When the Sun Fell on Earth
Sept 12, 2019 13:54:47 GMT -5
Post by BlackHeart on Sept 12, 2019 13:54:47 GMT -5
This was the first story I ever wrote, years ago. Its a classic miniature, much inspired by Howard's works at the time, served as an exercise when I wondered if there was room for me in world of literature, and, though with some flaws, it was shortlisted (and published) for the collection of fantastic stories "Worlds Within" which was released last year.
As always, any criticism is welcome.
The day was unbearably warm. Above the vast green ocean of treetops that stretched endlessly toward bluish mountain, deathly silence suddenly reigned. Only a few large birds set off from the branches into the blue sky and started to lurk over a large glade, lined with dry grass sod, where the cloud of dust lightly shrugged.
There was a growl in the field, low and threatening, and then the rustling of soft paws over the dried meadow. The man who found himself there has silently watched the horrific scene; a huge cat-like beast dragged in its saber-like teeth a pile of bloody mass which only remotely resembled a human being. It could not be read from his eyes whether what he was feeling was fear or anger. The irregular lines on his rough face were twisted into an inhuman spasm. Hardly a day has passed since the hunter of his tribe, that inhabits the rocky hills on the southern edge of the great forest, took a matured lads into a common initiation. He remembered their thunderous shout when they were given spears – as a sign of manhood - and their unwavering will to prove themselves as such before the elders. Dividing into smaller groups, they scattered through the straight maze of trees, determined to test the blessing of tribal shaman on the hunt. However, in the darkness under the branches, his two compatriots and he, driven by the sense of superiority of abundance, distanced themselves from others without even noticing it. They didn't even pay attention to the ominous silence that ensued. But, one of them soon noticed two dots that glowed like fiery emeralds in the shadows. The next instant, a beast flew out of the bushes, like an raging fury pouncing on them, and a loud roar replaced the terrifying death cry of one of his brothers. His remaining companion hurled his spear at the massive shoulders that rippled in the shadows, and then they both fled. But their effort was futile; as soon as their bare feet touched the clearing, a huge tiger came running after them and threw itself at the other unfortunate man. Aware that he cannot escape, hunter collide with this boulder of muscle and claws at the moment when it collapsed on him. With the last strength born of despair, he waved a flint knife at the beast, but every effort was in vain. Powerful jaws were already buried deep in the neck and body of its victim, cutting the flesh and shredding the bones. Only he, Gor'Na, a hunter from the horde of Altahi, remained.
Doom is upon him this day, he thought. At dawn he was the spearman of his tribe, who celebrated life with young ones. Now, he worth as much as trapped rabbit, waiting for hideous death that he knew he would not evade. Wiry hands clamped firmly around the spear, he noticed when two emerald eyes fell upon him. Mumbling to his chin, he swore to the spirits of his ancestors that he would not die without trying to bring his killer to death, although deep down, he knew that the stone spear tip worth nothing against the ferocious strength of the beast. And here it is, slowly approaching, lurking on its prey. He pointed his spear at the tiger which almost provoked him with his growl that brings the promise of death. Then a roar marked the beginning of the attack, making the brave mammoth hunter barely noticeable shudder. In the blink of an eye, he swung his weapon high. But as the tiger was about to jump, its mighty jaws shut; beast points both ears and stopped. Then it started staring dully around and recoiling back in front of a confused man who wondered how he was not dead yet. The next moment murderous flame died in the eyes of the huge cat and in its place came a vague fear. The beast snorted at its victim, shook his head, and soon disappeared among the trees, leaving the stunned man to silently stands as petrified. His almost naked body shuddered again and finally he lowered his spear and sighed. Whatever it was that made the beast so mindlessly escape and leave its prey, it didn't matter to him at that moment. It only mattered that he was alive ... He ... Gor'Na ... of the Altahi horde...
But, few faint heartbeats afterwards, his attention was suddenly attracted by some strange hum ... Loud and distant ... As if coming from above. The man looked up; the blue cloudless sky was slowly taking on a purple shade that interfered with the color of the flame, and the sun itself seemed brighter. Gor'Na began to blink, though he didn't look away. Suddenly, loud thunder splits the sky and the sun started to stir; it seemed as if a flaming tear had dropped from it and her blaze swallowed every other light. Man covered his eyes with his hairy hands, but, when he uncovered them again, he saw something like a flaming spear aiming downwards. But instead of running away, fear mixed with dull curiosity pinned his feet in place. The ball of flame raged through the air for a few moments and then, with a thunderous explosion, knocked into the woods – just all league or two away. Flame flashed a white light, and Gor'Na tried to cover the ears due to burst. He screamed and falls to the ground when a force like a strong gust of powerful winds thrown him out of the ground. He saw a large pillar of smoke and fire rises like a giant cobra, expanding its fan-shaped neck. He began to wriggle in the dust in a futile attempt to get up, and when he finally succeeded, he began to run away as if without a soul. Everything around him turned into a tumult; a fiery rain of stones fell, rocks and trees fell to the ground and shattered. A flock of frightened birds was blown away by a typhoon-like burst, and the sky suddenly darkened. Clouds of smoke twisted their ashen strands like horrible demons spawned in the madness of nightmares when the flame dies at night and the shamans cast the bones on which they summon the shadows of the dead.
The moment he was almost struck by a rock that falls swiftly next to him, he reaches a rocky karst overgrown with moss and throws himself among the boulders. In a blink of an eye, and the landed rock would've nailed him to the new found cover. Curled up like a child, he felt his soul separates from the body while the shock wave carried rocks and branches that buried him. Never before had his senses experienced such horror. The tiger seemed to him a null and void vermin against such devastation that plucked the forest from the ground. Have the heavens broken under the footsteps of the Father Sun who falls to perish himself, and burn the whole world with his flame? But in his primitiveness he couldn't, even if he wanted, to bother his simple intellect with such questions. Deadly storm passed as quickly as it came, and he, still oblivious to space and time, paused for a moment until dead silence reigned. Then he began to untangle the branches and dross that had covered him a moment before and left his shelter. The rocks among which he found shelter were frayed. The bare trees of the broken branches stood like grave marks, and ashes fell everywhere, like snow in the breeze. Hunter took a few limping steps; one rock caused bloody swelling on his thigh. Blood from his shattered forehead flowed down his neck and wide chest. Almost collapsing, he stood silent at the sight. It seemed to him that life itself had been torn out of the land over which the dark skies were now rising, where the sun could no longer be seen. He stepped back in a storm of mixed emotions, wanting to get out of there. He would look for his brother, whom he hoped were still alive. Yes. And they will return to the safety of their huts. Anywhere but here - that's where he wanted to be. But his footsteps seem to cancel obedience to reason, and he slowly walked back in the same direction from which he had just escaped. Step by step, each was hard and painful. Soon the hunter forgot about the pain his injured leg caused and began to observe carefully. He was wounded and unarmed… Alone… And the loner here is an easy prey. But the beasts are gone. At least he was sure of that.
Gor'Na was of medium height like the rest of his people. His shoulders were wide and his arms were muscular and strong. His slender waist seemed to continue in the narrow hips covered by a piece of tanned skin, and his legs were thin but sinewy. Characterized by broad jaws and coarse forehead, his face seemed more of some wild creature than that of a human, but his every movement, despite his injuries, betrayed alertness and readiness which goes beyond what the latter sons of civilization will call sturdiness. He ripped off a broken branch that would serve as his bat and went forward. No one, not even himself, will ever know what lured his every step. He limped, gliding across the nightmarish landscape with his dizzy eyes, until the terrain began to fall into a gentle slope as if descending into a valley. A thick cloud of smoke spread through it, stinging one's eyes. But all of a sudden he felt strangely, as light as a feather, as if he was carried by someone else's invisible hand. He arose and disappeared in those weaving puffs, like a phantom. Soon the smoke cleared and Gor'Na stood as if at command. From there, he could see a recess like a pit that had never been there before. Lightly, he moved closer to a rim.
It was a crater, over twenty paces deep, perfectly circular in shape and sloping. But there was something in it that made the hunter look dull. In place of a dying star he expected to see, transpired a strange shadowy substance and strives upward, like a spindle, and from that unnatural haze a vague figure could be discerned. From afar it seemed like an idol the Altahians raised to their gods. Despite the warnings swarming in his mind, he began to descend. The desire to see what destroyed his small world was stronger. He slowed his pace when he found himself near a mysterious figure. But what followed then made the wounded hunter petrified. At first it seemed that some human figure, head bowed, kneeling on one knee and resting on its fists. But, at once, there were signs of life in it, and in front of the disbelief hunter, a real straight colossus stood up. He looked like a man, but such a man never walked the dust of the earth. Gor’Na barely reached above his waist. His completely naked body, pale in complexion, was made of bundles of spindle-like, full-muscle, almost painfully symmetrical. His face was a mask of unearthly beauty - and it was terrible. On it were two eyes gleamed like polished agate, and his hair was long, black mane. Hunter tongue hits the palate. His gaze full of disbelief intersects for a moment with the unbearable gaze of a giant that reflects unfathomable secrets and timeless wisdom. But not a shred of humanity could be seen in that gaze. Nor mercy.
The giant steps forward as the hunter steps back. It seemed like his heart was going to pop out of his chest. But the giant did not stop, and Gor'Na, several times near death that day, instinctively swung his bat and aimed at the giant's tile belly. But the bat shaped like a rotten twig on a huge fist that flew like a snake and grabbed the hunter's neck, lifting him off the ground as if he were a feather. Although he fought savagely against that iron grip, Gor'Na finally looked into his eyes, which were now smoldering like black fire. His struggle slowly stopped and his expression became vitreous. At one point he thought he sinks into a dark haze beyond time and space. But forms began to emerge in it, at first nothing more real than the illusion that bred's them. From somewhere, the molten magma shines through in defiance of the darkness, and every time a strange mallet blows, the flames would sparkle white, scattering like stars in the primordial chaos. The magma was getting solid, shaping into something that eventually shriek when was thrown into the ice. And that compound of ice and fire was then taken by a strong hands; a new shining weapon that cut through flesh and bone and veins. This strange vision became almost palpable, and Gor'Na witnessed the unprecedented rise of his race. Like ants, people rushed everywhere, building strange stone huts which incredible shapes rose to the sky, glittering like glowing coals in the sun. He saw men, dressed in a strange gray clothing that deflected the sun's rays. He saw the rise of a fallen god and the clash of the hordes riding on thin-legged beasts as strange signs were flying on their spears. He watched them die and bleed in the mud while the leaden sky loomed over them like the mark of a force that was yet to be called war. He felt all the suffering and pain and the insane desire to kill that was not inherent in the human race. And then comes the fall of man and a cloud of poisonous black smoke that covers the sky, threatening to kill all living things on earth. It was followed by colossal tides that brought death to the world. But he also saw a new ascent of a man who would fly across the sky in strange boats, while on earth, covered by the greyish substance, humans chased lifeless devices whose speed far exceeded even the fastest of beasts. Then came a man in strange clothing under a hooked symbol, welcomed by countless crowds with a raised hand, and the flaming tears that falls from the sky, tearing down the stone settlements of red roofs in deafening thunder. The gods will be forgotten and the land desolate cause of misery human hands will deliver. The last thing to appear were a defeated children of a dying earth, flying trough void between the stars in something that resemble an iceberg. And then everything began to disappear and dissolve.
Then the giant raised his gaze to the murky sky.
"You threw Me down and you lost the battle," his loud voice echoed into the void of the heaven "You have tumbled Me in the dust, and doing so you have plunged the world into chaos... For your harmony is as fragile as your creation, and I will raise a throne on its top! Your world will burn! And on its ruins I shall build a better one!"
Saying this, he walked to the edge of the crater. Ill-fated Gor'Na was left lying in the ashes and dust, eyes horrified and pointed at the sky. There was no longer a glimmer of reason in them. His limbs would yank at a moment, relax at another, and his intermittent breath weakened slightly until at last it became silent, and his whole body became completely limp.
Mysterious giant came to the surface and looked; a devastated wasteland lay before him. In the form of a man he went, still, not a human figure came among the broken trees, but something long and sinuous slithered through the dust and soon melted with dusk. The ominous silence mockingly swept through the darkness, carrying with it a whisper that precedes the avalanche. And a long night loomed over the sleeping land.
As always, any criticism is welcome.
When the Sun Fell on Eart
The day was unbearably warm. Above the vast green ocean of treetops that stretched endlessly toward bluish mountain, deathly silence suddenly reigned. Only a few large birds set off from the branches into the blue sky and started to lurk over a large glade, lined with dry grass sod, where the cloud of dust lightly shrugged.
There was a growl in the field, low and threatening, and then the rustling of soft paws over the dried meadow. The man who found himself there has silently watched the horrific scene; a huge cat-like beast dragged in its saber-like teeth a pile of bloody mass which only remotely resembled a human being. It could not be read from his eyes whether what he was feeling was fear or anger. The irregular lines on his rough face were twisted into an inhuman spasm. Hardly a day has passed since the hunter of his tribe, that inhabits the rocky hills on the southern edge of the great forest, took a matured lads into a common initiation. He remembered their thunderous shout when they were given spears – as a sign of manhood - and their unwavering will to prove themselves as such before the elders. Dividing into smaller groups, they scattered through the straight maze of trees, determined to test the blessing of tribal shaman on the hunt. However, in the darkness under the branches, his two compatriots and he, driven by the sense of superiority of abundance, distanced themselves from others without even noticing it. They didn't even pay attention to the ominous silence that ensued. But, one of them soon noticed two dots that glowed like fiery emeralds in the shadows. The next instant, a beast flew out of the bushes, like an raging fury pouncing on them, and a loud roar replaced the terrifying death cry of one of his brothers. His remaining companion hurled his spear at the massive shoulders that rippled in the shadows, and then they both fled. But their effort was futile; as soon as their bare feet touched the clearing, a huge tiger came running after them and threw itself at the other unfortunate man. Aware that he cannot escape, hunter collide with this boulder of muscle and claws at the moment when it collapsed on him. With the last strength born of despair, he waved a flint knife at the beast, but every effort was in vain. Powerful jaws were already buried deep in the neck and body of its victim, cutting the flesh and shredding the bones. Only he, Gor'Na, a hunter from the horde of Altahi, remained.
Doom is upon him this day, he thought. At dawn he was the spearman of his tribe, who celebrated life with young ones. Now, he worth as much as trapped rabbit, waiting for hideous death that he knew he would not evade. Wiry hands clamped firmly around the spear, he noticed when two emerald eyes fell upon him. Mumbling to his chin, he swore to the spirits of his ancestors that he would not die without trying to bring his killer to death, although deep down, he knew that the stone spear tip worth nothing against the ferocious strength of the beast. And here it is, slowly approaching, lurking on its prey. He pointed his spear at the tiger which almost provoked him with his growl that brings the promise of death. Then a roar marked the beginning of the attack, making the brave mammoth hunter barely noticeable shudder. In the blink of an eye, he swung his weapon high. But as the tiger was about to jump, its mighty jaws shut; beast points both ears and stopped. Then it started staring dully around and recoiling back in front of a confused man who wondered how he was not dead yet. The next moment murderous flame died in the eyes of the huge cat and in its place came a vague fear. The beast snorted at its victim, shook his head, and soon disappeared among the trees, leaving the stunned man to silently stands as petrified. His almost naked body shuddered again and finally he lowered his spear and sighed. Whatever it was that made the beast so mindlessly escape and leave its prey, it didn't matter to him at that moment. It only mattered that he was alive ... He ... Gor'Na ... of the Altahi horde...
But, few faint heartbeats afterwards, his attention was suddenly attracted by some strange hum ... Loud and distant ... As if coming from above. The man looked up; the blue cloudless sky was slowly taking on a purple shade that interfered with the color of the flame, and the sun itself seemed brighter. Gor'Na began to blink, though he didn't look away. Suddenly, loud thunder splits the sky and the sun started to stir; it seemed as if a flaming tear had dropped from it and her blaze swallowed every other light. Man covered his eyes with his hairy hands, but, when he uncovered them again, he saw something like a flaming spear aiming downwards. But instead of running away, fear mixed with dull curiosity pinned his feet in place. The ball of flame raged through the air for a few moments and then, with a thunderous explosion, knocked into the woods – just all league or two away. Flame flashed a white light, and Gor'Na tried to cover the ears due to burst. He screamed and falls to the ground when a force like a strong gust of powerful winds thrown him out of the ground. He saw a large pillar of smoke and fire rises like a giant cobra, expanding its fan-shaped neck. He began to wriggle in the dust in a futile attempt to get up, and when he finally succeeded, he began to run away as if without a soul. Everything around him turned into a tumult; a fiery rain of stones fell, rocks and trees fell to the ground and shattered. A flock of frightened birds was blown away by a typhoon-like burst, and the sky suddenly darkened. Clouds of smoke twisted their ashen strands like horrible demons spawned in the madness of nightmares when the flame dies at night and the shamans cast the bones on which they summon the shadows of the dead.
The moment he was almost struck by a rock that falls swiftly next to him, he reaches a rocky karst overgrown with moss and throws himself among the boulders. In a blink of an eye, and the landed rock would've nailed him to the new found cover. Curled up like a child, he felt his soul separates from the body while the shock wave carried rocks and branches that buried him. Never before had his senses experienced such horror. The tiger seemed to him a null and void vermin against such devastation that plucked the forest from the ground. Have the heavens broken under the footsteps of the Father Sun who falls to perish himself, and burn the whole world with his flame? But in his primitiveness he couldn't, even if he wanted, to bother his simple intellect with such questions. Deadly storm passed as quickly as it came, and he, still oblivious to space and time, paused for a moment until dead silence reigned. Then he began to untangle the branches and dross that had covered him a moment before and left his shelter. The rocks among which he found shelter were frayed. The bare trees of the broken branches stood like grave marks, and ashes fell everywhere, like snow in the breeze. Hunter took a few limping steps; one rock caused bloody swelling on his thigh. Blood from his shattered forehead flowed down his neck and wide chest. Almost collapsing, he stood silent at the sight. It seemed to him that life itself had been torn out of the land over which the dark skies were now rising, where the sun could no longer be seen. He stepped back in a storm of mixed emotions, wanting to get out of there. He would look for his brother, whom he hoped were still alive. Yes. And they will return to the safety of their huts. Anywhere but here - that's where he wanted to be. But his footsteps seem to cancel obedience to reason, and he slowly walked back in the same direction from which he had just escaped. Step by step, each was hard and painful. Soon the hunter forgot about the pain his injured leg caused and began to observe carefully. He was wounded and unarmed… Alone… And the loner here is an easy prey. But the beasts are gone. At least he was sure of that.
Gor'Na was of medium height like the rest of his people. His shoulders were wide and his arms were muscular and strong. His slender waist seemed to continue in the narrow hips covered by a piece of tanned skin, and his legs were thin but sinewy. Characterized by broad jaws and coarse forehead, his face seemed more of some wild creature than that of a human, but his every movement, despite his injuries, betrayed alertness and readiness which goes beyond what the latter sons of civilization will call sturdiness. He ripped off a broken branch that would serve as his bat and went forward. No one, not even himself, will ever know what lured his every step. He limped, gliding across the nightmarish landscape with his dizzy eyes, until the terrain began to fall into a gentle slope as if descending into a valley. A thick cloud of smoke spread through it, stinging one's eyes. But all of a sudden he felt strangely, as light as a feather, as if he was carried by someone else's invisible hand. He arose and disappeared in those weaving puffs, like a phantom. Soon the smoke cleared and Gor'Na stood as if at command. From there, he could see a recess like a pit that had never been there before. Lightly, he moved closer to a rim.
It was a crater, over twenty paces deep, perfectly circular in shape and sloping. But there was something in it that made the hunter look dull. In place of a dying star he expected to see, transpired a strange shadowy substance and strives upward, like a spindle, and from that unnatural haze a vague figure could be discerned. From afar it seemed like an idol the Altahians raised to their gods. Despite the warnings swarming in his mind, he began to descend. The desire to see what destroyed his small world was stronger. He slowed his pace when he found himself near a mysterious figure. But what followed then made the wounded hunter petrified. At first it seemed that some human figure, head bowed, kneeling on one knee and resting on its fists. But, at once, there were signs of life in it, and in front of the disbelief hunter, a real straight colossus stood up. He looked like a man, but such a man never walked the dust of the earth. Gor’Na barely reached above his waist. His completely naked body, pale in complexion, was made of bundles of spindle-like, full-muscle, almost painfully symmetrical. His face was a mask of unearthly beauty - and it was terrible. On it were two eyes gleamed like polished agate, and his hair was long, black mane. Hunter tongue hits the palate. His gaze full of disbelief intersects for a moment with the unbearable gaze of a giant that reflects unfathomable secrets and timeless wisdom. But not a shred of humanity could be seen in that gaze. Nor mercy.
The giant steps forward as the hunter steps back. It seemed like his heart was going to pop out of his chest. But the giant did not stop, and Gor'Na, several times near death that day, instinctively swung his bat and aimed at the giant's tile belly. But the bat shaped like a rotten twig on a huge fist that flew like a snake and grabbed the hunter's neck, lifting him off the ground as if he were a feather. Although he fought savagely against that iron grip, Gor'Na finally looked into his eyes, which were now smoldering like black fire. His struggle slowly stopped and his expression became vitreous. At one point he thought he sinks into a dark haze beyond time and space. But forms began to emerge in it, at first nothing more real than the illusion that bred's them. From somewhere, the molten magma shines through in defiance of the darkness, and every time a strange mallet blows, the flames would sparkle white, scattering like stars in the primordial chaos. The magma was getting solid, shaping into something that eventually shriek when was thrown into the ice. And that compound of ice and fire was then taken by a strong hands; a new shining weapon that cut through flesh and bone and veins. This strange vision became almost palpable, and Gor'Na witnessed the unprecedented rise of his race. Like ants, people rushed everywhere, building strange stone huts which incredible shapes rose to the sky, glittering like glowing coals in the sun. He saw men, dressed in a strange gray clothing that deflected the sun's rays. He saw the rise of a fallen god and the clash of the hordes riding on thin-legged beasts as strange signs were flying on their spears. He watched them die and bleed in the mud while the leaden sky loomed over them like the mark of a force that was yet to be called war. He felt all the suffering and pain and the insane desire to kill that was not inherent in the human race. And then comes the fall of man and a cloud of poisonous black smoke that covers the sky, threatening to kill all living things on earth. It was followed by colossal tides that brought death to the world. But he also saw a new ascent of a man who would fly across the sky in strange boats, while on earth, covered by the greyish substance, humans chased lifeless devices whose speed far exceeded even the fastest of beasts. Then came a man in strange clothing under a hooked symbol, welcomed by countless crowds with a raised hand, and the flaming tears that falls from the sky, tearing down the stone settlements of red roofs in deafening thunder. The gods will be forgotten and the land desolate cause of misery human hands will deliver. The last thing to appear were a defeated children of a dying earth, flying trough void between the stars in something that resemble an iceberg. And then everything began to disappear and dissolve.
Then the giant raised his gaze to the murky sky.
"You threw Me down and you lost the battle," his loud voice echoed into the void of the heaven "You have tumbled Me in the dust, and doing so you have plunged the world into chaos... For your harmony is as fragile as your creation, and I will raise a throne on its top! Your world will burn! And on its ruins I shall build a better one!"
Saying this, he walked to the edge of the crater. Ill-fated Gor'Na was left lying in the ashes and dust, eyes horrified and pointed at the sky. There was no longer a glimmer of reason in them. His limbs would yank at a moment, relax at another, and his intermittent breath weakened slightly until at last it became silent, and his whole body became completely limp.
Mysterious giant came to the surface and looked; a devastated wasteland lay before him. In the form of a man he went, still, not a human figure came among the broken trees, but something long and sinuous slithered through the dust and soon melted with dusk. The ominous silence mockingly swept through the darkness, carrying with it a whisper that precedes the avalanche. And a long night loomed over the sleeping land.
