Soulless

By: Kason Laufenberg

Narrated by: Lindsey Corey

The infancy of the 21st century brought humanity to bear with its most dire delusions. The morals of mankind were revealed - appendages, shriven and corrupted.

As the lasting monuments of economy and state colluded to replace their dying society's spirit with the augmentation of technology, their efforts fell short of war's inevitable shadow. Weapons incubated in the dark, waiting for the call. Rivalry and insult traded over the borders of nations, followed by fire.

The world was wiped away, and a doomed rock took its place. Oceans evaporated, leaving abyssal basins of stone and desert to sprawl. All centers of human civilization burned to husks. Natural plant-life was extinguished, giving way to an endless wasteland.

Yet the curse of human survival pulled, without apology, on its last inheritance. Unspared children of annihilation crawled under the flickering twilight of a red sky. These remnants of human life, possessed by their needs, bound together in a state of prolonged desperation. That they may last, at any cost, amid their own struggle, and against that of what distorted life lay hidden from them, sharing the wastes.

Five hundred years after the destruction of human civilization on Earth, a being walks alone in the desert abyss. The nocturnal desert breathes like an ever-gasping lung - expanding, endlessly, unceasing winds swallowed whole by the sand. A cycle of self-devouring, the air consumes.

One, two - each foot sinks into the vacuous sand. The dunes suck on the bottoms of his feet, making every step twice the effort, every hour - two hours, every day - two days, every week - two weeks.

Words...are like a marker in time. Time is just a place. Without a word, without a trace.

©2021 Kason Laufenberg (P)2021 Kason Laufenberg