Tevun Krus #127 - Best of 2024

Fimbulvetr - A Story by @johnnedwill

Fimbulvetr

By johnnedwill

Prompt: All nations searched for a way to prevent climate change. The solution the aliens offered was rather unexpected, though (prompted by jinnis).

    Once there was a time when the Sons of Men and Daughters of Women were numerous upon the face of the Earth. They were more than the birds in the air; more than the fish in the sea; more even than the stars in the sky. And to each and every one of them was given the powers of the gods. When they wished to go places, they could travel faster than the swiftest beast. When they wished to talk, they could send their voices across the continents. When they wished to know something, the very air whispered the answers to their questions. They were indeed the masters of their world.

    But, for all their numbers and all their magic, the Sons of Men and Daughters of Women were lacking in wisdom. In their arrogance they laid waste to the their mother, the Earth. They burned the forests and poisoned the land. They filled the oceans with their discarded toys. Even their very exhalations turned the sky to flames. Still, there were some amongst them who cried out.

    "Woe!" they called and rent their clothes. "Woe! We must mend our ways, for otherwise the Earth shall die and all that lives upon it!"

    But too many of the Sons of Men and Daughters of Women stopped their ears and closed their eyes and paid no heed to the prophecies of doom.

    And so the sins of the Sons of Men and the Daughters of Women grew and multiplied like flies upon a corpse. The Earth herself groaned and sickened and failed. The seasons no longer turned. The crops no longer grew. The cattle no longer gave birth. It was plain to all but the blindest among them that the end was nigh. A great cry went up from the multitude: "What shall be done? What shall be done to save us?"

    So the leaders of the Sons of Men and the Daughters of Women gathered together with their savants and advisors. They sat in council for many days and many nights, discussing what must be done. They talked of ways to cleanse the land, to divert the seas and to bring back that which they had lost. And outside the council chamber, the Sons of Men and Daughters of Women waited for a miracle.

    And a miracle did come! But it was not a miracle of their own devising. A Great Ship that had sailed across the sea of night arrived, seeking harbour on the Earth. The people who travelled upon that Ship were old and wise in ways unknown. From their Ship, they saw how the Earth was afflicted, and they sent unto the Sons of Men and the Daughters of Women a message of hope.

    "We can help."

    At first the leaders of the world were suspicious of the People of the Ship and asked themselves, "How can we trust these strangers? What price will they ask of us? We do not know them or their customs."

    But the Sons of Men and the Daughters of Women were more afeared of the destruction around them than the People of the Ship. "These visitors bring us salvation!" they cried. "Would you damn us with your hesitation? Would you let us choke and burn and starve? We want to live!"

    So the leaders of the world spoke to the People of the Ship. "We accept your offer. Save us from the dying Earth! Save us from the wrath of our people!"

    "This we shall do," the visitors said. "And this is how we shall of it. We shall place a Seed above the Earth, between the Earth and the Sun. And the Seed shall feast upon the light of the Sun, and it shall grow. And as the Seed grows, it shall take the sunlight and turn it into life for your machines. The Earth shall then be shielded from the fury of the Sun, and she shall grow cool again. And your machines shall carry you and talk to you and feed you."

    So the People of the Ship said; so it came to pass.

    But there were those amongst the Sons of Men and Daughters of Women who looked upon what had been done and were afraid. As the Seed grew above them and the Sun grew dim, they muttered among themselves. "But who controls the seed? And what do they intend with it? Surely they will become corrupt and greedy, and they will use their power to strike down upon those who displease them. Then what shall become of us when this blessing becomes a curse and this bounty becomes a blight?"

    The muttering became a chattering, and the chattering became shouting, and the shouting became a roar that sounded across the Earth and shook the heavens.

    The Sons of Men and the Daughters of Women were divided amongst themselves. They rose up on bright needles borne on pillars of fire and soared into the heavens. There they fought with great fury against those who guarded the Seed and put them to the sword and scattered their bodies amongst the stars. This done, because they could not trust each other, they set against themselves. In their madness they cracked the sky and sent spears of light against the Earth. Cities burned and seas boiled; mountains were levelled and the plains broken; the Earth was blistered and wept.

    Then, when there was no-one amongst the Sons of Men and Daughters of Women who could fight, the Earth fell silent.

    The Seed had been wounded, but there was still the light of the Sun. The Seed fed upon the sunlight and continued to grow. But there was no-one to guide it, and there were no machines to take the life from the Seed. So the Sun was dimmed and the Earth grew cold and frozen. Snow fell from the sky and summer never came.

    Those of the Sons of Men and the Daughters of Women who still lived on the Earth gathered and huddled together around fires, and they talked of the Fimbulvetr that had come.