Chapter Fifty Seven
It seemed to take an eternity, but finally the day came when my family began to arrive in the capital city. What a joyous time this was! It had been so long since we had all been together, and over the course of several days' children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren flowed into the city. It took almost a week for everyone to arrive, and two births actually occurred on the journey from the south, with one grandchild and one great-grandchild being added to our family while they were in route.
Though Kalou always tried to keep me up on any new additions and I had known our family was becoming quite large, I was shocked when everyone arrived and I counted the actual number. The birth of our newest grandson to our daughter Shadalon brought the total number of grandchildren thus far to four hundred and five. Since several of our children were still in their child-bearing years, I knew this number would continue to grow. And with the birth of our newest great-granddaughter, we now had seventy two great-grandchildren.
My family was almost a nation unto ourselves, numbering exactly five hundred people at the time of our gathering. They all stayed in an open meadow north of the capital, where we set up a temporary village able to support their needs.
After the last group arrived from the south I gave everyone a few days to visit and enjoy themselves. After breakfast on the fourth day, we had our first family meeting. We gathered in the meadow just outside the temporary camp. Everyone relaxed in the grass, lounging and happy, while the youngest children played on the edge of the group.
I quietly looked across the gathered assemblage. I could not have been more proud of my family. They were all strong and healthy, and a very intelligent and hard-working group. I knew every one of them strove to do the best they could for God, their nation and their people.
Kalou and I stood before them as I addressed our family in a loud voice, making sure I was heard by everyone.
“There are several reasons for bringing our family together at this time. The first reason is that we have not been together as a family since Enoch became leader of Kalou-Car, two hundred and eighty years ago. There have been many grandchildren and great-grandchildren born since that time, and Kalou and I wanted all of you to see each other and feel like one family again. These last few days as you arrived and we were able to have fellowship with you have been a great joy to us. I know you also have enjoyed yourselves, seeing each other for the first time in years and meeting new members of our family.”
“As you look around this meadow you see how large our family has grown. To come together like this is a great undertaking, one that will become even more difficult as the years go on. But there are reasons to come together, reasons to be around other members of our family whenever possible. We are the rulers and leaders of this nation. I believe it is imperative that we know who we are, why we exist, and what our purpose is on this earth. It is good to see each other, to know we do not stand alone in our struggles to lead this land with wisdom and integrity.”
“While all of you should know my story, know that I was born in a foreign land, that I committed murder and was exiled to this land, you may not know the details. You may have heard my story in pieces, but not in its entirety. I believe that it is very important for my family to know of my parent’s personal relationship with God; to know of my youth and my incredible selfishness and pride. I want you to know of the battles I fight within myself even to this day, as I struggle to leave my selfishness behind and live a life committed to doing good in the world.”
“I believe you will better learn the lessons of my story by hearing it from my own mouth. In addition to learning how to live and not make the same mistakes I have made, it is important to learn our family’s history.”
“Starting with this meeting, I am establishing a new tradition. Every five years, in this city, I will tell my story to those of my family that have not yet heard it. Everyone will be required to hear this story from my own lips at least once in their lifetime, before their twentieth birthday. My hope is that if you learn of my pride, my arrogance and my selfishness when you are young, you will not grow to be as I was.”
“In addition to bringing you all here to listen to my story, I want to talk to you of our nation. To discuss how we have grown to be this large, how we as a people need to live and act, and the nation we want to be in the future. We are very large already, and we will continue to grow. I can no longer expect to exert the control I once had over such a vast nation. It is up to you, the leaders and rulers of these far-flung cities, to ensure that we hold fast to our ideals, to the traditions that have brought us growth and success, while you continue striving to uncover new knowledge that will serve us in the future.”
“It is imperative that we remember we are a family; that we remember the ties that bind us together as both this family and this nation continues to grow and spread farther afield. For we will continue to grow. Just as our family was once only Kalou and I, and now we number five hundred people, this nation will also continue to expand and you will be the leaders.”
“But as important as it is, we will discuss our nation later. First I will tell you of my life.”
I proceeded to tell my tale. I left out nothing, starting with my parent’s history as I knew it. I spoke of my pride and selfishness, of my arrogance towards God, and the murder of my brother. I told of my expulsion from my homeland, my journey through the western desert, and how I joined Kalou’s tribe. I emphasized to them my constant attitude of pride, arrogance and selfishness over the years, until finally, my eyes opened by the evil I saw in the east and my heart softened by Kalou’s love and faith, I began to realize how wrong I had been.
I continued on to give them as complete a history of our family as possible. The story took two days to tell, and by the end of the second day I had never been so tired of speaking. All the family knew my story in general, but at the conclusion many told me how valuable it had been to hear the tale in its entirety from my own lips.
I slept very well that night, and the day after I finished my story we came together once again to discuss other matters.
“Before I told my story, I talked to you about our nation, how we would continue to expand and grow as a people. I stressed how important it is to hold onto our values and the traditions that we have established over the last three hundred years. It is the values of honesty and integrity, the tradition of hard work, and the pursuit of excellence in all we do that has given us our success.”
“As time passes, it will become more difficult to hold to these ideals. We as a family must stand fast, and press on with integrity and faith in God to continue to be successful. There will always be pressure from those that want to take shortcuts; that want to cheat or lie or steal their way to power. We most hold firm against them, never letting them gain the upper hand. The Nephilim must stay strong to keep evil at bay.”
The time had come to talk of the eastern lands. I knew that once I brought up the subject it would be the only thing that occupied their minds, which was why I had waited until the end. I looked around the meadow at my gathered family. Kalou and I had so enjoyed being surrounded by them once again. I told them this, and then after a brief pause I continued on to the final business at hand.
“There is one more thing we must discuss, and I have saved this for the last. It is no secret that we are slowing running out of space, and it is only a matter of a hundred years or so before we become too crowded in this land. If we are to continue to grow as a people, we need more room to expand. The time has come to look to the east.”
At this statement there was a brief silence, than a collective indrawn breath as they comprehended what I meant. Suddenly everyone began to talk at once. We were crossing the great river! We were taking the East!
I let them talk excitedly among themselves for a few moments, than I continued, “Yes, it is time to build our first city on the far side of the great river. Though we will continue to grow in this land, my hope is that most of
our future expansion will be in the east. But there is much work to be done before that can happen. It will not be easy, just as nothing that is important is ever easy. But it is necessary for our people.”
“Right now, Kalou and I want to talk with only our children. Afterwards, we will return to speak with all the family.”
Our children came to the front of the assembly, joining me and Kalou. We then walked a little further north to a more private place where we sat and spoke together. I told them how I wanted to cross the river with a force of Nephilim and take the land from any that lived there, killing those that I saw were evil, and allowing the remainder to join our nation.
I spoke of my idea for a permanent ferry across the river, a great road across the grassland with guest houses along the way, and a large city built at the end of the road. From this city all future expansion would go to the north and south, and perhaps someday, over the far mountains and even further to the east.
As a family we discussed and debating my plan, and in the end we had agreement. Each child would send no more than six members of their family to travel with me to the east. Given their responsibilities, it was agreed my children would not go. The force of Nephilim would depart on the third morning to come, which was when most of the families were planning to begin their return journeys to their own homes.
We returned to the gathering, where I relayed all we had discussed to the rest of the family. I announced that we would meet together for the last time two days from now, but I would meet the next morning with my children and those that would accompany me to the east.
The next morning I came together with my children and those they had chosen to discuss what would happen in the following days. We would cross the river at the same spot as we had the last time we travelled east. We knew there was wood to make ferries, and it was the narrowest spot in the river. It was also further north in our land, and since I wanted to travel from north to south, it made sense to go as far north as possible on our side of the river.
That day and the next were wonderful days of feasting and fellowship. Everyone had renewed or made new ties with their extended family while we were together. For Kalou and me, having our family together made these the best days in many years. On our final night we had a feast that all would remember for years to come.
On the morning of the third day I departed to the northeast with my force of Nephilim, while the rest of my family started homeward. Some of them had a relatively short journey, while others had many days on the road before they would finally reach their homes far to the south.
The Nephilim travelled light and fast. We wore small packs which held a cloak, a skin of water, a fire starter, assorted dried and fresh fruits and vegetables, and travel bread. Everyone wore a knife at their belt and carried a bow and arrows, and while a few carried spears, most carried the tools and rope we would need to build our rafts.
We reached the river quickly, having traveled at an easy run the entire two days while we paused only a few times to eat and rest. Building the rafts we needed did not take long. We worked together efficiently, and the logs were quickly felled and lashed together, and the paddles made. Only one day after we reached the river we stood on the other side, looking back at our own land.
After a brief rest, I turned to the assembled group. “Let’s go,” I said, “we have a lot to accomplish before we can see our home again.”
We were the Nephilim. We could travel northeast across the barren plains for days with no problem, eating the food we carried and drinking from our water skins on the run. At our pace it wouldn’t take more than ten days to travel to the northern reaches of the land. I did not expect any people to live that far north, but I wanted to cover the entire country, to make sure we missed nothing of interest in our journey of exploration.
I knew that the Great River eventually flowed into a huge gorge in the northern mountains. Those same mountains continued on this side of the river. That was where we would really begin exploring, at the far northern point of the land where the tall, fierce northern mountains joined with the slightly smaller and gentler mountain range that ran along the eastern edge of this land.
It took us longer than I expected, but in twelve days we stood at the conflux of the two mountain ranges. We had traveled across the wide open grasslands with only minimal stops for rest, and though we had seen some large bison and cattle, and small, quick antelope, we had not seen one sign of a human the entire time.
We took a full rest day when we reached our starting point. Beginning the next day, the group would spread out to the east and west and travel in groups of two, just within shouting distance of each other. We would be in a rough line stretching from the edge of the grasslands up into the mountains as far as the line would reach, and we would move at a steady pace to the south. This would allow us to cover a large expanse of territory very quickly. We were looking for people as well as any other worthwhile discoveries this land had to offer. When we came across people we would stop, but otherwise we would keep moving, and every other night we planned to come together at the edge of the grassland, to discuss what we had found. It was a crude method, but a fast way to cover a lot of ground.
We traveled quickly and for the first nine days we saw no signs of humans, and nothing of interest except for one good outcropping of stone for making tools. On the tenth day I was called into the forest not too far from the edge of the grasslands, where I was shown a large patch of carrots growing in a clearing in the woods.
There was no sign of humans around the site. To me, it looked just like the fields that I, Catto and Kalou had found so many years earlier. Those patches of food had been placed by God to be discovered by the people of the land, and I was happy to see that He had apparently done the same thing on this side of the river. We gathered some carrots for our packs and continued onward. I now travelled in the lower foothills of the forest, and I expected to find more food as we continued south. I was not disappointed.
Over the next few days we discovered fields of corn, peas, tomatoes, squash and other vegetables, as well as numerous fruits and herbs. It appeared as though God wanted to provide for the people on this side of the river, just as He had provided for us. We loaded our packs with the bountiful fresh food, taking as much as we needed. During this time we also saw both sheep and goats, but we saw no signs of humans. If they had ever lived in this area, it had not been for a very long time.
We continued south at a steady pace, and soon passed out of the food-growing areas. We had been traveling down the mountain range for fifteen days, scouting all the land from the edge of the grasslands well up into the foothills. We were now farther south than where we had crossed the river, even farther south than our capital city of Enoch.
I had begun to wonder if we would ever find anyone living, when late one afternoon word came down the line that we had someone. The line stopped, and I quickly made my way up into the forest. There I found one of my granddaughters holding onto a man's arm.
He stood slouched, his shoulders down as he stared sullenly at the ground. He looked the same as the people of this land had looked when I was last here; the same as the people in my own land had looked when I first discovered them. He was small and dressed in crude animal skins, and there was a poorly-shaped spear lying at his feet. He was dirty and mangy looking, with bad teeth and a filthy face.
As soon as I came to him I held up my hand in the sign of peace, and speaking in the old language I said, “Hello. We are strangers in your land.”
He looked up in surprise to hear me speaking his tongue. The old language was no longer used in our land, but I had taught the Nephilim enough of the tongue that those gathered around could understand what we said.
The man looked at me suspiciously and asked, “Who are you? Why do you take me prisoner?”
I spoke slowly and calmly, “We are travelers in your land. I visited this land many years ago, and I have come back to see how you have fared since I was last here. Ar
e you with a tribe, or do you live alone in the forest?”
He looked me directly in the eye for just a brief moment, and then quickly looked away as he replied shortly, “I live alone.”
I detected no falsehood in his voice or in the look he gave me. “Why did you leave your tribe?” I asked.
He looked at the ground and shook his head, refusing to answer.
I reached out and took his chin in my hand, forcing him to meet my eyes.
I repeated, “Answer me. Why did you leave your tribe?”
He spoke reluctantly, “I had no reason to stay. My parents and the rest of my family were dead and I could not get a woman, so I left. It is better to be alone in the forest than dead.”
“Have you killed anyone?” I asked, still looking at his eyes.
He met my eyes in surprise, “Me? No! I am one that would be killed, not one that is a killer. I tried to stay out of the leaders’ way and keep my life in my hands.”
“Where is your old village?”
He did not want to answer me, even now showing some loyalty to his old home. Finally, pointing to the south he said, “It is five days in that direction.”
That was the approximate location of the village we had visited years earlier. I wondered if it was the same village, or if they moved after we killed so many men and took away most of their women and children.
“Are there many people like you? Have others left the village to live on their own in the forest?”
“Some, but not many. In my life I know of three other men that left before me, and two families.”
“Why did they leave the village?”
“The men were worried about being killed. Two of them were strong and hated the leader. They feared the leader would kill them to stop them from killing him. The other was like me, and feared that he would be killed because he found no joy in following the leader.”
“Why did the families leave?”
“I do not know for sure, but I think they left because the man was worried his woman would be taken from him. Our village did not have enough women for all the men, and the leader would sometimes take a woman from a man if he wanted her.”
“How many people live in your village?”
He looked at me in confusion. Though he knew rudimentary counting, and he was able to hold up fingers to show me small numbers, he could not answer my question. He had no way to express how many people had lived in the village.
“Are there many women and children in your village?” As I asked this I held up both my hands, all my fingers out.
He showed some comprehension, and after thinking for a moment, he slowly lifted his fingers three, and then four times. “Maybe that many,” he said, suggesting thirty or forty women and children were in the village. “And the same amount of men. There are more men than women, and not too many children.”
So there were about seventy people in the village. It was about the same size as when I was last here. Even though I had killed many men and taken most of the women and children, it had grown back to the same size.
“Are all the people bad? Do most of them want to hurt and kill others?”
“No,” he said, “I think many, but not all of the men are bad, and some of the women. But most of the women just want to be left alone to take care of their children.”
I nodded. Little had changed since I was last here.
“Where do the other people live that left the village?” I asked.
“I don’t think anyone lives that way,” he said, pointing north. “One bad man stays between me and the village, but I do not go near where he lives. I do not know where anyone else lives. I have never seen their sign.”
I nodded and told him, “You are going to stay with us. You will not be harmed. Our tribe is going to live in this land, and I will allow you to join with our tribe. You will be happy and safe with us, but I cannot allow you to go free for now.”
I instructed two of my grandchildren to stay with him and follow along behind as we continued onward. Now that we had a better idea of what lay in front of us, we moved at a faster pace.
I was not surprised to learn that nothing had changed in the years since I was last here. I had found the people to be a hard-headed and stubborn lot. I had warned them, but I had not believed they would listen to me, and apparently I had been correct. It sounded as though many of these people were still allowing evil to rule their lives.
Late the next day we found another man. Though he looked much the same as the first man, his actions and demeanor was completely different. He would not stop trying to hurt anyone that came near him, forcing us to bind his arms. He continued to shout and curse at us in the old language, kicking and screaming in fury.
He seemed to be a wild man. When I looked into his eyes I saw nothing human there. It was obvious that he had either completely given himself over to evil or he was violently insane, and there was no way to change his heart. He was executed, and we continued our journey towards the village.
After another two days we began to find signs of human activity. At the pace we traveled we would be at the village very quickly, so we stopped as soon as we found a well-hidden spot to stay safe from discovery. We would leave for the village in the night, and arrive there early in the morning, before anyone went out for the day to hunt or gather food. Given the size of our group, we would be able to easily surround the village and capture everyone in it. I wanted no one to escape, desiring to judge the village in its entirety at one time.
That night we took advantage of the forced early stop to get a good sleep for the first time in days. We left our camp well before the sun was up, arriving at the outskirts of the village just as the sun came over the horizon. Everyone knew what to do and we quickly surrounded the village, staying hidden in the trees. The Nephilim were ready for anything. Each was alert and waited with an arrow set to the bow string.
I would remain hidden until the right moment. I wanted everyone to be awake before I showed myself, so as I waited I observed the village and watched the morning activities.
While I was glad to see that no human heads were staked around the perimeter, otherwise the village appeared no different than the last time I was here. It was no cleaner or more organized, and the place still stunk of death and decay.
It was well after sunrise before the bulk of the men finally rose, many shouting for food as they came through the doorways of their crude huts. I believed that by now most were awake, and not wanting to wait any longer, I stepped from the trees. I called out to the village as I slowly approached, drawing attention to myself. My hands were empty and raised high.
“I want to talk. Do not attack. Do not take up your weapons.”
I could not tell them I came in peace, nor would I say I meant them no harm. Once this would have been true, but now I was here to judge and I would not lie to them. I knew that many of these people would not see the end of the day. All who were found guilty of murder, rape or other vile acts would be executed.
A number of the men reacted quickly, and immediately ran towards me with their weapons raised, shouting fiercely as they approached.
I continued to call out warnings in a loud voice, “I want to talk. Do not attack.”
The eight men that had initially begun to run towards me showed no signs that they would stop; their vicious cries were rising even higher. Another twelve had gotten over their initial surprise and followed close on their heels. They all ran with abandon, excited by the sight of a single unarmed man in their village.
I still continued to shout my warnings, waiting until the last possible moment. Now I could see the blood lust in their eyes, and their arms were cocked and ready to throw, so finally, just before they reached me, I dropped one hand. A flight of arrows immediately came from the surrounding forest, dropping the men in their tracks. Every one of them was dead, pierced by multiple arrows.
Confusion and fear took over the village. People began screaming and running in every direction, t
rying to escape. With another sign from me, my force stepped from the trees and showed themselves. A loud wail rose from every throat in the village. They were hopelessly outnumbered, and half their men were already dead!
I was now shouting in my loudest voice to be heard over the din. “Drop your weapons. Everyone sit on the ground. Drop your weapons or you will die.”
It was a scene of madness, and I could not fault them for their panic. We were much larger than them, probably appearing to be giants in their sight. We were many in number, and had used strange weapons that killed their men silently and from a far distance. I knew we were utterly terrifying to these people.
A force consisting of most of the remaining men and several women had gathered in a corner of the village. Once again I shouted at them to drop their weapons. They did not listen, but ran as a group towards one section of the Nephilim. I waited only a moment before I waved my hand, and every one of them fell with multiple arrows protruding from their bodies.
Another great wail rose throughout the village, and I now shouted only one thing, “Sit down. Hold your children and sit down.”
By now it was mainly women and children left alive in the village, and with obvious dread they finally sat, shaking and crying. Women held small children in their arms while older children huddled close, staring at us with wide, fearful eyes. The few men that were left all appeared to be fathers. They sat with their wives and children and tried to comfort them, knowing they were unable to protect them.
The Nephilim closed in, bringing everyone together in the center of the village. Though a few stared with hate-filled eyes, all appeared resigned to their fate and no one else tried to fight. We quickly dragged all the dead to the far side of the village, away from the sight of our prisoners. A total of thirty-two men and seven women had been killed when they attacked.
Before me sat all that was left of the village, forty-four people in all. Twenty-two were children and youths too young to be called adults. There were only five men left in the group, all of them sitting with families.
I had their complete attention as I spoke, “We are the Nephilim. We come from the land on the other side of the grassland, across the great river. Once before, many years ago, we came to your village. We found it to be an evil place, and we rescued those that needed help and left the rest alone in the hope that they would change for the better. We have come again to talk to you, to judge your ways. Just as we did so many years ago, we want those of you with good hearts to join our tribe and live with us in peace.”
“Today I will speak with each of you. We will speak of your heart and your thoughts. That is all I wanted to do when I came into your village. I did not want to harm you unnecessarily. That is not our way. But if we are attacked, we will defend ourselves.”
“I will go to the other side of the village and I will speak with you one at a time. When I am done talking with all of you, everyone that is alive will leave this village, never to return.”
As I spoke there was whispering, and fearful looks were exchanged. They did not like the sound of what was to happen, but it was not their choice. They had chosen the lives they would lead, and now it was time for their lives to be judged. I would decide who could join our tribe, and who would not leave this place alive.
I went to a far corner of the village away from the smell and sight of blood. There I sat on a large stone as the Nephilim brought the people before me. First came families with a father, mother and children, then mothers with children, and then single women. Finally, a few orphan children that had lost both parents in the fight were brought to me.
Most that I spoke with I judged to be good, but all were afraid and many were broken, cowed by the abuse they had received in this village. Sadly, whether they were judged to be essentially good or essentially evil, all were tainted by the life they had lived. Tainted by the violence and hatred that had been normal in this vile place.
In the end, only five more people lost their lives. One man, three women, only one of them a mother, and one older youth, a boy so filled with hate that it almost frightened me to be in his presence, were not allowed to leave this place. Their bodies joined the others on the far side of the village. The remaining members of the tribe would be sent under guard of the Nephilim to join with those that trailed behind escorting the one good man we had previously found.
That day a total of thirty nine people turned their backs and walked away from their foul home, never to return. We left the village exactly as it was, trusting to wild animals and time to wipe that vile place from the face of the earth.
I and the rest of the Nephilim continued onward, traveling south at a rapid pace. Once we left the area surrounding the village, the land we traveled through was rich and lush, and just as fair as our own. I could see that this would be a good place to live. There was abundant water everywhere except the grasslands, and the forests were filled with game. I expected to find more people living in this direction. According to the first man we had found, most of those that had previously left the tribe were believed to have gone south.
As we continued on the rivers and streams became more frequent. I found it interesting that all the rivers, even if they were large enough to support a city when they came out of the hills, eventually broke up into many smaller streams as they flowed out into the grassland. Within a league very stream eventually disappeared as it ran off into the grass. I had not noticed this on my previous trips, perhaps because I had never been this far south where the rivers were larger and the effect more noticeable.
This was quite odd to me. Water could not just disappear, it had to go somewhere. Now that I was no longer preoccupied with thoughts of the village, I could focus more on my surroundings. The next time we came to a stream I followed its course. The flow of water became less and less, and eventually the stream just ran out, disappearing in the grass. I continued ten paces past the end of the flow and began to dig with a piece of wood. It was very difficult to cut through the tangled mass of grass roots, but once I got through them I found that the ground was very moist.
I continued digging down through the soil, and after a short while the bottom of the hole filled with water. I emptied the hole of water, but it soon came back, quickly reaching the same level as before. The stream had not disappeared; it had gone underground and was nurturing the grass from below.
I walked even further from the end of the stream and tested my theory once more. Again there was water under the surface of the land, though I had to dig slightly deeper to reach it. As a final test I walked south of the stream and dug another hole. Once again, I eventually reached water.
The water I could get from these holes would never support a city, or even a village. But perhaps by digging several of these holes we could get enough water to support a guest house for travelers. These water holes may be the way I could get my people across the grassland!
Three days south of the village we came upon the tracks of a single man, and we found him the next day. Once again this was a man that had given himself over to evil, and he would never have been able to live in our society. His hatred and desire to hurt and destroy was sad, and it was difficult even to speak with him. My judgment was swift, and we continued on our way.
After another five days of travel we finally found the remainder of the eastern tribe. The two families that left the village had banded together, and they were a peaceful and content group. Once they overcame their fear at seeing us and were able to talk, they told me they had lived here for several years. They had planned their escape from the village together, and had formed this community for their common protection from animals and evil men.
One family had six children and the other four, and though they were just as crude and backwards as all the tribes had been, the difference between their attitude and the attitudes of the people that had lived in their old village was like night and day. To see these people living together in harmony was wonderful and gave me hope for all of them.
/> They told me that an evil man had once come upon them in the night, unaware that one of their men always stood guard over their homes. They thought he had wanted to steal a woman, but during the fight the evil one had been killed. They were confident that no one else lived past them to the south, and they were the furthest outpost of the eastern people.
I explained what would happen to this land in the future, and apologized for the need to take them away from the fine home they had made so far from the village. But no matter how happy they were at the time, I could leave no one out in the wild holding to old traditions, languages and beliefs.
These families were escorted north to join with the Nephilim that now trailed far behind with the rest of the Easterners. I told the Nephilim that escorted these people that it was time for that group to turn around and start the return journey back to our own land. My group would finish exploring to the south, and catch them before they reached the point where we would all start back across the grassland.
We were nearing the southern end of the land. We had now been travelling for many days with short rations and little sleep, and most were ready to return home. But everyone agreed that we needed to continue all the way to the southern mountains, which now loomed before us. I couldn’t have stopped myself if I had tried. I felt compelled to explore this country from its northern to its southern border, and with my own eyes see all this land had to offer.
We traveled south six more days, exploring this beautiful country all along the way, until we finally reached the point where the eastern mountains joined with the massive southern mountains. There was nowhere else to go. Even on this side of the river I would not enter the southern mountains.
We had reached the end of the land. It was time to return home and start planning for our new city in the east. We began to travel north once again, catching up with the Nephilim that escorted the Easterners in a matter of fifteen days.
I was pleased with what had been a very successful trip. I knew we had saved some good people from an evil fate and given them new hope in the future. We now had a huge expanse of rich land for our people to settle. We had found many good sites for future cities, and just as important, we had discovered that there was water under the ground, water that I believed would allow my people to journey safely across the grasslands.
Satisfied with all that we had accomplished in this land, I and the rest of the Nephilim, along with the new members of our tribe, turned our faces towards the west and started home.