The Way of Nature
By Hikako
It remembers the day of its birth quite clearly, or rather the night. Born at the moment of
its parent's death. That was the way of Nature. Life gave way to death, which fed the next
generation of life.
Closer to dawn then dusk a thunderstorm had just begun to rage overhead, and the strong
winds generated picked up the little seed and many of its brothers and sisters with it.
The enormous petals that housed the seeds burst open and poured the Elemental's children
out by the millions. Sadly the majority of its siblings simply floated down to the concrete
and steel the humans had replaced fertile earth with, but the strong arms of the storm
picked up quite a few and carried them far away.
Over the metal mountains and lifeless lands of the humans escaping over the heads of
the strange hollow beasts with round legs and the stars that gave off light but not life.
Try as they might some of the seeds couldn't stay aloft and fell down, but others went
on. The seed and its brothers and sisters were at the mercy of the wind, yet they knew
some would die and others would live. That was the way of Nature. The humans called
it 'playing the odds' and the seeds held no anger or remorse, for in a second they might
be called down to join the fallen siblings.
Then the sun rose, a beacon of light and life, in the eastern sky, and the air began to
warm. Higher and higher the seeds rose until they were caught by other winds and
began to be carried off in other directions. Soon the little seed was alone, no brothers
or sisters in sight, and it began to wonder what would happen to them. Would
Nature choose them instead of it, would they fall to the earth and yet fail to grow,
or what if it flew into a mountain and couldn't find water? These heavy thoughts
weighed on the seed's mind.
The heavy thoughts also began to weigh on the seed itself, and slowly it felt the earth
rush up to meet it. There was no crash, no abrupt stop to its journey; it merely floated
until the soft earth caught the tiny seed. The little seed felt a burst of happiness, this
was good soil: filled with minerals and hidden streams of water rushing beneath it
feeding the grasses and trees. A good home for an orphan seed, maybe a brother or
sister would show up and together they could grow. The seed wondered, as it
slipped into the moist earth, if the neighboring trees would be nice.
Nestled comfortably in the bosom of the earth the little seed pushed its roots out and
soaked up the essence of life. Drinking and eating its fill the little seed wished to see
the sun again and pushed its neck up towards the surface, while pushing its roots
down further as well. With a great push the seedling's head popped out of the ground
and felt the warming rays of sunlight upon its face. Soon, it decided, I will grow tall and
proud like my parent, and I will touch the sky with my long fingers tipped with leaves.
I will soak up the sun's light and drink from the earth. I will give of myself to this forest
and it will grow healthy and strong.
It wouldn't be like its parent, though, that it decided right away. It wouldn't give in to
hatred and despair, it wouldn't hurt the humans. What the humans do is in their
nature, it was the seedling's nature to give life to all who asked of it. That was the
way of Nature. The predator ate the prey, which fed on the plants, and the predator
would die and feed the next generation of plants. Life to death, and back to life.
That was the way of Nature. Even the humans knew that, that was why they buried
their dead in the earth or spread their ashes across the landscape. Feeding those
who would feed their children in the endless cycle of life.
One day the seedling would be an Elemental and then it would die, whether by human
hands or the inevitable grasp of time. Eventually all the Elementals will be dead,
and one day all the elves and trolls will be dead, and one day all the humans will be
dead. But Life would go on, and on, and on…