Sanctuary

It was known, but oft forgotten and overlooked. The sun shone high and wide above it, yet the people around were in a daze, and as soon as they left it, they returned to the dullness and forgetfulness of the world that was slowly being suffocated by the thick blanket of darkness encircling it. It was as if all the stars in the night sky had slowly blinked out of existence. Pop. Pop. Pop. One brief moment of sunlight in a sky covered with hazy clouds, with shadows popping into existence as surely as the light they replaced popped out of it. In that small area, the smells were pure, air flowed into it, and smelled clean, of green and of earth, and everything that is pure and from the ground, and as soon as it flowed out, it smelled bad, and like rot again.

This area was pure and untouched. It felt… magical. Birds roamed free, squirrels unfettered, whiskers up, but not trembling, fur standing on edge. It was a few miles in circumference, but it was shielded by millennia of magic, a thick shroud that had been hung for these very times, so that people would not crowd towards it, scrambling for the safety it provided. It was quite the catch 22. If humanity polluted this magical place, its power would fade, and the magic would cease to exist. Yet the day would come, as the Builders had known in the Beginning, the day would come, when this would be the only place that could provide safety. This would be the only place where it could all begin anew.

Therefore, the shroud was necessary. The magic could not be lost to the selfish and ill intentions of humanity, the magic must be preserved at all costs. Even if meant some of humanity would perish in the Coming. So they did. Humanity moved in and out of the clearing, the sky would clear, the sun would show, and they would feel magical. Their eyes would sparkle with brightness, then they would leave, and they would feel sad, as the world continued to spiral into the era of darkness. They would smell their worst fears come to life, they would see shadows flickering about, more populous than ants, the shadows burrowing away at mankind’s veins and omnipresent like ants burrowed within the earth. They could feel the earth seething at the damage being inflicted to her, and could not explain what it was they felt or why. Their worry lines would come back to their foreheads, their postures would slump. And yet, within the radius that contained the magic, all of that would flicker away. They would move out of it. They would not know why but they would soon forget. The shroud would ensure it.

The spell had been cast for these very days, the spell was ready, everything was in place. The time was soon to come. It had been brewing in the air for many days. The first two spots had fallen. It was nigh.