Polo

The new mythical life counted as a joining of the two authorities, life and wisdom, and yet it could not be said to surpass either of them. It stood parallel to them both instead.

Its authority was dream and illusion. In truth, it was dreams themselves.

A power born of both life ability and wisdom ability, and yet nothing at all like either one.

Redlichia's authority ran close to mind reading, and it could give thought itself a shape as tangible as mental power, a transcendent force in its own right. This newborn mythical life could do neither of those things. It could not read minds, and it could not turn the force of thought into mental power. What it could do was conjure dreams, and break into the dreams of others.

Shelly's authority held the power to make life, and the power to live on forever without dying. It could change its own shape at will, down to its very size.

This one, of course, could not live forever. Even so, its lifespan ran far longer than any trilobite man's, and its body was every bit as wondrous as Shelly's, holding within it the power to pass freely between the Spirit Realm and reality.

Yin Shen drew out the Sun Cup, and the bud unfurled on its own.

Inside the flower cup, the head slowly opened its eyes and yawned.

"Ah!"

Then it saw Yin Shen.

In that instant, its whole world seemed to come apart.

Its head shrank back inside, and the open bud tried to fold itself shut again.

But Yin Shen reached out a hand, and all at once it could not move at all.

Through wisdom ability, Yin Shen poured the language of the Yinsai Kingdom into its mind, and began to speak with it.

"Who are you?"

The Sun Cup tilted its head back to look up at Yin Shen, blank confusion on its face. "Who am I?"

Yin Shen could feel how quickly it was taking in the knowledge and language he had given it. "Has anyone ever given you a name? Or would you like to choose one for yourself?"

The Sun Cup glanced about at its surroundings, then turned back to Yin Shen with a flinching, timid gaze.

"Then... who are You?"

Yin Shen laughed softly.

"They all call me God."

"You can call me that too, if you like."

The Sun Cup still did not quite understand. "What is a god, anyway?"

This was not the first time Yin Shen had been asked that question. "A being of great power, I suppose. Power so great that no mortal could ever understand it!"

Yin Shen's answer struck a chord in this newborn mythical creature.

"Then I want to be called God too!"

The Sun Cup's stem began to sway. A moment ago it had been frightened. Now it was lost in its own imaginings, as though choosing a suitably impressive name were a matter of the greatest importance to it, and the very thought thrilled it beyond measure.

"What if I'm called Flower God?"

"No good... call me Sun God."

"Illusion God works too. Or Dream God!"

Its thoughts leapt from one idea to the next, never settling on any of them.

Yin Shen looked down at it and said, "God is only a title. It isn't a name of your own."

"When you hold power beyond all else, others will lay the name God upon your head."

The little skull inside the Sun Cup looked up at Yin Shen, then lowered its gaze to study itself.

It felt small, and weak.

The title of God, surely, could have nothing at all to do with something like itself.

The thought left it a little downcast.

Seeing its dejection, Yin Shen spoke up to guide it toward choosing a name of its own.

"I know of a sun god as well. His name was Apollo. But apart from being gold like the sun, you have nothing to do with it at all."

The Sun Cup's pride was stung, and it turned sulky. "Apollo? That doesn't sound nice at all!"

Yin Shen spoke to this rather childish new mythical life. "Then what do you mean to call yourself?"

The Sun Cup lifted its skull high. "I've decided! I'll be called Polo!"

A smile tugged at Yin Shen's mouth. "Pineapple?"

The little head in the flower cup seemed to catch the teasing in his voice. "It's Polo."

On the steps outside the temple, Polo made his wobbling way down, his roots moving no slower than a pair of legs might have. Even so, he felt it was not fast enough.

He looked down the steep stairway, and all at once an idea welled up in him.

He turned his great flower cup inside out, and it became a robe of gleaming gold that covered the stem and roots of his lower body.

Wrapped in the robe with only his head showing, he looked for all the world like a small child dressed in clothes.

Then he leapt straight up into the air, and came drifting down from high above.

The gleaming golden robe swayed in the wind, and glided down along with it.

"Whoooooaaaa!"

"Look at me, riding the wind!"

"Hee hee hee hee!"

Down in the valley, he passed through the ruined city, and wandered on through the marshes.

His torso was hidden beneath the robe, so that he did not seem to run at all, but to glide flat across the ground like a snake or a ghost.

He could vanish from the waking world whenever he pleased, and leap straight into the Spirit Realm of his own dreaming.

He was a life that existed somewhere between reality and dream, and he wandered happily through the domain of the divine, through the garden of God Yinsai.

Life on the island was not especially interesting, but it was comfortable enough.

Polo, though, was plainly not a child content to be alone. Unlike Yin Shen and Shelly, he burned with curiosity, and he loved and longed for every novel, unfamiliar thing that lay beyond the island.

He stood on the beach, gazing out toward the distant reaches of the sea.

Finally, he came to stand before God.

"Hee hee! Oh great and glorious divine being!"

He wriggled and fidgeted, twisting his body about like someone working himself up to an embarrassing request.

So much time spent together had left him rather less afraid of Yin Shen than he once had been.

The divine did not so much as glance his way, and yet had already seen straight through what was on his mind.

"Is the temple not to your liking?"

"Or is this island simply not big enough for you?"

"And besides, is the world out there truly any better than it is right here?"

Polo shook his head. "God, it's good here, I'm not saying it isn't! But nothing ever changes. Just like You, eternal and great."

"The world out there is nothing beside Your domain. But out there, it never stops changing!"

A look of longing rose in Polo's eyes.

"Out there!"

"Every day, new people appear and new things happen!"

"Every morning is a different morning, and every person and every city has some fresh story inside it!"

Polo circled about the feet of the divine like a small child, pleading with him.

All the while he spoke in a coaxing, wheedling voice. "God, why won't You go out into the world?"

"It's so much fun out there, and it's so lively!"

Yin Shen was plainly not falling for Polo's little act. "I don't like noise."

Polo asked carefully, "Is it because You can't truly descend into this world?"

Yin Shen's gaze dropped toward him. At once Polo's legs began to shake, and he sank to his knees.

"How did You know that?"

Trembling all over, Polo said, "I heard it from Shelly!"

Yin Shen said, "Shelly could never have told you that."

Still a little afraid, Polo could not help feeling pleased with his own cleverness. "I saw it in one of Shelly's dreams."

He was a little imp.

An impulsive imp who spoke before he thought, and did whatever came into his head.

Yin Shen said nothing. His mind was sunk deep within the mythical conch shell, and he had little attention to spare for chatter with this small troublemaker.

But Polo bounced and hopped along behind God, like a child trying to catch a grownup's attention.

"God, let clever, wise Polo take Your troubles off Your shoulders! I'll find a way to bring You down into this world, I'm sure of it."

"And then I'll be Your messenger, and You and I will go and see the greatest city in all the world!"

Spinning in a circle, bursting with excitement, the child said, "God and His cleverest messenger Polo, together, will taste the finest food there is and smell the sweetest flowers!"

"Feel the wind up on the mountains, feel the waves out on the sea, and listen to travelers from distant lands tell of their journeys through life, and all their interesting stories!"

Yin Shen smiled at Polo's innocence and nerve, and laid the boy's little scheme bare in a single word. "You just want to run off outside and play, that's all!"

"If you deceive God with lies, do you know what will come of it?"

Polo took fright. "Polo might not be able to do it, but Polo can go outside and find someone who can!"

Yin Shen meant to give this boastful little lord of dreams, this small troublemaker, a taste of real consequence, so that he might learn that everyone must answer for their own words and deeds.

"If you cannot do it, I will shut you away in the Spirit Realm."

"For a hundred years, I will not let you out."

Yin Shen's move landed square on Polo's weak spot, and he could not help the cold shiver that ran through him.

What he feared most was solitude.

And the loss of his freedom.