by Terra Mar
She looked out from the familiar hilltop, wondering if she would live to see tomorrow’s sunset. Twilight filled her world, and this evening’s colors were astounding. Bright oranges dipped into beiges in one direction and blues in the other.
The sun had finished drenching her world in light and warmth. The half-moon would soon be bright, and pour silver slivers into night’s shadows. To those who knew, tonight the world would slip into perfect balance. The Fall Equinox signaled a perfect match of light and dark.
But she knew nothing of Equinoxes. If she did, this evening she would not have cared. Nothing less than her survival and that of her entire family occupied her thoughts. Along with the rest of her kin, she was preparing for the upcoming dawn battle. She had heard many tales of the enemy the scouts had seen. A whole army of them.
They viewed all who were different from themselves as “Other.” They never took prisoners, but chose to fight to the death. They dismembered their enemies—and enemies meant all who were not their own. Perhaps her people were not so much better. They chose not to kill the vanquished, but took slaves. Some forced themselves on the females. Life is brutal and war a living hell, she reflected. All she had was this moment, this concert of sunset’s colors.
Finally, she crawled away from the mutable sky that graced her anthill. The dawn and the Argentine ants would come soon enough.
1 comment:
It's one of those pieces that make you think. I like this one. Good job.
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