(033)
Alone upon a riverbank, the earth beneath long baked into dust by the sun. Sickness bites. Tendrils and claws paw at sores and burrow deep. Holes form. Bark cracks. Leaves die. Roots dry. Wordless cries along the web of lines that connects them all:
__•_~~~~|•__|–••__
Unanswered.
Starving. Aching. To the passing eye unseen. They see a titan standing in an empty field, unflinching in the face of its own mortality. They do not know that acceptance merely lay atop denial as a blanket.
Wind sways and pulls more life away, though others breed themselves amongst the dying. Each day the creeping light consumes. Many perish, but not all – some even thrive beneath its fiery gaze.
Time ticks on and shadows grow long. The sky blinks in slow motion, lathering a dark paste into the open spaces. A hush falls, and from within this long silence the answers come.
~~~—~–~~~-_—~~~
A young sapling sends relief. Nutrients seep along the mycelium net and up into the roots. A soothing balm against the burning sickness. However, the sapling is only the first.
–~~~~_~-
_¦-_-_~~ __•
_~~~~ |
__•_~ ¦¦~-_
••__-_
__~~~
•|||¦¦~~
The thrumming flow swells and grows, coming from every angle. From deep within the titans chest a new battle is being waged. The sickness rallies, but it is short lived. Sticky sap oozes in long streaks between the bark, marking the disease’s retreat.
Alone upon a riverbank, dust dancing in the moonlit breeze.
Leave a Reply