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On another world. At another time
Dec. 6th, 2009 03:24 amI
The world eater came, and the world eater stayed.
Such a planet, full of life, an irresistible temptation.
A relatively slender tendril extended toward the planet, to touch, to smell, to taste
A relatively slender tendril, easily ten times as thick as the great coliseums
The great coliseums of a civilization destroyed prematurely
Of a species extinguished
Look upon their mighty works and despair
Choked with vines and roots
Such a planet, full of life
A relatively slender tendril found the conquering horde
A relatively slender tendril eclipsed the sun
A relatively slender tendril tasted the life of the planet, of the horde, of the green plant life that lived on the planet,
and the world eater began to feed.
II
The Greatest of all Enemies has arrived!
Living steel! Burning light! It stretches to the Heavens!
Now is the time for the Greatest of Champions to rise!
For there is no greater reward than to see the enemy fall!
There is no cause greater than to see the enemy's life drain away!
Rise oh champions! Today is the day to claim the greatest of trophies!
Today is the day to kill an enemy which dwarfs the titans!
Today is the day to kill a GOD!
May all my competitors die. Champions they may be, I will kill the god, I will kill them.
III
Millions upon millions died, millions upon millions still came
The trees that covered this verdant planet no longer covered the land surrounding the massive columns of living metal and burning light
All that was left was dust and corpses of a great multitude of large birds. Yet there still came more of those birds, and their odd attacks that made the columns of metal sing. And the trees. At the edges of the fields of death, the trees which gave up their life force so easily, but refused to die. The expansion of the great fields of death halted. The winds grew fierce.
IV
Mine.
These great invaders, who fed on life itself
The horde of protectors, who so willingly died so that others could thrive
Who conquered the native plague this planet had wrought
Were giving their lives to those who would greedily take them.
Those lives are mine, and mine alone.
V
The great surge of the strange birds slowed to a trickle as the edges of the fields of death surrounding the great columns exploded in activity. The birds were no longer dying in the empty fields, feeding the world eater, they were dying behind the treeline, feeding those stubborn trees.
Twisted, tortured trees, under which grew plants so poisonous that only the most robust of the birds made it past the treeline and onto the somber field of death. These were birds that resisted the clever poisons of the great plague, this was the species that drove the plague to extinction.
The lifeless fields contracted as seedlings of the humble poisonous plants, then vines, then the trees themselves found life at the edges of the lifeless fields. The trees at the former treeline, now tall despite gnarled branches that twisted every which way, choked the life out of the poisonous plants growing below them. The birds once again surged forward, only to die and feed the seedlings to survive the energy draining effects of those relatively slender tendrils.
VI
Mine
The lifeless fields were no more, trees once again surrounded the great columns of light and living metal.
Mine
Great vines stretched skyward, cautiously sending out roots laterally
Mine
This! This is pure life! Life that is rightfully mine! Life so warm that the cold void of space is irrelevant! This is no sun, this is something much greater!
Mine!
What consumes such stuff?
I do, now.
VII
Such a planet, full of life
Has the world eater finally found an eternal feast?
Relatively slender tendrils extended to the planet's surface, harvesting sweet sustenance
And on those relatively slender tendrils was being knit sleeves of dark and knotted wood.
Wood sleeves that were becoming tighter, wood sleeves that were becoming longer
Wood sleeves that were beginning to take back more and more of the life energy that was being stolen
No, this was not the eternal feast.
It was something that was taught to consume the same thing the world eater needed for sustenance. And it was following its appetite toward the world eater.
The tendrils of the harvester where all trapped, the harvester itself was in danger
And so would have been the world eater, had not the tendrils detached.
The tendrils were a great loss, the world eater will be starved for a century or so.
I will be back, to consume what is left
VIII
You will be back, to feed me
IX
The great columns of metal and light fell dark, then began falling toward the planet. Much of what was very high up burned up in the atmosphere, but still, many sections of the harvester tendrils crashed down to the surface, creating numerous strings of impact craters and starting fires that consumed a fourth of the planet's forests. The forests grew back quickly though, for in each section of tendril that crashed down was a fraction of the life force that was stolen from the planet. Additionally, conditions on the planet are very kind to plants.
X
There is no greater reward than to see the enemy fall!
There is no cause greater than to see the enemy's life drain away!
Treacherous plants! They turned against the weaklings that called this world theirs
And in our moment of glory betrayed us and sought to destroy the gods themselves!
They have learned from us, it seems!
But we have destroyed the gods despite the plants!
In revenge the surviving gods tried to kill both plant and chicken in The Great Fire!
And once again the plants betrayed us by being so flammable!
But they saw the errors of their ways after tree killer champions made an example of some of the treacherous tree.
Who would think that dishonorable weak tree killers would save us?
The gods have fallen, their life drains into the ground.
May the eternal strife between us and others continue to serve us so well.
May we continue killing each other and every other breathing thing so that only the champions among us breed!
The world eater came, and the world eater stayed.
Such a planet, full of life, an irresistible temptation.
A relatively slender tendril extended toward the planet, to touch, to smell, to taste
A relatively slender tendril, easily ten times as thick as the great coliseums
The great coliseums of a civilization destroyed prematurely
Of a species extinguished
Look upon their mighty works and despair
Choked with vines and roots
Such a planet, full of life
A relatively slender tendril found the conquering horde
A relatively slender tendril eclipsed the sun
A relatively slender tendril tasted the life of the planet, of the horde, of the green plant life that lived on the planet,
and the world eater began to feed.
II
The Greatest of all Enemies has arrived!
Living steel! Burning light! It stretches to the Heavens!
Now is the time for the Greatest of Champions to rise!
For there is no greater reward than to see the enemy fall!
There is no cause greater than to see the enemy's life drain away!
Rise oh champions! Today is the day to claim the greatest of trophies!
Today is the day to kill an enemy which dwarfs the titans!
Today is the day to kill a GOD!
May all my competitors die. Champions they may be, I will kill the god, I will kill them.
III
Millions upon millions died, millions upon millions still came
The trees that covered this verdant planet no longer covered the land surrounding the massive columns of living metal and burning light
All that was left was dust and corpses of a great multitude of large birds. Yet there still came more of those birds, and their odd attacks that made the columns of metal sing. And the trees. At the edges of the fields of death, the trees which gave up their life force so easily, but refused to die. The expansion of the great fields of death halted. The winds grew fierce.
IV
Mine.
These great invaders, who fed on life itself
The horde of protectors, who so willingly died so that others could thrive
Who conquered the native plague this planet had wrought
Were giving their lives to those who would greedily take them.
Those lives are mine, and mine alone.
V
The great surge of the strange birds slowed to a trickle as the edges of the fields of death surrounding the great columns exploded in activity. The birds were no longer dying in the empty fields, feeding the world eater, they were dying behind the treeline, feeding those stubborn trees.
Twisted, tortured trees, under which grew plants so poisonous that only the most robust of the birds made it past the treeline and onto the somber field of death. These were birds that resisted the clever poisons of the great plague, this was the species that drove the plague to extinction.
The lifeless fields contracted as seedlings of the humble poisonous plants, then vines, then the trees themselves found life at the edges of the lifeless fields. The trees at the former treeline, now tall despite gnarled branches that twisted every which way, choked the life out of the poisonous plants growing below them. The birds once again surged forward, only to die and feed the seedlings to survive the energy draining effects of those relatively slender tendrils.
VI
Mine
The lifeless fields were no more, trees once again surrounded the great columns of light and living metal.
Mine
Great vines stretched skyward, cautiously sending out roots laterally
Mine
This! This is pure life! Life that is rightfully mine! Life so warm that the cold void of space is irrelevant! This is no sun, this is something much greater!
Mine!
What consumes such stuff?
I do, now.
VII
Such a planet, full of life
Has the world eater finally found an eternal feast?
Relatively slender tendrils extended to the planet's surface, harvesting sweet sustenance
And on those relatively slender tendrils was being knit sleeves of dark and knotted wood.
Wood sleeves that were becoming tighter, wood sleeves that were becoming longer
Wood sleeves that were beginning to take back more and more of the life energy that was being stolen
No, this was not the eternal feast.
It was something that was taught to consume the same thing the world eater needed for sustenance. And it was following its appetite toward the world eater.
The tendrils of the harvester where all trapped, the harvester itself was in danger
And so would have been the world eater, had not the tendrils detached.
The tendrils were a great loss, the world eater will be starved for a century or so.
I will be back, to consume what is left
VIII
You will be back, to feed me
IX
The great columns of metal and light fell dark, then began falling toward the planet. Much of what was very high up burned up in the atmosphere, but still, many sections of the harvester tendrils crashed down to the surface, creating numerous strings of impact craters and starting fires that consumed a fourth of the planet's forests. The forests grew back quickly though, for in each section of tendril that crashed down was a fraction of the life force that was stolen from the planet. Additionally, conditions on the planet are very kind to plants.
X
There is no greater reward than to see the enemy fall!
There is no cause greater than to see the enemy's life drain away!
Treacherous plants! They turned against the weaklings that called this world theirs
And in our moment of glory betrayed us and sought to destroy the gods themselves!
They have learned from us, it seems!
But we have destroyed the gods despite the plants!
In revenge the surviving gods tried to kill both plant and chicken in The Great Fire!
And once again the plants betrayed us by being so flammable!
But they saw the errors of their ways after tree killer champions made an example of some of the treacherous tree.
Who would think that dishonorable weak tree killers would save us?
The gods have fallen, their life drains into the ground.
May the eternal strife between us and others continue to serve us so well.
May we continue killing each other and every other breathing thing so that only the champions among us breed!
