Tears of a Goddess - Found Fragments VII

type=book

title=Tears of a Goddess

subtitle=Found Fragments: Part VII

author=Acidrik Fenlapanse

'According to the erudite Hel Munster, a simple flap of wings of a Moskitos can bring about a tempest on the other side of the World. When a demon tries to steal a Dofus, the first wave of darkness is spreading to the World... But sometimes light can rise from darkness! A new Goddess is entering the pantheon.'

Djaul is running like the wind, through flooded fields and muddy forests. Trying to fool a blue dragon can end up being dangerous. Failure is disastrous: the surroundings are flooded under pouring rain. All this water will become torrents, rivers which will report to Aguabrial his slightest moves. How long has it been since he tried to fool the dragon? Impossible to tell... Isolated in the den of Aguabrial, Djaul had lost all notions of time. And the rain pouring down since Octolliar is sinking the landscapes and erasing the course of the seasons. Djaul, then, has the idea to use his privilege as a protector and consults the Divine Clock.

It appears on his request with each of its twelve purple gems brightly glowing. The demon is facing it. As he's trying to read the date, he feels anger raising. Rains of Novamaire seemed to be quite long. Indeed! Brumaire cut down Descendre by sixteen days! Straight away, Djaul launches Descendre ice storms upon the world. At least, water will be mute for a while... For two weeks, the demon stays in the darkness of the South forests, mumbling over his failure until the end of Descendre, making lands heavy with snow and ice. On Descendre 31, his vengeance is ready.

That day, just like every year, Solar makes for the heights of Amakna. He is about to proclaim the start of Javian and the beginning of a new year. Djaul is waiting for him, hidden in the shade. On the eleventh stroke before midnight, the demon leaps and lets his rage and fury explode. Solar is surprised by the attack but fights like a warrior. The fight between the two protectors is so violent that stones and rocks around have been marked.

Solar, beaten to death, collapses. Victorious, Djaul hurls the corpse of the protector of Javian down the mountains of Amakna. That month of Descendre was to be one of the longest and toughest the inhabitants of the World of Ten were to live.

Famines, epidemics, and pillaging devastated the countries. Inhabitants were deprived to face such a situation. It seems that only the goddesses were caring about their disciples. Fecas and Cras could use the white fire to protect themselves against the cold. Eniripsas could count on their healing art to survive. The others became weaker and weaker every day. It could happen that past adventurers proud of themselves, warriors long ago glorious, were found on the roads, dead from the cold and exhaustion covered up with ice.

Eventually, one day, a prophet came. He said he had been a lumberjack, and that he was now spreading the good word of the goddess Sacrier. A new goddess? “Yes!”, the prophet answered. “The needy are swearing their loyalty to her, giving her their suffering. And thanks to the goddess, they are recovering strength and vigour...”. Prayers from all lands were rising to make torments stop. But those prayers were no longer intended for gods who seemed careless, but for the goddess Sacrier, who seemed to be a sympathetic goddess. She used to have only about a hundred dedicated disciples, but now they were flooding in. The strength given by the goddess to her believers compensated the pains caused by the cold. The faithful Sacrier walked from the Cania plains to the Amakna harbor, in order to convert those who wanted to. Later on, the prophet would pronounce these alexandrines :

First we were half a thousand, soon to discover

Others had joined us before we reached the harbour.

Marching and spreading our faithful face to the world,

Courage gained the frightened who had heard our good word.

These lines became so famous they went through space

and time and were, long after, in another world, taken up by a scribbler... but this is another story! On his side, Djaul had followed the advent of the goddess with great interest. He was wondering how he could take advantage of the situation. On top of a beech, he was observing the movements of the sacriers when he felt a hand grabbing him and pulling him back violently.

Surprised, he didn't have time to hold on to the branches and tumbled down. Half knocked out in his fall, he saw Silvosse – protector of Flovor, standing in front of him. He had his fists clenched on the handle of a huge hammer.

“Demon, my trees are freezing! And this is because of you! And you, Djaul the splashing boy, you come and you think you can put your claws in the bark of my cherished trees! That's not how it works I'm afraid! You see this one? (He points out to the tree). Well, it can no longer stand your presence in its branches... and neither can I!”. Djaul just had enough time to dodge the blow Silvosse was giving him. Snow all around the steel part of the hammer melted instantly.