pixiechaosquest

The rain began to fall on Pixie Lake as Kimana of the Fire Mountain sang a lullaby to the pixie of chaos, Pandora. Pandora was restless today; a volcano pixie and a storm pixie had come to seek to calm her, their queen. Nimbus of the Storms and Rain paced nervously. “Stop that!” whispered Kimana of the Fire Mountain. Lately things had been happening that should never have happened. Some of these were rampant desert storms in summer, extinct volcanoes erupting after they had long since become just mountains, water flowing uphill and even reversing waterfalls. The most unnerving was the shift in the constellations. Something was amiss and Kimana of the Fire Mountain and Nimbus of the Storms were here to find out why.

Pandora, Pixie of Chaos, stirred and gazed at the two nature pixies hovering before her eyes. “Oh, greetings and pleasantries, oh fair Lady of the Fire Mountain, Guardian of the Molten Sands, and Charioteer of the Butterflies at the Center of the Earth, oh Esteemed Kimana! Swift Winds and Shining Bolts of Lightning and Thunder, Oh Child of the Clouds and Rain, Turner of the Silver Clouds to Pewter, oh Radiant Nimbus. What brings you to gentle Pixie Lake?” said Pandora in her usual fashion.

“Greetings and Blessings, Milady, Daughter of Change and of the Void, Mother of Weather and Volcanism, Ever Changing Chaos, the Pixie Pandora, we have come on a quest to discover a solution to a most unusual problem, and you are the only possible cause?” Kimana of the Fire Mountain said.

“What have I done this time, children?” Pandora of Chaos asked.

            “Things are changing too fast, they are not merely un-orderly but they are defying the inherent patterns of chaos as well! It is not fitting for my storms to arise over the barren desert in the blistering heat of summer, that is the time for Lady Drought of the Summer’s Heat and Desert’s Grief to reign supreme and she is rather miffed and vexed about it, if I do say so myself,” replied Nimbus of the Storms and Rain.

            “Oh, I am terribly sorry! Why did you not send my cousin Regla, Pixie of Order and Logic, around to see me? That solves most problems when my powers break free of my control.”

            “Well, I am not sure how to put this delicately so I will be as frank and blunt as possible, in proper Volcanic fashion. Regla is in a drunken stupor after getting her fill of Ambrosia stolen from the northern deities of wine and debauchery at Div, Pixie of Fun and Pleasure’s birthday party. Div just turned 5 million, so it was a momentous occasion,” answered Kimana of the Fire Mountain solemnly.

            “Ahh I knew Regla had a touch of chaos and disorder in her! They claim I have elements of order to me you know, but this pleases me greatly. I must send her a gift and a card on her first chaotic act of the century!”

            “That may be unwise, milady, Pandora of Chaos”

            “Whyever so?”

           “It was not a willful act on her part, the chaos in this world has spun out of control, and possibly beyond your control, if even Regla is beholden to it.”

            “Oh, that’s easy to fix. You just have to act completely orderly for a little bit.”

            “How long, milady?”

            “Hmm, I would say a millennium give or take a hundred years ought to do it.”

            “Even one such as myself who is millions of years old, possibly older than time itself, cannot wait a thousand years or more for this to stop. There must be a faster option!”

            “Oh, you wanted the fast way? Well, let’s see, you need to befriend a mortal, send them on a perilous quest that will likely end in their doom. Then you have to have them survive it miraculously so we pixies get all the credit. The topic of the quest is irrelevant; they just have to go on this journey to restore order and balance.”

            “How in the seven spheres of the sky do you expect that to work.”

            “Easy, humans have powers we cannot fathom, the power of legend and myth. If they believe an explanation to be true and teach it again and again, it generally becomes true in our world, if not also in theirs. If they are told this quest will restore order and balance, then it will, and impressively so!”

            “Humans are a strange folk! Why do they not do this all the time?”

            “They do, a little, but it has to be awe inspiring to truly work well on such a scale.”

            So the two pixies set out to find a worthy human, as nondescript as possible. They checked villages and cities and little farmhouses in the middle of nowhere. Needless to say their visits caused quite a commotion, but they paid it no heed. Some thought they brought an ill omen, others thought they had come to shower down blessings. They asked each in turn what they dreamt of, for a hero of legend must have a pure dream, unsullied by the wishes of others. Those who were secretly evil could no longer hide it, the presence of pixies does that to people, and they realize how people and things really are deep within. A pixie can never lie and no one can lie to a pixie, because that would be as lying to existence itself, for that is what pixies are made of.

Finally they found a forgotten person. Hiding in the shadow of a run down building, at the far end of a dark alley in a dismal neighborhood they found a child, rummaging for scraps. “Child! What is your name and what is your dream?”

“My name I do not know, I am called ‘boy’ if anything at all. I want to be warm on cold nights and have food to eat every day.”

The pixies thought long and hard about this, basic needs were the purest and frankly the most pixie like of dreams anyone could have. Not terribly special dreams, but they would do nicely. It would be hard for anyone to corrupt such a simple goal. Kimana of the Fire Mountain gave him a cloak and Nimbus of the Storms and Rain gave him food.

“Thank you,” he said with trembling gratitude. “Who are you?”

“We are Pixies, the living fabric of existence. Have you not been told tales of us by your family or legends by your friends? Kimana here is a volcano pixie, and I am Nimbus, a storm pixie. We shall call you Heracles”

“I have neither family nor friends. A storyteller, in the town square, told a tail of a fair folk, that look a little like you, who play among flowers. But, volcanoes and storms? Those sure don’t sound very friendly.”

“Volcanoes provide fertile soil!”

“Storms bring needed rainfall!”

“Okay, I guess. Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be at your volcanoes or causing your storms?”

“There is a balance in nature, between benefit and risk, water and fire, air and earth, hope and fear, order and chaos.”

“This last balance has been broken, Chaos is running rampant and even the Pixie of Chaos cannot fix it!”

“There’s a pixie of chaos? Does she like spill colors all over when painting flowers or something?”

“Not exactly. More often she makes sure things remain natural and that her sister Regla doesn’t make things too orderly such that nature ceases to follow its proper chaotic order.”

“So why are you telling me this? I can’t find food, why would I be able to restore the cosmic balance?”

“It is because you are a human. You are a mortal being. We Immortals lack the ability to become truly immortal, to have your story never die. Living forever does not preclude one from being forgotten. The balance can only be fixed by something epic, and dancing around painting flowers is apparently not epic enough.”

“Epic? Do you want me to go on a heroic quest or something?”

“Yeah, that is about what we were aiming for. Why else would we name you Heracles? He went on all sorts of heroic quests!”

“Twelve of them, I think!”

“Something like that, yes. Well he went on heroic quests and you will too! And we’ll be your guides.”

“Should be ‘We, the pixies of raging storms and flaming mountains, shall be your guides.’ We have to sound epic here!”

“I’m not sure you two are succeeding.”

“Well, want to come on a heroic quest? We will help you find food and the cloak and Kimana’s campfires should keep you plenty warm.”

“I have nothing better to do, I guess. Why not? When do I start?”

“Right away! We have to first get you a change of clothes and you can bathe at Pixie Lake. You have to look like a legendary hero to be one!”

“You pixies are way too into myths and legends. They are just made up you know.”

“Funny, I thought magical beings like pixies were found in myths and legends! Therefore if you are not delusional then we are real and they are real, and they have rules that must be followed!”

“I have no issues with being delusional if it means I get food and warmth, so fine, what am I questing for?”

“I don’t have a clue!”

“We haven’t decided yet!”

“But we will decide.”

“Yes, once we get to Pixie Lake!”

“Why must my delusions be so hyper and delusional themselves?”

“It is the way things are done!”

“Whatever.”

So they headed to Pixie Lake. There, awaiting them was a whole council of Pixies, all wearing handy name tags. Since most pixies are illiterate, they were all labeled with handy pictures. Drought had a desert and blazing sun, Ocean had a picture of the sea, Night wore a black tag with stars and a moon on it. There were probably a hundred or more pixies, and one was not wearing a name tag. “That’s Pandora, Chaos herself,” whispered Kimana.

Pandora spoke with authority. “Our epic hero has arrived! We shall send him on a glorious quest to restore the cosmic balance. Has anyone any ideas on what quest he should undertake?”