Alzoru's World: Episode one (Maramazu)

Alzoru's World: Episode 1

Nafinian Legends Series part one: Maramazu

Long ago in a time of ignorance and sorrow, The gods frowned down on the stagnating peoples of Nafine. Nothing major had happened in the society in a very long time. The year was 201, and nothing major had happened since year one, when history had been invented alongside bread.

It was a time when the Durakuni lived in indifference to each other, and when children had to learn from their parents how to survive and work, and thus most children only knew how to do what their parents did, weather they liked it or not. Many wished for more- wished for so much more.

But in this year, a blue-scaled Lugani man named Mutori met someone, someone who would change his simple potter's life, and the lives of everyone around. She was a beautiful Wyveri woman on the surface, and she approached him with grace unseen on this world before. She ran her fingers on her wings through his mint-green mane and whispered promises into his erect ears of wonderful things to come.

At the time, it was considered taboo to romantically seek out anyone not of your race, but she was more than just a Wyveri- her scales were a shade of pink, her wings a lighter pink, and her yellow eyes seemed to be full of wisdom, and full of pink streaks. She wore fine and beautiful clothes that were made of unknown materials, and on her head rested a small crown of silver.

Mutori trembled before her, entranced by her beauty and grace. She asked him a great favor- She needed him to temporarily become a woman and carry a child who would change the world forever. He knew now who she was and gasped as he knelt to her. He said to her that he would happily become a mother for her.

His horns shrunk on his head, and he shrunk a little bit with his mane and other hairs. His snout became more rounded, and his body became more thin than it already was. He looked down at his more delicate hands and up at the woman who changed him. He knew beyond doubt, this was a goddess- the primordial goddess of creation and reward, Milira.

Milira kissed the newly-christened woman deeply and whispered to her that their child would change the world. Mutori thanked her for her blessings and said that he- or she if you prefer, would carry the egg with pride. The Goddess transformed into a form more suited to herself and vanished before his eyes.

Over the next several weeks, her form became a little larger with gravidity. She had to tell any who asked who she was and what happened. A new Demigod had not been born since before recorded history, and the promise of a new one excited many. Hope grew stronger when the egg was laid, and it was a light pink egg with the symbol of the goddess on its front. Immediately after laying the egg, Mutori returned to being male.

The people of his village came by to see the egg, and Prayed for the egg's safe hatching. The local priests praised Milira and she replaced another god as their local patron. However, there was a bit of worry when the egg hatched prematurely. It had hatched more than a week before its due date. The hatchling was a lugani like him, a boy by the looks of it. His tiny, frail body was a pastel purple color, but he had no fur. Mutori struggled for the next week to keep the hatchling warm and fed, and while the hatchling lived... he would never be able to grow any fur.

The hatchling was named Maramazu, after Mutori's grandfather. As he grew he explored the village and watched people do many things. He learned to do many things at a fairly young age, which was unheard of. He was always so cheerful and curious, wanting to know everything he could. But of course, as a child of Milira, he was creative above all else and showed much promise as an artist.

Nobody was sure what the child would do. It was usually expected for a child to follow in their parent's footsteps, but he was more than his father's child- he was Milira's child. Another tragedy struck him when he was a teen. A Highwayman attacked him and his father on the road to another village where they hoped to sell his father's pottery. The highwayman stole the pottery and damaged Maramazu's voicebox, leaving him nearly mute. He now had little choice but to communicate through writing.

This however, did not discourage him. He simply adapted and left messages in text for people. He became an eloquent writer, and when he came to age, he wrote a successful play about his own life. He fondly remembered his childhood of learning so many things, and thought that all children should experience the joy of learning. So he gathered large amounts of stone and began to construct the first school. It began in his home village somewhere in the country of Tekale, and he invited all parents to send their kids there so they could learn many things, and carve their own destinies.

The idea was met with opposition at first, but more and more people remembered that they never wanted to follow in their parent's foot-steps to begin with, and decided that they would let their kids get the opportunities that they never did. In time, other villages and cities began to adopt this system of teaching kids many things, improving on the system every so often.

And today, the story of the Demigod who brought an age of learning to the ancient Durakuni is still fondly remembered as a tale of triumph even in the face of tragedy, for while Maramazu had no biological children of his own, he was like a father to the many children he taught at his school, which stands to this day as a landmark in that little village in Tekale where he was born.

Thus ends this legend from Nafine, and there will be more to come.