Cloudfyre Falling - a dark fairy tale (74 page)

Gargaron gazed up at the Dark One.
He saw there were no faucet gushing water, no dais layered with
platters of food. It were just the Dark One gazing down at him with
her empty, white, soulless eyes. The salt plains stretched on about
her, still brilliantly reflecting the blue sky and the mountainous
white clouds on the horizon. And not only that, the colourless
being now stood before him, searching his eyes as if for his
guidance.

He thought of the
words of his wife:
You have work here
yet
. He looked across at the small being.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his arm, took in a deep
breath.
The message has been with me for
some time. I did not understand its relevance
. His gazed switched from the small being to the Dark
One.
I am the last
, he thought. And his eyes settled on the small transparent
creature once more.
And this be the first.
The last of this great epoch gives his life up to the first of the
next. I do not proclaim to know how or why Cloudfyre has come to
this. Sadly this is as much as I comprehend.

From where he sat
he reached out his hand, gesturing to the small one. She came
forward. And stopped before his outstretched fingers. She watched
him. And he heard her thoughts one last time:
May you not be forgotten
.

Then she reached out and lay her
hand on his.

8

Above them, at that moment
Cloudfyre were pulled at last from the grip of Melus and delivered
into the hold of Gohor. The world rumbled, and shook and far away
mountains came down and oceans sizzled and mighty waves hundreds of
feet high crashed across barren and empty lands.

But the assault did not last long.
For the process had begun months before. This were but the final
tug. And like a petal ripped from its flower in a gale, the violent
rent were quickly done… and Cloudfyre soon fell to
silence.

9

Their hands and fingers became
one, gelled, coalesced, merged. Gargaron felt his life begin to
drain from him. For a while he watched it happen. He saw colours of
energy, blue, red, green, washing down his arm and gushing into the
being, like water flowing into a cracked, dry river bed after heavy
rains. He saw her filling up with it all. And for a time he even
saw himself, as if gazing back through her eyes.

He felt the vitality of youth,
sheer optimism, strength, power, yearning, pride. He felt it all as
he watched himself fade. Watched the colour go from his skin.
Watched the light go from his remaining eye.

The small one saw green vines sprout from her
toes and feet, vines with yellow pods, that opened and burst and
filled the air with spores that caught the wind and drifted
serenely away.

And with that, the tall Dark One,
knowing her work were done, now turned and walked away, leaving
four hoof prints in the salt, and soon were gone, unseen, swallowed
up by the watery mirages of the plains.

100 YEARS LATER

THE great salt
plains of Uyiga were no more. In a century waters had found their
way across them, islands had risen, and it had become a peaceful
shallow sea teeming with fishes and turtles. On one of the islands
a stone formation that were once a giant from a small village
called Hovel stood. And it were considered a sacred place; sentient
souls from surrounding lands would travel to it and pay respects.
For he were the God of birth, it were said,
Gargarre
were his name, a child who
had come from the stars to bring life to a barren world. And any
who would seek him out would receive blessings of long life and
fertility.

And the small
being he had impregnated, she had long perished, but her people had
flourished and remained custodians of these lands. And a revered
people they, the original people of this world, the Firstwuns, who
it were said had lived during the last days of
Gargarre
, and had greeted him when
he had fallen from the stars.

10,000 YEARS LATER

THE oceans were filled with some
of the most magnificent creatures Cloudfyre had ever known. The
mighty Fraeysharks with their luminous mouths, so large, colonies
of Seasprites lived within them. And the gargantuan Lesothaurs who
could swallow time itself. Born into this watery world deep below
the raging ocean’s surface, were a small mergirl from the seafloor
city of Envili Deep. She were but a little creature. And were but a
youngling, with all her long life before her. She swam about her
days, carefree and joyful, playing with her friends, helping her
Oldwuns with chores, and she did not know that one day she would be
the last living thing on this world, before Gohor gave Cloudfyre
back to Melus, when the Dark Ones would again rise, when the Death
Bells would once more toll…

~ THE END ~

If you enjoyed this tale and
have a taste for more monsters and adventure then keep your eyes
open for the re-release of my novel
STRANGEWORLD:
THE MORTIFERA
.
It should be out at
the back end of 2015.

In the meantime check out my
short story
THE SHAPESHIFTERS
.

If you enjoyed Cloudfyre
Falling and have a few moments to spare, please feel free to leave
a short review at the site where you found this book. Reviews not
only help new readers locate these books but they also help an
author gauge how his writing has been received out there in the
wider world. Think of it like a round of applause at the end of a
stage play. After so many months of silence, locked away tapping at
a keyboard, it’s nice to hear some noise.

Thank you.

Once I work out what I’m doing
(I’m still figuring out a lot of this online stuff!) I hope to have
a website/blog up and running and a mailing list available for
readers to keep track of news and upcoming stories. Stay tuned…

A.L.BROOKS