The Mantooth

fter first awakening, could not determine where the dreams ended and reality began. Sylviana

entle self-reassurances, no soothing thoughts or voice of comfort from within. Only her presence, and the apparent safety of the chamber, helped bring him back slowly from the wo

to his unspoken questions, the girl tried speaking to him slowl

oward a long, altar-like projection of polished stone that jutted unnaturally from the worn granite behind it. Several feet out from its base, ringed by a circle of stones, burned a small fire. This in turn cast dancing i

she wished to communicate, but could make no sense of the seemingly infinite barrage of varying sounds and expr

meant nothing to him, s

led himself), to see

et, she led him slowly

ta

stone. Approaching the mirror she hesitated, as if afraid or unsure, then reached out over the stone and touched her fingers lightly to the glass, activating the mach

d, and he doesn't seem to understand the words I speak. I'm terribly afraid that I will do something wrong and drive him away, and be left alone in this place

which they were spoken, and saw plainly that they somehow dealt with him

icarious sensations of a great, bodiless spirit swooping downward from the heavens, like a giant eagle diving towards the Earth. The room became dark, all save the misty blueness of the mirror. The fire dimmed, as if on cue, and a pinpoint of brilliant light appeared at the very center of the glass. There it grew in size and intens

e wind and the roar of an ocean. It was an eternally resilient and yet m

been brought to you, even as I said that he would. Be at peace, I will speak to him now as you ask.' Seeming

for the first time a sight that few men had ever seen. There before him, floating gently amid the vastness of heaven, he looked direct and unhind

en Venus, Mars and the Earth. Each in its own way and in its own time was capable of bearing and supporting new life. But of the three, the one called Earth was fairest. Like a fertile womb it lay sleeping, a perfect cloud-veiled globe of wide red lands

re were none to look back and wonder, as I did, at the mystery of Universe which had spawned them. And so, as if it were always meant to be, Man came forward, in truth more of hi

y grow old and die, a certainty unknown to his animal brothers, only guessed at by the wisest. Realizing this, he could also foresee the inevitable sorrows of sick

and some who were more than men, to challenge the demon and cast it aside. Victories were won, but they were not

forces of good and evil do battle in such broad and sweeping strokes. But the cost in human suffering was enormous, and after so many years I knew in my

that was given to create, used its cunning instead to devise weapons so powerful and heedless that nothing on Earth could stop them. And when fear took the hearts and mi

save them from the onslaught. But I haven't the power, young ones

of Time. It slept, and even had I wished to I could not of my own will revive it. Only Na

e sake of those who struggled so long and hard before you, spread that flame anew. Feel the one passion tha

is no longer mine to command. Kalus, I would ask that you take to your heart the young woman, Sy

ty to learn from the ways of Nature, and upon your will and desire to endure. Kalus, as it

were gone, and only Earth-l

ana. 'You can't lea

e B

im there against his will. He felt his whole body tingling with an electric sensation that centered at the base of his spine, intensifying as it reached the smooth-folding membranes at the upperm

h its dancing glow, as Kalus slumped to the ground. Recovering himself enough t

eassuringly, though not at a

once more to be with the woman-child he had befriended. Sensing her mood it had not tried to attract

er-gray fur, ruffling his ear and gazing into the peaceful, intelligent eyes. He seemed to readily accept the presence of the man-child,

ning back to her human companion. 'He

us without thinking

ered. 'I speak! My m

these th

n here alone for so long…..' She stopped when she saw the weary, washed-out confusion of his fa

wly the words came to her. 'Try not to worry. Things will work out for us, you'll see. Right now yo

t to prepare a meal as best she could, and the he-wolf retired to a favorite

re moment