HP: Spirit Talker

"Soft Paw," a cheerful and energetic beauty, was unusually serious and collected this evening. The girl led me to one of the most remote places where shaman works, respectfully bowed to the back of an elder sitting on a log, and silently left.

The fire was not big, but bright, with multicolored sparks going into the night sky. Only the red-orange streak of sunset remained from the light, and the first stars were already shining in the sky, but the moon would not appear today — it would appear only by morning.

The shaman's back, which I could not help feeling his spiritual power, broad and still strong, said that this man had been very strong in his youth. Two thick gray braids with traditional amulets-feathers, lanyard straps of talismans and amulets around his neck, a leather jacket embroidered with patterns and a wide belt with pouches and knots. As I approached, the man didn't even move.

Sitting down on another log, to the right of the old shaman, I could see his face. Weathered, covered with deep wrinkles, broad, with high cheekbones. A large hooked nose, thin pale lips, a masculine chin with a dimple, thick bushy eyebrows, closed eyes.

— The Elder Sister whispered to me of the coming of a young shaman from a foreign land.... — the man's voice was dry, hoarse, as if he had not spoken for a long time. — but I can see that you come from much farther away.

The old shaman opened his eyes sharply and looked at me. I flinched. I was staring at two pockets of white-yellow, pale glow, faintly pulsing. Silver sparks whirled in circles in them. I'd never seen such a thing, or even seen it described. No, the glow of a mage's eyes is well known and not uncommon, but it's usually just the iris or pupil, not the entire eye, turned to light.

— Sister says that the gift of the Sun Goddess is not harmful, you can leave this worry, your gifts will not be touched.... — The shaman was silent for a while, he turned his head to the left, and then he moved his hand in the air as if he was stroking some animal, rubbed his head, and turned to me again. — ...her gift will protect you from the evil eye and curses. Yes... — The shaman said with a strange and incomprehensible expression in his voice. — My sister thanked me with three gifts. Two of them you can easily open yourself, and the third you will soon feel in yourself. — The shaman suddenly grinned slyly, which was immediately reflected in a slightly more accelerated pulsation of light in his eyes. — Oh, our spirits have always loved to joke, and the Sisters' jokes have always carried a touch of their essence. — The old man grinned, and even began to chuckle. — That's what she's all about, ha-ha-ha!

— I hope it's not... — Honestly, I was getting a little tense with the meaningful innuendo, especially from someone like that who interrupted me.

— Oh! — the old man kept laughing. — You'll remember her with warm gratitude. but you'll swear too... ah-ha-ha-ha! — The old man's laughter resembled the cry of a bird, and for some time he didn't stop, but I decided to leave this subject, since there was no threat, and jokes... well, everything in the world is not without humor, and I like a good joke myself.

— I haven't had this much fun in a long time, he-he-he... — the old shaman was beginning to calm down, but he was still chuckling. — Yeah... cats and birds have always had a complicated relationship... oh yes! Aha-ha-ha-ha! — the shaman burst out laughing again, but I took it with philosophical humility and looked at the stars until the old man calmed down. — Yes... My sister made a joke of me in her own way at one time. I'm grateful to her now, but at the time I thought the Great One had a grudge against me for something, thus punishing me, he-he-he. Well, the night is short, so we should talk about important things. — The shaman took out a long smoking pipe from one of the pouches with expansion of space, filled it with some dried herbs, put his finger on it, thus igniting the herbs, took a drag, let out a cloud of silvery-blue smoke. — You asked your Sister about humans and Spirits and gods. Why are you interested in that? Why do you want to know why?

— The worship of gods and powerful spirits has always had an important place in people's lives. I want to know how people and gods are connected, and how this connection can be dangerous.

— First of all, you should know what gods are. — The shaman looked at me, and continued to speak, turning his back to the fire, the fire in which became white with blue sparks. — Earth gods are otherworldly beings, they live in other planes of existence, where man has no way to go, they are not created for us. They can be divided by the level of influence on the world: gods of the concept and gods of power. Gods of Concept are personification of something great, like sunlight, evil, darkness, knowledge, wisdom and so on.

These gods are very powerful, but are always bound to specific lands, and also cannot, with few exceptions, incarnate in our world in real form — they need an avatar, an incarnation, a high priest. Gods of Power — have specific powers, supreme magic, like command over water, fire, forests, or whatever. These gods walk the earth, but are just as bound to a specific area of the planet.

Both can interfere in the affairs of the world in a very limited way, as they are, in fact, guardians — they support the natural processes of nature, the current of energies. Interference in people's lives is not their concern. — The shaman made a short pause. — About your question: yes, gods and Great Spirits are open to a lot of things, they can look into the layers of time, manage powerful forces, but man was born by nature, so he is a part of it, conditionally-officially, but it is enough, because the keeper is not a creator, able to change the established laws.

Being a part of the process, mechanism, many gods were seduced by human faith, wanting to escape from the power and responsibility, they desired personal power and authority. But they did not take into account that without faith, breaking the link with the world process, will wither and disappear, and people are prone to short memory and quickly forget their "creators".

Many gods and Spirits have disappeared over thousands of years. Nowadays there are only those who are true to their essence, to their responsibility — they are not in danger of disappearing, but they will not interfere in people's affairs either. — He looked at me again and added. — With exceptions.

— What about the Christian faith? Islam?

— A clever fiction. — grinned the shaman. — The gods of Babylon, Mesopotamia, Sumer, and many others wore wings and loved golden clothes. Doesn't it remind you of anything? The Romans invented a new faith to control their slaves, and the dying gods, seeing an opportunity, seized it. That's how the "Host of Heaven" was formed, he-he, they didn't count on faith being a double-edged blade, so they changed under the force of the faith's powerful energy, becoming "angels" and losing most of their original powers.

— So exorcism is a myth, it doesn't work? — and who hasn't seen the movies "The Omen" or "The Exorcist"?

— Why, it works. — shrugged his shoulders. — Light, the power of purification, faith in the power of prayer — all this works well against demons and dark spirits. But you and I can do something against these entities, right? — The old shaman grinned slyly, and the glow of his eyes grew brighter for a few seconds, making it impossible to look into them.

When I blinked, blinded, I realized that I was looking through a different slice of the world, a spiritual one.

The world became slightly blurred, like looking through wet glass. Scattered yellow light and blue haze of fog, faint, barely noticeable — on the upper layers of the astral there is little difference from the real world.

This part of the universe is quite close to the real world, almost the same, but corrected by a hundredth of a degree in the prism of light ... I don't know how to explain it, because the spirit world is not a science, it is a state of mind, spirit, consciousness, worldview.

Turning my head, I see a powerful, tall man with broad shoulders, wearing leather pants, bare torso, golden skin, a lot of beads, amulets and talismans on his neck and belt, bracelets on his hands, in his long hair an outlandish construction of leather straps, animal bones and feathers.

The man has two suns instead of eyes, and behind his back are folded two mighty wings with silver feathers and a golden pattern. On his shoulder sat a large eagle, and on his left, a huge wolf, larger than a bear, sat on the ground, twirling its ears with interest, as if cast from unstiffening silver, covered with sparks and flashes of smoke and fire. The eyes of liquid gold were not threatening, interested they were.

Around it, however, a multitude of butterflies, moths, and other winged creatures swirled in the air, and a huge red-brown kite with a bright blue crest running from top to tip of its tail fluttered in the wind. My throat went dry — I had never seen such spirits before.

The fire crackled especially loudly, attracting attention, and then opened with a flower bud, releasing a large bird of red and red flame with white eyes. About ten meters away, the ground swelled, accompanied by faint tremors, and a mighty red buffalo with black eyes separated from it, exhaling yellow fire through its nostrils and mouth.

— As you can see, — the man's low, heavy voice made you wince and look up at him. — these lands have someone to protect. — He stood up and walked toward me, holding out his hand. — You will find your place on your own....

A flash of yellow light threw me somewhere deep into the spiritual plane. At first there was too much information, and my mind refused to take it in, but very quickly I began to come to my senses, and the images became clear and meaningful....

...laughter, fun, joy, celebration... a multitude of people, a single roar of joy and disappointment tearing through the night, looking at the figure of a stout man frozen in mid-air. The man's countenance appeared blurred, but his eyes surveyed the people below proudly and demandingly ... and he was answered...

More noise, shouting, joy and disappointment, the strong smell of spirits of alcoholic vapors ... even the mythical Green Serpent circling in the air, greeting his fellow thinkers. But, suddenly, everything changed, anxiety hung in the air. The remnants of the celebration were torn apart by fireballs and multicolored streaks of curses....

Through the chaos of destruction proudly stepped the mages and wizards, shrouded in darkness, a little girl, cheeks flooded with tears, calls out to her cursed mother, twisted by painful convulsions... the view shifts abruptly, revealing a veil of mist in one of the glades, where a mixed group of wizards are busily exchanging rays of light and rainbows.

Several emotionless and dead bodies lie on the ground.... the view shifts again... a teenage girl lurks beneath the trees, with eyes and hair as if cast in liquid silver. She is searched for, but small spirits avert their eyes, and spoil the magic of the search, stupefying her, confusing her, leading her away.

The girl thanks them, giving the spirits a handful of fragrant, "fun" berries, and hides behind the trees, showering the night glade with silver sparks from her hair one last time... shear... Amidst the crowd of noisy wizards stand the teenagers.

The fiery red-haired boy is shaking with fear, and does not notice his family or friends around him, his only thought is "run away, away", he does not hear the voice of the girl, not afraid, but trying to cope with the fear for herself and her lost friend.... shift... a bright flash of blue fire over the bronze goblet..... shift... flash.

I regain consciousness on the ground, breathing heavily, with my body shaking. What the hell was that?! Too much like a children's movie I've seen in that life, with a bunch of ambiguous events and characters. Noooo, that can't be a coincidence. coincidence. coincidence!

I look around, noting that it's morning, the fire is long gone, and the shaman is nowhere to be found. Only there, where I was sitting in the log sticking out a wide black dagger, with a shiny resinous blade and rough hilt, from which hangs a fringe of leather straps with colored beads. I didn't hesitate, I just took out a stone dagger with a wooden hilt, and went to the people — I need to find out where the old shaman is, if he didn't give any words ... after I get some rest. Yes.

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