Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of One Tree Hill, regretfully so. This is a prologue to a story that I wanted to begin before the idea was lost. I will finish and continue Of Comfort and Consequence. A Time of Fortune's Favor will be have multiple volumes, but I am unsure how many. Volume I will involve a primitive version of Haley and Nathan. Haley will be called Hyra and Nathan will be called Naylo. Please read, review, and hopefully enjoy. I remain as always, confuzed1978.
A Time of Fortune's Favor
Volume I: Embers from Fire's Past
Prologue
A wind rises and sweeps around the young ones. Nathan kisses Haley, sweetly and with trepidation, outside her house. Insensitive and afraid of censure, he had hurt her. He cannot keep himself from her. She tries to resist the pull, but launches herself into his arms and kisses him with the fire of eons past. His arms wrap around her slight body and above in the heavens, the gods sigh.
Many flashes of light surround the pair. Images of their faces in various stages of romance and life burst beneath their eyelids. They cannot know or understand the meaning of these pictures of the past. In dreams and fantasy, Haley and Nathan have never felt or experienced anything like this, their first kiss. As they draw apart, a spark renews and destinies reunite. Bound by fate, time will lend its hand in how the couple fare. Once they find one another, there is no stopping the fire. The gods send their blessings to the paribus evinctus, the pair entwined. Throughout the eras, the gods have had many monikers for them. One of their favored, the Tethered Ones, has been on the lips of the gods for many centuries.
Love's hope and endurance have forged many reincarnations. Corded together, their love endures, bodies fade, but the souls never part.
40,000 Years Ago…
Unger, the god of all gods and creator of all things, was in the midst of recreation. He has made many beings during his infinite rule. He has decided to re-forge the place that Homo sapiens will eventually call Earth. He is also waiting for his beings to evolve into the next stage as he has planned for many years.
The current era has grown stale for Unger. His beings are slowly becoming more interesting to observe. He beckons to his brother, Agro.
"Agro, make the mounds of rock spew liquid fire," Unger commands.
"Yes, my brother, the all-powerful Unger," he replies.
The land shook and lava rushed from the mounds of rock. It flowed over the land.
"Soon, my beings will search for something more than food. They will know Unger and the other gods," he reflects, speaking aloud, but mostly for his own benefit.
Unger decided to use the lava to forge a bond between the beings. Even Unger himself could not have predicted the permanent bond that would form between two of his cherished souls.
10,000 Years Ago…
The tribe was an old one. The people of the ash, the Agrari tribe, survived many moons of sadness and famine. The wise man of the tribe knew that the great Unger had plans for his people. There was a reason that their tribe was still around and the Inpujas and Dinkingis were no longer of the land. Those poor people had not followed the path of Unger.
Warlati, the wise man, would tell the story of Unger to the tribe around the fire. His tribe had hunted for many weeks and the young were dying from lack of sustenance. The story was passed down from wise man to wise man. When his people were particularly downtrodden, Warlati would retell the story to breathe hope into their lives.
"Many moons ago, Unger had his brother, Agro, pour liquid fire onto the land. The people that lived at that time were cleansed," the wise man began.
"What does cleansed mean?" a small and skeletal boy asked.
"Dead…they no longer walk the land. Hopefully, they followed the path of Unger and they live with him in the sky," he continued.
The crowd of old and young alike were transfixed by the face of the wise man illuminated by the flecks of the fire. His words made their growling bellies feel less painful.
"The liquid bath of fire was the tool that Unger used to fashion us the way we are, in look and in thought. Unger appeared to the first people, the people of the ash. He told their leader that the Agrari were his people, born of the ash. He told the first ones that life would be difficult and that it would seem at times that he had forgotten us. There would be good times and then a great sorrow would come. Our people would suffer, many will walk with him in the sky. He also told them that one day, one with eyes of blue will deliver us from our suffering. Eyes of blue will join with eyes of brown and the Agrari will be strong once more," Warlati completed the retelling of the story with a defeated sadness.
During the long history of the Agrari, the children were always born with blue eyes, but soon changed to the brown of the Agrari. Every time a babe was born, hope would raise and then sadness prevailed when eyes turned brown.
From a cave where the women went during labor times, a scream reverberated. Warlati used his walking stick to raise himself up from his spot near the fire. His bones were old and creaky. His days were no longer stretched before him. The day when he walked in the sky with Unger would be soon. He prayed for the deliverance of his people and walked slowly to the cave to oversee the labor time. He would bring good medicine into the cave.
Warlati waited while the women treated the girl trying to give birth. Many hours passed and he continued with his vigil. The young girl was finally able to push out her babe.
The babe was male. He was strong and large despite the frailness if his mother. His lungs were strong and Warlati's breath caught when he saw the hue of his eyes.
The blue was not the dull blue of which the young of the Agrari were born. This babe's eyes were the clearest blue of ocean and sky, sparkling and wide with curiosity for a new one to this world.
Warlati felt a tremendous and unrelenting pain in his chest. He fell on his knees as the other women tried to help him. In his last moments, he saw a figure whom he knew was Unger.
"You have served my people well, wise man of the ash. You have served Unger with grace. Come, walk in the sky with me," Unger held out his hand to Warlati.
The women could not see Unger as Warlati reached out before him. Warlati slumped forward and the women laid him on the ground. They closed his eyes and sent word to the others.
"Warlati now walks in the sky," they whispered.