Green Desert - Chapter 2.6.4 - Zhíno

A wave lifted me, carried me on its crest. The earth shook and fire roared around me. A hurricane flowed through my body, engulfing me with strength. Electricity zapped through every fiber of my being. Surging power focused around my right shoulder, my left wrist. Invigorating ecstasy emanated from every ounce of my existence. My left arm pulsated with energy, hurting almost. A blinding pleasure so great it became pain. I could do anything. I could do everything. I could touch the sun. I could move planets. I could bring my parents back.

The throbbing energy dimmed, but echoed in my soul. On the yellow beach before me, a carapace sat, soft waves tugging it to and fro. An empty shell of a giant crustacean, only tiny strings of flesh dangling from its joints. Its eye stalks were shriveled and desiccated.

I raised my foot to crush it, to grind it to dust, to extinguish all that remained of its life––because I could. But then I was that crab, squinting with one passable eye up at a gargantuan elephant foot, thick and wrinkled and gray, just hovering over my life.

I stepped back, lowered my foot well clear. The crab watched me, but his eyestalk quivered, curled downward. I placed the end of my trunk on the cold shell and willed energy, blood, flesh, life into the poor creature, my brother, myself.