While Rennish had expected more resistance to the idea, Erust and Ashra both jumped into it with a passion. He couldn't understand why they were suddenly so gung-ho about the whole plan but Rennish was pleased. This was so much easier than explaining that a faction of divine beings was asking them to delay as long as possible.
Rennish understood that they were protecting them from something. He had tried to figure out what they were up to. His own best guess was that as long as Ed and Erust weren't too far from each other it protected them both? If the souls were too far apart maybe you could detect that there were two?
Rennish had never spent too much time with the handling of souls. He was more of a creative designer. He helped people feel motivated. He traveled around building colors and patterns in the world and wildlife. He was a sideline kind of guy, so he didn't fully grasp how all of this worked.
He wasn't far off the mark in his guess. Golliad and his group wanted to keep the two apart but not TOO far apart. No one really knew what would happen if the two halves came into contact. Tons of less important people in the world were just copies of blank souls. They lived in towns together and ate and worshiped together. It was where the idea of soulmates came from. If your soul was similar it was easier to understand your partner.
Rennish tried not to give himself a migraine by thinking about it too hard. He never expected that this would turn into such a drawn-out ordeal. Had they explained this from the beginning he might have backed out and stayed doing his own little chores, bored and completely safe.
The trio of adventurers started to backtrack just a little. They never went too far. They knew that the compass was leading them towards something. Rennish guessed it was leading them away from something but he kept his mouth shut. He hated being involved in the god's plans.
They started at the first town they came across. Erust and Ashra treated all the sick. After asking some questions they found a house that was supposed to be cursed. It was a simple haunting and Rennish asked the inhabitants to move a town over. With the spirits moving on the town rejoiced and held the trio a party.
And their life together continued like this for a few weeks. They would travel from each town, city, and hamlet doing anything they could find.
Rennish kept a running tally in his head. They had blessed twenty-three weddings. Forty-two babies had been anointed. Fourteen fields had been blessed. One church had been consecrated. An untold number of lesser spirits and ghosts had been asked to leave. Often the same spirits were just being pushed from town to town.
The spirit problem bothered Rennish at first. He finally convinced Erust and Ashra to sell him to the villagers as their expert on ghosts. So when he started suggesting that cairns be built outside of town for the spirits to use everyone took him seriously. If he was the prophet's expert on ghosts then why argue with him?
The trick to a cairn was that it gave a place for prayers and thoughts to congregate. Without that kind of pinnacle spirits and the dead would float around looking for any kind of weak power they could use to keep alive. When they were in a certain range of the cairn they could feed themselves.
Ghosts also tended to be lazy and usually wouldn't stray from a food source unless they found something better. Overall this was a win-win for these small towns the spirits that still clung to them.
It was two weeks in when they stopped at a village of boar people. The area was lush with a harvest ready to be pulled. They had stopped to ask if they wanted a blessing on the crops but been quickly shot down by the village elder.
He was a short man with the two largest tusks that the trio had ever seen. They were adorned in gold with patterns inlaid. It was sign of his age and wisdom to the village.
"Stop and enjoy our feast. Your blessings have come to us without you here. Let's just celebrate tonight and you can do a general blessing before you leave!" His smile lit up the folks around him and they nodded in agreement.
That night a feast was held. Meats were smoked and hung on spits. Plates of roasted root vegetables were laid out and the town just pulled what they wanted. A band was put together which delighted Rennish. He kept his instruments with him but for a bard, finding new songs was a rare treat.
As the night wore on stories were passed along the villagers. Rennish was sitting at the table when he heard a story about a dragon heading across the land. This gathered his interest because the dragons were considered a myth. At one time they might have lived but that was even questionable.
The fact that Golliad had taken such a risk to talk to him and the appearance of a dragon had to be more than just a coincidence.
The story was that a dragon had taken off from the cursed woods and flown across the whole land. Rumors were that it landed in the port town and dealt with the most wicked before disappearing.
From what Rennish knew this meant that if it was real, it flew in and walked out as a man. It had to be Ed. He smiled to himself as he was suddenly glad he wasn't involved in that. Dragons and fights weren't his style. This was more his kind of life. Eating other peoples food and being doted on for performing a few miracles.
While he was smiling to himself and listening along the village elder walked up behind him with a whole gaggle of children behind him. Rennish felt the hand on his shoulder and turned around to look.
"I hear from the prophet that you are trained as a bard," Warm light glinted off the gold tusks.
Rennish smiled and sighed. "Yes I am, what can I do for you? The band is good enough without me."
"Yeah they are great. Do you have any tales you could tell the kids?" He used his hands to introduce the dozen small children behind him.
Rennish smiled. Kids weren't his strong suit, but telling stories was so he smiled. An audience, no matter how small, was still an audience. "You know I was just thinking of one. Come on kids."
Rennish led them over to a small area where the adults hadn't gathered. All of them settled in and got comfortable on the ground. Rennish waited until the small bodies stopped squirming and 24 little eyes focused in on him.
"Have you ever heard the tale of the white-gold emperor?" Rennish started. The whites of his eyes shone as the fire reflected off his face.
All of the kids shook their heads. Rennish smiled and nodded. "Okay. Well then a long time ago there was a dragon known as the white-gold emperor. The world was full of dragons then. You could find at least one in each town watching over the world."
Rennish shifted around and used his hands to demonstrate as he told the story. "The dragons protected everyone. When the creator of the world still walked on the planet he wanted someone to watch over his creations. The first and strongest of them all was the emperor. He could transform from a man to a beast. He was special because he was neither human or beast. He was both and neither at the same time."
Rennish found his cup next to him and took a sip before continuing. "The first real battle for the humans and demi-humans was against a race known as the demon races. They were created for balance in the world. They used to live along all the other people in the world. One day they decided that they should rule the other two. Demons were generally stronger, smarter, and just better than humans and demi-humans at almost everything. The only problem was their hunger."
Rennish watched the faces at they sat listening. They weren't bored and that was a good thing. Bored children are mischievous children. "One day they rebelled against their friends. The humans and the demi-humans all banded together to fight them but it was a struggle. The dragons knew they could end it quickly but they were sworn to guard, not to fight. Eventually the emperor had to make a choice. Was he guarding the world by letting them kill each other? Finally, he made a decision and told the other dragons to guard the humans and demi-humans.
When the dragons joined the fight battle turned. And the first demon lord was born, His name was Japheth. The emperor and Japheth had a huge battle on the whole other side of the planet where everything is covered in water. They fought so hard that they wiped out all the land that had been there and destroyed most of the land, leaving only islands. Eventually, the emperor was able to kill the Demon Lord and flew back to his home to recover from his wounds. "
Rennish looked up as he noticed several adults were listening now too. "When he made it home he was bloody and beaten. He needed to rest to heal his wounds. His last command was for the dragons to defend their cities. Together the dragons killed off the last of the demon warriors and loved their kind up deep underground. They sealed them away where the emperor slept, they were so afraid of him that they kept a safe distance.
With that done the emperor then went to sleep to heal. And he slept for almost two thousand years. When he woke up almost all of his brothers and sisters were dead. The dragons had been killed when the humans and demi-humans started fighting the giants and then themselves. When he woke up he had to watch as the last of his kind of died off.
In a fit of rage, he segregated all the species. During the fighting, he attacked all the sides until they called a ceasefire. When he landed everyone was afraid because not even the demon lord could kill him. He commanded that they stopped fighting, and as long as they didn't fight among themselves. If a fight ever came out again, he would return to the world and end it once more."
A tiny hand rose from the crowd, "Does that mean a fight is brewing?"
Rennish shrugged, "I don't know, maybe, or maybe he just needed to stretch his wings?"
The kids laughed. "You don't think he's real do you?"
"If he is I am sure he is lonely. I wonder what he did and who he has met so far. Maybe you could meet him if he is real." Rennish smiled at the kids. They all broke into a game as they started darting around like dragons. Rennish smiled but worried internally. If the dragon is back, what has Ed gotten himself into?