Wonderer's Wish World: An Empty Land

Whirlwind of a Story

"Let's hurry, shall we?" Gale huffed as Kipo hesitated. He glanced around the cabin, and Kipo would think he was annoyed if his voice wasn't also touched with worry. "We don't have all day."

"I know," Kipo answered, but still, she hesitated. She hadn't been lying before, she DID have questions, but she also knew that Gale had gone through a lot of trouble to keep this stuff secret, as easily as Kipo found it. She had to ask it right, or she wouldn't be getting any answers.

"What can you tell me about this god that hates us?" Kipo asked him. Gale looked momentarily surprised, before looking suspiciously at her. Kipo, for her part, tried to keep a straight face.

"That's what you want to know?" he said, a sneer in his voice.

"That's not everything..." Kipo said slowly. "But yes. I want to know about this God we're fighting against and about this offering."

"You don't have any other choice, you know," Gale told her. "The god will destroy you and your village to get what he wants."

"Hm," Kipo said, nodding. "Okay... so what can you tell me about him?"

"Why do you even want to know this...?" Gale sighed. "Look, he's..."

"He hates us," Kipo offered. Gale nodded.

"That's right," he said. "He despises your group because you're encroaching on his territory. This god commands the skies and rules over his kingdom from the sky. When your group came into this world, he felt as if that was an insult, so he's going to kill you unless you give him the flowers to make him happy."

"Why does he want the flowers?" Kipo asked him. She wanted to ask more, but she closed her mouth. Asking too much would allow Gale to pick and choose what he wanted to answer or to derail the conversation. Kipo needed to keep her questions on track.

"Why does he-?" Gale cut himself off suddenly, thinking. "Why? Well... those flowers are his favourite, and represent 'good will' and 'health', so he takes them as a sign of faith."

"He takes the flowers that grow out of people's dead bodies as a sign of faith?" KIpo asked sceptically, before she remembered something. What had Anne called them...? "The wish flowers?"

Gale rolled his eyes. "They'd mean different things to a god then an ordinary person."

Kipo sighed. "Alright. But... about this god, who worships him?"

"No one," Gale told her evenly. "He rules like a king, and does not need simple worship like a different god might. He just wants respect and control, and to rule over his kingdom."

"...Huh," Kipo said, thinking about why that sounded weird. "Does he have any legends? Like other mythology? Like how he was born?"

"There are a million different stories about that," Gale told her condescendingly.

"Like what?" Kipo pressed. "Which one do you believe?"

"None of them," Gale snorted, and Kipo blinked at him. Sighing, Gale elaborated.

"The myth and legend about that god is exaggerated," he told her. "Truthfully, it's not all-powerful or all-knowing. It's just a creature, like the Bone Dragons or the flyboys. A powerful one, yes, but not omnipotent."

"So it's a bone dragon?" Kipo asked him, but Gale shook his head.

"No..."

"Then what is it?" Kipo pressed. "A flyboy?"

"Obviously not," Gale snapped, as if personally offended. "Look, no one really knows what it is, or what it looks like, least of all me, okay?"

Kipo shrugged. "Can you tell me about the legends?"