Palapala opened his eyes for the first time. He looked around him and smiled. He was grateful to be alive. His mother pushed a ball in front of him. He tilted his head and as he focused on it the ball began to grow. It began to get bigger and grass and trees began to grow all over the surface. This made him happy. He thanked his mother and began to move his moon into place. He wanted to make sure to get straight to work and make his mother proud. He had a difficult job; to keep the balance of souls. He had to ensure that souls made it from the afterlife on the planet to Vaitafe Ola or the River of Life. The harmony of life must also be preserved.
The life cycle on Fa'avae was to be born, live, die, and then for some to be reborn. Those that weren't reborn were returned to Vaitafe Ola, sheparded by Pala. The determining factor for being reborn or not was how many years your soul existed for and how many times you had been reborn. That was part of Pala's domain. He had to decide whether your soul was ready to move to the river or to move back to the world. Fortunately for Pala, this meant that his sister, Matagi, had to be contacted on a regular basis. He loved Matagi. The only person that he was closer to was Malulu.
The relationship that he had with Malulu was a very unique one. She was the goddess of ice and frost and he was the god of nature. That meant that they had to work closely with eachother to maintain the lives of the plants and animals.
Pala enjoyed spending time just walking across the surface of his moon. Taking in the wonderful smells of all the flora and observing the behaviors of the fauna. He loved everything about it. He was always curious about how he could improve life. He always tried to make sure that he had closed the circle of life. The entire cycle was very beautiful to him and was always observed from begining to end.
When Pala had to leave to tend to the souls of the dead he was amazed at how life would continue to move forward and adapt without any help from him. In fact, the only time he had to step in was when there was some outside force exerting itself onto his perfect nature. Everything was in balance.
Being the god of the afterlife had it's ups and downs. It was nice to be able to escort people to their destination. There was something serene about guiding the souls that had passed. The troubling part of it all was that you also could see when the bad things were coming.
Pala looked to the sky and saw Fa'avae floating above him. He could see the moons that were ruled by his brothers and sisters. The flow of prayers coming from the planet made him feel powerful. Those that worshipped him were very devout. As he looked around at the lush greenery that he had created here, he felt pride come over him. He was given a desolate moon with nothing on it and made it into a beautiful paradise. Animals grazed on the fields and the circle of life moved ever on. He knew that this place was perfect, but it wouldn't last. The caretaker of the grave knew when someone's time was approaching an end; he just wasn't used to it being his time.
Walking through the field toward his forest home of Vaomatua he knew this would be the last time he walked this path. A nearby flower began to lose it's petals and wilt. This happened to the grass around him and then the trees he was heading toward. As if some outside influence had drained the water they had been drinking from. The leaves began to change colors and fall off the trees. They were cracked, dry, and brittle before hitting the ground. Pala knew that all things must die, but this seemed as if some unnatural force was at work. That is when he heard the cries coming from the planet that floated above his head.
The priests and clerics that praised him were asking for his help. Shortly this became begging for him to ease their passing. It was as if all of the life in his temples went out at the same time. Pala fell to his knees and clutched his chest. This was a pain that he had never experienced before. A hole had begun to form inside him and was draining the life out of him.
"Hello brother" Mumu spoke from behind him, " by now you are definitely feeling the pain of having no power being sent to you by those that worshipped you. This is because you are weak. A pathetic excuse for a god that I no longer felt the need to tolerate."
When Pala turned his head and saw his brother. He froze in place. Never had his brother commanded such power. The horns that grew from his head had more than doubled in size and the fire that radiated from him burned as hot as the sun. His sword was also glowing with the same white fire. "I see you noticed my power has grown. It was a simple matter of murdering any of your followers who wouldn't convert and believe me to be the true god. Those that did convert are sending me all of their power. Temples that were erected in your name are now being razed."
Pala heard his brother continue speaking, but couldn't focus on his words any longer. The pain was growing to great for him to bear. He began to mutter something to himself. "What are you doing?" Mumu was perplexed. No one had ever stopped listening to him while he was speaking.
He continued to whisper to himself and clasped his hands together. When Pala opened his hands a bright green light emitted from them and a small butterfly flew out. It was beautiful. Entirely made of an emerald green light. It began to fly away. "Oh, you think you're clever do you?" Mumu held out his left hand and a jet of flame shot out of it and surrounded the butterfly. "Trying to get word to mother that you were losing a battle? Not this time."
In Mumu's arrogance he didn't notice the butterfly continued flying away. It flew higher and higher until it reached the space between the moon and Fa'avae. Pala did see it though. He knew that the butterfly would make it. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
When he awoke he was chained to the wall. There was black stone all around him and on the floor. Looking up he saw a door. It was made of the same black stone, but there was a slot in it. Supposedly to open and look in to ensure that the prisoner couldn't or wasn't causing any mischief. He continued observing his surroundings to see if he could figure out a way out. There was a burlap sack on the ground filled with what appeared to be gravel. 'Mumu must've chained me in his castle dungeon' he thought to himself. He knew that was why he had nothing in his cell that was alive. His brother wanted to ensure he had no power inside this cell. Everything was made of stone or metal. Not sure if he could even muster the power to cast a spell or get out of his bonds he attempted to focus on summoning the last of his strength. He had no magic left in him. He would just have to sit and wait for someone to come to his aid.
He could hear his brother calling out to him. His sword sizzled and popped as it was drug across the ground. "Palapala, where are you brother? I just want to talk," Mumu slammed his sword into the ground as fire erupted around it.
Pala realized that his brother meant to kill him. He had been wounded, but it was just a flesh wound. He was in a full retreat trying to escape his would be murderer. As he pushed forward through the pain he suddenly felt the temperature around him change. It was much colder now. 'Could she be here already' he thought to himself. "Brother, hide here with me," Malulu was very reassuring in the way that she spoke to him.
Pala climbed into the snow bank that hadn't been there moments ago. He hid and as he drifted off into blackness he saw one large black boot hit the ground not three feet away. He could hear the snow melt under Mumu's boot. All became blackness.
Mumu and the creation of the glitz.
Mumu rarely visited the mortals. He believed they were beneath him. When he did visit it was always time that he spent torturing people or attempting to convert them to follow him as the one true god.
One day when he was visiting with a group of his favorite mortals. They were a particularly rowdy group of individuals. Some would call them sand pirates. Using their auvae oneone, or sand skiffs, to travel across the glass roads they would hunt and steal from any travellers who were caught in the desert. Mumu saw some ruins off the side of the ship and ordered the captain to halt. Mumu and the captain discussed the dangers of these ruins. What could possibly lurk inside to kill his men.
