The Last Guardians

This is a work of fiction. No real people, places or events were used. Copyright ã 2011 Plot Roach.

The Last Guardians

By Plot Roach

Dawn broke on what was to be the last day that humanity would see. A handful of survivors collected on the side of the mountain, viewing the last of the sun’s rays that would shine down upon their time on Earth. The Silent One was among them, and had spent the last three days fasting and in deep meditation, seeking some way that her people could continue to live. But the spirits were as silent as she.

She gestured to the group around her. It is time.

 She accepted help up from her kneeling position, and held onto the hand that had been offered to her. “Did anyone answer? Anyone at all?” Nygoth, their leader asked.

Silent One shook her head and clicked what was left of her tongue. It had been cut off when she was a child by the Braxtyns who now held power over their planet. Before sending human children into the mines or to work in the factories, their tongues were taken in order to keep them from communicating with one another. For if they could not speak, they could not ban together and overthrow their captors.

The Silent One had escaped her imprisonment when the mine that she had been working in collapsed. The Braxtyn guards abandoned the site as soon as they had recovered the machinery, leaving the broken and trapped human children to die. That was when the Silent One heard the first voices of the Earth. Not the grumbling of shifting earth, or screeching of the machinery, but the voices of those that had passed before them.

Earthworm had taught her to lay low to the ground, and that by moving slowly and pressing herself into the crevices the earth provided, that escape was within her reach. Bear had shown her which roots could be eaten and how to find water in the wasteland. Eagle had given her the keen eyes to find the last of her kind. And wolf showed her the importance of pack mates, and why they should ban together.

Though she could not openly communicate with them, in their guttural speech which reminded her of the mining machines that chewed away the bowels of the earth, she developed a type of language with her hands and body. When she told them of the past, both hers and of the creatures that had helped her, it was a dance within itself. And when the others in her group imitated it, she felt a magic begin to return to the barren land.

They had been chased from one land to another, by Braxtyn hunters seeking new flesh to work in the slave pits. They had come to this mountain only a few days earlier, it was on the edge of the last remaining forest on Earth. And when it was rendered into food for the Braxtyn machines, the Silent One knew that the soul of the Earth would forever be gone.

But how could they fight for the forest when they could not even protect themselves from the hunters? The Silent One pondered this question as she went into a deep spirit quest. And each day the Braxtyn mining machines moved closer. This day was their last chance, if not to save the forest, then to save themselves. Despite their best efforts to hide themselves, they were detected by a Braxtyn scout ship, which sent hunters to their location even as the Silent One made a last plea to the Earth for help.

“We could have remained hidden in the last slag mine and kept ourselves alive longer.” said one of the men off to her side.

“To what purpose? The chemicals would have killed us even if the hunters could not. It is better to die as free humans than to be crushed as their slaves.” Nygoth said.

The Silent One closed her eyes to the bright rays of sunshine and asked once again, Please help us. The machines hovered closer, unable to land upon the side of the mountain, their metallic hulls glinting in the sunlight. Guns exited the ships and trained upon the small group of the last wild humans. If they ran, they would die. If they stayed, they would die in the mines.

Please.

A breeze of fresh air wafted across the Silent One’s path, sending the obnoxious smoke of the mining gear away from the little group. She dared to open her eyes and saw the lights in the sky take the form of a line that pointed directly to Earth. Stars in the day? She asked herself. But, no, these were planets. But how could planets shine like stars?

A great wave, unseen but surely felt, swept across the land, The machines tumbled from the sky and the last free people clutched the side of the mountain as the first explosions rocked the land.

We are here. Said a voice from within the Silent One. And beside her stood a fine white creature she had never known before. Unicorn, her mind said. Her eyes darted across the land and more creatures appeared. Dragon, Griffin, Manticore, and many others joined the creature spirits she had come to know and depend upon. Fox beside Hydra, Pegasus and Falcon, and many more streaked through the light of what was to be the last day for mankind.

From ethereal spirits, they became flesh as the light washed over them. They danced and slithered, galloped and loped to the Braxtyn warriors, making quick work of the enemies of the Earth. The Silent One watched in wonder, the battle beautiful and terrible at the same time. And whenever one Braxtyn fell, the Earth swallowed it up and a bit of the forest grew back in its place. And as soon as the fighting had begun, it was over. The foul machinery and invaders swallowed by the Earth and rendered into a new and pristine world.

The Silent One, weakened by her effort to contact the spirits, nearly fell, but was supported by the flank of the Unicorn. Nygoth came forward to steady her and the beast ran away into the glorious new world. The human slaves that had survived the battle upon their Braxtyn captors, met the free people at the base of the mountain. That night the forest provided a bounty of food no human had seen since before the invasion. All the while, the spirits of the earth chattered, sang and cooed from the corners of the healed land. And though the former human slaves could not speak, like the Silent One, their bodies swayed with the noise, creating a story of their own. A new language. A new dance. A new chance for the Earth. A tale to be told and retold throughout the ages by those broken and now made whole. About the last guardians of the Earth and of the free people who called them back into being.