Beware
I heard the men coming long before I saw their grimy faces. The sounds of the war they brought announced their intention days before they appeared on the horizon. Death rang clearly in the air.
There was a sense of foreboding between me and my brothers when we first noticed their kind. We were peaceful, left alone to tend the land as we pleased singing songs of old in the glory that we all shared equally. With the spotting of the first man in our midst came the rustling of doom whispered on the wind.
In the years of my youth I was warned of this possible fate. The elders heard stories of such atrocities, they warned us to be vigilant and wise and to never let our guards down. Danger apparently lurked around every corner in those days. Being young we took it as lightly as we could for they were old and spent too much time in the clouds seeing what was not there. I could only sit in gloom as I watched what they said could pass come true.
I lived a good life. Always reaching for the top and applying myself resourcefully. I never took more from the soil than what I needed. With determination I grew taller than any others, stronger than even the elders of old. With valor I was appointed the peacekeeper of the forest, the protector of the land, and the reader of the winds.
Failure ran throughout my length. The reader of the winds has failed. The one everyone looked to sat idly by as strangers swarmed the countryside slaughtering his people. The murmurs of disappointment creaked through the forest as more and more voices went silent. My voice the quietest of them all.
No one could have prepared me for what I faced. Even with the knowledge that it could happen never was a remedy discussed. The elders in all their wisdom knew not what to do in the face of this kind of danger. Frustration gripped me as the war machines grew closer yet.
“Why must it be this way?” I cried loudly into the sky. The only response I received came from the angry calls of birds that had been startled by my outburst. My frustration turned to anger in the face of their daunting calls. To be a nomad, to be able to take flight when the moment turns for worse, to be so lucky, to be so free. I wept for I knew I would never be free, I would never escape this fate.
Day by day, the sounds and the men grew closer. Our voices continued to fall silent. I gloomily awaited my turn.
With the sun creeping over the horizon came the voices of the men. They brandished weapons with teeth covered by the blood of my comrades. They sang and whistled while they worked to eradicate all that stood before them. They called out triumphantly every time one of my people fell.
I trembled in anger as several of the men approached me with their weapon of death. They took their time getting ready by hoisting ropes over my arms and around my body. When all was ready they began the first cut. The pain was dulled by my fury and sadness.
In unison they began to cut deeper into me. They sawed back in forth while humming a tune I could not understand. I began to sway with their movements but I did not fall. I refused to fall.
Tears began to seep slowly as the pain grew worse. I felt each bite as the teeth tore through my skin. With the last of my life force slowly ebbing away I took a last look at my surroundings. Where my people had been, so lush and vibrant with life, was filled with churned earth and piles of bodies. There were men everywhere, they were mutilating the once beautiful landscape. With horror I saw a group in the distance cutting one of my neighbors in half. With a gasp and a shudder I lost control.
But the men never saw the full strength of my anger. I began to fall. The men called out with cheers as I felt my base come out from under me. I was too late.
I watched my body fall to the ground with an earth moving crash. I saw my brothers and sisters shudder in unison as they watched, horrified and speechless. Descending higher and higher into the clouds I saw the forest, my people, begin to mourn the death of the peacekeeper. From afar I saw the first leaves begin to fall as my people wept. As my conscience started to dissipate, feeling the reality of the world leaving me with sweet tendrils of haze, I gathered what life force I could. Massing in the center of the ethereal being that I had become, I forced my essence towards the earth.
-Beware man-
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