Bereft
Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. But you don’t have to hear something to feel it. A silent scream— deep and aching, but inaudible. The reverberations of that desperate cry seem to shake the very stars themselves. They streak across the sky, celestial tears falling on the face of a dying planet. Constellations of cracks taking shape across its surface, some narrow and delicate, others deep and vast— lit from within by the shattered, fiery heart of the planet caving in upon itself. All that was beautiful long ago devoured by the selfishness and greed of the planet’s inhabitants. Delving deeply in pursuit of more resources, when they already had all they needed to thrive, never giving a thought to the consequences their actions might produce. Nearly lost within the chaos, a final gasp— a dying breath, shuddering and soft. Sent by the breeze of its final sigh, was the remnant of those who were now set adrift, with nowhere to cast their anchor, no safe haven to return to, no place to call home. The passengers desperate to put enough distance between themselves and the place they once called home, before the very planet whose beauty and life their greed had devoured, would with it’s dying breath consume them. The last echoes of what had been, fading with each generation, until there is no memory of home at all. Only a vague impression shrouded deeply within the shadows of the past, or a deep indescribable yearning for a place they had never known.
They say those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. But how can you learn from the mistakes of the past, if your history has passed from knowledge, no longer even dwelling in the shadowed memories of the ancient still living among you.
Bereft.
They wandered, drifting for generations never setting foot in a place long enough to establish roots.
Exploring, their restless hearts searching. But for what? They could no longer remember. In the vast expanse of space they would surely find what they had been seeking... wouldn’t they?
