It was a huge upheaval in the life of the mountain, he never expected any of this to happen, he was too sure of the life at the river bed, he taken the environment for granted, he did not know that the river bed though very comfortable had a lot of mounting pressure from the water above and the core of the earth below. Many thoughts swam in the mind of the mountain, of all the beauties of the place, the sensational dark beauty of the river bed, the ample supply of food, it all had been a heavenly experience, now it all was being swept away in front of his very eyes, and in fact he was being swept away.
The mountain felt terrible longing for this place, he decided to fight back the massive tsunami, and though he was small his ambitions were not. What could be the weapon he needed, he grabbed at the water with the limbs he had but all he caught was the water, he was feeling disheartened, but then he realized the last thing a creature loses is hope, not even life surpasses hope in longevity, he thought and decided to swim out of the turbulence, after all he had stayed at the river bed for a long time and amassed good knowledge of handling pressure , he also had the things he had been tucking away in his shell, they could act as streamlines against the currents. With great agility he swiveled his way around the turbulence, he had won the first battle for his quest to the place he loved, he was now using his limbs to cut across the water, he was doing a great job he thought, he could see bigger animals being swept away and not being able to do anything due to their weight, but he felt pride in himself, for the first time in his life, he was going by his desires.
He saw a giant turtle passing by, he saw its shell and suddenly felt the pangs of nostalgia grip him, he missed his shell, he felt unprotected, he closed his many eyes to remember for once the shell that had protected him, guided him and was still serving him with the many things it had stored and amalgamated with the mountain's body.
Tears trickled down the mountain's eyes, he felt like a selfish insect, discarding one thing that had been his true companion, but just in this emotional moment, a passing jelly fish had slammed on to him, the mountain in this reverie had lost its guard down, and now his limbs were entwined in its many tentacles, he was being dragged in the current again, away from his place. There was no escape from this, he had surrendered given up lost HOPE.
The jelly fish was now pulling at its tentacles to avoid getting hurt, pulling the mountain in as well. Just then the mountain saw a few blades of grass passing him, they felt familiar, touching them he realized that the currents had brought along a few blades from his first abode, he grabbed on to them and used them to wrap around himself so as to avoid the poison of the jelly beast.
An idea sprang into the mind of the mountain, could this jelly beast is his salvation to a new life, and he started to move further into the jelly beast with his newly found shell.
The strategy worked, the grass protected him from the fish's poison and the fish protected him from the jagged rocks, after a few last jolts and crushing blow the wave crushed on to the shore, the jelly fish was thrown away , the mountain inside cushioned. The mountain now emerged into the new world he had been pushed into.
He was startled to see that it was nothing but the same world he had inhabited before he was blown by the wind, but this was not on the rocky mountains but on the sandy beaches. As the mountain realized he was now safe he felt one feeling he hadn’t felt in a while, he was hungry. So he started nibbling at the grass fast and voraciously.
He felt a certain tingle in his body, as if something had changed, little did he realize that the grass was all soaked in the poison of the jelly fish, by the time mountain realized what he had done, he was at the last blade. He felt certain death impending on him. What had he done, this is what becomes when you do not respect the things that protect you and care for you he thought, he again longed for his shell, but remembering what the last time he remembered his shell had caused him, he shuddered. The mountain felt his body swell and intense pain in himself, he thought signs of death maybe, and he felt a cold wind sweep by and darkness filling his thoughts, Death he thought had arrived. He felt himself being pulled into the abyss as he passed away.
When he opened his eyes, he felt his body being heavy, he imagined was he dead. But he woke up to realize that he had not died, he was larger now and had six strong arms with him. He was bewildered what had happened. He saw the injured jelly fish, he scampered to him hoping to find some answers, and find he did.
The magma had made the water very hot and the poisons in the jelly fish's body had been broken down to their elements and one of them being the elixir of strength that strengthened the poison, the grass being wise had soaked only the elixir. He was grateful to the grass again and decided to keep very safely whatever piece he had left.
The larger mountain was now a predator of this wild, with the other smaller insects like it prey to him, but he decided not to hunt rather be friends with all, but not without some stories.
You see when the mountain first found his strength and arms he became arrogant and one fine evening he was walking by a grove, when a moth asked for the way to the best leaves to feed, the mountain blinded by its power shrugged her request and said 'You lost your way not me, you get out on your own. The moth was hurt, and decided never to approach the mountain again.
One day the mountain was walking by when a passing sparrow told him how hurt the moth had been, the mountain felt guilt, he wanted to say sorry to the moth but he couldn’t as he felt part of his pride still. He contemplated the thought for months, and one day decided to befriend the moth. He went to best leaves and found the moth there. The moth was with a group of moths all eating the leaves. He said he would help them pluck the leaves. The moth was a bit surprised and a bit elated at her victory. So they struck a friendship. The moth and the mountain were very different yet alike, and a thought emerged in the mind of the mountain that the moth could be the one he finally liked. The moth again went into contemplation what he should do, if the moth declined he might lose a pal he dearly wanted, yet the chances of acceptance were high since he was the strong animal in the wild. One fine day with all his courage he told the moth about his intentions. The moth by some strange fly had known the intentions of the mountain. She told the mountain that he was only a pal and that she intended to keep it that way. The mountain was devastated.
He was very disheartened; he hadn’t expected defeat and had forgotten how it felt like to be timid. He was a wanderer now, he stroll in the wild, a vicious animal he had become. In his roams he had found prowlers like him too, he struck a friendship with an equally hurt and angry vixen. In his strolls he also came across a few of the stronger insects he had coexisted earlier. He found strange relaxation in their company. He started to spend most of his time meeting strangers, hearing wild buzzes and remembering his past. But his wound won’t heal. Meanwhile the moth was trying hard to keep her close friend and also battling advances of another moth. The mountain kept the moth close to him but also hated her company.
Finally the moth dealt the most killer blow to the mountain, she eloped with the moth and kept mountain as her confederate and guardian. This infuriated the mountain. He became overwhelmed with hatred. And then he realized what his true potential was, it was the art of convincing other insects that he was harmless and telling what they wanted to hear.
And he started plotting.
It was the darkest phase in the life of the mountain, he was truly evil, and he punished the moth pair with a crushing blow on their wings. The weapon being the mistakes the male moth had made, the mountain accentuated them with his larger strength. The moth pair was broken and the mountain felt relief, but he felt hollow as the envy and the poison of hatred deserted him. He realized what a mistake he had done. He must make amends.
In these moments of self loathing he stumbled upon a precious little butterfly that had just broken her cocoon. He was mesmerized by her beauty and her flight. He used to visit her every day, watched her fly and he used to protect her from all harm, meanwhile the moth was also close to the mountain and the mountain tried to help her cope and he told her about all the misadventures he had. He also wanted to tell the butterfly but he couldn’t tell her as she was very busy exploring the heights but more so he didn’t want to tarnish her beautiful wings with the tar of his past. Little did he know the butterfly waited in eager attention?
The moth knew him best but she was not to be the one, he had decided yet a thread remained, the moth had made him realize his strength and also aided him in finding the butterfly. So on, the encouragements of the moth he decided to move for the butterfly. The butterfly resented at first and mountain thought he had lost again, but then the butterfly spread her wings and showed all the vivid colors she had created for the mountain.
The mountain was very happy for the first time in his life, the butterfly made him fly and the moth grounded his strengths. But the butterfly was a bit weary of the moth as the mountain being a true lover had told her everything of his past except his thought of self loathing. And once in a while the mountain and the butterfly lost their color and lapsed into the darkness of mistrust. Meanwhile the mountain was mastering his strength. Now he was very strong and he had grown royal scales on his body. He had amalgamated all of his past into his scales and there were the strokes of the grass and the moth and butterfly as well as the vixen and the older insects, but he now knew how to treat his life and those who were a part of him.
He had but a last struggle left, to conquer the blackest region of the environment as it was threatening his survival and his life as it was.
The mountain gathered all his strength and marched towards the black lands.
