The PureLights of Ohm Totem (37 page)

Ke shook his head vehemently as Nova continued.

"Where there's force, there's a counterforce, Ke. What we force upon others grows in all directions, and turns its ugly head toward us. I know you're well-intentioned, and care very much for everyone in the Sihu Tribe. However, introducing a prison will eventually imprison us all.”

“Words. These are merely words,” Ke disagreed. “Actions are what we need, not words. I'm tired of losing friends and family. If we create holding rooms or prisons, then the Dims will have something to think about, and perhaps stop attacking us. We can stop our loved ones from dying. I vote for prisons, and will do so at each and every circle. Some day you'll all come to your senses. We need some sort of law that says that each Dim we find on this land after each attack shall go to prison. Period.”

Ke took a step back and sat down. His face was as stern as a stone. Nothing was going to change his mind.

Nova understood his argument, and took his counterpoints with compassion and calmness. “Thank you for allowing me my say, Ke.”

He gave a nod, but continued to stare unflinchingly at the fire.

Zoey had watched this exchange with utmost interest. She'd never thought of prisons in this way before, nor had she ever had a need to do so. She lived in a cozy house where life was rather simple. You make a mess, you clean it up. You hug your mom, she'll hug you in return. You sneak a cookie without asking, you get in trouble because you didn't ask. Simple.

Isi stood up, taking a pace toward the fire. Her head was held high as she looked at each individual, even Coda and Zoey.

“I agree with Nova,” she said. "It's true that force always has a counterforce. I see the wisdom in that. A holding room will only bring the energy of imprisonment to the Sihu Tribe and..."

Ke furrowed his brow, breaking The Circle of Elders sacred agreement by interrupting. "Are your eyes closed? Haven't you seen that the Dims already take some of us as prisoners each time they attack us? I'd say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the energy of imprisonment is already here!"

Isi, taking exception to the interruption, shot back with an irritated look. Zoey could tell this wasn't the first time Ke had gotten under her skin.

"Of course, I see this, Tasunke. I'm not blind to the fact that they capture tribe-mates and put them into slavery, imprison them, or brainwash them to attack us. Your ideas of a prison brings a bigger picture to my heart, though, and the picture I see is nothing but failure.”

“Failure?” retorted Ke. “How can something we've never tried be a failure? We must try it first.” He paced around the circle, between the elders and the fire. His hooves hit the dirt with each step, making soft clopping sounds. Finally, his pent up anger erupted. “We are cowards! We shrink back in fear when any new idea is presented to the circle!”

He stopped in stride when he came to Nova. “And you,” he pointed, “you're the worst of them all! You call yourself a PureLight, or worse yet, you call yourself a VioletLight?”

Nova smiled. “Yes, that I am.”

Zoey thought this was probably how Crepus had turned from a VioletLight to being a Dim.
Was he once voicing his opinions like Ke in the Circle of Elders by going against the PureLight Order?

Ke rolled his eyes as he walked back to his spot in the circle directly across from Nova. He sat down with a curt snort.

Lootah, a black bear, stepped forward with his ears held high. “I'm not a historian of any means. But, what I've seen throughout the moons of visiting the archive tablets in the Large Boulder is a pattern that emerges among societies. Although we've never had a prison in Sihu Tribe, history shows us that if we set one up, then it's not only the Dims that become imprisoned, but it would eventually be us, too. I found this to be a literal lesson. It would be a form of prison for us to have to guard prisoners, and eventually, we would throw our own Sihu brothers and sisters into the prisons, as well.”

"I don't see that coming,” countered Ke. “That's impossible. Our mere character as a tribe wouldn't allow it. No one would do such a thing."

Nova, nodding to Lootah, made sure that it was okay for her to speak. Lootah nodded back, giving her the floor.

"You said ‘our mere character as a tribe wouldn’t allow it’, yet you would already do such a thing, Ke. You just said so yourself. You'd throw a Dim into a prison."

"Yes, I said a Dim, not anyone from Sihu. I'd never throw a tribes-mate in there."

"Throwing a Dim into a prison is no different than a Sihu tribes-mate. What you do to another, you do to yourself. In this case, what you do to another tribe, you do to your own tribe."

Nova's eyes narrowed. "This lesson has repeated in history over and over again. A prison would bring about a massive change in thinking. We would veer away from the PureLight Order.”

“The Order, the Order, the Order,” Ke intoned, flipping his head back and forth. “Where is this Order? I've never seen it! None of us but Nova claims to have seen it. It disappeared for a reason. It disappeared because The Great Spirit wanted it to.”

“From what I remember,” said the red-tailed hawk that had stepped forward, “Crepus stole the PureLight Order. From my knowledge, it wasn't The Great Spirit.”

"Yes, Shikoba, Crepus may have stolen it,” replied Nova. “Still, we have to look more clearly into the change that Ke wants to make. Because of this change, Ke,” she looked deeply into his eyes across the fire, “our very way of thinking and doing things would change. Laws and government would be created for the sole purpose of this prison. An energy shift would stir and spin its way to everyone in the Sihu Tribe.

“Since prisons are also an internal border—someone goes in, but can't get out—the idea of internal borders in the Sihu Tribe enters our mindset. Some, if not all, would slowly but surely claim ownership to certain areas of this land. We'd be under the impression that we own something, and that this land we walk on is our land. We'd forget that this land was created by The Great Spirit, and is to be shared with everyone. Once ownership is established, laws are established. We'd need laws for the land we'd own, so others couldn't take it from us. One thing always leads to another.”

Nova could see that none of this was sinking in. “We'd no longer allow everyone in Ohm Totem to govern themselves. We'd be doing the governing for them. Laws would be created, and because they'd be created, they'd be broken,” she tried again. “We'd become a Dim. This is what Crepus wants. This is his grand plan to take everything and everyone over. He wants us to create laws. He wants us to destroy ourselves from the inside. He knows this is the only way to end our very existence. What he wants is everything set up for him, so he can govern us all. To govern the entire island of Ohm Totem."

Ke groaned, "A law is a law and merely a law. All the harm that a law would do is keep spirit animals in line."

Nova shook her head, getting the attention of the rest of the circle. For a reason Zoey couldn't explain, she felt that Nova now knew something about Ke that no one else knew. Nova tilted her head. "You've changed, Tasunke. You aren't seeing as clearly as you once did. From my point of view, I see that a law is a great idea in a world of terrible illness, an illness of the mind. We've never lived by a set of laws. We've lived by an Order. An Order that's been ingrained in every Being from the beginning. It's never steered us into a negative direction. It's only when we choose to ignore the Order that things start to get out of hand. We stop helping others. We start becoming greedy, and do things only for ourselves. We act like others are going to take everything from us, when in truth, we have nothing to begin with. In the true sense of life, we own nothing. We don't own anyone's soul, body, or mind. Imprisoning another just to help ourselves would create a completely new mindset in our tribe. The mindset would slowly take over each and every tribes-mate, eventually taking over our tribe.

“Those who choose to ignore the PureLight Order, choose to dim their light. Those who don't ignore it, brighten their light for all the world to see. Hear me well, Ke, it's not my plan to become a Dim. However, I must ask, is it your plan to become one? I know you're intelligent, so I see no other explanation of your need for laws, other than to secretly help Crepus."

Ke's face twisted in anger, but he held his tongue and glared at the trees in the distance. The other elders flinched, astonished that Nova would say such a thing.

Lootah nodded to Nova and spoke up. “I don't think that Ke wants to be a Dim. I disagree with you there. I agree, though, that when a prison is formed, then a government in some way must be created to police the prison system. When government is created, it meddles in the affairs of those that it governs. If we governed, we'd stop acting for the benefit of others. We'd have to place trust in the government, hence, we’d stop trusting each other. Once that happens, even trusting our own selves would be difficult. We'd be living a lie.” He looked at everyone around the circle, even Zoey, Chev, and Coda.

“Ke, we have to trust that the Dims have to do what they do, and leave them alone. They have their own lessons to learn. The only way to deal with a giant boulder tumbling down a mountainside is to get out of its way. If you try to stop or change its direction, it will either kill or carry you down the hill with it. If you come to the understanding that you can't control the boulder, and never could, then you've understood the flow of life.”

Lootah, having felt that what needed to be said was said, sat down. Nova did the same, but added one last comment.

“Drop all desire for the well being of others, and in so doing, well being will be as plentiful as the trees, Ke.”

Ke turned his eyes to Nova. “Is that the message you want to send to them?” His eyes were like small creases holding a burning ember held behind them. “So, we don't do anything to help them? Is that your message, Nova? Let Crepus bring continued suffering to the spirit animals living in the Dim Lands? Is that your message to our world?”

Nova remained calm. She bowed her head to Ke, saying quietly, “My life is my message. I live my life as an example to others. As you've seen for thousands of moons, when a Dim crosses over our land for help, we help. However, I don't push my way into their life and into their affairs. There will be a point, Ke, when our task as PureLights will be to cross through the Fog and protect those who suffer the torment of Crepus Dim. The best way to do so is through patience, compassion, and love. I don't rush into a violent crowd that's not ready to hear my voice. Prisons, in a sense, will lengthen the span in which the Dims maintain control of Ohm Totem.”

Ke responded, “And, again, my position is...” his voice trailed off as a loud bang echoed in the sky just above them. A bright, white light flashed, lighting up all of Ohm Totem, and then, as quick as it came, vanished.

Zoey crouched low to the ground, half expecting the night sky to fall on her. She looked up a second too late, missing the bright light, but saw what looked to be a silver comet, followed by the large bang. It had a tail full of color the full spectrum of the rainbow. It shot in a slow moving arc across the sky, coming from the east, passing in front of the moon and disappearing in the west, showering sparkles of colors throughout the sky.

In unison, Coda and Zoey looked at Chev and whispered, “What was that?”

Nova, turning away from the comet, glanced at the elders, then peered at her feet. A rolled up scroll sat next to her paws. She gently nudged it open and stared into it.

She read and then narrowed her eyes at Zoey. “This can't be! Everyone surround Zoey and protect her—now!”

Suddenly a rustling sound came from every direction. Coda looked up to the cliffs surrounding the circle. Hundreds of spirit animals stood all around the edges. The Dims!

The PureLights huddled around Zoey, and Coda took his place amongst them. He stood guard, determined that no feather on Zoey would be touched. Through the narrow canyon passage leading to the fire appeared a familiar figure. Crepus!

“I've come for my prize,” he roared, his head held high and his tail lashing back and forth. Behind him were hundreds of Dims.

This is impossible. We have no chance
, despaired Coda.

Echoing his thoughts, Chev shrieked, “This is nearly impossible! How can we get out of here?” Chev's eyes darted back and forth in wild-eyed panic. If Coda could, he'd send Chev home, but that wasn't an option. He worried that Chev could make things worse. He'd have to protect Chev, as well as Zoey.

Nova rested her tail on Coda's back, saying, “You're Zoey's Guardian. Get her out of these Dim Lands safely. I'll make a way for your exit. Just stay close behind.” She voiced the obvious to the group. “We're greatly outnumbered here.” Nova nodded to Shikoba, the red-tail hawk, instructing, “At my signal, fly as fast as you can back to Sihu Tribe. We'll need their help.”

Shikoba dipped her head in acknowledgement.

Coda asked anxiously, “Can't you just lift up the Dims and move them away from us? The way you did with me?”

Nova shook her head. There was sympathy in her eyes. “I wish. It doesn't work that way. If we were all VioletLights, then we could all do just that. We'd have the ability to lift most of them. I'm not yet that evolved to lift an entire tribe.” She bowed slightly, stepping out of the circle to slowly approach Crepus. Crepus continued to come toward them, undaunted by Nova's presence. They stopped two body lengths away from each other, glaring into each other's eyes.