The Tribes of K'haren - Completed

Chapter 37.1

'Explain it again.' Kran looked to the ground, trying to focus.

'Mersha will go to the past and arrange that statues of the two of you will be set up in the dwarven halls. Those statues will feed into legends and help the religion grow. Then, one day, Toma and Profaen will see them. Years later, when they met you, Toma recognised Nume. Now, we can remind her of that and use it to strengthen her belief which will then show others that we're not just inventing it all.' Tarlequin explained calmly.

'But how does that prove anything? I mean, Mersha could also go back to the past and have statues arranged of us if we weren't some kind of gods...' Nume pointed out.

'Yes, and that's exactly why you shouldn't tell people that Mersha's the one who had the statues put up.' Raf insisted.

'Alright, so, when will you go to the past?' Kran asked Mersha. The sun was shining bright and they'd managed to sneak away once again around midday. Now that Nume and Kran weren't tired, they were more willing to listen.

'It doesn't matter when I leave, the past has already happened.'

'So you don't know then?' Nume concluded.

'No.' Mersha had to admit. 'But as I've said, it doesn't change anything, you don't have to wait for me to leave. We can get this started any moment now.'

'But I'm still not sure whether I should believe you. As you've said yourselves, I don't remember any of it.' Nume said and Kran nodded affirmatively.

'Don't look at me, I don't know anything, I just so happen to live among reborn gods...' Mersha said, holding his hands up defensively.

'Whether you believe us or not, it will work if you make them believe.' Tarlequin said, pointing at the city.

'But if I don't believe, wouldn't that be lying?' Kran asked, raising an eyebrow.

'So what? It's still true, no matter whether you believe you were lying or not.' Raf said.

'I'm getting a headache...' Nume sighed.

'Listen, it's really simple, just let me talk to them, I'll only tell them about you two, not about the other four of us. That way, they'll be more likely to believe us. Nobody should believe a man who claims to be a god...' Tarlequin said with a smile.

'Hang on, just one more question, about being gods, shouldn't we, I don't know, have special powers or something? I mean, we're gods but Mersha isn't and he can do way more magic than we can...' Kran said, sounding slightly jealous.

'In some lives, we're born as magical creatures, in some, we're not. But our true strength is wisdom for we remember every life we've ever lived.' Tarlequin said.

'Well, at least those of us who don't decide to throw it all away...' Raf said. His tone emphasised that he'd never approved of the idea.

'Could you stop blaming us for something we can't even remember doing?' Nume asked with yet another sigh.

'Doesn't change that you did it.' Raf stroke one of his horns, a habit Nume still thought looked strange.

'So!' Tarlequin shouted, jumping up. 'Are we going to do this today?' He ignored that the others didn't look too enthusiastic and started marching back to the city regardless.

The light sound of Tarlequin's flute caught everybody's attention and soon they all gathered around one of the bigger rocks near the river. The faun himself stood high up above and looked down on them, playing on until everybody went silent. Then, he made a dramatic pause before starting to tell a tale as old as time itself.

Back when everything was first created, he started his tale, many gods had been born. Some of them claimed to be the one and only while others formed families or cults, creating life all around them. Many of them were known for what they could do and many of them died long before any creature ever set foot in K'haren. Others, however, lived on and became present in people's minds. Some of them, six to be precise, were born as mortal creatures themselves and whenever they died, they were born anew. What made them different from every other creature was their ability to remember.

Tarlequin didn't mention that, sometimes, they'd used it for bad things as well. He just told some stories of how they'd used their knowledge from previous lives to help people no matter where they came from nor who they were. As immortal souls travelling from one body to the next, any form or discrimination due to race, believe or origin was absurd to those gods. That is why, whenever need be, they helped people find strength and pride in who they were.

When Tarlequin asked Nume and Kran to climb up on the rock he was standing on, people started murmuring. In the distance, Nume could hear Toma excitedly speak to her husband but she couldn't understand the words. Though she could very well imagine Toma telling Profaen she'd always known...

'Our outcast, my friends, they are indeed reborn gods. Those of you who had the pleasure to ever enter the dwarven halls will recognise them!' Tarlequin waited for affirmative yells before he continued. 'A long, long time ago, a seer knew that they would save K'haren one day. That seer was eternally grateful but knew he'd never get to meet them in his life. So he decided to have a monument built in their honour instead. Now, the outcast is here to help us, and look at what they've done already!' Tarlequin pointed at the valley all around them. He was right, it was much greener than it had been when Raf had first showed it to Nume and Kran. 'Today, we're going to take the power that lies in what they've showed us already and we're going to use it to heal all of K'haren!'

When the enthusiasm Tarlequin had obviously expected failed to show, Kran spoke up. 'My friends, it is time. Look around you, Tarlequin is right, we have power, all of us do. It's not just Nume and me, we're still the same, just like you. But we now know what we have to do. Half of K'haren is standing here today, the other half is waiting out there, waiting for us to teach them how to be better.' Some people raised their voices and Nume interpreted it as approval but wasn't certain. 'We're going to do it just the way we fought the army of the night: By not fighting in the first place. We're never going to win peace in a fight, that's not how it works.'

'Then what are we going to do? Kiss their feet?' An angry dwarf shouted.

'No, we're going to go home.' Nume now shouted back. 'All those of us who feel save enough and who think they can face any provocation with patience and love I beg to go back home. If we hide out here, they will believe K'haren belonged to them. But in truth, it belongs to all of us. Whenever somebody tells you you were wrong because of who you are, think again. I see all of you here and none of you are wrong or bad. You've all come here searching for peace and now that you have it, I ask you to take some of it home with you.'

'Oh really? Your family has even come here, looking for forgiveness, and still you've turned them down!' A faceless voice shouted, catching Nume totally off guard.

// I wonder what she's going to reply to that. Don't forget to vote and leave a comment below, thanks!