I did this story in two hours, but probably will do more editing in the future to flesh it out better, but I still liked this story quite a bit. I'll be working on more furry-related stories after this. Just wanted to get a bit of practice with a couple short stories that were in my head.

The story is inspired by Xeon's Dream of Winds, with the song's story going over the dissipation of the body into the fields and expanding heavily upon that idea. http://youtu.be/XL2Z14Cqnhc

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The Legend of Lazar & The Stranger

Everyone in the village had their own life and purpose, each one doing their job and working to help everyone in the village as best as the could. Each year on the first day of the first month, they would take the person with the most spirit in them up to the Wind Platform while donning the Garments of Lazar. This person would stand on top of the platform and let their spirit flow out through the strong winds that passed into the fields, blessing them and keeping the crops growing so that the village could survive and flourish.

The village was happy, but as it grew larger and more people came to occupy it, traditions would go by the wayside as more people started to grow more interested in their own beliefs and became more self-centered. The fields continued to produce, however, it wasn't enough for the whole town to live on.

So, they built more shops and traded with more people, and everything that had made the town unique had disappeared. The history of the village had faded into obscurity as people started to get into more arguments and have fights, not giving a second thought of their actions. Many of the structures that had existed had been torn down, with one of the exceptions being the Wind Platform, which had vines growing on it and being completely ignored by the people.

Then, one day, a stranger moved in, having bought one of the old houses that remained from the original village that was getting ready to be destroyed. He decided to save it from being demolished, having looked at it and found it's charm unique and intriguing. He had put a few of his belongings inside the house and took a look at the living room, finding many antiques carved out of old wood and inspected them, finding waves on most of them.

He perused the house as he went up to the attic, knowing that he remembered finding an old chest up there that he was hoping would have some interesting items to fill the house with. He opened the latch to the attic and turned on the flashlight, moving it around the room and spotting the old chest. He moved up and saw a thick layer of dirt along with the rust that surrounded the metal covering the chest. He lifted the latch and opened up the chest.

Upon lifting the top of the chest, he found many old books inside and a worn out robe of blue. He pulled out the robe and covered his nose, as the scent from it was overbearing. He started to make a few trips up and down the stairs, carrying the books for some future reading he might do. He then inspected the robe that was left, finding the same wave mark on the back of the robe as most of the artifacts he saw downstairs. He looked at the lining of the robe to find the name of Lazar, written on the side. Curiously, he decided to go through the books and, as luck would have it, one of them was a journal of the life of Lazar.

Forgoing going back to his old home and picking up more of his belongings, he sat down to read into the Lazar's life. He flipped through pages of how he had worked hard in the fields of the town and said many prayers to the wind the passed through crops, feeling blessed about his life each time the breeze came by. As people started to venture towards his place, he greeted them with open arms and helped them to settle down around his house, building more and more homes as many people came to help Lazar with his farming.

The people would gladly lend their skills and a village started to form amongst the people. Lazar was very compassionate and made sure no one went hungry and sacrificed his time and energy for the village. The village felt so blessed by having such a wonderful leader that they created a beautiful robe for Lazar to wear. As years went by, Lazar grew weaker, but kept making his prayers to the wind, with many people praying with him.

In his last days, Lazar took a stone column to the center of the village and started etching wind symbols into it by himself with many people coming, wanting to help him, but him persisting that this was to be done by his own hands. When it was complete, on the first day of the first month, he put on his special robe made by the villagers, took a ladder and placed it on the column and climbed up. He shook all the way as he had very little energy left in him at his old age. He stood on top of the pillar and started to say his prayers to the wind. People came by to watch him, curious about what he was doing.

And then, his body started to glow spreading throughout his body. He kept on praying as his body started to disintegrate in front of the villagers eyes, his energy being pushed by the wind and into the fields. The robe started to drop onto the ground as everyone was gasping about what had happened to Lazar. One climbed up the ladder and grabbed the robe, confirming that his body had gone. Moreso, they turned their focus to the fields and saw that the crops were growing instantly, as if a force was making they grow faster.

They kept the robe and followed the ritual every year, finding the most worthy of wearing the robe and putting them on the pillar. They would gladly let the wind flow by as their energy would flow into the field, but unlike Lazar, they never disappeared.

The stranger took a look at the robe and all the possessions in the house, and felt that it must've been fate that led him to this house. The next day, he moved the rest of what he had into his home and started to help the town.

Most of the town was very curious about what motives the man had about helping complete strangers. Most people laughed, but some people were moved by the kind acts this new stranger was doing for the town. He was helping to repair broken homes and give out food to people who had none. Every now and again he would gather people to his home and tell them the stories of Lazar, reading through the books that were from the chest. Many people laughed at the stories but some people listened intently.

After a few months, everyone in the town had heard of the stranger and his spreading of the history of Lazar, most people scoffing it as legend but some people actually praying to the wind that Lazar felt had blessed his small village. While there was a bit of turmoil still, people were trying to be more caring towards one another, with the stranger trying to assist in any matters.

Then, when the first day of the first month came around, the stranger put on Lazar's robe and grabbed his old ladder. He gave a gentle smirk as he saw how worn the garment was, but was determined to bring back the ritual that Lazar had started long ago. He walked through the town as people laughed at him, talking about how disheveled he looked with the worn robe and the beat up ladder.

The stranger got to the pillar and placed the ladder to the side, slowly making his way up to the top of it, hearing the creaks from the ladder. He stood on top of the Wind Platform and looked out over the town. Some people started to yell at the stranger while others looked intently at him, curious about why he would do such a thing. At that moment, the stranger started to close his eyes and say prayers to the wind.

He visualized in his mind what the young village would have looked like and what Lazar must have been thinking when he created the platform, blocking out the noises from everyone as he was focusing his heart towards what Lazar would have wanted. He clutched the robe tightly thinking about the amount of times it was worn and how many villagers had worn it before him. He blocked out everything and prayed.

Then, the townspeople, who had been screaming at him for doing such a stupid thing saw that the stranger's skin started to emit a glow. The stranger kept on mouthing his prayer as he felt the wind brushing strongly past him. Part of his glow started to dissipate as his body started to disappear, much to everyone's shock. As the robe fell to the ground, people watched as the spirit moved outside the town and towards the road into the field that had been planned to be used to construct more houses.

They saw it enter the field and the ground shook heavily, as crops started sprouting from the ground instantaneously and filling the field. People dropped onto the ground due to the force as they watched many of the buildings start to crumble. After a minute, the shaking started to stop as people started to get back up from the shock.

After the earthquake was over, there were many cries of people stuck inside their homes. Everyone who was outside went to the buildings and rescued everyone that was trapped, grabbing the debris and helping everyone out. To everyone's shock, no one had died and everyone was still alive. While everyone's house had some sort of disrepair to it, everyone saw that the house the stranger had, was still standing strong and didn't have any flaws in it.

The people of the town walked together towards the field and stood in awe of the slew of crops that was readily available for them to eat. The people knew that this wasn't a coincidence and started to go back into the town. They went to the pillar and saw the robe had fallen to the ground. One person picked it up and saw that the ragged robe that the stranger worn was gone and that it had reverted back to it's original bright blue form.

Everyone in the town helped each other repair their ruined houses and they all ate of the crops that had suddenly appeared. They went inside the stranger's house and started to read the books that he had been reading, spreading the word of the power of the wind that Lazar prayed to. They followed the word of Lazar and started to adopt the lifestyle that he had tried to spread from the beginning of his life.

From then on, on the first day of the first month, they would say prayers to the wind and continued the ritual for the blessing of the crops. They gave thanks to Lazar for his teachings and thanks for the stranger for bringing back the teachings that strengthened them and brought the town together.