Strolling through this Odd Amsterdam

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Strolling through this Odd Amsterdam

Pharaoh Ankh Nakhti Meri Nesu
I have been reborn.

In days of old, I was worshipped as a god.  Now, I am working my way through this new world and gathering the very essence of power, Morphonic Particulates that exist in this age.  With them, I shall once again rule as the god king, Pharaoh supreme, Emperor of the known lands.

Today, I am taking a walk through a green area of the city though, strolling around to see the land I shall one day acquire.  Your green areas are quite pleasant and I shall continue having them under my rule.  I understand they are referred to as "Parks".  Odd word use, since no vehicles are allowed in them.  Just walking.  But very well, "Park" it is.

One of the things I love about the park is the over abundance of animals.  I do so love the non-sentient life forms.  Many people make the mistake of assuming that animals can tell "Good" from "Bad" in a person, but it isn't actually true.  They can sense bad intent towards themselves or those they protect... But the notions of good and evil do not function in the lesser brains of animals.

One of my many powers is the ability to communicate with most life forms.  So I enjoy talking with animals on my walks - Plants don't have a lot to say other than, "Ow, stop walking on me! OW!"  Animals however are more than willing to give you juicy and crucial information if asked.  Such as the conversation I had with a squirrel a moment before.

It seems there is a Large tree in this park, that likes to grab and attack animals, large animals at that.  Very well, I shall go have a talk with this Arbormination and see what its problem is.  The path the squirrel gave me led to an area with a lot of warning signs.  Apparently humanity felt it necessary to warn one another of the dangers of the tree rather than let gene pool flourish without the shallow end mucking it up.  Ah well, that will make it all the easier to vanquish them wh... Sorry, that isn't important right now.  Right now, I need to go talk to a tree.

Ah, there is the large fellow.  A massive oak of hundreds of years, I would say.  A youngster compared to myself, but still quite old for the mortals around here.  The city must have been built around it. In fact the tree occupies a lovely place as a centerpiece to the whole park.  Too bad it has decided to go rogue and attack animals.  

As I approached the tree, I could see it's leaves shimmering with no wind to guide them,  Perhaps it sensed a new target to attack in myself.  That should be interesting... but I was not here to fight it, but to talk.

"Greetings, Ancient Oak", I called out.  "Are you able to understand my words?"  Sure enough, the quivering leaves quieted and seem to lean slightly toward me.  It wasn't used to being spoken to, apparently.

"I can, tiny Morsel.", the tree spoke in a grating and hard tongue, as most older trees do. "It is not often that one of your kind bothers to speak with me.  This has offered you a few more minutes of life"

Hmm so it seems to think it is capable of destroying me.  How quaint.

"I thank you for the extra time to speak with you.  I have heard through rumor that you enjoy grabbing and eating animals of the wood.  I was wanting to understand why."

"Because", the oak raised its voice and leaves fell from its boughs, "I consume the foolish and stupid, the dumb and careless.  I offer the world a greater place!"

Well, I could certainly get behind that idea, however...

"I see your point in that regard, Great Oak.  My concern is for the wildlife that you capture, the non-sentient ones, the harmless and non-threats to the earth."

With that, the Massive tree moved its limbs and produced in its branches a moose, clutched high up and wrapped so tight it could not move; barely breathe.  Even from here I could see the terror in its eyes.  What was a moose even doing in the park in the middle of the city.  

"Yes, Massive One, that is what I am referring to.  These animals are no harm to you, it is humanity you should be attacking and destroying.  Perhaps you could gently release the Moose back to the ground?"

The oak sat perfectly still for long moments, clearly making a decision.  The process takes a long time, the brain is way down in the roots, underground.  The nervous system has to travel through the sap running slowly up and down under the bark.

Finally, the oak lowers the moose down to the ground, and released it.  It wasn't more than two years old.  It stumbled away from the trees branches and fell exhausted at my feet.  I stopped and pet the moose gently on its neck, feeling it slowly recover its breath.

"Thank you, Great Oak", I said, looking up at the highest branches.  "I will remember this act of mercy when I set about destroying the humans that do not bow before my greatness.  I hope that I can count you as an ally on that day"

The large tree shifted slightly in its upper branches and seemed content, or at least that was the feeling it exuded.  Good, It appears I made a "Friend" of sorts.  I helped the moose back to its feet and told it to stay away from this part of the park.  I watched it bound away into the brush.

Yes, the animals and plants will be welcome allies.  Humanity will bow or perish.  They always do.
Pharaoh Ankh Nakhti Meri Nesu

ID: 34761

I am Nature Incarnate. I am Inevitable.  I am Eternal.
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Saving Children in New Amsterdam

Pharaoh Ankh Nakhti Meri Nesu
On the next day, I decided to meander through the main city.  The outskirts are filled with the rich and privileged, but the inner cities show you the true heart and soul of a place.  New Amsterdam has a rich and wonderful life to it.  All these superheroes bring the place down, to be honest.  You see so many people struggling to make ends meet and then some guy flies by with a smug look on his chiseled face.

On this day, a loud crash sounded from around the corner.  Out of morbid curiosity I followed the cacophony to the sight of a horrific car crash.  A limousine has taken a corner much to fast, lost control, and slammed into a small compact car.  The limo I was happy for, but people were racing to the small car in a panic.  

The driver was a young woman wearing a waitress uniform.  She was laid out on the street, but clearly breathing.  The crowd, however was still at the car, banging on the doors and windows.  The men yelled for something called "Jaws of Life", but that didn't sound good.

As I approached, and shouldered men out of the way, I could see a small baby in its car seat in the back.  I could detect a heartbeat and breathing, but otherwise the child was quite still.  The crowd banged uselessly on the door, as the crash had crumpled it in just the right places to make it impossible.

Not impossible for a god among men though.  I simply grabbed the top of the roof and peeled it back as I would an orange.  It came off in one long strip.  The people around me blinked in shock for a moment before leaping into action.  Two of them climbed in and detached the baby seat, taking the whole thing out as paramedics came screaming up in their noisy truck.

The crowd watched intently as the baby was lifted up and out, none paying attention to myself drifting slowly out of the center of the men and women to the edge.  As I turned to depart, a hand dared to grab my tunic and yank upon it.  Such an afront would have been punished by death in my days, and so I turned to begin the tongue lashing that it so rightly deserved.  A child about 7 years of age looked up at me.  I bit back my scathing rebuke and stared at the tiny human.

"Thanks Mister", the human child said.  "That is Marie's baby.  She is a good momma.  Do you think she will be ok?"

I looked back over at the woman being tended to by paramedics and listened in on their conversation, then looked within her body to verify their diagnosis.  

"No"  I never lie to my subjects unless absolutely necessary.  The small human needed to know facts, not falsehoods.  "She will not recover.  They don't think she will last much longer."

The boy looked at me with tears filling his eyes.  I stared back with the cold unblinking gaze of one who can no longer feel remorse and regret.

"If you want to say goodbye to her, now would be the time", I added.  Humans seemed to need a thing called closure.  I didn't understand that concept.  "And her child will need someone to look after her.  You should consider that.  Your ability to take on each others problems is Humanity's greatest strength."

I turned and walked from the male child.  I could hear behind me as he rushed to Maries side and held her hand.  As I turned the corner, I heard him making promises to her about the baby.


************************************


As fate would have it, it was not the only child that needed saving in this hive of human habitation.  A few hours later I sat eating some sort of canine with bread around it.  The paunchy man that gave it to me said that I needed ketchup, mustard, relish, all sorts of things added to it, which he did generously.  I too was generous by not killing him when he had the audacity to demand payment from me for the gift of food.

As I sat on a monument to some unknown hero or general, I ate the messy meal and allowed the bits to fall downward to the base of the statue.  Rat-like birds scurried about below gobbling up the food as fast as it fell.  It was an interesting food, but not one I wanted to try again any time soon.

The smell of wood burning caught my sensitive nostrils, and my head quickly swiveled to the direction of the odor. Black smoke was just starting to form above the buildings to my right, and again, I saw humans running both toward and away from the scene.  Allowing myself to float silently to the base, scattering the birds there (They can curse something terrible), I then began walking toward the smell of wood and ozone.

As I expected a large building was on fire nearby.  It was three stories and had multiple windows on the front face, but few on the sides and back.  After all, who wants to look out a window at more bricks and stonework.  I stood watching the hubabaloo as people ran out of the building, coughing and retching, grabbed by people outside and guided off to safety.  No sounds of the fire department yet, the fire was still in its infancy, but was spreading quickly.

The entire downstairs was soon overwhelmed and no more residents came running from the front door.  Thinking the excitement had died down, I started to turn when a human screamed from a few feet away from me.  I rounded on her, thinking she was a deadly banshee attacking, only to see her pointing up at the topmost floor.

As everyone looked, there was nothing to be seen.  No movement, no curtains, nothing.  People nearby tried to calm her, but she insisted she saw someone at the top left window.  Now out of curiosity I turned my gaze to that window and floor.  Looking deep within the walls, deeper into the heart of the building, I could see movement.  There was a child there, clutching a dog.  The child had retreated to what looked like a kitchen and hid under a small table near the back wall.

Another glance at the fire on the first floor gave me all the information I needed.  The fire was already spreading to the second floor and there was no safe way up the stairs.  No windows provided access to the child's location.  My keen ears picked up distant sounds of the fire truck making its way through traffic to get to the scene.  They were too far off; already the third floor filled with deadly black smoke.

With a heavy sigh, I mentally calculated the risk.  There was none to my person. The flames were nothing to a god such as I.  The travel time up there would be more than the child had though.  I lifted up into the air as people around gasped.  I flew straight to the back side wall where I could see the child on the other side coughing horribly.  A quick punch to the wall left it crumbling, perfectly placed to fall to the side of the child, not on him.  I reached in and grabbed first the dog and then the boy, pulling their limp forms out and down to the ground. A quick internal look at their lungs assured me that they would both live if given adequate oxygen fast enough.

Handing both victims to nearby humans, I lifted myself back to the sky and flew towards the insistent honking of the fire truck.  A traffic jam was stopping the truck from forward progress.  Cars couldn't move  to get out of the way.

Landing next to the truck, I placed my hands beneath it and lifted.  Placing myself beneath the vehicle, I rose again into the air and flew back to the burning building with my burden.  After setting it down, firemen scrambled from the vehicle and made their way quickly to the building while others ran to the child and dog with tanks.  Several more started unrolling long hoses and connecting them to odd shaped spouts along the street.

And elderly fireman approached me, and thanked me for getting them here on time.  I stared at him hard, making him stammer and pull back his hand he was offering.  I turned away without deigning to answer him and lifted myself to the skies.

***************************************

Humans have so much potential.  For empathy, selfishness, generosity, and greed.  I am always amazed at their ability to come together in times of a crisis.

The ones known as "Legion" did not know this when they attacked Earth a few years ago.  It is not something I will underestimate when I make my move to rule this world.

Soon.


Pharaoh Ankh Nakhti Meri Nesu

ID: 34761

I am Nature Incarnate. I am Inevitable.  I am Eternal.