Once upon a time, there was color.

This was perfectly normal, you understand. The color spread over the land on the day the world began. It was wonderfully beautiful, gorgeous and more than words can ever tell.

We had a color then called blue. You could reach into the sky and almost feel the blueness on a summers day. And then there was yellow. Yellow is the center of the daisy. It’s all white now. As if it never was any different. Red, now, that was even more brilliant than either blue or yellow. Some of the apples were red. We had red ones and yellow ones and even some green ones, pale against the leaves.

But it is all gone now. Everything is gone.

And this is what I did, that caused it.

Life was so short! Four score, if a human was so blessed, and eight score for every one of us color-elves. What any of us would have given for another half-score!

It was some small comfort, then, that we elves could soften the time with healing each other with the color that flowed in our veins. We never aged. We just died, when our days ran out. Small comfort.

Then I changed everything.

In the forest, I came upon a human child. Accident had crushed her beneath a fallen tree, and she breathed her last in my arms. Then, angry at the misfortune, I drew deeper on the color than I ever had before. I poured it into her body.

The impossible happened. Air rushed into her body and her eyes flicked open, alert and alive. The grass around her seemed a little paler, grey, but still as perky as ever. I wondered if the One was pleased with what I did. But then I didn't care.

I told the others what had happened. Murmurs blew through the cities. Hope sprang up. A dying-day was coming soon. My dying-day and that of the others born on my day. Eight score years gone. And I was ready to fight it.

My city gathered about the dying ones. I felt their cool hands on my hot arms; my family touching me, comforting me, giving me one last soothing embrace of color to ease my death. My soul drifted from my mind and body.

Then it returned for a brief moment. I screamed. I begged for my mortal life. I did not ask the One who gave it – I knew what the answer would be – I pleaded with the healers to take the color from the sky, the earth, the sea.

And they could not resist. If they could save me, why could they not save everyone? And everyone aided them. A chance at eternal life. So huge a temptation.

The effect of so many elves taking so much color rippled across the grass. I couldn't tell if it were the grass fading or just my vision. But then the hair before my eyes became a mottled grey.

The world faded. I blinked, I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again... and then my sisters embraced me, weeping. I was alive. But I could not be happy. Something was wrong.

There was no color.

The madness came soon after. I could not think straight; none of us could. We scattered to the four winds, unable to live without color flowing in our veins. The One had abandoned us to our fate, brought upon us by our folly.

Always we searched, promising to bring our people together when we found color. Some gave up, embracing the madness. But never could I cease.

Until one day, wandering alone in the great forests, a familiar chorus of baying hounds echoed to my ears. I knew those voices. And a child screamed over the barks and howls. I knew that voice too. I ran.

My dogs. My young cousins, all batty and more than batty, set my dogs on her in blame for the loss. It wasn't her fault; who could have known! She was just a child!

I charged in, commanding the dogs - oh, yes, they knew my voice much better than they ever knew the boys'. The child clambered into my protective arms.

The dogs scattered into the woods, chasing my cousins. The girl relaxed against my body. Her breathing came ragged, but calming.

And then it happened. A spark. Just one. The color arced, but I know not where it came from - the sky, the earth, the wind, or nowhere at all.

It entered my veins; my heart pumped twice as fast to push away the madness from my brain. The fog cleared. I could smile again. I could laugh. I could understand.

And I knew. We were not abandoned.

*is speechless*...

What happens next?

Is that a good speechless?

Ohhhhhhh, stuff happens. Lots of stuff. Good stuff, and bad stuff.

There are some elves who won't accept the gift of color to cure their madness through helping the humans who they affected...

I'm so glad you posted this, Mel. It's very beautifully done. It explains the Colorless Lands "cobha" - how it happened and how it works - in a very engaging way. I love it.

Now if we can just get you to write the rest of the "stuff that happens"...

Yes, a very good speechless.

*shivers* Wow. The ending...

That was beautiful. Sad and rather bittersweet in a way, but still beautiful. Passionate.

Thanks for posting this!