writing adventure 30- Man

     Life moved slowly, for a while. When no one was there to witness her, Life wandered aimlessly. No direction, no hurry. Time was a concept that had not been perfected by the Beasts that roamed to plains of Mother Earth, and so they were content with her lazy indifference. They let her be, let her walk in her comprehensible form in their realm, and so she, in turn, gave them eternity.
     But something happened when Man fell out of the sky. He was brazen, a menacingly curious creature that constantly wrestled with itself and its true, innocent nature. "What Beast is this, Mother?" she whispered to the winds. "Why do you allow a Beast in your realm that seeks only to destroy it?"
     "Not I," the waves of the oceans replied, crashing harmoniously against the untainted shore. The Beast of Flight fretted and took to the sky, a cowardly animal. "Man is not my Beast, not my creation. He comes from above this realm, from a place that is not my own. This is why he wrestles with the days and nights, hoping to control them."
     Life didn't understand. Beasts not mothered by the Earth? How, then, would they know what precious treasures lie before them? She walked farther from the shore to investigate. "I will see for myself," she reasoned, and almost thought she heard regret in the chaotic waves she left behind.

~

     Man's camp was in the middle of a forest he had not appreciated. She met Fox, a Beast of Land, as she neared the edge of a clearing. He seemed. . .

     . . . older. His face was weathered, his hair was thinned, and his paws were heavy and slow in the soft grass. She picked up the Beast, and he sunk breathlessly in her arms. "Who did this to you, my companion? Who has sped up time without my knowledge?"

     He did not respond, but chose to close his eyes and nestle deeper into her hold. She was now frightened. "Was it Mother? Did she take the power of time from me?"

     Fox lifted his head, and shook it as a response. Life put the frail body down, and charged deeper into the woods. 

     After a short time, she saw Man's camp. It looked dreadful; weaker branches had been ripped off of the smallest trees, and used to make some sort of shelter. "Does he not know the Mother Earth shelters all?" she cried to herself, too far from camp to be heard. "I must speak to this Beast from Nowhere!"

     As soon as she arrived in Man's camp, he emerged from his shelter, and regarded her curiously. The glint in his eye did not fade, and she tensed with apprehension. "Do you know who I am?" she asked him, her voice failing to hold steady.

     "You are Life, personified. While the Earth created this realm, you tend to it. You control its time, its  animals. This is the form you take because it is the form that looks most like," he paused, and it drew her closer to him.

     "me." 

     The trance was broken, and she looked up at his taller frame, puzzled. "I don't know what you are, but I am fashioned after no one. Mother Earth created me to rule her lands."

     "You will never again rule these lands. I come from a place higher than Earth. I will conquer time, and then I will conquer you." His rich voice frightened her, and she was reminded of Fox. This is what had happened, she thought to herself, her eyes taking in his large body. Man had tried to harness time, and it had aged the world around him.

     She narrowed her gaze. Peace, a peace she had meticulously created, had generously given to the lands of her Mother, was now ruined. "I control time, I control what happens to your soul. You will never rule these lands. You are the slowest Beast here. You can not fly, like Bird, or swim, like Whale. You question all that is around you, but not to come up with answers, just to know what questions need to be asked. You are a selfish, aggressive Beast. One that will, eventually, die."

     The air around Life grew hot then, and she began to fade. "One cannot control what one cannot comprehend," she whispered to him, and the leaves rattled her praises.

     Man felt old in that moment, and sat down to rest, wary of his sore muscles and tired eyes.

~

     Fox still sat at the edge of the clearing, hearing with his keen ears what transpired between Man and his ruler. The other Beasts wouldn't realize what he knew until it was already too late, but he was clever. Fox knew what was going to happen, what was going to change. In order for Man to be punished, time had to run as it was created to run. Meaning their bodies would no longer walk Mother Earth's plains forever.

     Fox shook his head and laid down. Too much for today, he thought. Too tired to understand.