A Love Story

Like most of the other villages and towns of Ragha, Kasgar stood along the banks of the Ragaza River. The few others were found around the various oases that sprang up in the desert. Aside from these areas where towns and villages sprouted, the rest of Ragha's territory was mostly desert.

There was a vast mountain range over to the southern tip of Ragha. The base of this mountain range was heavily forested except for the part occupied by the Ragha Martial Arts Academy. The mountain range is called Tukruk's Helm because of its shape that resembled the helmet of the mountain god Tukruk. According to stories, Tukruk wore a helmet that has a pair of horns that branch outwards before twisting inwards like two crescents.

The Ragaza River converged into the gap between the two horns of the Turkruk's Helm Mountain. It was because of this that this particular part of the river was called the Horns' Juncture. Due to an earthquake during the ancient times, the Ragaza River split about thirty miles from Ragha's northern border with Talahada. The eastern branch snaked along until it reached Horns' Juncture. The western branch, on the other hand, followed a smooth arc to the west. Both eventually linked up where the horns forced them together.

The two branches had their own names, both as old as time and steeped in legend as well. The western branch was called Milal while the eastern branch was called Agnos.

There was a very old story passed down to every generation of Ragha children by their elders. The story was, in fact, the love story of two minor deities, Milal and Agnos. Milal was one of the hundreds of sons of the sea god Merham. Agnos was the youngest and most beautiful among the nine daughters of the river god Karyan.

Ever since she was but a child, Agnos had always loved Milal. She had long dreamt of being wife to Milal. She wanted nothing more than to cook his favorite dishes and take care of all his needs. She went so far as to order her servants to secretly find out what Milal loved to eat, so she could learn to cook them herself. She also had one of her pretty female servants flirt around with the guys closest to Milal in order to find out what qualities Milal looked for in a girl. Naturally, Agnos worked very hard to cultivate those particular qualities in herself.

Agnos eventually grew up into a beautiful young lady whose charms moved mountains and turned rivers off their course. Even the moon goddess, the fair Bulan, so envied her and wanted to come down from her celestial perch and absorb Agnos' beauty. However, Bulan's big sister, Ganawil, blocked her path and stopped her malevolent intention. This led to the phenomenon called "Rahang Nimgan" which meant blocking the younger sister.

This part of the story was how the old folks explained the phenomenon of the bigger moon blocking the radiance of the smaller moon. The world upon which Blink walked upon had two moons named Ganawil and Bulan. The "Rahang Nimgan" happened every thirty days and marked the beginning of a new month, or "rahang" as it was called among the people of the vast continent to which Ragha was only a tiny part of.

Anyway, Milal had finally noticed how beautiful Agnos was and found himself thinking of her in his moments of solitude. Later on, he found himself getting excited over a shadow of her presence only to find himself become bitterly disappointed as the shadow turned out to be another girl who possessed a certain likeness of Agnos—her sparkling black hair in one or her graceful posture in another.

Milal could no longer deny it. His life would forever lack a sense of completeness without Agnos beside him.

When Agnos heard how wretched Milal had turned for love of her, she wanted to run to him and assure him of her overwhelming love for him. However, the rational minds around Agnos prevailed upon the goddess to observe propriety. Only by keeping her emotions in check and not by rushing towards Milal like a feline in heat could she truly win over the haughty Milal's devotion, they told her.

In the end, the impatient Agnos restrained herself while the love-struck Milal made an impassioned declaration of his love for Agnos that melted everyone's heart. Merham, upon seeing the wretchedness to which his favored son was reduced to by his undeniable love for the beautiful young goddess, reached out to his fellow god, Karyan, to propose for a betrothal. The wealth of the sea god's domain was displayed in full as a hundred boats, all carrying precious gems and magical treasures, covered the riverbank in front of Karyan's residence. Merham promised that the Milal and Agnos would receive ten times more on their wedding day.

Seeing as there was no reason for him to object to the proposed betrothal, Karyan agreed having been fully aware of his daughter's unbridled love for Milal.

The two were betrothed that very day. Next, a propitious date was set in which the two were to be married. The date was agreed upon by the parents together with Tukruk and the goddess of the forest, Samaya.

An announcement was sent to all the deities near and far informing them of the betrothal and eventual marriage of the two young deities exactly twelve days after the next appearance of the Star of Simri. The Star of Simri appears only once in a year, during the early part of spring. Milal and Agnos were betrothed in the warm glow of the middle of summer.

In the days following the appearance of the Star of Simri, the Grand Kingdom of Ragha received such visitors of grand stature and legendary renown throughout the known world. Almost all the river gods had come. Ditto, the five other sea gods. The goddesses Ganawil and Bulan also arrived. Curiously, Unnawa, the goddess of love and beauty, also came if only to prove the persistent rumors of Agnos' incomparable beauty.

It was, however, the matchless hero, Qat'l Banwar, who created the biggest commotion among the arrivals. As a legendary warrior, the men wanted a glimpse of his prowess while the women were hoping for more than a passing glance.

Qat'l Banwar was said to have been accosted by thousands of wild shrieking girls, all offering themselves to him in marriage, or even just to warm his bed. The girls' unrestrained ferocity displayed that day had so traumatized Qat'l Banwar's retainers they never quite looked at a woman the same way ever again—not even a gentle-looking and soft-spoken beauty could sway their perspective. Many of them simply could not get over the experience of being nearly torn to pieces by their lord's savage wannabe brides that they stayed single their whole lives.

On the day before the wedding, the most distinguished visitors have arrived—the delegation from the sky city of Lantigria, headed by the mighty Lantiok. Lantiok was the firstborn son of the king of the gods, Lantig, the god of the sky who wields the power of the thunder and the rain. Lantiok's presence was seen as a sign of Lantig's approval of Milal and Agnos' nuptial.

Thus, the day Agnos waited all her life had finally arrived. With Minas, the god of prosperity, solemnizing the ceremony, and Tukruk and Samaya as the godparents, Milal and Agnos' marriage was the grandest event ever to take place in the ancient Grand Kingdom of Ragha.

The celebration lasted for an entire month, during which time the nights were so bright in Ragha while the rest of the world suffered moonless nights as Ganawil and Bulan so enjoyed themselves with the rest of their fellow gods and goddesses that they forgot all thoughts of returning to the night sky.