‘That’s as close to imitating a flying lizard as I ever want to get.’ Kel said, spitting out yet another thorn.
‘Well, at least we can get going again.’ said Moss, having completed his thorn extracting exercise and looking around for something to eat.
After a quick meal, and a long drink from a nearby Water Plant, the two were on their way again, the branch getting ever thinner as they went.
‘I’ve just realized something.’ called Kel, who was several paces ahead of a more cautious Moss.
‘Look down below, I think I can see the forest floor, it certainly looks like it, and the light is getting stronger as if we were going up into the next level, which I don’t think we are. Therefore the forest must be getting shorter, so perhaps we are approaching the edge of it.’
‘Not only that, but the deep rumbling sound is getting louder, so there’s something new out there.’ Moss’s voice had an edge of excitement in it.
Before them, thin spirals of mist were drifting through the branches, obscuring a clear view of what lay ahead, while the branch they were on seemed to go on for ever, twisting and turning its way through the forest.
‘We shall have to slow up a little, as it is getting too narrow for my liking.’ called Moss, who had taken the lead. ‘And the mist is getting even thicker,’ Kel added, wondering where it came from.
At long last the rising trunk of a vast tree loomed up ahead of them, and both gave a sigh of relief having found the point where their branch joined up with the rest of the forest again, providing a resting place for the coming night.
Several branches broke out from the main trunk, forming a safe platform on which to rest, and it was a weary couple who settled down to eat and prepare for a good sleep, having spent most of the day on the move, and some of it under extreme exertion.
Kel, ever the curious one, had gone out onto one of the branches on the far side of the trunk, and called back to Moss, ‘Come and look at this, you wanted something different, and you’ve surely got it.’
Ahead of the pair, seen dimly through the intervening leaf-laden boughs, was a massive cliff rising up towards the top of the forest. Only small portions of it were visible through the gaps in the greenery, but the overall continuity of it was obvious.
‘If you thought the other stone place was large, how about this.’ said Kel as Moss drew up alongside him, pointing towards the gigantic uprising of stone.
‘Maybe this is where the forest ends, and some of the other lands Mec was telling us about begin.’ offered Kel, eager to get Moss’s view on the matter.
‘It could well be, but he didn’t say anything about these huge stone places, or anything like them.’
‘I can see through the tree tops over there, and the air above is a pink colour, I hope this isn’t the hot place he was talking about, we can’t go there.’ Kel had a disappointed tone to his voice, as he could foresee them going back to Mec with very little accomplished.
‘Let’s take a rest now, the light is getting less, and the whole thing may look different in the new light of the Greater Sun when it is high above us.’ and with that, they returned to their resting site.
As there were no giant leaves to cut down in the vicinity to form a shelter, the string of Tinkle Stones was strung up to guard against any strange creatures creeping up upon them during the time of darkness, and then they settled down for a well earned sleep, taking it in turns to keep watch, as usual.
A tired Kel was kept awake by the strange sounds of the night as various monstrosities went about their business.
After the time of the giants, Earth had changed at a greater rate than ever before in her long history.
The vast amounts of energy which had been released caused huge volumes of water to vaporize, forming a cloud mass which reached from ground level right up into the stratosphere, blocking out all sunlight.
Weather patterns which were normally considered to be fairly chaotic, were even more so after the holocaust, with raging storms causing vast flash floods, sweeping away considerable amounts of the softer land masses into the now soup-like turbulent seas. Wind velocities in excess of two hundred miles per hour were not uncommon, while the enormous electric charges built up by the speeding cloud masses brought about lightning displays the like of which had never been seen before, although there were not many about to witness them.
The intense radiation permeated just about every living cell structure, bringing about DNA changes at an ever increasing rate, although most of the mutated forms resulting from this bombardment didn’t survive for very long.
Some did, however, and it was from these new species that the slowly recovering earth was to be populated.
Eventually, after a very long time, the skies cleared, and as the ozone layer had been depleted almost to zero, cosmic radiation from the now very active sun spots bathed the earth, causing even more opportunity for nature to rearrange her DNA patterns, bringing about yet more mutant forms, only the strongest and most able surviving.
Where forests once stood composed of single trees standing proudly beside each other, the high winds decreed that only trees which could join together forming a solid group would be strong enough to withstand the onslaught. And so Kel’s world came about, in time.
For a while the forest was bathed in the darkness of night, and then the Lesser Sun climbed the heavens, casting its silver beams upon the forest canopy, some of which filtered down to give the apparentcy of life to the writhing twists of the gyrating mist wraiths.
As the coolness
