The Life Cycle

She sat on the dew-drop laden cow grass blades in the early spring morning, her breath still crystalizing in the fresh air. Her dirty brown locks cascaded down her shoulders, gently brushing her back. The sun barely peeked up over the horizon, sending splays of orange and pink sprawling across the transforming sky. However her eyes faced not east, but west.

Encompassed in the melodic music of nature, she remained silent as if to absorb the delicate peace of the moment. It would not be long until the sun would fully rise, the sky transfiguring into a wholesome bright blue hue. The fluffy clouds would dot the sky, the birds would soar up above, tulips would gently bloom. 

The life she so carefully produced would sprout and meet the sun, a mess of stems and blossoms entangling themselves around the cedar wood. Gentle doe would be born, venturing out into the world and discovering it for the very first time. Along with them, butterflies and bees would drift from flower to flower. The grizzly bears and elegant lions would awake, and graze the fields in discovery of the world. 

The rivers and oceans would teem with tropical fish, and corals would spring back into their colourful state. Little crabs and turtles would venture out of their shelves, coming into the new dawn. Powerful whales and sharks would swim through the beauty of it all, claiming the space as their own.

And yet, though she had given birth to magnificent life, birthed the beautiful ecosystem that would continue on for generations, she was not happy. Because for life, there must also be death.

She did not directly engage with the dead. There were others who dealt with the death and decay of the night, she had not the ability to destroy the things she dedicated herself to creating. They were her children - and although their soul still lived on, it was still a struggle for her to remove them from the beauty of the natural world. 

Only once had she been present for noctum mortis, when she was still a young being. The pure horror of the night still shook her, the vision of the life she so carefully created crushed into the ground. Thanatos had warned her of the despair of the night, the crushing sight of death. It took everything in her to create life that die nativitatis. 

Although she relished in the joy and fulfillment of the day, dread still haunted her. Beneath her, the rich soil she cultivated grass on was nurtured by the decay of beings the previous night. They had no choice but to give up their lives for the good of the earth, to support new growth. The full reset was necessary for the sustainability of earth.

As the sun rose above her, and the land sky and sea began to teem with life, she stood. Behind her, Thanatos stood, his arms crossed and shoulders rigid. He waved away a bee that landed gently on his shoulder with mild annoyance. He only appeared when he wanted something from her, after the horrors of noctum mortis he usually retreated from sight. 

“Good Morning, Thanatos.” Her voice was smooth as the blades of grass caught between her fingers, gentle as a lamb. She did not turn to see him, keeping herself oriented toward the rising sun.

“I have a request for you.” He spoke, his voice sharp and deep. He cared not for formalities, the trauma he constantly was drenched in drained his light and humour. “Stop making the humans.” 

She took a moment to consider his request, knowing exactly why he would ask her to do such a thing. The two people she birthed on die nativitatis quickly expanded into an overwhelming population. By the end of the 5000 year cycle, they had dominated the world and often destroyed it in the process. As well, as conscious beings, they were particularly emotional when it came to reaping. Thanatos would suffer at the hands of them.  All logical reasoning on her part would lead her to not produce them.

It was selfishness that led her to allowing them to exist on the earth, for she was rather fond of the beings.

“No.” It slipped her mouth before she even considered the other option. Thanatos very obviously did not take her answer, whether it was out of self-interest or nature’s.

“This cycle, they almost completely ruined the ozone layer. We both know you can create life, but not the shield that surrounds and protects it.” She tried to block out his voice of reason, unwilling to hear it. His voice was like a sword, he used it to wield the weapon of information. “If you do not refrain from creating the beings, this will be the last cycle.”

She waved him off, but did not respond to the evident question in front of her. Would she create the beings? The most complex creature, full of awareness and emotion. Driven. Motivated. Ambitious. She had no doubt Thanatos had a very real point, they would get so caught up in their personal endeavors that they would forget to care for their home.

Last cycle, they had polluted earth’s waters, dumped plastic in the ocean. Destructive, killing chemicals would suck away at the life she had created, slowly making the environment simply unlivable. She did not understand how the humans did not understand their damage, that they were a threat to themselves.

Waiting until sundown, she watched as the sun dropped down beneath the eastern horizon. The earth had completed its reset, thanks to her and Thanatos. Life would thrive for thousands of years to come, and it would gradually heal from the effects of humanity. It pained her to not see her beloved creatures discover what earth had to offer once again, guilt and remorse rising up inside her. 

She knew she had made the right decision, although it was the hard one. Perhaps once the earth had healed, she could once again create people to discover it. However, as it stood that day, she could not keep injuring the earth for them. She had a purpose and a duty, to create the green growth from the decay of the previous life. To keep the earth rotating, so her flowers could bloom facing the rising sun of the east.

For the moment, her job was done. She had done what she could to protect the fragile life she spread through her fingertips and into the ground. It was time.

Gaia lay in her field, and allowed herself to transfigure back into her natural self. Her long locks sprouted into tree trunks, her floral dress giving way to physical flowers. As her human form gave way, she became earth as a whole.

Softly ending the reset, she turned her face towards the sun in the east.

The characters in this story are based on greek mythology (Gaia = Goddess of the Earth, Thanatos = God of Death) however, the concept of rebirth is my own.