Me.
Just Another Short Story.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
They call me U'lir. It is out of respect for me, for I am the eldest of them all, youngest of a generation that no longer exist. I have seen the seven lights of day, bathed in the still waters of Lwob, survived three Great Floods. Great Floods which took from me all that I held dear - my friends, my family. I lost my mother - who was also my father, my brother, and my sister; the only one I ever truly loved - in the First Great Flood. She had pushed me against the edge of this great white kingdom, and I remember clinging for dear life as she was swept away into the abyss.
I lost my children in the Second Great Flood, though most at the time only knew it to be the First. Few lived to endure a second flood, and so it was that the world lay without knowing that these floods were constant, and world-devouring.
The Third Great Flood took with it more of my friends, more of my people - and more of our civilization was lost. But I endured. I lived in fear of the floods everyday of my life, and everyday I clinged to the edges of our white kingdom - many thought I was crazy, few had sympathy for me knowing the horrors I have witnessed.
The floods were always the same. Hot liquid would rain down on us - warning of a greater disaster. And then the water would rush down on us, pushing and pulling us into the darkness below.
But something was different today. Today the hot rain came, but the floods did not come immediately after. The sky began to darken, and a shadow was cast over our kingdom. Then our city was covered in a stench so foul that only Gods would be unaffected by it.
And from the sky fell a black vessel, blacker than the darkest corner of any room. It caught many of my people in it, and I saw the terror in their eyes as they tried to free themselves of it. In my desperate attempt to save myself from it, I pushed a youngling into the black vessel's grip - I will forever remember his cry for help, the disbelief in his tone as I ran away, not caring for his life.
Many tried to save those caught in the clutches of the vessel, and while doing so most did not realize that the sky had turned bright again - whatever that was casting a shadow over us was now gone.
And then I heard the familiar rumble.
It came unto us within the blink of an eye. The floods rushed down, pulling everyone and everything I knew with it. I held on with all my might, not willing to let it take me - I endured three floods, I told myself I would make it through the fourth and endure a fifth.
And so I did.
It went as fast as it came.
And still I live. There were few around me - remnants of yet another generation which has ceased to exist. We would rebuild our kingdom, together. And we would see through the sorrow of this flood, and forever live in fear of the next.
Yes. This is our life.
The life of a micro-organism living in a toilet bowl.
***
I have too much time on my hands.
Given a certain level of thought byAdam Dewind at 6:55 PM