Tree of Life Book III

Part II - Chapter 10

TREE OF LIFE BOOK III – PART II

CHAPTER 10

My name was Aldaron.

My name was Joseph.

I was two.

And then I was one.

With new life in me, I felt refreshed. Replenished. Young again. And though deep down, I knew it was not the same as joining with Val or Annie, I felt good nonetheless and it was enough for me, at the time. Perhaps it was not going to last as long this way and it really wasn't what I wanted after all, but I put these thoughts out of my mind and I did not think upon them.

I left the village soon after. I poured myself back into my work. I traveled farther than ever, over the hills and under them. I worked non-stop.

By the dirt beneath my fingernails and the sweat upon my brow, I divorced from me all the troubles and problems that I had seen previously and I stuffed them behind me, so even though on some level I knew they were still there, I no longer saw them, or heard them, or felt them in the heart of my everyday and I was…calm. Peaceful. I wasn't happy exactly, but at least I was no longer sad.

Meanwhile, all around me, the world was changing again.

~~~

I didn't notice it, at first. By the time I did, it had been going on a full three days.

It was raining.

I was standing in my garden that afternoon and surveying the damage the water had done to it. It was damage beyond repair. The flooding. Everything was ruined.

I peered up into the sky and wondered at all the water.

Up to this point, the only kind of water that would come floating down from the heavens had been the mist, or the morning dew, or when you were close enough to the mountains, you might come across some snow or wet fog that clung to your clothes, but only if you ventured up one of its sides far enough. But this—this was different. It was water, so much water and all at once. It was like a crack had formed in the world's ceiling high above and we had been underwater all this time. It was coming down in torrents and going on and on, as if it was never going to stop again.

I gave it another two days. Then another two.

A whole week had gone by and still it did not stop. It didn't even slow down. In fact, it got heavier and heavier by the day. The sky itself was falling apart.

And then it wasn't just the rain anymore.

The earthquakes began.

The landslides came.

The rainwater must have washed loose the foundations of the earth itself. The whole world was shifting and shearing apart from its moorings.

I became worried for her. I needed to see her, make sure she was all right.

I packed up a few things, a few essentials. I set off for the village.

When I got there, I was blown away.

The place was completely changed. No longer was it a small, pleasant little town, a series of charming and friendly homesteads, it had become a sprawling military complex, bustling with tall, dark strangers in armour and clanking, metal weapons.

In a little over a year, the town had morphed into an army base.

Tents now lined the fields, straight and organized, row on row. Fires to light up the night on every corner. Here and there, men and women, soldiers every one, were going through their drills, or sparring with each other, or sharpening their blades on a whetstone.