The Lands the Birds Left - A Story About the People of Boreus

The lands of Boreas were a world of tough soil and tougher men. The people there survived the winter with warmth of fires and their fellow man. They would survive until the birds came. The birds came with the warm winds and they could then till the soil and plant enough to survive the next winter. To thank the Birds, they would gut a lamb and place it up high for the birds to feast upon. The blood would drip to the ground from the bird’s beaks and wildflowers grew from the soil where they never could. The Birds taught the men of Boreas the first curse of nature, Alchemy, and its highest price, Blood.

The men of Boreas would fight the winter with blood. The warm winds and the birds came sooner as the men laid their offerings across the fields of the men of Boreas. The blood soaked deep into the roots and with the rites performed, bounties of grain, tuber, and fruit sprung from the ground. For winters, the men of Boreas flourished. The blood brought the warm winds and won the war with winter. But after a thousand winters, the same blood wouldn’t bring the warm winds soon enough. The men of Boreas were more numerous than ever. The men at their borders waged war with them. The men of Boreas seeked relief from the men at the borders and the winds of winter. Instead of giving their lambs, the men of Boreas began to give the men at the border’s warriors. The warriors were brought high and gutted as the birds taught, but the birds would not take the offering, but the soil would.

For another thousand winters, the blood of the warriors at their borders would spill on the soil of the men of Boreas. Their borders would grow as their men grew numerous and their lands grew farther. They used the Alchemy to turn their bones to blades, their flesh was eaten for strength, their bodies desecrated for the sake of the men of Boreas. They kept taking the men at the borders until there were no more borders and no more warriors. The men of Boreas saw the winds of winter come earlier, like the days before the blood. The men of Boreas declared their need for the blood. They would use the Alchemy gifted to find warriors beyond their home. They would cross the forbidden boundary and take the warriors and raise them high to spread their blood on their field far away from their homes.

For another thousand winters, Boreas would be spread with the blood from worlds never meant to be reached. The fields of the men of Boreas saw their harvest grow more bountiful than they were ever dreamed to be. The men of Boreas lived with plenty while they buried more warriors every year. Their riverbeds stained brown from the blood overspilling their fields. The bird came and flew over Boreas but never landed. There was nowhere to land their feet where a man had not had his blood spilled so that the harvests would be many and the men of Boreas would grow fat with plenty.

The warriors beyond the borders lost many battles and many more brothers. They sought a way to end this crime committed against them for no other reason than their ability to bleed. The Birds came to their aid and taught them the same art of Alchemy. They learned more than the men of Boreas and were taught the ways to replace the blood with salt, lime, and fire. They repelled the men of Boreas after a thousand winters using the Alchemy used to conquer them.

For the first winter in thousands, not a drop of blood would stain the soil of the fields of the men of Boreas. The birds came and rested their feet at last. The men of Boreas only begged and asked why they were late. The warm winds which warned the end of winter came when it would but the blood of the warriors made it come sooner and for more bounties to be had. When the men of Boreas, who grew fat from plenty, went hungry, they begged for blood to spread upon the fields of the men of Boreas. When the warriors from beyond the borders were gone, the men of Boreas began slaying their fathers who could no longer toil the fields.

For another thousand years, the Birds flew above the lands of Boreas and weeped from the skies. The men of Boreas slew their aging fathers to stave off winter. When winters came again, they slew their mothers who no longer could bear them brothers. When winters came again, they slew their thieves who only sought bread to eat. When winter came again, they slew their ill who wished to run but their bodies were too weak to fight. When winter came again, they slew their mad who questioned why they must shed so much blood. When winter came again and there were no more fathers, mothers, sick, or mad, the men of Boreas looked at their children and wives.

When the men of Boreas looked upon their fields after thousands of years and millions of dead, they asked the birds why they were given this power. They ached, screamed, and begged the birds to answer them. The birds flew above, refusing to touch the land. The birds cried back to ask why they needed the birds to answer. The birds never taught them to slay the men at the border. They never taught them to slay the men beyond their borders. They never taught the men of Boreas to slay their fathers, mothers, thieves, ill, or mad. They only gave thanks to the men for the meals of lamb. It was the men of Boreas who learned to slay the men at the borders. The men beyond the borders. Their fathers, mothers, thieves, ill, and mad.

When the warm winds left the lands of Boreas for that harsh winter without blood, the birds left as well. And when the birds left, they did not leave alone. Flying high in the sky like clouds blotting out the sun were the millions who had been placed high and drained, so that their blood might spread across the fields of the men of Boreas. These men and women had wings, so that they could fly like the birds. Each carried their bones so that they would not turn to dust in a land that was not their own. One where they were treated like marl. The men of Boreas were left to their fields and the winter but the birds and warm winds would never return.