A Little Lore At Bedtime¶

Many homins discussed the happenings of the last days as the little Anisse asked the elders lots of questions concerning what they knew about the Karavan. But nobody had the time to answer the small girl’s questions as they were overwhelmed by all the things that were going on.

In the evening when her grandmother was taking her to bed Anisse asked again. Her grandmother answered.

“Now my child. I don't have real knowledge. But when someone is as old as I am, one has heard lots of legends, stories and rumours. Though I think that most of it is likely to be exaggerated or simply from the feather of a talented storyteller.”

“Please tell me though grandmother,” said Anisse with eyes shining out of curiosity. The grandmother arranged Anisse’s blankets, nodded smiling and made herself comfortable on the side of her granddaughter.

“Child, surely you've heared about Zachini? It is told that he was the first one contacted by Jena and the who united the Matis to became their first king. I tell you now what happend as legend states it; in a time when the Matis were split.”

“The Tryker in this time were loved servants within the households of the Matis. In exchange for food and a place to live, they carried out our more regular and small tasks. They were very unhappy and called us slave keepers behind our backs. Jena saw the misery and came down onto Atys to appear to the most powerful leader of the Matis. This was the noble Zachini. In his wisdom he did as Jena bid and promised all Trykers under his reign that they were allowed to leave whenever and wherever they wanted. It is told that his speech was thrilling. Naturally this caused a lot of fuss in our household, as they were emptied of servants from that day. And through all the mess and excitement this caused it was nearly missed by the people, that Zachini was negotiating with the envoys of Jena, the Karavan. At this time no homin doubted the word of Jena. Even the barbarian-like Fyros didn't dare to doubt the words of Jena.”

“Zachini sometime later, in the year of Jena 2197, over 200 years ago, spoke the 10 commandments of Jena from the Karava. At the place where these were handed over a great city was raised: Karavia. Karavia was a wonder of architecture. When you ever come to Pyr, the capital of the Fyros, you can get a small glimpse of how beautiful Karavia was. The walls were bigger and more beautiful than those of Pyr. They were built of roots, as big as our houses, the houses were like big palaces. Shining floors, shimmering fountains with the clearest water from the near river Ria – all this was Karavia.”

“Zachini was the first of our kings and his contact with Jena helped him to win the trust of the Karavan. They entrusted him with secrets which were passed down the generations of our family. Child, don't look so suprised. Yes, we are far decendants of Zachini.”

The grandmother acknowledged her granddaughter smiling.

“One of our ancestors was the daughter of Zachini and her son became his heir of the throne, this that I am saying to you now is given for generations only to the female descendants of our family.”

“The Karavan are the chosen of Jena. From Jena they received the gift to visit the stars. But the dragon possessed some of them and their homeworld became uninhabitable. During the search for a new home many fell to the rage of the dragon. Some found an inconspicous planet. It turned out that the dragon lived on this planet and held many different peoples enslaved. The Karavan were very sad to see this and bid Jena to help these poor creatures. Jena heard them and filled the dragon with infernal fire which would consume him if he tried to spit it out.”

“The icy crust of the planet was thawed due to the dragon’s attempts to lessen his suffering and at the same time, Jena started the green surge. From a dreary planet the life emerged at fantastic speed and tied the dragon to the planet’s centre. With the help of his self-consuming fire the dragon tried to free himself and burned lots of the sprouting plants. Jena’s might though was too strong, the dragon could do little against it. Atys was created and Jena commanded the Karavan to watch over the peoples; Homins, who were filled by her light and free from the influence of the dragon.”

“Though Jena warned the Karavan that the dragon would awake and hereby consume himself and all of Atys. So tells the legend at all...”

The grandmother paused a while and a gentle smile came onto her lined face when she looked at the peaceful beauty of her deep sleeping granddaughter.