Chapter 1 – The Stars that Fall
It was a cool day in that place between the hot season and the barren season, when the sky above Linae Ka was filled with bright white stars, shooting and sparking across the red and purple dusk and passing to they east, beyond the horizon into the places beyond. Na’tu was tending the central cooking fire, preparing Tikka leaves and a boar-like Toka freshly killed by the last hunting party when the other villagers began commenting, then crying out in fear and confusion. Never before had anyone in all the tribe’s memory seen such a display in the skies above Linae Ka, and most saw it as an ill omen. Of course, thought Na’tu, anything new or unusual was considered an ill omen by the tribe, though in her memory no calamity had ever befallen them. Their valley spirit, the gentle and generous Linae Ka, had always provided them with all they needed and had secluded and guarded them from the places beyond. For generations her tribe lived in peace and tranquility. Stars shooting across the sky and falling into the places beyond could not change that. Linae Ka would not let them. Fear was like the green vipers of the forest, though – always ready to strike at least provocation. (more…)
Visions of a Dark Horizon 