The War

Nature does not negotiate.

Parakrytheon believed it had won.

No forests.

No beasts.

No threats.

But nature does not disappear.

It adapts.

Waits.

Strikes.

And when it does—

there are no survivors.

Only witnesses.

From the broken glass dome of Parakrytheon a metallic object shot out and instantly opened up into a massive parachute which then collapsed back down upon the dome, sealing Parakrytheon from the wild savages outside. The darkness of the evening had settled all around.

Only then did Kamina have a moment to look around her at the jungle of gnarled burnt trees upon reddish soil. In the northern horizon behind her, a desert-like terrain spread out. And towards the south there was a marshy landscape.

Parakrytheon’s boundary walls stood in front of her.

Giant birds with sharp claws and jagged beaks, their scrawny bodies lacking feathers, looked down upon Kamina from their perches in the nearby trees.

Things wriggled around Kamina’s feet coiling themselves around her thighs, serpents, and cobras. Howling wild dogs with infected furs came out from the shadows of the gnarly jungles. Thick thorny tree branches and venomous plant stems crawled upon the reddish soil towards Kamina’s feet. Everywhere she looked there were beasts, birds and reptiles all gathered around her.