Choga's Bone

Choga was not yet sure what role the bone in his hand would play, but expected something gruesome to come of it. Tuggle would be the first to taste its marrow, and that was all he needed to know. He walked for several more minutes until a quick jab in the chest forced him to the ground.

A man stood before Choga wielding a heavy stick. All in all he was very plain, except for an embarrassingly large nose. Choga rose to his feet, but was sent down again with another crack of the stranger’s staff.

“Stay still, you little cretin,” said the man.

“Hit me again you old goat and I’ll--” CRACK! The knotted end of the stick slammed into Choga’s cheek. This one made him sick with pain.

“I said stay still. Put down the bone or I’ll beat you into the ground.”

Choga did not drop the bone, but he did stay still. “Who are you?”

The man did not answer at first. He drew a long breath with eyes closed, and began humming some song that Choga had never heard. When his eyes opened again, Choga cringed. The man’s pupils had been replaced by an empty gray smudge.

“I am Shalus. I am the Grand Designer of world Agnun, this world, and have grown tired of your… well, you.”

Choga spit blood from his mouth and replied, “You designed this world? You brought this place into existence?”

Shalus smiled, obviously pleased. “Aye. It is the air from my lungs that you breathe. It is my name that the birds sing.”

Choga rose to his feet again, still spitting as the blood collected in his mouth. “Then I have no respect for you. The air here is stale and I kill every bird that comes close enough.”

Shalus lost his smile and his eyes became a lurid pool of black water. “And that is why I’ve come for you, you ignorant child. This world is too young to face the troubles you will surely cause it. At this very moment, had I not intervened, little Tuggle--”

“Would be dead. So what? He killed my donkey, why am I the trouble-maker here?”

“No, you fool. Tuggle would have beaten you silly. You’d be dead. And thus would spark a chain of events that would completely ruin my plans for this world. That boy has a lot of evil in him, and I want to keep his hands clean until he is old enough to be punished properly.”

Choga dropped the bone and put his hands to his hips. He wasn’t sure how to handle such easy knowledge of his future.

Shalus dug into a satchel at his side, and pulled from it a tiny, black bean. He held it between thumb and index, and kissed it.

“Beans, beans the magical fruit,” he said.

“I’m not eating that.”

“I didn’t ask you to.” He dug a small channel with the end of his stick, and placed the bean into the soil. “Choga, your father is dead. Your mother is incompetent, and your sisters are still young enough to forget you. We both know how you feel about this world, and that is why I am sending you elsewhere.”

“And where exactly is ‘elsewhere’?”

Shalus rubbed his hands, and closed his eyes once again. “Boy, listen to me well. You have a lion’s heart. Do you know what a lion is, Choga?”

“No.”

“That is because there are no lions in this world. Why? Because Agnun just isn’t ready for them. And the same goes for you. I am sending you someplace where lions abound. But there are greater creatures than lions in this universe! And that is why you must learn to control yourself.”

With that, Shalus clapped his hands. The earth shook beneath Choga. He fell to ground once again. A tiny lump emerged where the bean had been planted, and from it sprouted a thin, green stem. Choga cocked his head, disappointed.

“And what does this have to do with anything?”

Suddenly the earth shook again, and Choga was pushed high from the ground by large branches. The stem had erupted into an enormous tree that grew and grew beneath him. Within seconds, clinging to hefty trunks, Choga was looking down upon Agnun from the blue heights of the sky.

“Farewell,” sang the voice of Shalus. “And good luck!”