Charisma

So, there once was a girl who was from the dessert of Najiba. She lived a quiet life and found resolve at the well on the outskirts of town.

Her name was Dayton. She was a girl of great height and her streaked black hair reached to the middle of her back. She would put it up with a scarf when it was mid day for the sweat would entrench her shirt if she would keep it down.

She lived with her uncle and her cousin. Dayton's parents died of malaria at an early age and she moved in with her relatives and was acustomed to a life of tradition and solitude. Every morning she would wake, facing the east and would get up to wash. She would walk out to the bath and use cold water to wash her body clean. She always enjoyed the bath and would make it a ritual to stay in as long as she could. She even got up early on the days she knew would be long with work just to spend extra minutes in the cool fresh water.

After she bathed, Dayton would climb into a shabby frock and start her daily chores. She would sweep the house, feed the chickens, get fresh water from the well and weave baskets for her cousin to sell at market. These mediocre chores filled her day and while Dayton was filled with joy for her family she felt like there was something that was not being lived out.

See Dayton was not a normal girl, even though she lived a normal life. While she grew up in the dessert of Najiba her orignal ascent was from the tribe of gallan. The family that she thought she lost to malaria were actually part god and she was as well. Dayton, however, did not come to this realization until the day she turned 15.

Dayton had gotten up early because she knew that the day before her would be a day full of emotion. When Najiban girls turned 15 they were given away to the community for social and ritual rites. She would no longer have the name Dayton but would be given a new name. She would no longer work her normal chores but would be sent about the community doing things for people she did not know, nor did she trust. Because she had no parents she would, After two years of this, be sent to the temple of Trothel and would become a preistess. For without parents one cannot be married.

She got up with an anxiety that she could not swallow. Dayton had been dreading this day for years and was trying to take it moment by moment. She rose from her cot before the sun came up and slipped out the back door. She slipped off her sleeping gown and put her foot in the cool crisp water that had been poured just hourse before.

Her whole body was soon immersed and as she looked up at the last remaing stars she wondered what would become of her. As she sat peacefully in a state of bliss she heard a thumping off in the distance. A sort of clatter that could only be characterized by a horse or an animal of that size.

"Must be a midnight traveler," she thought as she focused once again on the stars before her. The sun had just started to peak and the thumping became hollow and got closer. She straitened up to see who was coming and suddenley a red stallion presented itself before her tub. A cloaked figure got down and lay prostrate before the tub.

Dayton watched this scene in shock as she tried to cover herself. The figure just lay there in silence as Dayton moved around and tried to figure out what was going on. Finally the figure stood and addressed Dayton by a name she was not familer with.

"Charisma, this message is from the Lord and Lady that have created the heavens and the earth." The voice was neither female nor male, but rather undefinable. "I was hear to fetch you on the day of your birth and to deliever you unto the courts of gradeur. There you will recieve your birth rites and your journey statements."

Dayton still in shock stumbled out of the bath and threw her towel around her.

"My lady, you must hurry, we do not have much time left."

What was Dayton to do. She knew nothing of this traveler and knew nothing of the plans set before her. She was given a new name but was not told by anyone that she was to be summoned at some court.

Dayton rushed into the house and without ceasing to be silent threw on some clothes. She also packed a bag full of extra clothes for she knew nothing of how long this absence would last.

She kissed her cousin and uncle and went outside to start a journey that would not only transform her life but would transform the world.