A New Perspective of the Far Off Future

Bringing Light to the Dark

The light. It was blinding. Eyes never used to such brightness squinted against the new world as the joey fell from his mother's pouch, delicate feet still unprepared for the hard earth as he fell against the ground. He stood on shaky legs, blinking his eyes fully open to take his first views of the world.

Tall strands of delicious smelling vegetation rose around him, shielding much of his view. But as he followed the thickened chords of muscle upwards, he took in the full sight of his mother for the first time in his young life. She grunted as she bent her head to gently nuzzle her baby for the first time, their heads kept close together as he breathed in her warm, comforting scent. 

Paws slammed against him, pushing the newly emerged joey off still-unstable legs. He yelped in surprise, twisting around to stare into the face of another joey, she only a few days older. But already most of her fingers had grown out while the pinky had remained small, bones fusing and fat pad growing out. Her physical anatomy hadn't appeared to catch up with a growing brain. As she jumped off him, she rested her weight on the flat of her palms, the pinky awkwardly pushing her stance inward. 

The young joey leaped back to his own feet, ready to chase what must be his cousin in his first game as a growling and rambunctious child. And as she darted away between the legs of much older, much bigger adult females, the young male joey followed. If it weren't for his still wobbly and weak legs, he would've easily caught up to the older joey. For though her legs were longer than his, as long as she kept moving on the palms of her forelimbs (forelimbs that were outgrowing such a childish anatomy), she would always be slower compared to a joey that had legs still adapted for a plantigrade stance of the forelimbs. It would take the forelimb claws growing out, an enlarging fat pad, and the soon-to-come pain that would fix her walking habits.

But she did have an advantage to her smaller playmate. She knew of the world and felt more familiar to things that would frighten the other joey. Things like the darkness. Suddenly, to the male, the female disappeared into the darkness that seemed to come from nowhere. Darkness that his eyes couldn't penetrate. He let out a panicked lowing, crouching back in fear, and suddenly begging for his mother.

She responded to the distressed cries of her young, barking out to alert him to her presence. The young joey turned to the familiar and comforting sounds, responding with more of his own cries. He ran with hurried steps back into his herd, making a beeline for what he knew must be his mother. She lifted one forearm to greet him, wrapping it around his neck as new light grew stronger around him, enfolding the young joey within its warmth. 

He stared with calm, tired eyes into that light. Long claws curled upward from his mother's forepaw, wrapping around thick and knobby wood, holding it firm and upright so that it remained stable in her grasp. For at the end of that branch, hot and golden fire flickered upward, providing light to the darkness.