Somewhere, sometime

This night is cold.

The rain during the day has lowered the temperature.

The sky is filled with clouds although the firmament should have been radiant with joy. After a long discussion, the decision has finally been made to put an end to this. 

Once again, nobody listened to him. It's fate, it's not our business, their plans are not working out. But everyone can see that things are far from right here. Extraordinarily wrong things, to be precise.

The future is a dangerous commodity.

It should not be touched by the unsuspecting and there are plenty of them. He has been given the task of looking after these people, who will walk over dead bodies to achieve their goal. 

He gropes silently across the sandy ground and looks up at the formations in the rock face. He covers his tracks, and the sandy ground should be the only thing left until morning.

There are still a few awake, but he doesn't care, why should he when time and space are on his side. He begins to search the huts.

The wind pauses in its activity and the people lie motionless in their beds, good. He searches for the lost sons under blankets, in jars and cracks in the rocks. He only realizes how much time has passed - although this is difficult to calculate when the hands on the clock stand still - when he is overcome by a a stabbing headache. 

I shouldn't overdo it, he thinks. Unfortunately, they were well hidden, under stones, on roof beams, in gaps or piles of clothes, so he didn't manage to take them all with him. It would have been enough to make one figure disappear, but the congregation wanted to be safe and make no exceptions. Before he can faint, he runs out of the human settlement. The clouds continue to move and a snake slithers on the ground, looking for prey.

One of the people preparing for the coming day looks up. Something blue, white and golden shimmering in the pale light of the night, rises into the sky and disappears between the clouds.