Light Field / "Snake" (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
epicbraille) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
compnetwork2012-11-13 01:45 am
epicbraille) wrote in compnetwork2012-11-13 01:45 am
Entry tags:
003 | [Audio]
It's far too cold outside for a trip to the library, but I've finished all the books in my apartment. Who knows a good story, urban legend, or rumour? I'd love to hear something new, anything really.
[ A guy has to make do until he can get his hand on some fresh literature. ]
It's a little late in the year for ghost stories, although November is traditionally the month of the dead so I'll listen nonetheless.
[ A guy has to make do until he can get his hand on some fresh literature. ]
It's a little late in the year for ghost stories, although November is traditionally the month of the dead so I'll listen nonetheless.
no subject
[ Snake listened to the story with keen interest, only speaking when he was sure it was finished. ]
It's remarkable Rhaplanca chose to blame fear of death over human greed. Delayed gratification isn't an art we've mastered as a species.
[ While the outcome of giving out the seeds didn't come as a surprise, he does have one question. ]
What happens next?
no subject
[Cloche clears her throat. By the time she's done, she really will need a glass of water...]
Years later, a boy came from the faraway, faraway distance to the land where there was neither life nor death. To that boy, that land was the hometown of his heart; it was the place where his most important feelings dwelt. It was the home of a girl, who loved to sing, that he loved more than life itself. That boy’s tremendous feelings overflow through the words of this tale.
When the boy returned the land, his heart was filled with shock and despair. The great city where he had grown up lied in ruins. All of the people that had once lived there were all dead. When he looked into the houses, all he could see were traces of the lives that had disappeared. The boy wandered about the city in a daze, unable to comprehend what had happened to the land. While he wandered, he met a “still living” girl.
As they spoke, the boy’s words reached out and brushed against the girl’s spirit. She knew him from somewhere. His familiar, tender voice echoed within her heart and called out to distant memories—painful, bitter memories that she just wanted to forget. Because of that, she didn’t dare to ask for his name. Instead, she told him:
The boy then held his hand out to the girl. It was the first time that someone had reached out to her like that.
And so the two of them, Rhaplanca and Maoh, departed on a long journey together, hand-in-hand. For the first time, Rhaplanca was able to truly look at the world—to see the people who lived on it. As they traveled together, there were times when they could not understand each other and fought bitterly over it. But, as time passed, they slowly came to understand each other’s hearts. During their journey, Rhaplanca felt the emotion of “anger” many times. But, as she traveled with Maoh and they cultivated fields together, she also came to know what it was to feel “joy” and “happiness.” Every day, her emotions became stronger.
For Rhaplanca, who had always spent her life singing endlessly in the temple, everything was new. Maoh found himself teaching her about the everyday life that the ordinary people lived. Eventually, she allowed herself to do things that she had forbidden herself from experiencing. There were times on that journey when she suffered and cried. But Maoh was always by her side to support her—and, although she did not know it, Rhaplanca’s presence supported him. Rhaplanca and Maoh traveled together like that for a very long time.
One day, Rhaplanca and Maoh came to a familiar hill. They stood underneath the white branches of a dead tree, while Rhaplanca looked down at the city below. It was a dark, still place. Rhaplanca saw that there was not a single light in that city. It was a city where there was not even one hope left. It was a scene that was so heartbreaking that it cannot be described with words. Rhaplanca raised her hands to her face and began to cry. As she cried, Maoh held her. When all of her tears had been shed, Maoh said just one thing to Rhaplanca:
Rhaplanca stepped away from Maoh and stood underneath the dead tree. Illuminated by the light of the full moon, she began to sing. With every word of her song, she crafted the thousand-first seed. She entrusted her feelings of atonement to that seed. She entrusted her feelings of hope to that seed. When the thousand-first seed was finally crafted, the land was embraced by the light of the morning sun. It was the light from that sun that breathed life back into that land—and it was the brightest morning sun that was ever seen. Rhaplanca leaned on Maoh’s shoulder and, together, they looked down at the plains. Smoke rose from the chimneys of the houses of the city. It clouded the light of the morning, but was softly blown away by the wind. And, as Rhaplanca saw this, she smiled.
no subject
[ Whether he'd call it a happy end or not is neither here nor there. ]
Tell me, does anyone know if this Rhaplanca and Maoh existed in real life?
no subject
No one knows for certain. Their stories are some of the few remnants of ancient history and culture that we have. But... regardless of that fact, the ideals that are found in those stories permeate the culture of my world.