A DREAM

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A dream took me back

To the times of 10586 B.C. 

The times my ancestors cruised the heavens 
In moon-sized starships 
Carrying with them the cargoes 
Of livestock and plants 
Those that inhabited our world 

And they explored the unknown galaxies 
Till in a nodescript and distant star system 
By some misfortune their fuel ran out 

These intrepid explorers 
Set the mothership's self destruct 
And fled to a blue planet's surface 

Their number is uncertain 

Perhaps thirty, fourty or some more 

The shield of their ship glowed 
Brilliant orange and red 
Till they splashed in an ocean 
Filled with so much salt 
They called it dead 

Yet it took them several days 
Of stormy and calm winds 
To finally set upon some sandy shore 
Where they set their camp 

Their initial intentions were good 

Or so I suspect 

For four brothers with their families 
Travelled in different directions 
To the North, South, East and West 

Each bore their own insignia 
The eagle, lion and the bear 
Save for one, the leader of the team 
He wore the face of our race 
As his crest 

Now the design of their vessels 
Had a purpose in mind 
To be as scary as possible 
And make any inhabitants run in fright 

One being could run this on his own 
Witness their power, to awe and destroy 
When their weapons were fully deployed 
Witness their power to create 
For they held within them 
The genetic encoding of our race 
With factories capable of replicating 
Our very DNA 

But the brothers found nothing 
Except for some frightening reptiles 

"Until these beasts, these devils are gone 
We'll never be safe”

So they argued about the best way 
To make the new world a haven 

Nothing will survive a nuclear winter 

Save our replicators 
Who will spawn our population 
All over this planet

So the four brothers agreed 
And from each corner of the world 
A massive nuclear missile was launched 
They exploded into great clouds of dust 
Shattering the continents 
And blackening the skies 

And a hundred years passed 

The dragons now extinct 
My ancestors' ships wakened from hybernation 
And began the colonisation 
When six days were finished 
The ark that brought them to this place 

Dissolved into oblivion 

Nothing left except deeply encoded stories 
Of that time 
Kept by four special creatures 

The guardians of the messenger ships 

The ones designed to frighten 

To control the emerging populace 

They would write their own stories 
Over time 

But these guardians 
Would always keep watch