The Dark Tide

By Hyacinth Grey

The gods are angry, and everybody must flee down the mountain before the dark tide rises and destroys everything. Curtis can't go anywhere without his daughter's sketches, which leads him to face many perils. Will he survive, or will the truth destroy him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hyacinth Grey
• Release date: Jan 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005545611

Hyacinth Grey

I am Hyacinth Grey, Indie Author of fiction in many genres, along with haiku poetry. I also write educational stories for children with my husband, Michael.We live in North America.

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The Dark Tide

By Hyacinth Grey

Copyright 2021 by Hyacinth Grey.

www.hyacinthgrey.com and www.hgb4yr.com

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The Dark Tide

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The Dark Tide

Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes. — Karl Marx

Everyone had been called to Worship. I stood outside the temple, and waited for the doors to be opened. It was early morning, and very bright, with sunbeams reflecting off the snow that had fallen the night before. I felt exposed, standing as I was on the mountain top, near the greatest temple in the world, or to my knowledge, at least.

The time between call and opening was usually about an hour. Today, by my estimate, it took around fifteen minutes.

Once the doors had been flung wide, we all began to file silently inside. I'd been in the temple many times in my life, but the place never ceased to leave me awe-stricken. Everything in it was made of stone, because wood is living material, metal is forged by humans, and only rock has no ancestry.

The two Leaders of Worship took their places at the front, between two columns of gray stone. They linked hands, and each put their other hand flat on the stone beside them. They looked around at us, and their expressions dwindled from gentle smiles to sadness, through desolation, and then shrank down in horror. A hush fell over us as we listened. The one on the right spoke.

The dark tide will soon be upon us, she said.

The man on the left nodded. Tears began to flow down his cheeks.

He said, We have displeased the gods, and this is their vengeance.

In the silence that followed these terrible words, I could hear people's breathing quicken, and some began to gasp for spirit. A few children cried, and a few looked at their parents' frightened faces in bewilderment.

Through his tears, the male Leader of Worship said, There is nothing that can be done; nothing that can placate them now. You may grieve, but there is no point. Soon, our whole city will be utterly destroyed. Our only hope is to leave before the dark tide sweeps us all away. Let us pray now, and hope that the gods will see fit to tell us when the dark tide might arrive.

Both Leaders of Worship gestured to us and on shaking legs, I stood. Parents pulled their children upright or took babies in their arms. We all moved toward the nearest stone and put our hands flat upon it. The wall was cold under my palms and I was shivering. The rock seemed to draw out all the heat in me, to suck away the warmth of my blood, and to be trying to remove my soul from my breath. The gods were definitely displeased. I wished with all my pounding heart to be told when the dark tide would come.

A few minutes later, the Leaders of Worship shook their heads, a signal that our request to know when the dark tide was coming had not been granted.

That was when the wailing started. It hurt my ears, and careful not to lose contact with the stone, I began to edge my way toward the great doors. I was close to the back, and it only took me thirty excruciating seconds to leave, but I was afraid my ears would burst with the terrible sounds that the women made.

Outside, I kept my hands pinned against the stone of the gods and shivered with cold and fear.

The wailing and grieving went on for hours. The cold grew more intense, and my fear ever greater.

Finally, just after sunset, the crying died down, and I re-entered the temple to see the two Leaders of Worship still standing silently between the pillars of unyielding, godly rock.

After about half an hour, the Leaders of Worship nodded, and the moaning subsided into silence.

The female Leader of Worship said, We have been given a sign, and now we know when the dark tide will come.

Hurry home, the male Leader of Worship said, for in one hour, the dark tide will come, and out of the earth shall emerge a roiling cloud of dusty gray, as a flood, not of water, but of destruction and damnation.

Both Leaders of Worship signaled us to depart in orderly fashion, and that Worship was at an end. We all let go of the stone walls and the nearest to the back left first. My wife and daughter were near