Smog and Shadows

The Blood of Gaea

The sound of scraping metal and the feeling of heat overtook what was around me spinning round and round like a top the sound grew louder and the spear dipped lower. Until it began to come to a great big stop the hiss and crackle of thunder sprang forward as the man in front of me let lose a cascade of sparks. I drew my sword and danced around what I could blocking the heat that overtook what was around me. I jabbed forward I listened as the man hit the floor. Lethality is the option of a coward, to take another man's life is saying that you're too scared to have them near you, and I am not a coward. I've faced this man many a time before, but we never saw eye to eye on the matter, figuratively and literally. My name is Zed and I'm a blindman, but my other senses allow me to see as much as any man, but sight is unpredictable to rely on. The presence of any person or thing distinguishes one better then any amount of sight could ever perceive.

I am a scholar of sorts which is the reason I came to this barely breathed in wasteland. I took the first ship out of Gargonian to see it and boy is it something to see. another blind  joke, but the animals and plant life are incredible. I think it may be fun here sleeping under the stars communing with something rather then trying to conquer it immediately. Peace has always been the way of a stronger person, it takes more effort to succeed with Peace the with Violence. Violence is the easy way out, taken by colonizers like Gargonians trying to gain more breathing room against hungrier colonizers. Then they lose trust and faith, becoming weaker and pushing everyone away, but themselves until they become so paranoid they distrust their own people. Leaving was the greatest thing I've ever done.

I walked along the ground into a lush feeling jungle with a wonderful scent to it. As I passed by I could hear her voice as she spoke ever so softly through the wind as it brushed through the leaves of the trees. 
"I did not birth you child, so why do you walk along my body and talk to my other children?" - she asked
"I have not been born from you, my mother and father do have a different tone and talk from you that is true, but does that make me any less valid for enjoying your creation?" - I responded
"It doesn't make you less valid it just puzzles me as to why." - she replied
"What is your name, if it isn't too forward of me to question?"  - I asked
"My name is Gaea, the mother and god of the ground you walk and the air you breathe." - she replied
"Thank you, I will pray to you before I sleep and when I wake up to thank you for this." - I replied
"I do not need thanks, I just need kindness to spare my children's lives no matter how hard it may be and to only take one's life if doing, so may risk your own. The weapon you carry believes you to be violent, but you have not cut me down, but rather you admired, so I will give you my blessing here forward." - she said
"I already take an oath of Peace, but I will dedicate it to you. I thank you for what you have given me." - I replied
"Partake in my fruit, and let my leaves and moss rest your weary eyes and tired body." - she said
"I will thank you."

I pulled gently from her branches the fruit I had been offered and began to bite down. It was sweet and crunchy, but not hard and every bite I had pulled me more and more towards it. The fruit had no stem even from the gentle pull and it's seed let loose a more caramelized flavor in my mouth it was wonderful. I drank from a flowing spring next to the tree because of my thirst. The water felt emptied like it was so light. As it flowed down my throat it felt so fulfilling like drinking a slightly sweet yet refreshing liquid with not a drop of anything else in it. Pure as the air I breathed. Gargonian water had to be filtered 5 times make it drinkable and 8 to make it bearable, but this was something else. It gave me something to protect rather then another fever dream that needed to be done with soon.

As I lay against the ground it was not hard it felt soft like a blanket of moss coated it. I rested my head against the leaves and covered myself with them. It felt better then the stiffened metal springy mattresses back on Gargonian, those always made you wake up ready to be a cog in their machine. They were manufactured just good enough to give you a full night sleep and just poorly enough to make you not want to stay in bed. You would wake up every day ready no caffeine required, if you "weren't a morning person" they would be sure to take flashiness out of them. There was regular beating of people who stepped out of line to squash any thought of rebellion, as well as no clear defined leader to set people who did think of rebellion back a few notches.

Cowards every one of them, so scared of their own people they hurt them to gain an ounce of respect. That's why I needed to leave. If I didn't I would be forced into that life with nothing to live for, though you weren't allowed to die there. Gargonian never had a suicide on their watch, they would strap explosives to the depressive ones and force them into enemy lines. Though sometime the explosives would leave both the person and the enemy both alive enough to feel extreme pain while the other side would hurl insults of the disgrace the Gargonian was to living species. The government was not good, but now I'm gonna sleep, so well I may not wake up for a long while.