The Battlefield ((SL-open))

[DoS Archive]

From: hostdfcturi@aol.com (HOST DFC Turi)
Date: 14 Aug 2000 01:52:23 EDT

The stream's light, pleasant song carried on the night wind, up the hillside and across the open field on top. Occasionally the plop of a stone or dirt clod sounded as the hillside contributed a bit of itself to the stream. For some time now the waterflow had etched away at the base of the hill, and seemed quietly content to continue doing so for years to come.

Deeper in, however, there was nothing quiet or content about the water's path. A crack in the bedrock had diverted the water by slow bits, and the water in turn had slowly widened the crack. What had once been a diverted trickle had become a fork in the stream, swirling and splashing, finding every cranny and crevice available to continue its path. Below the hillside, the diverted waterway joined up with another, adding its volume to the
underground river that would only surface miles further down its course.

Trickles of dirt fell and were lost in the lightless flow. Then a few small stones. A rock splashed heavily down as the last of it's support gave way, and still larger ones followed after. The splashes pulled more dirt and stones off the roof of the cavern, which allowed more and larger rocks enough give to fall.

The stream at the base of the hill rippled and splashed as its bed was disturbed. The hillside shuddered, almost imperceptibly.

A boulder of bedrock broke free, and the river's waters scattered in all directions to find a way past this new obstacle. More gave way as the blocked flow tore at the foundations of the hill itself.

The next shudder was strong enough to feel, and then the hillside shifted slightly, visibly, down. A reluctant slide in one part, then another, then the entire hillside began to move. The stream was buried under the slide, trees knocked over like twigs, the earth bared and rolled and buried again. Half the hilltop slid down the collapse as a unit for a ways, finally being broken and rolled with everything else. The whole of it shuddered
and roared to rouse those in the nearby town from their rest or revelries.

And then silence, far more complete than before the collapse. No sound of flowing water or insects or nighttime hunters. The Battlefield and a quarter-mile swath of the land beyond were unrecognizable. Where a stream and a field and a sparse woods had once been was only upturned earth.

(( I know I said I'd have this up by Saturday, and I'm sorry to be so late. Anyone who wants to post about the collapse or the aftermath is more than welcome to, and I look forward to reading any reactions or events that may occur. ;D ))