Kshatragna Knew #AtoZChallenge 2025 fantasy

[Story scene post]

If I had known that night what I know now, would I have killed Jaildarn in his sleep with my pickaxe? 

Kill. It's an interesting word to know. It wasn't in my vocabulary back then. The last Yellow, the last Master of the plains and farming, Kshatragna, explained it to me. When the Browns moved the rocks we needed to build and such, the mountain survived. Our work did not impact the life of the mountain, because we are born in harmony with mountains. We share their vibration, frequency, and purpose. 

The Yellows experienced a different existence. They were able to bring life to their area. I knew of some of the crops they grew, the ones the Colorless used in our food. Kshatragna described fields of so many more, of life beyond anything I could have imagined. To me, it was about foods I'd never see, smell, or taste. To Kshatragna, it was life that was taken without purpose. 

To stop the Yellows from feeding everyone, Jaildarn and his followers destroyed the plains. It was an acidic liquid that not only dissolved all the existing life there, but also ruined the ground beyond repair. 

"We would harvest, yes. We took life, we killed, but we did so to sustain life. And we always renewed what we took, we increased more life than we took. It was our purpose. The Golds? They did this to end life. Killing to cease living. I feel the spirits, the level the Reds speak of so often. Level five. The end of this life."

Kshatragna died in my arms saying that. 

Jaildarn was not content with all he achieved. He wanted to punish everyone. To destroy us all. Even if there was an Opal left to go to the Birth Place, and even if they brought another Yellow into the world and raised it, there were no plains to farm. 

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Key dramatic question that will take whole story to answer:

Could Belp have prevented all this death, how, and if so-- why didn't he?

And what led Jaildarn to become the cause of such annihilation? 

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QUESTION -- based on this scene, do you view Jaildarn as evil?

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My A to Z 2025 theme is a fantasy story. (And some of the process of writing it as well.) 🕮

- J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZchallenge

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