The Spark

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. Enjoy.

-Crisp

THE SPARK

        Taki tightened her grip on her ru-hook and shifted her feet anxiously on the mossy branch. Around her, the others were carefully concealed, but she could sense their frustration. This was the third time today that they had been forced to relocate after two failed hunting attempts. What was taking the behemoths so long? It had only been a few 100 helnu but the scent of the offering should have spread by now. Taki briefly considered dropping down to add to the offering, but decided against it. She sighed. It would be just her luck for a behemoth to show up while she was still down there. The brush rustled and suddenly all the warriors tensed. The jungle was silent save for the breeze wafting through the leaves and the tree’s gentle sway. Then as the world seemed to have stopped, the behemoth came roaring out of the brush, breaking the silence. The team snapped into action. Taki swept her ru-hook forward in a long circle slashing out a gash on the behemoth’s hide. “Taki to your left!” Taki twisted and swung the ru-hook up to wrap around a branch and swung up high into the trees. The behemoth’s tail came within inches of her head as she swung upwards. Arrows came from all directions as the Maray brothers shot arrows at the bulk all the while nimbly avoiding the behemoths swats. Ranyu fell out of the trees above the behemoth’s head and swung his axe down hard sending blood flying out in an arc. The behemoth staggered to the left almost crushing Horl then fell with a bone-shattering thud to the leafy floor. Taki swung down the tree to the ground. She approached the behemoth tentatively. As she got closer, she could see that its eyes were yellow, and as she reached up to touch the hide, the skin sloughed away at her touch. She jumped back; the inside revealed a yellow and brown puss weeping from flesh. “It is already rotting!” she called to the others. They slid down from their positions and ran over. The 6 hunters studied the carcass for a second. Finally Ranyu said “it has been possessed by a demon!” Horl, the oldest of the group shook his head “I have seen this before. It is the Shirl.” The rest of the team shivered at the word. Shirl was the disease that had come near to wiping out the tribe from back when they had been children. It was also the disease that had killed Taki’s mother. “How can it be the Shirl”, Taki asked, “the gan’leir banished it with the heavens root.” Horl’s expression darkened, “Nonetheless, it cannot be mistaken. We need to tell the gan’lehir at once.”

It was dark when the team got back to the camp, and as the other went to tell the gan’lehir, Taki slipped back to her ganji to check on her younger brother, Bren. As she walked in, she saw Bren hard at work with his metallurgy. “How’s my favorite little inventor doing?” she asked with a smile. “Sis!” Bren put down his small fire breather and ran over to hug her. “Did you find the yurulu?” Taki smiled at the mention of the fairytale creature that had been the topic of discussion for more than a few nights. Then her expression darkened “Bren?”

“Mfff?”

“The Shirl is in the jungle again.” Taki went to sit on the fiber mat which was their daily communal spot.”I don’t want you and the other children to run around the woods any more. I couldn’t….” her voice trailed of as she looked off into the trees. They sat there in silence, listening to the bird song. Bren turned to look at Taki, “How long will we have to stay inside?”

…….

“I don’t know.”

Later that night, as Taki was lying in her hammock, staring up out through the window at the night sky and stars listening to the birdsong as it dwindled and was replaced by the soft ambience of the forest and it’s daytime inhabitants at rest, she reflected on all that had happened since the last time the Shirl had befallen the tribe. There were many strains of the Shirl, and each had a different cure, if they had any known one at all. Many had died before the heaven root of the euliferia tree had been discovered to cure the last strain. Among them had been her mother, the seeker of the cure having returned too late for her to be saved. Driven mad by grief, their father left on long hunting expeditions, only coming back after weeks, most of the time empty handed. One time he did not come back. Many people had talked about her and the possibility of abandoning her if she was going to be like her father, a burden on the rest of the clan. They did so in hushed whispers, but she heard and that was why she had become a hunter, to show them that she was not like her father. She and Bren had lived for years on the charity of others, like unwanted guests of their own clan. Surely this threat would soon be over before the same calamity that had befallen them could occur to other children, the cure discovered and a searcher or hunter sent to retrieve it.

There will be more...