The Ocean of A Thousand Tears

Verida sat in her favorite field of wildflowers conversing with the bushy tailed rabbits and squirrels. The sun burned bright above her head and a warm breeze pushed feathery wisps of clouds through the endless sea of blue sky. Her bare feet were tickled by the long grass and her face lit up with a smile that showcased her effortless beauty. She was a goddess, born from the union of her mother The Moon and her father The Sun. She had been created to tend to the flora and fauna on this planet Earth and see that they thrive. She was abruptly pulled from her day dreaming as the ground beneath her began to vibrate with increasing intensity. Her furry friends bolted for the safety of their homes, and Verida's brow creased with annoyance. She threw a look over her shoulder at the mountain that jutted up from the earth and pierced the sky with its jagged peaks. A large boulder crashed its way down the mountain side and came to rest in the grassy bed at the foot of the ridge.

"Good morning, brother." Verida called, her voice tense with agitation. A young man came around the front of the mountain's snow covered cap, his face bright with amusement. Monsied was born Verida's twin, but that's where the similarities between the two deities ceased. Where Verida was soft and gentle with a wisp like beauty about her, her brother was cold and hard as the stone he so loved. He was the keeper of the mountain ranges, and while he loved the strength and beauty to be found among his rocks, they offered no companionship. He had none of the woodland friends that Verida had, because the critters couldn't survive in the fierce cold of the unyielding stone peaks.

"Must you make such a racket and scare my friends? Haven't you got geodes to break open or caves to explore?" Verida's tone was bitter as she picked herself up out of the grass and turned to face Monsied. He loosed another boulder and used it to slide down the mountain's edge to present himself in front of his sister with an exaggerated bow. Verida rolled her eyes as he straightened.

"My deepest apologies, dear sister. I didn't intend to frighten you or your little woodland companions." Monsied's tone suggested otherwise, and his hard eyes sparkled with mischief. Verida turned away from him in exasperation and called for her friends. She could see their furry faces and multiple pairs of beady black eyes peeking from beneath the thickets of grass, but they would not come out of hiding while her brute of a brother was in her company. Monsied chuckled while Verida fumed. She whirled on her heel to face her brother's smug expression.

"Why are you even down here, Monsied? Your precious rocks and mountains do not breathe. They require no real supervision. Did mother and father give you this job just to get you out of their hair?" Verida's words sliced into Monsied like jagged stones, and he winced as a scowl set in to his brow.

"My mountains may not draw breath or grow vegetation like your precious flowers and furry things, but they require just as much attention." The ground began to tremble beneath their feet again, and several large boulders came crashing down the mountain side. A doe and her fawn grazed lazily at the foot of the incline, directly in the path of the falling rocks. Verida cried out in alarm, but the pair paid her no mind as they were far more interested in their lunch. Monsied sauntered casually over to the rising cliffs and rested his palm on the cool, jagged surface.

"Look out!" Verida screamed again, and this time the animals perked up their heads. They bounded away just as the falling rocks came to a sudden stop within an arm's length of crushing them. Monsied laughed, and it was the first real joy he'd felt in days. Verida however, steamed.

"You are ruthless and cold, just like your mountains. Now I understand why our parents chose you to watch over these ugly peaks." Verida spat the words at her twin before storming away in search of her friends.

"You know nothing of how truly ruthless I can be, sister. Not yet, but you will. You will know how lonely it is on this Earth, when I've returned all of your precious greenery and rodents to the stone from which they came." Monsied murmured as he turned his back to Verida's retreating form and placed his other palm on the rock face.

Verida had just settled into a comfortable seat in the grass with a bunny in her lap, when the top of Monsied's precious mountain exploded.

When the dust cleared, Verida was again alone in the grass, her woodland friends finding shelter in the decayed logs and hovels. She coughed and sputtered, her eyes stinging from the dirt on the wind. As she wiped her face with the hem of her dress, she was struck painfully on the top of her head.

"Ow!" She cried out, and rubbed the spot tenderly as she searched the ground for what had hit her. At her feet was a small rock made of what looked like crystal. A moment later she was struck again on the shoulder, and Verida noticed with horror that it had begun to rain pebbles and stones. She bent down to pick up the first that had cuffed her, and it crumbled to a fine white powder in her hands. The air began to smell heavily of salt. Her fear mounted as she looked around her and her beautiful, luscious grass was buried under a layer of Monsied's rock salt. Before her eyes she watched as the flora and grasslands that she had spent so much time tending to began to wither and die.

"Monsied! Monsied what have you done?!" Verida screamed for her brother, but he was nowhere to be seen. The rain of rock salt turned into a torrential downpour, and she stole away into a large hollowed out stump lest she be barraged to death by the stones.

It rained rock salt for seven days. The chunks ranged in size from a mere pebble, to the size of a fist. Verida watched helplessly from her shelter as all of the plant and animal life as far as her eye could see shriveled up and died. After the seventh day, when the last of the salty hail had settled into the earth, Verida emerged from her hiding place. The soft pads of her feet were poked and scratched by the rough salt crystals, which covered the ground for miles. Verida sank to her knees and wept. Rivers of hot tears cascaded down her soft cheeks, and for seven more days her mournful sobs were the only sound on the planet.

When she opened her eyes on the final day, she dried her cheeks and stared open mouthed at the world around her. The ground where she was perched was the only solid ground for miles. She floated on an island in the middle of a vast ocean. Verida wiped her eyes and re-positioned herself so she could dangle her feet in the warm water. Almost immediately, she was greeted by a large, beautifully colored fish that brushed it's scaly body against her ankle before darting away into the depths.

Verida's endless tears had mixed with Monsied's salt beds to create gallons upon gallons of salty water, where new life was able to flourish. Sea creatures of all kinds were born from the remains of the land creatures: squid and sharks, starfish and anemones, and multitudes of fish. From the dead vegetation bore seaweed and coral, and a number of other underwater plant life. Monsied's cruel act had given Verida an entire ecosystem that was far more vast than she could ever fathom.