A lone woman clad top to bottom in white, walks down the streets of a small, quiet town deep in the heart of West Africa, gently humming a tune to herself. A strong gust of wind threatens to blow off her sunhat. She holds on to her hat and protects her eyes from the swirling stinging sand. Something bumps into her. A child , she senses. A small female child, she perceives.
"Aunty White!" the girl cries.
Bending down, she shields the child from the rising winds, draws her to her chest and asks
"What are you doing out all alone under a late sun child?"
Sniffling, the child responds,
"My brother sent me to get his ball when his stupid friend kicked it too far away, he promised to let me play if I did. But then the breeze started carrying the ball far away and sand kept getting in my eyes and I can't find the ball again"
The wind continues to pick up and the girl buries herself further in the chest of the woman.
"Hmm… I don't think your brother and his friends will be out in the open still with this wind, so why don't we find your ball and rest somewhere for a while till it dies down?"
"Okay. But I can't go too far or I'll get lost again and mommy will get angry."
"Alright then, we'll find the ball and wait right here. Now, what does the ball look like?"
"The thing is brown and dirty because they've been playing with it forever. It has.."
As the girl prattles about the ugly precious ball, the woman peers into her memory and sees the ball rolling further and further away from the poor little feet chasing after it and smiles.
"But Aunty white, how will we find the ball without sand entering our eyes?"
"By asking them very nicely to move around us of course"
"Ehn?" the child stares puzzled as Aunty White starts to whisper quietly, and her expression changes quickly to shock as the sands slowly start to dance around Aunty White's hair. She jerks out of Aunty White's embrace and sees the sand and wind slowly curling around them, like brush stokes in the air, protecting them from the onslaught of sharp wind all around them.
"Aunty! So ya really a witch like my brothers' stupid friend said!"
The woman chuckles softly," the term 'witch' really has gotten quite popular in this world."
"You don't deny it! You must be strong o!"
"Haha, I don't really like to exert myself, but I suppose if it is from your perspective then yes, I am very strong"
"Are you evil?"
"I'd like to think not", the woman replies, placing a hand under her chin in self reflection.
"It's true, bad witches wear black and they are always frowning"
"Haha, that is a very silly assumption but I suppose each land has their legends, anyway, now that the bad sand is out of the way, let us find your ball."
She points north and starts walking and in little time, a ragged, dust covered ball can be seen rolling towards them, as if pushed by the wind.
"Aunty! You used magic to bring the ball back!"
Laughing again, the woman says " I only asked the wind to return what it had taken away, now lets get you home. Lead the way."
"Can't you magic me to my house?"
"But I have never been to your house"
"Hmm, I guess magic has limits sha"
"Indeed it does", the woman assures with a gentle smile, the little girl misses the brief cloud of sadness in the woman's eyes.
And so the little girl leads the way home, forgetting that she got lost in the miniature sand storm, not realizing she's moving by a memory trace from good witch Aunty White. As they draw closer, the winds begin to die down and dancing cascades of sand around them begin to fall. Upon arrival, the performance of sand and wind by Aunty White and nature come to a close.
"Yay! Thank you aunty."
"You're quite welcome child"
As she turns to leave the child, the child calls out to her,
"Aunty don't leave just like now, you have to show mommy your power"
"Hehe…, I think your mother would have a different reaction to my deals with nature child. If you keep our little adventure a secret, I'll tell a special story just for you tomorrow at the market instead of singing my usual songs"
" Hmmmmmm..." the girl ponders'
"Okay, if you promise, then I promise" the girl replies with excitement, now she had a secret to tell all her friends.
Smiling softly, 'Aunty White' promises and they say their goodbyes.
The next Tuesday, the children that followed their mothers to the market gather round the tall, dark skinned woman that always wears white all through. She says she's a tell-sing , but they call her Aunty White. She tells them funny stories in form of song and the older children claim she knows magic and wearing white is part of her contract with the devil.
This Tuesday, Ifeyinwa has successfully dragged her brother to the market -to their mothers amazement- so he can listen to Aunty Whites' special story that she's telling just for her.
She drags him to the front of the crowd of children gathered at Aunty White's feet.
The woman spots Ifeyinwa and smiles at her.
"You're here at last child. Now I may begin my story."
"See! I told you, she knows me and this story is for me" Ifeyinwa brags to her brother. He rolls his eyes and sits on the ground, forcefully pulling his sister down with him as he goes, ignoring her shouts.
The woman delicately strums her lute and the children quiet down.
"My story today is a very special one. The only story I know that I never witnessed, for it happened long before I was formed, and long before your world was born. It is a most precious story and has been passed down for all lifetimes since my kind were first formed. Yes, children, this is the story of the land that I am from and how my kind came to be."
As she strummed her lute and spoke, little figures arose from the winds and sand and danced between the children, away from the eyes of the busy traders and mothers.
"In the beginning and in the now, there is a Creator. He is a thinker, a lover , a designer. The universe is his canvas, time his mold, and with just his words his visions would be branded into existence.
Long, long ago, before this worlds time began, the ancient dragons , once heralds of the forces of nature themselves, plagued lands and worlds as they saw fit. They had been consumed with pride and arrogance because of their supreme power and sought to take worlds for their own, straying from their purpose as guardians of order. The Creator was angered by their arrogance but it is said that One who sits at his table begged him to spare them.
'Crush the real problem, their arrogance, Greatest One, and not your wonderful beings themselves' he said. And the Creator accepted his plea. He captured all the ancient dragons and imprisoned them in a new plane of his design, separate from his growing universe. But the dragons only grew more prideful, believing they had been isolated because they were now second only to the creator himself in power cried day in and day out for their release.
'As your strongest beings, all worlds are our natural birthright' they cried.
As time passed the Creator grew weary and highly irritated and said
'If their pride persists because they claim to be second only to me then I will unmake that claim'
And so the Creator went down to the new plane and in the eyes of the five most powerful of the ancient dragons, he fashioned a new being from the core of existence. He gave this being the power to bend , make and unmake the laws of all the worlds he had created, with the beings life source being the sacrifice for the use of this power. He commanded the being to subdue the gathered dragons and the dragons laughed.
'how can a formless sentient blob of raw essence overpower us? It may be able to command the waves of creation but we have bodies and years of experience!'
It is said the new beings first thought was obedience, and the second was fear. He could sense the immense power of the dragons around him and he did not know how to subdue as his maker had asked.
One who sits at his table said to the creator,
'You have made a most powerful being, but it is but it less than a child. It nothings of this world and of itself'
The creator reflected on this and sent the cackling dragons away.
'We will teach my new child about my world.' He said and so did.
He showed this being his world and all that lived within. One day the being told one who sits the creators table that it does not feel like other creatures and sees nothing of it of itself in the world. That One suggested to the Creator to give his new child a companion, as he has always done and give him a form. And so the creator split his creation into his first five emotions, so that they would not lack personalities as the original did, and to test if they could think for themselves and could wield their power, he told them to make a form for themselves. The first emotion, obedience modeled himself after the ones that sit at the table and the other four followed suit. He thanked the creator and That One and spoke to his new brethren.
'We have been given a purpose, to break the pride of the dragons and remind them of their place in the world. They were once the heralds of order, the keepers of the law of worlds, but we are the Creator's law, we are his will personified. Let us our gifts and our knowledge of the worlds of our Creator to do brand his will into world.'
And so they did. They shamed the dragons in combat and several feats and drove them into caves under the ground to reflect and heal.
With their purpose accomplished so quickly, these beings wondered what to do next.
That One who sits at his table said to them
'Why not explore more of the worlds of your maker? He is always making more. Continue to learn and grow and remind all that would lose their way of their purpose with your power. With the ancient dragons broken in spirit, worlds with insentient nature may need new heralds. Make this plane your new home . Never forget the err of the dragons and remember that while you hold laws in your hand and no law binds you, there is but one thing you can not make so you must never unmake. And that is sentient life.'
And this they did. They pleaded with the Creator to let them to break their power to create new beings just like them and this he granted at the price of a reduced time of existence, a small price to pay to have beings of their own to teach. As they traveled , they were called by many names by many creatures, but the first name they were called in your world was manus naturea.
My story ends here for today children, as it is time to return home."
The end of her tale was met with groaning and discontent as the children watched their little sand theater dissipate with the wind.
"So aunty, ya a matus natute and not a witch like my grandma said?"
"I thought the only law of nature was to eat or be eaten"
"There's also a law to urinate"
"That's the call of nature, foolish boy"
"Aunty can you force all of us to urinate?"
"Iyama!, can't you see she's too clean for that?"
"Ada! Stand up lets go home."
The Tell-sing laughed heartily to herself as the children were rounded up by their mothers and taken home.
"Perhaps it is time I went home myself..."
Aora, the Tell-sing, had not been home in 200 years. But she had swayed in the winds of worlds long enough. It was time to bring the tales she seen back to the land of the laws of all worlds.