The Gate Keeper
On the island of Kitanya, they tell the children the story of the Gate Keeper.
The Gate Keeper is known by other names in different places: the Sandman, the Boogeyman, the monster beneath your bed. But back home on the island, he serves a different purpose.
The Gate Keeper keeps out the bad things that lurk around corners, that hang in the shadows.
An old holy woman constructed him of bone and brass. She made his teeth from sea coral. His skull cap was shaped from metal. His eyes, two shining balls made of abalone, were said to hold the keys to the future. He was clothed in a thin green garment made of seaweed.
The holy woman breathed life into him one night, addled by nightmares and creatures that came to haunt her. Once the Gate Keeper was alive, he asked for a price, a living sacrifice.
It seemed a small thing. She gave him the neighborhood stray animals. Dogs and cats disappeared at an alarming rate. Soon livestock went missing.
This caused an uproar. Many of the islanders were farmers and cattlemen, and they decided that the slaughter must be stopped.
The Gate Keeper whispered dark things to the holy woman at sunset. He told her that the island was surrounded by many bad things, and that these sacrifices were the bounty that kept them away. Things that partook of human blood. Things that hunted men for sport.
Seeing no other recourse, she offered herself to the Gate Keeper, to quiet the angry spirits and the angry people as well.
Now, the Gate Keeper walks the beaches at night, watching the sea and the darkness for the monsters it was made to keep away. And it speaks in the darkness with the voice of an old woman and the wisdom of the ancients who came long, long before.
