The setting was a land that had a mix of technologies. Many people drove cars around, but there were still many others who used horses and horse-drawn equipment. A sort of mix of the new and old. And in this land of interesting technologies, an oppressive evil empire was sweeping over the continent conquering everything in its path. People who merely surrendered to the empire's might were able to (for the most part) continue living on their land, but much of their wealth was sent to the capital and their young men were forcibly recruited to serve in the army. Their lives were bleak.
But if people fought the empire, if they weren't killed in combat they were captured and sent to the capital to become slaves, their lives forever forfeit to their enemy.
I had been among those who fought, but the empire swept over my land anyway, and I ran, slipping away from my enemy. I ran along the southern edge of the continent, searching for a place where the empire had not yet arrived, but wherever I turned its soldiers' feet had tramped first. Finally I arrived at a small home in the mountains. It was a beautiful place, with waterfalls and ponds and wonderful cherry trees growing all around this secluded home. It seemed untouched by the war I had been running from.
Of course, things were not as peaceful as I had hoped. The path I had taken was the most difficult way I could have taken to arrive there, so I had not seen the soldiers to the north attacking from the steep mountain path. There was a single defender of this home, a young man skilled in combat who used the terrain to his advantage to defend his land. He lived alone.
He took me in and nursed me back to health after my exhaustion, but eventually the army was pressing too hard on him for the man to continue defending his home, even with my help. (I can only assume that the empire armies finally got a little air support.)
And so we were captured. The enemy did not exactly treat us well, though they didn't physically harm us either. We were taken to a city stronghold nearby along with many other prisoners on our way to the capital, but the two of us had a plan to escape from our captors and find the rumored underground resistance located in the empire's very capital! We were kept separated from each other, and we knew we'd have to escape on our own without the other.
And so I waited, thinking of how to escape before we reached the capital, where the security would be too strong, and slowly I made friends with a frightened young girl. She had been captured because her parents had fought, and even though she had never touched a weapon in her life she was paying the price. I calmed her and in whispers told her of the rumors of the underground and that she could escape if only she found a way. I knew I couldn't take her with me unless our luck was great, but I taught her to keep an eye out for herself and taught her everything I could in how to stay hidden when she needed to.
Finally at one outpost an alarm was raised! My friend who had protected me in the mountains had escaped! In the general confusion I couldn't take my young friend with me, but I told her that no matter what I'd see her again. And then I slipped away.
Outside of the post, the native people couldn't tell that I was formerly a prisoner of the empire. I avoided the soldiers and slowly made my way to the capital, walking along the country roads in the green hills and befriending people who lived in the small towns along the way. Eventually I arrived at the capital, a large bustling city where most people seemed to be unaware of what was happening in the war so far away, though I couldn't help but feel an air of oppression.
Then I was spotted by a few of the very soldiers that had captured me in the first place, back in that mountain home, and so I ran. Suddenly a vaguely Asian monk dressed in orange ropes appeared in front of me and guided me to safety to a temple. It was a temple made of slabs of stone, with bamboo fountains and beautiful trees, and I was greeted by my friend from the mountains! This temple was a front for the underground rebellion that we had heard about!
My friend and I were given a small home for ourselves in the temple for us to rest and recuperate, but I continued to worry about the young girl, my friend, who was still in the empire's clutches.
Suddenly there was a loud thud from another room in the house, and we rushed in, weapons in our hands, to find the young girl lying on our floor! We hugged and cried, and she told us about how she had escaped.
She had arrived in the capital with the soldiers and other prisoners, and she noticed that there was a series of large pipes that funneled air into the underground rooms in which they were held. The pipes were too small for an adult to squeeze through, but she had not yet fully grown, and was small for her age, so one night she slipped into one and slithered through until she could find an opening to slip out. And she fell right into our home! What fortune!
And so the dream ended.
No comments:
Post a Comment