The Storyteller

There is a planet in the darkest corners of the universe, far away from this one, that we know as Terra. It is hidden by the veils of our minds and seems impossible, beyond imagination. We live in denial of its existence, like it is meant to be. Yet does a place exist if we do not believe it to? The planet is that of Firchardea on which the land is in constant motion. The river you traveled last year has new bends this year. Last month it was a hundred miles to a place; this month the same place is ten miles farther or closer, depending on the shifting of the land. A deer can change from an herbivore to a carnivore every few hundred years. Ten years ago, bunnies were cute and cuddly, now they are ugly as anything. Firchardean life is in constant motion. The only thing that seems unchanged is the people that live in the developing and redeveloping world. Their culture has been equivalent to a medieval one ever since they hit upon it about 2000 years ago. As is appropriate, Firchardea translates to floating lands in their ancient tongue. The people of Firchardea don't seem to mind the changing of their beloved planet. They just keep on with their daily lives. The Storyteller once asked King Dowasseru of the Plateau of Singing Battles, the kingdom that came to be known as Sjonjica, about the changing of their planet. King Dowasseru of the Sjonjic tribe had answered nonchalantly: "My dear friend Rawina, it's just the way the gods made it. It's not our task to question their will as long as the world they made is good for us." She never asked again. The people from the Plateau were all quite peculiar. The Plateau of Singing Battles is not a metaphorical name. The people of Firchardea indeed engaged in what they called singing battles to compete for the title of Kingdom with Best Singing Army to resolve issues peacefully, to avoid full scale war. Not to say, there never was war. Sometimes, tribes and countries were just too deep into their emotions to let go. This story is not so much about Firchardea, but of their sacred guide, the Storyteller, who kept the stories of their ever-changing world being a constant to the people, a comfort that the past was connected to the now and the future.