Elysium

If you have ever experienced a moonless night, so quiet that aside from the hum of a steady wind you could almost hear the earth in rotation, then you might be able to imagine the leftovers of what had happened nearly 60 years ago, when the light had been taken from the world and all of the life within it.

The sun had vanished; and the earth, being it’s lover, died with it. It’s final breath was a deep and peaceful sigh that expanded throughout all of nature, cracking and groaning as every living tree and plant dried up.

And as nature went, human life began to follow; shriveling over the years until one day it would be extinguished, leaving behind every animal, who, being pure and blameless had gained an immortality to live together in perfect harmony.

. . .

The glow of the stars, almost completely muted out by passing clouds, cast a dim light over what was once a lush meadow.

But now, lying amongst the dust and cracks in the ground was a man named Abraham Forrest. The strength and capability of his body now began slowly waning under exhaustion and hunger, though the panic of death never overcame him. For a man of 70 he had by now spent well over 40 years surviving in the darkness; and in the darkness he laid for yet another night, accompanied by a rather docile snake he found coiled on the ground, with which he picked up and was now holding a one-way conversation.

“If only you could speak. . . I could imagine we would have the most stimulating discussions.”

The snake wrapped itself around his arm as he spoke. “All of you creatures have been taken for granted, but now we turn on the mortal for food. Although…that was never really beneath us, was it?”

He hoisted himself to a sitting position with a grunt, stretching his arm out to let the creature loose. “Off you go.” It began slowly slithering to the ground, when something emerged out of the silence. The growing sound of shuffling feet… human feet, coming from behind. His ears almost pricked up as he identified the noise without even looking, and soon after, felt his stomach grumble. The sudden sound of a foot scuffing against the earth sent the snake darting down into one of the cracks in the floor, disappearing and breaking Abraham’s focus. He twisted his body around to take in the sight of. . .

An old woman?

He glanced her up and down. She appeared fragile and held a look of amazement as she approached Abraham wide-eyed with intent.

It seemed as though she wasn’t going to stop; and right when he thought she might just step on him, she instead came to a rickety halt. He grimaced at the smell of sweat and dirt and was about to ask what on the remains of the earth she wanted, when he saw a shaky and withered hand bend down to give him something.

His mouth closed just as soon as it had opened. In front of him dangled a heart-shaped, sapphire gem no larger than a penny attached to a tattered, black ribbon. His eyes glanced up to meet hers as he slowly took the necklace from her.

The woman leaned down, and choked out with a hoarse, raspy voice, “Everything is blue!”

Abraham’s eyes squinted with confusion as he turned his head to look out over the blackened, lifeless land, ever the same. He scoffed and rotated once more to demand that she leave, only to find nothing but open air in front of him. He glanced around in every direction, but she was nowhere to be seen.

She had vanished.

Nevertheless, he still had the necklace, and that’s all that mattered. He looked down into his hand and smiled as he began gently rubbing the dirt off the beautiful gem. It was truly lovely. . . it was, in fact, so perfectly unblemished that you could hold it up to your eye and see right through it without a single scratch or scuff obscuring your view. The edges where the diamond had been cut into it’s shape, still perfectly crisp, and. . . Abraham pulled the gem closer to his face. . .a hinge? He rotated it to observe the edges of the heart more closely and found a thin, almost invisible line all the way around from one end of the latch to the other. A locket!

He had already known the purpose of the necklace, but herein lies more mystery. He hurriedly wedged a thumbnail into the line opposite the hinge, popping the heart in half, feeling his own heart beating faster with anticipation. He pulled it open to reveal. . .

Nothing. The insides were smooth and bare. He grunted with disappointment and flipped it over, confirming that there was nothing to be found, though he already knew.

Then, something caught his attention. Off to the left in his peripherals, a glowing emerged. He turned to look over at what he knew to be the blackened, forgotten forest and saw light. Blue dots, gracefully appearing, shining the same sapphire color of the locket, only much brighter. Little by little, the shining spots took shape until the woods were as bright as a bonfire in the night, being the sole source of light in a mass of black surrounding it. Then, the words of the old woman floated back into Abraham’s mind and now, he understood.

Everything is blue!

Not only a key. . . . .but a map.

. . .

The wind, cool and steady, wound through the woods with a moan, never ceasing. It blew through Abraham’s hair and encompassed his body, perhaps as a welcome… or a protest.

Long, white ribbons that had been fastened to the trunks of every other tree flailed and whipped through the air, almost as if they were reaching toward the man with the locket, guiding him for hours since his entry towards an opening in the trees. The black sky came into view once again; the open world lay before him, dead and empty but for a mysterious mass that stood proud and tall. A mass that had for so long been buried in shadow, but was now visible against the gleam of the orbs that hung through the air like a bridge, stopping at the gates of Elysium.

The silver rails curled and hooked into sharp points, like elegant vines that had merged to form a barrier, protecting the life and power within, shielding it from the disease of imperfection that once inhabited the earth.

“Father?”

The voice of a young boy broke through the silence, but Abraham’s eyes remained fixed on the gates.

The gates. . . and the small, heart-shaped indent in the metal bracket that welded the doors shut. Once more the wind blew, humming all around him as if in helpless mourning for what he was about to do.

“What’s happening?” The boy stood at a distance, watching Abraham stare into that forbidden land as he did every so often, but he had been waiting for hours to go home. Much longer than he normally would, and. . . something else was different this time. The air was. . . odd. The usual warmth and consideration from the man he called “father” had all but left, as if the sudden gust of air had blown it away. In his mind flashed the memory of a conversation Abraham had with him a couple of years ago, enlightening the young child that his real father had unfortunately passed a year after he was born; and, with a mind as young as 6 years then, he had grown to trust the man. After all, he did shelter him. And feed him. . .

“Come here, Silas.” Abraham stretched an arm out towards the boy, still maintaining his gaze ahead.

“Are we going home?” Silas responded as he slowly made his way to the outstretched arm before him. Once in his father’s grasp, he glanced all around him, searching the blackness for any possible source of this sudden, uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Yes. We are.” He looked down and gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile, then began moving toward the gate with Silas following beside him.

“What are we doing?” Abraham heard the young child ask as he closed the locket and pushed it into it’s fitted groove. One by one, the small glowing spheres began to shrink and disappear, submerging the forest and the air above him once more into darkness. Though he knew Silas would never know the difference, and for a brief moment he almost felt pity for the poor thing.

Then, the bracket that held the sapphire heart split down the middle, breaking the gem clean in two and causing a shift in the gates that shook the ground beneath their feet. They stood watching as the giant bars pulled themselves open to pour out the bright, white light of the moon. It shone over every corner as far as the eye could see behind the iron walls, revealing trees of all kinds in full bloom; flowing creeks carrying water so clear that had it not been for the sound of it trickling down through the bed rocks you would think that there was none; and plush, emerald grass that expanded to cover every crevice in the land.

Silas lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the blinding light, and sputtered out, “W-what is all of this?”

Without an answer, Abraham swept the boy off his feet and carried him across the grass and under a large willow tree beside the creek. As Silas was placed down onto the ground, he looked up into the face of his guardian, seeing for the first time a man he didn’t even recognize. This man’s face was almost angry. . . his pupils were dilated so much so that his eyes appeared black. A frown spread across his face that gave Silas the impression that he had possibly done something wrong, and it struck an unfamiliar feeling of helplessness in his heart.

“Father?” He choked out as he remained frozen in place, feeling his heart thumping out of his chest as he heard a low growl that, at first, he thought had come from the throat of his captor. But then, his heart sank to the pit of his stomach. The same location that, as reality swept in like an ocean of understanding, was the actual source of the now horrific sound.

“Your father…fed us a long time ago, Silas.”

. . .

He lay down in the soft meadow. The gentle warmth of the rising sun covered him like a soft blanket, tucking him in to go to sleep. With the aching in his belly satisfied at last, and the comfort of the knowledge that he would live on in the paradise of the land, Abraham allowed his eyes to drift shut.

He reached a hand out and softly grazed the thick bed of dewy fescue that lay underneath him, hugging his body. He smiled in his comfort.

The sweet sound of birds chirping in the distance lulled him ever deeper, sinking down…down….down…..further into the ground, until he began to feel a tightness all over his body. At first it was an odd sensation of simple pressure, but then…it wouldn’t stop. His eyes shot open, the pressure beginning to increase, more and more until the tightness became an excruciating squeeze that began to crush every inch of him.

He let out an agonized howl and struggled to free himself from the jaws of the earth as it sank in on him; pulsing, crunching, until the last of the piercing screams were diminished, and Abraham Forrest had succumbed to the appetite of Elysium.