The Pole Shift

Stone Circle Island

The smiling face boats hugged the islands that were once mountain tops of a drowned world. Only fleetingly did they cross an expanse of water where it was a test of bravery. Strong currents pushed and pulled at the small crafts. They steered for Bright Star that appeared at dawn, then the curve of the rising sun. They prayed for the Sun and Moon to guide them, but their Gods did not appear yet perhaps listened for by midday a speck of land appeared on the horizon. Once a shipping container bobbed nearby, yet none of the captains made mention of it. The thought of the unknown, the possibility of new people had them spell bound with curiosity and fear.

The sea stilled as they approached the island. The waters were unusually clear and they passed over ruined structures of their ancestors. Son ordered the boats to circumnavigated the land, and by late afternoon they determined the island to be too small to home many people. The standing stone circles were clearly visible on one side of the island, and their eerie silhouettes sent awe tingling down the men's spines. Son gathered the boats close so they could all talk.

"Who has a thought as to what this place is, the stones don't look like houses to me."

"There are no people to be seen." Observed one. Another noted:

"This place once held the ancients, look even under the waters are ruins of their mighty village!" All the men paused to look and think. some thought of what treasures lay below, others what the Pole Shift would have been like. Finally Son urged them to the present moment, and the tied the boats amongst wreckage on a crushed concrete shore.

The circles loomed before them. Three structures looked upon the men, where one was poor - it's stones had tumbled and the circle was elliptical, the second? It's larger circle was in ruins too, but the circle more precise. The third was yet better. Slabs of basalt had been driven deeply into the ground. Some of the stones met in tight lines. Son said:

"It is as if a child is learning to balance objects." Some old thought sang at Son. In the center of the circle, a strange stone stood made up of many other stones. It towered twice the size of the other boulders and had a strange rough splendor.

"What stone is that?" Spoke an intrigued Captain.

"It is made up, not like the others, look I see metals too." Said another Captain. Around the mysterious stone, glass bottles were spread out.

"Glass bottles like we have seen! What riddle is this?"

"A provider?" Suggested a Captain

"Of Empty bottles?" The retort seemed to have swayed the conversation until a bottle was lifted from the sand that contained a clear liquid. All Captains and their crew looked upon the object.

"I will drink it." Several offered.

"Me.

"No I volunteer!" A verbal tussle threatened to bloom into the physical. Then the middle stone shuddered, and several rocks fell away with thuds. All quarrelling ceased, as faces looked at the strange monolith in sudden apprehension. Muttering began to fill the air, until Son paced close and raised his arms in oncoming speech:

"We do not understand this, ghosts play here, or our father's technology remains on this new island in some way. We all drink, we sip to this stone in thanks. It is what this island is." Son bowed to the monolith and it stopped trembling, and as the men sipped from the bottle with varying facial expressions, a single pebble fell away from the strange standing to stone to reveal an old eye. It watched the drinking ceremony in what seemed angry jealousy, then as the men spoke softly and of their journey, and of the pleasure the standing circled evoked in them, the eye settled and momentarily glistened.

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Sean watched the strangers. He had no idea where they were from, some lost caravan of men? They spoke English. He thought the islands were bereft of people since the War all those years ago. Was he imagining this ridiculous gathering? They spoke without slang, in precise word and tone as is if they were straight out of the bible. The Old Man would have something to do with this, even though he had been absent for years.

Sean had been close to revealing himself in terrible pantomime but then their leader, what did they call him, Son? Spoke nicely, Sean felt complimented and he stilled his passions, even as they drank the last of his vodka. He'd find more eventually but right now he relaxed and listened and wondered who the people below him were. They spoke of their home islands, and how brave they were to adventure here even though no new people greeted them. They spoke in excitement of their return and the hope they held in the hearts of a bright future. The men shone.

Sean watched as they made to leave, he wished he was one of them, young and unsure but fully alive. He watched them set sail and let the rocks around him collapse around his pale feet. He sat down alone in the middle of his stone circle and relived the conversations of the visitors over and over again.