Hope

The forest lay bare, facing the receding specs of light from the playful sun that hid so often behind the dark blue clouds drifting slowly together to conglomerate to completely obscure it and bring the wrath of thunderstorm upon the forest underneath which now lies the ruins of a great city.
The silence that the forest now soaked in was only broken by the muffled footsteps that dared not echo, for, the forest was in silence for centuries now.
The footsteps belonged to a woman clad in a black gown torn at various places. Beads of sweat dripped from her forehead carrying with it the blood from cuts and mixed with it were tears that glossed her hazel black pupils which had witnessed the downfall of what was once an intelligent species.
The teardrops dripped onto the cloth-covered object that she held pressed against her bosom, as though the trees that basked in the last rays of the sun would take it from her as the darkness sets in.
She slowed down, coughing profusely due to the dryness that crept into her oesophagus as a direct impact of the dehydration that her body now faced.
Her muscles craved for some rest, but she was determined not to cave in for the urges because to do so would mean knocking on heaven's door.
Her pursuer was gone, yet she stopped not. Amidst all her losses past the few days, her only hope now lay in her hands wrapped in the blood-stained cloth torn from a martyr's attire.
It was not just any object that existed in the physical dimension. Had it been so, it would not have had such value and it would not have had so much of bloodshed following it.
In it, there was a universe radiating radical ideas, those which have the power to save the human race and every other that has ever lived. Call it the Noah's Ark or the horse that Kalki rides to deliver us from the destruction that we so often tend to bring on ourselves. But, how useful is an ark or a horse without the rider?
Her thoughts paused, there was still so much to recount, but, amidst the trees, she saw hope, the sort that drove her tiredness away. And so she began to walk towards it.
                                                                                                         To be continued...

Photography by Peeyusha

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