Chap1. The Violet Spring
The ice age was over.
The new earth was full of miraculous landscapes everywhere. The white fog around sharp rock mountains, a strong waterfall between red mossed boulders, curly trees as if someone had twisted them, and ice pillars in oceans which no creature on the land had witnessed….
Well, actually, these might have been miracles indeed. As even gods had not anticipated that this whole new era would have come.
After the ice age had ended long ago which everyone called the last disaster, or at least that was how they hoped so, the fourth humans appeared on the earth. Their bodies were smaller, but their hands and intelligence were more delicate than the previous humankind.
These new humans fought to live every day, facing hunger, coldness, and other ordeals. And among the difficulties, what humans were most afraid of were the wrath and curses of gods; those were the answer to how the previous humans had disappeared.
One spring, at the Mid-Southern area of the Nodistinc continent, lived a tribe of Tumdeir, meaning of tomorrow. These people had dark beige or light brown skin and big eyes. And like all the other humans, they spent every day with hard labours, prayed to gods for hunting and picking, and had to mourn for many separations. However, fortunately, there was one day of a year for this tribe to rest, sing and dance; it was the Day of Violet Spring.
“Solisahar!”
On the Day of Violet Spring, lavender petals were flowing down through the wind from mountains surrounding the tribal village. Young children clapped looking up at the sky in joy, and women fixed their tents with newly weaved fabrics. The shaman read fortunes from water pails the villagers had brought to her, and the elders sat on a high rock waiting for the ceremony to begin.
“Don’t go too fast. Hold this granny’s hand, dear.”
A girl was leaving her family’s tent with her grandmother.
“It’s too hot, granny,” grumbled Solisahar.
“Good for us to have hot weather! Because it means the ice age is over.”
"The ice age? Grandma, it’s an old tale. Mayhaps too old; it is even longer before the great grandmother of the great grandmother was born. I am not even sure if the story is real.”
“Oh, it is real. It is,” the elder said calmly. “You shall not forget the past, dear. Or else….”
“Or else the tragedy can occur again, I know.”
Solisahar tossed her abundant, curly hair over her shoulder. Her appearance was slightly different from other girls in the village. Her skin was much browner, her eyes and lips were more definite, and her arms had big black tattoos shaped like a sun.
“I’ve been hearing the story since a child, Grandma. ‘The gods hated previous humans so there have been three apocalypses and extinctions.’”
“I am glad you remember it,” the old woman laughed despite the terribleness of the tale. “But you haven’t said the important part, Sol.”
“What is it?”
“That now, the present, is the fourth chance the gods have given to us.”
Solisahar was not listening; she was screaming in joy looking around the village. The whole world seemed to be violet. The mountains aligned toward the horizon were full of red flowers and purple bushes, and each tree was blooming light pink buds. Tumdeir women, who had privileges to participate in the day of Violet Spring, walked around with their bodies decorated with colourful clothes and accessories. And even the pigs looked up to sniffle the scent of beautiful petals in the air.
“Are you listening, dear?” the grandmother asked, shaking the girl’s arm. “Lucileos─the goddess of light, the queen of heaven. The ruler of all gods, the mother of all lives; she gave us the fourth chance: a chance not to repeat the sins the previous humans had committed. Therefore we must obey to gods and….”
“I know,” Solisahar replied, again due to her hot temper. “I became a grown-up this year and I know everything I should know.”
“Well, that is good for you,” the elder murmured with a sigh. “Yes, this is the time for you to get experiences from a young body rather than old lips.”
At last, these two women arrived at the rock where other elders were sitting, and Solisahar helped her grandmother to climb up and sit comfortably. Soon, other Tumdeir women approached and started a song, strewing flowers to the elders’ feet. At this time of era, when letters were not invented yet, the only thing humans could rely on was the knowledge from the upper generation. And in this sense, the elders were the springs and the trees of wisdom.
“Solis!”
After helping the grandmother, Solisahar looked for her friends, and they called to her under a hairy tree. As joining them, she looked even more exotic among the girls of the typical Mid-Southern descendent. People had used to say it is because of her father; he was a man from the South where the sun had been born. No fact was known other than that, but Solisahar did not care as many of her friends did not know their fathers as well. People could only know who their mother is.
“Now let’s begin.”
When the prayers for the elders ended, the chief of Tumdeir called people together under the rock. Her body was corpulent and waving a lot of hanging violet fringes, and she looked vigorous and strong than ever. Then she began a song, one hand holding a staff and the other lifted to the sky. Her voice was also powerful and beautiful as she looked.
“Let’s hail to the gods!”
Huge birds with orange scales flew the sky, and their shadows passed the faces of people. At that second, suddenly, the shaman shivered. And then she dusted off her shoulders, wondering why she had recoiled.
“Let’s remember the disaster of the merciless cold. Oh, our mighty immortals, please protect us from hunger, diseases, injuries, and holy wraths. Otherwise, we will remain nothing but another old tale.“
Women who had brought instruments started playing them; they were simple drums and stones, all painted with violet dyes.
“Let’s revere our mothers with the power to create lives. Oh, our strong daughters, please lead your new lineage and deliver our stories to the descendants. Otherwise, our footsteps will vanish to a ray of the time.”
Young girls looked at each other with pride and focused again on the prayers. No one was distracted or talking, and the whole atmosphere was only quiet and sombre. So was Solisahar. The capacity of remembering and delivering knowledge―it was what made humans different from other life forms on the earth. And it was also why children who don’t learn enough could not survive at the end.
“Glory to all the other gods too. Now let’s sing and dance!”
The chief finally tapped the ground with her staff, and people cheered mimicking animal cries as though they had only waited for this moment. It was the beginning of the day of Violet Spring: the day to sing the proud history and the future of Tumdeir, from women to women.
