User:Captaincarrot/HowQuluthikuEntered

Qulu Qahauha, How Quluthiku entered

by Kephat Rangidil 4E89

The story of how Gol-Thek, the Hyu-Ket spirit chief, came to be inside the world cocoon.

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A long time ago and up the Dragon River, before the Echmer-Qarasa freed us, before the Echmer-Tharaku enslaved us, and even before the Brass Light started shining in the west, but after our men-brothers disappeared into their homes without doors (as they always said they would do), we did battle with a Dragon. There had surely been Dragons before this one, but the Cocoon was very very large and the Dragons very very small (at least, small compared to the Cocoon), so they usually did not end up in places near us and that suited us just fine. What did not suit us was having a dragon struggle through the weave of the Cocoon and into our place.

The first days were the hardest, for we had never fought a shard of Th'utilu before, and Akuthati made fools of us by breaking our shells and burning us to cinders with the insane yelling of the Dragon. But we are warriors and had learned well from ǃatila who was P’ushi who was ʘalut'a who was Qarasa, and we would not go down easy! And while we fought and died with spear and poison and spell, we knew our struggle would not go unnoticed.

Qarasa glared through the Dragon-Shaped-Hole that the fragment of Th'utilu had torn through the tight weave of the Cocoon. He had worked very hard to create a place for his chosen peoples to grow and metamorphosize (at least, he had when he had been Lhulhuha Who No Longer Is), and to see holes torn in it caused him no end of consternation. Especially now that an insane Dragon threatened to destroy his most treasured children!

“This is too far,” The Qarasa growled, “I will not allow the mad refractions of Th'utilu Who No Longer Is to terrorize and eat my chosen people. I will go into the Cocoon and put an end to this.”

And so the Qarasa clicked his mandibles and squeezed and pushed against the Dragon-Shaped-Hole, but he was too big and he could not fit.

And so the Qarasa became ʘalut'a who rattled his spears and squeezed and pushed against the Dragon-Shaped-Hole, but he was too big and he could not fit.

And so ʘalut'a became P’ushi who sharpened his claws and squeezed and pushed against the Dragon-Shaped-Hole, but he was too big and he could not fit.

And so P’ushi became Kulka who sang a war song and squeezed and pushed against the Dragon-Shaped-Hole, but he was too big and he could not fit.

And so Kulka became Quluthiku who swore an oath and squeezed and pushed against the Dragon-Shaped-Hole, and he could just barely fit, and his carapace dragged and scraped against the sides of the Dragon-Shaped-Hole until Quluthiku became a little Dragon-Shaped himself, but that didn’t bother him too much since Dragons were strong even if they were crazy. As a matter of course, we who were him also became a little Dragon-Shaped, but you wouldn’t know it by looking.

Quluthiku dove from the sky like a thunderbolt and devoured the dragon in one gulp on the 31st night since Akuthati had come to test us. When he had finished his meal, he spat out ten long bones from the digested Dragon, which his gut had fashioned into spears for his people.

“Listen up,” the spirit chief told us who were him, “I’m here because you needed me, but this place wasn’t made for Big Spirits and I can already feel a little bit of the Dragon’s crazy rubbing off on me. I’ve looked down the River and these ten spears are my ten promises to you to return when you need me the most. When the tenth one is used and shattered your metamorphosis will be complete and I will go west to where they will need me instead.”

And so the Spirit Chief went to sleep, and continues to rest until one of us takes up one of the Spears to become Quluthiku for a while.

Transcribers note: I happened to capture this tale while staying with the Hyu-Ket of Hrahn’s Isle, with whom I stayed several nights to witness their Festival of the Spirit Chief. They were extremely gracious hosts, and I was quite enamored with the complexity of their culture and history which is as rich as that of the Echmer. This story in particular seems to be a favorite of young and old alike, and it is often requested when the tribe gathers around the communal fire. A curiosity occurs to me, however. While this story seems to describe the first time the Gol-Thek was able to manifest on Mundus (an event, I must add, that the Echmer describe very differently), Hyu-Ket stories that ostensibly take place before this time also feature Gol-Thek despite him apparently having not yet “Entered.” For their part, the Hyu-Ket see no contradiction in this fact, and find my objections amusing.