Dawn over Mara

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NEW PROMPT:
Imagine that you are the only one at the beach. What do you do? What do you see? Are you lonely or content? Write a story or poem about your experience.
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** Image ID #1419110 Unavailable **

Standing alone on the beach, my fear was almost overwhelming. Even the gentle, soughing sound of the nearby waves against the rocks couldn't penetrate the emptiness I was feeling deep down to my soul. I was lost, so lost, and my tears were threatening to overflow at the slightest provocation.

Around me, the strong breeze coming off the ocean whistled around the remains of a once thriving civilization. I fell to my knees in the wet sand, whimpering like a small abandoned child. Just then, the breeze turned into the gentlest zephyr to circle my huddled, shaking body. It returned again and again to press the cotton nightgown against my shivering frame.

"What do you want?" I screamed into the empty air. "Why am I here?" There was no answer, at least none that I could hear. Only the echo of my terrified words came back to taunt me. Today's morning sun, so familiar to me during my lifetime, seemed slow to rise over the deserted town. Night shadows reluctantly disappeared to reveal even more ruins the full length of the peninsula.

I had no idea where I was, or why I had awakened to find myself on this lonely stretch of land surrounded by a dark, brooding ocean. All during my childhood, I'd led an uneventful life, safe in the knowledge I would eventually marry, have children, and grow old in the comforting love of my family. The biggest decision in my life, so far, was which college I would attend.

All that would change the night of my eighteenth birthday. During the day's celebration, my family constantly told me, in words of praise and encouragement, that I was finally a woman. Little did I know what being a woman would entail in the following hours and days.

* * *

You are our returning queen, suddenly entered my mind. The words were not spoken, but were just a warm thought that somehow tickled my brain.

"I don't understand." My confused wail sounded, even to me, more like a young child than that of the woman my family said I'd become. "I don't want to be a queen. I just want to go back home. Please let me go!"

My tearful plea was ignored, and once again the whispered thought came to me, You are our returning queen. This was accompanied by an odd feeling against my body. Gone was the short nightgown, which was replaced with a long, sleeveless gown of iridescent silk. The varying shades of red caught the morning sun making me appear to be standing in a brilliant fire.

My long, blonde hair blew wildly around my head like a fierce, golden crown, and I looked down to see high heels made of crystal on my slender feet. My bare upper arms were encircled with circlets of gold in the shape of dragons swallowing their own tails. Their emerald eyes shone in the rapidly increasing sunlight.

The unknown voice in my head continued. You are ready and will return to where you were born five thousand years ago. My mouth opened in shock at this strange revelation. Before I could complain, though, that I was only 18, the deserted world around me disappeared. In its place, once crumpled ruins became beautiful buildings in colors ranging from pastel pink to brilliant shades of royal purple. Gardens of fragrant flowers unknown by present day botanists surrounded the buildings.

I no longer was alone in this ethereal, enchanted village. Women of flawless beauty stood before me, every one dressed in shimmering, nearly transparent gowns that showed off their perfect bodies. The men were lined up behind them. They stood in rows of muscular masculinity my innocent 18 years had not prepared me to see. Only a short loincloth covered their male attributes and barely left anything to the imagination. Even the children scattered throughout the crowd showed no inhibitions at all in displaying their young, perfect bodies.

Almost as one, the men, women, and children fell to their knees in genuflection to their newly returned queen. "Welcome home, Queen Olivia!" became the ecstatic cry from hundreds of what obviously were my subjects. "You have returned and brought our village back to life once more."

The almost overwhelming fear that had filled me when I found myself on the deserted spit of land disappeared like it never existed. Gone was the ordinary and rather boring young girl once known as Sylvia Jones. Instead, I stood there in the knowledge I was Queen Olivia, the rightful heir to the ocean Kingdom of Mara.

"Thank you, my children," I heard my new regal voice say. "We are about to embark on a journey that was abruptly halted centuries ago by a vengeful demon. I was forced to spend eons in a series of earthly forms until now." My sudden smile brought about a roar of excited cheers. "Watch behind you as Mara returns to its rightful place traveling the seas."

The ocean water slithered over the section of land that joined the peninsula to the mainland. The beach there turned from dirt to mud and finally melted away altogether. A thick layer of fog rose from the rapidly growing canal until the land on the other side no longer was visible.

The demon's spell was behind me, and many adventures lay ahead for those living on the ocean island of Mara. Some would bring us to the brink of destruction, but all would be exciting and worth my returning to reign over this tiny, magical kingdom.

After five thousand years, Queen Olivia was home at last.

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Microsoft Word count = 936

"The Writer's Cramp - Poetry Week"  daily contest winner for 04/28/08
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