| Rules | • | Spyragia Setting | • | Monsters | • | Stories |
After the Six Splendid Trees atop Hollow Mountain were poisoned, all the people who drank from their river became ill, wicked, and violent. Their king was not corrupted, but did not know what to do. So he summoned the wicked people before him and spoke harshly to them. They cowered before his voice. Only one wept, a small girl named Laurel.
The Creator appeared. "Cease, King," The Creator whispered. "They have been forever tainted by the polluted water. They are corrupted. They need their doom, not a scolding."
Then the Creator spoke to all the people who had drank the water. The Creator did not excuse their wickedness but explained that they could not be allowed to remain in their evil. "Yet," concluded the Creator, "You are my creations and I cherish you. I cannot kill you. So I would make you into a new thing: clouds. As clouds your selfishness will cause no harm. You will absorb by your selfish nature. You will also learn to release. You will try to devour each other when you touch. You will also learn beauty in relaxing in many sizes and shapes. Your taint will slowly lessen though centuries of clean water."
The Creator's speech had no anger, but the doom was heavy. All the people who listened bowed their heads under the weight of those words. Except for one, that same Laurel, who held her head high. She accepted the doom, so its weight upon her seemed small. And again she was the only one to weep.
When his pronouncement was complete, The Creator approached Laurel and asked her, "Do you know that you alone are repentant?"
Laurel said, "I am little and can only see my own heart. I have reveled in selfishness and violence. Even as you spoke, my thoughts wandered and delighted in contemplating more selfishness and more violence. Yet I grieve that I am so. When I am a little cloud, will those who see me know to despise me?"
The Creator answered, "None shall despise you. You shall not become a cloud, for you alone are repentant. Instead, I will give you oversight over those are trying to improve. I will give you the power and wisdom needed to watch over them and guide them."
Laurel answered quietly, "Who am I to do such work? Who am I to guide another?"
The Creator continued, "Not all selfishness is adversarial. Not all violence is destructive. Not all competition is combative. Not all absorption diminishes. You will learn about these lessons deeply, and I will empower you to embody their teachings."
Laurel repeated, "Who am I to do such work? Who am I to guide another?" And she lowered his head.
The Creator asked her, "Why is your head lowered? It is not from doubt."
Laurel whispered, "No, I do not doubt. I do not doubt that you have chosen me. I do not doubt that you will provide the power and wisdom your servant needs to complete the task you assign. I do not doubt you have given me great honor. But...I am not sure I want to do this."
The Creator asked, "What do you want?"
Laurel sighed and seemed to shrink. She answered, "I do not know what I want. Will you ask me again in a year?"
Then the Creator laughed and the glare of the Creator's glory increased until Laurel could see nothing else. All the other people became afraid and backed away. But Laurel remained still, even as she worried if she was forever blind.
Then the Creator said to Laurel, "I will give you what you ask. The Age of Adventure will soon begin. There will be new people: in fact, many new kin. In that age I will still speak to my creations but I will no longer show myself visibly—except to you."
Laurel wept for a third time, and bowed her head to the ground.
The Creator touched Laurel with one hand and said to her, "In more than a year, but soon enough, you will know what you want. You will be a Power, with your own ideas and style. Take comfort. You can be a great Power. No one shall despise you, even though all will know that long ago your heart was as corrupt as any heart could be."
Laurel left Hollow Mountain. She lived alone beside a soothing river. She became a famous archer. She had dreams of the approaching Age of Adventure. Her corruption was bounded by her repentance, isolation, and dreams of a new age.
On her twentieth birthday the Creator visited her again. "Are you ready? Have you found what you want?"
She took the Creator's hand. "I have not been a good person. But I have found enough of my own ideas and style. I will be a great Power. Thank you for the dreams. Thank you for the time to dream."