The Lazurai Emergence oleh S. H. Marpel

I had been in that stone wall for decades, alone on purpose.  Not lonely.  Waiting. Humankind needed to evolve past what they had done to create me. I was willing to wait - as long as it took.  Because to re-emerge would mean to again threaten all humans I contacted.  The very reason all of my kind had submerged into hiding was to save humankind from ourselves, from the virus within us.  While that virus had saved us from certain death, and evolved us into an immortal state, we were still human enough to care for the rest of the race we used to be part of.  And that is the risk, like all evolution:  Is this an quantum-leap of genetic improvement, or a dinosaur extinction event? Excerpt: When the latest three visitors arrived, I greeted them as usual with a dust cloud and wind. Dust devil turned cyclone.  They responded by putting up a force shield. I countered with hurricane-force winds.  But one of them got sick. He fell down and clutched his stomach. I felt sorry for him, but hes  only human and so I wasnt too sorry. The other two werent human, although they looked it. They had my respect. A couple of good-looking young gals, as far as humans went. We were at a standoff. It was all they could do to keep their shields up, and I didnt want to increase my wind forces any more, nor any less. Then a red-haired, hazel-eyed young woman appeared and walked through my dust storm and their shield like they werent even there. She crouched over the sick man at the bottom of their shield, then looked up at the two gals who were generating that force shield with their concentration.  All three disappeared with a shimmer, and I was left alone as a dust cyclone. And thats all I wanted.  “I’ve never liked visitors.” I said to no one nearby. “I came here to disappear, but people keep finding me. Well, to hell with them. They never cared, they don’t now.” The whirlwind of my form twisted in the middle of a vacant desert, just a dozen yards away from the sheer cliff side behind me. At my base, little dust-devils spun off to ride small drafts out for a short distance and then dissipate back into the dust and air that formed them. This wasn’t happiness I felt, but when I had my solitude, that was something that comforting to me. Something I depended on for so long to be the same. I only wanted quiet after all my disappointments. Humans had always disappointed me. Ever since they created me with their poisons, their bombs, bullets, and gases.  In the silence I could sleep, without dreams, without cares. Alone. So I sank back into my cliff side, the petroglyph glowing momentarily as the rock absorbed my energy. With no wind, the desert dust returned to coat the blank floor by the rock wall, leaving it again the featureless canvas it usually was. And I slept again, as I waited... Scroll Up and Get Your Copy Now.