4

N

Holath, the city of prophets, city of stages, with no hole in sight. Spreading across the land of stages, enclosed by towering walls, surrounded by endless desert and tall carcasses of dead mountains. The eaters roamed the city, searching for prophets to consume. They would reach their arms and try to grab beyond the walls of the city. Beneath the stages and above the holes, lived the prophets, forever fearful about a hand of a giant.

O

And at the late days of great Goatesh, weak and fragile she was.

To Yuok, Goatesh said:

I am old, and my days of prophecy will soon be over. Still, They, who are above all, have spoken to me once again. We must find the one known as Kanf of Ankash. She lives outside of the city of stages. She must bare our child who will become a great prophet of our blazing lord.

Yuok said:

You are old, and your mind betrays you. Our lord has been freezing us. We had to find refuge in these stages. And now They demand that we leave our safe haven for a stranger. Our lord has been conspiring with the demons of ice¹.

And thus, there was silence between the two for days.

P

And as it were, on the forty third day of their silence, Goatesh spoke again:

I am old and our lord has chosen us to seek for Kanf of the woodlands.

Yuok said:

The lord is cold, They are cold to us and made us cold to each other. Let us celebrate our warmth despite of Their will.

Old and weak Goatesh accepted:

Let us lay together and pray for warmer days.

The days got colder and colder and an immense storm was upon the city of stages.

Yuok said:

Look at the angry sky. The lord of heat has forsaken us.

Goatesh said:

I cannot see the sky, for our stages obscure them.

Yuok said:

Nevertheless, you can hear the rage of the burning sky.

Goatesh said:

I cannot hear a thing outside this land of stages.

Yuok said:

Surely, you can feel the anger in the skies.

Goatesh said:

Outside of this stage I can feel only our lord, and They are not angry. Inside the stage I can feel only our own anger. It will consume us if we let it, and no stage could protect us from it.

Yuok said:

Your old mind does not do you justice. The lord has turned Their back on us and, still more, you turn your back on me.

And they did not lay together anymore and the storm grew stronger, and Yuok blocked all holes with stone and rubble until there were no holes, only a stage.

Q

And the storm passed and Goatesh said:

I wish to leave. Open the stage and I will go to the woodlands to die.

Yuok did not speak.

R

Following the passing of the storm, the giants once again walked around the stages, searching for food. In those days, the great giant Aran, the stage breaker, was terrorising the city of stages. And the giant penetrated the stone walls of the city and tore apart the stages, brick by brick, and the prophets were exposed and unprotected from devour. Many stage dwellers left the city in search of a new place of safety.
Yuok refused all fear and his arrogance grew with each passing day.

Goatesh said:

We stand with our stage, we fall with our stage. The sizzle of our lord is ever lasting, and our glorious city is nothing but a footnote in the story of this enlightened land.

The prophecy was for Yuok to hear and spread, for Goatesh spoke no more.

S

Aran of Kamam, commander of eaters, a force of destruction. With his might and intellect, he broke many stages. On the fifth day of his conquest, a crack appeared on the stage shared by Yuok and Goatesh.

Yuok said:

The lord of fury is cruel, They took the warmth, They took your voice, and now They are taking the stage that we have made our home. Let us leave with haste, for They have nothing more to take from us but one another.

T

And so, with the remainder of her strength, Goatesh was led through the dark woodlands by Yuok. Not even the eaters had the courage to enter this maze of trees.

Yuok said:

This is not home, but here we are safe.

A large Yanur came out of the bushes and asked:

Where are you headed foreigners?

Yuok said:

We seek shelter, our home in the city was destroyed.

The Yanur said:

The woods provide no safety, they only obscure what that is.

Yuok said:

Then we go deeper into these woods, where even the lord of light won’t find us.

The Yanur retreated and blended with the shadows of the forest. The couple from the broken city followed.

U

At night, the woods were devoid of any light. The tall treetops were thick, made of seemingly endless overlapping branches, covered with large opaque leaves, separating the sky and the ground completely. Goatesh could no longer see, with or without light. She guided them through the dark maze. Suddenly, a glimpse of light shined at the corner of her eye. They both stopped and walked towards the feeble shine. The two followed the flood of pure light that penetrated this realm of unending darkness. As they revealed themselves before the light, they slowed their pace down, awestruck by the scenery.
The glow came from a glade, the direct beams of Farfa were bouncing back and forth between the round wall of trees and the exposed grass floor. In the middle of the glade stood a small hut.

The dazzling reflections of the divine presence illuminated the entire space as they hit the surface of the hut. The resident of this dewlling came out and said:

Welcome travellers. How may I assist in your journey?

Yuok said:

We seek shelter, for the eaters have destroyed our home.

The hutter said:

I cannot offer any shelter, this is a place of light.

Yuok said:

The light lead us here.

To Yuok, the hutter replied:

The light of our lord asks us not to be lead, but to shine through our hearts.

Yuok knew that they were in the presence of the prophesied Kanf. And at that moment they all knew Farfa.

V

On the first day, Kanf refused to open her door to the hunted strangers. Yuok collected all fallen leaves that he could find and covered Goatesh to keep her warm.

On the first night, the glade was fully lit. Kanf came out to bask in the light of the spheres.

To the resident of the glade, Yuok approached and said:

We ask for shelter, the light had led us to you.

Kanf said:

Speak not, for we are seen. We should not be heard as well.

Yuok remained in silence.

On the second day, the heat has entered the glade and it was cold no more.

On the second night, the light and the heat drew small creatures, most harmless, to the glade. Goatesh could not move, and Yuok protected her from the bloodsuckers².

Yuok said:

We ask again for shelter, the lord of heat led us to you.

She did not speak, the hut door opened and two glasses of Yanur milk appeared at the disposal of the couple.

On the third day, the heat hit the glade with all its might. Yuok wanted to retreat into the forest, but Goatesh could not move by herself anymore. He remained to protect her from the forest creatures who were drawn by the heat.

On the third night Yuok said:

We ask again for shelter. The prophecy compels you to accommodate us.

From the hut Kanf said:

The prophecy does not compel, the prophecy cannot compel.

On the fourth day, the grass around the hut was burning. Large creatures with spikes came out of the woods to enjoy the heat. Yuok used one creature to impale another and threw both of them into the fire, the others ran away.

On the forth night Yuok did not speak or sleep, he protected Goatesh from all creatures that tried to come close to the still burning glade.

On the fifth day, the ground was trembling, the ever increasing heat attracted the giants.

W

As the night fell upon the glade, the ground began to shake. Some of the giants were taller than the treetops and could be seen approaching. The glade was burning with only the hut untouched. Yuok took the blood of the harmful creatures he had killed and used it as a shield against the flames. Surrounded by a circle of blood, the prophets were protected and the flames did not pass. The heat was too strong for Goatesh and she fainted.
The giants were upon the glade. They stopped at the edge, where the trees met the burning grass, and stared silently at the hut and the two Holathians. All other creatures fled the area. Kanf opened the door of the hut and waved at the giants.

Kanf shouted:

Come into the glade, don’t be shy.

As they entered, Yuok ran into the forest, to a spot that was not occupied by giants, and hid there. From the bushed Yuok saw, the giants stepped into the glade. They were completely incinerated instantly.

X

As the glade fell silent again, Kanf walked to Yuok and said:

The lord demands your seed.

And so he gave his seed³.

Kanf than continued to extract the seed from the body of the dead prophet Goatesh.

Kanf said:

Be gone now, prophet. Return to the city, for you are not welcome in these woods.

Alone, Yuok left the woods, heading back to the ruined city.