UnEarth Magazine.

Words by Laetitia Stuchtey, Art by Ru Todd

When the Last One told me a story.  
A story of death and deceit,  
The last one had mumbled it slowly
And the story lulled me to sleep.  

It played in a kingdom of riches,  
The riches fed those around.  
The kingdom it grew and it lifted  
And grew outside of its bounds.  

When the Last One told me this story,  
It told me the kingdom was kind.  
It fed all the ones that would join it,  
But the living had large appetites.  

They wished for more that was given,  
Were ruled by hunger and sin.  
They emptied and deadened the riches,  
And kept what was left locked within.  

The Last One told me their hunger  
Turned inwards, consuming the host.  
The living would dig up what slumbers,  
Eat the ground that they needed the most.  

With no grass and no ground to stand on,  
With no riches to keep them alive,  
They fought with themselves and with others, 
Hunger enraging their bite.  

It ended with fire and fury,  
Riches rotting and fuelling the storm.  
Without food and the ground, we were starving,  
So, I slept thinking, this sounds like home.