2012 (PG 13) Science fiction contest (1017 words)

This is my response to the Sci-fi contest, it may not seem very Sci-fi at the beginning but at the end there is a hint of it. I'll just give a very brief background for myself and for anyone that can be bothered to read it. It's the beginning of a story set in the Zarier system; and true to my aims it is set in Anir (there is no reason why there cannot be fantasy and Sci-fi within one Universe).

Right, I'm gonna start reading up on other peoples works and "critiqing" them, even if I do not win, even if I come in last I'm thankful for the contest, I've now got a totally new world to explore within my works and for that I thank you.

Read it if you want to, I will not force you to do so.




2012

The year is 2012. I used to live here, not all that long ago. My name…I…I…cannot remember. I have not seen my kind in many decades. Things have changed since then. Things were much happier back then. This land I once knew was not as it is now. The lands of Niergan were once the most beautiful that had graced that system of Zarier. Long ago, there were fields… There were fields indeed… green beautiful rolling fields glazed in blue, green, red and yellow. The Sun rose every morning in the east and as it peeped its head over the hills and shone…It shone. Like nothing I can ever imagine in my wildest dreams it shone. A sparkling irradiant comely glow spread slowly across the deep green plains and trickled its way into the pools, lakes and oceans that I once called my home. I remember that everyday the trees would sway in the calm cooling breeze as if they were waving to me as if to say “Good morning.” The sky, oh the sky! How could I ever forget? The sky was a pale ashen blue with streaks of white and red in the morning mist that hazed its way down from the warm elegantly carved mountains to the north.

I would sometimes dip my head above the clear crystal waters to find the scent of wild berries and fruits drifting across the ripples of the waters. Sometimes, only at night I would float to the surface of the waters and find the two fair moons of gold and silver smiling down upon me and the ancient unforgotten stars twinkle in the sky as the glow of fireflies buzzed gently overhead and see the reflection of the pallid spheres glitter like nothing I had seen before.

The Oceans would sleep during the light of day and spring to life during the darkness. Under the seas there would be bright orange lights flickering calmly, the vibrant fish’s scales were glamour to our eyes. Our homes were made of the most beautiful silver rock that had dug from beneath the Under in the times of ancient past. They would be beacons of our beauty and our wealth would be unmatched by any that would walk the earth or below it. Silver lanterns pierced the darkness of our homes under the seas as the emerald reeds swayed around our lands. But that was when we did not fear the darkness…

Now…there is nothing. The lime green plains above are tarnished with decay. I cannot put my gaze into mere words… All I see is rotten sodden soils. They are black, they do not gleam, they do not shine, and they do not shine as they once did under the light of the Sun and the stars. The fragrant trees that rooted deep into the ground of the Under are dead… They now stand as stumps, fouled, corrupt, rotten, the words I can describe go on. Maggots and parasites leech on them and gorge on their sweet rugged wooden frames. The pastures of flower, plant and yellow weed now run as murk and sorrow. High above there is a noxious fume… a fume that was described my kin as the Ever Shadow. It is a hazy brown, a black, a grey, a shadow that does not sleep. To look upon it is to stare Death and Torment in the face. The skies no longer run blue and pure; there are no ash white clouds that hover pleasantly over them. The Sun is no longer, what was once a golden disk that affectionately warmed the souls of my kin is as dead as my fragile heart. The stars no longer twinkle… The moons no longer show themselves, they have been chased off by the horrors that consume this land. Many a time have I offered gifts to them, but they do not reply.

The crystal waters that I once called my home are gone. The vats of life that swarmed the seas, the lakes and pools are dried up like a raisin. The welcoming streams, rivers, and deep blue oceans are dead… There is no life… The cities of my kin have been reduced to rubble and dust. The silver lanterns no longer glow faintly for they have been smashed and pummelled till all sense of light has been extinguished.

There is no longer a sweet scent that passes through the orchards that once littered the valleys. Now there is only the smell of death, decay and the intoxicating smokes that arise from the…from the… I cannot say… they have eyes and ears everywhere; they hear everything, see everything and know everything. To speak their name is to condemn ones self to a life time of servitude and slavery in their name… I have spoken that once already and I would not want you to suffer a fate such as mine.

All that stands in this barren wasteland are grim towers. Metal towers and pipes stretching as far as the eye can see. They carry sharp spikes with objects I cannot see for there is little light. The only light that exists is the hollow lights that hang from inside of the dismal shaded windows that surround the horrid spires. Tall dark figures rattle through them; you can hear the occasional stamp of their march or the blast of their strange weapons in the darkness. The evil towers loom violently, viciously and vigorously over the desecrated lands of my home. As I pass by I can sometimes see small black dots in a swarm shoot by through the wicked clouds, I do not know what they are and I don’t think I’ll be finding out any time soon…All I hear now is the screams of torture and agony as the life that once was Niergan is now diminishing… I work at the towers now, I used to work in the Under with many of the others… some call them Towers of Death; others call them Meat Houses… All I know is that what I see is incomparable with your worst nightmares.