A Brief Tale

Cannonballs sounded off as gaping holes of pure light punched through the clouds with each boom. The earth shook as the radiance above began to grow to the point of illuminating the remaining portions of gray sky so much that they turned to blinding white clouds. People below shielded their eyes and looked to the ground in pain as their bodies wept from the overexposure to the heat and light. The booming continued, now joined with the roll of heavenly timpani marching at a consistent 124bpm. Slow chants of an ethereal language began to well from unseen voices, laying in wait with a calm tone right behind the bombastic cannon shots which continued their persistent fire. Suddenly, without warning the clouds erupted outward with an impossible force, leaving a blue sky so deeply vivid and beautiful that it seemed otherworldly. A woman in glowing white robes hung in the sky silently with watching eyes. As the divine symphony continued Ander looked up with his eyes squinted almost to a close and saw the look of boredom mixed with indifference upon her face. Her heavenly skin was so soft and white that it took on a faint blue tint, and her hair flew in the wind so slowly that each white strand seemed to be individually recognizable. Below people began to gather and look up at the sky, while others dropped to their knees, and some ran with screams of hysteria. Police cars began to show up with inaudible sirens due to the sound of the wraithlike cacophony that roared on with what appeared to be its apathetic conductor. Ander continued to look as the woman slowly raised her hands with her palms upward; she began to speak.

"Eons ago, before the very first scatters of creation graced this place..." Ander looked on as he clung to the woman's every word, her voice sounded as if it occupied its own unique frequency, and Ander continued to stare as he felt a consistent stream of tears make their way down each side of his face from the beautiful sound of her harrowing words. "The high being's opus was already in it's final stages." The woman looked down sending Ander's heart into his stomach as he seized up with terror for reasons he couldn't explain. Some observers fainted instantly. Ander forced a dry swallow down his throat silently that felt like a ball of glass due to his esophagus being squeezed by the pressure of the otherworldly presence looming above him, and the growing sense of fear working its way up from his stomach. "For man has suffered, and man has endured, but man is not clean."

"Hey what the fuck do you want from us?! Who the hell are you, what do you want?!" a confused woman shouted from behind with a terrified voice. Slowly the large sound began to decrescendo just enough for things to be barely heard. Ander turned along with everyone else in earshot to look at her. As the wind blew the rustling of the leaves started to sound more like the ticking hands of a clock, and Ander waited with fear and anticipation for the woman to be struck down for her impertinence. The woman above simply turned her gaze to meet her haggler's, and a numbness went over Ander's body driving him to sit as his legs buckled beneath him. Keeping his sight focused on the woman he had not noticed that everyone around him was now seated in similar positions, aside from the woman who still stood standing, her eyes were wide and mouth agape as she stood frozen in wonder. What was she seeing? Was she chosen, or was this to be the first casualty in a divine punishment waged against a planet of impetulant children by their wrathful father? Ander became convinced that for the second time, heaven had come to bathe its disciplinary fangs in the mass blood of humanity and fell over weeping as the moment continued to happen. Retreating into his own sorrow he prayed for the cannons, timpani, chorus, and hovering angelic force to stop all at once and miraculously vanish. Shuttering his breath, he began to pray the rosary frantically in Russian with his eyes squeezed closed so tight he began to see colors. Upon finishing and saying his amen a loud woosh was heard followed by a tormented screaming. Ander looked over to see the woman now bathed in thick white flames that refused to weaken as she thrashed on the ground. Vomit spewed out of his mouth all over his person, and Ander quickly scrambled to his shaky feet as he began to run along with most of the other onlookers. With quaking legs, he slowly ran as best as he could without falling as the others rushed past him with screams of fear and prayers for mercy.