Dellmar and the Edge of the World
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Dellmar continued to swim determined now more than ever to catch the yolk
before Lune. Wrapped around him was the net made from dragon sinew he
would use to catch the yolk. He always swam in one direction and when he met
one of the new islands formed from the destruction of Peatrous he swam to shore
and ran across it, but never swayed from his course. The fire in him burned
stronger than ever since he was able to swim as far and as fast as he could and
was only perturbed when he encountered an Island. On he swam always chasing
the Yolk. He underestimated the size of the world and it was many years that
he swam.
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One day he rested and was floating on his back looking up at the yolk. When he lifted his head from the water he heard a sound like rushing water. He looked around but in all directions all he saw was the salty sea. He swam on and a few hours later he came across a small rock poking up above the water. The rushing sound was now louder than ever and he climbed atop the rock to get a better view.
When he stood up, he found he could see over the edge of the egg and beyond it was a black void. The water from the ocean poured down the side like a great waterfall and in all directions Dellmar saw the sea falling into the void.
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He did not understand. He thought surely he would find the yolk and catch it with his net. Then he felt heat and when he looked he saw the great yolk rolling toward him. Its heat and light was like that of a thousand fires and he felt his skin begin to burn.
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This was the moment Dellmar had worked for. He took off the net that he wrapped himself in and readied it to toss over the yolk. When the yolk was close and the heat and light was too unbearable to stand, Dellmar tossed the net.
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The net fell on the yolk just as Dellmar had planned but the yolk did not slow in its pace. Dellmar grabbed the net and pulled trying with all his might to stop it, but the yolk passed by him and began to drag him with it. Dellmar hung on but was now flying through the boiling water and blinding light.
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What Dellmar did not know was that the dragon net was beginning to burn. Dellmar still clung on, remembering his promise to his wife, that he would return and make her a queen. Then the net broke and Dellmar let go. The remains of the dragon net snagged another rock and there it remains perhaps one day to be found again.
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Dellmar was left behind in the wake of the Yolk. He tumbled and being so close to the edge of the egg shell, he was swept over the side. But he did not fall into the void. He caught the edge and hung on as water rushed over him. The torrent was great for the whole sea was behind it. Dellmar strained to hold on, as the fire within him burned on.
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The rushing water fell over him and began to wash off his skin. Dellmar hung on and strained against the sea trying to raise himself up. His skin was peeled back, baring his muscles. Fiber by fiber they too were washed off and fell beyond the void. Soon almost all that remained of Dellmar were his bones, but he did not give up and the fire in him burned stronger. His bones were being washed away but his will remained. Dellmar was no longer a body, no longer something that could stand or swim. Dellmar had become the sea. His will and his heart had triumphed over the waves. Dellmar realized the torrent had stopped and he was only hanging on the edge as if trying to climb a ladder. He rose over the edge of the egg and found himself changed. He was water and as he plunged into the ocean again he knew all there was to know about the sea.
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He could see across the world and knew what lay opposite him thousands of miles away. He knew the location of all the islands that dotted the world after the destruction of Peatrous. He knew the greatest depth of the sea and could make out where Preem slept.
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In his new consciousness, he could also make out the shores of all islands. On one he saw a woman casting a net into the ocean and he knew it to be his wife. And although the last place he knew was at the edge of the world, immediately he was at the shore with his wife. She did not see him, but as she cast her net Dellmar caught it. He wrapped the net around himself so he could appear to her as a man although he was no longer a man. He rose from the sea, the net wrapped around water in the vague form of a man and walked toward his wife.
She saw the net in the form of a man and shrunk back terrified scrambling to get away. But a voice called over the waves and sounded like the crashing of water on rocks.
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“My beloved,” he said. “My Hurclone, my desired queen. I have failed you.”
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Hurclone paused and although she did not recognize the voice, she knew it was Dellmar who spoke to her.
“Dellmar?” she asked.
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“It is I. I who fell from the heights of the now destroyed Peatrous when we jumped from the back of Lune who now runs across the sky. I who vowed to catch the yolk with the dragon sinew net. I who swam across the sea only to meet the edge of the world and fail at my quest.”
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“Dellmar,” Hurclone said. “What has happened to you?”
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“I caught the great yolk, but alas the net was not strong enough. I slipped off the edge of the Earth but before I plunged into the void I hung on. The waves washed over me, so strong and powerful that they washed my body from me. But my love for you was stronger than the water, and I changed, and now I am the sea.”
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“I missed you so, my love,” said Hurclone. “When Peatrous was destroyed and the flaming rocks flew across the sky into the sea, I was sure you would be killed. But now I see you standing before me in the form of water and the net I pulled from the bottom of the sea.”
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“Indeed,” said Dellmar. “And I promised I would return to make you my queen, but now I know the Natoon are all but dead and I am no longer a body. How could you love me now that I am what I am?”
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“Dellmar, you were my first and only love and I still love you. The only thing I love as much as you is the sea, and now you are both.”
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“So you will still be my queen?” asked Dellmar.
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“Yes. In whatever form that may take.”
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When she said this she began to walk to the form that was Dellmar, but when she approached the net fell into the sea and lost its form. “Dellmar?” she asked.
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Then the waves receded and the sky darkened. A strong wind began to blow and a dark wall of water rose up as high as a mountain. “So be it!” boomed a voice and it sounded like the rush of a thousand waves. The mountainous wave crashed down onto Hurclone and before it did she let out a wail so loud it drowned out the sound of the sea. Her body was dragged out to the ocean and began to spin. It span faster and faster until the water around it spun as well. Her speed gathered and the water about her spiraled a wall of water that may have rivaled Peatrous had it still stood. Out of the spiral of water Hurclone’s wail could be heard as it traveled out to sea.
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Dellmar had made Hurclone his queen and together they roam the ocean. Hurclone wears a crown of clouds and water and rages when she nears land. And she is always with Dellmar and they haunt the seas together as one.
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Bront and the Dragon Spear
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When Peatrous blew, Bront was blown far from the mountain but not
out to sea. He landed in a forest rich with wildlife and near where other
humans lived. The blast caused him to lose his patchwork clothes made
from the many animals he had killed. His body was still changed from
the years on the mountain. His skin was white as was his hair and his
eyes shone in a bright blue. He still clung to his Dragon Spear Fulger
when he fell and the only possession he had was that.
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After the fall, he awoke and realized he was in the forest. He also knew
the Natoon had been destroyed. For all he knew he was the only remaining
Natoon and a rage began to fill in him. The rage burned and turned into a bloodlust. He was angered at the loss of his tribesmen and the loss of his patchwork clothes.
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He began wandering the forest and soon he came upon a deer. The deer noticed him but did not run. Bront in his rage, threw Fulger which struck the deer, but struck it with such force that the deer nearly exploded. Fulger also was thrown with such force that the air cracked. Bront let out his booming laugh, but now the rage built inside him made it sound no longer as a laugh but an ominous roar. It was so loud that the humans who lived on the edge of the forest heard it and feared for whatever creation lived therein.
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Bront hunted in the forest day and night for many months. He killed every creature he came across, big or small, quick or slow. Every time he used his spear at no matter what distance and every time he threw it the air cracked and the poor beast not only suffered from the spread point but was either burned or obliterated all together. There was a tree in the forest which was Preem and Preem knew of Bront and knew of his ongoing destruction.
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Eventually Bront destroyed every creature that lived in the forest. He did not cover himself with hides anymore, but the bones of his kills. As he donned them, the white fire that emanated from him and Fulger bleached the bones he wore. He looked jagged and brilliant and a white aura followed wherever he walked.
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The humans who lived near the forest noticed that they no longer had any food. All their game had disappeared and they trembled at the sound coming from the forest of Bront and Fulger and the menacing laugh. Eventually Bront emerged from the forest. The humans saw his white light coming toward them through the trees. They readied themselves for battle, but none expected to see the spectacle which was now Bront.
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When he saw the human tribe standing in wait he began to laugh at their folly. “Who are you?” the chief of the tribe asked. “Who haunts the woods with your light and terrorizes us with your laugh? You who before your sound we feasted on game, but now find ourselves eating only plants and fish. Why have you come? What do you want?”
Bront laughed again and said, “I am Bront, the hunter of the Natoon. My tribe was destroyed with mount Peatrous. I no longer look for the joy of hunting but now revel in the lust for the kill. You who stand in my way: woe to you!”
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With that Bront threw his spear with the desire to kill all the tribe. Fulger took on a life of its own and once it left his hands it did not stop at one person. It traveled through the bodies of all the tribe leaving no blood but burned and scored all it touched. And it happened in almost the blink of an eye.
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The spear returned to Bront’s hand and before him lay a mass of dead. He let out his booming laugh and this time it was so loud even Sec heard it. When Sec looked down from where the sound came, Sec saw the mass of bodies and knew Bront to be a Natoon. Sec cried at the destruction and the tears poured over Bront.
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Bront left to travel the world. Wherever he went any beast he encountered he destroyed with his spear. Big or small, fast or slow, Bront left a wake of smoking death wherever he went. Sec kept watch and when the wonton death became too great, Sec wept.
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This began to irritate Bront, for when the water fell, many creatures fled or took shelter. Bront’s prey became more sparse for as he went looking for game they all fled or hid from the deluge. One day, Bront entered into thick woods where the rain could not pester him as much. Also the animals were more willing to be in the trees or on the forest floor even in the rain. It was in these thick woods that stood a tree that was part of Preem. Preem took notice of Bront and knew the tears of Sec that followed him wherever he went to dissuade him from his lust for blood. Preem, in defense of Sec, devised a plan to keep Bront from his wanton killing and give Sec some reprieve from haunting Bront with water wherever he went.
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Preem retracted a part of his tree and followed Bront into the deepest darkest part of the wood. The white glow of Bront and Fulger could hardly pierce the dark and Sec’s tears only fell in small drops from the thick canopy that was above.
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All at once, Preem pushed a root up through the floor and made it into the shape of a great beast only feet from Bront. Bront, surprised, hastily threw Fulger into the root. When he did the white hot spear hit the root with great force causing it to explode. The hot shards of the root that was Preem sliced Bront and the light from the explosion burnt out his eyes. He was thrown above the canopy and out of the woods.
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When he landed, the last of the bleached bones he wore shattered off his body but his dragon spear returned to him. He lays out in an open field and now Sec could see him clearly. Bront then flew in a rage but now he was blind and he had nothing and no one to target. The fire within him continues to burn keeping him alive.
Bront throws Fulger wildly in any direction. Sometimes it hits the ground with a powerful explosion. Sometimes it can be seen flying jaggedly and white hot across the sky. But wherever he goes, Sec pours water before him as a warning to all that Bront is coming.
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