Lamentations of Recreation – Rafeeat Aliyu

They knew of tomorrow.

They knew of yesterday.

These were the lamentations of the Witness when sent by the Hidden One to repair the Earth. 

When the Witness descended, he wept for all he saw. 

They knew of tomorrow.

They knew of yesterday.

These were the lamentations of the Witness when sent by the Hidden One to repair the Earth. 

In a forgotten era, this task was first completed.

A five-toed hen, a chameleon, loose earth in a snail shell were all it took.

The Witness cried for the Earth was poisoned.

Bustling civilisations were no more,

There was no trace of humanity,

There was no trace of spirit,

Blue waters turned vibrant with pollution.

The planet was as empty as the Void.

They knew of tomorrow.

They knew of yesterday.

One was sent by the Source of All Creation, but three congregated

To return life to a devastated Earth.

How Ariran came to the earthly realm

The Council of Heaven appointed Ariran, the Witness, to oversee the creation of Earth. The number of times the cycle of life has been repeated is lost to the annals of time. There was never a need to keep count. As the Milky Way continues to expand, so does creation revolve in its set pattern incessantly. The council in the heavenly realm noticed that the Land of the Living had become a watery void. No one had seen Aiye in this realm, implying that there was no life on that side. Extreme conditions forced humans to flee aeons ago, either through death or the shuttles, which inevitably led to their deaths – no other planet was willing to go through what Aiye had. 

Nature abhors a vacuum, and the council knew who to send. Ariran had done this before. In the third creation cycle, he descended to Earth through the golden chain. The Witness further oversaw the production of human beings when they were at their most imperfect. There was a time when he would often leave the celestial plains for earthly ones to consort with humans and remark on the progress of all creation. That time was long past. Summoned before the council, Ariran was reluctant to return to the realm that he had helped create and populate.

Despite his reservations, Ariran heeded the call. He fulfilled all protocols before embarking on this journey. A sphere of light breached through the quiet rumble of the void with the Land of the Living as its target. It pierced through the outer spheres and clouds before splashing against the surface of the turbulent waters that now covered Earth’s surface. This flash of warm light then transformed into a chain that connected the region between this dark world and the even darker heavens. It was the Golden Link through which Ariran the Witness descended, a vessel that resembled linked chains dipped in gold. The journey was completed in a state of suspension, and when he awoke, Ariran wept for all he saw.

He is disillusioned by the polluted state of the Earth

The Witness arced his hand at nothing. The vast expanse surrounding where he landed – that is the platform at the base of the Golden Link – was a liquid floor. He glared at the horizon, eyeing where grey water clashed with the sky. He spun. The entire planet was smothered in filthy liquid that could not be called water, multi-coloured with toxins that stung his eyes and exposed skin. There was no life here. 

Aiye had spared nothing, spoiling her inhabitants as a mother would her only child. And look at how they repaid her. In that forgotten era when the Witness first achieved the task of making the Earth suitable for human habitation, he did it with a five-toed hen, a chameleon and some loose earth in a snail shell. Observing the current state of the world, Ariran surmised that those implements would fail at establishing solid ground over this Earth’s cloudy waters. The Witness touched the smooth curve of the Golden Link. What do you see? He asked. The vessel shuddered as it began analysing. Meanwhile, the entirety of the Earth unfurled in the palm of Ariran’s hand. His projections foretold that building up on poisoned ground would only crumble the civilisations he was tasked with recreating. Ariran spun the visualisation in his palm backwards instead of forward. He saw the Earth as it once was. Long after the era of walking and flying beasts, the Earth of humans who were beloved by him. Where once multiple structures rose to the sky, towering above bustling populations navigating solid ground on their feet, with wheels, with hovercrafts… there was nothing. Ariran would later probe deep into the ocean floor in search of human life. There, he would find the memory of skeletons faded to luminescence. 

Few of those, like Ariran, who comprise the Hidden One that is the Source of All Creation, could speak of not having hosts in human form. The Kindred crossed the void of space and time themselves, mounting the bodies of willing hosts, using their mouths to speak and their eyes to see. Ariran preferred his avatars in the form of herbs and plants. Once, the herbs, the trees, the plants, the animals, along with the humans, thrived here. The Earth’s surface once boasted magnificent trees that murmured to themselves in silent languages and fauna that scurried through the underbrush. Now, there was nothing. The Witness had been called down to this realm, daily, hourly, each minute down to the second. The select few who had studied the rites tapped across the orbit to Ariran’s House. They called on him to transmit his extraterrestrial energy into their homes, to rooms with floors covered in woven mats of plastic, silk and/or palm fronds. 

Now, nothing. The Earth was alive and lovingly populated. Now, loneliness. Again. Confronted with this ravaged, silent world, The Witness was as adrift as the masses of pollution pretending to be pockets of land floating here and there.

The Witness called to the spirit of the Earth. He lamented, We gave them the gift of divination, to foretell, to predict. And they chose this. He squatted low, hovering above the riotous waves as only a god in human flesh can. The Witness posed like a boy watching the herd of cattle under his charge, but all he saw was the destruction of what could have been, the greed, the violence, the blood and unctuous oil spilling, the ice caps tumbling into water. This was an earth that held not one trace of humanity, yet human beings had surely been in this world, for who else could destruct such a precious thing? And thus, Ariran cried at the sight of bustling civilisations that were no more.

He is joined by Idajo and the S-eva

Unbeknownst to Witness, he was not alone on this journey. As he lamented, a chorus of voices crooned from within him. Won’t you hush, they said. We expected a real adventure this time. He heard this crooning inside his head, but he was all alone with the desolate Aiye. It took time for Ariran to recognise the owner of this voice that spoke as one while fracturing into multitudes. S-eva. The brilliant force that held power over the elements of nature, over life itself. S-eva easily flowed between realms and, like the Witness, was constantly moving from the Land of the Living to the Land of All. S-eva was often disruptive and difficult to control; it was due to this nature that Ariran was stunned at his error. He had not noticed them latching onto him. Perhaps while his body navigated through the Link. 

The Witness flexed his shoulders as he sighed. Did you expect any better of them? asked the voices rumbled from his insides, high-pitched and derisive. Ariran did not offer a reply. He was a man of few words, and he was on assignment. One that would require him to turn back the clock, that was what Ariran imagined he was doing. He would reintroduce the creatures of the sea; whatever extinct being was on Earth had a copy on the other side. He would terraform, create a home from which humanity would spring forth. 

Humanity. 

Spring forth to destroy the Earth again. 

A tremor ran down the gold links, causing the flat platform at its base to tremble. The Witness and S-eva inside him shuddered even as they did not appear to move. A glance up revealed farther than the human eye could see: a flash emanating somewhere in the 108th bud of the chain-shaped vessel that glistens gold, connecting this mass of pollution to the darkness of the void. The god-being’s eyes also saw: within that bud, threads of muscle kneading above bone. Someone was coming. Someone else. While S-eva managed to infect Ariran like a virus, another was poised to land. S-eva’s actions suited their nature, eager and impatient enough to ignore the Laws of the Universe that dictated a being must resemble that found in the realm they travelled to. Whoever was being transported to Earth would appear as a human or an animal. Who could it be? Was it another assignment from the council? How much time had passed in that realm while Ariran wept and contemplated? More time would pass until the new arrival, the Golden Link, an ancient technology drawing realms together in a union that was often excruciatingly slow to complete. I bet I know who that is, S-eva said. The Witness turned his regard to the cloudy waters.

The cycle of creation is bound to end in destruction, a snake that consumes itself from its tail. To rebuild the Earth once more, one had to purge it of all negativity. Yet, destruction ought to lead to new life, and Ariran struggled to imagine positivity in the kind of life that would spring from a diseased Earth. Sickness begot sickness that only worsened with time. No, he decided, before spreading land, shaping flora, summoning the Moulder to introduce life breathed over the Hidden One, the Witness would cure Aiye. He would collect samples from the ocean and feed them to the Golden Link for analysis. Every poison had its antidote. Whatever turned Earth’s oceans grey would be forced to accept what would return them to their usual pristine nature. But first, Ariran would linger in wait for Idajo, whose body continued to be forged within the confines of the Golden Link. Our brother descends, S-eva said, causing the taut skin over his human form to bulge, recede and shift with each word. It will be just like old times.

Witness groaned, a habit that could only emanate as round and as richly in this human form. It was a sound that carried his sense of impending decimation; it spoke of his reluctance to fulfil the task placed on his shoulders once more. Ariran lived countless lives and would go on to witness even more. So it amused him that cycles were beginning to tire him out. You know, he said, Humans should have avoided this. The Earth was sick, and a massive bubble burst from the grey waters in a noxious belch. Witness continued, he said, millions of years ago, nations halted their development when they saw the toll it was taking on Her. S-eva’s response was that the lesson then was to see how humans would succeed at being forced to primitivism. For the beings of the other realm that others refer to as gods often meddled in the affairs of humans, placing bets in search of boons and leaving clues for the success of humanity as a whole. 

You are older than me, Ariran said. A loud bang drew his attention skywards. 109 now, still over a hundred more levels to reach the platform. Ariran returned his gaze to the ash-tinted atmosphere. When this earth teemed with life, humans often screamed across to the void, desperate to know the reason for their existence. This is the lesson S-eva now referred to. The lesson on creating harmony out of chaos. Was that not how all life started? And energy once created could not be destroyed. Witness to Creation, S-eva said, When you reintroduce humans to Earth, rid them of that choice. And Ariran considered it, creating a race of humans that functioned like their animal and plant siblings, wholly dedicating themselves to surviving before ultimately dying. The god-beings discussed as their third member descended to the Earth. When the last level of the platform pinged open, Idajo emerged. Brother, he said. Ariran approached Idajo, they clasped hands to arm and regarded each other. They embraced before the Witness stepped back so that his kin saw what had become of Earth. Idajo let out a deep laugh, as was his nature. She does not look anything like she did last time, he said.

Earth makes her appearance

There was one given this great task, but ultimately three gathered to complete it. Of these three, only two could be seen. A third lay hidden, melded in the insides of the Witness like a vein in a muscle. The three hailed each other, formalities just for show. The three shared memories of meeting at intersections, of observing humans and casting out judgment on evildoers. Idajo slowly acclimated to this new face of the Earth; they all knew. He inhaled the noxious air and sighed. His lips moved as though he was chewing something full of flavour. Idajo studied the Witness’s form and remarked, Something has changed. S-eva roused within the Witness and said He has become sentimental. Idajo tapped into their links and listened to a replay of their conversation. Why not leave humans out of it, he said. You were sent here to create the Earth, not humans. This was a tricky statement because one always followed the other. Even trickier when one considered that the sooner the Land of the Living returned, the sooner these formless beings could once again meddle in human affairs. Life teemed across the vastness of the Void, but there was something about those installed on Earth. Perhaps it was their destructive nature that attracted, like a moth to a flame.  

And so began the task of recreation; their senses reached out to a world that could not receive them. From within Ariran’s pouch emerged the tools – shell-shaped disks encased in shifting metal. They walked across waters, passing by each other twice to reconvene at the base of the Golden Link. They paused to reminisce, Ariran to complain, Idajo to jest, and S-eva to observe. They cleared the Earth of its pollution. They spread sand onto the blue waters to form land. They planted palm trees, satellites forming an intersection between both worlds. They prepared to report to The Hidden One, She who is the Source of All Creation. Then an image shimmered on the Earth’s liquid surface, projecting as though a mirage. The oceans swelled and spread water over land and vegetation. Ariran understood then that he was mistaken to conclude that the Earth was unresponsive, Aiye simply had not welcomed them. He had taken the world for dead because of its appearance and its polluted nature, forgetting that their kind does not die easily. Both the learned and the gods were not immune to surprises. We aren’t alone, S-eva rumbled, giddy at the prospect of adventure. We never were, Ariran responded. All three greeted. We hail you, kin. As Aiye’s flood reached the platform, they heard her voice with each lap of water against skin. Leave me, Aiye said, I give thanks for your healing; nothing I could not have achieved on my own. Now return to your council and report that I want to be left alone. Idajo said, You can do that yourself. The waters smashed against the Golden Link’s panelling. There was order to the Universe, and Aiye appeared to be ignoring it. She demanded that they depart from the Land of the Living. They responded that it is impossible. Finally, Idajo proposed a game. If Aiye won, they would leave and report their findings to the Hidden One. If they won, Aiye would acquiesce to recreation.

Who are the ones who knew of tomorrow and yesterday?

This refers to humanity’s gift of foresight and prediction. From time, some humans knew of the days when the gods that were called to earth appeared easily. Even before satellites were launched into the void, humans had the tools to communicate across it. Humans saw constellations that, centuries later, telescopes of magnificent ability confirmed. Humans interacted with the Beings of Light in their true nature – formless entities tethered to their Houses in the pockets of the universe that were theirs to mould in their images. On different worlds in different universes, they pondered over the question of the existence of a supreme power behind the construction of all life. The gods were omniscient and powerful; they controlled everything, obsessively watching over every detail of human life to pass judgment. Those that tapped into deeper pools of knowledge took into account the order present in the activities of the Universe: gravity, the movement of the stars, the cooling of the forge and the expansion of the galaxy. 

Those with the tools to, brought the gods to earth with no corporeal form, their energies downloaded from across time and space to install into the bodies of their votaries. Those that knew of tomorrow witnessed the Earth’s destruction before it happened. They saw a future that would become a past of when there were no human, animal or insectoid vessels for the Beings of Light to navigate Aiye with few obstacles. Tomorrow, all that would remain was water. Water had been there since yesterday. Those who knew of tomorrow and yesterday understood this; multiple cycles of creation and destruction would change Aiye’s waters.

Rafeeat Aliyu writes about women, magic and myth. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from North Carolina State University. Her short stories have been published in Nightmare, Strange Horizons, FIYAH and Omenana, among others. Rafeeat received the Norwescon Scholarship to attend the Clarion West Workshop for science fiction and fantasy writers in 2018. In 2020, she was one of three African writers selected for the AKO Caine Prize Online with Vimbai mentorship program. She is a 2023 Miles Morland Scholar (Fiction).

*Image by Bhautik Patel on Unsplash