From Ecocide to Eden 

Chapter One
Halfway to Heaven
 

When the suns are all gone and we, as children of the stars, are eternal dust floating in the void there will be beings somewhere who will remember those that tried. Those who stood up for what is always right.

Those people were the Earth defenders, sometimes called the Earth avengers. They were as diverse an army as has ever been seen, and they would be legends for as long as time exists.

Their cause was something that was the most important cause in history - from the perspective of every living thing. The cause was saving a planet that had been the home for every living thing ever known.

As the years had passed and the plight of the Earth had become increasingly apparent, it seemed bizarre that governments and corporations continued on their path of destruction with no light in their hearts.

The planet was a smallish world, beautiful from above and beautiful on the ground. It seemed obvious to protect it one would have thought.

But time was running out. Arrogant humanity was split into three camps. Firstly, those smugly uncaring about the deteriorating state of the planet they called home. Secondly, the group that was in denial. But the third camp consisted of a growing number of humans who did care and were prepared to do whatever it took to preserve Carl Sagan's - and our - "pale blue dot".

This third group would join forces with the creatures of the forests, woods, mountains, hills, skies, rivers and seas. Only fools would get in the way of this eco army - but ecocidists weren't known for their intelligence.

* * *

It's easy to do nothing, wringing one's hands saying nothing can be done. It's more difficult and more praiseworthy to step out of the shadows into the light and be out of one's comfort zone. Future generations will be grateful to those that did, but on the other hand look unkindly on those who did nothing.

The great mystic Rainbow Ocean had foretold millennia ago that humans were in danger of devouring themselves as soon as they had left their caves and began spreading all over the globe. Large swathes of land that were mostly forest were soon denuded. The mighty mammoth was slaughtered in great numbers as humans learnt the deadly efficiency of the combination of wood and flint. Similarly, humans used deadly violence on each other in pursuit of land or power, in personal grudges, or in some cases just a sadistic satisfaction in hurting others. The killing became more organised and sophisticated, as groups grew into armies. These armies got bigger and weapons became deadlier. Few experienced compunction when it came to harming non-humans and nature.

Humans progressed into cerebral pursuits such as philosophy and poetry, but the non-humans and the compassionate humans wondered why the more supposedly intelligent humans often used that intelligence for ill. The noble savage could too often seem like a different species to the humans in industrialised cities.

For thinking beings, humans were good at pushing realities that didn't suit them to the backs of their minds. They liked to believe that Earth's resources were everlasting. So, with such a belief, it made it easy to carry on plundering the planet and taking everything from all the other creatures and plants.

* * *

Underground there are mysteries beyond the understanding of Man. While the worms sleep dreading the tread of the feared two-leggers. For aeons worms had tilled the soil only for Man to exploit. Living their lives in their brown paradise they were waiting for Earth defenders to come to the rescue for all that lived in the Earth, above it and in the water.

The worst of humanity, with an innate selfishness, carried on destroying life and nature for greed and a continuation of their lifestyle. There was also an inability to countenance inconvenient truths. Politicians were scared of making unpopular, but necessary, decisions that would benefit future generations if it meant losing power in the short term. So, governments just played the lip service game for decades. Making it look like they were doing something when they weren't doing nearly enough.

The morally bankrupt elite group of humans didn't really care about the Earth being in pain, as long as they could continue to feed their greed. They also had plans to escape to safe areas while those they'd employed/used to help them achieve their aims were left behind to suffer the consequences. Those consequences had been more floods, more wildfires, more droughts, worse hurricanes, barren landscapes and the most valuable thing on the planet - water - was becoming increasingly rare and was now something to wage war over in some areas of the world.

There was, though, a minority that did care and this minority was becoming more vocal and utilising a variety of direct action tactics. Predictably they were demonised by a media inclined to shine a happy light on self-indulgent lifestyles as the aspiration for their readers, viewers and listeners - regardless of the consequences for even their own loved ones and descendants.

The ingenuity of the nature protectors seemed to know no bounds, while for one small band of Earth warriors death was never final. Of those remarkable individuals we shall hear about later.

Ecocidists had no special powers though. They lived in a realm where consequences would always follow bad actions.

Humans would, it seems, be having to learn the hard way. Were they intelligent enough to learn their lessons? If not, then they would have to continue to be taught that bad actions provoke bad reactions regarding uncaring ways.

In Northern European forests and woods there were areas feared by ecocidists. Here, there had been rumours for centuries of supernatural beings. While people who worked there had been mocked when they mentioned what they had seen. On one occasion a trio dressed up as a one-eyed Viking, a distorted victim of a Frankenstein-style experiment and a shapeshifter for a mock photo for a social media account. They weren't, however, laughing when the genuine trio dispatched them. Though when getting photographic or film evidence was attempted to capture strange happenings in these mysterious places only a blank screen would appear.

* * *

The one-eyed Viking, Bloodnar the Mutilator, was immortal, and he had watched for centuries humans destroying his forest bit by bit.

The victim of the Frankenstein-style experiment was a gentle white rabbit. After a hideous experiment involving a murderous human the gentle rabbit morphed into a massive creature with aggression that was unleashed on all humans deemed responsible for his condition. He, with good reason, had a grudge against most humans. This was the seven foot tall rabbit-man called Brutewulf.

Rollam was the name of the shapeshifter. More gentle than the other two, Rollam was extremely useful for surveillance. Especially when he would shapeshift into a bird and fly above an unsuspecting enemy.

This trio lived in the Forest of Soaring Pines, which, because of its stunning beauty, was thought of as being halfway to Heaven. Bloodnar, Brutewulf and Rollam had continually fought back against the ecocidists but they had always been overwhelmed. Now things were different. A tipping point was being reached around the world and recruits for eco armies were more willing to put their current lives on the line for the benefit of the lives of those yet unborn. Bloodnar and Brutewulf finally had the eco army they had always wanted to lead.

From Ecocide to Eden

Paul Rance's illustrations of some of the main characters

Bloodnar

Fowlfrienda the Fox

Enoch Toad

Wendova

Hogfer and Henrietta

Marmaduke the Mouse

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