Spirit knew she would never be able to cross the gods' river, so she remained where she was until nightfall. As she slept, her wolven form remained near the human one, in case the spirits should decide to summon her during the night. Sure enough the wolf grew tired, and something unusual happened; SpiritStar's spirit fell asleep. When she awoke, she found herself lying just before a group of huts that appeared to be made out of solid gold. "The Home of the Gods," she said under her breath as she watched in amazement. From far off, she heard someone sound the call of the wolf, and solemnly she entered the golden city. Spirit trekked on, passing the golden huts with eyes wide open. At last she reached the heart village, and found herself in the presence of the gods she had known and revered since she was a tiny babe. "Spirit, of the People of the Light, well-come to the village of the gods." She nodded, and once she gained back her senses she replied in a clear voice--for the gods were much taller then she--"I seek peace," as was the traditional greeting. "Why have you called me here?" She asked the deities standing before her. "The nahab will soon find your people. They wish to destroy all tribes, not just your own, and soon there will be none of our people left," replied the god who rose above the others. "You must save them, and drive the nahab back to their homelands. Obviously you cannot do this alone. However, there are some nahab who are friends. One such nahab is a woman they call Eternal Rose. She allows those who are worthy to receive an egg from which will hatch a dragon. The two you carry with you now," he indicated the black and white eggs, "contain creatures which she also distributes. They will be companion to your dragon whilst it grows and learns." Spirit was speechless. "How--How will I find this nahab? How do you know I will even be deemed worthy?" The answer came quite quickly, from the motherly goddess. "Normally, one must use pictures drawn on wood--" this sounded extremely abnormal to Spirit "--so that they can find you and decide. But because you cannot do this, we have done it for you. We have the gift of all languages, even drawn ones." Now the younger goddess began. "As for being worthy, we have fixed that for you. You shall raise the dragon on the shores of the River Crystal. There is a herd of beasts on the cliffs of the moutains for him to eat--though you yourself must never kill them. When it is too young to hunt for itself, you must take only those that have already left the physical world." "What will it look like?" Spirit asked, after processing the former information. "We do not know.. Those nahab friends will decide. Until it grows, you will not know. Now, shaman of the People of the Light, you must go back to the realm of dreams. Fare-well." *** That night the gods returned Spirit to the River Crystal. She made a small hut from branches, and wove a nest out of dried river-grass. If the gods would have her help her people, then she must at least do her best. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Statistics SilverValley