Anant and Peter

When the storytellers were made, it had originally only been one story teller. His name was Anant. The name carried many meanings, but mainly meant "from the stream" and "eternal." He was created from the clear water as a way for the earth to remind everything about true love. He was half beast and half man, but the earth knew that he was beautiful because all creatures were lovely.

While Anant was younger, he was quite happy rummaging all over the woods, singing, joyously flying through the air, and swimming in the seas with all the whales and dolphins and mermaids. The earth loved him very much, but he began to realize that he was the only one of his kind. He asked the earth why, and she said that it was because he was so pure and nothing could ever harm him. He was always protected and would never die so long as the earth lived.

When Anant got a tad older, he began to exude sexual energy. The earth hadn't planned for this, she had forgotten that well, everything tends to rather enjoy sex, and Anant was no exception. Although he was half man, half beast, he always liked people his own age. The earth taught him a very sexual song that would bring men from all over the land to have sex with him.

He would whistle into the air, and men from all over would be drawn to his scent and song. It was as if their bodies took the best of them, and no man that Anant found attractive ever escaped his song. Sailors, military, cobblers, any body that Anant fancied would come to him with just this song.

He had lots of sex, lots of lust, and developed lots of meaningful friendships with all the men he had sex with, but none of them ever stayed. They would always talk about something called love. He was confused so he asked the earth what this meant.

The earth told him that true love was something that the people had created like no other creature on her planet. Though the animals were good at it, it was the people who had perfected it. It was the ability to give without expecting and that until the people figured out how to do it, only the earth knew how. She was happy that she wasn't alone in this expression, but she had tried to shelter Anant from this feeling for fear that he would experience heartache.

Anant said that he wanted true love too, that he wanted to know what it felt like. The earth warned him that it could be chaotic and crazy, but if he really wanted it, he would receive it. He agreed and she said okay.

The next time Anant whistled, nobody came. He had lost his ability to create lust and sexual hunger across the land. This confused him, but the earth assured him to be patient.

One day, he woke up to a sweet smell in the air. Anant could smell anything across the world, and he felt like this scent in itself was made just for him. He ran towards the scent through the thick brush. The further he got, the thicker the woods became, but he had to find where this scent was coming from. He just had to find this scent.

It became dark rather quickly but the moon shined bright that night. He came close to a river delta near the ocean, and heard a soft hum. He knew that's where the scent was coming from, and so he waited behind the tall plants and watched the moon light up the figure singing.

It was a beautiful man with long flowing red hair. He was bathing himself in the warm summer air, using a large shell to pour the water over his body to clean himself. He hummed so gracefully and peacefully that the brutish heart of Anant stayed calm. He didn't approach the man with the red hair, as most people who met him would run away and think him hideous. Instead, he laid in the grass and fell asleep to the humming.

When he woke up, it was morning, and the man had left. Anant hurried back to his neck of the woods by the great tree and told the earth his story. She was happy that Anant had found him, that meant that there was potential for Anant to experience true love as the earth had made it.

She asked Anant to sit by her tree and sing his songs. He thought it pointless as nobody came anymore, but he always listened to the earth, and so he sang anyway. The earth asked him if he wanted to know true love as the people knew it, and he said yes of course. She told him that it might hurt, that it isn't always pleasant, but that it was well worth it. He agreed. Right then, the same long haired man walked by the berry bushes with a basket and began to pick berries. Anant was astonished, and asked the earth what he should do. The earth said that a nice introduction would be a good start.

Anant walked up slowly to the beautiful man and said hello. The man looked at him with a big smile and said hello back. This surprised Anant greatly. He was used to men being terrified of him, or if they weren't they would instantly lose their bearings and begin to kiss and fondle Anant. This is what Anant had expected, so when the beautiful man smiled and continued to pick berries, Anant was startled.

On the urgings of the earth, Anant asked the man what his name was. It was Peter. He liked the name Peter, he didn't know why, but he did. It sounded like a nice name. Anant asked Peter if he would like to hear his songs and dance with him. Peter said yes.

They went to the great tree and ate some of the blue berries gathered, and sang and danced with all the forest creatures and spirits and had a good time. When night fell, Peter had to leave back to his family, but promised he would come back. For the first time ever, Anant believed a person, he knew Peter would come back to join him.

They spent many days and many more nights together happily feasting and celebrating. Anant could never go visit Peter because the village folk thought that Anant was brutish and might try to hurt him. Peter saw nothing but a kind heart, he didn't even notice that Anant was half beast, being in each others' company felt more worthwhile and valuable than anything else.

Anant asked the earth if that's what true love on earth felt like, and she said yes. She said that love is like a good crop. If you take the time to talk to it, cultivate it, pollinante it, and be patient with it, it will produce year after year. She reminded Anant though that even crops eventually come to an end and that they must die.

This was the first time Anant had thought about death. Ever since he was born, he couldn't die. Wounds would heal instantly, he didn't know pain, and he could do just about anything he wanted to without fear of pain. The earth told him that if he wanted to experience love as the people did, then he would have to eventually die. This would mean that he would no longer be half man half beast, but would be entirely human. He would still retain his knowledge and songs, but would have to die.

Anant wanted to experience love more than anything else, and so the earth agreed. His leg hair shed significantly, his hooves became tender feet, and the lower half of his body changed. When Peter came to visit next, he was shocked. He wasn't angry as much as he asked Anant how and why he had done it. Anant simply replied that he did it to experience true love. Peter smiled and told Anant that he would love him anyway. Anant said that as true as that may be, if he stayed half man half beast, he would live forever, and one day Peter would die. He would rather live a full happy life with Peter than be immortal and have an infinite amount of lovers. Peter smiled and held his hand.

That night, they went to the meadow and made love. The moon shined brighter than ever, almost as big as the sun. Neither Anant or Peter had experienced sex as they had that night. When their bodies touched, their hearts jumped out towards each other, and their love making became a well orchestrated work of art that flowed from them effortlessly, beautifully, and naturally. They didn't have to think, because they had become each other.

Despite the being human thing, the earth told Anant that he was still immortal. Anant said that he wanted to die with Peter and would do anything to be with him. The earth said that in order for that to happen, Peter would have to cut off his long red hair and give it to the sun. The sun was losing her flame and knew that the hair of Peter would bring it back. Since the stars where the ultimate deciders of who and what was to stay immortal, Anant knew he had to ask Peter.

He was nervous that Peter would say no, that he would be angry at Anant for agreeing to such a thing. Instead, Peter just smiled and said okay. It was a small price to pay to keep Anant in his life, even if they died, they would at least die together with the memories they shared and Anant would get to know earthly love. That day, Peter lay on Anant's lap and Anant cut his hair. It didn't hurt Peter as much as it hurt Anant. For Anant, it meant that he could no longer run his fingers through the beautiful red hair that had initially drawn him to Peter. However, he started to notice other things about Peter he hadn't before.

He noticed how Peter smiled, how soft his hands were, how cute his toes would curl up when they kissed. He noticed the deepness in his eyes, the feel of their skin against each other. His favorite thing about Peter was that when they slept, they would play together in their dreams, healing the spirits and making new friends from across the universe. They bonded rapidly and were so much the same being that Anant quickly forgot about the hair. He even forgot why it had even mattered to him in the first place. Just the sight of Peter would make Anant happy, and that was enough for the both of them.

They spent many more years together and continued to learn more songs from the earth and stars. The earth then learned that true love wasn't about sectioning off one perfect being, but was about sharing the wealth that could exist in the body, and allowing them to spread the wealth to heal and grow together. The earth learned that although universal love itself was strong, it was when people could share that with each other that it really meant something and when it would become even stronger. Every time Anant and Peter made love, the universal love that existed on the earth would increase, would transform matter, and would help the earth be more connected to the stars. What the earth hadn't realized until then was that Anant and Peter were actually gifts from the stars themselves to teach this side of the galaxy about universal love, and everyone enjoyed this gift. It would only be a matter of time before the earth could join in the knowledge of the entire universe. Because the earth was so delicate and caring, they knew she could be trusted with such a huge task. Anant and Peter kissed and went to sleep in each others' arms as they usually did. The sun began to shine a little brighter too. The earth could now communicate with the stars.