Earth Man (20 page)

“
Exactly. Because you do not have access.”

Snowfall pointed a finger at Danny
’s nose.

“
The internet is being buffered by your service provider so that you only have access to what services you pay for. Your animal abilities are a buffer, because you still do not have access to the power directly. Do you understand?”

“
I think so,” Danny said, crossing his arms, “but that was the worst analogy I’ve ever heard.”

“
I’m a shaman, nothing more. In all honesty I should not even be helping you. I am just here to observe.”

Snowfall looked up at the sky above as if looking for a sign. His eyebrows
narrowed as if he was trying to see something or come to a difficult decision. Danny awkwardly played with his helmet as he waited for the older man to speak again. Finally Snowfall let out a long breath and spoke.

“
This power is going to change you Danny. On my world there are dozens of us who use magic, Earth magic like yours. Few of us ever touch the source; for even the smallest, most harmless of spells can lead to unexpected consequences. The magic changes the wielder; the magician does not change reality. Do you understand?”

Danny nodded but his face only looked confused.

“You’re plugged directly into the life force of this planet. I don’t think you fully understand what that means.”

“
It’s not going to change me into some kind of . . . monster.”

“
No. I don’t believe it will. But I don’t think you see this for what it truly is. It’s already begun to change you. Your life, your family, it’s all changing right now and no matter how much you try to fight it, you cannot. Any more than I could stop myself from becoming the man I am today. Life is change and the source of that life is running through you right now. Death and change are inevitable; these two forces determine the course of all life in all the universes of creation.”

“
What do you want from me?” Danny said, standing in front of Snowfall.

“
I don’t want anything from you my friend. I am just concerned that perhaps you are not seeing the bigger picture.”

“
Sometimes an act of kindness makes all the difference.” Danny said to him, repeating back to Snowfall the words he’d said to Danny when they’d first met. Snowfall nodded in response.

“
Show me.” Danny said, almost challenging the older wizard.

Snowfall placed
his hands gently on both sides of Danny’s head. Danny felt a buzz of electricity, pleasant but foreign. Snowfall removed his hands, blew on them and rubbed them together quickly as if he were trying to warm them up. When he placed his hands on Danny’s head the second time, he had to grip Danny hard to keep him from falling backwards as Snowfall used his own magical energy to release the power within Danny.

“
I’m sorry,” Snowfall said as Danny convulsed in his hands.

Magic flowed up Morgan Snowfall
’s arms, glistening green and bright in the dark that had crept up on them.  The magic travelled through his hands and into Danny who immediately began to see images of the Earth.

Danny had already experienced this not once but twice before, when he
’d first found something in the woods and later when the Earth had revealed her powerful nature to him. This time was less painful but the images flowed faster and changed more rapidly. Red light began to burst from Danny’s body, fighting to overtake the green magic Snowfall created. The shaman held on, letting himself conduct both energy flows through his body. Snowfall created a mystical circuit between himself and Danny; both were bound now to the Earth beneath them and it was from the Earth that Snowfall pulled the images he revealed to Danny.

             
The visions began with picture of newborn life. Danny witnessed the birth of babies all across the world, from every species that walked on land and flew in the skies. All the crying, crawling, freshly living things seemed so cute and fragile that he felt like his heart would break for them. The scenes began to change and the empathy he’d been feeling quickly turned into horror. Babies began to die by tooth and claw, eaten by their natural predators. Visions of human children starving, dying of disease or crippled by deformity flashed through his mind and he began to weep uncontrollably. The tears poured down his cheeks and over Snowfall’s fingers but the shaman did not let him go, it took all Snowfall’s mystical power to keep the energy from overwhelming Danny’s mind and body. If he absorbed too much, if he took in too much power at one time, it would damage him. There was already red mist rising off Danny’s skin like steam and he was turning a frightening red color as he heated up.

There was so much diversity in the world, so many varieties of life. Danny saw them all take their first steps, open their eyes to the sun and then fade away as their life cycles came to an end. Every horrible method of death in nature
passed before his mind’s eye. He watched carnivores tearing prey apart with their teeth and herbivores fight over a mate until one of them was too wounded to continue.  Rhinos and hippopotamuses gored each other and any humans that got too close, then the image would change to humans with their guns and knives killing the rhinos and hippos and every other living thing they encountered. The flashing images began to slow down but tears still ran down Danny’s face. Snowfall held on to him, keeping him upright even as his knees buckled.

A large desert appeared in Danny
’s mind and millions of rotting corpses stretched out around him in every direction. Every human, every cow, every pig, every animal slaughtered by the millions was left there to rot in the hot sun. Danny could almost smell the hot rank meat all around him. The Earth began to shake under him and his vision changed again as the ground beneath his feet threatened to knock him down. The ground rolled and buckled as it were rubber. A massive fissure opened in the ground and the corpses began to fall in, but as they fell they were suddenly alive again, fighting and flailing against the wave of dirt that buried them.

Danny
’s vision lifted him up in the air, spinning him up and over the world. Buildings suddenly appeared only to shake until they crumbled into dust. From above he watched waves crashing over various cities, propelled by high winds and rain. Over and over nature battered shores and beaches, wiping out homes and dragging people out to sea. The winds came next, tearing plants from the ground and scouring all life from the surface and tossing it aside like discarded garbage. Danny was seeing nature at its worst; lightning, rain, wind, naturally occurring fires that swept through the forests and fields, waves the size of buildings. Finally the last of the visions came in a wave of red heat. From the ground burst massive volcanoes, spewing lava and ash across the country side. Humans and animals were burnt up instantly or died choking in the black soot that filled the air. Not only did Danny watch the people of Pompeii die, but he witnessed all the largest volcanic explosions throughout history. Fire rained down from the sky, killing creatures without thought, without emotion.

Time flew backwards, all the way back b
efore the time of the dinosaurs to the earliest eruptions of a newborn planet. The soft warm molten soup of the planet seemed to spurt and gush until growing strangely calm as a shadow darkened the sky. A large unknown planet filled Danny’s vision as it seemed to collide with the Earth in slow motion. The Earth burned and split open a large crater and from it, like a newborn baby from the vaginal canal of a celestial body, formed the molten ball that would one day become the Moon. From the collision of two planets, Earth’s only natural satellite was formed and when Danny opened his eyes he found himself staring up at the Earth’s only lifeless child floating above him. It would forever serve as a reminder of the true horrible nature of life.

             
Danny wiped the tears from his face and sat up. Snowfall reached out a hand to help him up but he shook his head. The heat created by the magic both men had harnessed made them steam in the cold night air. Snowfall reached under his cloak and removed his pipe as Danny got to his feet. Danny wiped the last of the tears from his face just as Snowfall finished packing the pipe.

“
Thank you.” Danny said. Snowfall was surprised and only nodded in response. “I know now what you were trying to say, what you wanted me to see.”

“
Yes, people assume the Earth is some sort of Wiccan goddess, a mother eager to provide for us. She is not. She can be as wrathful and vengeful as any God, real or fictional.” Snowfall replied.

Lighting the pipe with a small flame from his hands, Snowfall i
nhaled deeply. As he spoke the smoke poured from his nose.

“
Nothing is ever that simple. You were chosen to protect her but that does not mean she will protect you. Or humanity.”

“
So what do I do now?” Danny asked. “I was so sure. .”

“
You do what you think is best and live with the consequences. That was why you were chosen out of all the billions of people on this planet. But you need to have your eyes open if you want to see the truth.”

Snowfall held the pipe out to Danny and this time he did not refuse.
After filling his lungs with smoke, he let it out in one long, slow exhale.

“
It’s been a while since I smoked that.” Danny said, coughing only slightly.

“
You’ve never smoked anything like this before.” Snowfall replied casually.

They passed the pipe back
and forth a few more times in silence. As Snowfall refilled it a second time, Danny spoke again.

“
I can feel a difference in the power now. I feel the power you were talking about, the raw unbridled force of the planet. It tingles slightly, like a mild static shock. It’s like a whole new connection.”

“
Yes. You are more fully immersed in the life force of this planet. When you connect to the animals, you are using only a small portion of that power. Eventually as you learn to control it, you won’t need the animals anymore to guide you.”

“
So I can do more?”

“
You can do anything. The power is yours, you just have to reach within yourself and grab a hold of it.”

Whatever was in Snowfall
’s pipe made Danny feel lucid, like he was moving partially out of his body. Danny closed his eyes and reached outwards but this time he also pulled the energy from inside himself, connecting to the planet. Suddenly he was aware of all the animals for miles around him, yet this time it felt different. The animals seemed to feel his presence as well. Their heads seemed to turn, ears perk up, whiskers twitching as if he’d just run his hand over them. They seemed confused by his presence but not afraid; they knew he meant them no harm.

“
Don’t focus on the animals; focus on the connection between them, the life web that binds you to them and to all living things.” Snowfall said in a cool, calming voice.

Although the images of death and destruction he
’d seen earlier still haunted him, he pushed those images out of his mind and focused on the positive energy flowing through him. Once again his skin began to glow with red light. He could feel all the life-forms on the planet, so many of them clustered together on a small water-covered planet. It was not surprising that the Growth wanted Earth; there was so much life, so much variety for it to consume. Danny felt as if he could touch the fur, skin, and carapace of all of them. He was no longer just an observer, mimicking their abilities from afar. The power was his now, no longer just on loan but a part of his soul and it really had changed him. He was in touch with how they felt and they responded to him. They seemed to acknowledge his power and his position as their protector.

“
Now open your eyes.”

Danny opened his eyes
and saw his body enveloped in red fire. The flames seemed to pour from his skin, covering him without burning him and working as a sort of fiery body armour. It did not physically burn but he could feel the pure power roaring through his veins. It began to spread along the ground beneath his feet like liquid napalm and form the armour like a sculpture of flowing light.

“
This is fantastic.” Danny whispered.

Danny raised his right hand and red streaks of light launched from his fing
ertips, blazing outwards like lasers. The beams raced across the countryside in all directions. One beam streaked north, passing by bears, wolves and a lone whale near the Arctic Circle. The second beam travelled westward, all the way to Tokyo in an instant. Danny saw millions of Japanese people all at once, all with their own private plans and dreams. Unlike the animals, the people of Japan did not know he was watching them and it was over in a flash as the light dissipated. The third beam headed south through the U.S. and Mexico in the blink of an eye. It curved slightly toward South America until it crashed through the rain forests of the Amazon. Hidden, secret things hid within the jungle, disturbed by Danny’s intrusion. Something seemed to push back and him, refusing to be seen. He left them to their privacy, smiling to himself as his mind leaped to the next ray of light. The fourth beam travelled east across Canada, over the prairie provinces and snow covered lakes all the way to the small fishing town of Gander, Newfoundland. Danny saw the old men in their boats and although there were few fish to be caught, the men had high spirits and hoped for the best. Their optimism after so many hard years filled Danny with joy and respect. They lived simply and laughed honestly, something Danny had rarely ever seen in his old life.