Forgotten Dreams of Eternity: Lost Odyssey: Thousand Years of Dreams
Copyright © 2011 Sky_Knight
(Short Story -XIV.)
*Elegy Island*
This happened a long, long time ago.
On a small island -which has since perished -they had an odd custom.
They mourned their dead with song: with elegies.
The songs would play without ceasing from the last moments before death, through the funeral, to the burial.
Elegies would be sung for many purposes: to ease the grief of the family, to recall the legacy of the deceased, to appease the soul of the one who died under stressful cicumstances, to celebrate one person's having lived to a ripe, old age, or to evoke anger at another's pointless death.
There were no fixed melodies or lyrics. Apparently the songs were sung without lyrics at all.
"No documents have survived, so all we can do is assemble oral histories," sighs the achaeologist as she views the island from the deck of the ship.
The people of that island country had no writing system, which means they had no way to leave behind signs or evidence of their lives.
"I wish we could at least interview a few survivors. but there weren't any. Every single person was killed."
The research team's archaeologist is a young woman in her twenties. Her country is the one that destroyed the island. It happened while her ancestors, seven generations back, were still young people.
"I hate to bad mouth my own country," she says with a shrug, "but they really didn't have to go that far."
"That far" is no exaggeration.
Her country prided itself on it's overwhelming military force. For it to gain mastery over the tiny island would have been as simple as twisting an infant's arm.
But her country believed in oppressing its neighbours with force. The leaders were thinking more of those neighbours then of the lands itself when it launched its all-out attack.
It was scorched from end to end.
Every human being on the island -from newborn babies to elders on the verge of death -was killed without mercy.
"It's odd, though," says the young woman with a grim smile, "there are hardly any records left from that time, even in our country."
"I suppose what they did was so terrible, they didn't want their descendants to know about it."
Her remark prompts some older scholars on board to clear their throats, at the sound of which she snaps her mouth shut.
"Sorry," she whispers, "you're not much older than I am, you porbably don't want to hear about all this old stuff anyway..."
"I do, though."
"What interest can a sailor like you have in these boring academic matters?"
Kaim only shakes his head in silence.
Suddenly things become very busy on deck. The boat is approaching the island and has entered a stretch of intricate channels where the skills of the crew will be tested.
The boatswain calls Kaim.
"Oh, I'm sorry," the woman says, "I shouldn't be monopolising your time. You've got work to do..."
Even as she apologizes, the talkative young archaeologist asks Kaim.
"Do you mind if I ask you one last question?"
YOU ARE READING
Forgotten Dreams of Eternity: Lost Odyssey: Thousand Years of Dreams
Science FictionA science fiction novel with 33 short stories foretelling the forgotten dreams of Kaim, A immortal who has lived over more than a thousand years. This novel is based on the hit video game Lost Odyssey. Short Story XV, Short Story -XXI, and Short Sto...
