A Millennia of thoughts - 2

“I have to make sure everything is in order for the day they come back! Especially the gate! Everyone will need a quick way to get around when they finally come back!” The little kitsune continued her duties around the shrine. Dusting, polishing, and touchup of some small things around the temple’s aged buildings. Time's grasp had no reach here thanks to her hard work. “Ok! Now time to check on the Torii gate.. Ahh, but the climb up the hill is always so tiring.” She giggles to herself while continuing over to the gate.

“Yuri…”

“Huh. Who is it.” She stops dead in her tracks. Listening to the silence of the shrine. The cool wind runs across the tall grass and flowers. It grabs her bright silver hair as it sweeps, lifting it up as it dances around. Pulling in the cherry blossoms coating the ground, it lifts them through the air as they land back down, coloring the ground beautifully pink and white with its pedals. “Must have been my imagination.” Yuri continues on her way up the towering hill behind the temple. Atop lies a great Torri. Its bright red shine reflects and splits the sun's gaze into amazing colors that lay across the ground in a beautiful dance of shapes and light. “My greatest pride as this shrine's maiden.” Yuri stands in the middle of the great Torri with her hand outstretched. Placing her palm in the empty space at its center. A bright light arcs out of her palm and the surrounding gate is engulfed in white light as she steps back. As the light fades a whole new place can be seen beyond the horizon of the Torri. No longer did it drop off to the cliff below. A beautiful beach with an ocean so blue it was like peering through glass. 

“I… I can’t wait to show you this one day…” Rotating her palm the gate snaps closed with a sudden flash of light. Just as quickly as it closed a new doorway opened to a hilltop overlooking a valley. The lush green forest pours over the edge. The remnants of an old city sit sleeping in the valley, dormant, as time eats away at the crumbling homes. The tall buildings peeking out of the ground reach for the sky they once had in their grasp so long ago. “I remember when this place used to be home to thousands of people. Each with their own life going about their day. The city used to tower over the sky, piercing the clouds and reaching for the stars, flaunting the bright future of every person that once lived there.” Yuri turns her gaze from the ruined city to the sky as it starts to darken. The sun hides its face once again as the stars peer through the darkness left behind. “It's that comet again.” The bright trail streaks across the sky. Tiny fragments of its tail burn off as it speeds up trying to escape the pull of the earth's gravity but never achieving its goal. “Every year it passes by this same spot, each year getting dimmer and dimmer as it gets closer. Today looks like the day it finally burns up.” Yuri keeps her gaze on the comet as it starts to dip down into the atmosphere. Large chunks start to break off and melt from the heat. “It's getting awfully close..” Slowly the small figure of the comet grew larger and larger as if it was moving closer and closer by the second. Before Yuri can even finish her thought the comet hurdled past overhead crashing into the valley below. A shockwave pours across the barren landscape tearing any trace of the old city to the ground as the valley shakes. The old rubble was launched high into the sky rocketing down back causing even more damage to the decayed city. Dust and flames pour from the now crater any view of the bottom. Yuri remains silent trying not to let her emotions get the best of her as she watched the last city she knew, the last city she called her home crumble.