THE GIGAS

pg 6.

⚠️  Long page ahead.

The desert sand skidded between our feet rolling off our toes. The heat from the day swiftly dissipating from the dirt, cooling underneath us as we moved across its surface over large stretches of distance.

Our pace was slow but steady. Time flowing along deepening the night.

In the new midnight air the aroma of dying vegetation permeates from the ground. Small crystallizing wreaths of water trail over bare bark and frail leaves that shine in the frigid moonlight.

The broodlings crash onto the shrubbery with unbridled excitement sending small clouds of shining flakes into the surrounding air.

Giddy laughter and playful frolicking rings out into the serene landscape.

For fortnights we have traversed across softly sloping hills and endless flat terrain. The land empty seemingly of inhabitants for miles around, possibly because we are the new prowling apex predator of this planet.

Finally the landscape has turned into familiar territory...my home. I recognized the progressive change in the environment.

The fine sand gradually became more gravelly underfoot, transitioning into another distinctive part of the desert biome.

Harshier and more unforgiving.

In the distance trees materialized up above the lowly shedding shrubbery.

" What is that, what's there?" A small inquisitive meek voice asked from one of the broodlings, the individual lost in the crowd.

I answered before another could ask that same question. " A lake with fresh water. A rare oasis in this parched land" urging them forward gently.

The lake with its stony shore beckoned to us, a promise of brief respite already implied.

We continued past many plants, crumbling rocks, and then the thin willowly trees protecting the outer most borders of the rippling lake.

We stood on the bank stopping our night march into the desert, captivated by its refreshing beauty.

The scent of water circulating strong on the wind.

The younglings, again, pay us no mind. They rush, leaping into the the dark waters without much reservation or thought. Splashing with fervour, washing themselves and wetting unsuspecting nest members in the process. The happiness they exuded proved infectious to all those in attendence watching them. Not one face was immune to the happy ambience.

I too have washed myself many times along its banks............

The day most unsavory in memorium for myself is just after the siege of the human fortress. I came to its shore, weary and thickly coated of the heavy protective battle mucous that I have secreted. With thick fist fulls I tore it off my body in great ragged chunks.

Letting the pieces fall to the way side. The shoulder wound from battle still fresh but sufficiently covered with a thin layer of mucous.

Air that blew past her home blasted into my face, the fragrant scent of her filled my nostrils and skin.

Quickly I dove into the lake, submerging myself. Scrubbing the last of the offending patches from my skin.

With ever strengthening fervent strokes I swam from shore to shore crashing onto the stony bank, relentless to get back to her.

The rest was a mere blur of instinct. My only indication undoubtedly that I had whisked away my beloved was her flailing limbs seductively whispering touches over my body. Her scent and taste permeated around me in a heady fog clouding my judgement, relieving my mind of consciousness. Words spilled from my lips in an incomprehensible fashion. I could not understand my own words or their meaning as I heard them.