Mother

Her body was wrapped in dark ceremonial cloths, as this was custom for the deceased. Her body lay on top of a pedestal in an old outdoor sacred place. It was their way that their bodies return to nature through the elements and creatures of the world. This was the circle of life. However, the body inside these clothes wasn't dead. She couldn't see because her face was covered, but she could hear and smell. She laid there for hours listening and waiting. She heard the assembly of the war machine gather in the capital and begin to march out. She knew they were headed west simply in the direction in which the sound was moving away from her at. Still, she laid there motionless, even controlling her breath as to not give away motion. She couldn't risk being caught, not just for her sake but for Emo's too. She was so grateful that Emo spared her life she wasn't going to mess this up for the two of them. 

Finally, by nightfall she worked up enough courage to tear open the clothes to see her new surroundings. It was so much more pleasant looking than the confined room she was being kept in at the capital. She sat up and looked around and let everything that just transpire sink in. Her own son just ordered her to be executed. Just idea brought her to tears. This couldn't be her boy! "I have to stay strong if I am bringing him back to his senses." She looks around and sees there isn't much left for her at the Capital and what if they come back here after their conquest, she would surely be killed before she was able to help her son. "I guess there is only one other place I can go. I don't even know if he will remember me or if he is still alive."   

She got up and scrounged around the capital and found an old, tattered cloak with the Anoxe clan crest emborder on front left side and much larger version on the back. The crest was a tribal design to represent the Anoxe they hunted in the plains and relied so heavily on. It had four points at the top that represented the antlers of the animal and twisted down in artistic taste for the head on the animal. She always liked the design of their crest and could remember going out to the boundaries of their territory just to look at the totem that was placed they’re as a landmark and claim of land. Only now was she much older, roughly four hundred years old. Her skin a pale green but wasn't as smooth as it was in her youth. Now she bore the wrinkles that came with wisdom. Her face also bore ritualist markings that elders dawned with pride as they aged. She sighed and put the cloak on and continued to gather items she knew she would need for this pilgrimage north. She finds a few sacks she can fasten to her belt and starts to make her way to the edge of town. She spots a pole stuck in the ground with an elegantly carved out ornamental top of the clan crest. "This would make an excellent walking aid." She thought to herself. She grabbed a hold of it and gave it a good downward kick that broke it off. "There is perfect, maybe if I am luck he will spot me first when I get there and see the crest and know it’s me..." She chuckled to herself, "Wishful thinking you old coot."

The woman gathered a few rations that she could find and set off on her long pilgrimage north. "It has been well over two hundred years since I last made this journey, and back then we only went halfway to the moot." The thought of going back to where it all started for her was nerve-racking. None the less she knew she had to go, and so mile after mile she kept pushing forward. The tall grass wasn't so bad at first as it tickled her hands and legs as she walked through it. Over time the grass scratched and poked at her setting in annoyance and discomfort. If she was lucky, she could make a good distance each day, make sure to ration out what little food supply she had. Water was difficult too as the winds of the plains would quickly dry her out and she needed to drink more often. She kept pushing though the thought of Diyu as a young boy the driving force of every agonizing tiring step. Her legs ached and seemed to be pleading with her to stop and take a break, but she still had too long of a distance to go. Days went by walking, days turned into weeks. She was barely surviving and barely held on. Then up head she could see it, the moot gathering building! This was a welcome sight indeed. First, the first time in weeks she could sleep in a shelter and out of the wind. As she got closer, she could see the building wasn't in great shape and wasn't kept up. That didn't matter it would still do the trick for tonight. She went inside and made herself at home and settled down for so much needed rest. She could hear the wind blowing outside and the leather door of the building flapping in the wind. The steady rhythmic sounds but she almost in trance. She was back in cell at the capital, the Door opens and Emo is looking at her with a most pitifully expression like a boy who needed to confess to his mother. She will never forget the sense of betrayal and hurt she felt when Emo told her what her son wanted to happen. She gave up hope and blankly looked at Emo awaiting the blade to pierce her heart. After all, the blades would be a welcome sensation in comparison to the pain she was feeling.

Emo walked in close, but it wasn't a sword she felt. It was his hands on her arms as they tightly grasped her. "You must survive this!" Emo shaking his head, "I am losing him, and I feel you will be the only to reach him and bring him back." 

"He is gone already, when he Killed Yow, I could see it then. He isn't my boy anymore." With tears streaming down her face. "When he looks at me, it’s as if he doesn't recognize me. Me! his own mother." as her voice elevated in frustration.

"Kaerva! Stop this, please listen to me. You are his only hope! If there is someone else out there who knows him better, then you! His own mother tells me!" he paused to read her eyes and seeing her beginning to see his point. "Otherwise, it is you and will always be you."

The dream flashes away and only darkness remained for a time. Then a sound, a child laughing. Not just any child, she recognized this laugh. Her emotions burst with happiness because this was her son! laughing and giggling just outside their home playing with small frog. Her heart was full, the joy of hearing her son's happiness and innocence's was so comforting for that short time. Only for the dream to end in fire and smoke and Her Son as his now standing above it all like a tower of doom and destruction incarnate. Something was different though; she noticed something and looked closer at diyu's face. Until she saw it! Those were not her son's eyes looking out of his head. There was another entity in his eyes that she could see staring her down. She squinted a little more to see him a little more. He was glowing red and carrying a large sword, and then she heard a voice.

"Everything ends; Destruction is inevitable."

She was taken back by the voice, it wasn't quite Diyu's voice, and it seemed like multiply voice at once. She started thinking about what this could possibly mean. The Dream went black, but this time it was different, the blackness didn't seem safe. It didn't seem like she was alone. Then a purple light seems to glow behind her. She turned around and could only see a giant glowing purple eye. It took up everything she could see and scared her more than anything she had ever seen before. 

"He is mine!" she heard the voice loud and the sound pounded in her head bringing her to her knees. and a loud slapping sound woke her up; it was the leather door smacking the side of the building. She was still shaking from her dream encounter with this purple being, but she now believes she had proof that something else had control for her son. She stood up and looked outside to make sure the area was safe, it was still night and relatively quiet except for the wind. She walked back into the building and took one last look outside before she pulled the leather door back over to cover the entrance.

She settled back, knowing she would need her rest for the next day. As she slipped back into sleep she began to dream again. Only this time was she much younger, and a feeling of being safe came over her whole body. This feeling was familiar to her, but from a long time ago. Once again, she could hear laughing but she couldn't see anything yet. The laugh was of a grown male, but she remembers this laugh as well. She begins to see just a little bit of light and slows the picture into view. She was much younger than just barely of age to be an adult. She was with her father and attended the Great Moot between all the clans. This was a rare time when we didn't meet each other in violence, and a package was agreed on at this moot that outlawed technology. Territories were equally divided up among the clans, and this took a few weeks for all the elderly to come to an agreement. That's when she remembers who that laughed belonged too. It was Grommash the young Arctodus clan member. She was so foolish and reckless then. She hugged after him from a distant age as soon as she saw him. When he worked enough courage to talk to another clan member the two meet in secret just about every night during the Moot doing what reckless young Kreegans do. She remembered he always made her feel safe. Their hope was that when the Moot came to end that peace between clans meant they could officially courtship. The Elders had other plans and made travel between the clans impossible. If another Kreegan was caught in their territory it was punishable by death on the spot. The last thing she remembers in the dream is the long walk home carrying Diyu in her belly. She wakes to the sun shining in her face from a crack between the leather door and the frame. She rises from her makeshift bed and steps outside to greet the day just as she has done for hundreds of years. She notices you can see all five clan totems in separate locations surrounding the building. She walks up the Anoxe clan totem and touches it, and as if the totem was a key to a memory that surfaced up.

"Kaevra" her father's voice says.

This led to a memory of old watering grounds nearby that was used during the days of the Moot. Unfortunately, the watering hole was dried up to dust. Another sign that the planet was indeed changing from the one she remembers. Flashes of how things used to be quickly dotted her mind’s eye. Hunters, fishermen, trade stalls in the street. Things were very peaceful for most of her life. She was lucky to live in such peaceful times. As those who came before her and after her seemed to be doomed to live among the bloodshed.  

Kaevra knows she must keep going no matter how exhausted she feels. Even if this is the last action, she can get done in her life. She packs up her things from the building and leaves what temporarily felt safe for a night behind. From this point on the trails were unknown. The ground seemed harder the farther north she walked. weeks had gone by and the weather turned cold. Grasslands and fertile dirt gave way to snow and ice beneath her feet. Less and less vegetation to see and more and more rocks. On another night the snow was falling more aggressively than it had been. The wind brough new chill with each passing, she found a section of larger rocks that blocked the wind, and she was able to use her cloak as a makeshift shelter to try and rest for the night. She was moving much slower now and did not cover nearly as much distance as she wanted or needed to. That night her dreams brought her both wonderful and torturous dreams. Diyu laughing and running and playing as a child. He asks her simple questions of a growing mind. Her noticing that Diyu was slightly larger than the other children even at an early age. He always seemed to be a little stronger with some anger issues to match. She loved being his mother, caring for him and teaching him everything he was curious about. The mundane life of the village seemed so perfect in comparison to what she woke up too. The hard truth of reality hit hard and reopened wounds in her heart that would never really heal while her son was still under this purple being's control. She packed up and began to move north once more. Slowly step by step, every thankful for her walking stick as it has become invaluable to her during this journey. The day seemed to pass quickly, morning turned to afternoon, and afternoon turned to evening and once again she was looking for a place to rest. She was disappointed with how far she moved that day, but she was wise enough to know it couldn't be helped under this circumstance. She was just happed she found a tree in this harsh landscape to cozy up too and rest for the night. At this point she doesn't know if it was delirium or sleep that caused the dream, either way she dreams of Diyu once more. Only this time he was a little older and had just come home from hunting with other boys in the village. 

"Mom, where is my dad? Why do others have mothers and fathers? When I only have you." Diyu said kindly and bluntly.

"Oh, son, I am sorry I didn't mention this to you sooner. I suppose I guess this day would always come and just wanted to protect from that pain." She leaned in hugging him and held him close to her heart. "He died before you were born, just before the Great Moot in a skirmish between the clans." Deep down this lie felt so wrong to Kaerva, but she also felt this was best to protect her and Diyu's way of life. Not only would it be hard for Diyu to understand the other villagers would surely make their life difficult if they knew his father was from another clan. 

Her dream shifts to Grommash. He was a large Kreegan from the Arctodus Clan who were known to be the largest of all the Kreegans. He had such a calm demeanor that he always made her feel safe, and quiet confident in him.  Kaevra was infatuated with him and couldn't stop thinking about him while they were at the moot. She even thought about him a lot once she returned home with her father. She never felt as safe as she did in his arms. When she wakes up, she sighs again and has brief realization, her father never knew. He might have suspected after all her father was a smart Kreegan, but she never told him. Diyu never knew either, or she had carried this alone for hundreds of years. She reaches down her top garment and for the first time in hundreds of years a token is seen in the sunlight. the Tip of an Arctodus cub's tooth that was given to her as a keep’s sake from Grommash. 

She rubs her finger over the tooth and for a min a smile is seen across her face. Then she tucks back to which it came and knew it was time to start the day’s journey. All that is on her mind is...

Keep...

Walking...

North...