Past Futures

Am I awake? Am I alive?

I remember everything, it had to have been real? What the fuck just happened?

Standing up from where I was sitting in the clearing of the forest, I gather my head and look around. The sun is dim but I can tell its mid afternoon. How long had I been... Out? What happened? Did I hit my head?

I'm fairly certain that it was still noon when I got to the clearing. I was headed to the river to fish and bathe, I remember leaving camp. I remember seeing a crow, cawing dramatically where the trail meets the road.

You don't see many birds these days. Hell, you don't see much at all with the sun fogged over like this.

There's still a few hours before it's actually dark, I should go wash up and fish while I try to figure out what just happened.

Alright, where was I?

I recall seeing something shiny to the left of the clearing entrance, and going to check it out. As I got closer, I recognized it to be a dirty but undamaged piece of jewelry, a golden charm the shape of a heart. I brushed off the dirt to reveal a symbol etched in it, that's when it happened! How I got to that place! It must have been the charm? But where is the charm now?

Looking around first to make sure I'm not vulnerable, I crouch down and search my pack and my pockets for the charm. I don't have it. If I'm quick at the river, I can find it again on my way back.

I go back to remembering.

I brushed the dirt off, and noticed the symbol but didn't recognize it. And then all of a sudden, the clearing was bright and green, the sun was hot on my skin and the air was pleasant. I almost couldn't breathe at first and my entire body felt, alive? I looked back at the charm and it was clean and beautiful, like new.

There were so many birds in the luscious forest, singing beautifully and clear. I was overwhelmed by a joy I had never experienced before.

I sat in the center of the clearing where the light was best, to inspect the charm further. After some time spent admiring the craftsmanship of this obviously hand forged precious metal charm, a large millipede crawled across my ankle and I fumbled the charm out of surprise, casting it onto the ground in front of me. That's when I came back! When I let go of the charm!

I get to the river, distracted by my memories of what did or didn't happen in the clearing, but not so distracted that I don't notice the crow in the dead birch tree above myself and the river bank. Likely the same crow, as there aren't many at all around here. I nod to the crow, as we are likely the only other living thing we'll each see all day. He acknowledges me silently and I proceed to wade into the river with my fishing spear and net. I catch a small perch and toss it up onto the bank for the crow, who graciously comes down for the offering.

When I was young, I learned that crows are smart enough to remember you for how you interact with them, and that they may even take a liking to you and bring you things they think are treasures. When we could still access the internet, there was a story I read about a man who taught a crow to find and bring money to him. The crow made that man rich!

I didn't give the crow a fish in hopes of riches though, that kind of stuff doesn't exist anymore since Ascension Therapy, an experimental treatment introduced in 2027 that was SAID to accelerate human evolution, physically and mentally. Unfortunately, what it really did was kill everyone who participated, which was literally everyone. Celebrities, scientists, politicians, doctors, teachers, civilians, children, everyone... The worst part, was that it seemed to be planned that way.

Many of us chose not to participate, obviously. Some people, like myself, believe in natural evolution, and that the more time we spend surviving in nature, the more evolved we become as beings... That humans can not evolve in cities where technology does our dirty work. How could we possibly LEARN anything new if we spend all of our organic intelligence creating artificial intelligence instead of collective intelligence?

After a few months of this procedure gaining popularity and all the somebodies had their AT shot, along with everyone else who wanted to be part of the elite crowd, they started dying. I mean spontaneous instant deformation, as if some hellish curse had taken them in its fist and crushed them into a twisted, mutilated, horrible sight to behold, and then they expired and decayed before your eyes. This went on for months, you couldn't leave your house without watching multiple people expire from the AT Shot. It was pretty traumatic at first but, it got old really quick. One day, it just stopped happening. I had already detached and moved to the forest -away from society, I couldn't stand the environment of the city, being hold up in my apartment while everyone I knew died horrible unstoppable deaths... We all assumed the deaths had stopped because all the AT victims had finally died off.

In the year to follow, those remaining in government who chose not to get the AT Shot, conveniently, took over. With the world population depleted to half, one conglomerate government was formed called The World Alliance of Remaining Leaders (WARL) and now rules over everyone who hasn't managed to live under their radar. They control all of the resources and surveil and police everyone very closely. I'm one of the lucky few who have managed to survive a somewhat normal and uneventful life alone in the Northland Forests, totally undetected by the WARL informants.

It's almost dark when I arrive back at the clearing, I spot the familiar sparkle in the middle of the clearing. I have a moment of hesitation. What happens if I pick it up again?

I take my pack off and look inside for a cloth or tin I can contain the charm in, I'm not ready to get lost in that other place again yet...

Part 2.

I light a fire and get some fish frying. I hang my wet clothing to dry and roll a joint.

As curious as I am, I am afraid of what this thing is. It obviously isn't just any old piece of jewelry from the past. I haven't seen gold used as an accessory since the economy collapsed in my early 20's.

I pull the cloth out of my pack. Setting it down on the table, I open it, careful not to touch it. I adjust the cloth so I can see the charm in the firelight and I inspect the symbol. It's a circle with a pattern of lines arranged inside it, it almost resembles a tree or a plant.

I drift off easily, recalling the bright living forest from my vision. I wake to the sound of the crow, staring at me and yelling like I've done something to offend him.

OK, OK, I'm up. I notice the sky is brighter than yesterday and the air is a bit warmer, the crow swoops down and lands on the table, right beside the charm on the cloth. He leans in close to it, the gold reflecting in his dark beady eye, I want to shoo him away before he takes it, but I'm frozen. In that moment of stillness, he speaks to me!

"Protect this locket, hide it away! For it holds great power that must not be abused!" I heard him say, in a woman's voice, inside my head... Wait, what?

The crow hopped down to where I sat, and again, a woman's voice in my head spoke,

"This locket possesses the ability to communicate with life itself. Protect it, hold it close, and let it guide you. You will know what to do when it is time."

The crow quickly flies away, behind it falls a single feather. I get up and retrieve the feather, I haven't held a feather in years. The woman's voice echoed in my head, 'The ability to communicate with life itself' eh? A locket? So this thing opens? What's inside?

I make some breakfast and pack up, I don't know what my plan is but I'm going to find a safe place to play with this thing. I head toward the clearing again, I know a place just west of there with some caves behind the waterfall. I often go there to meditate.

Arriving at the falls, I assess my surroundings to make sure I'm alone and I quietly slip into the cave behind them. I get comfortable on the cave floor near the back where it's dry and I unpack my bag and light a fire. I assume that when I touch this thing, I'm going to go back to that place again, and if I let go of it, I come back. That's about all I really know isn't it?

I pick up the locket and look at it, I look around and I'm still in the cave. Confused, I put it down and pick it back up again. Nothing?

What's that about? Did I imagine the whole thing? And the crow talking in my head? Yeah that does sound a bit crazy doesn't it?

I turn over the locket and start looking at it again, how does it open? I trace my thumb along the etching in the circle, my thumb following the circle and the lines in a circuit. The locket clicks open. WOW! I pry the halves apart and inside is a tiny hand painted scenery, depicting a landscape of fields and forests and the sun shining through a clear sky. It looks like the pictures from the 1980's of farmland, I can smell and taste that my environment has changed. I look up from the locket to the view in front of me. I'm looking out over a wide pasture of beautifully manicured fields, so bright and fresh looking my eyes well up.

I bring my attention back to the locket, the scene has changed to a beach on the ocean.

"What is the meaning of all of this?"

I didn't mean to say that out loud, but the answer comes into view. The crow's feminine voice speaks clearly as I watch the scenery in front of me transform into a visual, realistic breakdown of all the conflicts in human history until present.

"All throughout civilized history, the human race has been enslaved by it's own, at war with it's own, and it will die by it's own human hands in the future that you belong to. Human kind is at risk of destroying itself with it's own ego. Those with the eyes to see, must join together and show the rest. Those who cannot see, will die slaves to their blindness.

You have a strong connection to the Earth, Krissa. You possess clear intuition and a sharp mind. You are capable of much more than you can comprehend right now, but you will learn very quickly that you can make a better world for everyone, just by being true to who you are.

Don't lose this special locket, it can take you back to before the worst was yet to come, it can help you undo the past and unlock alternative futures. In the right hands, it can restore humanity's path of enlightenment to its intended highest purpose... In the wrong hands, it can change history to give absolute power to a tyrant for all of eternity. Use this locket wisely Krissa, for not only will you benefit personally, but all of humanity forever will have you to thank."