Maelstrom

So hard to move. The weight of the chains that bind me crush my chest, pin me to the ground like a butterfly in its glass case. It’s dark here in my prison. I sense time passing as though it were a moment -the flash of winter freezing the earth around me, then Spring and the damp scent of fertile soil. Over and over, winter, summer, winter. How long? How long have I waited for them to remember me?

I know they are still out there. I sense them, scurrying about their pitiful lives on the surface, building skyscrapers and monuments to their capitalist Gods, worshipping the rich as they have always done. They will never learn.

There was a time when I believed in them. Believed they could be changed, their hearts softened to the world around them. I was too gentle, gave them rein to find their own paths – so stupid. Their way is always war, their greatest triumphs soaked in the blood of the innocents.

I wanted so much for them. I watched them find themselves – explore the world, create stories to explain each wonderous detail. Once they lifted me on a pedestal, taught their children about me. They hunted only for what they needed, took only what belonged to them, or could be freely replaced. They had respect back then.

I don’t know what went wrong. When the greed set in. I was proud of their achievements, the beauty of the Hanging Gardens, the majesty of the Pyramids… until I looked closer, and saw the misery beneath the façade. Enslaved people forced to labor and toil for everything, while the elites watched and reaped the rewards. Already they were learning bad habits – selfishness, hate, violence. They needed to be taught a lesson, reminded that they were not the apex predators in this world.

I regret nothing. I did what had to be done, and brought the raging oceans crashing down upon their settlements, releasing the power of a thousand dormant volcanoes to send the seething, boiling waters. As my destruction raged about them they cried out for mercy, but I hardened myself to their pleas. Had they shown mercy when they sacked cities, raped and pillaged each other in their efforts to destroy? No, my rage was justified, and their punishment well deserved.

I underestimated them, though. There were some who had foreseen what would happen, had prepared defenses against my judgment. They built cities underground, stored grain and dried fruits to weather the storm I unleashed upon them. When I rose up to scourge my world and make it pure and new again, they trembled below ground, industrious little vermin in their tunnels. There they plotted my downfall, waiting for the waves to subside, the oceans to settle, and peace to return to the lands. They must have known I was weakened, and wounded from the horrors of punishing those I had loved best.

They sought me out, coming to me with their heads bowed in penance. They threw themselves upon the ground before me, lying prostrate and vulnerable as they repented their sins. And I, like a fool, believed them. Or maybe I didn’t, but only wanted to believe. My love for them outweighed my anger and I let myself be swayed. A second chance, yes, that was only fair. They knew now what I was capable of, how severe my love could be if they faltered on their path to forgiveness.

So, I let them go. Let them return to the surfaces, rebuild their cities and repopulate the world. I slumbered, exhausted by my efforts, cradled in the soft earth while they toiled above. I dreamed of the Utopia they would create, the beauty of humanity without the flaws of war, greed, vanity.

Stupid of me. So young, so idealistic! I truly believed they were repentant. Instead, they gathered their forces against me, plotting my downfall with the same determination that they used against each other. Somehow they found the old Magick, the powerful spells of binding that could render me helpless.

They came with gifts, begged my blessings as they laid their offerings at my feet. Gold necklaces and torques, intricately carved with runes and poetry. An ornate locket, heart-shaped, gleaming with the red of their sacrifice to me. I put it on, flattered by their lies, their fork-tongued professions of love and fealty. I allowed them to do this to me.

The locket contained words of great power, I knew as soon as it was clasped about my throat that I had been duped. I scrabbled in vain to free myself. They wrapped their golden chains about me, dragging me down to the darkest depths of their underground city. And there they left me, sealing up the tunnel, entombing me within my own mountain. Doomed to lie in darkness for Millenia as they walked the earth above, free from the consequences of their actions.

They might have forgotten, but I have not. I hear them, moving closer, digging out the tunnels they once buried with such fear. These new humans have no memory of the great flood, no concept of the vengeance I will wreak upon them when I am finally released.

I will rise and rip their skyscrapers from the ground, hurl them down to crush the people in the streets below. I will fly over their cities and towns, bringing with me a storm such has never been seen before! Volcanoes will erupt, glaciers will melt, they will drown in the ice or burn alive in the heat of my fury! I will not rest until every last trace of humanity is removed, my world scoured clean of their evil once and for all. None shall survive, there will be no more second chances.

They are getting closer now - the fools dig up their past without a thought as to why it was buried. I hear their voices, their trowels scraping against the walls of my tomb.

Time to unleash the maelstrom!