File type: Text File (.txt) [Download]
-----------------------------------------
The wind graced his face as he stared at the sunrise. Everyday since he had memory he would come to the top of the hill
and get peace from it.  His ancestor had told him: Seek the sun, for it is the source. Huleo had never quite understood
that, but he hoped that someday truth and wisdom of that statement would appear to him. He hadn�t found what exactly
came from the sunrise, he didn�t know. Only peace.

Giving a final breath of serenity, he stood up and walked back to his tent, his robes moving with the wind, his feet
brushing the ground below. As he walked he touched the trees he was walking by, greeting them a good morning and a
good day. A shaman should be always in touch with the world had said his ancestor. And that he did.

He saw a rabbit hopping away, spooked of his pressence. He chuckled for no reason at all; just watching tha animal hop
away amused him.  After some time of mindless work, which gave him a feeling of trance, he finally reached his tepee.

He got inside and saw the usuall things scattered around. His walking stick, not that he needed it to walk, it had
spiritual uses.  His rocks picked from the bottom of a nearby lake and cleansed with amber. His coals, gotten from the
cave that was a two days walk away from here. And, of course, his ancestor�s collar. This was the most important
possesion that Huleo had. It was the only thing he had left from his ancestor, besides memories.

Huleo grabbed his walking stick and bent over in front of his ancestor�s talisman.

�Ancestor, I wish you a pleasant day on the next universe. Eventhough, I have tried to make the most of your teachings
and indeed have been improving, it is nothing that compares to what you could do and did. Ancestor, I have so much to
learn, and you were my only teacher. It has been eight months since you decided to leave this plain, and pass on.
You said that I was ready to learn by myself. I feel that you were wrong. But I do not doubt your knowledge nor wisdom
and I trust you with my heart, my mind and my soul. All I need, ancestor, is a little light, a candle to follow.�

Huleo waited for an answer, for a sign, but it didn�t come. What a surprise.

�But let it not be my wishes come true, but what you think is right for me�.

He bowed even lower and kissed the ground. He stood up and walked out of the tepee.  He used his walking stick to make
the hikes more bearable. He aproached the woods and grabbed two rocks up the ground with his right hand.

[Lebdenje]

The two rocks in his palm started floating. With a gentle movement of his hand he started turning them with his will.
Huleo still remembers how he learned that spell. On a sunny day, when he was ten winters old, he was playing with some
rocks at the lake. He remembers how he jumped when his ancestor had snuck up on him.

�Are you ready?� had asked his ancestor

�Ready for what, predak?�

�Your first lesson, djecak�

Huleo couldn�t believe it. He jumped and danced with joy. He will finally learn to be a shaman!

�Yes, yes, yes!� he beemed happily

His ancestor gave one of those well known chuckles of his

�Well, then calm down and listen�

Huleo stayed still, but was unable to erase the smile off his face.

�See, predak, what you have to do is throw one of your rocks and make it land thirty times on the water before sinking�

His jaw dropped open.

�Thirty, predak?� asked Huleos in disbelief

�Thirty, djecak� said his ancestor, confirming what he already said

�But that�s impossible!�

�Do not get desperate, dijete; you have not even tried it�

Compelled by the truth in his words he did as his ancester said. He grabbed ten rocks and throwed them one by one.
Each of them sank on the second or the third jump, but the last one that did four.

�Predak, DID YOU SEE THAT? I am improving�

�Yes you are. Keep trying�

Happy that he was getting better he went again to the shore line and grabbed another ten rocks. This time, he managed
five jumps. And the day went on and on, until the sun was in the middle of the sky and Huleo had throwed over two hundred
stones. The maximum he had gotten was thirteen jumps. But he was getting tired and seeing how little he was managing
he got discouraged. On his twentieth first set he throwed his final rock and went down with a single splat.

�This is impossible predak!� he had said in exasperation

"What happened to all that enthusiasm Huleo?"

Paying his ancestor no mind he sat down facing the lake, his arms crossed. Out of nowhere a rock flew past him and he
counted the jumps it made. 1, 2, 3� 9, 10, 11� 18, 19, 20� 28, 29� 30. With that final jump the rock sank to
the bottom of the lake. Huleo stood up and faced his ancestor, his eyes like coins.

�It is not impossible djecak�.

Huleo watched how his ancestor struggled to sit down slowly, helping himself with his own walking stick. Huleo turned
and walked the lake again to seek for more rocks.

After a very long while, searching for decent rocks, throwing them, getting dissapointed and making himself go for
another set of rocks, Huleo spent all the day. At sunset he sat beside his ancestor, defeated and exhausted.

�It is impossible� said Huleo.

His ancestor gave him a look.

�Ok, it is not, but I can�t do it."

Then an idea popped in his head. Maybe if he saw his ancestor throw a rock he might learn his technich and do it himself.

�Predak, can you throw another rock please?�

His ancestor gave a chuckle

�Only because you said please�

He roused, helping himself with the stick and grabed a rock from the ground. He grabbed the walking stick with his left
hand and the rock on his right. He twisted himself in an anguiling position and aimed to the lake. Right before he
throwed it, the wind whispered something. Huleo saw how the rock made thirty jumps and finally sank in the lake.

�Can you do it again?� Huleo asked, an innocent smile on his face

His ancestor chuckled �No, moj decko, I�m too old and��

�Please, please, please�

He chuckled even more �Fine, djecak� he picked another rock and did the same, but right before he throwed it another
whisper reached his ears. It wasn�t the wind.

�You are using a spell!� said Huleo, in disbelief

�That�s not the proper name� said his ancestor, avoiding the point �the proper name is carolija�

�No fair� he said, sitting and crossing his arms again.

His ancestor went slowly to Huleo�s side and sat down.

�So, what did we learn today, djecak?�

�That you are a cheater� said Huleo, trying really hard to be mad at him

His ancestor gave a warm and hearted laugh and hugged Huleo. Huleo hugged him back. Huleo couldn�t get mad at his ancestor.
He was never able. And neither could his ancestor be mad at him.

�Let me give you a little help there, my grandchild� said my ancestor. Huleo was stunned; he had never heard his ancestor
talk about him being actually related to him, other than spiritually. He really was his ancestor �Never give up, even
when the task seems impossible.�

He made a pause and said what he was whispering before, but now aloud

[Lebdenje]

Huleo watched amazed how the rock floated right in the middle of nowhere.

�Remember, we have a little help for those situations�.

Huleo�s heart still found warmth in that memory. And then it was stung by the foul reminder that he was gone. He went
back to reality and focused on what he was doing. He saw again the squirrel he had snuck upon with tender care, and kept
levitating the two rocks he had on his hand. If one doesn�t work, you always have a back up. That he also taught me.
Snapping back to reality once more he willed the first rock to fly to the squirrel. It hit it square in the head. Huleo
had made sure that the rock would only get it unconcious, not kill it. That would come later.

He took the squirrel back to his tepee and hung it on a string by the tail. It looked awfully torturing, but it had to
be this way if its spirit was to be preserved and not die on the land, lost and in panick, getting chased by all the
ghost spirits. Huleo arranged the lake�s rocks in a circle wide enough to sit on it perfectly. But he was not going to do
such a thing. He arranged the coals barely touching each other, for them to last the longer.

[Vatra]

A single spark apeared in the coal in the center and slowly spread the flame to the others. He took off his robes,
leaving only his loincloth and put the squirrel besides the fire. He went for his walking stick and grabbed it with his
right hand. Then he went infront of his ancestor�s talisman. The talisman was made of wood and had a seven pointed star,
but instead of a rect center the center was circular. He put his walking stick between the fire and him and bowed to the
reliq of his ancestor. He kneeled up and put it carefully over his neck.

Huleo turned and sat facing the flames, folding his legs and putting the walking stick to rest on his hinges. Huleo felt
how his position, walking stick and, most importantly, talisman called upon the energy around the place. He felt powerful.

�Ancestor, I call to you tonight for guidance. As a token of my need I offer you a soul.� On that instant Huleo crushed
the squirrels heart with a spell and throwed the body into the fire. If you don�t have a sacred knife, that was the most
honorable way to kill �May he be happy on the fields at your side.

�Ancestor, give me a sign of what my life means, how may I serve our mother, earth, and how may I help those who are her
children� Here came the hard part �Ancestor� who am I?�

Then Huleo closed his eyes and started to enter in a trance. He smelled the roasting squirrel and made his stomach grumble.
But he held himself. Huleo did all the techniches his ancestor had given him to eneter in a trance. For example giving
long and paused breaths, thinking of what is, what could have been and what may be.  Countless seconds passed until he
felt something touching his arm, but it wasn�t physical contact. It had started.

Slowly, images started appearing in front of him. A forest in the sunset, a lake in midday, a hill on sunrise. Suddenly
the images came to fast for Huleo to capture, he saw, but didn�t remember.  A small town. That same town on flames.
People running. Mothers screaming. Children crying. The images picked even more the pace and made him break from the
trance. He opened his eyes and saw smoke form the fire in front of him. The smoke made an image of a seven pointed star
with the center circualr. Sin Sunca, somebody whispered.

And everything turned black.