News

The television flickered for a few seconds before it obeyed the command from the remote to shut off. Static glistened for a few seconds after that on the blank screen before it went silent.

Ahmed lay on the couch, worried. He had been awake, he had been worried about something he had read in the news that day.

He looked out the window. It was a full moon. A beautiful full moon. He could see a big shape outside his window, a curious hangul peering in. Then leaping away. Limber, his horns magnificent and beautiful. 

He shivered a little, and wrapped his shawl tighter around himself. The images on the screen were still stuck in his head. What was worse was his imagination was working to supply the images that would come in later news updates. Sometimes he wished he didn’t have the insight and intelligence that had led him into one of the top universities on the planet. The same brain that had helped him graduate with honors. Sometimes he wished he was oblivious and clueless. And always, always, he wished he were wrong. Because if what he thought would happen next did happen next then even God might not be able to save the valley.

There had been a little shooting at the border. Not here, hundreds of miles to the south. Between two of the largest cities. One from the side of the new homeland, and one from the side of the country divided. Tensions were exacerbating. The time for harsh words was reaching a conclusion. It did not seem that the conclusion would be a happy one. The countries were shoving bigger and bigger threats of war down each other’s throats. To be fair, it didn’t take a huge leap of insight to realize that war would ensue.

What did require a little understanding was the international community and the location for the war. The international community was doing everything it could to stop the conflict. But he knew that what that meant was nothing. Empty promises. Empty words. That was all it was. Words. Stupid. Meaningless. Words. Even when millions of lives were at stake, all they could do was debate in their chambers. Flash worried looks at the cameras pointed at them. And the world would settle down in peace. ‘Look, our leaders are so worried. They must be doing something. They will do something.’ They weren’t. They wouldn’t. The other thing. No one else seemed to realize. Not outside the valley at least. And those inside hadn’t drawn the incidents out to their logical conclusion. Strangers were coming in. Mostly men. Mostly bulky. They moved fast. Their muscles were big. Their bags bulged with what looked and sounded like heavy metal things that clanged around. They were coming in from the land of the pure. And they were trying to encourage the locals to rise up against the army from the other side. One shooting could escalate the whole thing like duke ferdinand’s had. And a shooting would happen. Tensions were too high.