The Riverstory.

Karēj was a young, tall man of muscular statue. While most of his head remained cleanly shaven, a line of long hair descended from the top of his head, assembled just over his neckin a loose ponytail and ended around his hips. Karēj was a hunter, his bare chest full of Tattoos and Scars. His chin had a sharp, defined edge that made you think he was unable to smile. His spear, which he inherited by his father, was all of his pride. He never parted from it.

Karēj lived in the desert. Never had he ever seen anything else in his life but the orange dunes, sandy rocks and the mountains forming the horizon. His Tribe had barely moved over the past decades, living in tents and small caves centred around a big, old tree.

The “Tree of Live”, as hey called it, was about 32 feet in diameter and a good 65 feet high, but it was hard to say, due to its massive, red-leafed crown.

The Tribe's reason for settling down at the tree was quite pragmatic and indeed had to do with life and survival, as the big plant needed a lot of water. In fact, it indicated that a natural spring flowed not far beyond the surface, enabling the Tribe to draw water from it easily.

That water wasn't really worth the name. Muddy, brownish colour, not really nice of taste. The Tribe avoided, if possible, to use it for drinking water. They tried to draw it from the really rare rain showers.

It was about four times a year those monsoons rained down on the dry desert sand. When that happened, all of the Tribe fished up their bowls, skins and other devices that could hold water. Animal skin would be used to build a cone that directed the water into a stone cave. This water ended up to be a lot cleaner than the stream water, but it was really precious and rare to the Tribe. The Treespring provided and, although not really pleasant, kept the Tribe alive.

Karēj had never seen water in any other form but drops and the cave pond.

He had never experienced the joy of diving into a clear lake, never seen a stream flowing on the surface. But he liked to talk about it.

Being the oldest of the Tribe's children, Karēj often got the opportunity to assemble them around a fireplace and tell them the story his father used to tell him:

“We call it the Riverstory”, he said. Freya rolled her eyes.

She was Karēj's sister, only three years younger then him. She had fiery red hair. Karēj and Freya were the only bright-skinned in the Tribe. Their mother remained a mystery.

All they knew was that one day, Tandri returned from one of his hunts with unusual prey. He had found the babies, so he said, between a pair of rocks in the desert, screaming on top of their lungs. He incorporated them into his family, taking care of them.

With them sat Andamaina, a pretty girl of Freya's age, and Callani, the youngest of the Tribe, but probably the smartest. Karēj continued his story, unaffected by Freya's eye-rolling and sighing. She would've never admitted to like it, if only because Karēj was the one telling it. But deep inside, it fascinated and inspired every individual of the Tribe since they could remember.

“The Riverstory,”, Karēj said, “Is the story of an extraordinary gathering of water, so crystalclear, you can see your own reflection in it. This bunch of water is incredibly huge. It is infinitely long and a hundred feet wide. It is so deep, you can not touch the ground without drowning.”

“What is drowning?”, asked Andamaina. It was the part that she would always be caught on. And that was mainly because nobody could explain it to her. “Er...that I don't know.”, admitted Karēj. “But it is said to be a very unpleasant state of being.”, he added pompously. Andamaina nodded in understanding. “The water streams, with such a force,” continued Karēj, “that it can rip a man apart. It is enough water to feed uncountable numbers of people. The whole world could live there!”

At that part, everyone fell into humble silence. The whole world. That was big. The young couldn't decide which of those pictures they could rather imagine: An infinite, powerful stream of water, or the sheer mass of the world. “Many heroes of the Tribe went out to search the River. My father did it, my grandfather did it, and I will one day go out and look for the infinite water. The salvation and the end of all our trouble.”

“But nobody has ever found it. Nobody knows if it actually exists!”, contradicted Freya.

“Nobody returned from the journey, yes. Maybe the weren't strong enough. Maybe a sandworm killed them. Who knows? But I will find the River! And I will return and lead the Tribe there!”

"You wish.", Freya added spitefully.

The group soon divided after that. Karēj, heated after the argument with his sister, did not return to his tent. Instead, he stored his spear in a special pocket on his back, a slim stripe of leather that went around his body. It enabled him to run and draw the spear rapidly when following prey. Now, he simply turned his back on the Tree of Live and started to run off into the night.

Moon and stars were his only companions on this journey to nowhere. Faster and faster, his feet leaped over the sand, leaving a trail of dust behind. Karēj was fast. None of the other Tribe members could keep up to his speed, and almost no animal of the desert could escape his deadly spear. He ran and ran, howling into the night. "She doesn't believe in the River. Why won't she? Why can't she see we need it?"

Suddenly, the boy heard a deep, growling noise right next to him. A sandworm! Rushed, Karēj looked around, trying to find cover. A rock, or at least something to get off the sand. The growling intensified. Karēj knew he wouldn't have much time left. There was no position for him to start the fight from. As the beast busted trough the surface right next to Karēj, the hunter dropped on his back. The worm towered before the boy, 15 feet of deadliness. Sharp teeth rotated in its mouth, ready to shred everything coming to close to it. As the worm attacked, Karēj rolled to the right, jumping to his feet again. The sandworm missed him and buried his head deep into the sand. Karēj grabbed his spear and rammed it into the worms thick body. But instead of stopping, the beast sped up, carrying along the hunter. Karēj held onto his spear, not wanting to loose the only memory of his father. After seconds the boy submerged into the sand. The grains squeezed his body. He was unable to breath, keeping Eyes and mouth firmly shut not to suffocate or loose his sight.

Holding his breath had been part of Karēj's training. In order to become the best hunter, Karēj forced himself to practice unnecessary exercises to expand the limits of his body. He could stay conscious for several minutes. Hoping the worm would not descend into the depths of the earth, but recover at the surface, Karēj held tight to the grip of his spear.

After a few minutes, Karēj's lungs were about to burst. His brain felt like being squeezed by an elephants foot, his grip loosened. Then they broke trough the sand. Karēj immediately emptied his lungs and took a deep breath. Coughing, he opened his eyes. The sand had almost grated off his skin, leaving dark and bloody marks on his body. His spear, formerly full of engravements, was now completely plain. It still stuck out of the body of the worm. The wound Karēj had created had been ripped open by the sand. The worm bled his thick, blue blood. Suddenly, it began to shake in death cramps. Then, it died. Karēj moaned in relief. His hand lost hold of his spear, and the heavily wounded boy fell in to unconsciousness.

“Karēj.", a voice came out of the black. "Karēj."

The boy opened his eyes. Bright sunlight burned into his iris. He cried out in pain and closed them again. His body felt as if he was on fire. "You're awake. Good."

That was Freya's voice. She kneeled next to him, holding his head on her knees. "Have you got any idea how long we searched for you? How far we came? We thought you'd gone of to find your bloody river. Damn it, Karēj! What if you had died? You're not allowed to go find the river before you raised children. You know that! What was all this about? Was it because of what I said? Talk already, Karēj!" Freya burst into tears. Shaking, she stroked Karēj's head. The hunter coughed. "Water.", he begged. Another pair of hands came into sight, holding a skin full of water. Karēj rapidly drunk the muddy treewater. Then he got up, looking around. Adamaina, Callani and Freya had assembled around the hunter. He himself was covered in the blue blood of the worm. "We believe this kept you alive for so long. The cool fluid protected your injuries from getting dirty and also protected you from the burning sun." "Wait. How long have you been looking for me?" "Two days, maybe three. We went really far, Karēj. I have no idea how you came all that way." "I travelled by worm.", the hunter said and smiled a terrifying smile. The kids gasped. “You mean, it carried you trough the sand? How could you have possibly survived that?” “I don't know. A good amount of luck, I'd say.” Again, he grinned. “Where are we?” “No idea. We left on our own, without telling anybody. We don't know how to go back.”, said Adamaina. “But, we are quite close to the mountains now. One or two days, and we'd be there.”, added Callini.

“So you are suggesting we go find the river?”

“Yes, exactly.”

Awkward silence arose in the group. Freya had blushed. Angrily, she admitted: “By now, all of us have become curious about it. I mean, we never travelled that far from home. We didn't think it was possible. But now, well. We might as well keep on travelling.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. “We've got water. Now, we've also got a hunter. A blue one.” The group busted into laughter. “Well then. Let's go!”, declared Karēj.

“Are you sure? You still seem pretty weak.”, Callini interjected. “Weak? Me? I say let's go!”

And so they went. In the beginning, Karēj stumbled a lot. But eventually, he recovered. Soon, he continued to be the group's leader, dragging everybody along. The mountains began to rise in front of them, getting higher and higher with every hour.

After one and a half days, they reached the bottom of the mountain range that outlined the border of their world. Awed, they stepped into the mighty shadow of the giants.

Karēj laughed. "Go on, friends!", he said and set his foot on the slope. Then, he began to climb. "Don't you ever take a break?", Callini asked, tired to his bones. "Never. Will you follow me?"

The others groaned. "Just a minute, okay?", Freya demanded.

The minute became a day and the day became a week. The youngsters were completely exhausted, having done nothing but walking through the desert for a straight four days. You could say that Karēj actually was the luckiest of them all, having travelled least of the way on his own feet. Freya soon began to regret her decision to join the quest. She still didn't believe in the river and had hoped to make Karēj realise how ridiculous his search was. But it seemed that the more way they made, the more exhausted they got, the more their enthusiasm and hope was sparked. "We'll find it. We will definitely find it!", Callini said. His eyes were gleaming, his face was covered in sweat. Freya feared he could have caught a fever.

One day, the sixth day of their rest, Adamaina ran up to the others and shouted: "Come! I found it! I found the river!"

Electrified, everybody jumped to his feet and followed Adamaina. And as a matter of fact, stream of clear water flew out of a mountain hang. It was fairly small, but clear and cold. The Kids rushed towards it, hastingly drank the water, stood below the little waterfall, washed themselves and laughed. "We found it, Karēj!", Freya said. Her happy smile was the most beautiful thing Karēj had ever seen his sister do. But he didn't join in the euphoria. "No.", he simply said. "No, it isn't."

Everyone stopped and stared at him. "What do you mean by 'it isn't' ? This is clean water, coming out of a mountain!"

"But it is not infinitely long, it is not a hundred feet wide, and not deep at all. It can't be the river. If at all, it is a tiny glimpse of what the river will be. We're not done. We need to carry on.

Freya, Adamaina and Callini stared at him in unbelief. "How could you say such a thing?", Adamaina asked. "Is it because I found it and you didn't?" "Envy? Really, Karēj?", Callini supported Adamaina. He embraced the weeping girl. "It's okay, Maina. He is wrong."

"Then what are you going to do know?", Karēj asked them. His face blushed in anger. "We will go back to the Tribe and tell them we found the river. We will take them through the desert and settle down at the river. We will never thirst again!"

"But it is not enough! It will never be. Was this worth our journey?"

"Maybe. I can tell you one thing: We will not follow you anymore! Right, Freya?"

Freya had slightly backed away from the fighters. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at Callini and Adamaina. Then she looked at her brother. "I think.... I think he is right.", she sighed. "It is not what we were looking for.....but it is great! We can live here, if we want to!"

"No we can't!", Karēj insisted. "How can you say that? It is not what it's meant to be! We need to go further!"

Freya saw the glare in his eyes that she had previously spotted in Callini's. And she started to understand him. When she closed her eyes, she could almost see the glittering river in the sunset. She wanted to find it. It had to exist!

"Nēnu mīru asunarin̄cē.”, she promised Karēj, which meant “I will follow you.” in the Tribes oath language. An oath spoken in this language could not be broken. The moment she said it, she regretted what she had done. It was a great promise. Callini and Adamaina looked equally shocked. “What have you just done?”, Callini asked. Anger flashed across his face. He took a deep breath, then said: “Mēmu tirigi veḷtundi!”, which meant “We will return to the Tribe.”

“I can't believe you did that.”, said Karēj. “How dare you abuse the Pramāṇaṁ bhāṣa for your childish quarrel? You should be ashamed of yourself!”

Callini threw a scowl at Karēj. “Mēmu tirigi veḷtundi!”, he repeated. Karēj reached for his spear. The girls looked at them in terror. “Stop it!”, Adamaina screamed as the boys took fighting positions. Freya put her hand on Karēj's shoulder. “Stop. You're just making it worse.”

Karēj's muscles relaxed. He let go of his spear. “I am sorry Callini.”, he said, slightly bowing his head into his direction. “Do what you promised. We will now leave you and find the river.”

Their goodbye was overshadowed by a sad mood. Freya and Adamaina cried in each others arms, unsure if they were ever going to meet again. Callini and Karēj did not speak. Callini's eyes were red and full of hate. Karēj stood up tall an without an expression. Deep inside he was deeply offended by Callini using Pramāṇaṁ bhāṣa to insult them.

Without another word, the four went separate ways. Adamaina and Callini went back into the desert, exposing themselves to Sandworms, the scorpions and other dangers. Karēj and Freya began to ascend the mountain, not knowing what would wait for them.

Struggle awaited. Having lived in the plain land, climbing a mountain was an exhausting task for them. Soon, the air became thinner. The siblings struggled to make their way, Karēj already injured and Freya not as strong as her brother. Although they were amazed by the grass and plants growing on the mountain, it got colder and harder for them.

Finally, Karēj collapsed. He fell the ground, coughing and fighting for air. Freya sat down beside him and stroked his head, like she always used to do, following the thin line of his ponytail. “Look, Karēj.”, she said and pointed into the desert that now lay before them, wide and open. “Look how far we've come!”

Karēj raised his head and looked over the dry land. Far away, he could see two little ants making their way through the heat. His head fell back into the soft, green grass.

Freya tried to stay awake, but soon she also drifted away.

For the second time in a few days, Karēj woke up in a place he had not been before. White tarpaulin surrounded him. He lay on a mattress, his injuries carefully bandaged and his body completely cleaned. Bewildered, he got up and left the tent.

What he discovered left him breathless: His tent was one of dozens of white tents that were arranged around a wide, silvery band of water. In the afternoon sun, it glittered and blinded the boy who had never seen that much water before. Astonished and speechless, he made his way to the riverbank. His feet touched the smooth pebbles and descended into the clear water. As Karēj looked at the surface, he could see his own reflection in the water. Overwhelmed of the look of his own, now bearded face, a scream of joy escaped his mouth. The boy carefully removed his bandages and clothes and went deeper and deeper into the water. He fringed at the chill he felt when entering the clean stream. Soon he began to shiver, but wanted to stay in there just a little longer, to find the power lying in it. Soon, the stream began to tug on him, trying to lift him off his feet. Karēj turned around an left the water. The sun was bright, but not very warm and so Karēj began to shiver and sneeze.

Suddenly, Freya stood behind him. The boy jumped at her sudden appearance. His sister looked beautiful. It was not the dying creature that climbed the mountain with him. She had a bright smile on her face and wore white clothes. “Karēj. Welcome to the river. We actually made it! Isn't it beautiful?”

The hunter nodded. “How?”, he asked. Freya's smile became even brighter. “We were almost there already. This is a mountain plateau. We had almost reached it when we collapsed. According to Father, only few ever make it that far.” “Father is here?”, Karēj asked in disbelief. Now Freya's face darkened. “Yes, but not for long. He wanted to wait for you to wake up, then he will leave.” “Leave? Where? Will he get the rest of the Tribe?”

Freya shook her head in sadness. “No. But I'll let him explain.”

“Karēj!”, his father beamingly exclaimed. He embraced his grown son. “I last saw both of you when you were little. I'm so happy that you made it here. It was my only wish for such a long time.”

“Why didn't you return? Why didn't you come and lead us to this place?”, Karēj asked. Tandri looked at his son and suddenly appeared really old. “You know son, it is not as easy as it seems. This is a society of the strong. The Elders prohibit anyone from going back. Only those who make it themselves are worthy.” “But, that's unfair! What about all those people dying, because they haven't got enough water?” “I didn't say I agree with the elders. But the rules of this society are very strict. And I couldn't break them. I just stayed and waited, hoping one day you'd make it. And you did. I am so proud of you, son!”

“Freya said you're leaving again. Why? Where will you go?”

“The rules prohibit us from ever descending the mountains on desert's side again. But the river itself flows down into a beautiful valley. A lot of people settled there, in the green, with all kinds of animals. They actually provide for this outpost of our society. I have waited for you. Now, I can go.” “But you will take us with you?”, Karēj asked. Tandri shook his head. “I can't. I will not go into the valley. I will pass it, but my journey lies far beyond that.” “Why? What could you possibly want more than the river?” “There is a story going around here. We call it the Oceanstory. It is the story of an extraordinary gathering of water, so infinitely long and wide, It stretches over the whole surface of the earth. It begins where the river ends. And people actually learned how to ride the water! The build devices to travel long ways above the surface! It is a whole new world on its own! There is the legend of far countries where people live in self-built caves! Strange animals and marvellous wonders! I can't miss this opportunity to go there!”

While talking about the Oceanstory, Tandri's eyes began to gleam in that particular way. Karēj looked up to his dad. It seemed almost as if his age vanished in an instant. And immediately, Karēj knew.

“I need to follow him, Freya!”, Karēj declared. “I must see the wonders of the world beyond! I can't miss this opportunity!”

Freya violently shook her head. “No, Karēj, don't talk like that! You found everything you ever looked for! How can you abandon this? How can you leave this dream for another, even more stupid one? How can you want even more than this? Will you ever be satisfied? Just assuming the ocean actually existed and you could actually cross it – what next? Somebody will come up to you and say: 'There is a story here. We call it the Spēsstory. We believe that there is a gathering of water around this world. An it is soo infinite, and we can travel to other worlds and so on and so on and so on.' Would you believe them, let everything go and join the journey into Spēs?”

“You've got that completely wrong, Freya. It is not about following a vague hope or a rumour. It's going on an adventure. It is about discovering new! I must follow father, whatever you say.”

Tears filled her eyes. Her whole body began to shake as she whispered: “Nēnu mīru asunarin̄caṇḍi kādu. I can't follow you anymore.” Karēj looked at his sister. She had been through so much with him. He realised what he was asking off her was impossible. He nodded. “I am sorry Freya. I must go. You don't need to follow me. Mīru nāku asunarin̄caṇḍi lēdu.”

By this, he relieved her off her vow. “Just promise me you won't break their rules. Don't return to our Tribe. The Elders will come after you!”

“I want to see them try!”, Freya answered. She hugged her brother one last time, then she turned around and disappeared.

Karēj held tightly onto his spear. The wind of the sea comforted his face. With his father, he rode the sea on a ship. Their journey would take them to a land far beyond their wildest dreams.
“You know,”, said one of the sailors,

Over there, there is a story going around. They call it...