Aweed Nyoka

The Reckoning

There weren’t always dragons in The Valley. And until the Reckoning, there was not even a valley in The Valley, let alone huge serpents who soared on shimmering wings. In the city, the only serpents were dingy, dripping highways that breathed exhaust rather than fire. Above them, sleek spires raced for the atmosphere, eclipsing the crumbling ruins of forgotten dreams and the dreamers buried with them. The city itself crumbled and crashed down in huge chunks, snuffing out entire communities with cold indifference. Sometimes a particularly large piece would fall and break right through the street level, a sludge-drenched canyon distantly visible below through the gaping hole. Sirens and sales pitches filled the ears of the city’s residents at all times while noxious fumes filled their noses. The city had been a machine, and like its human parts the gray thing moved without meaning. Grew without learning. Now, the city was gone. Not relocated or demolished or abandoned, but truly gone…as though it had never existed at all. In its place, a massive rift gashed the land for miles and stretched beyond the horizon in both directions. A surging river thundered along its floor, echoing against the forested slopes and earning the name this place had been calling itself for so long. There was always a valley in The Valley, the girl knew now. It had just been buried.