Chapter 24: Legends, Part 4: Now We Know You

I was made of light, but I was born in the dark. My first moment of birth, I took my first breath of air. I saw stars and saw I glowed like one too.

The desert sand felt hot under my body and I stood up. I fell down, and stood up again. My legs turned into whips as I walked. I left a streak of light, like wind.

I saw only the cool night and the sand turned cold. I shivered, waiting for my maker to show up. Was I made for a purpose, or was I some unknown form? A cluster of light.

I took a chance, and walked over sandy hills. What aim, I know little, as I sought something. Wind rushed past, and the desert froze over. I fell on my butt and slid down on a hill, and I felt a tingling in my soul. It felt good, and I pursued it.

I ran back up the desert hill, sat down, and rode the hill down. The tingling brought to my mind a feeling, a good feeling. I ran up, and slid down, again and again. The sand filled my body, and some grains stuck in, and I kept it up as I had my fun.

That was the first time I felt. I had been cold, in the dark, and alone, but this was the first time I had a thought.

To have a feeling that was good meant you could process and know the bad. That was when the cold kept coming. I felt it stabbing and I soon felt pain. The pain made me feel bad, and I hid as I could. I dug in the sand, and made a hole that I sat in.

I had to hide and retreat from the pain. That was when I felt like I was stuck, that was when I felt anger for the first time from it.

I stood up and got back out, but the cold gave me the bad vibes again. The trek went on, as I sought to keep working. I walked, and walked, the cold pushing me back.

I thought I might not have fun again. I thought the cold took control. I thought that I was lost. That was when I first felt fear.

I shivered, and my mass was plunging and I was freezing to death. Until a being, also made of light, came from the north.

A yellow wolf, who looked like cheese if I am honest. I must have known cheese in some way. It was like I had knowledge but I had no way to unlock it. She walked on tall, thin legs, and she had cheek fluff in curls.

I said for the first time ever, "You must be my maker." She listened and laughed, and that laugh echoed across the desert domain.

"My name is Lhyna," I was told by her. "I am the goddess of the moon. I think you must have been made a bit ago, and I was sent to get you. You have no name, right?"

I said, "I am the light, I am a being of light."

"That is not a name," Lhyna said. "You are to have a new name, one that fits you. You are a jackal, and you are light. How about a name like Lantorn? Jackal Lantorn, you will get the pun later." I had gotten the pun right now. Still, I felt amused from the name, and that was when I felt humor. I thought the pun fit, and I felt like she should tell me more about those jokes. If I could feel humor, I would have fun, and that fun was good. Fun got me to do stuff that caused more fun.

Lhyna said, "You are still young, Lantorn. Unlike other constructs, you have to go past your stage of youth. You have a mind, where other constructs are only smart enough to do what they need to do. You have some knowledge, but you do not have the feelings to go with."

I asked her about that. "The smarts pass on from my maker, but I contain none of my maker's feelings? I have to make those feelings? How do I go about doing that?"

Lhyna stared at the stars and said, "What do you feel when you stare at the stars? Is that a sense that gets to you?"

I thought about it, and said, "It's like I am a star." Lhyna gave me a wide grin. I thought I was doing good. "I think that it gives me a feeling, like you said. It allows me to belong to something more than I am, if that is how it works."

"I can tell you this right now. Your feelings are right, no matter what they are," Lhyna said. "Long as you make sure they do not control you. Problem two is that you are more than a construct. You are a living thing."

I said, "That is good to know. What should I do as a living thing? I have no ideas from my maker as to what I should do, Lhyna."

Lhyna paced around me in a circle and said, "No, because your maker was not a being of light like you. We all lead our lives in twists and turns. None of us know what the other is like, and I know not what you are, Lantorn. The third problem is that I am not your maker."

I asked her, "Then who is?"

Lhyna said, "A friend of mine, and we are to go meet her. You will freeze to death. Please do follow along, and try not to fall behind, okay?"

I nodded, and I figured I should follow Lhyna. She was not my maker, but she was better than that. I had a sense of her that I shared with the stars. I thought that she was good. I felt like I would have fun with her like I did with the hill of sand.

***

Lhyna and I walked for hours. The cold got to me, but I thought she had it handled. We arrived at a tree, with roots that dug into the ground for miles. That was how tall it was, at least five thousand feet. Perhaps a circumference to match? I followed Lhyna into a hole within the tree, and we entered.

"I am your maker," the tree said as we got to a core of pink light. "I have made you in the image that I felt good. May I ask who you are now? "

It sounded female, and I would know if a tree could be female later. I thought she should be telling me what my name was, but I thought she was giving a choice on what I thought it was. "I think that my name is Lantorn."

She said, "That is a great name to go with. I am the Tree of the Living and I was the one to bring you in. You are to find the Tree of Knowledge, and the Tree of Emotions and meet them. Your goal is to protect the sword of lightning."

I figured I'd learn what a sword of lightning was later. I asked, "How am I to protect the sword of lightning with trees? Trees have low fighting prowess."

"That is right they do, but the goal for you is to find them, and protect them. I made three guardians, and the Creator Goddess Dragon of the Winds uses them to protect the sword."

I thought about the name, and knew that it was also known as the Creator Goddess Dragon of the Lightning. Lightning and Wind were the same in the talk of mana, unlike water and ice, which were the same in the world of physics, with one being cold and the other warm.

Lhyna said, "We will be finding that sword, and we will be finding the beings." She took me off, and we would find my siblings.

The tree of knowledge greeted me without much thought. He asked me, "Is there any knowledge you need?"

I asked, "Are you attacked or harmed by someone, who looks for a sword?" He shook his head. I knew he was an aberration from a normal tree, as most seemed to lack a face, and those that did gave me the cold shoulder. Cold branch is what Lhyna said.

I told Lhyna that this was a dud, and it was time to advance to the next tree, and she laughed. "There is no duds, and do you feel like you should leave him this soon?"

"Yes, I have to make sure the other tree is okay." It was the mission. The fact Lhyna seemed to be messing around got to me, and I felt a warm feeling. It spread across my cheeks, the liquid light burning up.

Lhyna said, "I can see you're a bit off. How about we take a break? Then you might feel good again." That did sound like I should.

That was when she took me into the town. She brought me to something known as a hot spring. I took my first step in, and the water felt warm. Then I slipped in, and felt it washing over, but as it reached my face, I stopped breathing. I put my mouth above the water.

I felt a new feeling that made my breathing go slow. I felt myself unwind, as I felt the feeling of relax and Lhyna did too. She stretched her arms out, and I did the same as her.

"You know, there was an age of ascended, where we the gods gave others these feelings of good. These thoughts of good. We were the being of good," Lhyna said.

I told her, "I am aware that there was an age, but I am aware that the ascended themselves had to fight to decide who was good, which means that it is a concept, not a real thing."

Lhyna said, "Not all concepts are not real." I thought about it, and while that could be true, I failed to see her point. "I think that there is a good, and a that there is a wrong. You can feel it, and if feelings are true, why can good not be a real thing?"

I think that a logic function misfired in Lhyna's brain. I got the feeling I should not say that, and instead I rested with her. "I think you are good."

We moved on to the tree of emotion and I talked to the tree of emotion but it did not talk in return. Lhyna told me about its power to drain others, and I thought about it.

"That sounds like it must be bad for some, but I feel like for other feelings, it should drain them. I would like to not feel fear again."

"We all feel fear, Lantorn," Lhyna said. "I think that others like to use fear as a weapon. That is why we have to fight fear itself."

I asked, "Who is fear itself? I thought that fear was a concept." Then, it could have been real like Lhyna said, in that all feelings are real. They may not conjure themselves but others did. "Is it someone who will hurt us?" Lhyna stared at the ground, and I knew that I asked a question that got to her. It was almost like a switch turned on inside of her, as she looked back to herself. She must have been thinking about something bad. Something that made her feel afraid. "I will find out later, I guess, you do not have to say."

"I do," Lhyna said to me, and she shook her head. "There is something that we all have to face, and it's these other beings. There are three that we must fight. One of which is the being that controls fear. That being being my sister." I thought it sounded off she had a sister of fear. The moon was the one to bring darkness over the land. That darkness was what scared others, and made them run away, not the light of day. She felt the weight of the world on her shoulders, as she thought about her sister until Lhyna said, "She is the sun itself. Her name is Solarh and she has fallen into dark days. I thought she was good, until I saw her with it."

I had no idea what it was, but I would later find out. I said, "I will fight for you if I have to." She looked at me and I smiled at her, feeling that was right. I knew it was when she smiled back and I got a warm feeling in my core, or perhaps in my heart. We were still two friends, one of us a leader. "Then I may put your sister to rest, and put it to rest too." That was before we met her.

***

Solarh, it turned out, lived in the mountains. We walked on purple crags for hours, until we saw her. She was a Twayt. I had no idea what a Twayt was, but it looked like a giant four foot tall bird. It had a long neck, and it was on fire too.

"Lhyna, I have a feeling again." She stared at me, and I knew I had to be clear about what feeling. "That bad feeling I get sometimes."

"Are you talking about fear?" Lhyna asked. "Like I said, you have to fear no one, like a Twayt." She walked up.

How was a bird and a wolf sisters? I know I could ask, but Lhyna had to deal with this. "I hear you've been acting up, Solarh, and I feel like we need to put it to rest."

Solarh laughed and said, "I think it's nice to see you too, Lhyna. Tell me, do you know about the old days? Back when the world thought we were their gods, and would praise us all day? It was like we were above kings."

"We were above kings," Lhyna said. "It was a good time, and I am glad to think about this past with you. Now, are you acting up or killing trees or something?"

"I am not a chopper of trees, but I figure you are thinking about how there's a sword to protect. I see you have made a friend."

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I said, "No, I was made by a Tree, not by Lhyna." Solarh laughed, and I laughed too as I felt it was a pun. Was that good humor?

The Twayt told me, "You are the funny one, unlike Lhyna who is all talk." The Twayt flew over to Lhyna, and said, "Do you feel like the world forgot?"

Lhyna said, "I do think about it sometimes. I think about how we nature spirits are treated as if we are less than we were, but it's okay. I can deal with that." She had a bead of sweat trickle down.

"You think that it will happen," Solarh said and clicked her beak. She walked over to the end of the cliff, and gazed over it. "That is Wysdom, where it is ruled still by us. Well, more like they still worship us. That place is too losing its idea of us."

Lhyna said, "Mana is widespread that all use it. That means we are no longer the top of the food chain. It's time we accept that."

Solarh shook her head. "No, there is no reason someone else can become a god or goddess except us. There is no reason we are not above kings and queens. That is why I am going to fight and bring the world to listen to us."

Lhyna growled at Solarh, and black lines ran down Solarh. She summoned a black orb above her head, and shot it into Lhyna.

Lhyna's eyes went wide and she fell to the ground. I ran to Lhyna, and she flailed as black lines covered her too.

"You are now the idea of fear itself," Solarh said. "I am fear too, and this means that we are to be one again, right? The sun makes the moon shine, and I make you shine again, Lhyna." She watched like Lhyna was prey. "Turn to the dark world."

Lhyna's eyes opened again and she had this grin. One that I could not explain as the color drained from her taking away her yellow. I knew then that she had changed for the worse, but I would not say it. "I think I know what you mean."

Solarh took to the air, as Lhyna walked off. I followed her, and soon we found the sword. Lhyna used the one tree to drain the power from all of the beings, and then she told me about all I had to know. I thought I should tell my maker about this.

Lhyna was a friend, and that's what made me stop. I knew the tree might fight with Lhyna, or may even attack Lhyna. My maker was only a maker, and she did not make me feel the fun I had with Lhyna. Lhyna made me feel good, and while I was afraid of this new Lhyna, I knew after a bit I would have fun with her too.

I knew the real Lhyna came back a few times. I got used to the idea of the white Lhyna being the bad Lhyna, and the yellow Lhyna being the good Lhyna, but I soon learned it was worse than that. Dark and light had no meaning. The yellow Lhyna would fight with the white Lhyna, and I knew then that light was not the hero. I knew then that darkness was not the villain, and the simple code went away. I would go with Lhyna. She was all I knew.

At one point she asked me to make my first nightmare, and I thought about it. "Who are we going to scare, Lhyna?"

Lhyna said, "You can figure it out, after you learn what makes others fear." I nodded, and went to search for books. I read up on what scared others.

I even went up to some in the street, and asked what made them fear. That alone made them sweat. Fear made others fear, the word itself was a weapon. I had to learn the manifestation of fear. It was Lhyna and Solarh who were fear.

I figured they had to learn to be fear. That meant I had to learn to be fear and I read horror. I thought that the horror books had the same themes. It was the same idea again no matter what book I read. Then I made some graphs.

It seemed some things that made fear had things in common. The dark caused a lot of fear. Since I was light itself, how could I make one fear? Until I learned that the dark never scared others. They had been afraid of what was in the dark.

They were afraid of when the lights went on. I knew then how this nightmare would work, and when I told Lhyna, she seemed amused by my ideas. I came up with the script.

The idea was to make monsters. Lhyna would set the dark tone over the world, and force them to walk down the dark alleys. Into buildings and hotels long lost. Then, I would come as the light, and reveal the beasts within. Then they'd wake up and get scared. Lhyna thought the script sounded fun, and I knew fun was good. Then it was time to choose a target. I thought we should try it on each other, but Lhyna said it was a bad since we knew what to expect. Plus she had no dreams. She slept by taking time in others sleep. Then we find out about a crime from Margar.

"That is a target," I said, feeling we should get someone who had hit a patron for asking for a refund. "They did not deserve to get hit. He should not have hit Arber." I would find out more about Arber later on.

Lhyna said, "Then let's get to him." We went into Margar's dream, and he ran around in the dark sphere of his mind.

When I turned on the lights, he saw a dragon with eyes growing out from all places, and eyes growing out from those eyes. He screamed himself awake, with a puddle of urine running down him. Lhyna laughed as we left.

The good thing was Lhyna's dream form could both of us into the dream. I thought it was fun, and I felt a control. I felt like I was in charge, instead of on the sideline like my mission said.

That was when yellow Lhyna told me I should not listen to the white Lhyna. "That is someone who is trying to cling on to something that is lost."

Too bad I got the feeling of control again. I learned that fear was best made to be tailored, and I found out then about Arber. I read up on his life of crime, and knew he was a good target.

The white Lhyna would work with me, but the yellow Lhyna tried to get in and take the mind back. I waited for hours sometimes, watching her fight herself and I felt fear. I felt fear at watching my friend tear herself apart again and again. It was starting to tear me apart.

"Can you get along with yourself?" I asked one day to yellow, knowing she was good. Lhyna shook her head.

"We have to fight, and you have to stop giving into what the white Lhyna says. She is going to kill this world. She thinks she is meant to lead us all into a world of fear."

"Then we will have control," I said. I thought about what was said. I knew that we had to lead our lives, and that white Lhyna had good points. That was when Yellow Lhyna gave me a nightmare too.

She did it again and again, with my own scripts. I walked the dark buildings, and found the evil dragons. I saw the dark wolves and saw myself falling. I fell in most dreams.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked the yellow Lhyna as I awoke again in a sweat. A sweat of light, I should mention.

"I am doing this that way you will learn what its like to live in the fear she causes. You feel that is wrong now, right?"

To teach someone wrong, by using that wrong is wrong. You hit someone to teach them not to hit, and they will learn hitting is right. You will cross the wires. The wires cross in the worst ways. I knew then that the white Lhyna was not a friend. She was the ender of my fun.

I became immune to fear at some point. I was not too hard to the thought, and it was not from too much nightmares. It was from a knowledge of why there was fear.

All fear was was a gear in the brain to protect. It was, in fact, a good thing in a way. It was what made others jump out to save their children from death. Still, it was also a good weapon to control and when I got the chance, I took it. That is how, Mosor, Prisom, or what you are now, I learned to live in fear.

***

Prisom stood in front of Lantorn. It appeared that Prisom had the power to cast visions. All that Lantorn felt appeared to the crowd. They all knew why Lantorn was the way she was.

Lantorn growled as she stared at Prisom, and then she looked down at herself. "I am a monster, I have become Lhyna."

Prisom said, "I think you can redeem yourself, Lantorn. Even if you did kill Lhyna. You can change and not follow her. You can learn to listen to your heart. You are an empath, and you know others well, you know that."

Lantorn said, "I think you are a good person Prisom. Too bad, I am free from that." She summoned an orb of light and shot it at Prisom.

Vanos ran over to Lantorn, but Prisom glowed blue and ran at Lantorn.

Lantorn slashed the sword and Vanos barely dodged. The sword struck Prisom and brought her down. Lantorn shot out more orbs and they all fell and hit Prisom.

Others tried running with water splashing. They could not make it in time as Prisom fell into a crater and it flooded. Then, a blue wave came over her and she got back up.

Lantorn growled and slashed at her again with the sword. Lightning shot into her, and into the water. That got all within a ten foot range downed, but Prisom glowed yellow and stood up.

"What will it take to get you down?" Lantorn asked. She slashed at Prisom again, and again, but no blood came, and she got up.

"I have too much will, and too many depend on me for me to die now. You will learn about that if you try to," Prisom said. "When you try to."

Lantorn wrapped herself in a sphere of air, along with Arber. They both flew off, into the aether as they tried to escape the land.

"She got away," Vanos said as he stared at Prisom. Prisom shattered and before him stood Mosor. She did not seem weak.

"She has gotten away," Mosor said. "She won and she has the sword. Still, at least we will not fight over who will get it."

Vanos stared at Mosor, while Kyofi, Ahmond, Spir, Mynt, Paynut, and Choclox came over. "I guess we were all trying to be gods."

Mosor said, "I mean, it is a power that we all are looking for. And it seems the actual gods feel like they lost praise from us."

Kyofi said, "Well, if you think about it, it works out. We all try to get higher in status, and when we get there, our idea of good gets better. Soon our idea of what a good life is changes. I think what Lantorn said is right. There is no good, and we all are trying to achieve this good. We could all be the best person, and still think we're bad. We could be in control, and still feel a lack of it."

Ahmond said, "That is, like, the smartest thing you've said all month, dude," and the wolf laughed with her. "I never looked for the sword."

Vanos said, "I would have kept it to myself. I think at points I felt like you guys were better without it, and at points I knew I felt like I could use it. I could use it to protect us."

Then, someone came from the water. A yellow wolf who was burned and sliced open. She seemed to be out of sorts because she was, well, half-dead. Lhyna came onto a pillar.

The water went away as the tide fell apart. The eclipse ended and the night came out. Lhyna said, "May we all take a good rest."

"You look well for someone who's a jerk," Mosor said. "We kinda saw what you did to Lantorn and we feel you are a bad person. But we figured that our idea of bad will get worse if we meet worse people, right?"

Lhyna said, "You can say what you will. Facts are that you have won. You may now join me, and you may now become my students. You will replace Lantorn."

The four members of the new ice cream pack stared at each other as this was the goal. That was what they came to do. This was what the month led up to.

They thought about the food fight they had, where Vanos won at the end of the day. Then they added that on to the menu.

They thought about how Mynt had problems with that, and prepared to take Ahmond away from them. Then Mynt joined Lantorn. That was a scary day.

They thought back to when Vanos went away. Or when they themselves got caught. Or about all the bad things that the book caused.

They thought about how Lhyna tried giving them all nightmares. They thought about how they learned about the sword.

Lhyna said, "Also I hate to bring this up. You may all be thinking of what I did, but what about the fact Eclypse is out? He is the Planet Eater, and he is going to eat until he eats all of us. That's the goal for him."

Vanos said, "That's not that bad. We take care of Kyofi, this is old news to us." Kyofi would have slapped Vanos if he was wrong.

Lhyna said, "Prisom can seal him away again. I can teach you how to use Prisom. I can take you to the tree that made the beings and made Prisom."

Mosor said, "Lhyna, you are going to listen for once, okay?" Lhyna shut her mouth. "You are one of the most vain, evil, and flat out messed up person I have ever met ever. You need to go away. I have the tenaciousness to understand even criminals, but you? I think you are simply a bad person. You can go and eat a biscuit. I will not be dealing with you."

Lhyna growled at Mosor, and said, "Fine, then who will teach you how to beat Lantorn? I know where other swords are at."

Vanos said, "How about you get those swords, and run off? Or better yet, how about you find someone else who will help you? I mean, trees seem to like you."

Ahmond said, "If you are or were fear itself, you still felt what you said. It may have made you increase your thoughts of taking over the world, but you still feel like you should. None of us will praise you again. You are a big jerk." She stuck her tongue out.

Kyofi said, "What they all said." The other members of the ice cream pack gave her looks, and she shrugged. "What am I supposed to do? Wax poetic on her?"

Lhyna said, "I guess I'll be going now." Until several guards came around her. The big guard Karv came to her.

Karv said, "You are under arrest by the kingdom of hyenas in the country of Wysdom. You are, by our laws, a huge jerk. Which will be stamped on your record."

"Being a jerk cannot be a real charge," Lhyna said. Karv pulled out a warrant, which read, "For being a huge jerk." Lhyna said, "What do you know?"

The hyenas dragged Lhyna away and back to their kingdom. The crowds went away. That left the ice cream pack alone, to their own thoughts.

Choclox stared at her two daughters, Mosor and Kyofi, and said, "You did good by us. I am glad to see how you've grown up."

Spir told Vanos and Ahmond and Mynt, "I am glad to see you all work well. Ahmond, you will be staying with them."

Mynt went down to Ahmond and embraced her. "I am going to miss you. You are the best sister. May you have good times."

Spir said, "By the way Mynt, you're fired." Mynt's eyes widened as her mom laughed at her. "You're now with Mosor."

Paynut said, "I know I am only all your uncle, but I still watched you all grow up. You all are fine kids in my book. Better than my own."

Mosor said, "Well if you need, we can straighten them out." Paynut thought about it and Mosor quickly added, "That was a joke, you know."

Mynt asked, "Who is the leader of the ice cream shop? I mean, I always thought it was Vanos because he was my brother."

Kyofi said, "I am the oldest."

Mosor said, "No, I was the leader. I am the one who handles the business parts. I also know the code to the safe, too."

Vanos said, "We all know it. 1111 is not a good code word, Mosor." Mosor blushed bright yellow as he said that. "I think I am the leader."

Ahmond said, "No, I got the idea it was Mosor who was in charge." She asked her mother, Spir, "Who is in charge of it?" She shrugged at Ahmond.

***

The feud came to a head. Each member of the ice cream pack stood in front of their namesake ice cream.

Mosor stood in front of a bowl of chocolate ice cream. Mynt stood in front of mint ice cream. Ahmond and Vanos in front of vanilla ice cream with almonds on top. Then Kyofi in front of coffee flavored ice cream.

Mosor asked, "Do any of you get a feeling our parents named us after ice cream for a reason? I mean, I get that's the theme but still, who names their kids after food?"

Vanos said, "And why do we serve ice cream? At no point can we eat this. If Grandma Sunday was not senile, I'd be asking her."

Ahmond asked, "Do we get senile as dragons? I mean, dragons live for millions of years or something. Are we sure she's senile at all?"

Mynt said, "Why are we doing a food fight? It could be resolved in a matter of moments by asking who should be the leader, not who is best at throwing food. I think this is a game, not a way to contest real matters. You all know that, right?" Defiant until the end. The other members focused on her.

That was when Wasting came out, Vanos' new best friend. But Wasting did not seem too pleased when he came out. In fact, he was growling and raving.

Vanos said, "It's okay, we're all having fun." But Wasting shook his head. It was not about the food fight about to occur.

"Rhed and Blhu are gone," Wasting said. "I tried to stop them, but they got out. I was watching them, and then Blhu got at me, and he struck me with something."

Mosor knew that Vanos told him about the problem with Lantorn. "They could all meet up. If they get back, that means they will have the three traits. That is what makes Prisom. If they make Prisom again, they could control the Planet Eater."

Vanos said, "Out of the frying pan, into the being of light joining with the Planet Eater. Can we catch a break?"

Mynt said, "I guess this game will have to wait." Thank goodness, seeing as how she was about to get killed by it.