Ignis Part 6

Ignis Part 6:
By: James Dubeau

Don’t insult me with such foolish questions boy. I am here telling you this tale, am I not?

The hellish lizard stood over me. His gravely voice shook me from my dieing dream with a single word, rise. Strength had long deserted my body. I could not heed his command. Again he said rise, this time I was rattled to my very essence. On shear willpower alone was my body able to stand in the desert sun. Beyond my control, my feet were compelled to follow the spirit beast over the dune and the next. Upon cresting the third dune I fell to my knees. At the foot of the sand hill was a small pool of water flanked by fruit bearing bushes. It could not be real. I could not handle being taken in by another mirage.

Finding that my strength had left me I fell back to the soft bed of sand. The beast looked to me and the gleam in his eye told me all that I needed to know. I was expected to follow him. I heaved my body over, rolling down the sand dune.

The sand rolled with me. As if it was carrying me. Not bearing to look upon the mirage I dared not open my eyes. My fingers dipped into the pool. The cool water was a fire upon my cracked and parched skin.

Yes, the lizard sprit I had been following was in fact Maska. As I drank he spoke to me but I was not ready for what he had to say. He told me that he was to be my companion from that point forward, that nature’s spirits had seen what had happened to my family that day and that my strength and conviction was felt. They had peered into the twisting future and divined that I would bring justice to those who preyed upon my family.

Since that day I have learned how to listen to all of the spirits that flow around me, around you, around everything. They have taught me much about the desert and about myself. Maska taught me how to forage for food, how to be patient with the swirling sands, and how to defend myself with his aid. The sprits have spoken and turned me into the desert shaman that I have become. I have become a new being and to signify this transformation I took on my new name of Ignis.