Dustless | Volume 15 | For Pride in Their Flight

…boys chasing dragonflies
are lost in a moment
and their lives are too short
for pride in their flight

A city haunted by a decaying future.

Collapse is everywhere. Many flee. Grappling with failing structures, those who remain live out an uncertain present, their options narrowing, resources dwindling.

Because a heart can be numbered in moments, the citizens sense their fragile state: their famous city grows everyday more precarious. They look anxiously across the great river: from the east, forces approach, a new master rising, bringing a new law, creating an old fear.

For certain visitors, there is no choice: rest must be taken, healing sought, time killed. Although devastation is in progress, days are spent sightseeing the immortal glories of the ancient centre, enjoying the culture even as it falls under the shadow of an approaching end.

Among the Subtle and the wise, it is said: Only those who are able to stand alone can be truly loyal. Yet disorder and extreme events drive even the strongest heroes to surrender their isolation.

In the forges of the Ancient smiths, even the purest metals must give up their qualities, and melt, and blend with alien elements.

Weird alliances are formed: and dear pride compromised away.

Will it be enough? Will it be too much?

Desperation.