figmentation

In my state of pure exhaustion, I curl up with a friend and am told this story:

There's this valley that runs through the centre of Nanaimo, linley valley, it's called and in the centre of the valley is a small lake - cottle lake, i think and it is a beautiful area - totally unspoiled save for a few trails and it's surrounded by residential and commercial property but it's a huge peice of land and it's protected too - bc parks and whatnot trees everywhere, moss covering the bare rock like an out of style shag carpet
is really, really nice
ive spent a lot of time there, just exploring, wandering through the dense bush, picking out lines, taking in the beauty generally with a stop somewhere to read, or smoke, or talk with whoever i'm with and once i was there with my best friend in the world, wilson Pascoe and his girlfriend at the time, and a good friend of mine, story we were walking just up from the edge of the lake maybe 20 feet from the water climbing over rocks and fallen trees, stopping to look at everything - in no hurry at all just appreciating everything and at one point we stopped for a snack - right in front of this huge rock face (only it wasn't a rock face) it was an earth elemental albiet a fallen one his giant stone fingers had crumbled around him and he was laying face down in the earth, his massive face split, staring into the lake and it was big - his nose must have been 15 feet high the fingers were massive boulders but he looked sad very sad because of an ancient battle, a skirmish that was literally older than the mountain itself (since it was now clear that he was, in fact, the mountain) it was a hard fought battle, a tangle with the fire elemental a sort of ancient grudge match (though the earth elemental was unaware of the grudge until it was too late)
but the battle was fierce it began a long, long time ago to the forging of the world and a hatred cultivated itself over uncountable millennia

until one day a day of worship, actually the same day that the people who lived in the area were finishing up their final annual rituals to their god, the earth elemental you see, it was the earth in whom the people placed their faith, and it was the earth upon which they gave their thanks in return the pleased god would provide the people with another year of life, of growth and he did
but it took energy effort so while the people devoted a week of their time to praising his gifts, he in turn would focus this energy - this life - back into the earth but it made him weak and someone from the tribe left their campsite in a hurry and didn't quite snuff out a campfire and the flame elemental, wracked with self-loathing, took advantage of this opportunity with painstaking coaxing, the flames lept from the golden embers to the dry forest bed igniting everything seemingly at once - this of course was actually the fire elemental taking form now, the earth elemental, half in hibernation, noticed this spasm in the general sceme of things and awoke
but it took much too long to gather the engergy to take form, and by the time he had risin from the rock, half of the valley had been destroyed all of the worshippers were lost, as was their village on the outskirts of the forest and so the battle raged

the earth elemental, a massive hulk of living rock - and of course the fire elemental, a harldy physical being scorching everyhting in its site and the battle raged for years decades but slowly the earth elemental - fueled with emotions so much more complex than rage and loss - gained the upper hand the fire elemental saw this slip and knew he would be defeated and so, as a last ditch effort, he jumped... curled himself in a tight ball and rooted as far into the earth as he could, scalding the very core of our world setting ablaze the countryside from deep inside the earth
but this could not be with a knowing grimice on his massive face, the earth elemental pounced on the searing crimson ball his immesurable mass coming down on the blaze like nothing before, causing a massive fissure at the edge of the mighty continent, splitting the worlds in two
as the flames were smothered, a mighty CLAP rang through all corners of the world, the heat causing the earth elemental himself to slowly crack and the pressure was great and as the elemental lay face down on the unimaginable heat he realized that this would be the end

and so he cried

and his massive tears collected at the bottom of the valley and while the worshippers had been whipped out, he cried for them for their futiure and the tears, though it took time, rekindled the forest new growth would eventually sprout again, fueled by the efforts of the mighty god and now, sitting in the middle of vancouver island, sits a quiet testament to his struggles
protected from harm a silent reminder of the great elemental and his selfless gift (we saw him)

so now, whenever i go into that valley, no matter where i am planning on hiking, i stop and hang out and be thankful because it's incredible and i am a little more careful of where i step

(whew)
there's my story for you