Stories
Crocodile in Star River
In a gentle creek hidden beneath tangled trees, roots, and green moss lived a peculiar crocodile named Koa.
His shiny, white scales made the other crocodiles whisper and keep away, calling him weird, strange, or ugly.
The others made him stay away where the sun could barely reach, and only at night, when no one was out, did Koa lift his head above the water and stare at the night sky.
Up in the sky, he saw a shining river of goldfish.
They glittered, swam, and darted across a great dark sea.
To others, it was just stars in the night sky, but to him, this was Star River, and he longed to swim in it more than anything.
One night, with a heart filled with hope, Koa slipped away to find Star River.
He followed the creek until it poured into the open ocean, wider and bigger than anything he had ever seen.
As he traveled, the water grew deep and dark, and Koa felt small and cold.
Just as doubt crept into him, a shadow rose beneath the waves. A massive whale with eyes as large as the moon appeared.
“Where are you going, little lizard?” the whale asked.
“To the Star River,” Koa said. “I want to swim with the goldfish in the sky.”
The whale bellowed like thunder. “I will guide you to the jungle.”
She swam with Koa through the ocean waters where tiny jellyfish glowed like stars.
When they reached a shore, she lifted him on her back and, with a mighty breath, sent him flying onto land from her blowhole, landing him safely on the beaches’ sand.
After he landed there, among trees and sands, a clever fox greeted him.
“I know where you want to go, lizard” she said, her tail swaying like a dancing flame.
“And I can take you through the jungle protected and unseen.”
The fox guided him past glowing eyes and prowling paws, never once letting danger touch him.
When they arrived at the mountain, she bowed her head and vanished into the thick jungle.
Ahead, perched a giant toucan. The toucan look at him sideways.
“I will take you higher, lizard” he croaked warmly.
With strong wings, he lifted Koa from ledge to ledge, guiding him up the steep mountain until the world stretched beneath them and the Star River seemed close enough to touch.
At the peak, the wind howled, chilling Koa to his bones, and the toucan flew back into the clouds below.
He reached toward the stars, but no matter how high he stretched, they remained far beyond his claws.
The truth crushed him.
“I can’t reach it,” he sobbed.
“I came all this way… and I still can’t reach.”
He curled into himself, ready to return to the creek. Just when he accepted defeat, the air glowed, and a great pink dragon descended from the sky like a falling sunrise.
“I’ve watched you since you left your creek,” the dragon said, his voice soft and calm.
“You are brave, little lizard. Will you come and be my friend? I will help you get to Star River.”
Koa cried. “But…. how?”
“You must jump to me,” the dragon stated.
“But if I fall… I’ll tumble down the mountain,” Koa whimpered.
The dragon lowered his head to look at Koa in the eyes.
“Believe in yourself, and anything is possible.
You’ve swam a dark ocean, you’ve tracked through a dangerous jungle, and you’ve climbed a steep mountain. Now take a leap of faith.”
Koa squeezed his eyes shut and leapt.
As he soared through the air, the dragon exhaled a shimmering mist that wrapped around Koa like a dream.
His scales glowed.
His back prickled.
Feathers burst forth, white, radiant, and strong.
Wings unraveled like moonlit sails.
Koa did not fall.
He flew.
The dragon’s laughter rolled like thunder.
“Do you see now? I was the whale, guiding your waters. I was the fox, keeping you safe. I was the toucan, lifting you higher. I have always been beside you.”
Together they rose into the Star River.
The stars did not burn him, they did not call him names, they did not turn him away; they welcomed him home.
He swam through the constellations, raced comets, and chased the goldfish that darted between his feathers.
Koa, the outcasted crocodile now became Koa the Sky Swimmer, friend of the pink dragon, and keeper of Star River.
And on clear nights, if you look at the sky, you might just see two shapes swimming through the stars, laughing as they sing and dance in their new home.
This space demon was never really from space nor a demon.
His origins go back hundreds of thousands of years, in a time when Yeti ruled the land peacefully.
He was their king, a good king, but a sickness came from travelers from beyond. a sickness of greed.
The king resisted but unfortunately fell victim to his own wanting. He remained king under a selfish rule. He made pacts with demons for eternal life and riches.
One day another traveler came in the form of a trader and displayed a mirror so beautiful the king demanded that only he should wield it. The traveler warned the king that it would show the truth, and the king mocked the traveler saying that it would show the greatest king ever to exist. The mirror was taken from the traveler and he soon left accepting the loss.
The king had the mirror mounted at the wall at the end of his bed so he would be the first thing he saw every morning.
The next morning, he woke and stood in front of the mirror. As he admired himself and his riches, the mirror started to distort the images. It showed him how ugly he had become, it showed all the suffering he had caused, it showed how he destroyed the land and doomed the future of his people.
As he stood contemplating his life. He ran. He ran with only the clothes on his back to a cave on top of the highest peak. He sat at this mountain and meditated on life for 33 years straight.
After he left the cave, he could see how beautiful the world really was and as the sun showed on him, he became enlightened.
He made his return to the village and showed his fellow Yeti what he had learned in hope of curing the sickness.
They relished the knowledge and slowly became cured of greed.
He stepped down as king and left the village to fulfill his destiny as the enlightened king.
But time was not friendly to him. Because of his pacts with demons, he never perished.
Ultimately, the world around him crumbled and he deteriorated to a petrified skull with no jaw and the top of his head lost in time.
He now serves as a guide to travelers in space, a blessing to all those lost and corrupt.