Papuru Star: Coalition Carnage

Chapter 10: The Gospel of Plunk: Lamentations I

My name is Plunk. I'm a Pixan standing at six inches with one inch wings sprouting from my back. I've lived around fifty thousand years, most of which was spent wandering the planet of my birth, Oym, and exploring the varied locals of this, the most inspiring of worlds. As a whole, I'm quite unremarkable. The only object of note, for which I am writing these correspondence, is the fact that my best friend is a god.

His name is Ramza and he is the Deity of Unluck. A rather unremarkable moniker, for sure, but the Deity himself is the greatest being I have ever met. Compassion given form, Ramza's love for life made him a benevolent god to us folks on Oym; not that his father, the Ancient, my creator, was malevolent. His hatred of violence did indeed extend to his son, but where his philosophy often kept the Ancient in a state of inaction, Ramza would step forward to be the strong, steady arm of virtue. As he once stated to me, "There's a time for peace and a time for confrontation," meaning he held no compulsion to sit idle as those around him suffer. His godly powers would manifest and work wonders in the preservation of life.

Having first encountered my future friend close to twenty thousand years ago as of this writing, I could fill transcript after transcript of Ramza's exploits. Some I will skip, for as they are important in their illumination of a Deity's actions and thought processes when it comes to us mortals, they fail to capture the true nature of the one Deity I place in the highest regard and of whom is the subject of my writing. One such recount that springs to memory would be the event which I wouldn't know would be named such a straight forward title as 'the Arrival' until centuries later. This one incident, I believe, clearly demonstrates the qualities I stated earlier, while also explaining the outstanding situation we found ourselves in.

We were, Ramza and I, entertaining the Sandmen of Beaith, who were known for their strict adherence to order at all times. We were trying to introduce the concept of fun; something completely alien to the sentient sand folk. Ramza thought the feeling of flight would do no harm to them since both he and I love the ability. Something else I'm quite fond of is my pixie dust; it can work wonders. We used this to give the Sandmen wings. Unfortunately, this led to many a mid-air collision and sand raining on a poor Gnomini village's food crop.

The sudden boom of a lightning strike scared me half out my wits. It was the Ancient, dark eyes clouded over by long grey hair billowing in the breeze. I felt sweat collect on my forehead, sparing a glance at my friend. Ramza was all smiles as he explained to his father his concept of fun. "It's like this," my friend began. "Life without fun is akin to a desert without sand. An empty existence."

The Ancient merely stared at his son while stroking his waist long beard. He stood at least a foot taller then Ramza, his dark robes made him appear somehow sinister. A smile played across his face and he laughed. "My son, you have a lot to learn of life." The elder looking Deity exclaimed. "Fun for one is not always fun for all."

Ramza was about to retort when the sky suddenly darkened, an impossibility given Oym's twin suns. I heard Ramza ask his father what was happening before the ground shook around us in a manner I have never experienced before. Our twin suns, Rumas and Ramus, were gone in streaks of light. To our astonishment, other stars followed suit, millions of bright white lines filling the now midnight sky. I could feel the air vibrate around my body and Ramza lost his footing, landing on his backside. The Ancient, however, had taken to the air, ascending almost as fast as he descended earlier, and was gone from my sight faster then my poor addled brain could comprehend he had even left.

The planet quakes lessened in intensity, which I believed at the time was the Ancient's doing. He later denied this was the case, saying he was trying to stop or reverse what was happening only to fail at every attempt. It didn't make me feel all that great at knowing my creator was as helpless as his creations, but Ramza, once he regained his footing, took off as well. When Ramza wants to move, he can really go, much faster than any being on Oym, save for maybe his father. Even if I tried to follow, there was no way of knowing where my friend went, so I merely float in place, shock, fear, and uncertainty keeping me from moving. The Sandmen were also huddled together in awe of the spectacle.