The Price We Pay
image source: google images
Dreena sped through the trees, desperate to make it to the cliffs edge before sunset. Spear in hand, she fought back the treekin monkeys as they grabbed and scratched at her limbs, drawing blood with each lash. Panic seeped in through the cuts in her body and reached her eyes until finally she could see the edge of the forest where light fell sharply like a guillotine. Hearing one last thud of the base of her spear against the body of another treekin, Deera lept towards the light, reaching out as far as she could. And just before another small hand wrapped around her ankle, she flung herself onto the grassy ground that jutted out to form a cliff off the edge of the Isle of Qilwath. Eyes adjusting to the light, she laid there catching her breath for a few minutes before standing up. By now, the sun hung low in the sky, teetering on the edge of the horizon. In front of Dreena was planted a large smooth gray stone, indented in the middle as though to hold something. She reached into her pocket and gingerly brought out the small tin that held the Chaikoli gem, shaped to fit right into the stone. She hesitated, remembering what the guru had told her of its immense power; the way it could destroy the world, but also the way it could heal it. And so, she placed the gem carefully into the indent and stepped back, arm up in defense.
For a while there was silence. Then echoing out from the silence came the rumbling, which in turn became the roars of an earthquake. The ground beneath Dreena shook, and she noticed small cracks forming in the cliff she stood on.
Adrenaline began pumping throughout her body. Spear strapped to her back, she saw only one way out; down. Taking in a deep gulp of air and breathing out a few obscenities, she jumped off the edge, plunging fast and hard into the water. Nothing prepares you for the impact so water went up her nose that she had once believed to be plugged and as she broke through the surface, a coughing and sneezing fit ensued that left her blurry eyed and exhausted. But even through her blurred eyes, there was no doubt of what she now saw in front of her. The edge of the cliff, broken off from where she saw the cracks, was now its own entity in the shape of a gigantic alligator, the now glowering stone adorning its forehead. It took one look in her direction with its eyes of gray slabs, scales of fauna and the forest of treekin forming the shell on its back, and looked ahead to where the rest of the world lay. And finally Dreena understood. The only way to heal the world was to destroy it.