Maryum Natur was sick. Over the last few centuries it had only gotten worse. The humans were killing her. She had tried everything. She had sent tornado after earthquake after lightning storm, trying to stop them. In one desperate episode, she had yelled and screamed in someone's face. But the air still grew thick with smog, poison was still being dumped into her waters, and most of all, the ozone was still thinning. She was hot. She was sweating. She was melting. And nothing she did could stop it.
As she made her way through the dense forest of southern Chile, the thick vines and foliage moved, as though to make way for her. On her shoulder an albino raven stood perched. Every so often the bird would beat it's wings, as though it could feel its master's discomfort. Most likely it could. And on her left loomed the Andes mountains. She could still remember when those mountains held feet of snow, even in the blistering heat of summer. That snow was now nothing more than a white smudge on the tip of the stone mound. Once she had walked with the glow of life, proud and strong, a trail of thick healthy leaves and the hum of new life filling her ears. That glow of life was gone, dimmed by what the humans had done; her trail little more than sprouts and grass.
Not far from where she walked was a small village. Their company, at least, she could enjoy. But for now they were asleep. Night had just fallen and no doubt the children would be tucked away for the night's dreams. As though on cue, curls of golden sand laced through the sky, down to the darkened houses. Maryum watched through narrowed eyes. She was not a fan of the guardians. Mostly, she was not a fan of the Man in the Moon. He had broken her rules and then forced her children to fight one another. It was atrocious. So no, he did not have her sympathies. If she had a way to do it, she would drag him down to her and give him a what for. A wheezing cough broke her thoughts. This would not do. If nothing changed, and changed soon, this world would end, possibly even her along with it. Clouded blue eyes found the golden swirls once more. Perhaps it was time she visited an old friend.