It only took a handful of years after the fall for the wild to reclaim the land.

It crept and wrapped itself around the hostile world. Mother Nature embracing her unruly child, turning rebellion into submission.

All we had built with such disregard crumbed to dust, subsumed by the earth. What is the work of King of Kings against the power of Queen of Queens?

All we had made ugly, she made beautiful again.

And even whilst she undid our damage, she did not forget us, did not neglect us. Her arching branches gave us shelter. Her soil nourished our food. Her waters washed us clean and her air allowed us to breathe once more.

She never forgets; we always do.

***

“You’re a storyteller. Dream up something wild and improbable,” she pleaded. “Something beautiful and full of monsters.”

Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Inspired by Erin Morgenstern’s Flax-Golden Tales, I have decided to embark on my own creative writing blog series, “Wild & Improbable Tales”, as a way to write more freely and more frequently. Periodically, I will choose a card at random from The School Of Life‘s ‘Small Pleasures’ box and use the image and/or writing on the back to inspire a short piece of creative writing. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.