{"id":262,"date":"2010-09-11T14:53:58","date_gmt":"2010-09-11T18:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=262"},"modified":"2010-12-31T08:04:47","modified_gmt":"2010-12-31T13:04:47","slug":"hollow-rage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=262","title":{"rendered":"Hollow Rage"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ideas that occur while showering…<\/em><\/p>\n

\tI raged against the dying of the light, but it was an empty rage, a hollow rage. All but the last glimmers of the sun had gone, and the death that is twilight stole over the land. I knew this time had to come, and I accepted it, for I had been a party to the slaying, to the degradation. My hand was one of those that had held the sickle, and through action and inaction I had let it drop. Thus had I helped slay the light.<\/p>\n

\tNow came the dark times, the end times, as the world built a bitter cold shell about itself, hoping to protect what little remained of the glorious times when light had gleamed fully across the land. Perhaps it would work, perhaps not. I only knew that I would not be here to see the ending. Those of us who had slain the light had looked at one another and parted in sorrow and sadness, one last night of hedonism before a shadow stole across us. That next morning, we said tearful goodbyes and walked away, never to see or hear from one another again.<\/p>\n

\tWe each travelled long and far, heading to distant peaks and observatories where we could see what we had done, where we could see the dying of the light. For my part, I choose mountains near my home, where I could see what I had done, and impale myself on the spear of shame.<\/p>\n

\tI was the last of the slayers, the last to keep a tenuous grip on life. One by one, I had felt the others slay themselves as they had the sun, dying in the hopes that it would resurrect the great beauty of the skies. I alone remained, and a bitter anger fuelled me. I would not die until I had seen what I had wrought, until I was the last creature to walk the living planet. I would force myself to see each moment, to live each day in pain, to face the anguish as I woke and saw no sun. I would not take the easy road, the sure road, the quick road. No, I would stay, stay until there was nothing left but me.<\/p>\n

\tAnd so here I stand, my eyes turned west, watching the setting of the sun for the last time. The sky to the east is the black of night, and no stars twinkle in the heavens above. Below me, the village of my home cries out in fear, for rumour and knowledge has reached them, and they turn to the old ways, the evil ways. Tonight, my daughter will be sacrificed, a foolish demand that the sun return. Tomorrow, it will be another man’s daughter, and so on until there are no more left. Then it will be the turn of the boys. This village will not last.<\/p>\n

\tI go to my cave now, for I have seen the dying of the light. I have seen the sun sink below the horizon for the last time. Now I will wait, and I will watch for the end of all things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ideas that occur while showering… I raged against the dying of the light, but it was an empty rage, a hollow rage. All but the last glimmers of the sun had gone, and the death that is twilight stole over the land. I knew this time had to come, and I accepted it, for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[36,4],"tags":[21,22],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pRIK4-4e","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":293,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=293","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":0},"title":"Hia Breoedd, Part #1","date":"September 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the first in a short #FridayFlash serial based in The Four Part Land. Events that take place here will have a large impact in upcoming TFPL novels. 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The earth split apart, and the seas rushed in, and where once there had stood fertile land, now no sounds could be heard but the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flash Fiction"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":721,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=721","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":2},"title":"The Journey North – Part 1","date":"June 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the next part of the story that began with The Last City. The days that followed that first step through the portal were tiring, but not especially noteworthy. Ira led the small group as it trudged up the wild but sparse terrain of a hidden valley, and then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Arhosa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":723,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=723","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":3},"title":"The Journey North – Part 3","date":"June 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The next morning hardly felt like he\u2019d had any sleep at all, though, and the exhaustion stayed with Yaden all through that day, as they ascended the last of the green saddles. As they reached the crest and received their first views of the other side, a series of low\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Arhosa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":627,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=627","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":4},"title":"Fire Slings","date":"May 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This is an excerpt from an upcoming Splintered Lands story titled Kingdoms in Conflict. Galdere muttered and cursed and shouted at the soldiers that reported to him as they struggled to fit together the second of the lever-armed devices. The technologically-minded soldier still hadn't come up with a name for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Other Writing"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":210,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=210","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":5},"title":"Weeping Man","date":"August 6, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"My first Friday Flash in two months. Rather glad to be back to it. I wept. It was a waste of water, but all the same, I wept. My tears hit the body of my wife, warm only because of the midday sun. She had fallen victim to desert fever\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flash Fiction"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}