When Leif woke he felt like everything was spinning. He tried to sit up but he got pushed back down.

“You need to rest,” said Folke sternly, “you have been out for a couple of days.”

“What happened,” Groaned Leif.

Folke stared at him before answering, “You don’t remember? All I know is you were found out by Denali's head passed out.”

Leif furrowed his eyebrows while trying to think, “I…I’m not sure. Everything is kind of fuzzy.”

“Hmmm, hopefully after some more rest things will start coming back to you. I need to get Healer Eldra and Elder Minerva. I will be back with them in a bit, do not move while I am gone,” Folke commanded.

Before Leif could protest Folke was up and out of the door. After laying there for a while Leif's head cleared up enough for him to notice he was not in his room. Folke had apparently cleared out enough space in front of the hearth to lay out a bunch of furs so Leif could be rested comfortably in front of it. Leif was beginning to wonder if this hearth was cursed because a lot had happened in front of it the last few days.

As his head cleared more he began remembering the events of the other night. The first thing that came back to him was the image of Folke being engulfed by water. After that, everything came rushing back. He could not believe how stupid he was for yelling at a Tide Walker, he felt lucky to be alive.

While Leif was reminiscing about his stupidity, Folke walked in the door followed by Elder Minerva and another person who was dressed head to toe in red and black silk with a plain white mask that only had two eye holes cut out of it, there was not a single part of their body that was visible. Healer Eldra, as it turned out, was from the tribe on Gobi.

As they walked towards him he could hear Elder Minerva saying, “I’m sure he is fine, he probably just needs more rest.”

A soft voice came from behind Healer Eldra’s mask, “Yes, you have made your opinion very clear, but I still need to check him over.”

Elder Minerva scoffed before looking at Leif, “Leif tell the healer here that you are fine.”

Leif was lost for words before blurting out, “I saw a monkey taking a bath.”

All three stopped and looked at him for a moment before Elder Minerva said, “Maybe he does need to be looked at.”

“You don’t say,” Replied Healer Eldra sarcastically.

When the three of them got close to him Healer Eldra kneeled and held out their gloved hand. A bright light came from it and shone over Leif.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“I thought people could not use magic without soul weapons,” Said a shocked Leif.

“No,” Replied Folke, “if you remember I said every tribe gets magic in different ways. Only our tribe uses soul weapons. I still need to tell you about the other tribes, but this is not the time.”

“Actually,” interrupted Healer Eldra, “This is the perfect time. I need his head to be more clear while I look it over and him being distracted by a history lesson could help. Since he has already seen my magic and is probably curious about it, feel free to talk about my tribe.”

Folke hesitated before asking, “Are you sure?”

Healer Eldra nodded, “You will not offend me, it is my people's past and I accept that.”

“Very well,” Folke nodded, “As you know long ago Gobi’s shell used to be a lush land but now it is a desert. This is due to the tribe on his shell.”

Leif’s eyes widened at that, “How did the tribe change the environment on Gobi’s shell like that?”

“Through stupidity,” Replied Elder Minerva

“Through their magic, “Said Folke shooting a glare at Elder Minerva, “How the tribe on Gobi gets their magic is by making vows. The stronger the vow the stronger the magic, they’re like promises in a way. For example, our healer here probably made a vow along the lines of forsaking what they look like and protecting others.”

Healer Eldra nodded, “Not exactly correct but close enough.”

Leif looked confused, “But how does that lead to Gobi’s shell being what it is now?”

“The tribes on Gobi became fractured and full of greed,” Folke glanced at Healer Eldra hesitantly before continuing, “Members of the tribe started taking vows of vengeance, destruction, and death. This gave them powerful abilities that destroyed whole villages. There was constant death and destruction and even some of the elders there wanted to take the fighting to the other Tide Walkers so that they could take everything for themselves.”

Leif looked horrified, he had never heard of anything like this happening. He did not want to believe it and it must have shown in his face.

“It is true,” said Healer Eldra with sadness in their voice, “A small child watched their entire village get destroyed by an elder who was upset about how his food tasted. That's all it took, he thought the food tasted bad, and an entire village was destroyed because of it. That small child in rage made a vow not only to destroy the elder but the entire tribe. This gave that child the ability to absorb the life out of every living thing, including the land and Gobi himself. Soon my tribe was almost completely gone, the once lush land was a desert and Gobi was slowly being killed.”

With a whisper, Leif asked, “How was the child stopped?”

“They were killed in their sleep. It took a long time because no one knew who was responsible and no one believed at first that it could be a child,” Healer Eldra let out a sigh, “After that what was left of my tribe decided there needed to be changes made. There was no more fighting and certain vows became banned. Most people make vows of silence or to hide what they look like from the world. We all live in shame of our past and try to make amends for it. Luckily most of the magic we get anymore is healing magic so we can help others.”

After the tale was over Healer Eldra looked at Folke, “I am done, he is fine and can move freely now.”

“Thank you for all you have done,” Said Folke respectfully.

“Anytime,” Nodded Healer Eldra before they walked out the door.