The Creature

Good morning, come on wake up” Jhuna nudged her neighbor with her branches.

“What its morning already” Parina stretched, which caused a little tremor in her colossal frame.

“Ma look a storm is happening” the little kid who lives, just a finger tip away from Parina’s wooden tentacles screamed in delight.

“You are just like your father, always finding excuses to abstain from making yourself useful ” the mother is heard complaining.

“Can you be a little more dexterous with your movements, that little girl just got scolded because of you.” Jodha expressed her displeasure.

“Not my fault friend, these concretes are too close to me, if they thought my presence is going to cause problems they could have.. ”

“Shut up Jhuna, never utter those cursed words.” Jodha became hysteric.

“Hurry up brush your teeth quickly, your will get late for school again” the mothers voice is heard again.

As the little girl moved away from the window Parina stretched again, this time all her branches, twigs and leaves shook with vigor, a small caterpillar fell from her body but Parina caught it in midair safely on one of her lush green leaves, a bird residing on Parina flew way and parched on one of Jhuna strong branches.

“Not cool man” the bird complained, “Who sway like that without a warning.”

“As birds are to sing, we trees are to sway little one.” delicate vibrations of almost negligible magnitude ran through the branch on which the little bird is sitting. The bird knows this how a tree communicates with other beings around it.

“Oh man your voice is clearer than the ones in park .Did you went to school or something” the bird sounded flabbergasted.

“Have you mistaken us for one those foreign young-lings, we are the native ones, our ancestors are here way before the big collapse and when your species still ran on the ground on limbs, hunted with your little claws like hands and climbed on our forefathers for safety and to rest.” Parina rumbled intensely.

“Ah oh! Sorry my mistake, its not everyday I get to meet beings of such stature.” the bird squeaked.Parina don’t mind the little one, their numbers has become so thin now, I don’t think their Elders songs has been passed to them. ” Jodha’s vibrations are soothing.

“Elders songs, whats that? I never knew there is any tune that goes by that name? Winters songs I have heard alright, summers, autumns , err… mating’s and beside the basic food, water, shelter, danger I have even heard a bird singing a crazy tune a dj song she said. But never an Elders song.” the bird broke out in a jig singing the dj song.

“Yeah no one has sung an Elders song for so long in this region, its almost been 3 decades now” Parina’s low intensity vibrations communed to the bird that it felt sad giving this information.

“Elders song” Jodha responded “a song about our history, a song about our mother who created us all, provided us for our every necessities and her sacrifice to strike a balance at her home.”

“I see where this is going, you two are part of some cult aren’t you and before you ask, nope I am not interested in any type of spiritual experience and I will not join and commit to your little enigmatic group. I am a free bird, yes that’s a phrase with a deep meaning. A little bird like me fly from place to place collect twigs and foods, parch on branches of a trees and sooth others with my songs, I … ” the bird threw a feat, turning his wings , hopping on Jodha’s wooden hands, squeaking.

“She is talking about mother nature you tainted one, one who sings a dj song are your associates, we should have known better” Parina mocked. “Fly away bird you are not worth it.”

Ah stupid me, I am sorry, growing is a hard enough process you know, specially when you have to provide for yourself” the bird apologized rhyming and singing.

“Can you teach me to sing an Elders song, I will be a good student I promise.” the bird chided.

“Then listen well little one and spread it instead of that abomination of sort that you sing your dj song.” Parina said.

Jodha started a particular sequence of vibration that the bird understood “At first this floating sphere called earth had a hard and impenetrable crust made of rocks, mother was like a fair maiden in a castle safe within its walls but she is also a mother with innumerable children in her womb, this virgin land is her home, she wanted her children to grow up and play in her home like every mother ever wanted, but she knew her children are safer in her womb because in her gigantic empty house possibilities are endless, and her children will easily lose their way in exploring this fertile vastness. But her urges for motherhood got the better of her, she softened her crust degrading rocks into soil and sand, she took her first cautious steps through our ancestors grass like beings, attached to ground with roots through which they pumped water and minerals, combined with sunlight and carbon-dioxide they made food.

Mother was happy as her children raised their heads, she was even more delighted when these beings gave birth to other saplings from an extension of their root a few millimeters away from themselves, that’s how they reproduced and covered mothers crust under a velvety soft green blanket. Delighted at this serene spectacle mother decided to bring more of her children to her home, big and small, herbivorous, carnivorous and omnivorous, some balanced on four limbs, some on three and others on two inhabited this sphere, everyone lived in harmony and rarely did they venture outside the domain of monotonic routine of hunting, eating, migrating and breeding. But mother wanted her children to understand what does it means to be alive, so on an auspicious day she selected one among her children, to receive and respect the knowledge of life ,she nurtured the first guardian of this sphere over centuries to grow big and strong.

So the reign of the giants began, with their gigantic structure and ghastly strength they settled well in the role of a true guardian, they created safe-havens for each animals, prevented untimely deaths by their knowledge of natural medicines, they carved out hollow spaces to make caves that provided shelter to other animals, they kept the more aggressive animals from harming the vulnerable ones preventing any disruption in the ecosystem, no one dared to counter their judgment and were respected and feared equally. Peace and tranquility prevailed in this world brimming with life and prosperity as they became true lords of the land, but soon they were overwhelmed by the profound knowledge of life, unable to comprehend most of the volatile and perplexing theories that contradicted with each other, greed penetrated their shield of restrain and saintliness, they began to doubt the voice of the nature, that radiated the universal truth.

Tempted by greed and lust for power and territory they took to skirmishes, they rammed down strong and thick trees to mark their boundaries, wreaked havoc all around them to mark their dominance, when these giants clashed with one another trees were shaved off from grounds making the life of beings dependent on trees precarious and full of scuffles as their living places narrowed down, a catastrophe of violence and decaying corpses marred every corner ,shook by this sudden turbulence at her home mother decided to put her chosen one on a leash as she conjured a ruthless hunter a greatest one of their kind the T-Rex, the viciousness of this predator struck fear in the heart of other colossus creatures and stabilized the situation a bit, as the once honorable rulers now tyrants were hunted alike for food, they stood sentinel to repel these hunters together. But the perils of smaller creatures didn’t come to a halt in this era of giants, scarcity of food for the oppressed made them to sneak inside hostile territories, where they either trampled or chased away dying silently decaying in hunger. The grief stricken mother understood its time for her children, to come back within the safe confinement of her womb, so the great collapse happened. ”

Hey hey stop right there, I may be ignorant of the details but like everyone else I know the big collapse happened because of some foreign mountain came crashing into our world from the infinite space.” the bird complained, “trees as old as you should have known this, before reeling out your nonsensical story.”

“Story!” Parina exclaimed “You think its some pretentious story we are wasting our time narrating.”

“You think a foreign rock just penetrated mothers dense gaseous shield without being incinerated, its mother who retracted it towards its surface, allowed it to pass through her shield like atmosphere without eroding its annihilating potential. Its impact created deep cavities on the surface filled with corrosive clouds formed by a synthesis of gas and dust particles. Mothers once fertile home was rendered to barren landscape of infernal heat, wrecked by grief mother vowed never to subject her children to such pain, and decided to pull out every remaining life form from her home, the residual living beings who survived the horror sunk deep into the earth and preserved there in a stasis. Centuries passed by as mother suffered through her vow, despite all of her efforts to arrest her wish of motherhood every now and then she basked in a ray of hope, exploring every secluded possibilities to rehabilitate her children at her home.

She wasn’t ready to give up on her children just yet, she knew they were strong enough to live their lives respecting others, she brought down the temperature agreeable for sustaining life, filled large craters with water, and made our ancestors wake from stasis to bear new life in mothers house. This time she chose intellect over strength for the guardian and and made them acquire knowledge gradually through exploration and observation. They stumbled through dark times but always kept walking towards light and that’s my friend is the true way of nature. ”

“Its almost dusk now, I will have to take your leave and return home.” the birds flapped her wings as she rose in the air.

“At first this floating sphere called earth had a hard and impenetrable crust …” the humming of the bird faded gradually among the high-rising concrete buildings.

Jhuna we might be nearing another disaster, our guardian are no better than the previous one, perhaps more treacherous I say, look how they destroy and mold everything around them for their comfort with no regard for others.” Pari rumbled depressingly.

“Look Pari the little one is here again” Jodha sound delighted, as the little girl watered a sapling ready to rise to a great height, spreading her branches, to walk in the footsteps of her ancestors of serving others selflessly.

“The voice of compassion and coexistence in harmony is a delicate one I agree but it has strength, they have seen the destruction through the eyes of war, they have began to apprehend and appreciate life, mother hasn’t given up on her children and I believe they will stand tall on her expectations. ” Jhuna remarked.