Earth looked down upon the world. She looked upon it and saw, and the world shrunk under her
\ngaze. The haze of smoke and black clouds rose, a halo of smog encircling Earth\u2019s head, her dark
\nskin coated in a film of soot, and she saw. What once was colorful and exuberant\u2014thriving with
\nthe life that had been breathed into each piece of her creation\u2014was gray, a monochrome slate of
\nlost potential and failed dreams.<\/p>\n
The Sea, her daughter, beautiful with her wide azure eyes and downy hair, looked to her from her
\nplace with the world, the fire in her eyes now a fading spark. Her hair was chopped short, turned
\nblack with the blood Earth had gifted to fuel the world. Her teeth and eyes stained the same black
\ntint, and Earth reached down to brush a gentle hand across her face. The Sea\u2019s skin was slick and
\nslimy, a frigid echo of her prior beauty. With a sickened smile, the Earth withdrew, and looked
\ncloser to her beloved project, and she saw.<\/p>\n
She saw all her creatures in their suffering, and their eyes looked up at her. She saw the Abalone,
\nits shining shell collected for sport, and the gentle Elephant, his tusks stolen. The bluejay
\nwarbled a broken song, tinged with loss. The proud Gibbon clung to the last trees of his once
\nvast forest, and the tricky Fox hid in corners of the towering gray villages, hiding herself from
\nthe snooping firesticks of the humans. Earth saw this, and saw her creatures slashing their eyes
\nout to have something to eat, and saw the humans and their uncaring ways. Earth saw the
\nhumans standing in their villages, towering up towards Sky\u2019s arms, taking all and leaving only
\ntheir own filth behind.<\/p>\n
Earth saw these humans she had created, ones she had crafted from her own flesh, whom she had
\nsuckled at her own breast, whom she had built the world for. She saw the humans she had given
\nher daughter to, for whom she had created rain from her own tears, whom she had nurtured and
\ntaught to make fire and read the map her sister had left behind. She saw her humans, those who
\nshe created the world for.<\/p>\n
And the Earth was angry with them, and she saw now the destruction and greed of that which she
\nhad wrought. Her beautiful creation now sat a muddle of gray and brown in her gentle hands. But
\nEarth was not a vengeful mother, and she did not turn to rage before grief. She had gifted her
\ncreations the same emotions she shared with her sisters, but she was not subject to the whims of
\nimpulse of such fleeting creatures. As anguish settled in her heart, she leaned her great head over
\nthe land, and her sister Sun\u2019s light was blocked from it. The humans were plunged into an eternal
\nshade, and yet they did not see the Earth\u2019s pain as she contemplated the undecided fate of her
\nproject.<\/p>\n
The Moon, who had so admired his daughter\u2019s creation, saw too the anguish in Earth\u2019s heart. He
\nlooked upon her, and her creation cradled in her hands, gray and black and ruined, and told his
\ndaughter, with a gentle hand upon her shoulder, \u201cThere is naught you can do now but begin
\nagain, my dear.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Earth wept at her fathers words, for she knew them to be true. A single tear fell from her
\ndark skin, and splashed upon her beloved creation. A great wave appeared at the spot where the
\ntear had landed, pushing towards the shore with deadly force. Another tear slipped down her
\nface, and there it created a great ripple in the land, and it shook under the humans\u2019 feet. But the
\nHumans did not see their creator\u2019s tears, nor did they concern themselves with the disasters that
\ncame with. What the waves and quakes knocked down, they simply began to rebuild,
\nreconstructing their towers and high-rising villages.<\/p>\n
The Earth knew then what she must do. Knew that even the warning of her own tears would not
\nshow the humans the error of their actions and open their eyes to their destruction of the lovely
\nhome she had given them. She dried her eyes, and her father pulled away, and with a single
\nbreath, Earth sent great winds onto the land, and they whipped at the tall structures the humans
\nhad made, the same as they lashed at the trees and mountains. The Sea saw her mother\u2019s plan and
\nturned her back on the land, on the humans that had so abused her and forgotten all that she too
\nhad given them. The Sea left to stand at her mother\u2019s side, and in her wake arose deep whirlpools
\nand waves that towered over even the human\u2019s buildings.<\/p>\n
The Sky, her face turned black with the smoke humans had sent to her, kissed her daughter\u2019s
\ntemple before retreating with her husband, leaving Earth to destroy her tiny world. The void
\nbeyond the land, once hidden by the warm arms of the Sky, now hid only behind the great clouds
\nthat she left.<\/p>\n
The Earth took her thumbs and dug them into the center of her world. She dug them into the
\ncrust, and then beyond into the hot underworld, and further to the core of her creation, and began
\nto pull. She watched the land begin to move across the surface of the world, and she pushed it
\nfurther. It moved faster; it moved with the speed of a jackrabbit, and when she pushed, it moved
\nfaster. The land masses reached each other at the other side of the world and collided, rock
\ngrinding against rock, soils mixing, and with nowhere else to go, turned inward to the
\nunderworld and the core, swallowing itself in the heat below the surface. The great filthy villages
\nof the humans crashed against one another, falling to the speeding collisions and quakes,
\ncrumbling under the power of the Earth.<\/p>\n
Where the Earth pushed into the world, the glowing blood of the land flowed between her
\nfingers, coating the wound she was opening. And where the masses of land collided, Earth saw
\nher creatures be swallowed up with the crust of the world, humans and animals made equal in the
\nend by her hand as she pushed and pulled her project inside out. And when all destruction was
\nhad and Earth\u2019s thumbs ceased their pushing, her world was nothing but a crumbled black mess.
\nA black smoke, thinner and paler than the human\u2019s, filled the air around the once-world.
\nThe Earth was filled with grief at what she had done, at all her love and work lost, and she
\nhanded the blackened heap to her daughter. She cried out in her sorrow, and fell to her knees, her
\nface hidden by her soot-covered hands. Earth sobbed for what she had destroyed, and The Stars
\nheard her heartache from far away.<\/p>\n
\u201cSister, for what do you harbor such anguish? What has laid such waste to your heart?\u201d The Stars
\ncrooned, kneeling beside their tearful sibling.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have done it, the most horrible thing. My world has come to naught, and I shall never have
\nanother like it.\u201d The Earth retold her plight, and the Stars took pity on her. She took the spoiled
\nproject from young Sea, inspecting it before lifting her sister\u2019s chin.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not ruined, sister mine.\u201d The Stars brushed her sparkling hands over the blackened land,
\nclearing the ash and smoke of demolition with her slender fingers. Below it, she revealed new
\nlands and formations in the crust, small craters from her hands gently marring the surface. A
\nunique new world sat in her hands. \u201cYou have already built it anew.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sun joined her sisters, brushing the Earth\u2019s hair from her face. \u201cAll is not lost. Justly remade
\nis this land, in the eyes of the Sun.\u201d With a gentle breath, the Sun lightened the soil of the land,
\nmaking it suitable for rehabilitation. The Sea kneeled by her mother, cleaned of plastics and
\nblack oils. She reached out with a finger to touch the surface, and springs, rivers, and wells
\nappeared, water filling crevices and gouges to create lakes and oceans and creeks. With gentle
\ngrip, the Stars lifted Earth\u2019s hand back to her creation, and with a single touch, greenery sprouted
\nin the soil warmed by the Sun, nourished by the water gifted by the Sea.<\/p>\n
The Sky and The Moon smiled down at their family, surrounding the tiny world so beloved by
\nEarth. The Sky brushed her hand over it, and a rain cloud formed around the planet, a healthy
\ngrey spot on the greening world. The Moon\u2019s silvery face shone down on the project, a blessing
\nover the new creation, and the world is born anew.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Earth looked down upon the world. She looked upon it and saw, and the world shrunk under her gaze. The haze of smoke and black clouds rose, a halo of smog encircling Earth\u2019s head, her dark skin coated in a film of soot, and she saw. What once was colorful and exuberant\u2014thriving with the life… <\/p>\n