The Deluge

The long-run mystery of an apathetic God has ended. In its many forms and interpretations, God has been shifted from the image of the all-knowing, all-powerful to the image of the spiritual within, to then embrace all sorts of physical shapes and entities which must be honoured with sacrifice and subordination.

With the unstoppable destruction of the creation, has come a deeper understanding of faith in the above. Reverse engineering, is in the end, the best way to understand the object of curiosity. So if we wonder so much, with our being, the who and what a God would be, it follows that we must begin by destroying its creation. Aren’t we its children after all? And after all, children must first learn to destroy before they learn to create. It’s in the nature of all children to do so. And both are fundamental to humanity.

We must destroy the creation to understand the creator. That is no issue. Such things comes easily to humans.

For a long time, after the rise of the sea, the ones that survived did what was in their nature to do. And from where there was a time the ocean stayed as a vast empty and unexplored mass, it now became an extortion of waste and human residue. Filled from floor to ceiling at points with the landfills of centuries of human putrified rubbish. Decaying plastic, metal and rotten, wet wood.

What has been the point of origin for life on Earth has engulfed the creation’s foul by-products. The ones who survived did so in settlements. Grouped together in a scattered hierarchy; some on wooden rafts, or remnants of old vehicles; some on yachts and moderately sized boats; and some floating around like colonies of ants, holding on to each other like tiny pieces to create their own homes.

Adaptation varied from one medium to another. The boat residents changed much from earlier humans, with a massively restricted gene pool, they experienced similar challenges the royalties of the 1600s did. Illness and deformations became a new normal. They’ve become adjusted to horrible smells of their own and of the sea. And most had sedentary lives and survived on diets of mass caught fish and seaweed.

The ones of the sea adjusted differently. All had adopted thicker skin and new characteristics, with additional abilities to adjust their vision and temperature. Most, if not all, were of a tall, lean statute with almost excessive muscle showing through. Thick thighs and abdomen to help long-distance swimming and food-catching; thick neck muscles for change of the sight plane.

Through all of the destruction, some remained hopeful. Practicing tradition remained strong, and so did religion. The new medium of life has brought not only enough hardship to direct its survivors towards faith, but also a new understanding of God. Many felt blessed and worshipped the water around them as the creator of all life. As water was what allowed water on the Earth before, it is what also punished the life that destroyed the Earth. All connected and all in connection with each other.

Highly devoted were the settlement of Anguas, the last in the sea, now afloat of what was before the Galapagos Islands. Within the Anguas, in the early morning, the passing of a recent storm brought a breezy but fresh air above the waters. Two of the members, Lucas and Michas rose to the surface to nap together peacefully, further from the others, holding each other interlocked at their wrists much like otters as to not drift away from each other.

Under the surface, the Anguans were already awake and doing the daily re-arranging of the tower of old world remains that have moved overnight. Some had already adventured into the hunting zones for fish and some deeper under to collect seaplants. Michas preferred the latter, his bigger ribcage allowed him to hold his breath for longer to collect smaller things from the sea floor. On the other hand, Lucas was shorter and agile, he preferred long-distance swimming to catch smaller and bigger fish.

The Anguans would gather together to share their food and prayer followed after the morning meal.

At the surface, the biggest of the group would mutter the common prayer, as some held hands in a circle, and some were spread further away within hearing distance, keeping themselves up by paddling with their feet or by holding on to old pieces of rubble. As the prayer was being said, Lucas and Michas slowly dropped lower into the ocean and swam across closer to the big ferries that once transported goods across long distances, now unimaginable to a human to swim.

As they got closer and closer, both were in awe and shock as to the magnitude of the ships. Most were not moving, and acted as new 'land', remaining dormant at random point in the sea. As Lucas had adventured further and more excitedly, he rubbed his hand over the surface of the ship to feel the cold metal on the bottom of his palm. Michas closely followed, but more weary of the intricate mechanism located under the ship.

“Do you think they can see us from above?” Michas whispered as he got closer to Lucas’ face. His eyebrows showed fear and paranoia that the other was not familiar with.

“No, I don’t believe so. Even so, there isn’t much they would do, I don’t assume they are vicious…Agh..shhhh....Do you hear what they’re saying? They’re making a lot of noise up there.”

As both were looking up, a screech, a yell, and a slap followed by a radiant object falling down from above. A locket. From above, it made its way through the sea, breaking through the water like a sharp, hot knife; seconds later easing its fall and beginning to make its way through to the floor like a feather. Lucas bolted down in a quick U-turn to grab the object of his mystery and conduct his much-wanted inspection.

Michas, although shaken up, was also thrown into a rare puzzle that most of his world wouldn’t see often. Not long after the fall, Lucas emerged to the surface to get closer to Michas and share his findings.

“It’s a locket, like a heart, it’s metal like the ship. It’s got gems. Look look…It’s red, it’s a gem like Gabas told before at prayer, like a ruby, he said.”

“Give me it a bit, I want to hold it, too” Michas rubbed his thumb across the smooth surface of the gems, and angled it to the sun, to let it shine for further investigation. “What do we do with it..maybe we take it back home to the others?”

“Agh… let’s hold on to it for a bit. It’s from above in the end, perhaps it was meant to fall for us. Why did we happen to be there and not another? Why did it fall exactly when we got closer to the ship? It’s meant for us and our hearts. Maybe, it wants to listen to us, like how we pray all the time, so perhaps it’s come to listen to our prayers.”

Michas got closer to Lucas, to listen and so that both could hold on to the locket. Arm in arm, both paddling the sea to keep above, began to whisper to the locket, many of their secrets, their gossips, their happiness and their sufferings. Lucas told stories of his mother, and the tears he’s wept over her death, and Michas told about his fights and conflicts with the others, his loneliness and painful boredom. And what they’d said to the locket, they’d also had said to each other, and so both knew of each other now with deeper insight, and a scary clarity.

They had known each other since childhood and had been arm in arm since then, but like many other friendships, they remained friends to the extent you do when both have to deal with their own sufferings and pains. Their belief in the locket from above let them touch a new space of openness and so they thought, perhaps they should use their new found revelation of the locket power to relieve some of their own of their ailments, following the years of destruction witnessed.

“Gabas would take this from us, you know…what is the point in bringing it to them if one will force it away?” a plea came from Lucas in a mellow voice, but desperately trying to persuade Michas.

Michas explained that perhaps all this can be done from a distance. Lucas agreed and it was left that they would do so the following day. For now, the locket was to remain hidden around Lucas’ head and hidden by his long flowing hair.

The following afternoon, both boys attempted to get closer to the spot of private prayer. Leaning on its large tower of soil, Coras stood with a strange appearance, an unseen tension in his face, and in private prayer would often cry of his own battles with how others were repulsed of him. The two boys stayed at a good distance under the surface, to listen to Coras.

“God, why I have to pay for the others' inacceptance? How I wish to not horrify the others anymore.." Coras hiccupped between tearful sighs. From behind, a raspy voice has made its way to Coras’ ears.

“Coras! Tomorrow wake up with such a confidence, that is to be unshaken by anyone surrounding you.….God will make you be the most handsome of all of your group.” An echo formed from afar only to be heard by Coras. Although deep enough to be hidden by the cloudiness of the sea, Michas had angled the locket once again so that its gems would be seen by Coras, who now believed the bright colours were an important sign signifying the beauty to come.

The following morning, Coras had awoken with incredible confidence which made his tension disappear. His distorted face of the past now became that of a beautiful man with the most aquiline and regal nose, highly admired within the Anguans.

Lucas and Michas were satisfied with their first result. They continued with the same stratagem for another four of the group; Aniela, Meleca, Harias and Cemas. Gabas had become increasingly frustrated when leading prayer time, warning of what can disguise as greed, lust, sloth, and alluding to Coras, as pride. All sins that should not be seen in the Anguas group. Truthfully, with time, Gabas had become a tyrant. And so, the in the final day of prayer time, Gabas had spoken with great gravitas: “I want for this prayer time to speak of Lucas..”

Both boys gulped down in fear. They waited nervously. Left in suspenseful silence, Gabas began to move towards Lucas. His thick palm had made its way to his forehead to push his curly hair up and reveal the locket, which he had snapped off his head with a powerful tug.

The Anguans were left speechless, staring at the scene that was to unfold in front of them. Gabas, with strong confidence has berated the boys in front of the others, screaming and shouting to all that they are to be banished from the group for their betrayal and lies. Through the shouting and waving, Gabas had inspected the locket and in the final moments, while reflecting the anger of his voice onto the locket, Gabas had forced it open.

And from it….a red liquid poured out, like a syrup. The blood of the one above. All knew of the contaminable disease of the people on the ship and all of the members had swam opposing the poison as fast as they could, propelling themselves as far as possible. Gabas remained the most affected and slowly perished of a slow death, around him the last group of the sea, the Anguans, now dismantled and lost.