<span style="font-style: italic">Spirit?</span>Zel thought. The only spirits he was aware of were the six holy ones.<span style="font-style: italic">A tree supposed to house one of the six spirits being destroyed... a lake intended as a dwelling or a gift to another of the spirits rapidly shrinking... the image of a scale associated with the six holy spirits. Imbalance in the world? I should think so.</span><br/><br/>Zel changed his sitting position so that his legs were crossed and he was looking down, with his hand on his chin in the classic thinking position.<span style="font-style: italic">What the first tablet implied about the humans giving to the spirits and the spirits giving to the humans... my magical powers getting weaker... the spirits "dwellings" falling to chaos... the balance of the world falling to chaos...</span>All of the knowledge he'd so far acquired about the spirits was connecting like dots in an unpleasant way.<br/><br/>After a solid at least five minutes of thinking intensely like this Zel spoke up. "I'm currently researching the six holy spirits," Zel started, "While I feel the input you've given here is valuable, I'm afraid it raises many questions and the answers it gives are unpleasant. From what I know, the spirits were thought of in ancient cultures as the source of balance in the world. Lately the condition of the world has been deteriorating; lakes drying up, nature dying, forests shriveling. So, looking at this from the point of view of the spirits being the benevolent sustainers of life, we can assume either someone or thing is setting an imbalance to the world which is affecting the spirits, or this someone or thing is setting an imbalance to the spirits which is affecting the world. Or I suppose possibly both."<br/><br/>"It seems that it was a custom of ancient people to create aspects of nature with magic and dedicate them to the spirits. This lake is one such example, but it's rapidly drying up. I would suspect, though I can't confirm, that that tree in your home land was another such gift. Or I suppose the spirit could have come to be there on its own. It's difficult to confirm any of this with the level of evidence I currently have. Tell me, were there any large stone tablets or other ancient writings in your home land, and is there any chance of any still remaining?"