133 Aftermath

Once the sun did come up, the surrounding area of hilltop began to change rapidly, seeming to come alive, and bursting with life and colour. Plants rapidly grew and absorbed water for later consumption, flowers bloomed in a matter of minutes, and the standing pools of water all but disappeared, except down in the river bottom, where it was simply too saturated and most of the plant life was destroyed by the raging waters.

But even there, the change was noticeable, as the ground was mostly visible now, exposing rubble and debris that had been carried downstream last night.

It was a mess down there, and the layer of silt that had built up turned large portions of the area to slowly drying mud plains, from which scattered plant life was struggling to break free.

Despite the ferocity of the storm, what hadn't been destroyed was thriving, taking advantage of the situation to get ahead of the competing species.