It was the sound that woke him, a soft scratching or scraping sound coming from above him. He listened intently, his mind still foggy from the centuries of sleep. He wondered how long it had been since he had seen daylight, since he had been able to stretch his body out to its full diminutive height.
He was still contemplating time when he felt something move… it went past his prison and underneath, all of the dirt around him seemed to undulate for a moment. When the light struck his face he cried out, the sound never escaping past the confines of his accursed cage. He gasped when he landed, the edge of the cage hitting a stone. To his dismay not a crack appeared…
It took a long moment for his eyes to adjust, and when they did he blinked rapidly, sure that what he was seeing couldn’t be real. What was this place? He recognized the humans… but what was this metal and glass world? Where had the trees and rivers, the flowers and creatures gone? What were these giant structures that reached towards the sky? He pressed his fingers to the glass, blinking back tears as he saw what humanity had wrought, and after his sorrow had passed, he closed his eyes to sleep again, never noticing the little girl who picked up the cage and smiled before placing it in her pocket.
