Life Cycles

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the words: doubt, rain, purple



Life Cycles

Distant red streaks could be seen cutting across the deep purple sky.

Churl sat on the hillside watching as his mate Privda snuggled deeper into his arms. She sent him soothing vibrations that conveyed her love and great satisfaction with their union. He smiled down at the small bundle. She was small and beautiful, only about a third his size which was the norm for their species.

They had not left each other’s side since the closing ceremony at the Festival of the Arks. It had been a gala event, culminating in the spectacular Launching of the Arks. The festival marked the end of the cycle; or the beginning, depending on one’s perspective. Within the next solar loop, the planet would be bombarded down to bedrock.

Nothing would survive. Of this there was no doubt. History had proven that when the asteroid showers came, the planet died. The clock of the cosmos completed the deadly collision course every fifty-thousand years.

Time and time again, the inhabitants would use that same clockwork to make sure that as soon as the planet cooled, the Arks would land and spread the seeds of life once again.

The streaks were closer now. The rain of space rock was awesome to behold. Churl and Privda sent comfort to each other as the static charge in the air began to make their fur stand on end. They could feel the hot wind in their face as the planet’s rotation brought the onslaught closer and closer.

At the last moment, they jumped, leaving their biologicals behind.

Their place on the Ark was waiting for them. They would vibrate as one for during the century-long elliptical trip. The Ark landings would mark the beginning, or the end, depending on one’s perspective.


Word count 295