laneys.info Beware of Yankees, drunks, and loose women.

The sudden burst of sunlight was harsh upon my eyes. My hands came up to shield my face as I wondered where we had arrived. All around was the organized confusion of our people evacuating the city. I asked myself where we were going as I looked around and saw them staring back at me. I realized then that after all the years of guidance I have tried to provide I had no answer for them this day and they knew it. I had failed my people. All of my strength drained from my body at that moment. It was difficult to fathom. We were to be exterminated and for what?

No answer came.

I collapsed, falling to the ground while staring at the sky wondering why we deserved this. The children were innocent victims in all of this yet they would suffer the same fate. Those around me clung to their parents, eyes wide, some sobbing, most stoic in the face of destruction. I admired them for that, the innocence.

As I sat upon the earth and looked upon a beleaguered people feeling totally helpless I witnessed something I had never seen before in my long life. It was as if the sun burned away the clouds and smoke with light so pure you could feel its presence. It wasn’t warm. It almost felt alive. It washed over all of us and gave us the deepest sense of calm. I wondered briefly if this was the end. The thought flashed through my mind then faded just as quick as the sounds of wings beating the air filled our ears.

No one moved. The light shone so bright we could barely see ten paces in any direction yet there was no need to cover our eyes. I heard a great many voices in that moment and prepared myself for the end. I felt the tears begin to stream down my cheeks as my eyes closed and I felt myself lifted into the sky. I was at peace and knew I had nothing to fear but didn’t know why I felt that way. Was this really the end?

My eyes blinked. The realization that I was still alive hit me hard and as I rose from the soft grass I looked around to see our people with the same sense of amazement. As my eyes took in our surroundings I could barely make out the silhouettes of winged figures gliding backwards, away from us towards the sky and with that vision I heard a soft voice in my head whisper “to begin anew.” I felt the smile, the warmth and realized at that moment we would be ok. Where we were did not matter but where we would go would. My people had been saved for reasons unknown to us. I vowed at that moment that we would not squander our new beginning.