Uñu Pachacuti

September 24, 2015 Miro Sevin Siegel

Viracocha and the grand lake, Lake Titicaca

A Short Story By Miro Siegel

From darkness I birthed the world, and from my likeness I brought life to men. From my inner fire I kindled the stars, and from my grief I wrought rain. I yearned to give all to my children.

I birthed them into darkness, so they could comprehend the void from which they came, and the uncertainty of their existence. It unsettled them greatly to gaze into the outer infinity, and soon they asked for the light of day.

I channeled my purest joy into the sun, more than content to enlighten them. By the luminosity of my sun I could see the families they had formed and the love that had been forged. The people were prosperous but not forgetting. I illuminated their world, but the light they sheltered brightened my consciousness.

It wasn’t long before they requested respite from the unending day; the crops that had once grown so well now shriveled under the heat of my elation. With a sense of deeply rooted melancholy I ordered the sun to move across the sky and push with it the cogs of time. From my desolation I crafted the moon to watch over my children when I was out of sight.

For many years they loved me unconditionally as their father. They worshiped me and did as I say, and heeded my furious warnings when they were bellowed. I demanded that they live in peace, and above all else I demanded that they never forgot their origin.

But arrogance is insidious, and soon my people began to dismiss all that I have done for them. Time and time again I tried to mend our relationship and reconnect with my sons and daughters, but the separation was now too vast. They rejected me.

And from their rejection I cried. I sobbed and weeped until storms and downpours flowed from my cheeks, flooding the world below. I heard them call to me, to beg for forgiveness and to pray for safety.

But I could not stop my sorrow. They had forgotten me and disobeyed me, and I knew what I must do…

I will cleanse this world with my woe, and with waters that overturn the land.

And before long the world was a blue speck in the cosmos, and I submerged myself in the great lake, to rest my weary body. I will rest here, dormant but mindful. I will never forget.