by Gari Hart
from his spot at the top a dirt hill. Thoroughly acquainted with the tales that preceded the Epicene, Zindetitious identified the Stranger immediately as the entity incarnate. Likewise, he discerned the Magician was heading towards his home. Zindetitious walked out to intercept the Epicene, hoping to dismiss and eject Them from the village. Remarkably he noted he was the only one who could approach the Stranger without succumbing to sickness. Hardly taking time to hear the Maven’s weak threats, the Epicene promised to unleash a pestilence over the community if Zindeititous denied hospitality. For the sake of his neighbors, Zindetitious grudgingly held his tongue for further hostile sentiments, and instead extended his welcome to the Epicene. While the Magician was in the home of Zindetitious, the curse of the villagers waned; some dared to move closer to hear the grand meeting of two such powerful minds. While the conference proceeded inside, it is told that Zindetitious became the only one to see the face of the Epicene – supposedly, a sign of respect on its part.
They wasted no time in stating the purpose of Their visit to Ensiohith. The Epicene had come to contest the contributions made by Zindetitious to the world, which were so monumental and paramount that the Magician suspected he had transgressed the barrier which separated the human from the divine; A right only permitted to a preordained pedigree, which Zindetitious did not flow from or to. The accomplishments Zindetitious had endeavored for and presented did not belong solely to him, nor did they to any individual. These discoveries were meant to be uncovered by copious others, seemingly desultory innovators from scattered points in Earth’s future. Zindetitious protested the accusation that he had transgressed some mystical line, and defended his achievements as notions which were hypothesized, experimented on, proven and applied of his own intelligence, with no involvement, illicit or otherwise, from any variety of deity. The Epicene, skeptical of the honesty of men, read his eyes for the truth - a silent moment between the two when the Magician could see the whole life of the Maven. They gleaned he was indeed innocent of the claim. By some freak accident Zindetitious had accumulated discoveries and progress not meant to be revealed and exposed so close to one another. Humanity had to learn these lessons one at a time, to ensure an extended future for the planet.
The Episcene went on to explain order moves to disorder to order. This was the rhythm assigned to humanity, and was enforced by the wax and wane of scientific and technological disoveries, followed by philosophical movements. The Earth would live on so long as there was new ground to cover, which lamentably involved enduring hardships like war and poverty from time to time, to prompt leaders to step forward to guide the rest. Zindetitious had set the world up for prolonged peace with nothing left to uncover or expand, so efficiently that once disarray came again, as in inevitably must, it would unravel humanity to the point of extinction.
The Epicene asked Zindetitious to offer a single reason why the current unnatural chain of events should be left intact, when it meant an offbeat course for humanity that ultimately led to their utter annihilation. Zindetitious pleaded for the Epicene to observe the good his work did for the whole world, and asked for faith that under his leadership humanity would not fall under pressure for new discoveries. The Earth had prospered and was living healthy, and was not restricted by prejudice or xenophobia. Unfounded hatred was being subdued in the hearts of man, and people did not possess an inborn disposition for monetary gain and superiority. The world throughout was seeing the forefront of betterment that comes when a whole planet works together and not simply strives to control everyone around them. They would perfect the planet together, and then move out to the stars in search for other words to improve.
Unconvinced by his response and unfazed by his sentimentality, the Epicene silently stepped closer to Zindetitious, close enough to touch him. The two great forces stared into each other’s faces. In an unprecedented act of tenderness, the Magician apologized to the Maven for what They were about to do. Placing their hands upon his head and muttering an alien incantation, They proceed to vacuum out the accomplishments of Zindetitious from his own episodic memory. Subsequently The Epicene tore them from the fabric of time itself. A lifetime of experiences shattered and became lost, along with the hope for a beautiful future. The rest of the world was ignorant to the alternations that had just undergone to their respectful colonies. The act sent humanity back to a veritable dark age, defined by nativity and cruelty. None of the education or instruments they had come to utilize in their daily lives was real anymore, but they were unaware of them all anyway.
Zindetitious grew frightened by the robed albino standing in his unfamiliar surroundings. Having no recollection of who this person was or of inviting this freak into his home, the former maven barked at the stranger belligerently to leave his home. Zindetitious, resorting to physical violence, even began to push the albino out the door, yelling obtuse insults and slurs that fell far below his previous level of intelligence. The Epicene neither physically nor verbally resisted the man’s abusive manner. They only left with a sense of regret. Without out a glance in any direction, and with no one else falling ill from coming to close, the Epicene exited Ensiohith. They disappeared into a fog that suddenly formed from nowhere and was gone.
Scared - although unsure why - and lethargic - but unsure how - Zindetitious, the once greatest thinker and inventory the Earth had known, spent the rest of his days insecure and hesitant to act out any thought that grew in his mind. He would cower in the corner of his home for hours, plagued by the notion he was missing something. He began to meander about the town square at different times of the morning and evening, mumbling incoherent sentences and unfamiliar words to himself. The only comprehendible description he could give the village physician was that his thoughts omitted details from his own mind. The village of Ensiohith came to recognize Zindeitious as a man gone mad. The village doctor performed a trephining on him. When the procedure seemed to only amplify his condition and turned him belligerent, the village decided to lock Zindetitious in his home. They worried he would consume precious resources, when they produced only enough to barely survive. Some even considered he had become possessed by an evil spirit. Zindetitious was a prisoner in his home as within himself. On his own terms, he neglected to eat and eventually starved to death. Thus lost was the enlightenment of the Earth that was and will never be.
This information was not intended to be known to us now. Only through the original beholder’s discernment are we privy to this preferred and inaccessible course the human race was to naturally take. The existence the Magician and the Maven would otherwise be as invisible as the air we breathe to survive. The only way to achieve a fraction of what we had is to keep retelling the story of Zindetitious.
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About the Author
Gari Hart is a Chicago based writer, sometimes musician, partial artist, infrequent actor.
He previously published Dipsomapolis: a wrecked promenade through horrors of the North.
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