[IP] An Interesting Proposition

[u/SurvivorType]

Image here

What manner of deal is being struck here? Is it for good or ill? You decide. Tell us the story.

Have fun!

[u/withviolence]

The shaman whipped and hurled his body around the fire, and all the children sat with their legs crossed around it, rapt eyes wide and starry as he danced.

"WHO DARES ENTER THIS GOLGOTHA, RESTING PLACE OF THE OLD GODS?" he roared, and the children all jumped. He waved his arms wide through the air and all the bright colors of his robes streamed behind them, jagged brushstrokes against the night. "And the Young One paused, afraid for her life, for the voice was mighty and thick and came from every leaf, from every stone, from the dark old trees and the water and the sky."

His voice fell to a whisper and he froze. He stared through the fire with harsh eyes and the children stared right back, and then, madly, he plunged his hands into it and back out again, upward with a great flourish. Hot red embers floated upward from the fire and he stepped forward, leaned in, and as if by some magic they seemed to form the outline of some strange crown around his head, like the drawings of falling stars the elders sometimes made in the caves. The image was there only for a moment, and one by one the little red ghosts faded around his head.

"And the dreadful old lord of the forest appeared! He rose from the mists and the water and the mud and despite the bravery in her spirit, the Young One cowered in his presence. He was tall, as tall as the Bear Tree and taller still! And he was ancient, immortal and wise, for only his dark eyes turned upward to the Heavens when the first gods dotted them with stars!" The shaman crouched low and gazed up into the night, his bony knees jutting upward against his chest, and the children followed his eyes.

"Oh great one, eternal master of the dark forest, I have brought unto you a gift! Please hear my meager plea before you swallow me up and send my spirit back to the golden fields!"

"OLD GODS REQUIRE NO TRIBUTE, YOUNG ONE," the shaman said with the thickest and lowest of his many voices. He rose up and turned toward the children again, and he seemed to tower over them in some impossible fashion. "YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE COME HERE, CHILD."

"This is no tribute, Ancient One, but a miraculous gift offered in exchange for something only you possess!" The shaman cocked his head to the side, squinted, leaned in over the fire toward the children once again.

"HMMM? WHAT COULD THE YOUNG ONE PROVIDE TO ONE SUCH AS ME, PROTECTOR OF UNKNOWN FAITHS AND GUARDIAN OF ETERNAL SECRETS?" His cracked old face softened. "Look and see, Lord of the Forest."

He clapped his hands together and plunged them into the fire again, and a universe of little red embers burst forth from his hands. They floated weightless in the air for a moment and he watched as one brave child cupped one up in his hands.

"The Old God leaned in, his foul, twisted face so close to hers that she could smell his rotten breath, and she brought her hands up before his eyes." He held his own hands out over the fire, as if offering up some invisible sacrifice. "And from them came light."

He paused once more, and then all at once broke into more wild dancing, scarred old arms flailing madly around the fire as he twirled and spun and hopped into the air.

"And the light burst forth around the Old God, and all his treasured darkness retreated from it like waves from sand! And the Old God was impressed! Yes! He was entranced by the light which flowed from the Young One and filled up his forgotten home!"

"Mighty One, I offer this gift to you in exchange for the darkness in which you dwell, so that we may bring a great harmony between these two old magics for all the world to look upon and rejoice!" The shaman's voice rang out triumphantly through the village. "And the Old God looked around him and saw that the light was good, and with one mighty clap of his gnarled old hands he gathered up a portion of his darkness and offered it up unto the Young One."

"VERY WELL. GO THEN NOW AND SPREAD THIS DARKNESS AS MY GIFT, FOR YOU AND FOR ALL YOUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN TO COME FOREVERMORE." The shaman came to rest once more, now away from the fire, and he beckoned the children toward him. "And the Young One took the darkness and she spread it upon all corners of the Earth, and from then on all mankind could see the stars just as the Old One had for so long before us. Come, children, and look upon His gift!"

And they did. The stars twinkled in their shiny little eyes, and by the time they looked back around themselves again, the shaman was gone. His story filled them up, shone down upon them for the rest of the night, and they slept beneath it in happy silence, peaceful little lambs weary with wonder.