"Dreams do come true, if only we wish hard enough. You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it."
― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
Mara gazed at the foggy mug, her tail puffed up and wound about her waist. Can this guy read my thoughts? Earth Deities could do that, but why would a rogue Deity invade this place? Such a thing hadn't happened in thousands of years.
"I'm afraid so young one, the thoughts of mortals are as easy to read as street signs." The old reptile sighed, his long neck partially retracted into his bulky shell. "It is a historic day indeed, it was ten thousand years ago years ago when a Deity last attacked another."
The man's black eyes turned, pointed at something beyond the ceiling.
"Last chance little one, that's a refreshing drink, but soon you won't be able to enjoy it."
"The guild has an Earth Deity of our own," She warned her captor. "You shouldn't mess around in this place, it will only be trouble for you."
Mara forced out her words as she slid the cup back and forth, the misty haze locked around the glass like a lamprey.
"I'd appreciate if you let me go, my friend might need me." Her eyes darted to the door. She found it vanished, replaced with a large bay window that somehow overlooked the city. The view centered around a dark sphere couched in lightning.
An inner door opened. and a heavily armored ape-kin squeezed into the room. His bulky armor, thicker than Mara's wrists, created sparks as he compacted his two-meter frame through the much smaller gateway.
"Founder Ooulin, the visitors have been safely transported to the inner guild." The behemoth said. Each word pounded, a heavy drum in her sensitive ears. "Please reconsider, perhaps there is another way?"
The armored ape glanced at Mara before his yellow eyes snapped back to the turtle-kin.
"Let me and the other Semi-Divines join you, together we may change the path you've foreseen."
A grin formed on Founder Ooulin's face, and the large turtle suddenly appeared before the ape, his shelled body several times larger than the armored man. The two stood and communicated without words, until the ape-kin bowed his head.
"I cannot change the true path of fate Aangor."
Ooulin placed a palm on his servant's head, his grin reduced to a sad smile. His black eyes flashed, and for a moment the pin-points of lights encompassed them, his gaze changed to the purest white.
"Only a select few have that privilege, and my weakness excludes me" The turtle-kin blinked, and returned his sight to normal. "Sacrifice is the path to freedom, and I have seen mine since the day I opened these cursed eyes."
Huge tears splattered onto the wooden floor, and the big ape sank to one knee, his loud voice reciting words that brought Mara back to her childhood.
"Speak truth when you stand against the grips of fear..."
She had said these same words, as had her father, and his father before him. When Ooulin replied to the ritual words, she felt her mouth move in unison.
"Stand true when you speak for the rights of others."
The old turtle seemed to swell as he replied, straightened to his full height he filled the room.
"Take nothing and give everything, receive the gifts of life and show them to the world."
The old cloak that wrapped the turtle-kin's shell fell away and displayed the intricately carved depiction on its surface, formed of runes that created a moving image. A lancing knight charged. The air poured from his horse's lungs, and froth formed on its lips. Together they dove into the night and parted the darkness as they rushed to face the beasts within.
"Walk into the face of the world, and leave it greater with every step."
"This is the path, all who walk it are my brothers." Mara, Ooulin, and Aangor all spoke together. "This is the truth, all who seek it are my sisters."
She knew now who this man was, and to speak these words in his presence was an honor greater than she could imagine.
"This is the way, all who follow it are my clan."
At the final words of the Guild Oath, Ooulin's shell flashed with a rainbow of color, an iridescence that filled Mara's heart with peace, the hand of a good friend that held her up while she cried. Tears fell from her eyes, unbidden. The warm glow drove the worries and pain from her mind, a balm poured directly into her soul.
"Drink little one, drink, and be merry!" Ooulin's wizened face appeared before Mara, her mug held between two vast fingers. "Your journey has just begun, and the future before you holds the truth that we all seek."
He pressed the glass into her hands and moved with a slow purpose, one step at a time, until he stood before the window.
"I cannot escape my fate, because to do so would be to turn against all that I am." His words caused a sob from Aangor, who still knelt on the ground. "But in your future little cat, I see the end of fate. The death of my greatest enemy."
He turned his eyes to face Mara, framed by the flashing light beyond the window.
"Never surrender young one, always hold true. The path you follow can change the world."
Mar couldn't understand why her tears still fell. Her body twitched, compelled to grab this man she'd just met. She would hold him, prevent whatever transpired here, and then, perhaps, this strange sadness would fade.
"Who are you?"
Mara raised her misty cup to her lips. Summer rain and wildflowers, a sunkissed field after a gentle shower. It carried the scent of her father after he returned from the road and the light odor of her mother's herbal perfume. As the clear liquid passed her lips, she tasted her life on the tip of her tongue. A thousand meals she'd eaten with friends, the sweet tang of the river behind her childhood home, a hint of the sweetness of her first love's kiss.
"I am one who seeks freedom and truth, just like yourself." Ooulin smiled more deeply, the spark at the center of his eyes illuminating the room. "I spoke the oath in my heart and with my words, so I am your brother, your sister, I am your clan."
His body began to fade around the edges, but his smile remained.
"Stand tall Mara Sitial, face fate with conviction. Aangor has promised to help you on the path."
The great ape, who still wept, nodded.
"I have given my word master, this girl will be protected."
"She doesn't need your protection Angor, she needs your guidance," Ooulin said, a hint of admonishment in his tone. "You are wiser than you know, and the student for which I have the most pride." The old turtle vanished, his voice still present in the room. "Remember, Stand tall!"
Within the bay window where the entrance had been, Ooulins form reappeared, and Aangor stepped forward to watch. Mara squeezed between him and the window, her eyes on the strange man outside.
"What is going on Mr. Aangor?" Mara's words caused the large man to twitch, and he spared her a glance before his gaze returned to the window, locked on Ooulin as the turtle-kin approached the lightning-bound sphere.
"The Master of our order rides to his death," Aangor's mighty voice erupted, loud even as he whispered. "Watch closely child, the God of Justice stands."