Short Story- Mainland

[Strafe]

This is a story I wrote for a local contest a while ago. It didn't win, but I think it is my best fictional work so far, even though I have many problems with it. However, there are minimal Christian themes in the story, which is personally the main reason why I think it lost. There is, however, a little similarity to the story of Joseph in the old testament.

So, Enjoy, I guess, if you're even reading it.

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Mainland
By Matt

Broken skies hold truths of life
The sky holds the land
Ever keeping the children safe from harm
Ever holding death by its own hand

Raiding the skies of the Mainland

Serenity looked up at the sky as birds flew over head. How wonderful it must be to fly free and away from the problems of the world, she thought; to worry about nothing but the simple necessities of life and do whatever they please. She continued admiring the birds until she remembered what she was to do.

She was a simple girl of a simple country living a simple life in the mainland, but she was not simple minded, as you might expect. Serenity was regarded among the other people in her village as very bright and was expected to become someone important. However, she was not given the opportunity to do anything more than anyone else. So she carried out her existence with an ever present dread of living another monotonous day as a poor girl with no real purpose for the rest of her life.

One fateful day, walking across the fields, she spotted a blurry image of what looked like smoke in the distance. As troubling as it was, though, she kept it to herself because she thought of it as nonsense. All of the rest of the village was unaware of the nearing smoke, and in a lively mood, each retired peacefully that night. But Serenity slept unsoundly as the smoke grew closer. The marching of soldiers was heard by no one as the army approached. The village was to be destroyed and Serenity had failed everyone.

The next day, prisoners were led away in shackles and chains from the burning village to a place no one knew.

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Broken lands hold truths of death
The land holds the sky
Ever keeping the children close to harm
Ever holding life by its own hand

Raiding the earth of the Mainland

Looking at the mess on the floor, Serenity sighed at the work to be done. She was now the servant to one of the king’s advisors. When the villagers arrived as prisoners at the new country, each one was sold as a slave to the people. However, Serenity had been sold to the advisor as a servant instead. The slave trader had seen Serenity’s intelligence, and had raised the price on her abilities. But that was ten years ago, and Serenity had become a woman of thought and insight since then.

Serenity was very educated in the ways of the new country and in the world; she had become a very intelligent person. But through all of that, her guilt grew with her. Picking up plates from the floor, she looked out of the window. Birds were gracefully speeding in the sky as they flew away from a larger bird of prey. Serenity admired the birds again just as she did ten years before, but this time, their instincts for danger. Like they should, they fled from any sign of danger when it first came to suspicion, what she should have done ten years before. Feeling the truth bitterly, she quickly left the room with the plates she had picked up. She longed for her old life again, but it was her fault that everyone was a slave.

As the most able servant, her master had entrusted the upkeep of the whole house to her alone. And so she was to replace his presence as the king’s advisor when ever he couldn’t make it. Using the circumstance, she had planned to redeem herself by pushing for emancipation. However, her master was the pinnacle of health and was never sick in the time she was the head servant. Because of this, she formulated a plot to set her plans in motion. She would poison her master.

The next week, she bought a flask of weak poison from a scientist. But in fear of discovery, she fled the area too quickly to hear him say that she had taken the wrong poison.

When her master came down with a case of a mysterious sickness, Serenity prepared to be in the king’s advisory council. Oblivious to her master’s pain, she went into the royal palace with a strong hope that she could persuade the king to her purpose. But she never made it. As she stepped into the throne room, she was detained and captured by the guards before the king could see her. She was thrown into the dungeon for murder.

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Broken souls hold truths of being
The beast holds the man
Ever killing the ones most dear
Ever shattering its own existence

Raiding each soul of the Mainland

Serenity sat, shivering in the cold dungeon, her thoughts swirling in her head. There was no way she could have killed her master. She had paid for the weakest poison the store had to offer. But even then, she was as guilty as charged, for she had indeed intended to poison her master, lethally or not. That was what she had wanted to do. Yes, she thought. Somewhere inside, she had always wanted to kill her master.

In obtaining clarity of mind, she stood up and planned to escape secretly in the night, out of the dungeon. There were many obvious ways to escape, and maybe, she was there to set others free. She would be a captive to emancipate other captives.

She escaped secretly as she had planned and ran to the palace. Surely, she mused, if she could get to the king himself, he would listen. So she snuck through the palace to the king’s chambers, where she found him sitting quietly in thought. There, she approached him with her story.

She told him of the places he was destroying, and the people he was killing. She told him of everything that had happened to the other people. Then she told him about how she failed.

The king listened to all of it, and was astounded at what he had done. The woman in front of him was a lucky one, yet she was the one at fault. He lived a charmed life confined in the palace, but outside the walls, there was a brokenness slowly turning into rage. He sat quietly, absorbing the words of the torn woman who had too much guilt. He was deeply confused, and his face was as blank as the floor he was staring at. After a long moment, he looked up and asked who she was. She said she was of the Mainland and departed with a weary smile.

She returned to her cell in the dungeon unnoticed, just as she had planned, because she was sure that she had gotten her way. From the beginning, she decided that she would return to die. There was nothing left for her in the world, and she felt that she in turn, had nothing left for the world. This would be her parting gift to her people. She looked at the birds that flew outside of the cell, and closed her eyes for that night. The next day would be her last and she would be poisoned the next night, a fitting retribution for her crime.

As the day after passed quietly with no news or commotion, Serenity grew anxious that she had failed once again. She would still have the grief of many people on her hands, as she would die with no legacy, family, or peace. The night drew ever nearer, and Serenity lost hope with the hour. The time to die came soon for her and with a broken heart, she ingested the poison she was given calmly, and went to lay down. Very soon, the poison would kill her.

But she was interrupted, as the sound of a roaring crowd in celebration filled the streets. Serenity opened her eyes in the final moments of her life. The crowd shouted proclamations of freedom, liberty, and peace, praising the king as their voices carried over the palace walls. Serenity heard all of it and was speechless. She had finally redeemed herself of the pain she caused to the people of the Mainland. It was her doing, and now, the nations were finally at peace.

Serenity felt the weight fall off her shoulders, and closed her eyes. With one final breath, she smiled and passed to join the birds dancing in the skies over the Mainland.

A joyous nation holds truths of reason
A Life holds many meanings
Ever giving peace to the broken people
Ever bringing Serenity to the broken souls

Returning unto those, the Mainland…