This tale in particular started on an island named Teârqao, which is the smallest of the biggest islands of the land of Loemân.37Please respect copyright.PENANASlx85mQobo
On that island, while the sun shines in the sky, it rains. Always. And, when the moon comes out, the sky is filled with thunderstorms.
Yes, ixane, I know it sounds strange. But I must confess that, where I come from, things are unlike what we know.
For starters, there are no changing seasons throughout the year. Over there, every region is influenced permanently by only one type of season. In the case of this island, which is on the south of the land, each one of the 400 days of the year is always, always, summer.
And speaking of time. The time is not measured in the same way. Over there…. Here… only… Well, over here we measure with smaller parameters.
Like the days. Over here a day lasts 16 hours, over there a day is 20 hours. Besides, in that land, there are things called ‘cycles’, that refer to the time in which the sun or the moon shine up in the sky. Each of these ‘cycles’ lasts for 2 whole days, meaning 40 hours.
Now, each week has 8 days (or 2 sun cycles and 2 moon cycles). Five weeks is a month, and a year has 10 months.
Oh! I forgot to mention that, over there, the hours are longer than in here, because an hour has 10 more minutes than ours (80 minutes).
I digress.
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Teârqao, which is where this particular story starts, is an island with a considerable number of human settlements of different sizes; although this story occurred in a small village where the sky is permanently decorated with a rainbow (yes, even during the night).
This village is so small that the locals haven’t named it, it is known as the ‘village of the coast’. Illogical, if you ask me, for there are countless villages along the many coasts of the island. However, if you arrive on the island, and ask around for ‘Mez Orore Alnne’, they will direct you to Rymalan and Fiomel’s home.
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Rymalan and Fiomel. How do I even begin to explain Rymalan and Fiomel?
This two… Well, they…
Fine, I will have to tell you in this way:
When everything that surrounds us was created, the eternal spirit (we call it Nhynde), split in two: Forell, the sun, and Clarell, the moon. We call this last two Rhelmu, or ‘the creators.’
The story of Forell and Clarell will require a complete and different writing. Something I will gladly do, but is completely unnecessary at the moment, for you do not need to know much about them right now. What you do need to know and what I will write on these pages, concerns their descendants.
You see, the sun and the moon had seven children, whom we know as Beelef or ‘the originals.’ They, in turn, had children, who in turn had children, and so on and so forth. We refer to these as Mëentu, or ‘descendants’, since they are the creators’ issue. Together, Mëentu and Rhelmu take care of all the created things.
How do they do it, you may ask. Well, when Mëentu are born in a particular place, they will be born with powers or gifts; although, if they are not born on that particular place, later in life, they can petition the Rhelmu to be given gifts.
So, Rymalan and Fiomel, and the majority of the persons that will take part in these stories I will write, are descendants of the creators. Some were born with powers (Zedlon), some acquired them after birth (Saizar), and others do not have any kind of power (Ballos).
You need to know that every single Mëentu, save for the Ballos, can live indefinitely. Of course, the descendants can die —nevertheless, I will not describe how, in case these writings end in the wrong hands—, still, time does not affect them. Meaning… well you cannot assert that a Zedlon or a Saizar have died of old age because it just doesn’t happen. A different story would be if you were speaking of a Ballos.
I know these strange words will most likely confuse you, but I have hope that, as we proceed, you will get familiarized with these terms.
Anyhow.
So, Rymalan and Fiomel, both Zedlon with the gift to control certain facets of the light, each and every end of year used to get together with Follen (Rymalan’s brother), his family, and their cousin, Mhylan, to celebrate.
Salts! I have forgotten to explain to you that every Mëentu shares physical characteristics that make them look identical.
That’s right, ixane, every Mëentu possesses brown hair (from light brown almost yellow, to dark brown, almost black). They have a light complexion, a fine nose, and thin lips. In my opinion, what differentiates them the most is their height and their eye color.
I’ll be cooked! I also forgot to mention that depending on the power that the Mëentu possess, their eye color will be a particular one.
Take, for instance, Rymalan and Fiomel. As I have already told you, they have gifts of managing ‘light’, so their eyes will be ‘amber’. And Mhylan, who has the gift to manage ‘water’ has ‘blue’ eyes.
So, from now on I will not describe the physical characteristics of the Mëentu, unless they are too notorious, save for their eye color and perhaps their height.
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Let me think if this is all, I do not wish to abruptly interrupt the tale anymore…
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Well, there is… the system in which they live, which was established by the humans.
Over there, humans do not need to pay taxes, for every time a human baby is born, the ‘Ynde’ (people in charge of resolving conflict and maintaining the peace amongst the population) will grant the baby a small part of the land, which the human baby needs to tend to for the rest of their life. If the land is left to deteriorate, the Ynde will impose heavy sanctions to that human.
Also, they do not use paper money. Their economic system is based on the exchange of goods or services.
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I believe that is all about the basics for the moment. I ask you to please be lenient with me, ixane. There is much that I need to convey and I have not found the best way to ‘introduce’ it to the tales I want to write. At least… well not without digressing completely from the original tale.
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All right, I will begin again on the next page.37Please respect copyright.PENANAjTh25SW7gl