Curse of the Gods (Title up for debate)

Curse Of The Gods

The scratching became insistent as the days went by. My barrier will hold it no longer. I weaken with each passing moment. The creature seems to know that; it sickens me. I fear it as my people have for thousands of years, though we never thought it would come. Foolish. The punishment for our people was inevitable, set down by the first head Anork that we betrayed to save our own worthless lives. Now her innocent spirit cries for revenge. Thus was the history of my people, countless generations past- why does she call on it now?
Tears fall down my face. I cannot lose hope now, not after all I have done. I must be strong. The barrier wavered just a moment, but it did. This frightened me. Am I just going to give up? Let the creature have my daughter and I? I must not allow it to win. I felt my daughter stir beside me; she must have felt the waver in my barrier.
"You must be exhausted mother; let me take care of the barrier for a while. It would not be well if you faint. How could I protect myself and you?" she said, laying a hand on my shoulder.
I shook my head wearily, "You are not yet strong enough, daughter."
"I am for this," she replied. "You have taught me well."
I smiled at my daughter. She was so strong, brave, and wise. "All right, Yuri. Just remember the training lessons that I taught you. You must never let it waver like I just did. It might get in if you do."
How did it come to this? I wonder to myself as Yuri summoned the strength from our gods. Power weaved around her and the barrier began to glow brightly, where once before it had grown dim with my waning strength. The increase of power infuriated the monster beyond the door; it’s bellowing yell rattling the walls of our small shack. Within its yell was the truth of our fate. I know that we are going to die no matter how hard we will try to live. It is meant to be this way, no matter how hard we fight the will of our gods.
I take a deep breath and fumble into my pack for a writing branch and a block of paper. I must write down our trials for generations to come. Maybe with my warnings they will not make the same mistake that my people did. If they read this… then our deaths will not have been in vain. My daughter and I are the last of my people alive…


With my birth came thunder and rain from the angry gods, so tells my mother. The earth shook and the wind howled as I came to the world. The Anork wanted me dead as soon as I left my mother's body. He said that it was a sign from Tinuak, the god of gods, that I was not to be born. But my mother would not allow it. She screamed that my death would be her death. My father loved his wife too much so he did not kill me. But he vowed that he would have nothing to do with me. Surely I was a daughter of Inuk, the god of evil, if Tinuak did not want me on this earth. My father, the Anork, sent me to live with my grandmother on the edge of the village.
My mother visited me often and she could tell as soon as I was able to walk that I was strong in the magicks. She tried so hard to convince my father that I was not a child of Inuk but the next chosen Anork. He would not believe it. He said that no woman would become an Anork after the first one of our people. It was not meant to be. Tinuak would never allow it. If any thing that made him want to kill me even more. He sent curses of illness to me, but I would always get better.
"Inuk himself protects the witch," he would snarl at my mother. "Why can you not see it?"
"She is your daughter," she countered. "Why can you not see her as she truly is? She is your apprentice and you know it."
"The Anork has never chosen one of their blood for the apprentice,” he snapped. “It is against tradition to even consider it."
"Without your help she may die of the wasting."
"If she was to die from the sickness then she would not be strong enough for an Anork anyways. I had the sickness for three years before I was chosen!" yelled my father as he stormed off.
There was a terrible disease called the wasting sickness that claimed over half the tribe's children. It was when the magicks entered the child and the child either died from lack of control over the Magicks or Tinuak saw pity and took the magicks from the child's body. The Anork's job was to watch the children during their sickness. If he found one child with exceptional ability he was supposed to save and train the child as the next Anork. It was a long and hard life.
Sometimes the sickness just faded away and the children lived, but most died and their spirits faded to feast with Tinuak and the first Anork of our people. Rest them well.
As a little girl, I was exceptionally smart and strong. The Anork had forbidden education to me, but my mother and grandmother taught me in secret. They had never seen such a quick study. The children of the village that were taught by my father did not know as much as I. At the age of three, I was sent to watch the gardeners plow the field. That was what my father had decided that I would do. I watched for but a moment then set out and plowed more in a day than a grown man of the tribe could in two. Many talked of me as a witch then. My strength was unsettling for one so young.
The wasting struck me at an early age. It had only been five seasons to my day of birth when my grandmother took me to the Magick's tent. I had fainted in the fields and was covered in a sheen of sweat that glistened in the fire. I could barely hear the voices of the people around me and colors blurred together as I looked around weakly from my grandmother's arms.
"Honorable Anork," my grandmother said going to her knees, "Savk has come to the wasting. She needs your care to ease her passing."
"She is too young," said my father dismissively. "She is sick with the wolf-fever."
"No, the skies darkened and the earth shook when she was taken. It was a sign from Tinuak. The sky cleared and the earth stopped shaking only when she fainted in the fields. She has held the signs of wasting before even this. Savk needs to go to the wasting tent to be watched and cared for. I ask for permission from you."
"I will not give it," said my father bluntly. "You will see; in a week's time she will be the same witch that I know and can be back in the fields. Now go."
My grandmother brought me back to our small tent and laid me down onto the deerskins. She readied the fire and sent for my mother. She watched me as grandmother went searching for herbs that would help bring down my fever. As she was gone I fell into a deep sleep and dreamed an unusual vision.


I was in a field shrouded in shadows. All around me I could see nothing but the faint misty outlines of people. I cried out for help but nothing answered me. I walked toward the foggy figures but they would come further away. Frightened tears poured down my face as I wondered aimlessly. Where was I? Was I in the Realm of the Forgotten? Those who died dishonored were doomed to walk that land.
A figure appeared. He was a glowing mass of light, so bright that I shielded my eyes and backed away. The glowing faded and a graying man in the cloak of an Anork stood in front of me. I quickly bowed, "Forgive the unworthy figure before you," I spoke in a small voice. I felt tiny when in the presence of the obvious Tinuak, god of gods.
"Rise, my child. You are not unworthy but my equal among the mortals," he said in a warm voice as he gently picked me up.
"Your equal?"
"Yes, my child. You are to be the next and last Anork of your people. The last has become corrupt from power."
"My father?"
"No, he is not your father. You are my own; you are a god's child whom was sent to help save the people of the earth."
"Is this a dream?" I asked in bewilderment.
Tinuak nodded gently. "It is, but a dream of truth."
"How will I know it is truth when I wake?"
"The sign upon your forehead will be proof enough for you, daughter," he said. He placed a hand on my head and I felt magick flow through his body into mine. I glowed faintly then slowly the light ceased. "I am sending you back to the world of the mortals, Savk. You are their only hope of paradise. Without you, they are doomed to walk these lands you are in now, for my brother Inuk, god of evil, rules their lives for now. I am sending you to a hard life, my child."
I felt him hug me quickly and then I faded out of the world.


I woke with my mother screaming and my grandmother shaking me. My brow was still sweaty but it felt different. Soft droplets of blood dripped down onto the buckskins and I rubbed my forehead and traced a symbol that had been cut into the skin. I felt no pain, just an odd tingling.
My mother rushed out of the tent for the Anork. My grandmother rubbed at my skin worriedly, tears streaming down her face.
"It is alright," I told her. She listened in wonder as I recounted the dream.
"This surely is a sign from Tinuak!" she exclaimed. "Now your father must accept you as his apprentice."
But my father did not see the sign upon my forehead as good but terrible evil. He vowed to kill me as soon as he saw it. No matter how hard my mother begged, he would not listen.
“Do you mean to tell me that the witch has now become a Dreamer as well?” he scoffed. “The girl has wove an illusion and you have fallen for it! She is evil, my wife.”
“No, husband, no. Please spare her. She is my only happiness in this life. If you kill her, then I too will be feasting with Tinuak tonight.” my mother pleaded, going to her knees. She clutched to the hem of his cloak helplessly as he raised his hand and called the magicks. I stayed motionless in the place I was lying, pretending that I knew nothing of his intention to kill me. All that could be heard was my mother’s desperate sobbing.
Moments of stillness followed, until my body practically quivered with the anticipated strike. Finally, his lowered his arm, and the magicks receded. “This is her last chance, wife,” he snarled. “I hold my hand only for you. Only for you. One more thing and I will show no mercy; not even for my beloved wife.” He stormed out of the tent.
I was still sick with the wasting and my grandmother stayed with me at all times. During that year, the crops failed and many of our animals died. A horrible disease plagued our village. Many of the old and young died from the fever that wreaked havoc on our people. Not even my father could save them all.
It had been a year since my wasting had begun when my father came with the village men to my grandmother's modest tent. It had been one of the easier days of the wasting and my fever was not as great. I sat in a chair my grandfather had once carved for my mother before he died. I was still weak and could hardly stand.
I was the first to hear the commotion outside. My grandmother stopped the story she had been telling me and went outside to see who it was that was making such a racket. She was out there for a long time and I could hear her voice grow louder and louder. My father's voice joined in and soon I could hear all the words that were said.
"Idiotic woman!" my father hissed. "Do you not know who I am?"
"You think that you are the Anork," replied my grandmother. "But I know better than that now. No man of Tinuak would even suggest the murder of a young child! You are no Anork, you are Inuk's magician!"
I gasped in fear of my grandmother's blasphemy. Such talk had the death mark on it. She would die dishonored and wander the Realm forever.
"You senile fool," my father yelled, "take back your words before I put sentence upon your soul and Tinuak never feast with you!"
"I will not and neither will I move from this entrance. If you think I will die dishonored for my deeds today then you are wrong. I will die protecting the child of Tinuak himself; I will have a high place of honor at his table."
There was silence for a moment and I thought that perhaps my father had left. Then my skin prickled as I felt my father call onto the magicks. I heard my grandmother's high-pitched yell. There was a thud as her lifeless body fell inward into the tent. Blood began to soak into the dirt floor. My father stepped in over the body and pointed a finger at me.
"You care not for even your grandmother," he snarled. "You do not try to protect her when you knew she was going to die; you still think to continue the lie that you are sick with the wasting! Stand up and show the men your lie! Pray to Inuk, your master, for help, for you are going to be put to death for the horrible deeds done to this village."
I kept back the tears, as I stared at my grandmother limp figure. I tried to stand up and face my father with strength, but still the wasting had me and I fell back into the wooden chair. My skin prickled again as lightning began to flow out of my father's fingers. I shut my eyes and held my head high, my face utterly calm; let him never say that I died in fear and shame. But the shock never came. I slowly opened my eyes to find my father frozen in mid conjuring. I looked down at my skin to find that I was glowing. I tried to hold the magick that was escaping my body but it was as if someone else used my body.
"Fool," I heard myself say. "Do you doubt the daughter of Tinuak?"
"What magick is this?" my father gasped beginning to back away.
"If you followed my name instead of my brother's then you would know." My body stood up and held my hands out. Air flowed out of my hands and lifted my father up.
"I have relieved you of the title Anork," I said. "You have been shamed and sent to live the rest of your cursed life in the mountains of Inuk."
My father shook his head and fought against the bonds of magick, "I will never leave. Savk, stop this witchcraft and let go of the true Anork. You are committing a terrible crime."
"Do you not accept the fate that the god Tinuak has claimed for you?"
"You are not Tinuak!" screamed my father. The magick that was surging through my body increased as my father was brought closer to me. Soon our noses almost touched.
"Look into the face of the daughter you shunned. Look into the eyes of the one you tried to kill. Look into the soul of the creature that has more honor and will have more power than ever you knew. I know what is in the darkest corners of the hearts of men, Onak, and I know that you feared your daughter's power. You felt it at her birth when the skies stormed with fear of the coming child of gods. You knew what she was meant to be and you tried to stop it. Jealousy of your blood, and greed for power has turned you away from me long ago. If you do not accept the truth of my words then you shall die of shame and wander forever the Realm of Forgotten of which my brother rules over."
My father looked away from my face and nodded, "If the god of gods, Tinuak, truly wishes this then I will leave."
"That is good of you, my son. I did not want to send you to your death, for once you knew my ways and was kind. But, you will suffer for the death of the old woman. Your life in the mountains will be hard and you will never be truly happy. You have lost the love of your wife, your people, and you never grew to know the love of your daughter. I send you to the mountains and claim the child to be the new Anork."
My father's face was contorted with fear and anger, never a good mixture of emotions. "I will do as Tinuak commands, but know that I will have my revenge on this tribe and all of my people for my banishment!"
My head nodded slowly, "That you will, Onak, that you will." I saw briefly a vision of burning huts and bodies spread across lands bathed in blood. "But it is not yet meant to be. I will take the ones that belong to me before you wreak havoc on the lands. I have known your intentions of summoning the unspeakable beast to my lands. You will not be able to control and will die in the attempt, leaving it to roam freely the world of men. Heed this warning well, for if this be your fate you will wander the Realm."
My father laughed and spat on the ground, "I will do as I wish, for I am no longer a man of Tinuak. No god will treat me in such a manner. I am almost as powerful as the gods themselves! Hear me," his voice grew louder and he looked toward the men in the doorway, "Hear me, you all will die at either my hand or the beast of the first Anork you betrayed. I am the second and it will come to me!"
My father disappeared in a puff of foul smelling smoke and the magicks began to recede the flow out of my body. I found that I was no longer weak with the wasting but was strong and could now call the magick to my will. I used the magicks to raise me into the air. I looked down on the men that had come to murder me. They were quivering in fear. They were motionless for a moment before going to their knees.
"See now the true Anork, though child I am. You have pardon from your past crimes. Go now and spread word of what has happened. Leave no tale out and add no tale in. It is to be told exactly as it happened. Call the chief for we have much to talk about it." I already had plans, for I had seen the terrible fate that awaited my people because of my father. I would have them ready and the god of gods blessed me with the idea of a school. A school for magicks.


"Absolutely not, preposterous," exclaimed the chief. the beads that was entwined into his long hair clacked as he shook his head despairingly. "What would the god of gods, Tinuak, think of us allowing just anyone to use his blessing of the magicks?"
"You do not understand, High Chief, it was Tinuak himself that blessed me with the idea."
He shook his head again, this time even harder. "I do not understand why our beloved god has left our fate in the hands of a child."
"I am worthy of the job and well learned in the magicks, I assure you," I told him.
"But how can you? I remember that it took Onak a good three years to learn the strength and dangers of the magicks. Your wasting sickness ended on the hour of your father's departure."
"Question not why or how the actions of Tinuak, my father of fathers," I said severely. "He has saved me from my death and gave me an honorable position and I will hear no word against his doings."
The chief bowed deeply, "I hope I have not offended the great Anork, long be your years of life and rule."
I bowed also, "You have not dishonored anyone."
"But how do you propose to put this school up? How will you choose the children to be taught?"
"I will have a large tent made for the school and I will teach them myself. I will test the children as they go into the wasting and only those that have the most strength will be accepted. The others will be watched through the wasting with the hope that they will not die."
The cheif nodded, "If that is what Tinuak and the honorable Anork wishes to be done than it will be so."
I turned to leave the tent, "See that is done."
My mother was waiting for me at the entrance to the Meeting Hall, "Honorable Anork," she said bowing, "the women of the tribe are preparing the feast of your welcoming. I have sent the children to pick the threads of fire for your cloak. I have come to ask for who you wish to sew the garment for you."
I lifted my mother's body from the ground with magick and clutched her in a hug, "Oh my mother," I said as tears poured from my face, "you were the only one besides my grandmother that stood in front of me and braved Onak's wrath. I love you with all of my heart. It would mean so much to me if you were to make the cloak."
My mother smiled, "Oh, Savk! It would honor me so much to make this for you."
"I love you as my mother, but after tonight's ceremony I will have no mother or family at all, for my bonds to this world will be cut. Know that you will forever have a special place in my heart of hearts." I broke the hug and patted my mother's shoulder comfortingly. I was her only daughter and she was losing me. I knew that it must be hard to lose a child, but even harder if it was your only one. I would never be allowed to call her mother because it would show weakness of faith in my mind.
I walked away from her and as I passed through the village people bowed deeply, acknowledging me as the new Anork. It was a new and unusual sensation for me. Tonight was my initiation ritual, and I feared it. I have never seen the ritual done, but from what my grandmother told me of Onak's it was difficult. Three tasks awaited me tonight. If I failed them then my life would be forfeited.
"Oh, Tinuak, god of gods and my true father, help me through this trial of faith, for I believe in you with all my heart and soul. I will try to live to your expectations," I prayed silently.

That night, the ceremonial fire was lit. I knelt on my knees before it and faced the priest. I held my back strait and my head high to let none of my fear show, even though I was paralyzed by it.
"Savk," the chief began in his deep voice. "you have been chosen by the mighty Tinuak to try to become one of his vessels. Do you accept this honor?"
"I do," I said.
The chief nodded gravely. "In that case, you must walk to the top of the hill," he said, pointing toward the back at the tall rise that we rested at the base of. "There is a cave that mortals are not allowed to enter. That is where you must go. No man but the past Anork knows of what await you. Many have not returned from the trip and those who do… don’t speak of it. If you are not back before dawn then you have failed. Now, rise, my daughter and travel along your quest."
I did not speak as the woman from the tribe walked up to me and began to strip my of my clothes. "As you come to this world must also be as you appear to the gods," said the chief. The cold air prickled my skin, but I did not feel even the slightest chill. Soon the women backed away, with their heads down. I saw my mother's face apart from the rest. She was smiling with tears streaming down her face. I turned away from her and did not look at anyone else as I began to run toward the cave, and toward my fate.
The cave's mouth loomed over me, emanating evil. I cringed at the sight of it. "Tinuak, give me courage," I whispered as I shivered and took a step toward it.


After the trials, my life was long and hard. It took many years to completely build my school of magicks. By the time we had finished it, I had entered womanhood. I had seen my twentieth season and had fifteen students under my name. The years of my being Anork were hard, but my people knew peace and happiness. Less of our children died of the wasting, and few sicknesses took our elderly. My students lived in our tent and we studied constantly. My fifteen were extraordinarily powerful; they would have rivaled even my father’s power. Though together, they could not out strip me. They always told me that I had been blessed with a god’s power. I had thirteen boys and two girls.
I was sitting on the floor covered with a buckskin, carefully writing on a block of paper when the chief ran into the entrance of my tent. He startled my children, who had nearly been asleep in their bundles, but I merely looked up at him calmly.
“What is it, High Chief?” I asked politely.
“Anork,” he gasped out, “Our neighboring tribe have come to the borders of our town demanding your presence. They have brought their best warriors with them.”
I frowned as I stood up. “What do they mean by this?”
The chief shook his head bewilderedly. “I know not, Anork.”
I nodded my head. “Leave us so that I may be dressed appropriately.” The chief bowed and left as quickly as he had entered. I clapped my hands and my two girls hurried forward. One slid my worn training dress over my head while the other slipped my newly made wolf fur dress. After this was done, two of my boys tied my Anork robe around my shoulder while the girls brushed my hair and pushed it back. I added the last touches by putting my shell necklace on and weaving my black eagle feather through my hair.
“Thank you, my children,” I murmured as I hurried out of tent. I was glad of the wolf fur- it was a cold winter. I wrapped myself tightly as I hurried along with the chief. He led me to our wooden gate that kept the wild animals from our village.
There was a large company assembled past the gate. Two men were in front, farther away from their warriors. Their warriors were many, numbering past fifty. “What is the meaning of this?” I demanded. “Why do you bring warriors to a peaceful village?”
“Do not worry, Anork,” said the man closest to me. He had pleasant features and I noticed with a start that he had a cloak much like my own wrapped around his shoulders. “We mean no ill.”
“Then why come armed?” I demanded.
“Though we are your neighboring tribe, the path between us is long and hard and is fraught with dangers. I did not wish to bring this many, but my High Chief insisted upon it. You see, I am the Anork of my village.”
“Why are you here?” I asked.
“May we speak privately?” he asked. “It is a matter concerning the Magicks and the will of our gods.”
I hesitated before I nodded. “Follow me to my personal tent. We will speak there. However, I will permit no other but yourself into entering my village. We are peaceful and have no use of warriors.”
The man nodded and he lifted himself up and over our high walls with the magicks. “Let us go.”
I led him to my personal tent. I had had it built long ago at the edge of our village so that, if I wished it, I could go and pray to Tinuak alone. We entered it and I used the magicks to light a fire in the center of the tent. Its crackling flame was able to take some of the edge off the cold as we sat across from each other.
“My mortal name is Lorna, and I know your mortal name through my dreams,” he began. “I am here, honorable Anork, to tell you a most troubling dream that Tinuak sought fit to give me. In this dream I see your father, the past Anork of this village, on a tall hill covered with black grass. With a stone dagger covered in the poison of the long-fang snake, he cuts his palm and lets the blood fall and soak into the ground. As soon as his cursed blood touches that evil soil, the black grass starts to move and wave in an unseen and ungodly wind. The top of the hill splits apart and the unspeakable creature- the spirit of the first Anork- comes back to life. Savk, your father is right now on the top of the accursed mountain of Inuk, trying to resurrect the unspeakable beast. In years from now, he will finally succeed.”
“I knew of this before,” I told him, “but I did not believe it to happen so quickly.”
“Tinuak also sent me another dream. He wants my tribe to travel to yours. He wants us to marry and mingle our tribes into one of which we will both be Anorks of.”
I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth. “Surely, he did not mean… I am his vassal, his…”
“Daughter,” Lorna interrupted grimly. “I know well of your power and your fate for our people, but this is Tinuak’s will for his daughter, and I am honored to be the Anork he has chosen for his mortal child. This is the way it was meant to be.”


And so it was that way. Both of our tribes packed up their homes and traveled to meet each other in the middle of the land that lay between us. Lorna and I were married and a year later I bore his child. We named her Yuri, and she shared her mother’s strength in the magicks. The wasting sickness within her was terrible, but short-lived and soon she rose to the top of her studies. It seemed obvious who would be the next Anork after the passing of my husband and I. But, sadly, it would never come to that.
After her fifteenth season, winds of magick rose from the mountain of Inuk and darkened the sky into black. The sun was covered with red. I ran to the training tent where our now thirty five numbered students were resting. Only a year before had the god of gods, Tinuak, come to me with a vision of this. The only way for my people to survive this was for Tinuak’s people to leave at this sign. I had told my students this and together we had already went among our people. We knew which ones would leave with them and which would stay behind with me.
Cries of grief filled the air as those who were fleeing with my students departed with the ones that had to stay behind. Tears blurred my vision as Lorna ran up to me and hugged me tightly.
“You must go,” I gasped. “You were chosen to go, not I.”
“Surely Tinuak does not wish for his daughter to suffer at the hands of the unspeakable beast. Come with me.”
“If I leave then the beast will pursue us. It was summoned because of me, Lorna, and will not rest until both my life and my bloodline has ended. This is the will of Tinuak, my husband. The last sixteen years have been the best of my life and I am ready to feast with my father. I will see you at his table soon enough. Don’t mourn me.”
Yuri ran up to us and hugged her father tightly. “At least let me take our daughter,” Lorna pleaded.
Tears streamed down my face. “No, Lorna. It must be this way. We will try to hold the beast at bay for a while, but in the end it will take us. Do not tally here. You have already taken too much time and our people need someone to lead them. Go!”
Lorna wailed in grief as he kissed me and hugged Yuri tightly. “I love you both and only because of our people do I leave now. Death would be a better path for me than to live without you both, but my responsibilities as one of the Anorks is beyond the responsibilities of my heart and soul.” He ran past us and into the front of the crowd. Together, the group disappeared in a puff of white steam. The few students that were meant to stay behind with us came up to us and we held hands for strength. A long, wild cry sounded from the mountain and we knew the end would not be long.
Three days did we live in fear before the earth finally shook with Its footsteps. We tried to fight back the creature, but even my strength was no obstacle for it. We watched it murder our people, even my mother, and our beloved students. Finally, when we knew that we could not help our people, my daughter and I fled into the old storage shack. With my remaining strength I had formed a barrier, but the monster did not care. It could wait…

Food had long ago ran out, and so had both my daughter’s strength and my own. The barrier wavered- once… twice… and then disappeared all together. I sighed sadly, and placed the my story down on the ground. I could only hope that someone would find it. With difficulty, my daughter and I stood up, hand-in-hand. We faced the creature without fear, for we knew that we would feast with Tinuak- my father, and her grandfather. Both of our purposes had been fulfilled. Our people were saved and separated, ready to create new peoples and strengthen this world so that It would have no hold on this world. Now all that was left was for the creature to have its revenge, for it was called by my father and it would never leave this world without my and my daughter’s death. Oh, my father thought he had won in his death, but only I was victorious. He will wander the realm, but I… I will feast with my mother and grandmother tonight.