Rain: A Manifesto
Lightning From Above
I set out from the land in which I considered home. After only about an hour or two, I had already gone further away from the beach side cabin than I ever had before. I camped out a few nights in desert planes and on by the bottom of hills. I ate limited amounts of the food I packed while keeping a steady pace. After Four or five nights of travel by foot, I was wayfaring through a small oasis. It was at this moment that I realized I had no clue where I was or where I was going. I took a moment to try to navigate, but nothing seemed to lead anywhere. Dark was gaining, and I needed a safe place to sleep. Outworld's depths are unsafe when dusk arrives. I walked along the outskirts of the plane in which I was hiking, but it seemed to be entirely sealed off by hills that were shooting up at straight angles. After hours of searching, I came across a slim trail leading up a slightly sloped hill. I breathed in relief, as I had found a way out of the enclosed valley.
I reached the top, and of all the strange things, there was a small town sitting right on a flat parcel on the hill. The feeling of a bed sounded so great to me. I walked in the town through the only entrance. It was like a ghost town. I saw nobody walking about the area. I went directly to the inn. The doors were old and cracked pieces of wood, and the outside of the inn was covered so deep in dust, it was impossible to tell what it might have looked like when it was first built.
I walked through the doors, and sitting at a counter, smoking a long wooden pipe; was a strange looking woman. She only wore old rags that were ripped from top to bottom. Her hair was dirty and crimped… almost as if she stuck her head in the middle of a funnel cloud. She was restive, and her hands were steadily jittering.
"Well, well, a late traveler." She said to me very loudly, as she blew out a cloud of smoke and then looked at me with her eyes in a delirious state. She quickly gave me a fake and anxious smile.
"Um… Good evening Mam." I said as I cleared my throat. "I was wondering where I am."
"Kanyon Oasis." She said coughing. "The Social State of Kanyon Oasis is the official name, but that's a hunk of shit."
"Social?" I said surprised, as I had heard that word maybe once in my life. "You mean you are your own government?"
"No. Our community is socialist, isolationist, whatever you wanna call it. But we still answer to Kahn. His officers inspect us weekly, you know the drill." Her voice sank to an utter as she continued to smoke her pipe.
"I suppose by that, you mean Shao Kahn?" I asked as I leaned forward.
She jumped out of her seat and leaned in my face. "NO!!! The other savage who sits in his palace all day and waits for the opportunity to kill anyone... just for his own blood lust. That other pathetic excuse for a living thing that burns down whole cities just to kill one person. Who are you, asking something like that? Are you one of those cave creeps from earth realm?"
I leaned back with my hands up, just trying to make sense out of what just happened. "Listen." I muttered calmly. "Can I just get a room?" She sat back down in her chair and took yet another pull of smoke. "Five koins." She stuttered with her eyes moving all over her head.
I put the koins on the table and she gave me a key. I started to walk away when she yelled to me, "Wanna hit?" As she held up her very interesting looking pipe.
"Enjoy yourself." I said as I walked up the stairs. The woman was very obviously unstable, and I don't think whatever it was she was smoking was helping her condition. I got to the hotel room with my number on it. 174 was the number of the door if I remember correctly.
I opened the door, and put my travel sack on the hardwood floor. The room had chunks of the wall and floor missing. All that was in the room was a rough bed, a blurry, cracked window and a small water closet. I sat on the bed and just let my mind work. I thought away, and tried to think about my next move. I HAD to do something where I could put my gift to use. And I didn't mean watering crops and catching fish. I meant something big.
I got to sleep after a while, and had vague, unmemorable dreams. It was around four a.m. when I was awakened by a thunder storm. I had never seen one so close, and never one like this. I walked over to the window and began to watch. It was dancing, just dancing around the plains outside of the town. I heard voices outside. Beautiful voices of a language that I didn't understand. I knew they calling to me however. I put my hand on the window, and didn't even need to think twice.
I widened my eyes, and ran out of my room, down the stairs, and out the back door. I put my arms up as the rain drenched itself upon my shoulders. The voices grew louder, and were speaking to me in such a ravishing tone, that although I didn't understand it, I started to repeat whatever they said.
The lightning collapsed all over the hilltop, and it seemed to want to stay in my area. I put me knees down on the gravel and my hands on my thighs, and began to meditate, as I used to in the temple of the elder gods. I closed my eyes, and centered myself with the storm and the beautiful voices.
I became the storm; I became the rain, I became each lightning bolt that hit the ground. My mind felt as if it was being replenished. Then, the most beautiful of all the voices spoke to me, but in the common tongue. "It is your servant, it is your inspiration, it is your gift from the sky, and it will be your guardian for the years arise."
I opened my eyes, and raised my arm up. I waited, and waited, and waited in the soaking rain. The next thing I knew, a lightning bolt was landing directly in front of my feat. The voice said it again. "It is your servant, it is your inspiration, it is your gift of the sky, and it will be your guardian for the years arise."
The lightning began to strike more rapidly, as if It was speaking to me as well. Every bolt was striking within a few meters of me now. I stood to my feet with my left arm raised. I summoned the lightning to my grasp. At my feat, behind my back, into my hand. The lightning fulmination was at my command. I raised my other arm, and summoned heavy blasts all around me. The voices continued their council. I couldn't understand all but one of them, but I could feel their auspices entering my vitality. As I continued to call upon the electricity and let it strike in a coil around my anatomy, the rain began to fade, but I let the lightning remain around me. The voices faded, and the one who I could understand repeated one last time, "It is your servant, it is your inspiration, it is your gift of the sky and it will be your guardian for the years arise."
I finally discontinued my lightning enclosure, and let the final bolts dig themselves into the ground. I sat down, as the day began to grow light. I couldn't believe it, but I had been in the storm for over two hours. I watched the sunrise, and as it began to peak, I continued to think of what I was going to do and where I was going to go. At this moment, it didn't matter.
My chi had grown even stronger within the course of a night. Now, not only was I a creator of water, the ale of the Elder gods. But also, a summoner of lightning, the defense of the skies. I decided my next move would be to get out of Kanyon Oasis. I needed to find something or someone that could use me and my abilities for a useful purpose. But for the time being, all I had was the road ahead of me. And the only way it was going to get shorter was by walking on it.