Elan Hotah

Elan was born in the 950s CE in Norway, the son of a great Viking Warrior. He was given a name at the time that he refuses to recognize to this day. He was taught at a very young age how to handle a blade. When he was only ten years old, his father brought him along on a mission to charter and colonize new land to the west of their own. They traveled across a vast ocean and upon arriving on the new shores, the Viking horde attacked a village of peaceful dark skinned people, killing every man, woman and child in sight. The Viking boy was confused by what he saw because these people did not even seem equipped to fight back. When all were dead save for one small child, his father turned to him, placing a blade in his small hand and demanded he murder this small girl who was no more than three or four. She sat weeping over her mother's corpse, lost abandoned and alone. He could not bring himself to do his father's bidding and so, he dropped his sword and shook his head. His father immediately slaughtered the child and then attacked his son, whipping him harshly and declaring that the boy was no son of his.

His father, disgusted by his own child's compassion, left his son on the shore alone to die. The boy, however, did not die. He hid for several days among the dead, fearing his father's return. It was not his father, though who found him but a woman of dark skin who belonged to a tribe of people from the north. She had been collecting wood for her people when she came upon the scene and discovered the small boy: cold, hungry and alone. Although they did not speak the same language or look anything alike, the woman took him in and brought him back to her people. From his limited understanding, the boy could tell the tribe was reluctant at first, but eventually they took him in. The woman who found him was the tribal leader's wife and so the Chief became the boy's father. They named him Wanagi, their word for Ghost, because of his pale skin. With love and compassion, the Wampanoag people of Northern Canada raised him as one of their own.

They were peaceful people who did not fight, but Ghost kept the blade that he had dropped when he refused his father's demands and he practiced with it often. It was all he kept of his former life. As the years past, he blocked out all memory of where he came from.

Fifteen years later, another tribe visited them. This tribe's leader was called Pathfinder and he was a powerful shaman. His daughter was beautiful and kind hearted. Ghost was smitten with her, but unable to vocalize this due to the fact he was not considered a `brave'. Pathfinder's tribe set out for home as his own tribe prepared to send out a hunting party. His father, the Wampanoag leader, told him that until he came to terms with his past, he could not be a brave or a hunter. Ghost decided he would go off to hunt alone. He traveled into the woods in a different direction than the braves had gone when a dreadful sound echoed through the air. A horn. At the noise, the memories of his youth came flooding back. He knew that the Vikings, the people from which he had come, had returned once more. He ran back to his tribe, but he was too late, most of his people, including his adoptive mother and young sister were dead, brutally slaughtered without mercy by the Viking horde.

He could hear the horde and with anger in his heart, followed the sound and came upon a horrific scene. The horde was in a circle and his adoptive father was in the middle, being forced to fight with a blade - an object his father had never even picked up before. He was badly cut up and unable to defend himself. In what the barbarians considered an act of mercy, they rammed a blade through his father and left him on the ground to die. Devastated by this, Ghost bolted into the circle only to see his father breathe his last breath. The Viking all stopped, realizing right away this `savage' was different: pale skinned and looking more like one of them than the `savages'. They handed him a blade and demanded he fight next. In his father's honor, Ghost did kill two of their men and partly blinding another before he was able to make an escape. He did not escape without injury though, taking an arrow to the upper back as he fled. He wandered through the wilderness as memories came flooding back. He knew these people and he knew their ways. They would follow his trail with hopes he would lead them to the next village and so, he made the decision to find a cave and hide there. The wound was grave and he was losing blood quickly. Once in the cave, he passed out from lack of blood.

When he awoke, Pathfinder's hunting party stood around him, clearly confused by finding one of the Wampanoag so far from home. He warned them to leave him there, to die, but he was too weak to protest when they carried him back to their village. Pathfinder and his daughter worked through the night to heal Ghost. From his back they removed an odd looking arrowhead and Pathfinder knew that `the dragon people' had returned and were now hunting Ghost.

Once he was well enough to speak, Ghost warned them that by taking him with them, they left a trail for the Vikings to follow and it was only a matter of time before they found this settlement too and killed everyone here. Believing his word, Pathfinder's tribe began to move on and Ghost made a choice: he would go back to fight these Viking alone and kill as many as he could or die trying. At the very least he could stall them to give Pathfinder's tribe enough time to flee. He set off to carve his own path and the tribe headed westward. Unfortunately, Pathfinder's daughter followed Ghost in secret.

When the tribe realized the chief's daughter was missing, they broke into two groups. The braves and Pathfinder set off to follow Ghost and the other group that included some men and all the women and children of the tribe continued west ward. Ghost was far enough ahead of them that he was able to set traps for the Vikings, designed to kill them en masse. Once his task was complete, he settled in for the night. That night Pathfinder came to him in his dreams with a message: `A sword can cut both ways'. The nightmare caused him to wake and upon waking he found Pathfinder's daughter, Starfire, in his camp. She confessed that she had feelings for him and so, she would not let him stand alone. She ignored Ghost's encouragement for her to leave and stayed with him.

When the Viking horde arrived, Ghost and Starfire were able to kill a handful of Vikings with the set traps but just as Ghost was about to lead the Vikings into a covered spiked pit, the braves of Pathfinder's tribe, searching for Starfire arrived and despite Ghost's call out to them to cease moving, they triggered the trap and fell into the pit themselves. The Vikings made quick work of the few survivors and captured Ghost, Starfire and Pathfinder. They demanded Ghost lead them to the next settlement. The Viking leader revealed that he knew Ghost's father and knew exactly who Ghost was. He demanded that Ghost remember his roots and act on the side of his true people. When Ghost refused, the Vikings set up a barbaric, painful death for Pathfinder. Before his death, Pathfinder told Ghost to use the Viking's strength against them, as if he was hunting bear. They viciously tore the man in two in front of his daughter and Ghost. Next, they threatened to harm Starfire unless Ghost helped them. Having seen enough death, Ghost finally spoke in his native Norse tongue and agreed to lead them westward. But, he knew what he had to do: take them on the harshest path possible to kill as many of them as he could. He was now the Viking's pathfinder.

He first led them westward towards an ice covered lake. He knew, as Pathfinder had taught him, that he must use their strength against them. They were heavy and the ice was thin. Walking out onto the lake, the heavily armored Vikings on horseback broke through the ice and many drowned, including Ghost... but strangely, he awoke in the water to a vision of the late Pathfinder, telling him to finish this and to remember who he truly was at heart. He made it to the surface, somehow alive again.

The warriors who survived the break in the ice lost some trust in Ghost, but they had no choice but to follow him into the Mountains. There Ghost knew, as spring was breaking, the melting snow would only require a little amount of noise in order to fall. Using his knowledge of his own land, he was able to cause an avalanche that killed all but one of the Vikings. That last remaining one was their leader, the man who knew his father. On the mountain, they fought with blades and their bare hands until the older man lost his step and Ghost was able to gain the upper hand. The leader begged to be killed by the sword, because he lived by the sword and died by the sword, but in repayment for the deeds done to his family, Ghost pushed the man off the mountain, denying him a glorious death.

Starfire and he reached the next settlement and found the remainder of her tribe there, safe and sound. Starfire became their leader and Ghost returned to his homeland to bury his dead tribe. Eventually, he returned to Pathfinder's tribe and lived there with Starfire's people, as her husband.

For the next two decades, Ghost lived in peace and while he and Starfire never had children, they remained loyal to one another. It was nearly twenty years since the Viking's last attack, that Ghost realized he was no longer aging. His wife and friends grew older and yet, he did not seem to ever change. This confused him, but not his people. They believed he was part of a prophecy and that he was given a gift from Mother Earth: he would forever remain young and live forever to defend these lands from the Vikings. Knowing no different, he accepted this as his fate and vowed to protect their shores.

The Vikings never returned, but old age was just as merciless and within a few decades, Starfire, now an old woman, passed away. She had lived a long life, but watching his wife lose her life when he was forever frozen in time was difficult. As every decade passed, he watched friends and family pass onto the next world, but he remained the same. He was a legend to his people and neighboring tribes and often it was easier to travel the shores alone to protect them than to stay with his tribe all year round. He continued to live his life in this manner for over five hundred years, never questioning his path, but accepting it as his duty to guard the eastern shores of this land.

In the 1400s, things changed however. White men once more arrived on their banks and while some were friendly, some were not. If the newcomers were peaceful, he stayed far away and let them trade with his people in peace. Those that harmed the natives were killed before they could warn others. Ghost used his skills from both his cultures to eliminate the predators stealthily.

For the next three hundred years conflict arose repeatedly among the Europeans and the Indians and his tribe was pushed westward. They abandoned the eastern shores and moved westward until the Europeans expanded out into their land once again. Then, they moved again. However, the western lands had a coast as well and eventually, there was no where else to go. By the 1800s, it was becoming impossible for him to hide among his people as the Europeans were interjecting, teaching their religion to his people and forcing them to act as they did. They were forcing his people to change instead of accepting them as they were. The natives were grossly out numbered and before long, his people were being killed off quickly.

Because of his failure to keep his people safe, Ghost expected to die and be taken into the next world as his ancestors were before him, but still, he did not age and he did not die.

In the 1830s, an attack was launched against his tribe, who refused to move to another location when the European leaders began to press once more into their land. They now called themselves Americans. The Americans came with strange, loud weapons that breathed fire from a barrel. As hard as they fought, his people were no match for these weapons and as the battle raged on, he could no longer maintain his hiding position and leapt into the fight. He was able to kill some Europeans warriors, but there were far too many of them and once again, nearly every last man, woman and child of his tribe was slaughtered. Surrounded by men with fire weapons, he realized there was no escape and he was, once more, taken prisoner. The Americans recognized right away he was a pale skinned man living among what they believed were `savages' and just like the Vikings before them, they demanded he reveal who he was, where he came from and that he revoke his savage ways. This time, however, Ghost could not understand them. He did not speak their language, having never heard it before.

In protest of his silence, these Americans, cut his hair, took his cloths and jewelry and redressed him as they were dressed. They also gave him a new name, a name which they called `Christian': James Marshall. He was taken by a horse drawn carriage at gun point eastward. Upon returning to the land he had called home for nearly seven hundred years, he was in shock to see it looking completely different than when he had left. Industry had begun and tall buildings marred the land he loved. He was taken to a cold stone structure called a military prison where he was held captive. Each day, they would try to teach him more and more English. When he spoke in his tribal language, he was whipped. He was taught about the European religion, Christianity and told if he did not believe it, he was going to a place called hell when he died. Ghost, however, did not fear death as he knew it never came for him.

He was held in this prison for nearly ten years and by the time he was released, he spoke perfect English and could quote the Bible forwards and backwards although he believed not a single word of it. An army General by the name of Johnson took Ghost into his home and offered him freedom, but only if he behaved in a proper European manner. He was not allowed to speak of his people or ask questions about what happened to them. His time spent outside of roofed structures was limited to prevent him from `lapsing into savage ways.' To him, this was still prison. And things only became worse.

A war broke out, called the Mexican American war and General Johnson was called to duty. He would not leave the former savage alone with his family and so, he took Ghost with him. He taught Ghost how to use a gun and led him into a war against the `dark skinned aggressors from the south'. The situation was all too familiar however: here another father figure was asking him to kill people who had committed no crime against him. Like he did as a child, he refused to fight and threw down his weapon in battle. The chaos of war provided the perfect escape and in a flash, he was gone, fleeting into the wilderness. The General had no method of tracking someone who was as stealthy as a fox. Ghost disappeared into the wild, untamed west. He did become, however, a wanted man. Posters with his likeness were hung, claiming he was an army deserter whose punishment was to be death by hanging.

He lived off the land for ten years before the first war gave way to another, harsher war called the Civil War during which the entire country turned on itself. Americans fought Americans and while Ghost managed to stay out of the battle, he did learn through eavesdropping at this time that there were some of the native people of this land were still alive and living on what the Americans called `reservations'. He immediately went to the nearest one, the Hualapai Reservation in Arizona. While the people there were not his own tribe, they reacted to his arrival with gratefulness. It seemed they had heard of his legend, a legend which managed to never reach the ears of outsiders. They knew him as the Pathfinder who gave up his mortality to defend the native people. They hoped his arrival would bring them victory against their oppressors. It seemed, to a limited extent, it did. This tribe was not moved again from this patch of land.

Ghost lived among them, hidden within their reservation from the Americans. It was here that Ghost found a sense of peace he had not known since before the second arrival of Europeans in the 1400s. He stayed on the Hualapai reservation for quite some time and worked with his Indian brothers to take back what little they could by robbing trains that passed through their land during the late 1800s. He was once more a wanted man, but he did not care for his own fate: he could not die. He stole, but never did he harm someone who was not aggressive towards him first. And when the law came looking, he disappeared into the great canyons of his land.

Time moved on, however, and the 1900s ushered in a new wave of understanding. The United States, as this land was now called, began to slowly give rights to the natives and by the 1970s, the natives, the people he felt he was one of and belonged with, were actually being better respected. For the better part of the 1900s, he remained with the Hualapai people and stayed hidden there, acting as a teacher to the young native children. He taught them their history as it truly was, not what was written in the European man's text books. They called him Elan Hotah, meaning `friendly white man', when outsiders were around and affectionately, the children called him Sani meaning `The Old One' but behind closed doors, he was still called Wanagi (meaning Ghost), the name given to him by his native parents nearly 1000 years ago.

In the early 2000s, the Hualapai tribe opened their reservation to tourists who wished to see the Grand Canyon from the side that was free of guard rails and while it brought in money for the tribe, it also allowed in outsiders. One outsider in particular took an interest him. He separated from his tour group and approached Ghost. As he drew nearer, Ghost felt a strange sensation he had never felt before- a certain buzz. The stranger's first words were that he had no desire to fight, but just to greet a fellow immortal in so strange a place. Ghost had no idea what he meant.

Over a barely touched lunch, the stranger explained that Ghost was what was called immortal and that immortals were a race of people who never aged, never died save for by one method: a blade. The stranger was in shock over the fact someone of Ghost's age had no idea what he was. He had never been approached by another immortal because the only time Ghost ever spent away from reservations as his time spent in prison and under the harsh rule of General Johnson. Apparently, the native people had kept him so well hidden that no other immortal had ever seen him. In his culture, the mystical elements of every day life were so accepted that no one ever assumed there were other people out there like Ghost, who were undying and so the news came as a shock to Ghost, who explained what he was told only to the leader of the Hualapai. The leader told him that the Great Spirit worked in strange ways and that perhaps while he was the protector of them, they had also been the protector of him in return by hiding him from those that wished him harm.

Thinking on this sage wisdom, Ghost accepted the news well, but he also took up the blade once more and began to practice with it. His skills from his childhood were not lost and while rusty, he fell back into using a blade quite quickly although he is far better with a bow and arrow. He realized, upon reviewing the new facts, that he must have died all those years ago under the ice and was reborn again, a real ghost.

Although new knowledge came with outsiders, so did new viruses. The super flu, which stuck in 2002, was the worst and within two weeks, this flu had taken the entire tribe. For the third time in his life, Ghost was forced to see those he loved and cared about killed in too brief period of time and he was helpless to do anything to protect them. And yet, he lived on.

The dreams began shortly after he was left alone: one of a man who beckoned him to Las Vegas with promises of freedom from religious oppression and one of an elderly dark skinned woman who spoke of freedom as well, but freedom from despair. Boulder was a place of hope. And light. His choice was not hard: he would go to the woman. The man's face, in the dreams, was marked in shadow. He was a dark leader and therefore, not to be trusted. The woman's face was full of light and her choice of location was one of nature and beauty, not concrete and barren desert.

Leaving was difficult, however. He laid the remainder of his people to rest and then lingered on the reservation. He knew so little of the way of life outside the culture that he'd been a part of for 1000 years. Would he be accepted, would he be understood and would he reach Boulder without running into another immortal first? Eventually, the solitude of the empty reservation forced him to find the answers to these questions and to set off on a new path.