The Story Of A Road- The Blood Flower Battleground

There is a road that runs between a field of blood red flowers just a short distance away from a small village. The dirt that covers this road has witnessed many events bitter and sweet. It has witnessed dreadful, gory wars, tears, and murders. It has also witnessed happy young children cherished by nature, laughing as they run through the flowers pretending to fly, and romantic dates of lovers, as well as sights that can be seen no more. It runs right through the center of the field and cradles the feet that walk over it.  They say the history of this road explains the story of this land and its people. This is the story I am going to tell you today.

It begins long back when the earth was walked by mythical creatures, when humans had not yet appeared. The beasts and birds lived in harmony, with the occasional argument that piqued the interest of passing creatures, causing excitement for a few moments. Back then, the flowers in the field were not blood red- they were a variety of colors! The path seemed to have existed right there in the center of everything since the very beginning of time. Then the humans appeared, and they slowly learned how to live from these creatures and nature, like a baby learning to crawl, and then to walk, and then to run. However, they grew not only in number and skill, but in intelligence as well.  

Darkness came one fine day when one condescending man decided to be selfish and turned power hungry. He spread his motives to others and it was not long before a war broke out between humans and the mythical creatures. Humans wanted to rule over every single thing on this planet! The war took place in this very field. You would think man would lose easily to an army of dragons and demons, but that’s where you are wrong, for back then mankind had his own powers, and coupled with his superior intelligence, he used his powers as a lethal weapon and nearly wiped out the mythical creatures. Nobody knows for sure what these powers were anymore, because the trait has long since disappeared from our genetic codes. They say that following that war, all mythical creatures disappeared. Some say they were all killed; some say they fled to another world. Now only man and some animals remained.

Humans being humans, naturally, there was conflict over choosing a ruler to dominate over everyone else. battle after battle broke out, all over the world. Then, one day, the most tragic war ever took place in this very field. There was so much bloodshed and morbid sights that it was never recorded in history, but the survivors of the war (who founded that village near the field) pass on the story from generation to generation by narrating it to the youth. A legendary sage came along and planted white flowers here to replace the ones that were mercilessly trampled in the endless battles, but instead of white, blood red ones grew. Because of this, there is an eerie poem that an eccentric young villager wrote and sings:

There is blood where the flower grows

Deep in the ground,

Blood where the battle was won.

There were tears and ear piercing screams

Heard all around

The Blood Flower Battleground.

Exactly as the poem describes, the field has come to be known as the Blood Flower Battleground. The white flowers grew blood red because there was so much bloodshed that the waterbed beneath the ground is filled with blood that seeped through the soil. At that time, this road even became a stream of blood.

On the first full moon of every quarter year, the people of this village pick the flowers and hold a festival, celebrating the harmony that came to be after that war. The road is decorated with vibrant paint and many contests are held or the roadside in the field. The practice was started by an old man who did it with his dying young daughter, simply for fun. But then the other villagers joined in and it became a tradition and the purpose changed as the festival evolved.

They say the village founders never wanted to see a war like that ever again, so these villagers live in harmony. While wars continue to rampage in other parts of the world, this little piece of land finally attained peace, but at heavy costs. Is this the cost of peace? Perhaps it could have come cheaper, without such horrible losses.

This is the story of the road that runs through a field of blood red flowers, and how the place came to be known as the Blood Flower Battleground.  We cannot do anything about the past, but we can do something for the future, and prevent wars so we can avoid incurring irreversible damage to land and society. Live in peace.