Bright lights shone and festive music filled the night air in the town of Prana. Tai had arrived a few days ago and decided to stay in order to experience their annual Apana festival. Women, men, and children of all ages wore what looked like eel masks and danced around Tai as he made his way through the town square. He stopped to admire the gigantic tree that the town was built around. The town's people somehow managed to string lights a quarter of the way up its trunk. "It's beautiful isn't it?" Tai turned to find a little old woman sitting on a bench nearby. He hadn't noticed her. "Yeah, it's something." Tai replied, looking back at the tree. The woman scooted over and patted the bench. "Come sit down. I'll tell you a story." Tai smiled at her and sat down. Three masked children ran by while giggling. One of them stopped, looked at Tai and growled. Before giggling and running off. "What's the deal with those masks?" Tai asked, staring at the children running off. The woman smiled again. "It's in honor of the one who gave this town life." She noticed Tai's visible confusion. "You can call me Claudia." Tai looked at her. "I'm Tai. It's nice to meet you, Miss Claudia." She nodded. "What do you mean the one who gave this town life?" Miss Claudia took a deep breath. "It all started before the blinding." Tai interrupted. "What do you mean “before”? No one knows about before." "Listen child, and I'll tell you." Miss Claudia's voice was soft and calm as she spoke. "Long long ago there was a great beast that swam in the sky. The Great Eel Bilan. Bilan's breath decayed and corroded everything it washed over. It could also emit a sinister light that scorched the land and left charred silhouettes of any that were unfortunate enough to be bathed in it. For as long as anyone could remember Bilan terrorized the people of Hyunda. Periodically descending from the clouds committing untold atrocities. Until one day Bilan descended upon a small nomadic tribe. The people of the tribe bent the knee to Bilan. Offering him their livestock and possessions. Some went as far as offering their daughters as tribute to the beast. But there was one boy who refused to kneel. Not much older than you, the boy stood tall while others bowed. With spear in hand he approached Bilan. He told the Great Eel to leave his people in peace. Bilan laughed at the boy and told him to listen to the screams of his people as he had his fun with them. He then used his light to scorch the boy's eyes, blinding him. But before Bilan could set his sights on the boy's people a hero wielding four magic swords appeared and challenged the beast. The battle went on for some time but in the end the hero stuck down Bilan by driving one of his blades into Bilan's skull. And as the eel descended to the ground his final outward breath carved the ground away allowing an underground reservoir of water to spring fourth creating a lake. And his body decomposed turning the soil fertile allowing a sapling to grow to an enormous size. The nomadic tribe of people decided to settle by the lake and built this town around the sapling. So every new bloom around this time we here in Prana honor the hero who slayed Bilan. Bilan who's death fostered so much prosperity. And most importantly the boy who stood up to Bilan for the sake of his people." "So how do you know all of this if it happened before the blinding?" Tai asked. "Well," Miss Claudia answered. "Being blinded by the Bilan's light turned out to be a blessing. Ironically the blinding had no effect on the boy. No one really knows why but some say Bilan was a divine being. So the light that scorched the boy's eyes also shielded the boy from the light that tore away everyone's memories. He recorded everything he could remember from that point on, hoping he could help people remember. '' Tai looked up at the giant tree in the center of town. "That is a wild story Miss Claudia." "And it's all true. Just go ask world king Lucian." Miss Claudia winked at Tai as she got up and began to walk away. Tai thought to himself for a second. He could only remember meeting King Lucian once. He never left his tower. But he did remember something Sahn said to him one time about King Lucian. Sahn's voice echoed in his head. "That blind old fool is the reason I started the World Kings. If it wasn't for him we'd all still be wandering around with our fingers up our asses wondering what's going on." Some more kids ran by breaking Tai's train of thought. He looked around for Miss Claudia to thank her for the story, but she was nowhere to be seen. Tai yawned and began making his way back to the inn he was staying at. A dead leaf from the giant tree floated down and landed on the bench where he was sitting. After a few seconds the leaf turned black and crumbled.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.