Story of Nox

A long long time ago, there was the small town of Nox, there lived many a human folk. This be a town of shepards and their fluffy white sheep. Most popular of all the men was he called Nox, a shepard unlike the rest, with whit and endurance like no one else he moved the beast acros the green hill lands. His kindness famous, a pious soul without any ill intent he always was.

One day the shepard Nox did walk with his sheep around, late of winters time with spring soon to come. Along the forest rim he stoped in his track, a lonesome whoman laying dead in the snowy frost. As he came closer he saw that this was not the case, but asleep when could outside was no place for a girl to be. When he aprotched he saw her frail and pale complexion.

With haste in hand and kindness in hart did Nox give her both his wine and bread to eat. But she declined, and instead asked for him to kill of a sheep of his. Though even with such an absurd a tast, the kind shepard did as she had asked, and drew his knife with which he made an end of the oldest in his herd. But as he offered the girl the meat, she only shock her head, saying that the life he took was enough to quelsh both her hunger and thirst.

With this he knew her true visage, be that of death, starving as spring arive with life that robs her of her task. She spoke to him with words so cold but ful of love; "Thank you dear shepard Nox, for this tribute that thee gave to me. This kindness spite your simple life I shall reward you with a gift in return one day."

As time whent on did Nox the shepard have a son, a son that no mather his fathers gratest try, became spoiled and bad, doing both noughty things and sometimes bad. As with most shildren behaving such, he rose the interest of the childrens chepard, a monstrous fiend with wolf like fangs and hunger, he lured the boy from his bed, with promisses of sweets and fun to be had.

Shepard Nox was devistated when finding the empty bed, falling to his knees with tears on his cheek the man started to pray for help. A wisper heard he; "I will help you kind man". It was death, who had come to return his favour. So nox serched the plaines and serched the forest's, with the pale lady by his side they serched for the boy. But to his horrid when arive they did, only bones where left by the grousum childrens chepard.

The lady calmed the now hard crying man; "Hush my dear shepard, for you showed kindness to me, so therefor a gift I return upon thee." And so with a waive and a flicker of her magical hand, rose the bones of the child to the shepard Nox. The boy was alive, to everyones joy, and his lesson was learned when he returned with his father home.

## Alternative versions

While the story of Nox is one that most have heard, depending on region and age, the story was told in diferents way.

While most modern version tells of the boy surviving after death gav him back, many more mobid verssions tells of him only comming half back, ofthen addind a extra line: "In a skin that was pale as bone"

Some belive that is to be taken literaly, stating he was only half alive in some way, while others belives that he was acctually just made of bone, returned to life as a living skeleton.

Some older verssion tels of the shepard staff belonging to Nox was instead enchanted that let him revive his his son himself, once again in either normal or undead form. Beliving there still even is a staff of "resurection" somewhere.

While the most resent retelings of the story reads that the lady was the aspect of death, the older versions only mentions a fair lady. While many speculations has been done with this, some belive that it was writen with Suraa in mind. While others just belive that it was a powefull mage, and others that it actualy was death, just before the folk had recived the teachings on "holy khairan".

Story of Nox is the leading insperation to the holiday Nox day.