The “Goddess” and the Storyteller
A bright night, one with resemblance to day, where the shadows of the mountain and all that lay on it, stretched profusely by the immense power of luminosity; much further than any other night of the year. Great trees, offspring of the land, sleeping soundly under the moonlight glow, their tiny inhabitants tucked warmly to bed. The Mountain, nurturing and caring it may seem, all children completely unaware of its inner fury; ready to convert green paradise into crimson inferno. They could however, at least take comfort in the fact that it would be another power, not what is beneath, that would be their reaper…Goddesses; people of towering size and strength that set out to eradicate any creature that spoke. And so as the birds arose to sing their morning melodies, a lone shadow with a lust for life approached.
A fair-colored mass lowered upon the area, generating heat, the residents of the trees however, knew it was futile to attempt escape. Sluggishly, the blade of the flesh guillotine lowered; savoring the terror of its victims. Begging and pleading meant absolutely nothing to this goddess; one by one, bodies collapsed, and with a horrible crunch, their entire existence disappeared, erased, vanished. She was fully conscious of the atrocity committed and allowed a childish giggle to escape her, at the thought...A lonely graveyard stood where the happy tree village once did; nothing besides she, was left to cast a shadow. Large, ocean blue eyes carefully scanned the ruins for any survivors. “Well that puts an end to them!” The goddess proudly declared…or so she thought. Far below, near her feet, a single man retained life and began to crawl; she immediately took notice.
“Damn you!” He squealed, mouthful of his own life energy. “I heard that, but do not fret dear I will make sure that you receive the same treatment as your friends and family.” Again the blade soared into the air, painted scarlet with the hopes and dreams of hundreds. The man was quickly surrounded by darkness, but he refused to show any fear, staring straight as an arrow at the mass of flesh heavier than thousands of men, that dangled above him. She knew that despite his cool, the symphony of terror, he would sing, she simply had to get him close enough to death…But she was wrong; nothing, not a single cry was heard, and with this she halted, thinking it was a shame to end him without his suffering to enjoy. “Well, you did survive so in reward for your achievement I shall make you a part of me.” She said with a chuckle…He said nothing.
“My my please do not be shy, I do believe you have earned it.” The land was deeply wounded during the process of her lowering herself to level with the man. A pale, round shaped face approached like the wind, with a soft proportionally tiny nose slightly alive collecting the scent of the prey, great blue eyes beautiful as Christmas baubles locked fiercely on his, a small drooling mouth surrounded by thin glistening lips curved slightly into a U, and finally a fleshy mass swaying from side to side, dancing across the lips. A frightening sight, to be sure, but this man was reminded by the destroyer of someone dear to him from long ago…Unfortunately this beauty only wanted to sweetly savor him, not share any of the intimacy the man once received from another sharing that face. Lips that once kissed him parted, revealing the rest of a slimy beast, pink of color and behind it…an entire world. He was attacked by it and quickly overpowered having not even putting up a fight…dragged he was, into the cave of the beast, to be consumed… The captor was surprisingly, very hospitable, allowing him to rest upon itself; a bed, very soft and slightly moist. From the ceiling and to the ground grew long strands of liquid which proceeded to randomly snap and reform at different locations.
The dark side of the cavern led way to raging waterfalls that bathed the man, collecting his distinct flavor and stored it in every drop. Giant, pearly-white stalagmites grew from the ground and from the ceiling, grew similar stalactites, which slowly began lowering letting darkness bleed onto the remaining light until there was no more. A massive earthquake triggered; the entire world was moving all at once and the man was smashed against the soft floor with such force that several of his bones shattered. The floor, the sky, the walls, they all tilted, sending thousands of gallons of slimy water and the man towards the end of the world, at the other side; the man stood no chance, and he fell, plummeting to the debts of certain hell…But what did he care; everything dear to him was gone, he had neigh but death to look forward to.
Memento Mori; the sights, sounds, tastes that came from his life flashing before him as his physical body continued to fall…and finally reach a lake of fire, where he would pass on, but the process would be very slow and excruciating. At last the goddess obtained what she desired… as she gently patted her great belly like a pregnant mother does hers, she heard the heartbreaking symphony emanating from him; the memory of his life departed, replaced solely by agony. Heartbreaking to most but to her ears, the sound was beautiful. “I do hope you enjoy you stay” She kindly said. The gigantic room and lake of fire violently shook as she lay in a fetal position on warm earth, crushing many in her simple movement and causing the man to be blown into midair. “Oh dear, I truly am sorry about that, please get comfortable again.” With a tidal wave splash, he fell back in; this time however, the cries did not continue… “Are you still alive?” The goddess asked him. The man shot the liquid from his mouth and simply responded, “Go to hell.”
Gaia shook as her laughter invaded the air…”Well, you would know all about that” She said, discontinuing the laughter. “YOU ARE A DEMON!!!” Came the man, “Why, why do all this?” Again the cataclysmic laughter was let out, “It was fun, you are simply insects after all.” The blood in his veins boiled; this monster killed his entire family only for the sake amusement. “Well” the goddess said, “If you are not going to scream any longer, perhaps you could do something else to entertain me.” Contrary to saying that, she actually did not prepare herself for when the man replied, “Fine, I will tell a story.” She giggled, wondering what his reasons were, “Well let us hope you can finish it before I finish you.” So the man swam across the great lake till he hit a slimy wall, he leaned back against it to make himself comfortable:
[“Once upon a time...somewhere very far away, (in a place hopefully you or any other goddess will not find and destroy) a single father and boy lived poorly in a small shack on the outskirts of a town. Their shack was so poor that they used trash for blankets and eat critters for breakfast…”]
The giant interrupted, “You mean like how I ate you?” She asked. “Be quiet, or I will not finish it.” She; not having anything else to do for the moment decided to listen to the rest. “Okay, continue then.” The man cleared his throat and began to speak again:
[“So since the boy was poor, several people in town would bully and pick on him, probably because of his demeanor and also because he had attempted to rob before…”]
She boomed over him, “How pathetic, I would have killed them!” The man, at this comment, laughed despite his condition, a part of him feeling a type of pity for the goddess. “What is of humor?” She questioned. “Well, it is just that you have NEVER faced any hardship, or trouble because your immense power would not allow it, truly a shame, if only you knew what it felt like…” A chord was strung in her but she quickly suppressed the feeling, “Whatever.” But he, he inside her, could feel unrest, just the reaction he desired, they did have souls, contrary to popular belief amongst tinies…albeit very cruel ones.
[“Ahem, so the boy was bullied because of how poor he was but he worked hoping that one day the bullies would get their just desserts. Time passed but the boy was the one being punished by famine, not the cruel ones that beat him.”]
The man paused briefly to catch his breath; it was quite a difficulty telling a tale from where he was. On the outside, the sun and the horizon aligned; it continuing to sink, taking the shadows with it. The moon was released from its velvet confinement, and light now shone silver, with shadows; like the previous night. The goddess adjusted her position in elegant rhythmic movements that awoke the mountain she lay on. It blew its top with a furious, “RRAAR!!” No matter, because even the fires from the deepest corner of hell could not harm her; everything else however, would return to the planet…”What is that sound?” The curious man asked. “On dear, the mountain seems to have blown! Not to worry, I cannot be harmed by anything and as a result you cannot either” She assured, “except by me of course.” He made himself comfortable within, getting ready to continue, she, however interrupted with a question, “Can I ask why your suffering has stopped, I quite enjoyed that…” He simply said, “Well maybe I felt so much pain that I can feel it no longer.” In a voice suggestive of lust she purred, “Well that is too bad my little storyteller, I am afraid that your story is not nearly as amusing.” He was puzzled as to why, if she enjoyed it so much, did she not end everyone a fashion similar to his. Fear for an answer restrained his question; the man instead cleared his throat and began to speak:
[“One day while the boy was walking home, something caught his eye; a crusty brick well, home to colonies of moss. He darted to the well and dunked his cupped hands into the emerald water. The boy was immensely relieved by the water on his lips, and after several drinks from it he was satisfied. He looked to his surroundings finally aware what the well’s true purpose was…It was a wishing well. He, in classic behavior threw a valuable into it and wished. The boy then walked from the well, his reflection contorted by the insect corpses in it and a floating bread crumb; no hope that his wish would ever could true. By dusk he arrived, creaking floorboards and buzzing pests to greet him…and a man shriveled in the corner staring at something in his hands. He laughed with joy, for the object was more valuable than dozens of gold bars, something that the king would pay a hefty reward for...They became wealthy, from the moment the relic was traded to the king. The shack of the poor where their previous lives had played out was replaced by a mansion worthy of nobility. Both of them lived every day with the utmost happiness, the life they always wanted…
The boy’s personality had remained the largely the same; he was still hard-working, loyal, and humble. On the other hand the father the boy looked up to and loved was nowhere to be found. This person was a greedy, petulant, stuck-up man residing in the shell left behind by the former father. Worst yet was the fact that everyone in town had another, more credible reason to pound him when found alone. He couldn’t take it anymore…The boy returned to the well, pulled his bread out, removed a portion and offered it to the well once more. He wished that the money would go away, along with all the greed, all the anger, all the self-interest. Suddenly any other sound was silenced except for an omnificent voice that spoke, “I will comply, however, the wish from before must be written over with another dear wish...Take in mind boy, that I can only grant three wishes to the same human, so wisely choose your next.” The boy closed his eyes and wished again, this time for something that would surely end his own pain; his mind now corrupted by his own self-interest…”]
The man stopped to catch his breath and adjust his position. I was them that a hand reached to push his lower body comfortably, but it stopped cold. The only thing remaining on the bottom half of his body was the frame that gave his shape, nothing else...Again, reality, carrying a sense of hatred with it, struck him. No matter what he did, how much anger was in him, he was powerless against a goddess. She, however, had already been seduced by his tale… “Why did you stop?” She asked him. The man shed a single tear, the only tear his body could afford to spare. “Hey are you dead!?” she asked him with another, new pitch in her voice. “Like you care, you killed everyone else, why would you care about me…” he responded in a weak voice, “Forget it just let me die, to hell with the story!”
But she desperately wanted to hear more…How could she tell him in a way that would convince him and not allow any parasitic emotion to infect her? For what seemed like an eternity she pondered this…Her very nature was to be cruel and heartless against any other intelligent beings not like herself; but this man was beginning to crack the ‘ideals’ that were implanted in her since birth. The story he told was heartwarming to her, but she could not forsake her cold demeanor…she was just too proud. There was, however a glimmer of something she could not find a word for, and it wasn’t towards the story she felt this…it was towards him. “Finish it, because the longer your pathetic story holds me here, the longer it is until I attack and destroy another insect hive like your own.” The man was filled with rage but knew he was basically powerless; the only small power he had was his story. “Fine” he blurted, “But don’t interrupt me.” Afresh, he cleared his throat, feeling that this time, would most likely be the last time he ever did:
[“The boy walked from the well, feeling that no matter what happened this time, things would work out perfectly. At his mansion the father told of his investments and how they had back-fired; back to an old, rusty shed they went, exactly like they were before, they father’s personality included. When the sun slept and the moon took its place the boy headed towards the well to retrieve what he had wished for… There on the ledge, stood a bottle with colorless liquid that reflected everything around it as if it were a mirror. Impatiently, he opened it, and without a second thought, gulped the liquid down. Suddenly, a surge of power came over him and he knew now that nobody would be able to hurt him; in fact, it would be the other way around…What the boy wanted was revenge, revenge for all the times they had hurt him. The boy went through the town, and with his incredible new strength, he inflicted pain upon those who had done it to him. Ina single turn of the sun he paid back those people, every single one of them. He, however, had a much darker plan for his powers than mere protection…he wanted to dominate. There were no weaknesses that he could think, that this power would afford people; so in little over thirty cycles of the sun, he was the all-powerful “head” of the town. No one dared attack him, directly, but unfortunately, the boy did have a weakness…the father he left behind, but by the time the boy realized this, the father was already in heaven. A complex mix of feelings, the boy had; mainly hatred and anger, both directed at himself, for his sins. He was breaking the natural order of the land by wishing things true and therefore, the cosmos punished him by taking the father away…One final wish was necessary, one where everything was returned to normal, and so he headed back to the place where it all began…
And there it stood, silently waiting his arrival, the reflection of his face cast into muddy, rippling water…It was then that the boy realized that something about his appearance was off…The water, did not ripple at all, the fact was, that the distorted face in the reflection was his, no rippling had ever taken place…He was appalled by what he saw, it was clearly a human face, but an imprecise one. The boy spoke to the well to ask why, why his face was the way it was. This time the well spoke without the need of a patronage, “Boy, you may think that it was I that caused you to appear like that, but I can assure you this, is what you truly look like, from the beginning.” The boy with the shadow face took a deep breath and in the end decided that correcting his appearance was the most important thing…It was logical, he thought, to correct the mistake his parents committed when they had him. He took his last piece of bread, and with a heavy heart let it fall into the muddy waters of the wishing well. “I wish for my father to come back to life!” he shouted in tears…for it had taken all his might to conquer the selfishness that manifested itself inside him. The boy had made the right choice, correcting his mistake instead of his misfortune, but no response came; the well remained silent, no sensation of any kind to confirm his wish…Finally after a momentary eternity the well began to speak…]
The man telling the story, halted was at its climax; his voice caved, the body he was in only a fraction of what it once was, the rest had become a part of the goddess…The storyteller was being pulled into the clouds. “Hey, don’t tell me that after all this time, now you are dying!” The goddess shouted. Despite all her best efforts to remain a heartless being, she had come to be fond of the man inside her, but now he was…”HEY DON’T YOU DIE YET!” Unfortunately the goddess was speaking to nothing, an echo being the only response she received… Without any hesitation she touched the sensitive area of her mouth and what remained of the man was gushed out in a jet stream of bitter water. The goddess quickly began to press on him gently, attempting to bring him back earth…Her sapphire face, in the moonlight, beautiful as an angels, and pointing at the heavens…And for the first time ever in her existence…she genuinely shed tears, tears that reflected the silver-blue light, radiating from the moon and sky. “Please come back to me, I am sorry” She cried in sapphire tears, “very, very sorry…”
The corpse on the ground near her miraculously spoke, a grin on its face, “You know, you look exactly like a daughter I lost long ago, too bad you are nothing like her...” The bad inside her, the desire to end life, was removed at this point, only a girl, gentle as the daughter he once had, remained.“Save your strength, I can help you, please, don’t leave me” She sincerely sobbed, eyes of blue releasing tears painted a deeper hue of blue than her eyes, “I can change, give me a chance, I can be like her, I promise…” However, the dear storyteller was already further than the moon, only the last command from his brain went through to his body and it was to say, “I am sorry, but nothing, not even a goddess can bring your father back...”