Authors note: Many of you may remember The Story of Camt. I vaguely recall having promised to write a sequel when VV3 came out. To be honest, I had forgotten about it, until a totally random thought triggered my memory. The story that "flowed from my fingers to the keyboard," is not exactly what I thought I would be writing, but then again, like my poetry, I can't explain it, it just happens. Thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoy the story. - Rockmower



Part 1 (The North shore)

A long time ago, on the South shore of Isola, a female GC was born. Her name was Camt. Camt was better behaved than most of the GC's, and only did good things for her tribe. She made sure there was plenty of food in the food bin; kept the berry bush full of juicy berries, and only threw parties when the tribal elders announced a celebration. Additionally, she helped keep the children occupied by calling butterflies for them to chase and laugh at.

By the time Camt turned a hundred years old, her powers had grown so much, she could "hear" the thoughts of the villagers that inhabited Isola. This was a normal occurrence, since all but the most inept GC's developed this ability at around the same age. It would drive some of the GC's a little bonkers, and they could be found sitting alone in a corner of the cove or in the cave mumbling to themselves. Usually a year or two after they reached this stage, they would wander off from the tribe, and in due time a new GC would take their place.

Now all of the GC's could commune directly with ROM (who was the very first GC, and who now watches over Isola and it's children). Some of the villagers, especially the elders, can also talk to ROM, but they know him better as the Guiding Hand. Legend says that when ROM sees a GC starting to lose his sanity, that he calls them to his resting place in the center of the island. There he shields them until they either join him in spirit, or regain their sanity. If they manage to conquer the voices, they are sent out occasionally to intervene directly on behalf of a tribe. Most often, if a villager sees one of these GC's he will introduce himself as "Biggles." He never stays long and always leaves behind something the tribe needs, but is unable to achieve on its own.

Getting back to our story. Shortly after her 100th birthday, Camt "heard" cries of desperation from a new tribe that had found it's way to the North shore. She talked with ROM and he told her that he knew very little of that part of the island. He explained that time/space was very confused there because of something that had happened a long time ago. He knew his powers would be very limited there because he existed only in spirit as part of Isola. ROM decided, that since Camt was more astute than the other GC's that he would bestow as much power and knowledge as he could directly too her. In this way, it was hoped that she could travel to the North shore and act as a living guiding hand to the tribe there.

Now all went well for the first 200 or so years that Camt dwelled amongst the tribe of the North. She mostly stayed in the hidden room which could only be accessed through a small hole in the ground beneath a pile of rubble. She found that in addition to ROM, she could also commune with the spirits of a Prince and Princess who had once lived here. They told her they too would help this new tribe in hopes of restoring the balance between Nature and Magic that had been undone by their marriage.

The Prince and Princess would search the minds of all the villagers, and the one who was purest in thought would be allowed to be Tribal Chief. Camt could then commune telepathically with the chief and guide him, or her, in tasks that would help the tribe survive, and hopefully restore the balance of things on Isola. While they did succeed in making the tribe thrive, by the time they had accomplished all they could the balance was only partially restored. At this point, the Prince and Princess "appeared" to the tribe and told them their sad story. It was decided before hand that Camt should still not appear directly to the tribe, since this might once again throw things into chaos.

Of course, at this point the tribe was doing so well that Camt had very little to do. She stayed hidden in her little room in the ground and "talked" to the spirits of ROM and the Prince & Princess, but eventually she started to get bored. After boredom, came restlessness. After restlessness, came a yearning to "Do something. It really didn't matter what, just something" This, of course, is when the trouble began.
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Part Two (Camt gets bored)

Now we all know, that a GC, any GC, is quite capable of causing enough mischief on his/her own. But when that GC is now approaching 400 years old, and has been given the powers (but not necessarily the wisdom) of a guiding hand, that mischief can be epic indeed! It's not that Camt meant to cause trouble, it just seemed to work out that way.

It really started out innocent enough. Although ROM and the Spirits had forbidden her to appear directly to the villagers, she discovered (by accident of course) that anytime a powerful storm was going on, that these three couldn't "see" her. She had noticed this when she first came here, but back then there had been too much to do, so she had forgotten about it. However, after 50 or so years of little to do, when a storm did come, and she "lost contact" with the others, the temptation to "get out and roam a bit" was too much.

The poor villager who she scared out of hir wits, as he was running to a hut for shelter, was awestruck at the sight of a giant hand "walking" around the village. Though he had often "felt" the effect as Camt picked them up and moved them to some task that needed doing, none of the villagers had ever actually seen her.

Camt was first confused, because she had forgotten that, in order to give her his powers ROM had to change her physical appearance. It was only when she happened to see her reflection in a puddle, that Camt realized what had happened. At this point she started laughing hysterically, and quite nearly forgot to get back to her hidden room in time. Nobody believed the wild tale of the poor villager Tobias. He was subjected to a battery of psychological tests by the medical staff, and was thereafter kept under close watch by at least one doctor. That is, until the next storm.

Camt had to wait 10 years for another storm powerful enough to hide her from the three spirits who controlled her fate, and that of Isola. When it came, she sprang from her room, and went running wildly through the village, scaring the wits out of at least a dozen villages. She caused 3 to faint dead away when she happened to run into the clothing hut where they were sheltering. Luckily, for the villagers, one of those who saw her that night was both a doctor and an esteemed elder. This relieved them of the treatment poor Tobias had endured in his last days, but it sure caused the village rumor mill to go into full gear!
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Part 3 (Camt's downfall )

Now Camt was having a great deal of fun with these occasional forays, but eventually having to wait 10 or 12 years for a powerful enough storm became too much. She began "experimenting" with her powers to see how much control she could exert on the weather. She knew, of course, about the ability of the tribe to do a "rain dance" but that only caused enough rain to help things grow. She thought she could do much better than that, and of course, she was right.

At first, everything was cool. She would "generate" a storm every 3 or 4 years, this eventually became every year, and finally every few weeks. She would then "wander" about the village "visiting" with any villagers she happened upon. The poor villagers remained terrified, but what's a poor villager to do when a giant hand suddenly appears in front of you and wants to "chat?"

Camt didn't realize she was starting to actually damage the island. It didn't even occur to her that the food bin now held far more mushrooms than fruit, or that the villagers diet might be suffering due to this forced imbalance. She also failed to notice that the beehive was now deserted because the bees, unable to take the constant rain, had flown off to a nearby island. She also failed to notice the wilt and rot starting to affect the plants and huts.

Whenever, ROM and the Spirits discussed the changing weather patterns, she would feign innocence and promise to "look into it." Things went on like this for some time, and might have gone on even longer, except Camt got bored, again.

One night, Camt decided to brew up a storm so powerful that she would be able to visit all of Isola's tribes. As she was casting her powers, a quiver in the time/space continuum caused things to get out of hand. The result was a storm so powerful that it caused a huge tidal wave! Alas the poor villages of Isola were all severely affected by this storm. There was much damage! Camt felt very bad about this, and tried quietly, to repair as much of the damage as she could.

This storm had been so bad, and so unnatural that ROM and the Spirits suspected the truth. Their suspicions grew as they watched Camt trying so desperately to fix things. Regrettably, even she couldn't fix all the damage.
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Part 4 (Alls well, that ends well)

As ROM and the Spirits watched Camt, they became more and more convinced that she had been the cause of the storm, but didn't know how or why. At this point, the Spirits decided to contact the current chief directly to learn more. That is when they learned of the "fantasies" the tribe had been suffering wherein a giant hand walked about the village scaring people out of their wits. The Spirits conferred quietly with ROM and informed him of what they had learned.

A conference was called and Camt was confronted directly. She, still feeling bad, confessed her misdeeds.
"Camt, don't you realize the damage you've caused?" ROM asked. "Don't you see how close you've come to undoing all the progress Isola has made under these villagers, with your help?" asked the Spirits. "I do know." was Camt's sad reply. The Spirits and ROM conferred in private to decide Camt's fate.

"Camt" ROM said, "We've decided that you should have a hand in this decision. After all it is your, destiny that is at stake. What do you think we should do?"

"Well," replied Camt, I know I will have to give up my powers. But can I ask one small favor?" "Camt, you have been a wise and caring enchantress, and have done much good for Isola and it's citizens. Ask, and if it's in our powers, we'll grant your wish." replied ROM and the Spirits in unison.

"ROM, I have tried hard to learn the ways of the enchantress, and I've also tried to find the inner peace and harmony that you and the others have. I guess, that I'm just not really cut out to be immortal. Is it possible to let me pass beyond?" asked Camt with tears in her eyes and in her heart.

"Dear Camt," ROM said soothingly, "We would never willingly take a life, nor permit one to be taken. It is our desire only to protect life, all life, on Isola. However, what we can do is this. If you speak the spell I show you, you will be stripped of your powers, and become a mortal villager. Because of all the good you've done in the past, and all the wisdom you will retain, I will change the spell so that you will become a child. The last chief has now passed on, so we have decided that you will become a child chieftain. In this way, we will still have some communication, and some very limited magical abilities. We fear that if you suddenly lost all your powers that the shock to your mind would be overwhelming. We wish you a long and eventful life and will watch as you now guide the tribe you helped to make prosper."

With that, Camt spoke the magic spell and renounced her powers. She was transformed into a wise young 5 year old chieftain, named City. She ruled the tribe for over 75 years. More than this, she became a mother of 3 lovely girls, one of whom succeeded her. She was greatly loved by the entire tribe.

What ROM, in his mercy, had not told Camt, was that while she would retain all her wisdom; love; and purity of thought, she would retain no memory of what had happened in her life prior to her last and final transformation.


The End

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