The Bone Lord

     After lunch they resumed walking. Bored, Van took a better look at their new gibberish spouting friends. They had long low torsos, but especially massively muscled in the front. Their clawed front paws obviously being their primary weapons. They were a brown and white brindle pattern with long tufted tails. Comparative to other predators, their muzzles were short, mastiff like. Contrasting to their forward facing eyes and sharp fangs, were long rabbit like ears. 

     As they drew close to the large object, it slowly revealed itself to some sort of intact skeleton, topped by a massive skull. If that alone wasn't weird enough, what was surrounding it may very well have made up for it. makeshift tables and chairs as well as some a few rock slabs resembling beds, and other facsimiles of human furniture, adorned the area around it, but strangest of all were the animals, all interacting with the fake furniture and each other. They were all mimicking human behavior, three types of animals including that of their new 'friends'. They were all roughly that same size. 

     Finally Oolah and Van stood within easy viewing distance of the massive skeleton. The skull most resembled that of a mishappen human skull, shaped like it had a natural crown. Also it had pointed carnivores teeth and over large eyes. The skeleton parts were fused together creating a perfectly preserved specimen. Most of the total was below the ground, but above the ground was still a massive pair of arms, upraised as though imploring someone of something. Beneath them was earth, but further out, beneath the massive pair of human like hands, were another pair protruding from the plain, signifying, of course, a second set of arms beneath the first. Behind it were the bones of great wings.

      Strangest of all was the coloration of the skeleton, being smooth, like petrified wood, and reflecting many colors from it's shiny surface. "Von?" said Oolah. Von could see her holding something up from the corner of his eye, and looking saw that it seemed like a small shard, of a coloration similar to the giant skeleton. It was longer then round, and was like a section of a thick pipe. "Van..." she repeated, then continued. "That skeleton, that whole thing, is a relic."

     "Van pondered for a few moments, and finally said, "I don't know what we should do, here. Do we destroy it?"

     Oolah answered him, "I don't think we should try. Sometimes they have a violent reaction to... that. Also, I don't think it's... mean. If it's been communing with these animals, they would've reflected that. They would be mean, too."

     They stood there looking at it. The two animals that had led them there, had gone to the giant petrified skeleton and now sat there, idly looking at them. "My relic says we should touch it, but together." Van nodded. Oloss had been purchased by a dwarven trader and was moving closer, but was still having difficulty communicating while Van was awake. He looked forward to it, as the memories of their meetings were often hazy after awakening.

     reflexively they reached out and took the others hand, and slowly approached the skeleton. The two animals parted, walking around them, and meeting back up behind them. Looking both at each other and the skeleton, the two relic holders reached out and touched the giant petrified skeleton.

     They were in the night sky, floating. Oolah didn't understand the significance, but they were above a rotating world, much much larger then earth. It was covered by miles of snow. A star was lowered melting the snow beneath it, and set in a circular motion above the land and water, melting a small section. However the land directly beneath the sun was useless. The rotation was widened and any land revealed beneath the stars new path was stacked in the center, adding to an already lopsided landscape. The oceans boiled and steamed under the sun, but it was now far from land, and on the other side, more seas, some lands nearly impossible to get to from the center land, then vertical miles of snow. Slowly the center turned green, and now, there were kingdoms of humans, and only humans. Time was passing thousands of years at once, an epoch lasting only seconds. 

     The masters of these humans were beautiful beings, with thousands of concubines. However, they begin to warp and mutate, as though under a curse, as well as their children. Those that clung to vanity and expended power were the first to die, still mostly human, while others turned into truly horrific beings. These great and mighty kings were the progenitor of the races. That much Oolah understood.

     Then it focused on this ruler and his story, it's crown like head and multiple arms revealing his identity. Unlike the others, this one had only a small kingdom. He strived to treat them well, but isolated himself. He had no throne, and no wives, spending much of his time in sorrowful reflection. When he sent the people away, they refused to go. With the last of his will he spirited them far from himself, to an area he knew was safe, and without his kind. He welcomed his passing, and these bones are his living memory. Unlike the bones of other rulers, there were no one to desecrate his body. How they must of been hated, for their own children to tear them apart.

          Oolah and Van found themselves sitting in front of the skeleton. "Why.... did it show us that?" asked Oolah. "I and my relic still don't know what we are supposed to do."

     "I don't think we need to do anything." said Van. "Except maybe back up a bit." Oolah looked at him curiously but understood when the skeleton started glowing. The animals nearby got to their feet, and, giving up their imaginary tea parties, naps, and other memory reenacting behaviors, gathered closer to the massive glowing remains. The grand skeleton sort of shimmered and it's light overriding Vans special vision, encompassed the entire area, forcing he and Oolah to avert their gaze. The light faded and they were able to return their gaze. What they saw was astonishing. The animals had turned into a new race. Walking to them, Van said, "Let me tell you about F'raykon, the one who cherished you and helped you become more then what you were."