"Let see, let see... Ah! yes, this one will be to your liking I believe. It was when I t your great, great, great, grandfather. Back then I was living with my tribe, the Navajo, and we were having difficulties adjusting to the new tis. They ca to the west with iron sticks that called forth the thunder, with no lightning.
Those were very interesting, but what I liked the most was their... what was it called? Science!" Atsa's voice enthralled those around him, the thumping sound of the hatchet he used as a walking stick encompassing his every word giving it a ceremonious rhythm. "Such a wonderful thing science is, I rember us having sothing very similar, but it wasn't as noisy or flashy as science is."
"Uhm... family." Luna shook Atsa by the hand to get him back into the topic.
"Yes, yes, I still rember when I t him, your great, great, great grandfather. He didn't have Cristopher Columbus sense of humor or an intellect even close to Da Verrazano's, but what he lacked in those he made up in stubbornness. Where many would see a flaw, I saw virtue instead. You see, the day I t him he was in his deathbed, his very last minutes I would dare say.
Afflicted with an illness that would have taken away a lesser person, he remained alive out of sheer willpower. I may have been able to cure his ailnt had he not sought after the barber first and the parish later, but by the ti they called ... turning him into a lycanthrope was the only thing I could do to preserve poor Davy Crockett's life."
"That na... I think I heard it sowhere." dusa placed a pensive finger on her lips.
"It's only natural, like many of my children he beca quite famous. He used to be a man of words, a tough man of words but just words, but after receiving my spit..."
"Your what!?" dusa gasped.
"Can this get grosser?" Bella added.
"I see..." Luna nodded, inwardly making a note on the process to turn soone into a werewolf like her.
"As I was saying, after that he beca more vivid than ever. He couldn't keep his feet in the sa city two days in a row and craved the whistle of the winds, the wetness of the rain, the mists of dust and the campfires more than ever before.
It got him to uncover the secrets of this very place and in turn allowed to return once more to perform my duty." Atsa continued his story as the turned a circular stone crimped in a golden wall near the gate to the second floating island and the grinding of gears drew dusa's attention.
"What is your duty exactly?" She asked, unsure if she was going to like the answer.
"There are things people must know and things people must not know." The man said, his eyes closed in silent ditation.
"Enough with the self importance and secretiveness. Tell us what is your duty or I'll show you!" Bella threatened with her fist.
"Fine," The man grumbled then continued speaking with a puffed chest which amounted to his flimsy constitution made him look sickly instead of proud. "My duty is to pass on my powers to the next generation, but even to this day I remain undefeated."
"Grampa, did you build this castle?" It was Luna's turn to ask.
"Of course not, you silly child. This is where the enemy lives, I just know this place by hand because of how long I have been doing this." Atsa said as he headed towards the next island.
"I think we should probably head back and inform of our whereabouts or they'll worry." dusa said with concern.
"Like that guy can worry about anything but himself." Bella scoffed.
"I don't like that tone." dusa turned to face Bella who hovered back to keep just enough distance to be out of dusa's range.
"It doesn't make it any less true. He says he worries about us, but when there's money involved he forgets about everything. Unless it's archaeology, then he forgets even about money." Luna said piquing Atsa's curiosity.
"What is this archaeology you speak of? Is your husband an archaeologist?" Atsa asked as he stopped to activate the chanisms of the third island. His hands moved swiftly which contrasted with his slow walking speed.
"It's a science of the sorts, but it's mostly about finding boring stuff that happened in the past thanks to antiques. Also, he's not my husband." Much to dusa's surprise, Luna corrected the man instead of going with the flow like she always did.
"I don't think there's anything boring with the past. Things change so fast, by the ti you are old you'll look at the years behind you with nostalgia. Imagine that, but after hundreds of years. For instance, the story about Davy may not interest your friends, but to you it carries special aning."
"I see... uhm, but that only furthers my point. Knowing things about the past can be useful, but there's not much value in old customs."
"On the contrary. The past is the stone that holds the present, it cannot be changed, but it can be studied and passed on to the future generations so they don't make our sa mistakes. I must believe there is value in the past, because I myself am a part of it." Atsa sighed, then continued. "I think we have so ti to continue my story about Davy.
He was a man like no other in his ti, a contradiction you may say. Adventurous yet cowardly, greedy yet generous, a man of words but also of the sword. When I mixed his blood with that of the wolf his body changed and thanks to that he sought new heights, he stopped thinking about just himself and took upon himself the weight of humanity."
"Does that sound like soone we know?" dusa asked with a chuckle.
"Not at all." Luna shook her head. If there was one thing she knew for certain was that Uriel had no care for the fate of humanity.
"He found the relics I scattered across the land and brought them here. He made ventured deep inside the dungeon with his friends, a rowdy bunch they were," Atsa chuckled. "violent scoundrels but loyal to the bone. They were his pack you may say. And he found the chamber of echoes, the forgotten place and other mysteries of this strange land.
He mingled with the Air spirit people and he learned their language. Then, according to history he died a hero, which is true, but not for the reasons they think." The man stopped speaking and looked at the ancient device with a strange look. To those present it looked just the sa as the others, but Atsa seed to think there was sothing wrong with it.
"I'll ask this... uhm... only because if I don't, he would definitely nag at us. If he's not a hero for the reasons people think, then why?" Luna reluctantly asked.
"Because he prevented this from happening." Atsa paled when the stone circle started spinning counterclockwise, slowly at first then took up in speed.
"What is this exactly? I can't see!" dusa exclaid after feeling left out.
"This is a seal, but it appears to be broken. But this shouldn't be possible and even if it was, why would soone from this side want to do it? Hmm... Can you be a dear and hold the stone in its place while I try to fix it?" Atsa asked as he probed the golden wall seemingly at random, until a concealed door opened revealing an astounding amount of gears and cranks behind it.
The larger gears barely moved, though the smaller ones spun at a high speed until the mont Bella placed her hand on the circular stone keeping it from moving without much effort. She didn't understand the reason why she needed to do it, but it was such a simple thing to do that she did it no questions asked.
"Hmm... Hmm." Atsa pondered out loud.
"What is this chanism supposed to do? Maybe I can be of help." dusa walked in.
"I have absolutely no clue. I have been doing this for so long, I can't rember its inner workings. All I know is that the stone is not supposed to move by itself and that for absolutely no reason it should be moving the other way." Atsa calmly said and fell pensive, or so they thought until he started snoring.
dusa was the first who attempted to wake him up, gently at first, then with violence, yet despite her efforts Atsa remained asleep.
"If you keep rattling him up like that he might die in his sleep." Luna inford.
"What am I supposed to do, then? We don't even know what is this thing supposed to do? Is it a good thing? Could it be a bad thing?" dusa walked from side to side in a panic.
"If he said my ancestor was a hero because he prevented this from happening, then... uhmm... we should call Uriel," dusa turned her attention towards Luna and Bella looked her in disbelief which let Luna know she needed to explain her reasoning. "He likes to play hero."
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