The Shape of Rain

by Michael B. Koep

  In the fifth and final section, the point of view shifts again, but this time to Endale. For the first time in the Lay of Melea, we learn how Endale has finally chosen Mellithion as her love. Though she could not find a way to bridge into a mortal body, she tries to speak to Mellithion through the wind, the rains and the rushing of streams. Sunsets of ruby fire and cloudless climes she sends to him. Countless attempts to reach his heart as he walked through foggy mornings, through the songs of birds-among the hum of insects. And when she sees Fenor deceive him, love him, and take him away, the Endale tears at her own body. She becomes storm and landslide.

  Finally, Endale’s wrath sets the land on fire. As it burns she feels certain that he will hear her. But she is mistaken. And when she beholds him standing beneath the sky, broken and lost from Fenor’s betrayal, she tries to weep—but she cannot. Her anger grows. She watches helplessly as the fire sweeps over the fields and engulfs the stone cottage with her love trapped inside. On the air are his cries for her, “Endale! Endale! Why won’t you come?”

  Revenge fills her heart and she seeks for Fenor. With little effort she finds her. The Godrethion woman is kneeling beside the lake. She is overcome with sorrow and grief. Endale sees that Fenor’s beloved, the man with which she betrayed Mellithion, has drowned as he fled the flames. Suddenly, Fenor looks to the sky and senses that Endale’s presence, and she trembles with fear.

  “You have drowned my one true love,” Fenor cries to Endale.

  “You have sent my love to the fire,” Endale tells the god.

  “I do not want to stay here any longer,” Fenor says. “The pain is too great. If you let me depart, you may have my body. You may go to Mellithion—you may finally know love.”

  So saying Endale falls upon Fenor and casts the trespassing god back into the void. The body of the woman falls, into the water. When it emerges, Endale tastes the smoke on the air and the sweet of cool water on her tongue. Mud squishes between her toes. Fire roars in her ears. She has bridged.

  Not far from the beach is the smoldering cottage and she runs to it. The fire has destroyed all but the stacked stones. As she enters, she finds Mellithion’s body. He is burned badly, but he is not slain. Somehow the flames did not take him, and already the rejuvenating powers of his immortal blood are restoring him. Endale rushes to his side, lifts his head and tells him, “I came for thee for I heard you calling. It is me, it is your Endale.”

  At first, Mellithion smiles, as if he were waking from a pleasant dream. He touches her face and stares into her green eyes. “You are here. Is it you?” he asks her.

  “It is me. Finally we are together,” she tells him.

  Then Mellithion’s eyes turn to flame. “No. You are not my beloved. You are not she. Be gone! I am Endale’s defender. You are no longer welcome here. Be gone unfaithful wretch!”

  “No,” she protests. “You were deceived by the Godrethion, Fenor. But she has departed, and I, Endale, have crossed to you.” Mellithion listens, but he does not believe. He lifts a dagger from beside him and cuts Endale’s throat. She falls and her blood spills out into the ash and soil.

  Mellithion, the moon god, stands. Itonalya from his court arrive. He commands them to uphold the Old Law and suffer no Godrethion to live upon Endale. They rejoice at his words. But Mellithion stares down at the body of the woman he once loved and cries.

  Then, from where her blood entered into the earth, young sprouts of vines emerge and whorl up. They spiral and coil. Tiny leaves of an almost incandescent green appear, burgeoning from the shoots. Never before has Mellithion seen such a thing. He crouches down, removes a leaf and touches it to his lips. Its flavor and scent send a chill through his entire frame. Health and vigor return to him with great speed.19 Again, a revelation alights within his confusion and grief: the woman he has slain was indeed the earth—the woman was truly his beloved Endale. Again, he has failed himself.

  Mellithion draws his sword and falls upon the blade. The sword enters into his flesh, but his body will not die.

  In frustration he roars, “Ithic veli agtig!”20 He removes the sword from the wound and throws it to the ground. The Itonalya marvel at his fury and they rush to comfort their king. Mellithion pushes them back. He leans down and lifts the body of Endale into his arms and rushes out of the stone walls.

  “I will return to my throne above,” he shouts to his followers. “I cannot live here without her. We were not made for this life. She and I will dance amid the stars once more. We will encircle each other until Thi joins us forever.”

  With that, Mellithion runs into the raging inferno that is the tree-line. His body and the body of Endale incinerate into a white pillar of flame.

  A year later, and each that followed, a meadow of white flowers with golden centers mark the spot where Mellithion and Endale entered the flames. The Itonalya call the flower Deliavu (Elliqui: day’s eye—daisy).

  ix.

  THE COURT OF DELLITHION SKY CHARTS

  APPENDIX III.

  THE GAME OF SHTAN

  shifel pleitonalya oi on

  The immortal body is one together

  Humans have been somewhat aware of universal oneness or the unified nature of being for over 6000 years. The Itonalya perspective on these truths is far older. Simply, the idea of immortals divided is against nature. Itonalya versus Itonalya is sacrilege. The above dictum is applied and practiced in Itonalya debate, civil strife and war, and even in gaming. That does not mean there are not disagreements between individuals or groups. It means only that to achieve well being, the immortal must eventually discover a wider perspective and find solutions that will lead to growth, and ultimately, prosperity and peace.

  The game of Shtan represents this particular trait of immortal culture through the game’s object. Players of Shtan do not battle against each other; instead they compete against the godsight (shtan). It is not a game of black versus white. It is a game of Itonalya against Godrethion. Shtan was modeled after both the Itonalya mission on earth, to eliminate bridging gods, and the proverb that immortals must share a universal oneness of being in order to survive. Shifel pleitonalya oi on (the immortal body is one together).

  Shtan is believed to have originated out of Wyn Avuqua sometime around 1500 BCE. Through omvide travel, Itonalya shared the game all over the ancient world and, over the centuries, it has evolved into different forms. Shtan’s pieces, representing the four Wyn Avuquain households of head (mind), wings, heart and talons, transformed to mirror the character and environment of the adopting culture. The influence of shtan on Eastern strategy games like igo or go, xiangqi, janggi and shogi all seem to have culminated in the game chaturanga, the earliest version of chess. Chaturanga is thought to have come out of India (c. 280-550). Chaturanga’s pieces, like its predecessor, were divided into four groups: infantry, calvary, elephants and chariotry. Around the middle of the fifteenth century in Europe, the seed of shtan sprouted once again, and the pieces assumed the shapes of the powerful houses of that culture, the royalty (king and queen), the church (bishop), the fortified landscapes (castles) and the military (knights and pawns). This child of shtan, chess, standardized its rules in the nineteenth century and they have remained the same (except for some technical and procedural changes) to this day.

  RULES OF SHTAN:

  Shtan is a two player game. One player plays the white and red/white pieces, and the other plays the black and the red/black pieces. Each player moves for both their Itonalya army (black or white), and then each player moves for both their Godrethion army (red/white and red/black). Each army consists of eight pieces at the beginning of the game: four pyramids, one head, one heart, one wings, one talons.

  The game is played on a shtan board, consisting of 96 squares, alternately white and black. At the start of the game, the game pieces are positioned as follows:

  The icons with circles represent the Godrethion armies of red/black and red/white.

  (Photo courtesy of Graham Cremo)

  MOV
EMENT OF THE PIECES

  TALONS

  Talons, like the rook in Chess, moves in a straight line, horizontally or vertically. There is not limit to the amount of squares it can move. Talons cannot jump other pieces.

  (Photos courtesy of Graham Cremo.)

  HEART

  Similar to the bishop in chess, the heart moves in a straight diagonal line, and may not jump over pieces.

  (Photos courtesy of Graham Cremo.)

  HEAD

  The head can move in any direction, unlimited spaces, diagonally and horizontally. The head cannot jump pieces. The head eventually evolved into the queen in chess.

  (Photos courtesy of Graham Cremo.)

  PYRAMID

  Pyramids in Shtan move very similarly as pawns do in the game of Chess. Pyramids can only move one square at a time, and only in a straight line—forward only. Pawns can only attack and capture one square diagonally in front of their position. However, when a pyramid crosses its respective forward meridian, it promotes and is able to move and capture in any direction, one square only—as the king in Chess. When a pyramid passes the meridian the piece is turned to reveal its godsight eye embossed on the piece’s underside. This allows the opponent to know that the pyramid has promoted.

  (Photos courtesy of Graham Cremo.)

  THE GODRETHION ARMIES

  The Godrethion pieces are traditionally red and accented with black or white. Each player is in control of a Godrethion army, as well as, it is said, a god (via the roll of the dice or the four sided spinning top similar to a Dreidel). The player playing the black pieces moves the red/black pieces. The player playing the white pieces moves the red/white pieces. Again, this is not a game of black versus white, or Itonalya against Itonalya. Players stay aligned with the Itonalya mission of eliminating gods on earth. Therefore, black pieces do not capture white pieces, or vise versa. Black pieces capture only Godrethion red/white. White pieces capture only Godrethion red/black. Red/black capture white—red/white captures black. Godrethion armies move by a roll of the four sided die. This die represents the godsight (shtan) playing at the table. The number of the roll determines the piece to be moved. 1: head, 2: wings, 3: heart, 4: talons. The player controlling their respective Godrethion army may choose to either move the rolled number or a pyramid at each turn. Godrethion armies do not capture their opponent’s Godrethion. When a number is rolled and there is no piece available on the board that matches the number, a pyramid may be moved instead. If there is no pyramid or corresponding die numbered piece, the turn is passed. The dice must be rolled before any Godrethion move, whether pieces are available or not. The roll allows the godsight to be a player. When a Godrethion army is completely captured, the game is over. The player with the most black or white pieces on the board wins.

  ORDER OF MOVES:

  Black moves first. White moves next. Third, Godrethion red/black move by a roll of the dice, or by the moving of a pyramid. (There is a 1 in 4 chance that the die will provide a 2 to allow wings a move by jumping the pyramid line. Typically, however, pyramids are the first to advance, allowing space for the back-line pieces to move.) Fourth, Godrethion red/white rolls and moves—then the rotation begins with black again. This order of moves continues until the game is won or there is a stalemate or draw.

  OBJECT OF THE GAME

  The object of Shtan is for one player (white or black) to eliminate as many if not all of their opponent’s (white or black) pieces from the board using their respective Godrethion (red/white, red/black) pieces. A winner is determined by which opponent has the most black or white pieces left on the board when either Godrethion army is completely eliminated, or when a stalemate is determined.

  APPENDIX IV.

  MISCELLANEOUS

  TRANSLATIONS AND

  TERMS

  Here follows a translated version of Albion Ravistelle’s song that appeared in Leaves of Fire.

  i.

  ALBION RAVISTELLE’S SONG

  Nye thi so zjoy goshem

  Thi nugosht bensis ensis

  Mel hamtik, del hamtik, enthu

  Sisg ag

  Orathom ethe

  Lithion talgeth

  Thi fafe wis

  Thi fafe wis

  A Wyn Avuqua

  Endale che

  Thi col orathom

  Tiris liflarin thi avusht

  Lithion nuk te lirych

  Orathom thi geth

  Fethe thi geth

  Ithic veli agtig

  Ithic veli agtig

  In sorrow I sing these words (this tale)

  For my birth began my torture

  Countless moons, countless suns, years,

  Without end.

  Rest is robbed of me.

  The gods forbid me.

  But we hold the doors.

  Yes, we hold the path.

  Oh, Wyn Avuqua

  The pearl of Earth

  Our only paradise

  I see your towers in flame

  The hand of God bears the torch

  We want only rest

  We want to go home

  Why does my death delay?

  Why does my death delay?

  ii.

  ANGLO SAXON TRANSLATION

  Here follows a translation of Etheldred’s words to Loche Newirth when the two met beside the omvide Mellithion in the year 1010 AD. (From The Shape of Rain.)

  Aér gé fyr heonan, léasscéaweras, on land Itonalya.

  Ne seah ic wídan feorh under heofones hwealf, sceaðona ic nát hwylc. Sé moncynnes. Godes andsacan þé þú hér tó lócast. Godes féond, Orathom Wis! Á mæg god wyrcan wunder æfter wundre. Weoroda raéswan, Géata léode, umborwesende, winedrihten.

  Sægde sé þe cúþe, frumsceaft Gode, swutol sang scopes feorran reccan.

  Ere you are far hence, deceiving spies, in the land of the Immortals!

  I have not seen in my whole life under heaven’s vault, some enemy I know not what. He, mankind.” He looks at Julia, “God’s adversary which you see here. God’s foe, Immortal.” He looks at Edwin, “And then, God can always work wonder after wonder. The leader of the legions, of the Great People, being but a child, friend and Lord.”

  He spoke who knew how, the origin of God, the sweet song of the poet to narrate from afar.”

  iii.

  ENCRIS

  Sources indicate that Elliqui’s Original Mode (its telepathic quality) was stolen or cut from Itonalya thought over a succession of centuries. This disconnect was named Encris. Like the Babel myth, the Itonalya confusion of tongues story is said to have occurred because of an Itonalya rebellion against the creator Thi. Thi, who would not gift the Itonalya an afterlife. After several millennia as guardians to the earth and its mortal inhabitants, the Itonalya grew proud and rebelled. In retribution, Thi slowly removed the Original Mode of Elliqui, their true connection to existence, the stars and Earth. Eventually, Thi destroyed their great realm. When the spoken/written language first appeared is difficult to know for sure, but we do know that not long after the fall of Wyn Avuqua, the Original Mode was completely lost from the minds and hearts of the Immortals. It is also important to note that the earliest Elliqui scribes and speakers were considered heretics and preachers of a false faith. Encris is the first of many Itonalya tragedies.

  iv.

  GAVRESS LINNASISG

  Gavress Linnasisg is the Itonalya funeral ritual for the fallen which includes the reciting of the poem Linnasisg (meaning, the ending of the light), followed by the release of the slain immortal body (or head) into the sea, lake or nearest body of water. It is believed that the ritual will allow the slain immortal the chance of an afterlife if the mighty Thi were to ever allow such a gift to an Itonalya. The litany and the water ceremony are regarded as a solemn, meaningful and respectful act to the fallen. There is also some humor included within. While the depth and weight of a fallen immortal demands pensive sorrow, the futility of nothing beyond resounds in the strangely playful ending lines of the poem:
<
br />   There’s a head in the bag.

  There’s a head in the bag.

  The head is my head.

  It is my head in the bag.

  The Elliqui word Gavress (spirit sack) sets the tone that the body is only a sack—and it can be emptied. Gavress Linnasisg proclaims to all immortals that existence bears no more relevance on the universe than what can be placed into a bag and inevitably swallowed by the ocean. There is nothing beyond.

  Regrettably, the moving and comical poem is extraordinarily long, and limited space prevents placing it here.

  v.

  RATHINALYA

  The Rathinalya (life circle) is the physical sensation an immortal feels when a god is near by. It has been said to cause gooseflesh and extreme chills. Its affect prompts an Itonalya to end it (which typically leads to the death of the trespassing Godrethion). The severity depends upon the strength of the Godrethion and its intentions. The most powerful Rathinalya ever recorded was that of the son of Loche Newirth, Edwin, when, for a short time, Thi had bridged into the little boy.

  Another curious aspect to the Rathinalya is that it provides an Itonalya with an inherent and advanced dexterity.

  APPENDIX V.

  OF LOCHE NEWIRTH’S

  POETRY

  Collected here is a small sample of Loche Newirth’s verse. Though Dr. Newirth is known predominantly for his supernatural work, The Journal, he preferred writing poetry. While the affect of his poetry pales in comparison to the enigmatic history-shifting narrative that was dedicated to Dr. Marcus Rearden, these writings contain the groundwork and seeds to many of The Journal’s themes. Death, rebirth, the struggle of the artist, mythology, innocence lost, marriage, fatherhood and elements of Newirth’s vocation as a psychologist can be traced through the poems.