Our leaders and priests did not come back to us but their buildings did. The great towering castles and vast religious sites do. Maybe this is to help remind us of our mistake and to be humble. Our once proud cobble stone streets are now filled with sand. Our great wondrous buildings that once reached toward the sky are now crumpled and towers jut out at odd angles. So many stones have fallen and lay on the ground but none of us are strong enough to move them. Our city was always so clean, well crafted, and pristine that the rubble on the ground is an insult. Yet we can do nothing to change this. Maybe this too is part of our penance.
A huge obelisk was placed by the gods in the center of the town square. It details our folly, our penance, and what we are to learn. It glows with a pale blue light coming out of the peak. It is bright but cold and we can’t venture too far from it. There is a limit on how far we can swim from the center. We never reach any sort of wall or barrier we just suddenly can’t swim any farther. We are all trapped here and are forced to live out our lives within the barrier created by the obelisk. It has been several weeks and no children have been born and all pregnancies were lost when we dropped below the ocean. Perhaps the gods do not want our population to expand as the obelisk says that we are now immortal. With food readily available no cooking possible, and nothing to import or export few people have anything to do. There is no forging available as we are below water and no fire is available. We have nothing to make and nothing to do but think about what we have done wrong. Eternity will take a very long time to arrive.
The old roads are long since gone and there is nowhere to travel. We were told that if the fire ever went out in the temple that horrible things would happen and they were right. The fire is out and we now live under the ocean forever in the murky depths of the deep. Day and night blend together and there is nothing to break the monotony. We can’t even sing any more. The novelty of swimming wore off quickly. None of the old machines work any more. We have truly lost the favor of the gods. We will never again have the sweet fruit whines, the spiced breads, or wear fine cloth. So much has been lost and it saddens me greatly. The loss of the sun is a trivial thing in comparison to the loss of everything else we once had. How will we go on in the midst of such loss? How do we go on when there is no more purpose to life? We must preserve the knowledge of all the great things as someday someone will come along and be able to right the wrongs and allow us back into the light.
Waking with a start i hit my head on the ceiling of my escape pod. Rubbing it to dull the pain I wonder why there is no padding there for just this purpose. Then I wonder about how long I have been in here and how much longer I have to go. Where will I end up? How long will I be in a survival situation till help arrives? Looking at the screen in front of me the display points out the time traveled, time remaining, and distance. With ten hours to go I resolve to wait. Touching the screen it comes alive and a friendly looking woman stares back at me. Suddenly she starts speaking. “Thank you for using the Ecos 300 escape pod, the top of the line in escape pods. This vehicle is equipped with engines, power, water, waste disposal, and entertainment to last you a minimum of 3 days or two thousand miles for double occupancy.” Good I have plenty of air and supplies. “So you can escape a shipwreck and reach civilization minimizing the risks of open ocean exposure. This is your orientation video and will cover everything you will need to know to make your stay as comfortable as possible.” She drones on about where the food and bathrooms are located and gives advice on maintaining hygiene in such a confined environment. After a while she stops and I start watching some movie from the video que and eating popcorn as though I was in a personal cinema moving silently under the water. I begin to get lonely and wish for someone to talk to. But a phone was not built into the pod and I have survived worse than loneliness. Eventually I tire of the movies and switch to a video game. This thing is actually equipped with an xbox and some games. Replaying oblivion should help pass the next six hours. But what to play as a mage, a worrier, or a rogue. I choose rogue as I played the other two already. Soon I start stealing everything I can purly because I can.
Despite the massaging chair below me I eventually stiffen and become sore from lack of movement. I am grateful of landfall. The pod suddenly hits something and some motors strain. I am moving again but more slowly and jerkily. Eventually a loud click is followed by a hiss and the lid opens. Stretching I stand and my back popps a lot as I twist and move to work out the stiffness. Before I step out of the pod I grab my bag. After I am out the lid closes and a compartment opens on the outside releasing a five gallon container of water and a large back pack. Taking both I look back at the ocean and notice tire treads. The pod drove me up on the beach so I wouldn’t get wet or knocked down by the waves.
The sky is afire in color with either sunrise or sunset I am not sure which. Only time will tell on that front. The pod has sealed itself to look like a rock so I will have to make a shelter if rescue doesn’t come soon. Half an hour later I am sure that it is sunrise and not sunset as the sun has gotten higher in the sky and the sky has brightened. I take out my satellite phone and call Asa telling her all about the crash, the black helicopter, and about how I am stranded on an island and have no idea where I am. She promises my rescue is coming in only a few hours and all I need to do is wait.
I move all my supplies to the shade about fifty feet from the pod and wait while taking stock of the backpack more out of a desire to do something than concern over supplies. With that done I relax against the bag and wait for rescue.
An explosion awakens me. Panicked I look around critically. It was the pod. Did the pod blow itself or or did someone blow it up? In a moment of indecision and panic I rip the battery pack out of the satellite phone and back away from the fire. Why would the pod explode? It was still good and could have been cleaned and reused. Blowing it up would be a huge waste. Someone must have blown it up. Someone must be after me. Someone is trying to kill me. The harsh realization slowly dawns on me. I grab my supplies and trudge off into the jungle feeling like a fool. Someone killed my husband and now they are after me. The thought is a sobering one and frightens me but not near as badly as knowing that there is a mole in the colony. I keep walking.
The air is hot and humid. I am sweating profusely and have no idea how far I have gone or even where ai am going. I suppose it doesn’t really matter where I go. There is obviously a mole in the colony which is why that bomb found me so quickly. No matter how far I run they will stop at nothing to kill me. Scared, tired, hungry, thirsty and my eyes blurry with tears I stop to rest.
There are water apples in the tree above me and I eat those to help save my supplies. The skin is red and the flesh is white but they are juicy and sweet. I eat my fill and sit on the ground to rest. As I remain silent the jungle around me comes to life. So many different sounds created by unfamiliar animes frightens me but then I remember that they are probably more afraid of me than I am of them and relax.
Gathering my things I again move on. The jungle just looks like more and more of the same. To pass the time I try to identify different plants but this game soon tires me. I could easily get lost out here without a compass. So far I have been heading straight into what I think is the center of the island as I have no better idea of what to do. My supplies are heavy but I know I will need all of them and have attached them all to my back.
As nightfall comes I look around for shelter. I probably should have stopped hours ago to make camp. But I foolishly clung to the vain hope of finding civilization. All I have found is more jungle and disappointment. Seeing something in the distance I stumble on.
There is a cobblestone road here and there uprooted a bit by the massive trees bordering it. As this is my best bet of finding civilization I follow the road. No matter how old the road is it has to lead somewhere. There must be something at the end of it important enough to have had this road constructed to lead to it. After all who would build such a road for no reason? That would be far too much work for a prank.
My heart sinks as the road ends at some old stone temples. The buildings are old, very old, and overgrown with brush. Some even have trees growing out of them. The scent of jasmine is in the air and I know that this place is not only old but abandoned. With a heavy heart I find a level piece of ground to make camp for the night.
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