Julian's Knife

The angry roar of a bustling city vibrates the thick, heavy air, laden with the pungent smell of chemical fumes, death and smoke. Dirty skyscrapers and factory chimneys disappear into the murky clouds trudging across overhead. An enraged, sick and fire-breathing beast with skin of concrete and brick and bones of iron and steel. Each factory a functioning organ, digesting the raw material it consumed and excreting filth that poisoned the land it had trampled barren and desolate. The ground shook with the continual rumble of trucks and trains and the sky was full of the deafening roar of planes and jets. The streets were worn from traffic and even the footpaths had ruts worn from the continual march of zombified workers. They once had souls but now even their life had been removed. An army of the undead, an undying and unstoppable workforce in chains. Prisoner of filthy chains unclean. Despair and anger had driven them while alive and now as dead it was the black blood that lay stagnant in their veins. The unseen rulers of the city had wings and deathly white faces. Their eyes are dead and cold and their tall, cadaverous bodies graceful and elegant. So full of hatred, anger and despair that that the only release was tormenting other life with their ailment that constantly overflowed. Constantly they wailed; mortified, horrified silent screams. Their blood was dry inside them, like black, broken glass which burnt like fire. The chains and coils of steel cable and... and-
"Hail my friend!" I turned and beside me stood Julian. "Calm your storm! Hold your horses! Be still." He put his hand on my shoulder and we looked up in awe at the city. The blur of moving machinery around us became dizzying after a while. "Do you not just adore the silence? tis like an empty canvas, a single note, a tone of beauty pure." I shook my head, "All see I this city stretching, into the dark and bowels of hell. For me dear and honest friend, I see no convalescing." Julian raised an eyebrow knowingly, "For you I have something, my friend." Julian was wise and always said the right thing in the right place at the right time. He was here, now and so I waited to see what he would say. He held up a black briefcase and opened it, inside was a large knife with a perfect blade that shimmered in the dull light. "Take it." he said, "why?" I asked. I held the handle and lifted it above my head and swung it around. It was so sharp it cut a hole in the smoggy air. Julian closed the case and motioned with his hand "Now strip down this city. Strip it back. Tear back the curtains. Find the essence my friend." I nodded. "And what shall I then do when I find the essence?" Julian shut his eyes "Cut it away also. And now I must leave you." He bowed and walked away. "But then I shall be left with nothing." I cried. "You will never be left with nothing -no matter how much you strip away..." His voice faded and he was gone. I swung the knife and a lamppost fell. I walked toward a building and hacked at it. Soon it was gone, then another and another. Factories, trains and bridges all fell before me. The city had been stripped back and was gone. The smoke had been cut from the sky, the streets from the earth and the sounds were stripped from the air. I stood in the desolate valley for what seemed like an age and then something happened. The wind swirled the sand and the desert sang to me. But it had always been singing.