Friday, October 22, 2004

Well, I'm sure you'll all notice the google text ad less than an inch above this very post(if you're reading this when it's still the most recent post.). Maybe some people will see something interesting in the advertisements and click on them. That would be fascinating and I might even make a little bit of spending money off of it if enough people do over time. All the more reason for me to keep this updated and to talk about things people can buy. Perhaps this will be incentive to restart my comic strip.

However, for today, I will begin a story which I will tell in order instead of random fragments. Today, the prologue will only have themeatic connections to the overall story, which I have just named, A History Lost in a World Forgotten, while registering this. In a world that isn't so much post appocolyptic as it is a place that has simply moved on, many of the remnants are looking for a history for themselves, but more importantly a future as the evidence they find begins to sugguest that, without a change, they will begin to dwindle and fade away in the world their short term ancestors stayed behind in. I really just decided what themes to write about on the spur of the moment when I wrote teh prologue. I decided to register this as a NaNoBlogMo site and they sugguested posting a short description and a title, so now I have both of those, post prologue. So for the next month, you're not getting anything but story. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Now after the heavy editing and the addition of almost the entire previous paragraph, let's get this show on the road:


Prologue: How the Bee Got Her Sting

In the time of the gods, the queen of all queen bees lived, and commanded all her people. They were a vast people, who were hardworking and who daily produced the precious honey that all men and beasts loved to snack on. Often, their hard work would go in vein as the men, the cleverest of all their enemies, were so successful at stealing her people's honey. Their hives would be left in ruins and often many of people mortaly injured. As time went on, it became clear to the Queen Bee that her people would eventually begin to dwindle as man grew in strength and number and hunger for the product of her people's nobel work.

After much thought and great deliberation, the Queen Bee told her queens to gather for her a crop of their finest honey. The honey that was gathered by the generals of the Queen's royal court was of such splendor that no crop of honey has ever again been seen or tasted. It was, and is, without equal, for the bees of old were masters of the craft and even today, despite the dilligence of the bees throughout all of history, secrets have been forgotten and while they do their best, this grand nectar can only be imagined.

When hew orders had been carried out, she had her royal courts generals carry the honey behind her as she set out, warning that she might not return, but that her journey was, she felt, the only hope of her people. She told no one of her destination, but the loyal generals followed her without question, because she was a wise and generous leader and none ever needed to question her actions. They traveled behind her for many days, and without food or hive to care for them, they began to grow week. They traveled to the base of mount Olympus and began to travel up it. It was hard going and their quest was longer than they had even traveled. And despite their trust, the generals questioned whether they would have the strength to return home. But they continued on, in service of their people.

At the end of their travels the Queen Bee led them to the very peak of mount Olympus, and the great pantheon, the home of Zeus and all his kind. She led them all the way to the feet of the great Zeus, who was sleeping ever so soundly. She kneeled down before him and her generals followed her lead, unable even to remain standing had they not wished to. Before he woke, they had died of exhaustion, leaving the Queen Bee alone at his feet. He very nearly stepped on her when he stirred from his rest and as soon as he noticed her he kindly asked her of the business for which she had come and how he could help her, overly kind even for the small tinge of guilt he felt for having almost squashed a mortal being, as he had a great love of all mortals and their doings.

" Great and merciful Zeus, king of the gods and friend to all beasts and men(the race of men were the pride of Zeus and were by far his favorite of all mortals), I come before you humbly at the end of a great journey and at the expense, you see, of my greatest and strongest generals, the only ones great enough to make such a journy, and I greet you and kneel before you. I also bring you a simple gift, a mere token of my people's love for you, " she spoke with a silver tongue, the likes of which has never again been heard from a bee. Even if it were, such long winded offerings have not landed on kind ears for over a century and only apeal to those of terribly unreasonable egos. The gods, of course, did have terribly unreasonably sized egos, and such flattery never tired them.

The Queen Bee then gestured to the honey behind her between the guards who had sacrificed themselves to bring the offering such a great distance. It's golden texture captured the light of the sun that was now setting bringing tints of purple and orange into the sky behind her as she lay kneeled before the feet of the king of the gods. Even to Zeus, the offering appeared beyond compare and he leaned forward to dip his finger into it and pull from it a slight sample, it was as smooth as cream and he brought it to his lips. The taste was beyond that of even the food of Olympus, and it filled him with pleasure. So pleased was he that he impulsively decided to grant the Queen Bee a gift in return.

" Most loyal and obedient of beasts and Queen of all Queen Bees, your offering pleases me, what would you have of me in return? I will grant a single wish of yours with pleasure, " his voice boomed and the Queen Bee trembled, for she knew that Zeus would be displeased with her request. I had to be done, too much had been sacrificed to return empty handed. Her greatest fear, was that he would not grant her wish.

" Oh, lord Zeus, who is even more kind and generous than I could have imagined, I have such a simple request, and yet it is of great importance to all of my people. As time goes on and we strive to make our precious honey, my people are being destroyed so that our labors might be stolen by man and beast. As the strength and numbers of men grows, so does their hunger for our honey. My request is ever so small, I wish for a poisoned stinger for all my people, that we might defend ourselves from the greedy hands of the cleverest and hungriest of all mortals, man. "

While the Queen Bee spoke her peace, Zeus' vision grew red with rage. As has been said, man was his favorite of all mortal things, and he took careful interests in their affairs, and here a beast and seeming enemy of man had requested from him, their greatest benefactor, a weapon to use against the race of men. He would not go back on his word, he had made an offer, and nothing was going to give him pause to even consider losing face and going back on his word. Only when he thought of a suitable solution, long after the Queen Bee finished speaking, after she had layed before him, trembling with fear that he would deny her request, did he speak to her. And he did so with the utmost respect.

" Noble and loyal Queen, I will grant your request, you, and all your people, shall have your stings. However, they will not come without great cost to you. All your lives will be bound to your stingers and when you bury them in the flesh of man to drive him away, you will do so at the expense of your life, " he spoke evenly as the bitterness sunk into her at the condition of his favor, after all that her request had already cost her.

With the last of her failing strength she flew to him and stung his toe.

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