Aquila flies over the desiccated veld, periodically checking on the hunters who march like ants across the dry savanna beneath his substantial eagle wings. Owab is the youngest of the band; it is to him that Aquila carries the mystical connection.

Now in early autumn, the earth still waits for the rains. The ground is dry and the game has scattered. They travel east to the purple mountains in search of the great beast who, with a nod of his gracious head, will call the storm clouds.

Over the parched soil
the eagle leads us onward
seeking the Rain Bull.

Photo by Nigel Whitehead, on-safari.co.za

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – NOD, SUBSTANTANTIAL, PERIOD
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – CONNECTION

I also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing  in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Pop over to the #SSS Link Up Party for more Six Sentence Stories
why not bring along one of your own?

I fall through a shower of effervescent light particles and land with a jolt, my nostrils filling with the simple scent of sandalwood overlaying the smell of decay. My uncle’s kindly face comes into focus, he sits in his library, surrounded by his cherished possessions; the lines on his face are entrenched, his shoulders stooped; he has aged – a decade or more. I glance at my hands, the still-smooth skin suggests I have not.

‘Hasten to the Stones,’ he commands. I rise and approach him, but I’m dismissed.

Megaliths murmur:
On the Eve of the Dawning
Gaia greets your return.

Photo by unsplash.com/@artifactflash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – KIND, POSSESIONS, SIMPLE
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – EFFERVESCENT

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Pop over to the #SSS Link Up Party for more Six Sentence Stories
– or why not bring along one of your own!

Back in my corporeal form, my sense of self reasserts itself. I pick my way through the detritus of another ruined city, the remnants of a multinational conflict: the world’s leaders have destroyed each other and, in a mad orgy of annihilation, almost the whole of humanity has perished. My world has been burnt to a crisp and I take no pleasure in the part I have played.

Am I the only one left? I long for my home, my uncle and our secret pact with Gaia – but where is she?

Abandoned, alone
I trudge the blackened back-roads
seeking redemption.

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – TAKE, CRISP, TIN
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – HOME

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Pop over to the #SSS Link Up Party for more Six Sentence Stories!

Gaia’s mantle shifts; I gear up for another astral transformation. I multiply, the same being, my very essence, replicates exponentially. Shimmering but not silent, the words of suggestion well up in my mouth as I creep into the consciousness of the rich and powerful that govern so-called humanity; the privileged who instigated their own rescue from the Great Wave that destroyed lesser mortals.

I unleash insidious whispers; spilling into seductive thoughts, temptation floods their avaricious hearts. Now’s the time to strike: the world can be mine!

Hypnotised by greed
they’ll unleash the dogs of war:
which one will strike first?

Image credit: Håkon Grimstad on Unsplash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – SAME, WELL, TEMPTATION
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – GEAR

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Pop over to the #SSS Link Up Party for more Six Sentence Stories

Threaded with trails of ruby magma, blackened viscous air enfolds me; far beneath me the ocean seethes and thunders, rising up in gargantuan walls of water and yet, all the rage passes through me, washes over me. I am immune, while fun-filled bars and sun-kissed beaches are obliterated.

The devastation spreads. Coastal conurbations, north, south, east and west are drenched with deadly, dripping force. Forests flatten, creatures flee; my only thought is for them.

The human infestation is weakened, badly damaged, yet not even decimated; I am still not done.

In Gaia’s service
as rival to Pandora:
her jar is emptied.

Image credit: Emiliano Arano on Pexels.com

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – TRAIL, FUN, DRENCHED
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – SERVICE

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Pop over to the #SSS Link Up Party for more Six Sentence Stories

Here, at the centre of the stone circle, looking towards the rising sun and channelling the power of the converging ley lines through my naked feet, I inhale the scents of selene and artemesia. The spirit of Gaia is within me; my journey begins.

Flying like a great winged eagle, I am guided by her sacred compass. I feel the strength of surging ocean currents and the might of spitting, smouldering volcanoes; she shows me the signs, the patterns I should follow. Now I know what must be done.

Teeming hominids
Gaia has shown me the way:
penance will begin.

Image credit: Marc Szeglat, Unsplash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – DONE, LOOKING, PENANCE
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – JOURNEY

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Visit the SSS Link Up for more Six Sentence Stories

I cringe. Images of the carnage wrought on Gaia’s beautiful planet crowd my thoughts: animals fleeing from a from a flaming forest, a child staring into the dusty desert that once was her home; chain reactions of a human population run rampant and out of control.

I shut them out; there is work to be done. I, the Initiate, have been given the tools and absorbed the theory; I am capable of harnessing volcanoes and tsunamis. Through astral projection and words of suggestion: famine, war and plague, I’ll bring them all!

Casting qualms aside
I take up Gaia’s mantle
she whispers to me.

Image credit: Lukasz Szmigiel, Unsplash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – CAPABLE, CRINGE, REACTION
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – THEORY

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!