Chapter 4

Kaza was a very unlikely place for strange things to happen. Humans had settled here for six thousand years, including those who crossed the desert and the sea to get here during the last Ice Age.

The residents of Kaza had always been nomadic and pastoral, forming a close-knit community where they cared for each other. The men often set out in the morning to hunt wild animals and gather fruits and nuts. Sometimes, they got killed by the animals of the wild, but most times, they brought home their spoils, which they sat together and ate under the moonlight, telling stories of gods and goddesses.

Kaza had hilly mountains and ridges, excellent for Kaza kids who wanted to hike. The older Kazans would often liken their terrain to the old god pantheon and would claim that the hills were formed when the realm of light and the realm of darkness fought their last war, and the realm of darkness was buried under the soil and covered with the large heap of sand so that they would ne