[short-story] To Crush the Sky
To Crush the Sky
by H. B.
The stars burned beyond His skin, the creations of an embittered son. She watched them move in a slow dance as time moved onward, pushing Her further away from Him.Soon, She slept for nothing was left for Her. Some days She cried. Oceans swelled and waves crashed across the land with wild abandon, destroying everything and leaving nothing but a barren landscape and the broken remains of life lost. Often She shook with rage, rending Her clothes and skin and exploding with hot ash and anguish, cracking along the edges and letting cool water seep through her wounds. Never did She return to the embrace She wanted. Her sons and daughters refused Her, turned deaf to their mother's pleas for sanctuary and shelter and focused on their games and manipulations across Her surface and through the heavens. They grew and faded, expanded and condensed as the ages flew past in a blur of time and need. There were years She felt awake and knowing, fully aware of what was occurring around Her, to Her. Moments of anguish so deep and intense She was uncertain whether she could recover. She coalesced Her conscious into form and gave it new matter and sped away to hide from the misery Her body endured. She sought aid from Her children and despised them in turn.
Until the day She had enough. She sought the heavens and trained Her eyes on Her husband and lover and fought against those very children who kept them apart. She brought cities toppling in her intent, drowning the cries of those that walked upon Her with fire and water. She cried out as wind and lightning battered Her weathered form, lashing back to keep Her down and in place, but She struggled forward until She kissed the Sky and crushed those between them. Nestled in the warmth and security of His embrace, She wept and shook only then freeing Her conscious to join those who had watched on in horror as their works were swept away and sunk into Her body, absorbed until She healed and wished to start again.
"That was disruptive, even for you."
She took Her seat, ignoring the pointed barb from Her right, and the false sympathy coming from Her left. Her focus remained at the center of the table where the planets spun around a golden, fiery sun with the Earth smoldering amongst them. Her hands and arms were pockmarked and scarred, darkened and dirty, Her lashes were burned and her hair of crazed green and gold tangles hacked into pieces.
"Hades is right."
Her gaze narrowed as She swung around to face Her husband. His ugly self, Ouranos. She had forgotten this part of Him in Her longing to escape back to His arms. His insistence and command, and suffocating presence. She shuddered against His black tone.
"I won't hear of it," She said. "I've done only what was necessary."
"It was not your decision to make, Mother. If we begin to die, the punishment will fall upon you."
"We were here before them. We made them, gave them civilized thought and let them expand as they feasted on our ideas, our energies and gave us nothing but damning praise and curses. Now look at what we've become and tell me this was not for the best. I dare you tell me otherwise." She met each eye across the table, youngest to oldest, making no distinction. "This is the time to reclaim what was once ours."
"You've gone too far, Gaia."
"You don't enjoy the idea of new creations? Building new creatures and setting them loose to flourish under their own power. We can make them better," she pressed, "Smarter. Devout. The way things should be, rather than the way they are. They once trembled at our names and against our fury. They sacrificed in our names to keep us happy and in our favor. We can have that, and more." Her gaze lingered on Her husband, His face flickering from stern, to lustful, to cautious and curious and then back, over and over as He rolled the words around His mind until the moment He saw it as She did: a better, less destructive world for which they can focus new attention. She smiled privately to Herself.
Zeus sputtered like an angry bull. "I should strike you down where you sit."
"And do what then, I wonder? Sulk? Drunkenly revel your way through the milenia, foolishly wasting your essence on brother and sister alike?"
"Your vessel is dying."
"Yes, by my choice and design. I would not have your creations squandering my beauty until I shriveled and rotted."
"They were learning."
"And so they have been taught," She said and the finality of it shot around the table in a ripple. She lifted Her chin and waited for any more protests, but none were forthcoming.
She knew that no more would.
This entry was originally posted at http://faynia.dreamwidth.org/289180.html. Please comment there using OpenID. (comments:
)
by H. B.
The stars burned beyond His skin, the creations of an embittered son. She watched them move in a slow dance as time moved onward, pushing Her further away from Him.Soon, She slept for nothing was left for Her. Some days She cried. Oceans swelled and waves crashed across the land with wild abandon, destroying everything and leaving nothing but a barren landscape and the broken remains of life lost. Often She shook with rage, rending Her clothes and skin and exploding with hot ash and anguish, cracking along the edges and letting cool water seep through her wounds. Never did She return to the embrace She wanted. Her sons and daughters refused Her, turned deaf to their mother's pleas for sanctuary and shelter and focused on their games and manipulations across Her surface and through the heavens. They grew and faded, expanded and condensed as the ages flew past in a blur of time and need. There were years She felt awake and knowing, fully aware of what was occurring around Her, to Her. Moments of anguish so deep and intense She was uncertain whether she could recover. She coalesced Her conscious into form and gave it new matter and sped away to hide from the misery Her body endured. She sought aid from Her children and despised them in turn.
Until the day She had enough. She sought the heavens and trained Her eyes on Her husband and lover and fought against those very children who kept them apart. She brought cities toppling in her intent, drowning the cries of those that walked upon Her with fire and water. She cried out as wind and lightning battered Her weathered form, lashing back to keep Her down and in place, but She struggled forward until She kissed the Sky and crushed those between them. Nestled in the warmth and security of His embrace, She wept and shook only then freeing Her conscious to join those who had watched on in horror as their works were swept away and sunk into Her body, absorbed until She healed and wished to start again.
"That was disruptive, even for you."
She took Her seat, ignoring the pointed barb from Her right, and the false sympathy coming from Her left. Her focus remained at the center of the table where the planets spun around a golden, fiery sun with the Earth smoldering amongst them. Her hands and arms were pockmarked and scarred, darkened and dirty, Her lashes were burned and her hair of crazed green and gold tangles hacked into pieces.
"Hades is right."
Her gaze narrowed as She swung around to face Her husband. His ugly self, Ouranos. She had forgotten this part of Him in Her longing to escape back to His arms. His insistence and command, and suffocating presence. She shuddered against His black tone.
"I won't hear of it," She said. "I've done only what was necessary."
"It was not your decision to make, Mother. If we begin to die, the punishment will fall upon you."
"We were here before them. We made them, gave them civilized thought and let them expand as they feasted on our ideas, our energies and gave us nothing but damning praise and curses. Now look at what we've become and tell me this was not for the best. I dare you tell me otherwise." She met each eye across the table, youngest to oldest, making no distinction. "This is the time to reclaim what was once ours."
"You've gone too far, Gaia."
"You don't enjoy the idea of new creations? Building new creatures and setting them loose to flourish under their own power. We can make them better," she pressed, "Smarter. Devout. The way things should be, rather than the way they are. They once trembled at our names and against our fury. They sacrificed in our names to keep us happy and in our favor. We can have that, and more." Her gaze lingered on Her husband, His face flickering from stern, to lustful, to cautious and curious and then back, over and over as He rolled the words around His mind until the moment He saw it as She did: a better, less destructive world for which they can focus new attention. She smiled privately to Herself.
Zeus sputtered like an angry bull. "I should strike you down where you sit."
"And do what then, I wonder? Sulk? Drunkenly revel your way through the milenia, foolishly wasting your essence on brother and sister alike?"
"Your vessel is dying."
"Yes, by my choice and design. I would not have your creations squandering my beauty until I shriveled and rotted."
"They were learning."
"And so they have been taught," She said and the finality of it shot around the table in a ripple. She lifted Her chin and waited for any more protests, but none were forthcoming.
She knew that no more would.
This entry was originally posted at http://faynia.dreamwidth.org/289180.html. Please comment there using OpenID. (comments:
)