The Kokro Legacy

[Can-ned Food]

   Over Gugrontid, the shine of the azure sky was slowly brightening, as it was wont to do like every other day.  The clouds from the night past were clearing now, the chesrups and tallids were squeaking and chirruping, and some kran were porating from their slumber.
   In the outskirts on the ground below, one kran of dark red marble, who had not stonated during the night, was walking to a certain hut.  Beside its front door had been placed a few small crystals of quartz, brightening with the whelming crystal above, with several chunks of wolframite and argentite.  Kra paused to appreciate the tokens, stooped down to gather them in the crook of one arm, then stood and raised the other arm to tap on the door.
   The moment was not long until the lithic door unlatched, rolling inwards then over to the inhabitant's right side.  It revealed to the caller a translucent kran, white with tint of mauve, with waist swollen to the width of kras hips, glowing lambently with the light which peered in through the two windows of the hut.  Inside the belly could be seen a dark shape like that of a stalagmite.
   â€śGemma, come to visit so soon?  Would you like a morning meal with me?” as kra raised kras hand, palm upturned.  The visitor took kras own hand and placed it atop the other.
   The translucent kran saw the gems held by the chief gemma, then continued speaking.  “I did not even think to look for nightly gifts.  Those kran are too kind sometimes.  Please, set them upon the kitchen.  Oh, are these from you?  I pray you don't be too generous for my sake.” and so on, while kra turned about and began removing bowls and trays from mortared cubbies along the windowless wall beside kras door.
   Kra continued talking about trifles and friendly minutiae, until the gemma casually interrupted kraĂ° amidst kras rambling and bustling.
   â€śAre you beginning to feel the rigidness yet?”
   Kra ceased talking, but took an iron chisel and began chipping away at a piece of the wolframite.
   The gemma gazed down to examine the growing gemmite.
   â€śI — wonder if gemming a Kokro would've been the better choice, gemma.”  Kra set the chisel and ore down, then turned to face the gemma.  It was yet dim inside the kran's house, but the gemma could almost now perceive a change in the glow of kras dear rock-keeper:  A cloudier body of vitalith, porous with veins of nutrients to feed the growing gemmite.
   â€śYou remember the discussions and the decision which you made.  You wanted a gemling of limestone–granite.  Should I remind you of anything?”
   â€śBut, to gemmate my first as a branch from the Kokro lineage, and when all my ancestors have become the Unknown, now seems too deviant.”
   The gemma raised a hand and placed it on kras shoulder.  “I believe that a heritage is found in the pebbles that evolve from its mantle.  Your gemlings will emerge from your heritage, and be emanations of it, whether a Kokro or not.”
   The translucent kran dipped kras head, but unconvincingly.  Kra merely replied “I will consider that.”
   â€śNow, I must be off to review the rock-keep.  I will attend you in two days and see if you have begun to station then.  Until then, I will take a morsel of your preparations.”
   The translucent kran beamed a simple smile, then gave kraĂ° a small bowl containing powdered gypsum with flakes of flint and slate.  The gemma gulped this down rapidly, and returned the bowl.
   And, that was all:  the gemma turned, opened the door, and departed.
   As kra began walking to the platstone, a large dais surfaced by weather, kra was met by a gneiss kran, passing also toward the platstone.
   â€śHow fares Derorund?” kra called out to the gemma, who began sharing as both walked.
   â€śBearing the gemmite well, but worries that kras legacy …”

   As the gemma had promised, kra visited Derorund again two days later, at the noon of the Azure Sun.
   The crystal set in the top of the hut shone through the noon light, illuminating the interior.  There, Derorund Kokro could be seen lying upon kras slightly raised bed, with several bowls of food and one empty set on the floor.
   Derorund did not look about to see the gemma enter, but merely lay there.  Kra was now strongly purple, and though now the once–visible depths of kras body were thoroughly opaque, the gemma could see clinal disruptions reaching to the surface of kras vitalith, like dormant fractures.  Anguish emanated from Derorund, now strongly perceptible from inside the stone walls of the house.
   The gemma swiftly stepped over to Derorund and knelt beside kraĂ°.  “You are ill!” the gemma said to Derorund.
   Derorund groaned weakly in reply, “I feel as though the gemling will burst through.”
   A moment, paused, as the recognition surged through the gemma.  The Kokro were once a lineage of calcite and quartz, and it seems now that they must've trended toward increased fragility; a gemmating granite would surely be a strain on a Kokro.  How did the gemma not notice this sooner?  Hidden under a veil of Derorund's mental distress?
   Derorund's gemma chief stood, said “I will return with supplies”, and began to turn, when Derorund spoke again.
   â€śHurry.”
   The gemma ran out and went to kras own house, set near the middle of the village.  The streets were empty, the other kran off at their own business.  Once at the house for the chief gemma, large enough to serve as a meeting hall, kra opened a wooden chest, grabbed from it a cloth sack, a chisel, a glyph-etched slab of malachite, and a few glyph-etched shards of amethyst, then placed the items in the sack and hastily returned to Derorund.
   There, the gemma stood directly under the crystal in the roof — so shaped as to channel the Azure Sun's light directly in to the room — and kra removed the malachite glyph with one hand, holding it up over kras head.
   The malachite began to vibrate, and the room began to shudder.  In a short time, a cloud of sepia dust began to form around the glyph in a ring.  Kra lowered the glyph to between kraself and Derorund.  The ring passed forward to Derorund, upon whom it disappeared.
   The gemma then took out two of the amethyst shards, and also held these up over kras head, where they began to hum and glow.

   It was late after the noon when the gemma had finished; kra sat upon a large glyph carved in several of the floor tiles, patently exhausted.
   Derorund sat upright on kras bed now, eating from one of the bowls which had been set beside it.
   The two kran had not spoken since the gemma had done all kra could for Derorund, strengthening and healing — all merely a reprieve.
   The gemma broke the silence.  “Derorund, you will make it through for a few hours, but then the gemmite will strain you further.  I myself will not recover enough mana by that time to help you.  I should gather more kran to aid us.”
   Derorund was yet slowly eating kras food.  “No … I must not be seen like this.  The others must not know.”
   â€śIf you do not survive, then those others will surely know.”  The gemma waited, pondering kras next suggestion.  “I may be able to contrive a reversal, much like a failed expulsion or extraction during some gemmations.”  Kra sensed the shirk from Derorund, and added “Losing the most potent gemmation, and your own gemling, may be a better option than continuing a risky gemmation and an almost certain demise; a demise probably to be one with the Unknown, if not to be merely trapped in the nether.”
   â€śI wish this gemling to survive, and I would pray you help me to that end.  You may tell kran in your rock-keep to come and assist.”  Derorund was not sure, however, whether kra did indeed wish kraself to survive with this legacy.

   The chief gemma was able to collect three capable kran:  Erqosun Meux̨ad, Temuk X̨reotaŋk, and Retokon Meux̨ad, all skilled in the Crystal Way and Retokon with a supply of alchemical potions that seemed pertinant to this problem.  Having no prior experience or knowledge of such a condition, kra also travelled up to Gugrontid for advice, ultimately conversing with Quasus.

   It was the eve of night when the gemma returned to kras house; the volunteers were all gathered with Derorund lying upon the large bed used for gemmations necessitating greater care.  There, some of the potions were given, and a Crystal Shell laced through Derorund.
   The stryptic solution was the final potion given — some orally, the remainder allowed to soak through Derorund's already–softening abdomen.  The surface of Derorund's vitalith there began to assume a granular, rough texture.
   It was merely four minute-hours when the gemling began to emerge.  Erqosun stood at Derorund's head, Temuk and Retokon on either side of kras belly, and the gemma stood watching by the left shoulder, supplying brief instruction to the three kranic wizards, until —
   â€śTemuk!  The fissures are spreading too far!  Release some Crystallizing mana!”
   â€śIt doesn't seem to be changing.”
   â€śRetokon, release your mana-streams, and you two compensate.  Bring that vial of hewmend!”
   â€śThe gemling is emerging too slowly, gemma!” alerted Temuk.
   The gemma reached in to Derorund's slurried belly and took hold of the gemling.  Despite the peril, a serene affection began reverberating from Derorund.  The gemma glanced over to kras face, and saw kras mouth part open.
   While the granitous gemling was halfway out, from Derorund's oral cavities issued forth one utterance:  “Gedundk”
   Then, a spasm of pain (felt mostly by Erquosun), and a shudder, and the sound of vitalith shattering.
   Meanwhile, Retokon stood, vial still in hand and only partially emptied, staring down at the calamity.

   It was later, when the darkness of night had begun, with crystalline lamps softly phosphorescing, that the chief gemma had called the village inhabitants together in the hall; Derorund's shards still and piled reverently upon the floor near the gemmational bed.  The gemma stood, holding a little, dark-grey gemling in kras arms.
   â€śMy rock-keepers, here remains that of Derorund Kokro which is not now the Unknown that pervades and surrounds and founds us.  The sudden deprivation we all felt was dampered by this little one here.  So, we may both remark the loss of one and also the welcome of one.  Kra is Gedundk —”
   The gemma broke prosody for a moment, not certain whether Derorund's wish would be for kraĂ° to surname this gemling.
   â€śGedundk.  When Derorund began to gemmate this one, kra had deigned to bestow kras heritage upon a new lineage, kras first and strongest gemmation; yet, kra did not inform me of the name for this new lineage.”
   From the front of the crowd, the gemma's two children stepped forward.  One of them spoke to the chief, though loud enough to be heard clearly by all.  “Gemmor, perhaps the gemling may continue with the Kokro legacy?”
   The gemma looked over kras rock-keepers, and there was no dissent.  “That seems well.”  Holding the gemling up again, “Kra is Gedundk Kokro.”
   The audience repeated the name in unison.
   â€śI bestow Gedundk Kokro to the gemmor–assumptive Maudso Gegreqed.  Do you accept, Maudso?”
   â€śI do, gemma.”
   Maudso walked up from the side of the crowd and took the gemling, then went out to sit along the wall near where kra was standing.  Suddenly, the chief gemma felt especially heavy, and sagged kras shoulders.  The crowd stood, anxious now, waiting for kraĂ° to continue with the schedule of announcements.
   â€śYour chief asks that Erqosun Meux̨ad, Temuk X̨reotaŋk, and Retokon Meux̨ad come to present to your account their relation of the events transpired during the demise of Derorund Kokro.”  (Even the kran, with their simplistic formalities, must tediously process–through such things.)
   So, those three kran each gave their perspective on the events, and the gemma concluded by explaining kras prior visits to Derorund.  Then, a magnetite kran, who had been standing at the rear of the crowd, made kras way forward.
   â€śMy chief gemma, Roloso Gtak, it seems clear that these decisions were the wishes of Derorund, and the blame for any consequences is kraj alone.  Why does it seem that you are desperately trying to indemnify yourself?  Indeed, I myself have never known of such a thing happening prior.”
   The gemma turned to glance at the pile which was previously Derorund.  Taking a piece of raw iron which kra had grasped the entire time here, kra brought it down upon kras leg, fragmenting a chunk which flew into the pile of Derorund's remains, bounced, and landed nearby.  When kra turned to face the crowd again, kra replied with one sentence and began leave.  Kra took but one large sack which sat at the threshold, strapped it to kras shoulders, and continued to walk away.
   In the sack were some simple tools and equipment for kranic survival in the wilderness.  Well, one other thing also, but none of the kran there saw kraĂ° take it.
   Kra would carry this small, cubish block of calcic quartz on kras travels throughout Yliakum, and keep it dearer than any other possession; kra would often fondle it, or cradle it in kras hands, or occasionally set it upon tables or the like so that kra could gaze upon it.
   Perhaps there would come one day, during a visit to the town known as Hydlaa, when kra would at long last be willing to give it to its rightful heir.

here being THE END of this tale.




A portrait of Derorund, courtesy of Elijah Kane Chong.  Originally posted here.  Also, see Where Attention Lies.

Story released to the Artist Continuum.  Illustration ©2015 Elijah Kane Chong.   
«kran» «gemmation» «pregnancy» «orphan» «kran legacies» «kran lineage» «naming» «naming scheme» «kranic funeral» «kran funeral» «resignation» «Gugrontid village» «platstone»

[Mariana Xiechai]

This was really interesting. I don't see much kran fan writing. I actually thought you tackled the whole lack of gender thing surprisingly well, as I imagine that wouldn't be easy to write, especially on the topic of one giving birth. Good job. Hope there's some more to come. 

[Alvero]

I actually think this is nonofficial book about krans ive read. Good worked, i like it

The book loving and robe wearing lemur, Alvero Alenciar.

[Aramara Meibi]

thank you.

[Demagul Riwe]

Great job!      I hope you continue to grace the forums with your awesome writing  Yliakum has a surprising lack of Kran players, so it's great to see some writing featuring the race rather than just pure lore about them.