"Your words have wounded me deeply, but your silence hurts even more." Cree falls on his knees before the Creator, his shaggy head bowed low.

"My silence was for your benefit, Child."

"My benefit?" Cree lifts his head, a fiery glare in his ocean eyes. "I needed to know what to do. You wouldn't answer me, and I made the wrong decision. How could that possibly be for my benefit?"

"Who told you it was the wrong decision?"

"Can't you see what's happening around us? This is war. My decision led to this outcome, to this outbreak of unyielding violence."

"Yes."

"Yes?" Cree is on his feet now, no longer bothering to show respect to the Creator. "Is that all you have to say? I ruined everything because you refused to help me. You would not give me your guidance, although I requested it."

The Creator slowly shakes his bushy mane from side to side. Still, he does not speak.

"You told me I was going to die. Before this war began, the last thing you said to me was that I would die. I don't understand. With you by my side, death cannot come near me. Will you not be with me, Creator?"

"I told you what you needed to know, Cree. I did not abandon you, nor did I refuse to help you. I was by your side the whole time, although you did not see me. You made the right decision, Cree. The war that is happening now _must_ happen. The Book of All Books foretold there would be a battle between good and evil. This is it, Cree."

"Will you save me from death?" Fear grips Cree's heart in an unrelenting grasp.

"I will do what must be done." The Creator lays a warm paw on Cree's shoulder. "Know this, Cree Hightower. I will be with you wherever you go."

The fingers of fear around Cree's heart break away one by one.