The Last Chimera
Flash fiction inspired by the prompt: "You're insane. There's no chance I'm getting on that thing."
In the land of the animals, none is king. There are reciprocal relationships between predator and prey, those who are hunted and those who do the hunting, but there is no great divide between any creature from another. The predators know they cannot kill without discretion, and the prey understand that some must fall for the rest to survive.
But the humans changed all of that.
With the advent of man, the balance of creatures started to change. The wolves dulled their incisors and learned to heel and stay. The wild-running horses were broken; the cattle raised for slaughter. Even the birds began to selectively sing, fearing they might become targets for the crude arrows and snares the humans used to trap them.
Slowly, the world of men overtook the land of the animals, relegating the creatures like Clawdia to the fringes.
She was the last of the Chimera. A long line of rich and storied animals that had fractured and split as the multitudes she contained became entire species independent of their progenitors. Her snake-like tail was the root of all the reptiles, her lion’s mane the source of the jungle cats’ prowess. Her goat’s head was the reason man had milk and meat with which to flourish and reproduce.
Even before the people came, the mythical beasts stood apart from their fellows. The unicorns were revered by the stallions while the dragons were the envy of the lions and bears. Among the creatures of this planet, it was well-known that they were all descended from their mythical ancestors. As the world grew and changed, more and more animals sprang from the common roots.
As the age of man came to dominate the natural order, the dragons and unicorns fled for the safety of the enchanted forests or the mountains beyond the mortals’ reach. Clawdia could not bring herself to leave her ancestral home atop the trees, at the shores of the water that had nourished her lineage since the dawn of time.
As men advanced further, pulling creatures from the wild and bending them to their will, the other creatures did what they could to protect Clawdia and her family. The lions roared to keep the humans away; the birds squawked and pecked whenever they left their villages for her realm. Anything to preserve the last of the magical beings, to safeguard the ancestry the creatures shared.
“Clawdia, we come with news,” the panthers approached her cave. “One among the men has gained our confidence. He has shared his fears that this world must be cleansed of the rising evil that men bring.”
“A noble attempt at winning your loyalty, I would think,” she responded lazily.
Despite her power, she had remained insulated from the world around her. Protected in her cave, she learned of the world beyond its opening from the creatures who remained loyal.
“I am afraid it is more than that. The man claims to have heard from the great protector of a coming storm. A storm from which only he can save us.”
“How typical,” Clawdia yawned. Her goat’s head bleated, betraying the indecision beginning to grow in her mind.
“He claims a great flood will come to cleanse this land of all the evils that would be its ruin. He offers us sanctuary, he understands that all of nature must survive if his people are to do so.”
“A passable fiction. Do you believe him?”
“We do,” Pantera said. His expression was grim, he was serious in his position.
“And when will this be?”
“He has begun to build a great ship, one that will carry us all through the flood and to the new world. A new world where we will all be as equals again. A world where all creatures can flourish.”
“And you come to me, why? You expect me to convince the dragons and unicorns to return? To what, climb aboard some ship like the fish the men use to pull from the sea? Sail together with mankind towards a future they claim will benefit us all?”
“That is our intention, mistress.”
“You do not come to persuade me to join you, you come to tell me you are going?”
Pantera’s expression was still, nodding almost imperceptibly.
“Very well, show me.”
Emerging from her cave for the first time in a great many years, Clawdia was amazed to see how far the world had fallen from its origins. The land that had once been home to creatures that protected and honored it. She saw the palaces and huts, the divide between those who were deemed better than others. Her senses were assaulted by the upset to the balance that had always ruled the planet.
“And you are going?”
“No, your ladyship. The ship can only carry two of each of the creatures. We have selected the youngest and most verile, in hopes that our lineage will continue in the new world.”
“And what will become of the rest of you?”
“We will lay down our lives for the promise of a better future.”
“And you view that sacrifice as noble? My peak is high enough that no water will touch it. Surely you can all wait out this alleged storm in my care?”
“The man assures us the destruction will be total.”
“And you have already heard that the other mythical creatures will not reveal themselves to the world of man, haven’t you? You’ve come to me last, in hopes that I will join you and bring magic to whatever place the men create when they’ve wiped the rest of the creatures from the face of the earth?”
Pantera hung his head. He had feared she would resist, but had hoped she might prefer to hope for a new tomorrow over accepting that today was drawing to a close.
Clawdia sighed. “And that’s it there? That wooden monstrosity?”
“Yes, mistress. You can see the animals lining up two by two, the brave volunteers who will go forth and propagate a new world. Those who will honor our memory when we are gone.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then there will be no magic in the new world. The dragons, unicorns, griffons and hydras are all resolved to stay behind.”
“They are correct. Any who would seek to remake this world in their image have no understanding of it. They are not worthy of our history, nor will they ever understand what they have wrought.”
“Then you are decided?”
Clawdia nodded, turning away from the world that men had stolen from her fellows and back into the darkness where she lay in wait.
As the storm broke and the floodwaters rose, Clawdia considered if she’d been mistaken. But as the waves reached their icy fingers into her cave and her heart was plunged into the abyss beyond existence, she knew that her life had not been in vain.
The new world that would dawn might stuffer for lack of the magical creatures’ guidance but they’d arisen once…
She believed they could do so again.
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