What if we found an ancient race… by mistake?

Mas and his shipmates have been trapped in their ship for an eternity, but that’s about to change.

Mas is Karanga. He recites the ageless conflict between the Karanga and the Scragg.

Karanga are a noble race that tend the gardens, keeping nature in balance since the dawn of time. Scragg destroy the garden. They are a murderous breed that knows only war and death.

Dr. Dale Clark and a group of graduate students visit the site of a mysterious obsidian spire hoping to learn what lies beneath.

What will happen when Mas and his shipmates come face to face with the Dr. Clark and his students?

Can Mas stop the cycle of war and make peace, or is nature a force to powerful to overcome?

Authors Notes

Obsidian is a curious and intriguing tale. It’s a short story that takes place in a time long ago and present day. It’s a fantastical explanation of how our modern world came to be and a study of cultural bias and misunderstandings that cause endless strife.

Why do we war, kill, and fight?

Are the scragg human and the karanga something more, something different? Read the story and decide for yourself. How do humans treat other humans? How do we react when we stumble upon something we don’t understand? Do we stop and learn when presented with something extraordinary, or do we dissect and destroy it? Can we rise above and be more like them, or are we slaves to our nature?

The karanga character names and many of the words they use are based on the Shona language. Shona is a Bantu language of the Shona people of Zimbabwe and Karanga is a dialect. I like the sound and tone of the words. I hoped to add depth through language as an aid in developing the characters as an ancient noble people.