It all had begun with that unusual occurrence of a cloud ... a cloud in a brilliant shade of red and in the shape of a beast. Four of them saw it, and for all of them it was as if some creature has risen in the sky. Excited, as children of their age are likely to be, they talked about how this shape could perhaps be a real creature somewhere. After much enthusiastic discussion, they decided to call the creature "Red Omen of Death", or the Red Omen as they later came to call it. He was particularly proud of himself at that time, because he was the one who came up with the name to which the rest of three agreed.
They went back and told everyone about the Red Omen of Death. Of course, somehow things got exaggerated here and there. The talk of the "beast" got so popular among the kids that even the adults in the village became aware of this talk. Call it a matter of luck or chance, the night of that sighting, there was a fire in the village church and the sole victim to die in that visibly red fire was the priest. He was not sure who made the "connection" between the Red Omen and the fire, but word spread and it spread not just among the children. People were talking about how weird it was that the day the Red Omen of Death was spotted and then the priest died.
Within a week, the story evolved and it was well known amongst all that the Red Omen of Death was spotted by some kids. The part where the Omen might have been a cloud was simply left out. The kids in their own excitement, made it sound more and more realistic, with now them witnessing a distant "roar" as well the sighting.
And that was just the beginning, soon other people were seeing the Omen of Death as well. With every sighting, the Red Omen became more fire-ly red and more fearsome. With the frequencies of these sightings increase, every now and then something bad would happen and the Omen would be found the culprit.
A year passed and the anniversary of the first sightings came. The day of the anniversary, multiple people claimed of seeing the Omen appearing in the distant horizon. One even claimed he saw the Omen in his dream where the Red Omen of Death burnt down the whole village with one breath. Fear rose, and afraid of another death like that of the priest, the village people decided to sacrifice a goat to appease the Omen. The sacrifice worked and no one died that night. By that time, even the kids who had originally seen that red cloud, were convinced that the Red Omen really existed.
Years had passed and here he was now ... old, fragile and close to death. He was tired, not simply because of a long life spent, but because he had told the story of the Red Omen to the village at the annual festival. He was amongst the last surviving village elder to have personally seen the Red Omen and who knew the ways of the Red Omen. His telling of his tale at the festival was a tradition now. The annual offerings still continued. The Red Omen was still feared. While the sightings had slownly become non-existant, no one could even imagine for a second that the Red Omen did not exist. He closed his eyes to go to sleep, hoping the Red Omen of Death would not haunt his dream yet again.
They went back and told everyone about the Red Omen of Death. Of course, somehow things got exaggerated here and there. The talk of the "beast" got so popular among the kids that even the adults in the village became aware of this talk. Call it a matter of luck or chance, the night of that sighting, there was a fire in the village church and the sole victim to die in that visibly red fire was the priest. He was not sure who made the "connection" between the Red Omen and the fire, but word spread and it spread not just among the children. People were talking about how weird it was that the day the Red Omen of Death was spotted and then the priest died.
Within a week, the story evolved and it was well known amongst all that the Red Omen of Death was spotted by some kids. The part where the Omen might have been a cloud was simply left out. The kids in their own excitement, made it sound more and more realistic, with now them witnessing a distant "roar" as well the sighting.
And that was just the beginning, soon other people were seeing the Omen of Death as well. With every sighting, the Red Omen became more fire-ly red and more fearsome. With the frequencies of these sightings increase, every now and then something bad would happen and the Omen would be found the culprit.
A year passed and the anniversary of the first sightings came. The day of the anniversary, multiple people claimed of seeing the Omen appearing in the distant horizon. One even claimed he saw the Omen in his dream where the Red Omen of Death burnt down the whole village with one breath. Fear rose, and afraid of another death like that of the priest, the village people decided to sacrifice a goat to appease the Omen. The sacrifice worked and no one died that night. By that time, even the kids who had originally seen that red cloud, were convinced that the Red Omen really existed.
Years had passed and here he was now ... old, fragile and close to death. He was tired, not simply because of a long life spent, but because he had told the story of the Red Omen to the village at the annual festival. He was amongst the last surviving village elder to have personally seen the Red Omen and who knew the ways of the Red Omen. His telling of his tale at the festival was a tradition now. The annual offerings still continued. The Red Omen was still feared. While the sightings had slownly become non-existant, no one could even imagine for a second that the Red Omen did not exist. He closed his eyes to go to sleep, hoping the Red Omen of Death would not haunt his dream yet again.
Bravo! Good work.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
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