was sleeping on a big blue bird. She seemed happy and at peace. She did not seem like someone who was suffering from injustice to Ya-Shuur. He thought that maybe he had made a mistake. Or that maybe he had not followed the trail properly. He thought that maybe in all those screams for justice he had accidentally imagined one that was slightly different.
But even though he thought all of this he was still drawn to Li’Kalla. While she seemed perfectly fine there was something not quite right about her. The creature (because Ya-Shuur was just a strange creature partly soul and partly scream) stayed far away because he was shy. So he floated there and just looked at her from far away. He thought that maybe if he looked hard enough he would know what was wrong.
The soul-creature Ya-Shuur is born from all the screaming of the souls for justice. He hears Li’Kalla’s cries and tries to find her. It takes him a very long time but then he finds her. She is sleeping on a big blue bird and he is shy. So he watches her from far away.
Hello! This seems very interesting and I would love to jump in! I was thinking of jumping in as a members of Cassius' band, but I'm not sure if they are still around. Or if there is somewhere more interesting to jump in!
