Walking through the desert, a lone traveler comes upon a tall mountain next to a deep hole. This is not like any desert you might have seen, dear reader.
No, this desert stretches to the horizon and beyond. There is nothing but dry ground. Scattered across the landscape are the remains of large structures from the time before. The traveler stands there, taking in the surroundings.
They think to themselves that there must have been a great lake here at one point in the distant past, but all of that is gone now. A vast majority of the world had become a barren wasteland due to the ignorance of those who came before.
As they ponder this, their mouth dry and raw from traveling through the arid wasteland, they reach down for the water skin on their hip to take a drink of what little water remains. Sadly, the heat of the day had seeped in and stolen the precious liquid.
Now, without water, what were they going to do? Water was scarce throughout the world. Stories passed down by the elders spoke of a time when the Earth was mostly covered in water. Now, the remaining people of this world had to struggle to find what little water remained. If they were able to find a source, they often had to share it with other creatures, which could be beneficial—water meant life, and life meant food.
The traveler had not seen water in many weeks. When they set out on their journey, they were given only the supplies their people could afford to part with. The traveler was embarking on a journey, uncertain of their destination, but knowing they must try.
They had more pressing things to think about than how they got to this point. If they did not find water soon, they would surely waste away into nothing, becoming just more dust blown by the dry winds.
Just as all hope seemed lost, a cloud began forming above the mountain. This was extremely uncommon due to the lack of moisture in the world. As they watched, the cloud grew larger and darker. They had never seen a cloud like this before. In all their years on Earth, such clouds rarely formed—they had only heard stories from the elders about times when their ancestors had seen them.
The cloud kept growing until it nearly covered the area where the dry lake bed was. The sight of it made them nervous. They had never seen anything like it before, and they feared it would consume the whole sky and blot out the sun. Although, blotting out the sun didn’t seem like a bad thing. Maybe with less sun, the days would be cooler, and what little water remained on Earth wouldn’t disappear so quickly.
They stood there in awe as the cloud expanded until, finally, it stopped. The dark mass hung in the sky, silent and foreboding. A moment later, the world went quiet. There was no sound—no animals, no wind. It was as if the entire Earth was holding its breath, waiting alongside the traveler to see what the cloud would do.
Seconds turned into minutes. The traveler dared not make a sound for fear of breaking the trance that had befallen the world.
Then, all of a sudden, a bright flash split the sky, as if the hottest fire in the world was trying to descend upon the Earth. A deafening roar followed, the loudest sound the traveler had ever heard, vibrating through their entire body.
After the explosion of sound, water began to fall from the cloud. It was not a small amount—it was as if all of the remaining water on Earth was coming down onto this one spot. Perhaps, in some way, it was.
The traveler stood in awe as the rain, though they did not know the word for it, fell from the sky. It rained so fast and hard that the hole was nearly filled. If the rain did not stop soon, it would overflow. As if on cue, the rain slowed to almost nothing, and just as quickly as the cloud had appeared, it disappeared.
After the rain stopped, something strange started happening around the water-filled hole. A green substance began to appear. The traveler had heard stories of the world being full of green things before the time of dryness, but they had never seen it for themselves. The greenness spread wider and grew taller. Strange structures emerged from the ground, stretching toward the sky.
Intrigued, the traveler moved closer, witnessing something unseen by their people for countless generations. The closer they got, the more details they noticed. The ground was covered in a soft green substance, and beside them, even taller green things reached toward the heavens. The towering structures were not entirely green—only their tops, where they helped block some of the sun.
The traveler approached the hole and saw that not only was it filled with water, but there were things moving within it. They recalled hearing of such creatures in a story once—fish. These were not golden like the one in the tale, but the traveler didn’t care. They were tired, hungry, and thirsty. They sat beside the water and filled their water skin.
Upon first drink, the water tasted different from what they were used to. The water from the hole had no strange flavors, no tang—it was cool and crisp. The traveler drank deeply, savoring every drop.
Now, they needed to eat.
They had only a small knife, supplies to make fire, and their water skin—hardly useful tools for catching fish. Still, they decided to try. After several attempts, they managed to stab a fish. They had the means to make fire, for fire was important during the dark times when unseen beings lurked, waiting to attack those exposed in the open.
They built a fire and used it to cook the fish. Since they had never prepared one before, they cooked it until it was nearly black—better to be safe than risk sickness.
As the sun began to set behind the mountain, the traveler sat by the water, eating their meal and staring into the sky. For the first time in their life, they felt truly at peace. The tension in their muscles eased, their breathing slowed, and a warmth that had nothing to do with the sun settled in their chest.
The gentle lapping of water against the shore, the crackling of the dying fire, and the distant calls of unseen creatures all blended into a soothing lullaby. For the first time, they were not just surviving—they were living. They could stay here. No more wandering like those before them.
Here, they could rest. Here, they could live. Sitting here and enjoy this beautiful oasis.
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