Soul of the World

By Nathan Challis

The first time I saw him was in Theorica, south of Thursk, just outside the city of Teltida. Until that day I had only ever heard legends of his existence, folklore and hearsay really, for how could such a overwhelmingly immense and supreme being actually exist? It was said that even the gods were apprehensive about interfering in matters where he was involved, and indeed went out of their way to avoid him when he denied to become involved in worldly affairs.

I was in combat when the sun went dark. We were fighting in a vast meadow that might have been serene and beautiful if not for the hundreds of bodies littering the ground. Suffice it to say, the field of battle became utterly silent when it happened.

We stood there, staring at the thing that had caused this veritable eclipse. It stared down at us from the clouds, curiously at first, as if our great battle was nothing but a trivial amusement in its grand design. Then, its great maw opened wide, loosing a bellow that sent violent tremors through the land.

It was summoning its brethren.

I could only watch as four more of them rose from the depths of the earth, arching into the sky and dominating the horizon. They glanced at one another, making low rumbles from deep in their bellies, conversing for the first time in millennia.

The serpentine heads moved in unison. He reared back, all five heads glaring down at us, and roared.

I am but an old man now, living out my years in Sighisov with my wife, but I will never forget that day. He spared us, vanishing into the clouds as surely as he'd never been there. But he will never vanish from my mind.

Those who have witnessed the soul of the world never forget.