Valhalla - VI

The earth, as they say, is a living being. A massive body with a mind of it's own, and we're just mere parts of it's living ecosystem, much like cells of our body, or the billions of beings that live on our body without us knowing it. 

Back in the days of old, the times when ever person, ever sentient being was connected to the Core, the Earth's life energy, things were different. Every single living breathing sentient being was connected to each other and shared urges, emotions and thoughts in synergy, always in touch with the larger scheme of things. The Golden Era, they called it. It was a time of peace, of harmony and joy. 

Then came the usurpers from a planet beyond, or so the scriptures said. 

One day, the sky turned grey, a cloud of unfathomable darkness blotting out the last specks of sun as the vessel dropped down from the heavens, setting the air ablaze as fireballs rained down from up above. It wasn't quite a vessel as they found out later, but a rock of massive proportions, that glowed white and grey, forever pulsating, almost alive and breathing. Yet it did nothing; at least for sometime; and for that while, all was well again with the world as they knew it.

And then it started happening.

At first, it was just small things that appeared out of place in the harmonious society of then. An angered butcher raised his knife at his wife. The neighbourhood dog bit a child playing near it. A horse threw its rider off and ran away. Lovers got into arguments over the littlest of things. Jealousy became a thing of reality. No one seemed to suspect it had anything to do with the rock. After all, it had been years that it had been there, a glowing presence against the night sky and a glimmer in the daylight haze. 

The elders across families started noticed this change slowly. As they traced it back to the first instance of such anomalies, it dawned upon them and their eyes grew wide with fear and disbelief. It became clear as to what they needed to do. 

Destroy the rock. 

Harnessing the elemental powers they gained from the Earth, they tried their best, focusing all their energy at the rock, but no amount of concentration would breach the outer crust of the glowing behemoth. So they decided to build an army. 

Never before had an entire species come together to achieve something as impossible as this. But then again, never before had such a need arisen. It took years for the elders to discover the ways to focus the elemental energy into four distinct elements - Earth, Fire, Wind and Water. 

Earth-Shakers were the farmers of their time. Deep rooted in their connection with the soil and what lies underneath, theirs was the faction with the strongest connection to the Core.

Fire-Breathers were the smiths, the metal workers. Harnessing their knowledge of different earthly elements and how they got along with each other, they focused on the ways fire burned and affected things around them. Together with Wind-Whisperers, they made a formidable force, setting the air ablaze at a whim.

Wind-Whisperers were the messengers. Fleet footed and quick in thought, they could talk to the wind, making it move to their command. 

Water-Movers were entertainers. A faction of oddballs from the look of it, theirs was the largest and most united faction, able to stop rivers and move seas in large groups.

The elders led the factions, each taking over one and leading them into a united front to destroy the rock. But it wasn't without resistance. A revolution never is. 

As they attacked the rock, it fought back with pulses of negative energies that created greater and greater rifts in society. The Water-Movers went down first. An entire new generation drowned in their own jealousy and anger. Being the most diverse group, the rock's influence struck them harder than most others. Then went the Fire-Breathers, but not without a bold stand. With the Wind-Whisperers' help, they set the crust of the rock ablaze in columns of white hot fire. They would have succeeded too, if the effort hadn't spent them so much. Such concentrated fire for long amounts of time took their toll on the soldiers' bodies as they started burning up slowly from the inside. It wasn't long before they could go on no more, having lost enough men and women to the attack. But their valiant efforts yielded an opportunity that won them the war. Earth-Shakers sank the soil around the rock and pressed on it's sides as it sank down deeper and deeper into the soil. Wind-whisperers sang their eerie war songs as they focused wind into a hurricane of electricity around the rock. So strong was this hurricane, they almost blocked out the rock's radiations. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Earth-Shakers concentrated all their energy into one beam of pure green-gold that emanated from the Core and went straight up through the heart of the rock, shattering it into billions of pieces that flew in a thousand directions. The Wind wasn't slow to respond and caught all pieces in it's gust before flinging them into the dark abyss of space that it had come from.

Well, almost all pieces.

And this remained buried, lodged among the rubble that resulted from the Core's attack. As the factions celebrated their victory and mourned their losses, this piece of rock dimmed into darkness, apparently dead and decaying. 

Till it pulsed.

Once. 

Waiting.