“…Kublai Khan, who was comparatively a milder ruler than his grandfather, suggested putting
a stop in the abuse of trees. Some agreed with Kublai. Nevertheless, his policy failed to acquire
the approval of Genghis Khan (The grandfather of Kublai Khan). Being a ruthless chieftain,
Genghis Khan allowed the Mongols cut the trees off continually, as he believed that satisfying the
needs of his people overrode everything else…”
The human aforetime were so egoistic and shortsighted. My passion of exploring the Gobi
was abated by the “engrossing” past. All of a sudden, a gale arose. The unrest sand afar began
to dance as if they were preparing for an attack. We fled behind a small sand dune, holding our
backpacks tightly in our arms, searching for masks and eyeshades as well. The sand no longer
shimmered, instead they revealed their anger for the Mongols’ behavior. A worn backpack half-
swallowed by the mad sand was right next to us, someone must have hidden here before. I
searched if anything is useful, and maps were found.
Some time passed and they eventually calmed down. She took the bag and we stepped
through the tough sand dune, ready to have our journey resumed.
“Hey! That was mine! It was blown there by the sandstorm.” A voice cried.
We raised our heads. At the distant sand dune there stood a middle-age man, rushing towards us.
“Oops, we are sorry,” she passed the bag to him.
“It’s okay. Um…may I ask where you are going to? I’ve got lost from my travel tour since the
sandstorm occurred two days before.” He was relatively calm and looked strong.
“Sorry to hear that. Would you like to join us until you meet your tour guide and the others
again?” I glimpsed at Isabel, “You are always welcome to join us.”
So here we were. I got two companies and we restarted our journey.
“So my book mentioned that the deforestation did not turn the forest into a desert; instead, the
forest was turned to be a sea! How could it be? I have no idea about it at all!” I was still confused.
“The cut down of trees provoked Shaman, who became determined to let the Mongols
experienced a flood, so that the trees could not grow—”
“Oh wait…Who was Shaman?” Tyson questioned.
“Shaman… was regarded as the dominator of nature and human, as it had the abilities
of prophecy, controlling the weather, etc. The Mongolian embraced Shamanism.” She
clarified, “Shaman let the sky rain heavily without a halt. The heavy rain turned out to be an
uncontrollable one, the longer the time it had been raining, the heavier the rainstorm was—”
“What? What’s next?” My feet stopped moving unintentionally, astounded.
“The rainstorm went out of control, and it was even altered into a sea within a year before
the rainstorm eventually ended! Many Mongols were found dead because of the serious flooding.
Some animals, for instance, the dinosaurs, became extinct.” She voiced out the truth agitatedly.
Viewing around the desert, all I could see was desolation. I felt pitiful for the absence of trees
and species here, and my disappointment grew.”
“Then,” she continued immediately, “As time passed, the rain finally stopped. Stopped.
Shaman was much more anxious about the situation, but he couldn’t help it—the weather was
totally out of control.”
“I see. So the drought occurred. Water was evaporated bit by bit.”
“You got it.”
The Mongols had wanted more, and as a consequence, they lost more, even at the cost of
their lives.
