In a strange contradiction, the sound seemed to disappear completely every time the two ate but at the same time leading to a moment that revealed all the sounds around them. Maybe these moments of silence began with the sole purpose of give both time to admire the beauty of the night that surrounded them and the many sounds of the city began to be became scarce as the majestic darkness deepened.

In one of those moments when the sounds of chewing mingled with the rustle of branches and the whisper of the grass, the man spoke again, answering the forgotten question. The answer caught him by surprise, so for a few long seconds Gug did not know what he was talking about. The uncertainty in his face soon transformed into an expression of understanding. When he remembered the question, he stopped chewing to analyze the response, moment his brain used to produce a clear picture of the mountains. At first it was blurred as it had been buried for a long time, hidden, but soon became a bunch of vivid images. It was then that he realized how much he missed his brothers. Strangely that talk was waking memories he thought lost. Something in the process of verbalizing his thoughts helped his memory, maybe but the real reason escaped his understanding.

Abandoning his memories and leaving the moment of nostalgia aside, Gug responded with an assurance that he had never showed throughout his short life. "Is tall." Because the mountain was very tall, so tall that they rarely climbed to the top. "And wide." And also it was very wide, so wide that his bubbling father never traveled all its length. Gug even doubted that his mother with her strong hairy legs had ever done it. It just seemed to be endless.

But then as his little experience with humans had taught him, all had a name, even the smallest things. No matter how absurd it was, it was able to be named.
His brain started to work at full capacity trying to recover that piece of information that had been discarded as useless. Living in a mountain was a thing, but know its human name was another different matter. Since it did not help them to survive at all, it was one of the first things he forgot. Or believed to had done that, because after thinking for a minute that was almost eternal, his brain generated a reply. "Alsatian mountain."
Guglin was so surprised to recall that fact that once he verbally expressed the required name, he showed another of his famous smiles.

Guglin knew he was strong and fast, a very good hunter and good for hiding, also an excellent climber and even pretty handsome, but he had never considered himself advanced so that statement was very strange. Although he hated to admit it, those pesky humans appeared to be the most advanced with all their noisy gadgets, their bite-proof hot dogs carts and horrible but fast "carrz".
Still, the confirmation that both were the same, or different from the other, managed to help him feel more comfortable with the human and therefore more willing to pay attention to the long prayer that came from his lips in a torrent of words .

His ears pricked in recognition. In the battle the smoke-man had used the same word whose meaning he did not know. "Scora?" Asked the goblin with his head slightly cocked over his right shoulder. Amber eyes staring at the human.

Guglin's description of his ancestral mountain was.....well.....useless. Tall and wide described every mountain in the world. Even worse, when the little green skinned man came up with a name for it, it was one that Sylus had never heard of in his life. Given the relatively small extent of Guglin's grasp on the human language, that specific mountain name probably did not even exist. Yet even with the futility of it, the imp's answer brought a broad smile to Sylus's face. He could not help liking the tiny monster, faults and all.

Soot chose to ignore the topic of Guglin's upbringing; sensing that even with hours of time at his disposal, he would get nowhere. Instead he chose to continue on with a strain of conversation that was not only much more interesting, but served his goals as well. When asked about the great Tender of the Forge, many answers were ready to spring from his lips. Still he hesitated. One thing stood in the way of Guglin's conversion to Scora's religion. One very pertinent, and rather difficult question.

How does one teach theology to an extra terrestrial?

Sylus decided the best course of action was to take the lesson slow, steady, and simple. He would walk Guglin through it step by step. The whole situation created an unusual problem. Most humans were raised into a life of religion, and over time they simply understood things like gods, afterlife, good, evil, just through interaction and assimilation. In a way, theology was nurtured into boys and girls of all ages, and with a simple mind like Guglin's, this process may be just a step off from telling a blind man what the color purple was.

Soot chose to answer a question with a question. And a rather basic one at that. He first had to get the martian to understand the concept of Creation. From creation he could go to Creator, and from creator he could speak of the nature of Scora. Just a broad overview of course. The grisly details would come later.

"Well little one, I suppose the easiest way to explain Scora is to get you to figure it out yourself. I will guide you, but all of the important answers, the true revelations, will have to come from within you."

Sylus lightly grasped the green skinned arm of his new student, looking upon the dark world around them.

"Guglin, have you ever wondered where the birds come from? Or maybe the trees and stones? Or perhaps even yourself? Have you ever looked upon this park in which you live, and asked yourself 'How did all of this get here?'"

With the infinite amount of words that made up the human language, Guglin was sure it was not strange that he did not know that word but still that particular sound seemed to be important. The man had used it during the battle as a sort of war cry before releasing the snakes of fire so maybe it was a spell able to create fire. So why flames had not emerged when he said the word again?
Without realizing it, the goblin finished the piece of meat and totally forgot to take more. He was so puzzled by the hidden meaning of that word that the world lost all its charm.

He did not like the idea of searching for revelations so much. That word was complicated, long and little used so it probably was referring to something big and hard. Something that he was not willing to do, but still, the soft words of his companion added to the offering of food and the fact that both were different made him reconsider the idea. Could something big as a revelation come from something as small as him? If it was possible, he had to try it so his nodded solemnly to his friend.

At first his questions seemed extremely easy to answer. The birds came from the sky as trees and rocks emerged from the earth. He even knew where he had come from; a place called Alsatian, the mountain where he was born and where his family had taught him how to hunt. But then, a little idea interrupted all those thoughts and the security he had on the matter disappeared... Where the sky did came from? What about the earth? What about the mountain? These questions had seemed irrelevant in the past since he had never needed them to hunt or lit a fire or to build a shelter. All these questions had been impractical, not useful for his life style so he had never gave them a second thought, but now... now that he had found them it was impossible to ignore all these interrogations. Each question was bigger than the other, and therefore more difficult to answer and hard to hide again.
So, stripped of all certainty and full of new questions but also excited about the future replies, the small goblin began to nod energetically not only to answer his question of whether he had asked that in the past (even when he had not considered it until that moment) but as well to force the human to continue talking.

The young monster nodded eagerly; excited and humbled at the information given to him. Sylus was glad to meet this little mutant. Or perhaps relieved to finally have someone who was willing to listen to his psychotic delusions without the threat of imminent death. Ever since he had reemerged from the flames of his former home, Soot had an urge to tell his religious journey to the world. He wanted radios and televisions to broadcast Scora's messages across the globe.

If everyone knew that the world was gonna be harsh and painful, that the hard times were only recycling into the next stage of Creation. If they could live with the knowledge that destruction and death were inevitable, but not permanent. Then people could change. The overblown materialism, the false happiness that comes from whoever has the newest ipod, could dissolve away. Humans could once again enjoy the stars on a clear night, the warmth of a fire on the hearth, a faint breeze on a hot day, the joy of being held when your world was collapsing, or even just the taste of a good cigar. The everyday citizen passes by these everyday miracles without even a regret at the very moment they wasted. Not Sylus. Each step for him was fueled by the comfort that if he died today, at least he used his last 24 hours well. Whether he had spent it lying on the grass with no one around, or sweating while a whole crowd burned down around him, at least he had lived.

Yet if Sylus spent his days trying to change the mind of the dying world around him, he would get nowhere fast. Heretic, lunatic, con artist. Whatever label he was given it all meant the same thing: rejection. The teaching of Scora would be forsaken by the modern society. So if a true believer were to be made, it would have to be fresh mind, uninhibited by the opinions around it. It would have to be someone who could be raised on a whole new belief system, a blank slate waiting to be etched into.

From where he was sitting, Guglin looked like one eager bit of marble waiting to be sculpted. Perhaps this was the grand plan. Perhaps the martian could be the second of many: a worker for the Forge, a worshipper of the Cycle.

So as he told the story of how Scora molded and kilned life into a dark universe, he too lay his hands upon a forge all his own. A forge of words, long and mystical, that sought to change student into master, master into believer.

"Guglin, everything you have ever seen and so much more, was forged by Scora. The earth and sky, rock and river, even life and death itself. He is the master of all things, a god. With each day, he renews existence as we know it. Letting some things die out so that others may live on. He cares not for good or evil, just the Cycle. As long as the Cycle of Destruction and Creation continues, so does life. Without his efforts to maintain balance, we would be no more. Humanity would see these lessons as harsh and violent. And maybe they are right. But as long as Scora's Fire needs fuel, I will move beyond the moral restrictions of humanity. At any cost, i will keep the fires going."

The man produced so many words that it was really hard for him to follow. Guglin did not know some of these word, while with others he was unsure of their meaning, so the little goblin remained as still as possible, using all his willpower to concentrate on the meaning of all that talk. At times the many sounds that came out of his mouth seemed to be simple grunts, transformed into mere noise for its lack of attention and lack of practice with the language but fortunately he could grasp the general meaning of the speech.

One of the things that caught his attention was the event that the man called "cycle", which for him was nothing more than life. Guglin loved all creatures equally, moving or static, large or small, but that did not prevent him from ending those lives if that would keep him alive. So he understood perfectly what his new friend was referring with that circle of life and death. Of course there was violence in his life too, but never hate for the creatures that died to give him life. Since he was proud of being able to understand that portion of information he nodded happily.

The human´s ideas soon mingled with the concept of fire, granting it a sacred status and increasing the respect he felt for that tool. He had used fire to cook on rare occasions, and some few times for warm at cold nights but he always did it with great fear. The fire was too wild to be tamed, and it was capable of devour everything with ease. Especially the nature around it.
So... why someone so good as Scora would use something that destructive? After analyzing the question, and when he did not find an answer, he tried to verbalize his concerns. "Why fire?" He asked, cocking his head slightly. "Fire burns." Continued the small creature, describing with those two words all the accidental destruction he had witnessed in the nearest town to his mountains.
If there was a force more powerful than fire, Guglin did not know it.

While he was remembering the blue flames produced by the townspeople in their caves of cement, his brain produced another question. "Where be Scora?" Despite having seen and lit fires on his own, or have been burned several times, he never seen the creature that was supposed to be the owner of fires and forges.

Soot's newfound student lapped up information like a dog at the water bowl, and while he truly did not know if Guglin was processing and retaining the sacred knowledge given to him, Sylus still had to believe. At the least the lttle green man was nodding and putting forth enough questions to keep the conversation going.

At the mention of the destructive properties of fire Sylus stood, kicking some dirt and leaves around until there was a small bare patch on the ground in front of them. It was around 3 or 4 feet across and the same distance away from Gug. As he spoke again, he began to gather sticks of several sizes, creating a bundle in his arms.

"Fire does burn. It's blaze can briing down cities and forests, it can sear fleash and bone, taking lives easily as a gun. But thats only half of its potential Guglin. Those are only its destructive capabilities." Soot stuck the ends of his bundle of wood into the dirt until he had a reasonable teepee shape. built in the center of his swept up area. The excess fuel he dumped off to the side and with the basic shape in place he knelt with bark in his hands and pulled out a simple knife from his cargo shorts. With this he began to strip away fine shavings of wood from the bark. " Just like Scora, fire achieves two ends. It creates as well as destroys. Humans use flame to make cars and planes, guns, homes, energy for all of our products. Even this knife needed fire to become the way it is now."

With the scene set up for his little demonstration, Sylus reached into his pcoket once more for the can of aerosol deodorant in his pocket. He sprayed it lightly over the kindling, and with the use of a trusty bic, flames soon licked up over the wood. "But even in its simplest form, fire creates light and heat, it can cook foods and purify water. It sustains life as much as it takes it away. Humanity would be nowhere if not for the heat of a fire in winter, or its light to ward of larger animals. Fire can be controlled, used for the right purposes. It deserves our caution and our respect, but it is a tool just like any other."

He warmed his hands by the fire, trying to come up with a way to explain alternate universes to someone like Guglin. He now understood with monumental clarity why most parents avoided trying to describe what heaven was or where it is. It would seem a vague answer works best. But first a qusetion. "Its hard to tell you where Scora is, because even if you walked for the rest of your life, you would never get there." He ran his hands through the column of smoke wafting up form the small campfire. "So first tell me this. Where does the smoke go Guglin? After it disappears from view?"

Although they were not talking a lot, Guglin already had his head full of questions and doubts about Scora, and although he could understand the main content of those complicated explanations, he still had much to learn ahead. So the little goblin continued listening carefully and looking forward to the reply from his teacher who was full of knowledge. If that knowledge was going to prove useful in the future, he did not know, but at least he could hear as a act of gratitude for the delicious food.

It was then that the man stood up without any reason, so Guglin began to consider the possibility of having offended him in some way... perhaps with his questions... but before he could continue to contemplate that possibility, he realized what he was doing with the dirt. He lit fires in the mountains and even in the park on cold nights, so he knew exactly what he was doing. Without taking off his eyes off the familiar process, Guglin continued watching and listening.

However, at the moment Guglin would stones or a stick, the human produced the same instrument he had used to summon the lances of fire. His eyes narrowed as he waited for the flare, but instead, the strange device created a small cloud that deposited onto the surface of the wood. It was then that his partner took another tool from his pocket, and lit the fire with ease. Even when he was expecting that, the goblin could not prevent a smile of satisfaction from forming on his fact. He never had seen anyone igniting fire so fast.

Although he was not cold, at the mention of properties of fire to get rid of it, he moved closely to feel the pleasurable warmth. Guglin advanced to position himself next to the human. While trying to think of a place so far away that he could not reach by walking, he let the fire comfort him. After nodding several times while processing all the information, it was time for questions. Without thinking too much, Guglin responded with one thing he see at a daily basis in the sky. "Clouds?" Even large buildings that abounded in the city remained under the clouds but despite he gave his reply with certainty, after a moment he began to doubt. "Sky." But that neither seem right, so he changed his answer one last time. "Stars." On some cloudless nights, the stars remained there, floating higher than all the birds.

Guglin was a lot smarter than Soot had first taken him for, the little guy may have been uneducated but his mental processes were in fine shape. He absorbed and linked facts rather quickly, linking chains of thought not long after Sylus's first explanation. It would seem that leading the imp down this brief trail of discovery would not be so difficult. He just had to keep the young creature interested and moving at a steady pace.

He rejoiced at Gug's movement of thought. His mind moved as if Sylus was carrying a carrot in front of it. "Precisely Guglin, beyond the stars, past the range of any sense you have, Scora sits watching his creations. He looks over us all, hoping that his plans are falling into place. Scora sets things in motion that can start with a wildfire or the rustling of a rat. I rest easy knowing that his sight is on me, and his power is mine to use. "

Sylus was not sure how to approach this next part. Telling a being of Guglin's limited understanding that it may be a chosen being of the divine was a loaded gun. Scratch that, it was more like a lit cannon fuse. So perhaps it was an issue to be brought up later, but the general topic was of relevant concern.

"I feel that i am only one of many that Scora has chosen to carry on his word and his plan. So i have come to New York City in hopes to meet others like me, anyone else who has met Scora, or is open-minded enough to believe. I am not getting any younger Guglin, and i hope to find someone to carry on my beliefs and feed Scora's flames. If there is anywhere on the planet to begin my search, its in this giant concrete jungle. I've seen many interesting people and powers, but none that have convinced me of their dvine grace. What brought you here? To this small oasis in a sea of metal?"

Even when he said Scora was far beyond the range of any of his senses, he lifted his sight to the starts. He did not know why he did it, maybe he was looking for Scora, maybe he just did it by instinct but as his new friend stated, it was so far away that he could not see him. He lowered his gaze again, concentrating more in the task of learning all of that knowledge. It was a lot to process but he man was wise and knew how to put it in simple words, so it was not that difficult, it just had to concentrate a little.
While he kept talking, Guglin started to wonder how many times he had used the power of Scora too... it was not like he cook each meal, he often preffered raw meat over cooked one, but he had to admit that cooking the food give it a different flavor. Was that process part of Scora's power? He wondered for a moment about that possibility but he could not understand why someone as important as Scora would care to make food taste different. It was something Scora could do, if he was so powerful, but why would he take the time to do it? But them it was that part about Scora setting things in motion... maybe changing the flavor of food could set some things in motion. Maybe it was really Scora who did it.

He waited silently, listening carefully with his long ears until the man asked him something. The answer about what brought him to the noisy city was quite simple, so he replied right away. "A car." He traveled in a car from the mountains, caged and destined to the zoo as a new specie of primate. Of course he knows little about that so he told him the second thing that brought him to the park too. "And chance." To travel from his beloved mountains to the city was not something he would choose to do, but he was glad it happened. He had found a big park in need of protection and after a few weeks of hunting and sleeping under its trees, he learned to call it home. It was nothing alike the mountains, it was softer, less savage but it was his little piece of jungle.

He was very interested in the other mutants his new friend found, but he was also very curious about Scora... so he pushed aside the thoughts about mutants and powers and concentrated fully on Scora. Among a bunch of thoughts, there was a single thing that bothered him the most, so he asked that. "How you feed Scora?"