The Legend of Demnog

Chapter the Third: Cleatis and Sesstis Pumpernickle

(On the first day of the eleventh month of the year 997 of the Ninth Age, Cleatis and Sesstis Pumpernickle disappeared. Though Cleatis returned to Savenkapple the following summer, sporadically visiting the graves of his beloved parents, Sesstis was never seen again.)

Cleatis, lanky and long-necked, with a deep voice and a lengthy stride, walked exactly like his younger brother, Sesstis. With a quick tongue and an unruly sense of humor, Cleatis distinguished himself from Sesstis merely by his red undershirt and offensive body odor. He despised cleanliness and those who imposed any form of sanitation upon him. Sesstis was loyal and faintly timid, though a passionate speaker when among friends. Cautious in thought, yet reckless in speech, he respected none wittier than himself, acquiring a distinctive reputation for his repugnant descriptions of any who crossed him, especially Savens. Both were unmoved in their habits and beliefs from birth, and they claimed to see beings no one else could see.

Though the stories recorded in the annals of Savenkapple concerning the Pumpernickle twins were extensive, Cleatis compiled only the events of 997. Their early years were based on supposed eyewitness accounts and rumors, and the Pumpernickle twins never bothered to clarify the factuality behind such stories, mainly because they could not remember them. But when the events of 997 began to unfold, the Pumpernickle twins were rarely seen outdoors, except after nightfall.

Several times throughout his life, even in brief moments of mental clarity after the tragedy of 997, Sesstis claimed their misery began in their youth, when the rumors surrounding them started to circulate throughout Savenkapple. But Cleatis always said their problems began the day they first met Moekíe.

In the second month of 997, a large limb fell out of a burned cottonwood tree on the grounds behind the old the Pumpernickle place, striking Cleatis and Sesstis across the back of their heads. Though medical assistance was immediately sought, the twins remained motionless for four weeks before they abruptly sat up one afternoon. Cleatis could not remember anything before the accident, but Sesstis suffered far worse. Despite the fact that he soon returned to his old self and his deep admiration of his brother, Sesstis lost all sense of hearing and intelligible speech, remaining delirious throughout the remainder of his life. When he spoke, he mumbled things incomprehensible even to Cleatis, and he bobbled his head around as if he almost enjoyed it. His memory experienced the greatest loss, for he could no longer recall anyone or anything except his brother. Sesstis spent all of his time struggling to recollect even small fragments of his past, appearing as one hopelessly fleeing from an unending nightmare. The following month an Oćnar was sent to the Pumpernickle twins to deliver the following message from Ena Ocmar:

“Do not accept the teachings of the Tomtían gods and goddesses or they will become a snare to you for the rest of your days.”

Three months later a violent storm grew over the Novel Main and moved towards Savenkapple. While everyone else sought shelter, the Pumpernickle twins found themselves running towards the Main. Standing on the edge of the tide, the two Savens focused their undivided attention on the approaching storm and began to sing the song of Ena Ocmar – a song untaught to them – as though they had known the song from birth. Near the beginning of the song, the storm split in two over the Main, and though the rains fell with fury all around, the ground on which the Saven twins made their way home remained dry throughout the duration of the storm.

That same month, while running through hayfields with four friends west of Savenkapple, Sesstis became enraged at Dalithar Bimop and convinced his brother that Dalithar had tried to make him fall as they crossed into a new field. Insisting that his brother follow him, Sesstis climbed the nearest hill and screamed towards the sky, arms outstretched. Large rocks suddenly fell from the sky, crushing Dalithar. His family and house in Savenkapple were also crushed in that same hour.

A day later, during the customary evening meal on their twenty-fifth birthday, when a Saven boyen could be first recognized as an adult, vultures descended upon the prepared meats, but Cleatis and Sesstis drove them away.

Over the course of the ensuing two months, Sesstis called down fifty-four curses on various Savens throughout Savenkapple who, in his understanding, had shown a lack of respect for Ena Ocmar. Though usually an incoherent mutterer at best, every time a curse was uttered from his lips, he spoke clearly and without hindrance in speech. But as soon as the spoken curse was completed, he returned to his previous delirious state, unaware and unable to remember what had just occurred.

One of Sesstis’ curses poisoned the wells of Savenkapple, forcing the Saven race to drink of the murky waters of the Novel Main, which spread disease throughout Savenkapple. But after two weeks of listening to the wailing throughout the city, Cleatis made his way to the wells of Savenkapple and spat into each well four times. Within the hour, the wells were found to be without poison once again.

On the thirty-first day of the tenth month, a messenger came to the Pumpernickle twins, carrying a sealed letter which read as follows:

Arrive in Divinora by the first day of the first month of 998 and ask for Necoleus the historian. He will explain the riddle of Wooernog to you. Two others have received this same invitation. You must all arrive together. The carrier of this letter will give instructions on where the four of you will meet to journey north. Further details will be given upon your arrival.

When the messenger left, Cleatis and Sesstis returned to the old Pumpernickle place. Cleatis aged more in the two years of 997 and 998 than he did throughout the rest of his life.