Mussodji's grandmother tirelessly trained her granddaughter's skills with the harp when she appeared during her sleep. She played a melody and had the younger one repeat for days until the rendering was perfect.
The apprentice then played it before the head teller who taught her the lyrics. One song after another, the young woman learnt the community's foundation and beliefs. Soon enough, she started learning long plays about more intricate stories.
The first play she learnt was her grandmother's favourite, the story of the known world's beginnings. Once upon a time, Mangala, the Divine Creator, instilled life into an egg of twins. One of the twins, eager to conquer the universe, broke from the placenta.
It was Pemba. He fell into nothingness outside of the egg and used his side of the placenta to create land. But that land was unstable, brought to life by an incomplete placenta. And so were all of Pemba's creations.
Soon enough, he longed for an even company and crafted Musokoroni, the first woman. Crafted by desire, and moulded from unstable sand, she was the personification of chaos. Wishing to own Pemba's power, she used his love to exhaust him before burying his spent body.
With his essence, she grew the Balanza, a tree whose roots absorbed Pemba's energy. The Balanza produced bloody berries infused with divine energy. Musokoroni used them to corrupt the unstable creation that then spiralled into chaos while worshipping her.
Mangala, the Divine Creator, retrieved the remaining half of the egg which still floated into nothingness. Fâro, the other twin, morphed into a silurus and was swimming inside her placenta.
Mangala gave life to her shadow, Koni, to make her whole again. Koni became her new twin and significant other. Together, they used Fâro's placenta to drown Pemba's land. Musokoroni and the corrupted creation met their demise. The newly completed placenta formed a whole earth and humanity as we know it emerged.
Mussodji finally understood the community's reverence for huge barbelled fishes. From the fish-shaped ornaments to the scale patterns adorning fabrics and walls, she suddenly noticed details she hadn't registered until then.
The giant Silurus statue adorning the community's fountain must be the prominent deity's representation. Fâro was the deity of the Sky and Water, Koni was the deity of Wind, and the still-buried Pemba was the deity of Earth.
When the desire for conquest consumed humankind, Water and Wind met in the Sky to cleanse Earth's corruption. The phenomenon was expected every four hundred years, which prompted the earliest communities to establish on elevated places. Expecting Fâro's recurrent returns, her family's community had always lived on the mountain's plateau.
Somehow, the explorators hadn't made their way up to the plateau. Unless they hadn't yet tried to climb the mountainous chain. She remembered witnessing the expeditions with Sebastian. The troupe entered a gated tunnel but never surfaced again.
Mussodji wondered if the community was aware of the settlers at sea level trying to own the island. The port's lights looked like faint fireflies from the elevated point, but the exploration commanders were all but harmless.
She never had access to the newspaper but heard the new continent was assumed to be full of untapped resources that the mightiest nations coveted.
The expedition she witnessed probably aimed to find the desired resources. The gated tunnel meant there was an established conquest path. Even if the troupes never returned, the settlers had to be onto something.
She had to ask the Head Teller if the community council knew what was happening. And maybe, she would receive answers to how she found herself in Lake Mobius's main archipel, far away from the supposedly new continent where she was born.
Mussodji's questions couldn't be answered with a single play. What was happening on the island resulted from thousands of years of humankind's history. The Head Teller confessed they couldn't answer her personal questions before sharing their limited knowledge.
When Fâro cleansed the Earth from Mussokoroni, survivors settled on the remaining dry land. As the sea level lowered with time, the islands on which they settled turned into mountains. Then, humankind forgot the recommendations and established itself on the alluring coastal lines.
People fought over earthly resources and occupied the coveted land to prevent others from enjoying it. Their never-ending wars halted only when Fâro returned to flood the Earth. Then, new generations would forget their elders' mistakes and fight again. The cycle repeated for millennia until humankind discovered the underwater Balanza roots.
Seduced by the divine remnants' might, nations fought for its control. The Balanza was revived after drinking the fallen ones' blood and eventually produced bloody berries again, infused with divine energy and mankind's unsatisfied desire.
The victorious warlords harvested the Balanza's berries and were the first known people to command their auras. With their new power, they could bend the laws of nature and turned against their feudal states' masters.
To keep the power in their hands, the first aura users united into a clan and elevated themselves as deities. They established the centre of their power around the Balanza tree and a new nation emerged.
Hooked on human blood, the Balanza drained the citizens' life force and grew as high as the sky. It was then called the World Tree, proudly standing at the centre of the world's largest and wealthiest city.
That was until Fâro returned again to cleanse Earth. This time, the aura benders used their power to protect the Balanza and survive the floods. Fearing the next time, they invaded every corner of Earth to find the next incarnation of Fâro.
They centralised the world's state of affairs and united Earth into a single nation. After hundreds of years, Fâro was born again on a remote island on the outskirts of Lake Mobius, the least populated place on Earth.
The aura benders seized the child from her parents' arms and offered her to the Balanza Tree. Complete with Pemba and Fâro's essence, the Balanza Tree awoke its consciousness and acquired the ability to create immortal beasts.
The immortal beasts overtook the aura benders and established the World Tree as the unique divine being on Earth. The people who survived sought refuge in Lake Mobius. But before leaving their civilisation, they harvested one of the Balanza Tree's berries infused with Pemba and Fâro's essence.
Using the berry's seeds, they planted a new World Tree inside Lake Mobius. The new tree acted as a counterpower to the Balanza and its aura prevented the immortal beasts from invading the lake.
Sheltered, humankind established new nations and the general public gradually forgot History and everything beyond the lake. Still, the elites kept their eyes on the ancient continent and invested in technological advancement to take it back from the immortal beasts.
Mussodji understood what was at stake but felt helpless. Her community seemed not too worried by the settlers exploring the island. With the coveted resources being underground or at sea level, they believed they were safe as long as they remained on the plateau.
It could only take Fâro being born there for the elites to send hunters after the community, like the Aura benders' clan did, to prevent floods. Also, she didn't understand how detached the community was from the rest of the world.
She couldn't warp her mind around their disregard for the possible incarnations born outside the island. She couldn't merely live while expecting a calamity that might not even occur in her lifetime.
She wanted to know what the settlers were up to. She was certain it would somehow affect the community. She also wanted to understand how she went from a stranded island to a household of hunters.
Her mind was still heavy from the Head Teller's confessions when she remembered the first song he played for her. The flamboyant bird's tale was supposed to be a metaphor for her personal story.
Therefore, someone brought her to the hunters' house where she was set to forget her identity. If someone from the community did it, that person must have connections outside the island. If it was an outsider, it must have been a hunter who knew how to access the plateau.
The last option was the least appealing. She shuddered at the idea of hunters invading the community to get their hands onto the next incarnation, especially when the mountainous landscape was the only thing protecting them.
Unable to sleep, Mussodji silently exited the room she shared with her mother. The night was quiet under the starry sky. She wandered into the forest and walked until she reached the plateau's lake.
Sitting near the shore, she mused over how she never found Sebastian's body. Not that she intensively looked for his remnants. She hardly ventured to the lake as her daily activities kept her in the compound.
Closing her eyes, she let the wind sing in her ears while the waves wetted the tip of her toes. Entering the water was tempting, with no one around to witness. But then, she would have to dry in the cold night before returning to bed.
Opening her eyes, she didn't remember falling asleep on the shore. Yet, she just woke up from a dream in which she was alone in deep waters. Looking around, she was lying on the ground and the water reached her waistline. Above her, the sky was clearing as the sun would soon rise.
Knowing her mother must already be awake and looking for her, Mussodji hurried to return home. On her way, she encountered a trio of men who expressed their relief to find her well and sound.
One of them asked her if anything happened to make her look upset. The trio waited for a few seconds before giving up on an answer. As she silently walked behind them, she guessed her dream visibly affected her mood. Nothing noteworthy happened, but the sensation of floating alone in deep waters drained her.
She also felt peeved she hadn't been able to hide her emotions like she used to in her former employer's estate. Her former training wasn't helpful anymore but she was still attached to the skills she mastered.
Back in her parents' home, she was admonished for sneaking out alone. The rest of her day was silent until it was time for her to practise in the tellers' compound. Before they fell asleep, her mother asked her why she ran away alone in the night.
Mussodji didn't have a proper answer and confessed she thought walking a little would help her fall asleep. The mother visibly relaxed before the younger one asked how she was taken from the island.
They already had that conversation and the mother assured her no one knew how it happened. Everyone thought she went alone to play by the lake and drowned there. They only found her fabric but since she wasn't anywhere, they assumed the worst until she was found again in the plateau.
Mussodji couldn't believe that story. She also doubted her mother believed she wandered alone on the island for years. Not after she inspected her intimacy on the first day, before even hearing about her life under her former employers.
The older woman must suspect someone took her from the plateau. The latter might even have an idea of who did it. Therefore, the daughter pressed again. Her mother was visibly torn between holding her ground and confessing.
She gave in after her daughter asked if someone brought her to the lake. The older woman recounted how Mussodji's grandmother monitored her activities as a child. She often took her to the lake late in the afternoon.
Naturally, the mother asked the elderly woman if she knew what happened once they were alone, following the child's disappearance. The elderly woman didn't confess anything but she seemed not too worried.
That led the mother to think the elderly hid the child one way or another. Secretly, she kept asking and the grandmother reassured her everything would turn out fine. The mother believed the woman as the latter could secretly manipulate her aura.
The practice was forbidden as it originated from humankind corrupting divine energy. Therefore, no one in the community was ever known to manipulate aura or even manifest interest in the practice. Still, Mussodji's mother didn't have anything else to hear from her daughter.
But then, the elderly woman died four years ago under unknown circumstances. Her fabric was found on the shore but not her body or anything else. The community assumed she decided to join her granddaughter in the aftermath and there hadn't been further investigations.
At the time, Mussodji's mother was glad her mother's secret activities hadn't been exposed. But she was also worried as she lost her only outlook to her still-missing daughter. That was the reason she inspected her intimacy as soon as she could.
The younger one deduced that her grandmother had connections to the hunting world and planned to put her under the Zoldyck house. Given her age, she might have been acquainted with the house's grandfather.
The only question left unanswered was why she was sent away. For some reason, her grandmother thought she was better outside the community. At least, she did so when she sent her away. Mussodji then remembered how the aura masters hunted Fâro's incarnations.
If she were to be one of them, the elderly woman must have feared hunters targeting the community. The Zoldyck house was the most renowned house of hunter, and probably the safest place to hide.
The idea was improbable. As improbable as her swim up the mountain, and therefore not impossible. Thinking about how she arrived on the plateau, she guessed only an advanced aura master could accomplish the same feat.
Since she never practised aura, and given how Sebastian didn't make it despite his proficiency with aura bending, something else might have been at play.
On the topic of Sebastian, he was hired four years ago. It was right after the first expedition to the then-new continent and around the same time her grandmother disappeared. She wondered if the two were connected.
After all, they were the only people appearing in her nightly experiences. Many of her former coworkers died and she never saw them during her sleep. Then again, they also were the only dead people with whom she shared some level of intimacy.
Mussodji's thought exhausted her to sleep and she dreamed of her grandmother. The latter confirmed having taken her out of the community but denied being acquainted with the house of hunters.
Following with yes-or-no questions, her grandmother confessed she met a hunter at the plateau's lake. Yet, she never agreed for Mussodji to be passed on. She met Sebastian when the first expedition of settlers arrived. He was an aura master the elderly woman asked to bring her granddaughter back.
The younger woman assumed she had to encounter said hunter if she wanted the full story of what happened to her. That person must have known who she was when they entrusted her into the Zoldyck house.
For the time being, she didn't have enough information and yes-or-no questions weren't the most effective way to understand her situation. She would confront the Head Teller again, as she was convinced they could answer her personal questions.