Unseen Stars

I can't recall ever being more satisfied in my life.

My years number only a short twenty that I remember, but I have been blessed beyond measure. Praise be to Kokabiel, the maker of all things and the one who has caused the stars to shine upon my fortunes. Many among my people awoke robbed not only of their memory, but of their families. Some of them hardly remembered who they were. A lot of them had been crammed into the ruins far beyond the eastern borders of the trees, trapped on some high level amid the corpses of those who slept still.

I was not among them. I awoke in bed with who I will always know as my wife, and my children were in the bed slumbering, not the sleep of death, but the sleep of rest.

Wicked spirits attacked, wild things that did not know who they were either, but we escaped them easily as in their confusion they turned upon each other. We gained the safety of the forests, and discovered the fallen star, whose luminous protection has brought me and my family thus far in the world.

Perhaps it was its austere influence that brought us here among these ruins and the blessed demons. There is one, a hyena spirit, who came to our village offering us protection. I am sad to report that we had lost a few to the wilds, such things are a part of life, but here we have safety and healing. A child broke her arm recently and the saintly beast came. A mere lick of the affected area mended the bone before the child realized that she had been touched. A fierce devil attacked our camp, and she destroyed it. We enjoyed it as soup that evening.

So favorable have the conditions been that we simply moved the star from its sacred spot and brought it into this one. Originally, I was going to be a commuting worker part time in exchange for the blessings of the demon, but the land here is much safer.

Some of my brothers and sisters have volunteered to work as well. I've invited my brother-in-spirit who lives alone in Medius. He has a few friends as well.

They should be arriving tomorrow. I will be happy to see them, as they plan to help me build a more suitable dwelling for my family and myself. Square buildings are vulgar things. My people build circular dwellings to honor our gods, and only our kin know of the methods used to devise such a natural shape from unnatural materials.

For now, I dwell in a tent. My wife is cuddled besides me, for the sun is bright and the warmth makes us sleepy. Our two daughters, the angels of my eye, are curled up next to them. I practice writing now, and maybe someday I will write something that other people will care to read.

But for now, I sleep.