The Silken Plains

"the Silken Plains"

    Below the red skies I rode. I had been riding so long I had begun to let the ache in my muscles fade out of my mind. I blinked hard a few times to get the weariness out of my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose as I gazed upon those bluish and violet hills in the distance, squinting under the orange dwarf sun's light searching for meaning among the shapes of the hills where there was none.

    To the east were pale purple and yellow grass on flat silken prairie stretching out as far as the eye could see until finally disappearing into colossal summits of hellish snow capped mountains. To the west were web-like pink and grayish forests where no light seemed to pierce. But I focused forward on the pastures straight ahead of me. Focused on those rolling plains of purple silk and blue meadow.  That’s where they were. 

    Night had begun to stretch across the starlit sky. The hellish orange and reddish hue of day started to become a deep grayish purple and blue as this planet's sun began to dip below the horizon revealing infinite sparkling points of pale light twinkling all across the sky. I knew I needed to set up camp soon and start a fire before the infinite dark swallowed what little light I had left. Before the terrors of these plains came crawling.  

    I knew I would be safe with a fire. Safe among its warm light. I had been riding these parts most of my life. Grew up learning these lands. Until I left for the municipality of Xenos. That’s where I met you. I always thought one day you would be here with me, thought maybe we would be looking up at the stars together watching the twin moons dancing, watching this planet's turquoise rings radiating their vibrant colors as they moved like rivers across the sky from one horizon to the other as they spun around the planet. I wonder where you are right now. I wonder if you even think about me? Or are you off planet somewhere? I guess it doesn't really matter.

    I needed to focus on making my fire instead of on thoughts of you; before all manner of human-sized creatures begin to crawl near. A large enough fire to have a circle of light of ten meters, I think that should be good enough. That's what I learned growing up. That’s what my dad taught me.  The light always kept the creatures away and there always needed to be a circle of ten meters of light. At least. Anything less and you’re asking for trouble.

    I rolled out my mat and tied my horse down inside the ring of light. I laid down upon the silken sheen of the pink and yellow dirt watching the massive rings above, silently swirling against star-ways and galaxies that were glowing behind them, flowing like a stream of shimmering water in the night sky; glimmering every star point with ivory diamond light. I think about you when I'm alone like this. When I watch the star-ways, wondering if you are looking at the same stars as me. Right at this moment, at the same time as me. Maybe we are connected in this moment without even knowing it.  When you left me, I was broken.  I thought there was nothing left for me.  It's because of you I am out here right now riding across these silken plains again hunting those things. I also needed to get away from the suffocation of the municipality. I needed to get away from everything and figure my life out.  I needed to make some money.

    Night had begun to spread itself across the plains and it didn't take long for things to start moving inside the darkness. I could already hear all the prairie's living things crawling near, pattering quickly with their strong legs and coming right to the edge of the light. I can see one of them already. I can see all of its fifteen eyes glowing an emerald green, reflecting the flickering light from my fire. Its alien clicking sounds cackling and crunching into the night air. Its many-jointed limbs tapping into the dirt as it moves around eagerly just beyond the edges of the light.  This massive creature looked like an eight digit hand but with large, spiny, hairy legs instead of fingers. Crawling and pattering quickly back and forth amongst the darkness just beyond where I can see. Its leathery and muscular body moving among the shadows.  Kicking dirt and bouncing eagerly, trying to figure out a way to grab me and drag me away into the darkness.

    They were spiders the size of a full grown person. They were common here. That’s why I was really here.  I needed their venom to sell.  I needed to make some money. And spider venom was really valuable around these parts.  I knew they never came into the light, but they always tested how close they could get because as my dad told me, they could always smell the flesh of humans. You always had to be alert.  Always had to be aware of where they were.  I saw one rip apart a man to pieces once. It grabbed the man with its legs and stretched him apart until he was ripped in two. I will never forget his screams. I was 14 I think.

    Looks like it’s going to be another long night but at least I'll be thinking about you as I watch the turquoise rings swirl and radiate their infinite colors like star-way river streams, wishing you were here with me to see all this beauty.  I was going to have to track this spider back to its den in the morning.  You couldn’t hunt them at night.  That was just asking for a painful death.

    The next morning I woke up from a nightmare. It was of that man getting ripped apart again.  He was a hired hand for my dad.  We needed the help back then to hunt these spiders.  We had set up camp and the fire was big, creating a huge circle of light.  We were all talking and laughing and the man became too comfortable and got reckless.  He strayed too close to the edge of the light.  That’s when I saw it.  A huge spider emerging from the darkness, crawling frantically toward the man. All its legs moving quickly in perfect harmony. You could hear the furious tapping sounds of all its legs hitting the dirt as it sprinted to get close to the man.  It came right to the edge of the light and pulled the man by his ankles and lifted him into to air grabbing his other leg with another one of its many appendages and pulled him apart.  The man screamed in terror for help. There was nothing we could do.  It happened so fast. You could hear the sound of flesh ripping. It sounded like paper being torn apart.  And where his legs came together at the groin, you could see stringy red flesh being pulled apart as his body ripped down the center.  As he screamed in horror, his shoulders separated and his head flopped and bobbed as it stayed connected to his right shoulder.  It was an explosion of blood and wet chunks of meat as red mist sprayed into the night air.  That dream never seems to go away. I can still see his face as he realized his body was ripping apart. His eyes will haunt me forever.

    I wiped the sleep from my eyes. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon with streaks of fire yellow and red dancing on its giant arcs like living flame moving like colossal giants made of fire. The rest of the sky was still a blue and pale purple with stars slowly fading into the backdrop of a red and orange day.

    There was barely a sound on the prairie. Barely anything moving except for the giant spider. It was still here. It had waited here the whole night. Staying just beyond the edge of the light. That was unusual. They never did that when I was out here with my dad. Usually as the sunlight began to stretch across the sky the spiders would scurry away back into their dens not wanting to endure the sting of the heat. But this one refused to leave. It seemed to have a tolerance for the heat.

    These spiders had become more and more resistant to the sunlight. Making it more dangerous to be out here.  But I needed the money.  Even if it had been decades since I had been back here. Things change fast in the galaxy.  My life fell apart just as fast. Faster than memory and nostalgia. Those things seem to never change in our minds. Just like my memory of you. No matter what I'm going through, you seem to always be in my thoughts. I hate it sometimes. I really need to think about my situation.  About this damn spider that refused to go back to its den.  I was going to hunt this one.  But I needed it to be asleep and with its guard down.  It was still early and the sun wasn’t high enough in the sky yet so there was still time for this stubborn spider to feel the sting of the light.

     I was going to need to keep my fire going if I was to outlast this thing. It surely wouldn't last long with more heat. It would have to leave. I just needed to get another fire grease ball from my pack so I could make the fire last a little longer. I guess I was going to have to get comfortable again because I wasn't going anywhere until this spider left.  The sky was not a full bright yellow and red yet. The day wasn’t in full swing but this spider was still pacing around the heat of my fire. I had moved the flame near my horse but my horse was starting to get uncomfortable with the heat being so near.  I started to worry that my horse was going to get impatient and panic. It was beginning to neigh and move around anxiously. It was ready to move but I knew we couldn't just yet. That spider could scurry with its many legs, just as fast as my horse could run and would catch us no problem. Even with my horse at full sprint.

     Finally, this giant spider had had enough of the sun and the heat and began to scurry away back toward its den. With all of its legs moving perfectly, one right after another in smooth motions it crawled away like a giant hand crawling across the ground.  I was thinking its den was somewhere beyond the large rocks to the north.  I was going to follow this massive creature and kill it and take its venom.  I was going to bring a large enough torch with me. I gathered some of the tinder I had been burning and used some of my grafting straps and scion glue to piece together a large make-shift torch. I attached it to the bottom of my saddle so I could hold it upright as I rode along.

    The flame was so red it made it hard to see, I could barely see where it ended and the sky began. I climbed atop of my horse and slowly made my way toward the northern rocks. The spider seemed to be staying just far enough ahead that it was no problem for me to follow.

    However, with the dwarf sun and the red flames, the heat was getting too much for the spider and it started to move more quickly. I needed to quicken my pace if I were stay up with it. That would prove to be a mistake. As my horse bounced more vigorously in its gallop I began to lose my grip on my torch and it finally fell and the flames hit at the hinds of my horse causing it to buck wildly. Throwing me off. I hit the pink dirt so hard it knocked the wind out of me. I panicked. Gasping for air as I tried to find my torch. I looked around wildly and it was still attached to my horse who was still bucking around aggressively.  I got up quickly and ran to my horse.  Calming it down.  Rubbing the side of its head and it slowly regained its composure. I looked toward the northern rocks and I didn’t see the spider anymore.  Damn it, I thought.  I lost it.  But it couldn’t have gotten too far.  I would just have to move more quickly toward the rocks and hopefully I would catch up with it.

    I hopped on my horse and started galloping towards the rocks. Scanning the prairie lands for any movement.  But I couldn’t see anything.  Damn, where did this thing go.  I moved my hand above my eyes, shielding them from the light of the sun.  I couldn’t find which direction it went until finally I saw some tracks.  I smiled, there you are, I said, and started my horse in that direction.

    I needed the money, I kept saying.  Hunting spiders was dangerous and hardly anyone did it anymore but I really needed the money. It was my only hope of getting my life together and maybe getting a second chance with Jessica.  I thought of her hair, her smile.  The way she looked when the graphite lights of the skyscrapers poured through our windows.  I could almost feel her again but that’s when the spider emerged from the ground.  It threw open a slab of dirt like a door leading to a basement cellar.  Half its body jumped out and grabbed my horse and as it dragged it back into its dirt cellar, I flew off my horse and hit the ground, dislocating my shoulder.  The pain was sharp and fast.  I couldn’t breathe.  I could only hear the wails of my horse as it was dragged underground.  It was doing something to it and I couldn’t see any of it.  I could only hear the sounds of my horse being preyed upon by a giant spider. 

    I got up and looked around and saw the torch lying on the ground.  I sprinted to get it but not before the giant spider lurched out again from underground and tripped me.  Curling the end of its spiny, leathery leg around my ankle, it started dragging me toward its underground den. I started flaying my arms around trying to grab something. Anything. There was nothing to grab. Then I started punching the spider's leg but it had no effect. I started screaming desperately for help but knew no one would hear me. No one came out into these plains unless you were hunting spiders. And there was no one left anymore. No one did that anymore.  I got reckless. I shouldn't have come out here. This was how it was going to end. I was going to die just like that prairie-hand I saw all those years ago that got ripped apart.

    I closed my eyes. Jessica, I thought, I wish I could see you one more time. I wish we didn't drift apart the way that we did. I wish so many things and now, here in the moment of my death I find myself thinking of only you. I'm so sorry. And just as quickly as the spider pulled him into the air, it tore him apart like paper.  Leaving an explosion of meat and blood crashing and flopping to the ground.  And the spider scurried back into its underground dirt den.  And it was silent on the prairie again.  Only the sounds of this land existed and nothing else.  Only a mist of red lingered in the air, shimmering in the sunlight.  That was all that was left of him. And after some time, all manner of creatures came out to where the pieces of his body lay and each dragged away their own piece of meat.  And there were no sounds of horror anymore.  No screams.  Just the sounds of heat and the prairie feasting.