"Move, you lazy cattle!" the young girl screamed across the meadows, standing in front of her ox and trying to pull his reigns with all her strength. However, the animal only blinked and began to chew on the blades of grass within its reach.

A small cry of frustration escaped the girl in grey clothes that had become mixed with the muddy terrain of the ground below them. "The Holy Father will be angry if we do not deliver our tithe. You don’t want to be blamed for that, right?" The accused cattle still did not deign to move. The ox continued to feast on the grass, shifting the yoke on his shoulders and the small wooden wagon behind him that was loaded with sacks of wheat, herbs, eggs, and some dead chickens. After all, only the best of the best for the Holy Father.

However, this would all mean nothing if it did not reach the Father, the golden-haired girl knew all too well. The soldiers of the castle lords would come, take what they wanted, and destroy whatever else remained as punishment.

"Please..." she began to plead, but the animal showed no mercy.

Frustrated, Megan wished that she could afford to soon replace this stupid ox with a horse. Such a creature would not cause problems of this kind. They were noble animals and more reliable. For now, though, she would have to make do with what she had, and right now she wanted to be back on the farm before dark.

Annoyance written on her face, she trudged in her leather shoes through the mud of the road, and finally picked up a small bundle that rested between some sacks. Her mood improved considerably when she opened the cloth. In it were two pieces of bread and cheese on a wooden plate, and an apple. She thanked both the Lord in heaven and her mother for the meal.

Strengthened and in a better mood, she finally moved in front of the ox for the last time. "If you’re not going to move, I'll do it," she threatened in a stern voice as she grabbed one of his horns, her gaze promising violence. For a few seconds her eyes looked into the dark eyes belonging to the animal, but it still did not make any indication that it would move soon.

It was pointless, and so Megan began to remove the cart from the ox. Kunibert had been in the family for many years and had served them well, but he was not worth incurring the wrath of the Father over. With her hands each holding a stake to pull the cart, she began to move.

“The wolf will get you, Kunibert!” she exclaimed to the ox as she trudged away from him.

Megan felt bad. She regretted that she had left Kunibert, her family’s old faithful ox, back on the road. She had told the Holy Father, who had asked why she pulled the cart and not the animal, what had happened. He had assured her that God had shown understanding, and she should have been more patient and have brought her tithe later.

As she crossed the small forest that separated her family’s farm from the nearby village, she still hoped that Kunibert was at the same location as before, not only because she was worried for the ox, but also to escape the wrath of her father. He would certainly not be pleased to see her return without the ox. She was now fourteen summers old, and was more conscious of her responsibilities than ever. At least she thought so, now that she pulled the empty cart back.

With a sigh, she renewed her grip on the bars of the cart. The sun disappeared on the horizon, on the way to make another trip around the disc that they called Earth. As a child, Megan had dreamed of someday seeing the edge of the world, the eternal blue behind her and the sun on its way. Even today, when she knew that she would never make such a trip, the dream visited her regularly.

Megan finally reached the place where she had left the old ox, but it was no longer there. Instead, a strange old man was sitting in its place. On the one hand, his clothes looked noble, but at the same time they looked like they were made for a travelling entertainer. A black hat that seemed to stretch towards the sky lay perched upon his head. He also wore a coat of the same colour, with button attached that had to have been made by a goldsmith. However, he did not have on pants. Instead, he proudly displayed a skirt that seemed to be made of green and red patches.

The strangely-dressed man sat atop a boulder by the wayside, his head resting upon an artistically-made walking stick. As Megan now approached further with her cart, the man looked up and grinned at her.

"It’s about time you showed up. I've been waiting quite a while for you, young lady." She could now look at his face more directly for the first time. Though she had no doubt that he was somewhat advanced in age, there were no major wrinkles or folds on his long, gaunt face. Grey hair was visible slightly below the funny hat and also formed the beard on his chin, which reminded Megan very much of a goat.

Somewhat surprised at the words and the appearance of the man, Megan pointed at him. "You have been waiting for me, sir?"

Faster than Megan would have thought possible for a man his age, he sprung up from his boulder and was suddenly beside her, placing his arm over her shoulder and leading her to his little fire. Normally she would not approve of such an action—after all, he could be some kind of predator or an outlaw for all she knew. However, there was something, though she could not say what exactly, about the man that made her feel at ease.

"Of course I mean you. Don’t worry, Kunibert is fine." The man raised his cane and pointed at something down the meadow that stretched away from the boulder. Megan followed the direction he indicated and saw Kunibert. The ox was cozy in the evening sun and chewed on the grass to his own contentment.

Relief spread through the young girl. "Oh, I thank you, kind sir, for finding Kunibert. I thought he had run away or worse." Just as she wanted to break away from the old man, however, she looked away and without knowing how found that she once again sat on the boulder. Megan blinked. "Sir?"

"Do not worry, my dear, I have asked Kunibert to wait until we could talk," he said with a smile. The man tramped shortly around the small fireplace, lifted a small stone off the ground, and then came back around to the boulder and placed it on the grass.

"If you want a reward, I'm sure my father will be happy to give you a meal and a bed in the hay when I tell him that you saved our ox." Megan was not particularly eager to tell her parents what had happened, but she knew that a good deed deserved a reward. In addition, the Holy Father had told her that to not confess to the truth would be equivalent to the silence of a lie. "We do not have much, but that would be the least we could do."

The old man grinned. It was an eerie grin that seemed completely contrary to his otherwise warm nature. "I desire neither food nor drink, but a talk would please my old heart very much."

"Pardon me, sir, but I'm just a simple country girl. I’m not learned like the priests, plus I don’t have a lot of experience as you, it seems. I wouldn’t be good company in that regard." Her mother had always said that she possessed shrewdness, the most important kind of cunning, because it was the one that would keep her alive. However, she could neither read nor write.

The man took her hand and placed the stone that he had picked up inside. "That's why I'm here, my child. I'm here to teach you something. I want to share with you my knowledge." Megan nodded slowly, not knowing what to make of it. "Before that, I want to ask you a few questions, only so that you can understand better. Tell me, my child, you believe in God?"

"But of course, sir. Like any good Christian, I follow the words of the Lord and live my life as he wants us to," she said emphatically.

"Then, my child, in your opinion, who or what is God?" His eyes were now fixated on her, and Megan began to feel a little queasy.

"We aren’t allow to portray—"

"I did not say that you should imagine him as a person,” the man interrupted her. "I asked you: what is God?"

"God is the good in the world. He is the Creator of all life, the light in the darkness. We who are created in his image— " Megan stopped as the man started to laugh. Startled, she withdrew her hand from him and held it, together with the stone in it, against her chest.

The man finally noticed Megan's reaction, and his laughter died abruptly. "Oh I'm sorry, my child. I did not expect that you would begin to quote a priest. But yes, that is a description that applies to God, is not it?" Megan did not know what to think. "The part that says that humans were created in His own image is the most interesting part in my opinion, for does it not indicate that He had to have a woman? As we know, the creation of life involved two.” The man stood up and walked to the other side of the fire and squatted down, looking at Megan through the flames. "Man and woman, light and darkness, harmony and chaos. They always come in pairs, hmm?"

"Good and evil?" Megan asked quietly and almost fell off the boulder when the old man jumped and pointed his stick at her.

"No!" With small but quick steps, he walked back to her and looked at her straight in the eye. "No matter who or where you are, darkness is darkness and light is light. However, morality, what you just as beautiful and ugly, good and evil, my child, always depends on the eye of the beholder. More specifically, from you."

"God determines—" The man's hand grabbed her mouth and pressed her lips together.

"God determines nothing. He gave you free will. If anything, he wants you to figure out what you are to be yourself." The man was silent for a moment, watching Megan's face carefully. "But enough of that. I think one day you'll understand. Let's talk about what I wanted to teach you actually. "

"May I know your name before, sir?" The man blinked in surprise a few times. Then he laughed again.

"But of course, Megan. Where are my manners?" He rose to his full height, took his funny hat in one hand while he leaned on his cane with the other, and bowed. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Discord, Guardian of Chaos, father of two, and the wife to probably who you think of as God."

Megan ran. The man had to be possessed by demons. He was certainly crazy to have insulted the name of the Lord. Forgetting carts and Kunibert, she hurried back to the path, where she nearly stumbled as she moved from the meadow back to the hard earth. She glanced back as she straightened up. The man was still standing by the fire, leaning on his cane and waving at her as she walked. Relieved that he did not follow her, she turned her gaze back to the front, only to run straight into his arms.

"What— How did you…?" she asked, already turning to run, but Discord only grabbed her shoulders and turned her around on the spot. The next thing she noticed was that she was sitting on the boulder again in front of the fire.

"I will not hurt you. I thought that we had already settled that. I just want you teach you something." Megan swallowed. "I want to teach you who you are." He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the fire. Her mouth opened for a scream in anticipation of pain, but this did not materialize. Her hand was in the fire, right in the middle of the flames, but it did not burn her. It seemed to instead glide over her skin. This time a small cry escaped Megan as the boulder on which she sat rose into the sky, Discord going with her. The small stone she had held in her hand was now in his outstretched open hand. He eyed the stone briefly before he blew on it. This, like a leaf in the wind, also began to rise in the air and circled around the boulder. "And about the cosmos!" Discord screamed out into the night. At his words, every cloud that covered the sky vanished, but thousands of stars shone brighter than ever.

"What are you?" Megan asked with wonder in her eyes. She had never seen anything like it.

Discord floated over to her. "Like I said, I'm half of what you would call God. And you, my love, are a part of the other half. I’m chaos, you’re harmony. Understand?" No, nothing was clear. Megan, her eyes still undecided on whether they should look at the stars or the fact that her feet no longer touched the ground, felt lost. "You'll have to learn a lot. My lesson may be finished, but I know someone who will be happy to work with you. Have you ever gone away, my child?"

“No…”

"Well, that will change now." Discord snapped his fingers, and suddenly the world was gone along with the stars, the ground, and the boulder on which they had sat. However, she was sitting on something. Her hands wandered in the darkness. Carpet. She had felt some once during the market day in the village. It was carpet.

Her thoughts stopped. Had she really just met God? The sacred book said again and again that he had spoken with people. Was she now one of those chosen people? And why had he sent her here, a place of absolute darkness that was covered with rich carpets?

"We can train down here. Antheon said the basement was unused these days," she heard a voice say. He was answered by another voice, bright, friendly, feminine, but in a language she had never heard. "No, not as a base, but maybe a workshop."

Other sounds penetrated to Megan's ear. Hooves. Horses were near. Then there was such a hiss and hum, noises she absolutely could not place. "Here we are." And suddenly, light. A door that the girl had not seen opened, and light blinded her eyes. A hand went automatically to her face. "Oh, um ... I did not know that the quarters still be used." Megan's eyes narrowed, and finally she could see who was speaking.

In the doorway stood a horse. A small horse. No, a unicorn. A unicorn like from the stories the roaming storytellers used to tell. It was not white like those were, but blue. And there were the wings at his side? This was too much after what Megan had experienced today, and slowly she closed her eyes and snuggled up on the carpet. Everything would be better when she woke up again, she was sure.

Author's Notes:

Well, apparently Thiemo wasn't the first Human to come from Earth to Albion. But I think you all knew that. At least I hope you remember the good Doctor in the Empire. To counter any confusion, the two ponies Megan met at the end are Blue Light and Echidna. She appeared in the basement of Heaven Tower, Amissa Haven, the city of the humans.

Also, some said she couldn't figure out what the relation between Light and Thiemo is, so here is a spoiler:
Thiemo saw a soul when he was in the hive. When their ways parted he wished her "a good next life".
While in Appleloosa, Thiemo used Amaryllis spell to turn into a pony. He was a blue foal with a white mane.

Special thanks to JBL for translating editing.