Chapter 2: The Dark Before the Light
The night rolled, the morning arrived, Zar woke before his brother and the Oldman, these three slept in the same shed-like shack.
The shed was no larger than your typical small apartment, it sat on the remnants of Mini Mt. Giath, in the times before the village was destroyed, a beautiful house sat on this small mountain, this split into many smaller houses as you went down the mountain to the lower village where the Greaters live, down further you reach the lowlands where much agriculture occurred via the help of the commoners, lessers, pettys and laymans.
As you went down the mountain from the Shed, you twisted and spiralled to and from each house which were now again, simple humble sheds and shacks, passing by trees which once bore fruit, passing by gardens which once grew beautiful herbs – all until you reached the lowlands where a great abundance of things once grew. Now the soils were dry and infertile, it was all due to that one event that happened in the past.
Zar pondered on the event, all his life he begged his father to tell him that story, it happened in his generation. But every time he was ABOUT to get to the punchline the Oldman paused, coughed and grew weak, “is it due to the trauma?” Zar weakly wondered with his body frail but his stature tall as was his ancestors. There were hardly any families taller than the Giaths.
Zar was always up in the earliest hours of the morning, he always stared at the morning sun rising – there was something about it, he noticed his hair would change colour ever so slightly from a deep dark red, the classic bloodred, to an orange-like red which was brighter. Those morning rays were healing to Zar, and his eyes did not hurt from staring deep into the profound rays of the sun. When Zar stopped staring into the sun, the colour of his hair reverted to normal and the strength he gained from the Sun he used to keep himself going through the day. “I always feel better after looking into the sun, shame I could never get Tar into it, they all seem too weak, too frail. Forcing them to do something they do not believe in feels immoral.”
Tar was indeed weaker than Zar, all the villagers were. Zar was the strongest of all the brothers and sisters, aunties and cousins, extended family and friends. They all relied on him for doing what little can be done to grow enough food, repair enough broken hardware. “Is there more to life? All this darkness and suffering, is it necessary!”
“Zar you’re being loud.” Said Tar approaching behind him.
“Sorry brother, I just become frustrated sometimes.”
“Staring at the sun again, eh?” Tar replied taking a seat next to the rock Zar always sat on. “Seriously brother Zar, why do you do this? Look at the state of our village! Even if there was something to be gained from this strange activity, would it matter – we are all going to die in a matter of years and the Giath family will be no more. The worst thing brother Zar, I know not even why! The Oldman is too weak to tell the story and was obviously too traumatised by it to word it before us when he was younger and stronger... Give it up Zar, as you said earlier whilst I was eavesdropping, it is only darkness and suffering, this is the purpose of our existence, we must make do.”
“I REFUSE to believe that brother Tar, I hold onto hope, yes Darkness always exists before the Light as its shadow, as I sit before the sun every day, it fills me with energy and teaches me things, things I could have never of known simply by myself. I see a bright future for our family, but it begins with that oldman of ours telling us our history before he passes, I know it is selfish of me, but I will live to see the rise of the Giaths! I swear this on my heart and soul.”
“Whatever you say brother Zar, but do not expect anything from me, I have given up hope. We have grains for the rest of the month for us Grands and Greaters which are all that is left of the family, when the grain runs out and the rubbish crops yield nothing more, we will starve and that will be the end. No one comes to our aid for mysteries i am yet aware of, perhaps we are cursed by the heavens, yet no one raises a sword due to a history we still know little about. Rather than just staring at the Sun in the morning, if you want to be practical Zar, why not use that energy of yours to keep our family alive in the practical sense of food?”
“Brother you know well this is not easily done, our soils are devoid of nutrients, our ‘once’ fertile soils was reduced to gravel and sand!”
“Brother I was trying to tell a joke, beyond our lands, the lands are owned by other families, we are too weak to protest, to force our way in, it would only bring our family more problems. Zar Brother, rest! Let time pass, by the end of the month we can begin our journey into starvation and meet our needed ends, we, the Giaths have suffered enough.” As Tar was saying this, he attempted to hold back the tears, as Zar listened to his brothers' words, he attempted to hold back his anger and frustration at the situation. Within Tars eyes was weakness, the facial bones protruded, so devoid of all nourishment and health. Nothing but skin and bone, a sad sight.
Time passed...
It was the end of the day, no one had been to check on the Oldman, all were too busy, Zar took it upon himself to do so.
“Oldman! You hungry? Lam has made supper,” Zar asked as he approached the shed, there was no answer, so he opened the door. Before him was a lifeless body, laying perfectly still with both hands on the navel and legs perfectly straight. “He has passed?!” Thought Zar in shock, he checked his heart, there was no beat, his breath, there was no air or warmth, his eyes, there was no flicker. Zar fell upon his weak knees, looking up through the gap of the shed into the setting Sun, there were no tears to cry, but instead a bubbling rage at the Gods, a why? “Why? Why!? WHY?!” His voice grew louder in pain and sorrow, in frustration and rage and alerted the villagers to the location, all of them having a deep aching feeling in prediction of Zar's distinct voice and reaction.
The Oldman had Died.
Before the villagers did arrive at the shed, a ray of light filtered through and hit the Oldman's hands which revealed a glint, Zar noticed it as he tried to regain his composure, he lifted the cold hands and saw a small object he had rarely seen before in his life but heard rumours of their greatness, a book, small albeit. He pocketed it with selfish intention and his resolve and anger grew stronger.
The villagers, including Pam, Lam and Tar arrived all having differing reactions to the sad truth, some cared and wept, others cared not and left to get on with what they thought were more important matters.
Pam, Lam, Tar and Zar all sat together, Zar hiding the book – they made plans for what to do with the body, to use it for nutrients as they always used dead bodies before, this was to grow what was left of the potatoes since they grew the fasted. The day beckoned work to be done, they could not grieve for long. But what was the information hidden within the book?
End of Chapter 2
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