Salt The Earth

  The two nymphs arrived as quietly as the breeze that carried them down from above, aliens to that doomed planet bearing a grim duty bestowed upon them. Their wispy wings dissipated as soon as their delicate feet touched the ground in a small clearance surrounded by a dense canopy, shades of emerald green and purple and gold and red creating a shape that only allowed the stars to be seen from right above them. The forest hummed and buzzed and crooned with life despite the darkness all around, hidden from first sight but one could notice movement teeming in every direction. The green sister looked around in saddened fascination, admiring what eons morphed from primordial seas and what was about to be once more bare landmasses.

  The purple sister kneeled down, knowingly beckoning a medium sized creature, rotund of shape, and with spike-like brown fur, large rodent teeth and black almond eyes of a child, that was feeding on the low undergrowth bordering the undergrowth, wanting as well a moment to appreciate what she was meant to reap. The creature innocently approached her, hesitant at first but it quickly grew accustomed to her attempts to pet it, and quickly it nuzzled her in response. Giggling with joy, the nymph remembered her task, frowning in sadness while petting the creature along the grain of its spikes, and she then turned to her sister.   “Are you sure this is the place? Are you sure we’re meant to do it to here?” Her sister was feeling the bark of a crooked and twisted tree, feeling every texture of every lichen, plant and other growths on its protuberances, and every creature that crawled in or out of each and every nook and cranny. She felt drawn to this place, it was just part of the nature of her powers, but the two knew that attachment would only make this task heavier to carry out. She put on her best strong face, and turned towards her purple sister.

  “Yes, this is the planet that revolted, its residents have been putting up a fight for a long time now, and their example is actually stimulating other revolts across this galaxy. The Empire does not have any more resource to fight them into submission, and it’s not like they are really relevant on the large scale of things, it’s just another peasant revolt, going against the greater will and greater powers in sheer defiance of all that we stand for.”

  “But-” The purple sister started, and then looked at the creature, which had nestled its large head on her lap like a companion creature. “Is this… Really necessary? There’s so much that will be lost with this.” The green sister furrowed her eyebrows in sadness, in silent agreement with the one now sitting on the ground.

  “Well, we do not have much of a say in this… The orders were clear, and they were not even from our Queen, no, it was the Empress herself who told us to carry this out. Only a mad being would attempt to defy the Empress’s orders.” She sighed, and then looked at her hand she was touching the tree with, half-open with the palm face up, as if she was staring at something invisible, sitting upon it. “Well, there’s no point in dilly-dallying around, if you’re not going first then I’ll be.” She pointed her fingers out, stretching her palm, and touched the crooked tree once again, but this time she did not caress it as she was now concentrated in her task at hand, furrowing her eyebrows while her eyes remained closed.

  Opening them once again, her eyes shined green like the flash of an emerald, and so did her gem on her hair, and the pendant hung around her neck. Something spread from under her hand onto the bark, with the first appearance of black mold, but it spread as fast as a scattering nest of spiders or a patch of army ants attacking an unlucky prey that unfortunately found themselves in the horde’s way. Vein formations, and spreading blots and dots and spots and every single pattern ever, appeared in every direction around the tree, a quickly morphing Rorschach pattern seeping into the wood, darkening and sickening it, and going down towards the roots and up towards the branches. Streaks quickly reached the smaller branches and their tips and, finally, the leaves, rusting them with black and dark grey, causing them to curl and shrivel, and eventually fall off and rot quickly into dust, spreading the blackness wherever they landed on the ground plants. The wood of the tree started crackling like it was on fire, snapping and popping, and finally the trunk gave in like it had completely rotted from where the green nymph was touching, falling over with much noise as it continued to shrivel and give in, quickly turning into dust as well, save for the thicker parts of the trunk that petrified into coal. Tiny creatures, insects and alike, all scattered in every direction from the trunk, being the first ones to be aware of what was to come.

  The rot continued to spread through the ground, from the decayed roots of the tree and wherever the trunk and branches and leaves had met the undergrowth, but it also spread faster from under her feet, poisoning the grass with incredible speed. The blackness spread through the root systems right beneath the feet of the two of them, and more small critters crawled out from underground in a primal panic, unsettling both the purple nymph and her newfound pet, which shook with fear and attempted to climb up on her, trying to escape the cursed ground. While still concentrating on her task at hand, the green one turned to her sister and reminded her once again as she started to walk in a direction.

  “Well, are you joining in or what? I am going to leave you behind if you’re not getting up any time soon.” The purple nymph was attempting to calm the scared creature, and then sighed in profound sadness, and then hugged the creature’s head, cradling it as to hide the creature’s vision from seeing the rot that was quickly destroying its forest. She then gave the lightest of kisses, her both eyes closed, and a tear stream started rolling down her face, as her hair gem and neck pendant both shone with the intensity of the highest amethysts, and the creature started then convulsing and quickly became limp on her arms, desiccated away in a blink of an eye as dust fell off from its remains until it was pure bones, and then there was not even that anymore. The nymph opened her eyes, still crying as her eyes also shined in unison with her jewelry. Everywhere around them other creatures followed suit, with insects leaving only their exoskeletons behind, and further away from the growing ring of decay, critters of all shapes and sizes gave up on life and quickly shriveled away, leaving a growing circle of dried bodies to follow along with the growing stone rot ring that turned all into dust. Further out they could hear and see the faster creatures attempt to escape fate.

  The purple one got up weakly, shaken up by the maliciousness of her duty, but knowing that she had no choice in this matter, she followed along with her sister as they ventured in the direction the green one had chosen, spreading their curse in a growing radius along their trajectory. They knew that if they were to continue walking in a direction, they’d find civilization, and that was the plan they were meant to follow, but neither were very eager to carry out these orders, no matter from how high up have they come from. Walking with no hurry, the two could see their effect on their surroundings as it spread, and more of the vegetation and its inhabitants became part of a growing dust cloud.

  A small brook at a distance was darkening, its aquatic creatures surfacing up like bubbles, limp and stiff and lifeless, before dissolving away into grey and black. A fallen log over it was already giving away, its decay causing it to sulk on itself, eaten away into oblivion. The two slowly approached what now was sterile, dark water, streaming down, spreading the rot along its flow, as the banks discolored and even more critters, mostly of the small type, hopelessly skittered away for a brief moment before they collapsed and shriveled away. The two fluttered over the poison liquid silently and somberly as their influence spread more and more rapidly, their dark magic spreading a patch of destruction that ate away at all in an ever-expanding ring. More and more dark dust fluttered away, picked up by the breeze like smoke and ashes, darkening the view and the sky around them.

  A flock of aerial creatures took flight from somewhere on the edge of the destruction behind where the two were going towards, squawking and screeching in fear as they tried to coordinate their escape. Their mistake was flying into the devastation, instead of away, and the two nymphs sorrowfully turned around to face thudding bodies that exploded into dust and bones, raining down from above. The purple nymph cried, looking at her sister with guilt and blame, and yet the green one shook her head. They had an order to obey, after all. The latter turned around and continued her deathly march, and her sister mournfully joined right after.