Chapter 5: God’s Mouth
After walking around for a few minutes, Daniel headed back to the hut with the help of the villagers. His body was still very weak, and he wasn’t able to do very much at the moment. Once back in the hut he laid back down to rest. The chief smiled at him and turned to the villages that were still in the hut and told them to leave so that he could rest. Then, as she was getting up to leave, Daniel reached for her to stop her from going. “So tell me how it is that my father saved your people, and how long ago was this.” Asked Daniel, she turned to him and sat back down next to him. It was calm and silent for quite a while before she looked as if she was going to answer him. She smiled as she started to speak to tell him the story of how it all started, and how they ended up beneath the waterfall.“Just relax and I will tell you exactly what happened.” Said the chief as she got comfortable, then she began to tell the story of how they ended up under the waterfall.
The story she told started many generations ago, when her people lived on the surface. “Things were relatively peaceful back then, everyone got along just fine with everyone else. They had everything they needed, and there was no sickness or disease. Then it happened. The first war planet Earth had ever seen. The war lasted only a few years, but in that time it tour the world itself into pieces. Entire cities were wiped off the face of the planet with no survivors. The forests died, the waters turn toxic, the ground turn hard, and the skies turned red. By the time the war ended, pollution from the war had completely devastated the Earth. Those that were left over did everything they could to survive, though it was nearly impossible. They found ways to surviving on almost nothing, struggling and fighting amongst themselves just to survive.
However, not all the survivors were fighting, some of them were still trying to hold onto the peaceful life they had before the war. It was even harder for them. Then one day he just showed up out of nowhere, telling those that had decided to live in peace that he would help them. He treated the diseases they had, gave them food and water, then protected them until they regain their strength. Then he offered to take them somewhere away from everything else. My people were skeptical at first, because of the rumor that said, though he was trying to save them, he was the one that started the war in the first place. Nevertheless, they still decided to go with him even if he was the one that started the war he was making up for it now.
He brought us to this place, the largest manufactured waterfall ever to be built. It was built for entertainment; it was something called a roller coaster. She didn’t quite understand what it was but she knew that it was made for people to enjoy themselves. They would ride it along the course of the waterfall, going down all the way then back up again. This entire cave, the river that feeds the waterfall, even the outlet at the bottom of the lake, was designed as a failsafe for the ride. However, after the war started no one went on rides anymore, and the ride was disassembled for its metals. Leaving behind this waterfall and cave, which became toxic once the war ended. When our ancestor arrived here, the waters glowed bright in the night.
Carlton worked endlessly to clean the waters, bring in special plants that he made to make the water clean enough to drink. Those plants gave us food and medicine also, after a few weeks the water at the bottom of the fall was clean. However, the water that fell into the lake was still toxic, but he found a way to protect us from that also. He took us to the center of the lake and built this city on the lake far enough away from the waterfall so that its toxins didn’t affect us. The plants were planted around and throughout the entire city to clean the waters for us to use. Then he gave us more plants to heal our bodies if toxins ever got into them.
My ancestors lived here with the toxic glow of the waterfall for many generations; over that time your father visited us bring in supplies, new technology, and even more people. Though the waterfall remained toxic, no one got sick from it. Your father brought new plants every time he visited to help heal the water and us. The last time he came, he brought the plant that surrounds this island. It causes the body to heal and reject any toxins within it, though the side effect of this caused our eyes to glow. It was a small sacrifice that we happily paid to get rid of all our diseases, and extend our lives by more than 100 years.
My ancestors did not live in fear of the toxic air as most of the world did at that time. Because we were underground and because of the waterfall almost completely blocking the only entrance, the toxic air from above never made it down here to us. We think that’s why your father chose this place over any other place, he could have chosen for us. Because of this, we flourished as a city, clean water, clean air, and peaceful existence with each other.
After a few generations of living beneath the surface, our records show that the water in the waterfall turned clear. No more toxins were coming into our lake and then your father returned. He offered to take us back to the surface, to start over fresh in the New World that was above us. However, we chose to remain here, we like it here, it is very peaceful, and it was our home. Therefore, he decided to give us the choice to leave whenever we wanted. He took those with him that wanted to leave to see the new world, and left the rest of us with new supplies.
Since then he has returned every 100 to 200 years, bringing new comers with him, new supplies, and to make sure everything we wanted and needed was supplied. He would also take those that wanted to leave and see the world above with him. And at times, he would even increase the size of the cave and our city.
Then there is the name of this place, God’s mouth. It was given that name when it was a ride before the wars began. Nevertheless, the name was almost all but forgotten after the war, though it has changed meaning since then, it still suited this place perfectly. It was no longer the ultimate ride, but instead it was the first place with clean water. So we decided to keep the name, and when some of us went to live on the surface the name gained a completely new meaning. The waterfall became an unchallengeable force of nature, one that no one could deify and live through. Well, that was except for your father, he was the only person we had ever seen survive the fall until now.
Until we pulled you out of the water, we had actually thought it was him, but after seeing you survive, we knew you were related somehow. It seems as though we were right seeing that you’re his son. But it is somewhat odd that you had no clue that we existed, your father really must have never told anyone that we existed down here.”
The chief finish telling the story of this place, then she got up and left Daniel to rest. What she told him answered many questions about his father. Though it brought up even more questions that he wanted the answer to, it also made him see why his father was so secretive. It also made him wonder what else his father was protecting, and what else his father was keeping from him. However, for now it didn’t matter, he had gotten more answers than he thought possible, so for now he was happy. He would rest and when he awoke, he would start to find his way out of this place.
Continues in Chapter 6 or go to previous Chapter 4
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