The Spark: The Journey

The stage of this story is in a post-apocalyptic world in which bio-wars have eliminated large  amounts of the human race and caused flora and fauna to mutate into gigantic equivalents of what they once were. The current denizens of this world live without technology or remembrance of what was before the change. This is the continuation of the first post "The Spark". Please read that before beginning on this. Enjoy. Also, for an alternate method of housing in the event of a post-apocaliptic setting see here.

                                   -Crisp

In the ensuing morning, the gan’lehir publicly announced that the shirl was indeed once again on the loose, but that the cure had been found. This very incident had been inscribed upon the Ruin where the gan’lehirs of ages past had written their wisdom. They would have to send just one person to go find the cure because they could spare no more. The hunting party was called up onto the stage, they had discovered this threat, so one of them would have the honor of being the seeker of the cure. Horl was too old, and the Maray brothers would have to stay and help provide food for the village. That left just Taki and Ranyu. But Ranyu wasn’t there. He had been taken by a fever the previous night.

Taki realized with a shock that she was the one the gan’lehir was pointing at.

The matter decided, the gan’lehir retuned began to go back into his ganji “But wait!” Taki called out as the gan’lehir, “I have a little brother to take care of! I can’t go and just leave him here!” The gan’lehir smiled “Well, then you may take him with you if that is your will, for we will have no use for him here.”

“But how will I find the cure? I don’t even know what it looks like!”

“The cure will be found in a structure from the time before, in a in a high place of no life. You will walk for many ten day in the direction of the Shining One in the Heavens until you reach the realm of never ending cold.” With that, the gan’lehir returned back into the dark recesses of his ganji.

The next morning, they set of, following the fading light of the Shining One in the Heavens. They walked for hours, stopping only very few times. At mid day, when the sun was beating down in sweltering waves of heat, the jungle abruptly withered away and was replaced by the sand of the desert, with its dunes twisting outwards like the coils of a thousand snakes. It was common knowledge among the clan that anyone foolish to head out into the desert unprepared would die of thirst or be lost forever to become one of the many corpses it harvested.

Taki had brought a map that would bring them across the desert and had brought plenty of water till the proposed water hole. Time had no meaning in the desert, where there were no animals to pay attention to the coming and going of the sun, all that changed was the temperature. As the sun set, they set up camp and prepared to sleep. Taki closed her eyes and tried to rest. What would a place of never ending cold be like? She wondered. It certainly was getting colder here. She shivered. How could it be so hot during the day, but now it was freezing? She slept fitfully, feeling unprotected and exposed with the great expanse of light above her as the stars came out and empty nothingness all around with only the faintest hint of the jungle in the distance. They crossed in a slow zigzag pattern leading from water hole to water hole. They lingered at the water holes for only a few days before moving on to the next, knowing the importance of speed in their voyage. Indeed, if they did not return in time, then there would be nothing to return to. The treks from one watering hole to another were hell, leaving them hollow and sunken like wraiths at the end, while the moments of watery bliss barely seemed enough before it was gone. After a time, Taki began to wonder, if they were ever going to leave the desert, or if they were just going to walk forever like ghosts.

As they walked, the sands started to develop a reddish tinge and they could see faint red smudges in the distance Taki fell asleep hoping that the end of the desert was near. In the afternoon, they reached the cliffs the mountains. The soil was red but it had game trails in it, and Taki hoped that they would find some thing to hunt other than just the small mice that they had found in the sparse grass in the desert waterholes. As they traveled through the rocky game trails that covered the sheer slopes, Bren slipped. He tumbled over towards edge of the cliff above the jagged rocks below and hung by his fingers for what seemed like a life time before Taki hauled him back up.

His pack fell and burst on the rocks, strewing its contents.

“Ow, ow, ow!” He said through clenched teeth.

Taki cut back his legging to reveal a large red gash on his shin.

Taki winced, not just at the cut, but also because the pack dropped had contained their fire starter and fuel along with many days of rations. They decided that any delay would be impossible and that they would have to get out of the mountains before they could take care of it the cut. That night, they ate nothing, and went to sleep on the jagged red rocks. The next morning, Taki brought down a long legged creature with large horns, and short ears.

“How do we eat it?” Bren asked

We have no fire, Taki thought, “We will have to eat it raw.” She bit into it, and almost immediately spit it out again, but her stomach wanted more. She ate, and ate and ate, until she thought she could eat no more. She felt sickened, and retched, but most of the meat stayed down. By the 3rd day through the mountains, the wound was infected and Taki was carrying Bren on her back.

There will be more...

Also, here are some pictures to accompany the previous story:

Pictures are by Retrotech, who gives permission to have them published.