The Ancients A Tale of Survival

Stories

"Can you tell us a story Ştårbrîghţ?"

Ştårbrîghţ, Mỷrἇ, and Jåcóbӱ were all sitting around the fire.  Ştårbrîghţ had just shown Mỷrἇ and Jåcóbӱ how to forage for food in the forest.  They had found nuts, fruits, roots, herbs, and strange glowing mushrooms that had a lemony smell to them.  Ştårbrîghţ was busy carving some branches into javelins while Mỷrἇ and Jåcóbӱ were busy grinding the nuts and mixing them with the berries and herbs they'd found.

Ştårbrîghţ looked up from is work.  "What story do you want to hear Mỷrἇ?"

Mỷrἇ shrugged her slim shoulders.  "Tell us a story that happened before the Great Disaster."

Ştårbrîghţ sat in thoughtful silence before he began working on stripping the bark from the branches.    "Two hundred years before the Great Disaster there was a war that tore a country apart.  Brothers turned against brothers and fathers turned against their sons.  Many people died and many more were caught in the crossfire.  Battles raged across the northern and southern parts of the country.  The war raged for many years before it was finally over.  Thousands of people lie dead, thousands more came home disfigured, the country was whole once more, but at the cost of their leader."

"What caused the war?"  Jåcóbӱ asked is curiosity.  Mỷrἇ nodded her head as she leaned forward.

Ştårbrîghţ stopped carving and laid his knife down.  "No one knows for sure.  Whatever caused the war was bad enough to tear a country apart.  There are other stories later that tell of the effects of that war were still being felt years after it had ended."

"What caused the Great Disaster?"

"We caused the Great Disaster.  Those who came before us were greedy.  Their greed caused the fall of the great civilizations that came before us.  They robbed and killed each other without regret or consequences.  They stole from the earth and hunted the animals that called the earth home for fun."  Ştårbrîghţ picked up his knife and pointed it at the two children.  "Learn all you can about the Great Disaster and the time before it.  Learn from their mistakes and keep from making their mistakes." 

Silence descended over the camp as each person was lost within their own thoughts.  The fire crackled and popped between them punctuated by the scrape of knife on wood.  A pair of sharp teethed rabbits were cooking over the fire and several more were hung over drying racks waiting to cure.  Birds chirped and leaves rustled as strange animals crept through the underbrush.

"Do you have any stories about our father?"  Jåcóbӱ asked breaking the silence.

A smile spread across Ştårbrîghţ's face.  "I can tell you a dozen tales about your father.  Where do you want me to start?"

"Tell us the ones about him when he was a child." Mỷrἇ voice was filled with excitement as she bounced up and down.

Ştårbrîghţ laughed.  "Settle down and listen well my children, as I tell you the tales of the man who was your father.  A man who I was proud to call my friend."

Mỷrἇ and Jåcóbӱ listened in rapt silence as they heard stories about a man that they both missed.  A man who had left a strong impact on them and one that had loved them with all his being.