Trinity RPG - Tales from Eden: Tests of time and love

[Wakinyan]

Part 1

“They will try to kill you.”

“I know that.”

“Then why are you going.”

“I have to try and find those who remained..”

“You mean find her.”

The massive head nodded as the humanoid wolf crouched beside it. Sumanitu was large, easily over ten feet tall and full of muscle and power. His body made one think of primal fury yet he was so utterly serene no one had ever seen him lose control, unlike his father he stood beside now sometimes did.

For as big as Sumanitu was he was tiny compared to his father. The Wakinyan was a truly massive creature that rested inside the hollowed out mountaintop that he had created. There were carvings within the home but no warmth. Nothing that could call it a home more than a shelter. It had been this way for twenty years, despite all he did he could not leave it be.

“She is probably dead.” The wolfman offered realistically. “I know.” Came the rumbling pain of his father. “I shouldn’t have left her.”

“It was her choice not yours you could not have made her go. She remained behind with those who could not stand to leave.” Sumanitu tilted his head looking at his father with a curious intensity that shined brightly in his golden glowing eyes. “Why now? Why after so long will you return?”

“I could say it was because of the tainted ones but that would be a lie.” Sumanitu looked at his large father with a look that tried to coax him into giving him a reason and Wakinyan spoiled his son and gave in. “I can feel her. We are so distant yet I can feel her. I know she is alive but for not much longer. It is time she and the others came home to the Summer lands.”

“Are you going to force them?”

“Of course not. But I have to show them it is time. I have given them fifty years to think about the choices they made and I need to go and see if it is time for them to join us. If there are any left but her.” The huge griffin stood and shook out his body. Every action of the immense creature seemed so quick and smooth he seemed to defy reality as he moved from the huge cavern mouth.

“I will go with you father.” The wolf leapt alongside of him keeping pace. “No Sumanitu you will stay here. You and your brothers and sisters need to remain and protect the land from the Sape’ you know this. I shouldn’t even leave in these troubled times but.. She calls me.” The wolf son of the Thundergod nodded. “Hurry back father.” He placed his clawed hand upon one of his father talons. “Bring them home, bring her home.” The Wakinyan nodded at his son and turned to face the open sky. A storm materialized in the distance. Wings beat the sky thunder and lightning crashed with each wing beat. The god leapt into the sky and circled once before plunging into the storm.

The city of Oglala had seen better days. Once it was a thriving hub of the Resurging Native American community. The immense statue of Wakinyan watched over The People and all was well. Even the Aberrant War was not to much of a bother to them. They did not war with their god and their god protected them. However even the mighty Wakinyan could not protect them from Wycoff. His act of utter selfishness had sealed the fate of the heartland of America. Killing so many but leaving a devastated and warped land for those who remained. In the dark days after the blight rolled across the land the Wakinyan had brought the people into Exodus. Some wondered how the Wakinyan knew of the Summer country. Others simply accepted that moving had to be done. Some few would not go and Wakinyan knew he could not force all of his people to follow him. But the worst cut was when Thoughtwave told him she would remain. He ranted and raged yet his fury broke upon her beauty like it always had. So she remained to watch over those who had been left behind.

When the lone straggling cloud turned into a mighty storm above Oglala those who were outside grew frightened. Everyone carried weapons to protect against the twisted ones who lived in the blight. But they also realized that the weapons sometimes did not matter. The storm continued to build until it seemed to spread from horizon to horizon. The wailing screech of the god in the storm reverberated across the land. The thunderbird broke from the angry clouds, his wings carrying the storm beneath it. Thunder and lightning crackled around him. The people knew, those who had not even been alive when he was last there knew, their Wakinyan had returned to them.

The first thing he saw was Oglala it reminded him of his youth in the days before he and his wife and brought the Lakota to glory once again. It did not surprise him that so few where there after all most had left with him. It warmed his heart that some still survived, pride swelled in his heart to see that despite living inside the poisoned lands they still managed to survive. The statue still stood as well surprisingly it stood tall and proud even though now it was much smaller than his true form. Still it had told the people to remember him and he would not forget them and he had not.

His reverie was broken as the warm static of love opened with his mind. It had been so long since the last time he had felt it that it threatened to overwhelm him. In that moment he felt her slipping from this world into the next. He was going to be too late and he refused to let her go now. It is time for you to come home my Tawicu. He replied back to her as his body raced across the distance. The storm roared and raged behind him spreading for hundreds of miles across the blight in his wake. She was not at their cave, their home. She had taken up residence in the small cabin by the garden he had made for her so long ago. Touching down in an instant he became his old self a Lakota who did not look a day past eighteen. His blue eyes blazing with the intensity of a bolt of lightning. Grey-Fox burst from the home in tears. “She needs a doctor!” He screamed despite that no one else was around. Well anyone save the man he ran into blindly. “Who are you?!” The two young men looked at one another a moment but the stranger moved past him. “I will answer you but not now.”

Wakinyan moved into the cabin and once again memories and emotions threatened to overwhelm him. The link between them was fading yet he would not let go. He kept his wife safe and warm in his mind. He saw her but did not see her. At least not the frail form in front of him all he saw was the wife he loved. Gently he took her hand in his.

“Who the hell are you!?” Grey Fox screamed as he watched the young man who for some reason seemed so familiar to him pick up his grandmother, carefully cradling her in his arms. The stranger turned around to face him. “Return to Oglala son of Lakota. Tell the people Wakinyan offers them Exodus to the summer country once again. Hurry, I do not wish to be here any longer than I have to be.”

Grey Fox wanted to stay and see what was about to happen but he could not resist the man’s demand, if he truly was a man at all. He turned and ran down the trail to his waiting jeep. As he ran lightning struck all around him splitting trees and shattering rock yet never seemed to touch him. As he raced back to Oglala he could realize that the storm had a mind and will all its own.

Meanwhile Wakinyan cradled his wife closely to him as he carried her outside. As he stepped outside the cabin lightning stroked down from the heavens striking them both. The light that was dimming in his wife’s mind glowed a bit brighter another bolt struck and it was like blowing upon a coal that was about to go out forever. Each bolt was a breath that caused that coal to glow brighter until it was a hot and ready to be ignited again.

Wings formed across his back and with a powerful stroke they took them both into the sky and into the storm.

A moment later the storms evaporated as Wakinyan held his wife closely to him as the stood upon a mountain peak that looked out over vast fertile plains in one direction and tall proud mountains in the other. He had brought her home and there was one thing left to do. Wakinyan brought his lips to hers and they kissed the first kiss they had shared in over five decades.

That kiss seemed to last for decades Thoughtwave’s mind reeled as time seemed to strike like another bolt of lighting. Her mind crystallized into sharp realization. The weight of her old weary bones and flesh seemed to burn away under shock and love of the kiss. The link that had been silent for so long breathed to life again like a drowning man tasting air again in the second before his death. The world seemed more real than it ever had been yet so unreal that she was certain she was now within the summer country.

The eternity passed and Wakinyan gently let his wife take to her feet again. Her young eyes looking at him with sheer unadulterated happiness and joy “I knew you would be waiting for me on the other side mihigna ki !” Thoughtwave pronounced jubilantly as she looked at her young body that seemed as youthful as they day they had met over a century ago. He grinned and kissed her again as their bodies pressed against one another. The summer breeze blew cool against them both upon the mountaintop yet to them only the other mattered.

When the finally parted lips Thoughtwave saw tears flowing down her husbands face. “I felt you slipping away. It was time for us to set aside what happened and be together again.” Tears fell freely down his cheeks. “I couldn’t lose you again.” Thoughtwave could not help but to cry as well her tears rolled down her young face as she pressed her face to his hugging him tightly. “You never lost me my love. You never did.”