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Macheo
Nov 2, 2008 11:14:04 GMT -5
Post by Sunrise on Nov 2, 2008 11:14:04 GMT -5
This peice is currently...
UNTITLED
Plot Synopsis: coming soon!
Current Word Count: 4,086
Last Worked On: November 5th 2008 |
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Macheo
Nov 2, 2008 11:16:24 GMT -5
Post by Sunrise on Nov 2, 2008 11:16:24 GMT -5
Part 1:
B E A RThe sun was setting. The last, dying rays sent long shadows cascading over the land. The tall buildings of a city caught the light on their windows, lighting up the town for a few final moments before it would fall into darkness, the only light coming from dim lights within the buildings. The city was getting ready to fall asleep, the late afternoon traffic was picking up so the people could get home to spend time with their families. The sidewalks were chalk full with people hustling from work. It was amazing that in a few hours, all of this would be gone and the city of skyscrapers would be quiet.
The city was insanely large. One would expect that after a bit the tall buildings would turn into smaller ones, and then into a neighborhood of houses, but this was not so. The long pillars kept rising out of the earth to touch the sky. For miles the city was grand and busy. And at the edges, there were no small buildings, no houses, but the bases for new larger, greater buildings waiting to be built. Cranes extended in the air, constantly on the move to create the new towers. New roads were always being built. The free land that surrounded the city was forever being cut away.
The land before the city had taken over used to be a spectacular forest—a forest that no other forest could measure up to in size or grandeur. The trees were ancient, and if ten people were to stand linking hands and stretching their arms out as far as they could go, they would not go around the whole trunk. Now all that remained of that forest lay sadly on the outskirts of the city. The trees moaned their weakness to the world as the wind rustled their sad leaves. Their battle had been mighty as they tried hard to fight off the machines, but there was nothing they could have done to keep their land the way it was, nothing could match the power of a human mind that wanted to get something done.
In the forest’s prime, there was an abundance of creatures, but now, because the forest has so little to offer, most of the animals have died out or escaped—most, but not all. Residing in the depths of the forest, as far away from the human stacks as possible, is a clan of bears.
Bears are usually solitary creatures, but because of the circumstances a group of brown bears have combined their powers to help keep each other alive. Underneath the canopy of the forest, as the sun slipped out of sight, there was a commotion where the home of the bears was hidden.
* * * *
He came barreling through the trees. His eyes were wide with fear, and his body was shaking. He stumbled into the clearing and a great moan escaped his jaws. Instantly the others swarmed him, creating a circle surrounding their distressed friend. The brows of the fellow bears were wrinkled in worry as they watched their brother fall to the ground in pain. Blood dripped from his chest and stained his brown fur black. “They’re so close…” he moaned his voice soft and raspy, shutting his eyes tight as the pain rocketed through his body.
The largest bear of the clan stepped forth, leaning down close to the hurt bear’s body. “How close, Cairi?” he asked. There was a sense of urgency in his low, rough voice. He seemed not to care that Cairi was suffering greatly and fighting to hang on to his life. The only thing he wanted right now was to hear a reassuring answer, telling him that there was nothing to worry about, that the wound in Cairi’s chest was not because they were close, but because he went too far. However, the large bear knew that this wasn’t true. He knew the answer that was about to be uttered from Cairi’s lips was going to change his life, and change his clan’s life.
“Too close…” Cairi whispered. He opened his eyes and gazed up at his leader. A fear unlike any other rested within the black pools. The moment seemed to freeze as the bears of the circle shivered in their place. The muscular bear held his follower’s gaze for a minute longer, and then shattered the ice and lifted his head to gaze around the circle. Cairi was left to writhe on the floor.
“Where’s Inida?” the leader roared. His eyes blazed with an unknown anger that had been brought forth by those two words Cairi had spoken. He looked around, his eyes sweeping over the circle, but he could not seem to find the bear that he was looking for. “Where’s Inida?” he growled again. “Where’s Denath?”
Just as he uttered the second name a female and a young cub came into the clearing. “Did you call for me?” the female asked, calm as could be, her voice sweet as honey. She could not see the bear silently struggling on the earth inside the ring of bears; she was totally unaware of anything urgent.
There was no need for the leader to speak, for a gap in the circle was made as bears parted to let her see. They looked at her with a severe sympathy in their eyes as her own eyes turned to rest on the slowly dying figure of her mate. “No…” she whispered. She shook her head, tears pooling in her golden eyes. “No!” she said it louder, her voice wavering. The small cub hid behind one of her legs, peaking out into the center, not understanding fully what was going on.
“Inida…” Cairi breathed the words out, and the wind carried them to Inida’s ears. She stepped forward, slowly, and moved to her mate’s side. By now the tears were falling into the fur that lined her eyes. The small cub scrambled after her, pressing his body close to the earth, fearfully watching his father and mother.
Inida looked into the eyes of her mate for the last time as they changed from a clouded pain, to a glazed distant look. His body stopped shuddering and he lay still on the forest floor. Silence was suspended in the air as no bear dared to move, or even breath. The leader watched with emotionless eyes as Inida buried her face into Cairi’s fur, her body now the body shaking uncontrollably.
The first bear to speak was a brave soul. His voice climbed through the silence and addressed the leader. “Polarth, what now?”
Polarth’s eyes snapped to the young male. “What now…” he repeated, asking himself the same question. He averted his eyes to the ground for a moment, thinking about their next plan. The next words he spoke were a shock, but everybody knew they were coming. “We leave.” It was a simple answer, but it seemed to pain him to say it. Those were the words of defeat. The words that proved that the human power was to strong for them, that proved they were not good enough to stand their own ground, and Polarth hated not being good enough.
“Why must we go?” a female asked, two cubs at her side. She didn’t like the idea. Why risk their safety when they could surely live here hiding from the human’s guns.
“Don’t you smell the metal on the wind?” Polarth growled at her. “The smell sends shivers down my back. And now, as it mixes with Cairi’s blood, I am disgusted that you would even ask that question with your two cubs at your side. What if it had been them? It would not be Inida up here, but you crying over two young souls that had been lost to the evil of man.”
The female had no reply to that, but instead hugged her cubs closer to her body. Another voice spoke up next, “Where shall we go?”
Polarth was about to answer, but instead a very old light brown male stepped forward. The bear was known for his stories, most of which weren’t believed and just shaken off as fairy tales. He believed them though, he always had. When he told his legends you could see his eyes bulge up with this awed look. They called him Old Wester, and as he stepped forward now to speak, some rolled their eyes. They didn’t believe that he could have anything of value to say. He had been around when the days were good, and for that he was very wise, but oftentimes he got confused about what was the real past, and what was just a story. The bears couldn’t take anything he said as truth anymore.
“Kayfur,” Old Wester said his voice very dry. When he spoke it sounded as if it was hard to get enough air for the words to come out. “We will go to Kayfur.”
“Kayfur?” a voice popped out of the crowd. All of the bears were obviously confused. Polarth looked at Old Wester with narrowed eyes, warning the old bear to stop with his stories and go back and take his place in the circle, with lips closed.
“Kayfur…” Old Wester said again, his voice dreamlike. “It is sometimes known as the land on the other side of the rainbow. They say only the true of heart can find the land. It was said that Humans tried to inhabit it once, but every one that laid foot on the soft grasses there perished within a day. It rests in a valley between five mountains, and houses many bears, wolves, deer, birds, and other animals that have found their way there. It is a safe haven where we would never have to worry about being attacked by the humans. The journey up a mountain may be difficult, but it would be worth it if we could find it.”
Polarth looked at him in disbelief. “Are you insane?” he cried, shaking his massive head. “Kayfur doesn’t exist! None of the places in your stories exist! You’re screwed in your head! We’re not wasting our energy climbing a mountain to find a place that isn’t real. Step down Wester, and keep your stories for the cubs.” He turned, infuriated away from the old bear, who stood, trying to hold his head high, but holding it crooked instead because his old bones wouldn’t stand straight. “No,” Polarth continued, “We will travel out of the forest and into the fields further away from the city. Maybe somewhere beyond the fields lays a land that is suitable for our living.”
The whole time this argument had been going on, Inida had kept her face buried in Cairi’s thick fur. However, her ears were active, and as she listened to the words spoken a sense of hopelessness fell over her. They all knew that beyond the fields there was no place where they could live, but only another human city that would tower before them. They were surrounded except for the mountains which towered on the northernmost side of them. It was there only choice. She lifted her face from her dead mate’s fur and looked straight at Polarth. “You know just as well as the rest of us that our only option is to go into the mountains. Kayfur is the only think left. Even if it is just an inkling, just a small flame of hope in a dark cave of misery, we still need to go towards it. There is nothing else. We either die, or we get to this place. The biggest risk is the risk you aren’t willing to take.” Her voice was strong, and her words persuading. She turned her gaze to Old Wester and gave him a determined look, saying in a clear voice, “I believe that the land beyond the rainbow exists. And I believe that if we try hard enough to get there, we will succeed.”
Quiet murmurs of agreement rose around the circle. The bears were nodding their heads. The realization that this was their last hope hit them hard. This was an act of desperation. Moving from their comfortable land into the cold and dangerous mountains to find a place that may not exist could be the hardest thing they had ever done.
Polarth looked around the circle, not disappointed that Inida had just slashed his idea, but amazed instead at the words she had uttered. “Is that what you all want to do?” he asked without expecting an answer. “Then we go to the mountains tomorrow morning. Prepare yourselves tonight by getting a good rest and eating all from the kill pile that you can.” The bears around him nodded, frightened at the idea, but ready to make the change. Polarth then shifted his gaze to Inida to stare into her eyes and what he saw there was a fierce determination he hadn’t seen in any bear’s eyes before. He had expected her to be weak in this moment after Cairi’s life had left them, but instead he found the opposite. She was stronger then she had ever been before. There was a passion within her that had been illuminated by her mate’s death and the dire situation that surrounded them. He was surprised at her as she held his gaze in an almost harsh manor. She then turned away, whispering one last thing into Cairi’s unhearing ears, and then nudging Denath, her young cub away from the lifeless body of his father.
****
The next morning, just as the sun’s first rays could be seen edging above the horizon, the bears woke and left their home behind. It was hard for some of the bears, for this was the place where they had grown up, and they knew know other land. For others it was scary, leaving behind all security to venture into the mountains which were said to be full of danger and little food. And for a select few, it was exciting; the idea of living a new life thrilled some of them, such as young Denath.
The young cub pranced around his sorrowful mother, a smile on his maw. His eyes sparkled with delight. One wouldn’t know that this cub had just lost his father at the way he was acting; however it wasn’t expected that he should be heartbroken, after all he was only a cub and didn’t really fully understand that he would no longer see his dad. From time to time he would ask his mother, “Is daddy coming with?” or “Where’s daddy?” All she could do was shake her head mournfully. She hadn’t said a word all morning.
Polarth kept a close eye on the female as the clan began towards the mountains. She kept lagging behind, her small cub prancing in front of her. At one moment Polarth almost yelled at the cub for being so god damn happy. He wanted to tell the young soul that at the moment the world was not a happy place. A fog hung in the air from the pollution of the humans. The trees’ leaves drooped in sadness. The once fresh grass that was a brilliant green was now an unfulfilling dull color. Every now and then something inside of Polarth squirmed. It was a feeling of dread that his subconscious linked too, a feeling that none of this was going to turn out ok and that they were doomed the moment humans stepped foot on this planet.
When the bears reached the base of their first mountain, they realized that this would be much more difficult then expected, for it wasn’t a gentle rising slope as Polarth was hoping for, but instead it was a steep cliff almost entirely vertical. The wall rose above their heads thousands of feet in the air. They would have to climb it carefully, following small footpaths that were made by humans that traveled up these mountains. These paths were not made for bears though, and they much skinnier then the average bears stance. They would have to cling to the edges and hope that the rocks didn’t crumble beneath their paws.
Polarth led the way, quickly moving up the first twenty feet and then slowing so much that if they kept that pace all the way up the cliff, they would be at the top in three days at the least. His body was tense. Every time he pressed his paw to the ground he imagined himself slipping, the path giving in to his weight and him tumbling to his death below.
They traveled in single file, obviously. It was a sight to see. A group of twenty or so bears in line moving up a narrow path on the side of a mountain. There was no shelter the bears could use to hide themselves from human eyes, but they were lucky enough that the path was used much less often then it used to be.
Inida was the second to last bear on the mountain, behind her, a while back, was Old Wester, struggling to keep his joints churning to keep up with the group. His breath was becoming raspy and shallow. It wasn’t long before he couldn’t go any further, and he laid down on the path, his muscles shot and his eyelids heavy with exhaustion. Inida was to busy with her emotions to notice the old bear fall away, but he didn’t go completely unnoticed. Denath was watching him. He had noticed when the old bear was falling behind, and now that he had stopped Denath found his way around his passive mother and jogged down the mountain to Old Wester’s side.
“Why did you stop?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. His hazel eyes were so big, and so full of the mysteries of the world.
Old Wester could barely raise his head to meet the young cub’s gaze. He said nothing in reply to the question; he had no energy to make his voice work.
“Can’t you get up?” Denath said, his smile turning into a frown and his brow furrowing. “Or are you like my dad. He didn’t get up yesterday.”
Old Wester winced. The thought of laying here waiting for death to take him was not a pleasing thought.
“Come on now, they’re leaving us behind…” his voice was sad, as if by not getting up and hurrying along Old Wester would be betraying the cub. But Old Wester could not raise himself. He could not move. He turned his head away, averting his eyes from the cubs face. He couldn’t bear to look at that face; it reminded him to much of Cairi’s.
At that moment something within Denath told him that he was supposed to be scared. He stepped back, his eyes confused. He began to tremble. "Please get up," he whispered as his paws moved backward. He flattened his round ears against his head and lowered his body, it was a stance of fear. Old Wester didn't move, no, he was done moving. In that moment the image of his father's body flashed into Denath's mind. He began to tremble. Why had the two of them stopped moving? Why wouldn't they move? It distressed Denath, why wouldn't they respond? The young cub stood for a moment longer, with wide eyes gazing at the now dead corpse of a former friend, and then he turned and sprinted back up the mountain path. The image of the still body haunted his mind.
Denath didn’t find his mother up the path, like he was hoping though. All he found was a fork with two paths different paths to choose from. If he hadn’t been so caught up in his fear, he would have been rational, would have used his nose, and would have found the right path straight away; however, Denath wasn’t thinking, all he wanted was to get to his mothers side as soon as possible. And so, illogically he swerved and took the path that cut into the mountain and was much steeper and thinner then the other path. He barreled up the path, his eyes blind to where he was going, only looking for the shape of his big brown mother. She wasn’t ahead of him. He started to panic, and he whimpered. Where was she? A harsh wind tugged at his fur, and brought a strange noise to his ears. What was that?
He recognized it soon as the distant shouting of human voices. Denath’s eyes grew alarmingly large. His breath caught in his throat and he backed up without thinking where that would put his paws. Before he knew it, his back feet were off the edge of the cliff. He scrambled for his claws to catch on some piece of rock, but it was no use. He was hanging onto the ledge with his front paws. A screech erupted from his mouth, and he was sure that the humans had heard.
Beneath him, was the other path that had forked away, and on that path was the clan of bears. The moment the screech was out all of their heads turned upwards to see the cub clinging to the path. Inida cried out, and turned around, racing back towards the fork. She disappeared for a long time while Denath held on the best he could. She could be seen barreling up the path just as Denath’s claws couldn’t hold any more and he slipped, almost tumbling all the way over the edge. But Inida reached him, and just as soon as it began it was over. She was pulling him to safety, the fear in her eyes turning to a compassionate love. What would she have done if her baby had gone tumbling over the edge and perished? She would be lost in this world, both Cairi and Denath gone. She pulled Denath in close to her, wrapping him into her body in a bear’s way of hugging. Sighing deeply, she had her moment of peace with Denath, but it didn’t last. She felt Denath’s sharp breathing against her chest and suddenly she became furious with herself. Why hadn’t she been paying attention to Denath? If she were a good mother, she would have realized when he had snuck off. What had she been thinking?
CUT
“No!” Polarth shouted, his body rattling with the roar. “We can’t afford to give out second chances in our state. Denath is no different from the rest of us. We can’t make any mistakes here.”
Denath cowered underneath his mother, his body pressed as tightly as it could be to the earth. Inida stood over him, her feet grounded and her stance powerful. With narrowed eyes she retaliated at Polarth. “He’s just a cub!” she cried. “He didn’t mean any harm. How can you be so harsh?” she was almost screaming, her whole body filled with anger. He couldn’t throw out a cub! But he was going too, and she knew she couldn’t stop him. So she turned and scooped Denath in her mouth, walking across the snowy ground away from the rest of the bears who stared at her with their eyes wide and mouths agape. They all had the same thought: surely they couldn’t survive out here in the cold on their own! They were barely surviving now. Many of them wanted to push aside Polarth for being so rash, but they knew that wasn’t an option. He was the only thing that had kept them alive thus far. He was their protection, their safeguard, and they couldn’t afford to risk following their friend Inida into the distance. She disappeared into the flurry of snow and they found themselves wondering if they would ever see her face again.
CUT
It was too much, she couldn’t go any further. There was no sign of a cave or any kind of shelter in the distance. It was so cold… the ice bit her bones and pierced her spirit. Her paws sank so far in the snow that she had an extremely hard time lifting them out. She had resorted to carrying Denath on her back, for the cubs head just peaked out of the snow. The extra weight wasn’t helping her.
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Macheo
Nov 5, 2008 18:45:43 GMT -5
Post by Sunrise on Nov 5, 2008 18:45:43 GMT -5
Part 2:
D O G
“Come now, gather around,” said the soft voice of Asidya. She was a frail looking dog, her body and bones skinny in natural structure. She had a cream colored pelt with tan patches. Her eyes were a hazy gray, full of wisdom and stories.
The pups made a misshapen circle around her. They were each full of excitement at the idea of being told a story by Asidya. “Let Kota in,” she said gently, smiling softly at the small brown pup who struggled to find a place in the circle. There were roughly twenty pups there, none with the same pattern on their coats.
“Now, let’s begin. Tonight I am going to tell you the legend of our wonderful ancestor Coral. I will warn you now though, that this story may be disturbing to some of you, for it is very true. It is the story of the dog, telling you how we got to where we are today. I believe you are all ready to hear it, and I expect you all to listen closer then you’ve ever listened before. Can you all do that for me?” she gazed at the pups, her eyes hard and honest. She was not kidding around, this was serious. The pups liked the seriousness though, a few of them laughed nervously and they all nodded their heads vigorously.
“Alright then, listen up.
“Coral was a house dog, which were very normal in her time. Many humans owned dogs that kept them company and stood loyally by their side in any situation. Coral was treated exceptionally. Her owners bathed her in love, giving her tons of attention which she took gratefully and returned back to them daily with the many licks she gave them and her comforting air. They took her everywhere with her, and she would follow them to the ends of the earth. There were no flaws in their relationship that could predict what was going to happen next.
“One day, as Coral was basking in the sunlight on the grass of her backyard, a squirrel crossed her path. The moment the squirrel saw Coral her eyes grew wide with sadness. Coral was confused why this squirrel should look at her with such sorrow, her life was and envious one, not a sorrowful one. Coral thingyed her head to the side and asked the creature ‘Why do you look at me like that?’ The squirrel shook his head in apology and replied in a grim voice, ‘You’ll know soon enough.’ Then he ran off, flying up one of the trees in the yard and hopping down on the other side of the fence.
“Coral was awfully disturbed at the squirrel’s words, and when her owners let her inside that night she wasn’t the happy dog she usually was. That night she barely slept, tossing and turning, knowing that there was something bad going on that she had no knowledge of.
“The next morning, the problem became apparent. A friend of her owner’s came over to their house, and along with her came another dog, only it wasn’t a normal dog. This dog was a machine. It had no living heart, no breath and no soul. It acted like a dog, giving the affection that it should, but was no normal hound. Coral was disgusted, and she wondered why a person would want this robot dog over a real live dog. It didn’t seem morally correct. She was sure there was a dog living on the street that would benefit from a home much more then this brainless piece of junk. It made Coral squirm to think of it.
“Her humans thought highly of the robot dog, but not more so then they thought of Coral. She was still in their hearts, but not for long. Over the next few months more and more was being heard about these robot dogs. People were being pushed to buy them and get rid of their real dogs because the robodogs were good for the environment. All around her humans were investing in these dogs, and Coral’s live friends were rapidly vanishing. Coral needed to see how the dogs who were being abandoned were doing, so she left her home for a few days to live on the streets and get news from the other dogs. She planned to come back in a few days, for she would never leave her humans, no dog wanted to leave their closest companions.
“So Coral went out on the streets and met many dogs, but the dog that she remembered the most was Sunshine. The poor dog spoke of her days when she used to be a loved pet. In those days, her golden eyes gleamed like the sun and her white fur sparkled under the light. However, now, living in the conditions that she was, her fur was no longer white but gray and stained with black and brown. Her eyes had lost their color and happiness as well. When Coral looked at Sunshine, there was a feeling of such great empathy down inside of her that she couldn’t bear to look at the creature that was skin and bones. She turned away from Sunshine, wishing her the best. All she wanted to do now was go home.
“But there was no home waiting for her. Coral had been gone for a total of 5 days, and already one of those fake dogs had taken her place. She was hurt so much she could feel her heart ripping inside of her chest. When she looked into the window of her former house she saw her owners, happy to by playing with this stupid piece of metal. Coral ran off, deep into the streets, where she crumbled away, losing the last spark of life inside of her after becoming a sad heap of fur clinging to bones.
“We live like Sunshine and Coral lived a long time ago. However, we know not of how it was like to be attached to a human soul. Have any of you ever felt that something great was missing in your life? Well this is it: the fact that you don’t have a human to complete you. No dog is complete without a human at his or her side. Remember that. That’s why we are unhappy living on the streets, that’s why whenever we see a human pass we look at them with love, and with sorrow, because we need them but can’t have them.”
That’s where Asidya ended. She looked into the eyes of every single pup in the ring. They were all open with disappointment. This wasn’t a story they wanted to hear! Their hearts had been torn, just as Coral’s had, by the fact that they could never be great because the humans wouldn’t allow them to be. Some of the pups squirmed in discomfort. Some ran to there mothers side, frightened at what they had just heart, and others, such as Sorayia, sat calmly, her eyes unfocused, having thoughts way past her maturity level.
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