A Campaign of Graffiti
Melodious Concert in the North
The Two Planes Are Downed
Click the puzzle piece to work a jigsaw puzzle
The Indigo Jewel
Chapter 14 - Kindness In The Face Of Hostility
Intro,
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17,
Epilogue,
Afterward
Once I heard a story about an army that was attacking a peaceful country, and their attack was stopped by an unseen force. They magically turned their enemy into a friend. It was awesome! - Anonymous
Word of the storm brewing in the Arctic reached the people of Ant through the occasional traveler who braved the seas to find refuge in the south. The music of Ant had reached the north in full force, transmitted by satellites and whispered from one rebellious troubadour to another. The leaders of the Arctic nations condemned it as an intrusion, an act of psychological warfare. They outlawed the songs, forbade their people to listen to them, and arrested those who defied the ban. But they could not silence the songs.
The youth of the north clung to the melodies and themes. They held secret concerts, played the songs in hidden gatherings, and painted Melodious’ name, adorned with musical notes, on the walls of buildings. Authorities painted over the graffiti, but new murals appeared overnight. The movement was growing, unstoppable. The leaders of the Arctic nations saw the handwriting on the wall: their young people no longer accepted their ways. Something had to be done.
In a desperate attempt to reclaim control, northern leaders convened in secret. They still had a handful of long-range bombers, relics of the previous century, and a dwindling stockpile of nuclear weapons. They devised a plan to end the southern interference forever. If they could not silence the music, they would silence its source.
News of the plan did not go unnoticed. The people of Ant, ever vigilant, had long anticipated such a response. Their principles prohibited them from waging war, but they could not stand idly by as annihilation loomed. With the guidance of Melodious, they had devised a defense, not through violence, but through disarmament.
Along the coastlines of Ant, electromagnetic interference stations had been carefully constructed, capable of disrupting electronic systems in the air and on the sea. When the bombers finally took flight, the south was ready. The pilots were unaware that their mission had failed before it even started. As the planes approached the shores of Ant, their navigation and communication systems ceased to function. Their engines sputtered. The two aircraft dropped from the sky and glided into the ocean.
But the people of Ant did not leave them to die. Rescue teams launched immediately, pulling the stranded pilots from the planes and offering them warmth, food, and sanctuary. The captured crews, expecting imprisonment—or worse—were instead met with kindness. When radio transmissions resumed, it was not the usual music that played across the Arctic airwaves. It was the voices of their own pilots, telling of their rescue, of getting to know the people they had been sent to destroy, and of the lies they had been told.
The leaders of the northern countries could no longer deny the truth. They had sought destruction, but the people of the south had answered with compassion. The youth, already restless, turned against their governments in full force. One by one, the old regimes fell in the face of massive, continuous demonstrations. The nuclear arsenal was dismantled and destroyed. Hostilities were renounced. The north, once isolationist, now sought unity with the south.
Emissaries from the Arctic countries arrived in Ant, not as conquerors, but seeking aid. The south, true to its ideals, did not demand submission or tribute. They offered assistance freely, reinforcing their bloodless victory.
The Great Divide remained, a vast and uninhabitable scar upon the Earth. But the first bridges of connection were being built, not with steel, but with channels of communication. The south established virtual meeting places, allowing people from both poles to meet, to share, to learn from each other. Planes carried northern scientists to Ant universities. Ant planes carried scientists and diplomats to the north to provide assistance and coordinate efforts.
Copyright © 2025 Elton Smith