The Ongoing Concept of the Human Balloon

The Moon

 The world had died. Corruption and war began to destroy the society that lived before. The wasteland was barren now, water did run, but the water was murky and brown. The ground had patches of green in deserts of brown sand. The species that lived before had all died out, leaving only the sprites of the moon and the sun to do what they can to save the world that once was so lively, yet now, barren. The sun and the moon still rise and set on the barren world, hints of the technology that were once on the world were now buried underground, begging to be found.

The day was bright and the sky seemed clear, something new was about to appear. The day began to turn to night, the moon began shone brighter than it ever had in days past. The sprites who lived on Moonsun falls, on the tallest peak of the barren world known to them and the people who used to live in the world as Moonsun waterfall. The sprites used the power the moon created from the light of the moon, formed a creation that one would never imagine. The sprites who lived near the dead, they found the ones who were sleeping sound, at peace. The ones who never had a reason to come back again. They began to form a most peculiar object, out of the pieces of the people's bodies who passed on the barren planet. It was a creation one had never seen. A balloon, formed from muscle tissue, veins, skin and much else from bodies. There even was a face with the ability to speak, and it knew everything that it had to do. The sprites made sure to find only the best of the best to create their creation, their dream. The balloon, it floated alongside the water, in preparation to be blessed with some power. The ability to bring people back and talk to the dead.

The world, which was now called Under, more known as the world of the Undead. Grey-skinned creatures, who resembled much of their human selves had awoken from the grave to live again. They created a world of their own, with houses, horses and roads. They lived in peace for many years, under the watch of the moon and the human balloon. It seemed to be the reason for the life that lived in this world. The people seemed to have created their own lives, their own jobs, currency. Their homes were sturdy structures underground, where their graves and themselves used to lay.

There was one problem in this world. A king whose intentions were most foul. He had taken to the throne by force, bringing the other before him to a grave. He began to grow corrupt, as if something had taken ahold. Some began to flee his kingdom, and escape to where they can't be found. They hid underground in hopes that his dogs can't sniff out the scent of their flesh. He'd search the homes of those he could get to, hoping to find items of value to take as his own. He'd excuse these as "safety precautions". The people began to question his actions, as to why he did these heinous acts. They grew scared of this king, and some who were bold took to the castle with torches and pitchforks, they traveled day and night in hopes that they'll find justice for themselves. The ones who stayed behind, they feared for the lives ones who went, as the wrath of their king seemed worse than it used to be.

The messenger of the king saw the herd of people while coming home one day, he ran past them and up to the castle, hoping they didn't see him go in. He warned the king of what was to become. The king grew furious, and he began to fear his throne as well as his life. The mob grew closer, and he had no ideas of what to do. Sending soldiers would do nothing but stall the herd. The messenger suggested he use a threat to send them home. The king agreed, but he knew not of what he should use. He thought of many ideas, but none sounded good enough, until his son, the prince, suggested he take the balloon from the top of the Moonsun fall, use it to threaten the people of his kingdom. His court began to protest, they knew it'd cause great devastation to the world, cause it to become barren once more. The grass that grew was from the power of the human balloon. It rested its' tail, made of clean intestines, in the water to keep itself from losing the power it needs to maintain. If the balloon were to leave the water, it eventually would lose its' power and begin to die, just as the world would. The court warned him of the dangers of the deed, yet the king gave no heed. He watched as the march ended at the steps of his castle, and the herd began to speak.
"We need no more of you" One brave soul had said.

"You've gone too far, we're sick of it." Another yelled. Torches went up in unison, kept aflame by rocks and trees.

"You know not what you have done, for I, King of Under, will not stand for such violence." He boasted off of the castle balcony.

"Yet you take our clothes, you take our homes, you take our freedoms for your petty little needs." Another one spoke.

"We must overthrow the king." Another began to chant.

"Overthrow the king! We must, overthrow the king!" They chanted. The king, angered by the mob, began to speak again.

"If you do not leave, I will find the lifeline of this kingdom, and destroy it." The king said. The crowd below gasped in fear. They did begin to disband, they traveled home, shaken with fear.

The king didn't let the thought go. He spent nights awake thinking of the power that he could have if he had the balloon. He began to plot how he'd take it from the sprites, back to the castle, to grant himself immortality and power. He never told anyone his plan, they'd try to stop his lust for power.

His expedition began one night, the moon was high, the sun was nay seen. He got on his horse and began to ride towards the fall of Moonsun. He rode his way through the forest in which the fall resides. A few meters before the fall, his horse stopped and began to spook, he reared backwards, knocking the king off of the back. Shocked, surprised and now, slightly bruised, the king began to run towards the fall. He ran up the stone steps, all 130 of them. The sprites began to grow alarmed when they felt the presence of the king. The footsteps began to grow louder, so they began to pull back on him, protesting.
"No, dear King, sir, you musn't touch the balloon." They tried to protest the King, yet he ignored the small tugs from them on his clothes. The protests became louder as the king got closer. He stood next to the fall.

"What you're thinking of, it will destroy this world." The King heard the balloon speak. The King was taken aback by the speech. He stopped listening, he stood up, and found the vine that the tail of the balloon was held onto. He cut the vine, and grabbed onto the tail, then made his way back to his horse, then the castle. The night was starting to turn to day. The light of the sun seemed weaker than it usually seemed.

Years passed, hundreds to be exact. The King had died only a few years ago, as the immortality that came from the balloon had weakened. He died at the age of 225 years. The world seemed to still be intact, the balloon was missing, it had floated away after the old king died. Generations had passed, and a new king had been appointed at the age of 27. He was just as power- hungry as the ones in the past. He had heard stories of the balloon and how it granted immortality and power from his father, who had heard stories from his father, who had heard stories from the old king. His greed and lust for power were unfathomable, they were like the old King's intentions of pandering only towards himself. He would call for taxes from the people, yet the money went only towards himself, for his own selfish intentions. He desperately began to send search parties to find the human balloon, just in hopes of being able to receive the power of immortality. The searches seemed hopeless, as no one seems to know the story of the balloon, except for some elders in the villages near Moonsun falls. They remember the stories, they know of the sprites of the sun and the moon, and sometimes, they'll claim that they still see the sprites who are searching for the balloon. To the people who inhabited the world hundreds of years after the old king, they see the story as a myth. It seemed so silly to them that the world was created from a balloon who was created from the human body. A few did believe, they seemed to seek the truth, yet these people were seen as the "village crazies", The ones that no one believed.

The balloon, well it wedged itself near some water in a river, which it hoped would be the water from Moonsun falls, away from the sprites and the moon, the balloon weakened, it didn't have what it needed to maintain the world in the condition it used to be. The world was beginning to decay again. The inhabitants, they had no idea what was happening, or what happened in the past. Cluelessly they go on with their lives, not knowing that slowly their world could die again.

A sea snake had chewed through the vine that held the balloon 15 years after it found its' place. The balloon floated off again, eventually finding itself caught on the chimney of some house in the village of Thorn.