[Fiction] Along the twisting path

[Wakinyan]

The first attempt could have been deemed a success and a failure. The pathway of worlds was open to those able to walk the Wakan but it was nothing like the trip that had brought him to the world of his imposed exile. Timeslip's trip was a wave and wash of dizziness then the world regained it's focus and clarity. This time he was his own guide and he had approached it like had did his own ability to fly, a powerful beat of his wings and he was airborne. Or rather a burst of his "Quantum" (A White name for Wakan)and he thought he could sail through the worlds and find his way home.

The experience was like being tossed into a tornado of dreams. His senses were overwhelmed by the sudden changes that passed by so quickly he could barely register them. He had opened the infinite book of worlds and it flipped in front of him out of control.

In the space of a breath that could not be breathed Wakinyan closed his large eyes and focused himself inward as he careened through all that was, is and ever would be or could never be. Using his raw power as his claws he grasped for reality and took hold of it, dragging himself forward without moving. Then the great and mighty Wakinyan fell forward into a sunny field of high green grass.

The smell of sweet clover and earth was a relief to the overwhelmed Nova. Taking a deep breath and letting the natural setting of the world he found himself within permeate and calm his senses. He hadn't known what to expect on his first self taught travel between worlds but the one thing he did not expect was that he would feel like he had been drowning and it unsettled him.

After spending a long while savoring the sensation of the meadow he had found himself in the griffin like creature slowly picked himself up from the earth with the intent of seeing if had accomplished his goal of returning to his home.

[Wakinyan]

It quickly became evident this was not his world. The first village he found was in the shadow of a great mound likely Mississippian, a beautiful testament to the will of a people. But as he circled lazily in the hot humid sky he saw no life in the village. No children playing, no cooking fires, nothing. He set down in a open graveyard, skeletons littered the overgrown streets of a once thriving village.

He knew from his studies what had likely happen. Smallpox or some other disease had marched through this land. It happened on his world and it happened to this one. It had been like this for a long while and there was no one left to save. Anger flared within the great thunder being but it flowed through him. There was no one left to avenge. How he could rain wrath upon an invader who never even realized they were carrying death with them.

That night he built a great fire atop the proud mount that his people had built. Wakinyan danced to honor them he lamented the loss in a deep rythm that caused the sky to shudder and rumble. But by the next dawn and the fresh rain had washed over the village he knew it was once again time to go. He resolved that no matter how many worlds he would have to cross through he would.

Lightning crashed and thunder rumbled as the griffin like Nova gathered his power unto himself. Tucking his wings closely to his sides Wakan pulsed from him, letting reality flow and fold across his large body like a warm blanket until the infinite strand of worlds revealed itself to him once more and he took flight.