The Forgotten Warning

The time of the prophesied solstice was approaching. Five thousand years ago in a world whose true name was long forgotten, stories where being told about a solstice that would bring the divine mermaid up from the depths and the divine phoenix down from the heavens for the clash that would finally determine the fate of all creation. Over time though people stopped believing that it was a prophecy and just chalked it up to simple mythology. So, no one paid any heed when the first signs of the solstice started to appear.

It started when the commercial fisherman were no longer catching any fish. Not a single fish on any line, net or trap. People then noticed that no one was seeing any marine life whatsoever. Everyone started blaming overfishing and mistreatment of the ocean for the disappearance. However, no one could give an explanation as to why every marine species all disappeared exactly at the same time.

The same thing happened with all the birds just before the strange weather began. At first there were wild thunderstorms, tornadoes and hurricanes that were happening on an almost daily basis for months. But then one day they just stopped with not a single cloud in the sky. People at first thought it meant that the weather was getting back to normal. That was until they realized that there was no clouds at all anywhere in the world. The temperature began to climb everywhere and there was no relief from it even at night. Of course global warming and climate change were being blamed. However, these changes were once again so sudden and drastic that these explanations didn’t make sense.

Needless to say the whole world fell into complete chaos. Farms and water sources were being affected, so food and water were slowly starting to become scarce. People were turning on each other and pointing fingers as to who or what could be blamed. Not once was the prophecy of the solstice even considered. That was until the stone monoliths showed up overnight.

One monolith showed up in the East with the depiction of the divine mermaid and the other monolith appeared in the West with the depiction of the divine phoenix. There was no denying the old prophecy now. There was no way to blame anyone else for the strange happenings. Now was the time to remember what was long dismissed and forgotten.

Scholars practically went on a mad dash to find any records of the solstice and what was to come. However, over five thousand years things get lost or destroyed. Imagine people’s surprise that the one thing that had the most information about the solstice was a children’s bedtime storybook. The truth is though that no one should have been surprised by this as the children had been trying to warn everyone from the beginning. But, no one would listen because they were children.

According to the storybook, the monoliths marked the true East and the true West. The solstice was when the rising and setting of the sun lined up with the monoliths perfectly. As soon as this happened the divine mermaid would rise from the bottom of the sea and the divine phoenix would descend from the stratosphere.

The divine mermaid and the divine phoenix were as old as the world itself. The divine mermaid was a being that embodied everything that was dark, dank and mysterious. She was thought to have mothered all of the creatures that inhabited the world. On the other hand, the divine phoenix embodied everything that was light, fresh and absolute. For him, it was thought that he never fathered any offspring, but instead adopted the creatures that were drawn away from the darkness of the depths and toward his light. As the story goes the divine mermaid was always trying to reign supreme over everything and tried to destroy the divine phoenix on multiple occasions. Finally, the struggle came to a head on that first solstice.

The battle was so intense that the world almost split in half. The divine phoenix realized what was happening and made a rash decision. Using the full might of his wings he flapped them so hard that it pushed the divine mermaid to the bottom of the ocean. However, as an unforeseen consequence the divine phoenix had thrown himself into the sky so hard that he made it to the stratosphere. As soon as the solstice was over both the divine mermaid and the divine phoenix found that they could not return to the world. They were trapped by the solstice.

The only way that they could escape was for the solstice to let them out. Once they returned the battle would resume. The battle would then end one of two ways. There would either be a victor or they would destroy each other. One way or another, the world would suffer the consequences of the battle. The story never addressed what would happen after the fight was over.

People began to worry about what would happen after the battle. The initial signs of it had already caused so much chaos that it was assumed that the aftermath would be worse. Plans started to be made about what to do, but of course no one could agree on the best course of action. However, once again the children knew what to do.

The tragedy was that majority of the adults would not listen. They did not learn their lesson. But, there was a small number of adults that did listen and they did exactly what the children told them to do.

About a week before the solstice was to happen, all the children and those few adults disappeared. No one knew where they went. The cruel irony of the whole thing was that in that storybook were clues that acted as the map to where they all needed to go to be safe from the battle. If only they had just set aside their own egos.

Now, those who did not believe and did not listen were to suffer for their pride and arrogance. But even when it was just a few seconds away from the beginning of the solstice and both the divine mermaid and the divine phoenix were in view, no one would admit their own faults. They kept thinking that they had the power to change things when in fact there was nothing they could have done to change any of it.

With the solstice starting and the battle commencing no one knows what the outcome will bring. Whether either of the divine beings comes out victorious or they destroy each other, it will be a new world that the children and those who listened will come back too. They will be the ones ready to handle whatever lies ahead of them. One hope is that they and their descendants don’t fall into the same mistakes that the ones left behind did.