Chapter 13
Part 1: Creation
“How’d everything get here? Do you kids know? It’s an important thing. It’s why you got attacked, such as it was. It’s why you’ve left your Home.”
Kari still wasn’t in a mood for games. “This isn’t very enlightening yet.”
“Trust him,” Alo said, “he knows how to do this.”
“Thank you Alo, but we need to know our audience too.” Collins patted Alo on his shoulder then leaned back onto the desk, his eyes focusing seemingly on something far off, as if it were something high in the sky or a ship on the horizon. “Listen well; what I’m about to tell you is the Truth. It’s a fabulous tale, but I swear: every word of it is true.”
[The story Collins told Our Northerners, they told to all of us when they returned. It’s a fantastic tale. Listen well, for one day, you may have to tell it to your children’s children.]
At the beginning of time as we know it, there was nothing but the ground. It was cold, and it was hard, and there were no mountains or lakes or trees or houses. Three great spirits also existed then, as they continue to. They are three distinct spirits of a single purpose, a sort of common mind. They act as one being, though they are three, and are forever known as Trium. Trium Baba is our Mother and our Father, the author of all that is. He is the final say; She is the greatest comforter. Baba loves us unconditionally and listens to our pleas with all-knowing ears.
Trium decided that the time had come, and They began to create all that we know, and even things we’ve never seen. To this day, none has seen where the ground ends, and no one knows what lays beyond that end.
Before They put anything on the ground, though, They created an army, a whole legion of beings to exist in the world they were creating which would carry out their will and reflect their glory back upon them. These creatures are dragons of all the colors, sizes, and shapes you could possibly think of. They are powerful, elemental beings riddled with power we humans can hardly comprehend. It was the dragons that carried out Trium’s will when They decided to raise the mountains and carve the lakes and sow seed on the plains and forests. All Trium needed do was speak, and they’d leap at Their will, no matter the magnitude of the task. The most powerful of the dragons got special tasks, like preparing areas for towns and roads or raising mountain ranges.
High in the ranks of the dragons was the one Trium blessed with great cunning and persuasion. This was the dragon in charge of hanging the stars in the sky. He did his job, and used his sharp wit to hang pictures in the sky that the people Trium would create could use to find their way around the world. He poured himself into his task, and was taken with how beautiful his work turned out to be. He began to think his talents would be useful in other projects in this new world and inquired of Trium what he might do next. Trium told this dragon that his job for creation was completed, and to simply wait for further instruction.
The next part of Trium is Mtoto. Trium Mtoto is that part of Trium which houses the original spark of humanity, which They transferred from Mtoto into us when Baba used Her hands to form our first fathers’ bodies. Mtoto knows what it’s like to fear, what it’s like to love, and how all of the pieces of being human feel. She is why Baba can help us persevere, and She talks to us every now and then in words we can understand.
The dragon creator of the stars was not pleased with how little authority he had been given once the humans had been created, sadly. Against the will of Trium, he went down to the people and told them what he’d done, who he was, and boasted about what he was capable of achieving. The people in the city where he landed all believed him, and a surprising number of the dragons listened too.
The third part of Trium, and the hardest for me to explain right now, is Trium Walinzi. He is a warrior, a guardian, and a teacher. Commander-in-Chief of the legions of dragons Baba created and personal guardian to all those who do not spit in the face of Trium. Walinzi came down and cursed the dragon and his new followers. They were no longer allowed in the sky with Trium and the dragons who had not turned. He banished them to the corners of the world, and Baba decreed that dragons and humans could no longer commune in the same way they once could. The dragon of the stars and all his followers ceased to be glorious, they became wretched and tattered, no longer pleasing to the eye or exuding power. Now they simply terrify, though the dragon of the stars is still clever and knows how to fool unwary people. His followers now reside in empty places in our world; the closer to humanity, the better. That’s what makes abandoned houses on the outskirts of towns so scary, you see. They’re not truly abandoned. And that’s the first of many, many explanations to come.
Collins sat back in his chair. “So,” he said, “your questions?”
Umbrella Terms 
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