“The World went to Hell. From greed, from stupidity, from valuing artificial things more than the nature around them, our ancestors destroyed the world. Great cities, larger than we can even imagine; great nations spanning continents; great business enterprises encompassing the whole world; communications that circled the globe and even had equipment in space above us; medical knowledge able to fix broken hearts, broken kidneys, broken lungs, and broken minds; all of it gone because they had to fight, they had to burn oil and coal, they had to make plastics, they had to dam the rivers, they had to cut down the forests, they had to hunt animals to extinction, and all of that was more important than survival. All of that was more important than caring for each other, looking after the troubled, taking care of the natural world, or simply being in it.

“Hell began with a storm. The storms were stronger because they burned so much coal and oil that the air was full of carbon and soaked up the sun's' heat. This storm struck the heart of The United States, at the great city that ruled the country of which we were once a part. The storm struck and rained havoc on that city and all the countryside around it. The government was crippled. When the volcano erupted in our state and started all the woods to flame, the government could not respond. When another storm struck the huge cities on the Great River, the government could not respond. When states in the center of the north declared their independence, the government could not respond. When wars broke out across the seas, threatening all that existed, The United States government could not respond.

“The weapons they used were terrible. Whole cities were gone in a flash of light, searing heat, and a blast that turned rubble into glass. The United States had the most such weapons, but they were not in the wars because they were collapsed. There were still enough weapons to end civilization. They filled the skies with darkness, a poison darkness that killed silently. The Long Darkness lasted for years. Only survived those who found shelter from the darkness, with food that was sheltered and water that was sheltered. Each survivor huddled in their own cave, their own womb, awaiting the rebirth of the world.

“Mother Rainbow and Uncle waited along Calm Tree Road. They read books from the Before Time. They played games from the Before Time. They made tools and they ate their stores. All alone they waited. In Rainbow Cave they waited with a spring of clean water and a store of clean food. Then, one day, they looked out of the cave and it was Dark no more. They walked out of the cave and looked to the sky and it was clear. They fell to their knees and thanked the Spirit for the Clear Day. Each year we also fall to our knees and thank the Spirit for that Clear Day and for every one since.”

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Mother Rainbow's Children: The Cave