Ch. 7— Orcish Myths

Moonthread, by Anthony Lee Phillips

Chapter Seven
3 ORCISH MYTHS… and a VISION

Myth 1. Before

Before there was, there were 3 Gods.
Those Gods begat three little gods each.
But then, those Parent Gods disappeared.

In time, the 9 little gods made life,
And our world, and living things like us.
The one who mmmade the orcs was Ugru, who loved us.

Loved and loves.

She plants a flower in each daughter’s shadow,
Even yours. Who knows what mmmakes
such flowers bloom?

But the one who made the hhhumans was Ung-Ra
And he hhhhated them, because once he made a woman
For the purpose of loving him. Only, she did not love him.

So he cursed her, and all humans—
NO SOUL, NO MAGIC, NO HOPE
NO HOPE, NO HOPE, NO HOPE

was his curse. And because he was a god,
This curse came true.

That was when the gods
Began to take sides
Against each other.

The Angry God’s face turned into that of a Demon.
And as that Demon was born, malice emerged
From the Great Tapestry,
(hhhh)
And all the world
That they had made
(hhhh)
Was changed by
(hhhh)
Hatred.

* * * * / * * * *

Nala felt the vision melt away.

The crowd was quiet, stunned into silence.

But not for long.

Thunderous applause cracked the silence apart in a sudden din.

“Wow!” Nala said, shaking her head as she clapped.

Every face in the crowd was delighted, even the refugees. It had been such a beautiful distraction, masterfully executed.

It had been so visceral… The texture of the flame had been… It…

The myths were always hard to describe. But that’s what made them so great.

Nala beamed, wishing she was close to someone she knew. Anyone, someone to share it with. She had never been to such a good Telling! And that was her gran up there! Exhilarated, but also…

Also, that last word had been hatred.

The wind hissed through.

Harsh word.

“Thank you!” Gran Akha said. “Thank you so much.”

Gran gave a little bow from atop the Teller’s Altar, that tall spike with just enough space for one person to stand.

She was panting a little, but kept her perfect balance. When she shook out her arms, Gran’s hands wiggled like noodles. Nala chuckled.

Hhhh…

The crowd feathered into a reverent quiet.

Nala was still smiling when another horrible flash eclipsed everything else in hhhhhhhhHHHH

She snapped out of it.

If she kept her eyes open, Nala could anchor to the moment she was in.

Just a dream, Nala thought, heart thumping.

Be here again, girl. Be here.

Nala nodded. Just a dream.

Be here.

Just a dream, just a dream, be…

Be hhh…

She could still feel the trees whipping by. Whipping by, as he ran through them.

Not hunter.

Be here.

Not hunter this time.

She could feel his panic as he ran, as he ran… Not after, but from something. On the run from—

Just—

“I can’t!” Nala thought aloud.

A stranger shot her a suspicious glance.

“Quiet, girl,” the stranger barked.

Nala glared at him without meaning to. Her glare surprised the stranger, and (though he was a fully grown man), he seemed afraid of her.

Gran began again.

“You know… This courtyard used to have a different name. It used to be called a temple. Do you have temples where you’re from?”

Gran looked down at a girl in the front. She was a shy blue-skinned girl of seventeen or so.

“Where are you from?”

Gran asked. And suddenly, everyone was looking at the stranger.

“M-me?” the girl said.

Gran nodded, wearing her gentlest smile.

“O-Orlitheya,” the girl said. “I’m from Orlitheya. We all are.”

“No we’re not,” some gruff voice protested.

But Gran ignored him, keeping her focus on the teenage girl.

“Do they have temples there?”

The girl shrugged. “Not anymore.”

Gran Akha nodded, understanding. She turned her voice back to the crowd as a whole.

“This courtyard used to be called a temple, before there was a town around it. It’s said they called it the Temple of Stars.”

The ground beneath them seemed to hum.

Mmmm

Already pulling Nala into Gran Akha’s vision.

Mmmm

“And that’s because this is the place, where we Orcs (all orcs) first got our magic…”

* * * * / * * * *

Myth 2. The Cape of Stars

Ung-Ra, the One that Was the Sun, was First
To take a mortal shape. Ugru, the Moon,
First mother of the orcs, was last.

What shape to be? What shape to be?
Ugru could not decide.
A bat was quick, but weak;
A tiger fierce… or maybe something wise,
Perhaps an octopus that has 3 hearts and many minds…
But Oh, to live so brief a life? No no.
Another… Something like…

Something like a Shadow.
Oh yes, oh yes!
She took the shape attached to other shapes—
Catching onto every bat and bear and trout.
She merged against their shapes,
rode roads and rivers wild.

But by the time she’d made her choice, the world
That once had been a garden blooming, now
Was overgrown with violence and hate.

The first time Ugru took the shape, mistakes were made,
As she descended, it was pirates
that spotted her,
And chased her. Followed her across the waves,
As if she were some trophy whale.
Three long years. The first three years,
They chased the goddess, cannons blaring,
From sea to sea to sea.

They loosed their canons, and cast their nets,
And caught the shadow in the jagged waves of Orcshire Bay.
It seemed then (all those eons ere)
The goddess would meet
Her First End
Early.

But,

As she came to what would one day be
The shores of Orcshire, there were 9 sisters
Who knew the pirates already, and hated them.
The Sun was a long away from this cold Valley,
And Storms had long forsaken her.

But even so, all gods then gone,
By the sheer luck, in the Game of Fate,
The sisters nine came upon Ugru in the net
While whaling. They cut her free,
This weeping shadow. They took her in,
And when the pirates came, the sisters
Brought all their cunning to bear.

They used their agile boats to bait
The heaving pirate hull into the shallows.
And when the apes came pouring out of the wreck,
They sliced with swords, and shot oiled arrows
(Flaming) at the orcs’ homes.

“She’s ours! She’s ours! And now you’re doomed, the same as she is!”

They showed no mercy, and the orcs were weeping.
Ugru wept as well, but when she wept,
The darkness grew sticky…

…and…

…loud.

The shadows on the jagged rocks grew hungry,
And opened up their maws.
They ate the ships. The pirates went down screaming.
Each ship sank into the jagged rocks,
And all the stragglers ashore were ended.
The pirates drowned beneath the bubbling shadows.

“You saved us!” said one sister.
“Mmm? Nnnno…” said Ugru. “You… mmme.”
She smiled, and merged with every daughter’s shadow,
Giving each of her protectors a gift.

9 pieces of the night.
A cape of stars
For each of them. And that
Is why we say that Orcish women are
Daughters of Ugru. That is where
Our magic comes from.

Ugru keep us,
Ugru below, our shadow, You.
May devils never rise.

* * * * / * * * *

This vision rescinded, like a cloth being pulled slowly off of Nala’s eyes.

This time, Nala was the first one to clap. The audience followed her lead.

Nala loved Ugru’s stories the best, and this one had been ever better than the first one. Gran Akha’s imagining of Ugru had been sssss—

SSSSTUPID BOY, STUPID, STUPID, GO, GO, CLOSE, NO LEFT YOU STUPID—

Nala clenched her hand so tight, her nails drew blood from her own palm.

That snapped her out of it, but still… Her breath was quivering.

The crowd, at least, was softening. Gran Akha’s stories were easing some of the tension in the crowd.

Just a dream, just a dream, just a—

“The last tale I have for you tonight,” said Gran, “is about the Demon.”

The atmosphere grew grim.

She looked at Mount Wraithwood, then continued to speak.

“The stories I grew up with tell…,” Akha began, “…of how the gods were unable to kill what could not die. And so it was that they were forced to seal him. They also tell of his return.”

She looked out at her audience.

Mmmm…

The final Telling already beginning.

Nala could feel it.

Thhh—

“—This is that tale.”

* * * * / * * * *

Myth 3. The Sealing of Ung-Ra

Ung-Ra, the hateful one, went centuries
Unchecked. The gods stood by and (worried) watched
As the Sun God went a-tyranting.

But one day, it was just too much.
One day, it was just too much.
It was just too much.

The gods surrounded Ung-Ra
In a circle. All,
All but Ugru,
7 gods against 1.

Gods bled that day,
And gods did die,
For the Sun was a fierce foe.

But Ung-Ra was alone,
And alone he was simply no match
For his brother, and 6 cousins.
Thhhey bound him, he— hhhhe
Did not
Go quuuuuietl—

* * * * / * * * *

Nala’s Vision: HUNTED

HHHH, HHHH, RUN, RUN, NOW, FASTERRRRR!
Thhhe thing is after me, after me, close, I….
Shhhh not look back but I do, and I
HHHH
see it
HHHH
Monster.
Big, shapeshifting beast, all shadows, mouth gaping,
Hundreds of teeth, and skin, and tar, and feathers, and—
HHHH
Not looking, trips.
Falls hard. Always tripping. I
Scramble, I HHHH turns and—
SWIPE. It claws me in the
SWIPE. Clobbered in the face, can’t see.
Can’t see through all the
SWIPE.
All that blood. Can’t…
Flinches! …Nothing. No swipe? I was…
Hhhh… Help me…
I was…
It walked away and…
Hhhh…
Am I…?
…Sleep comes like…
Dying?
…dark water…
It’s gone.
Alone now.
Just me…
…and…
I’m alone.
…help…
…oblivion…

* * * * / * * * *

“Sorry!” Nala blurted.

She clapped her hand over her mouth. Nala could feel her eyes shaking. Tears pushed their way out.

This had not been a slow fade out like the last two.

This had been a sudden, jarring jolt back to reality.

The night was silent.

Brittle.

Hot.

“Demon.”

Someone muttered it.

Then someone else.

“Demon?”

They were pointing at Akha. They were standing.

Gran looked scared, standing up there, all alone, at the top of the Teller’s spike.

Nala’s slow mind told her, Stand, and she did.

The audience hurled stares at Gran first…

“Is it true?” were the whispers.

“I don’t know…”

“No, not Akha. She’d never—”

But then, some of the crowd began to hurl their voices…

“DEMON!”

“Gran?”

“UNG-RA, AWAY AGAIN!”

Then, they hurled their things.

“GET HER!”

Nala wept.

“GET HER NOW, QUICK!”

And watched.

“Gran, are you—?”

Then, the riot began.

* * * * / * * * *

Next chapter: Riot

(ps— Here are 3 ways to help Nala’s story continue to grow.

1) Keep reading!

2) Quote it on tiktok.

3) Join the First Draft Fantasy Club!

^.^

(Art by Jess Tyree.)