The End of Grieving

by Matthew Fortuna

three separate creatures, the rocks had simply disappeared. I doubted the Main was taking me seriously right then, seeing as the stones were probably halfway across the world by now in some overgrown bird's belly. Transmute the stones into living flesh, come on.

  I shook my head undecidedly then turned, about to leave.

  Mandrake stood at the mouth of my cave, a giant bird of a creature, he stood up to his fullest height, just coming to my chin.

  "What are you doing?" He said. It really wasn't much of a question, Mandrake knew the world better than a man knew his favorite child, but then again that was more of an understatement than anything else. Mandrake was a God of sorts, more like a God of knowledge and his pride often took him to the mortal world to settle a few things with mankind far, far below.

  I shrugged my shoulders. It was pointless to do anything and my nonchalance seemed to irritate him.

  He looked around, eyeing my stash of particulars in the corner, before waving for me to join him. We were friends of a sort, friends meaning we didn't think about killing each other every day like some friends. In fact that sort of thing only happens every other day, but today was a friendly day so I wasn't particularly worried.

  "Have you heard the story of the man who would save the world below?" He asked.

  I wondered at that for a few seconds before responding, "You hint at it every so often, and I get the impression it has something to do with us. But you never spill anything more than a few words at a time." I said, "The most I can figure out is he's going to stop a plot to overthrow a kingdom or something and we're going to award him with Godhood."

  "Well," He said, "Today is a good day so I'm going to tell you the particulars." We were at the end of a small stone corridor. I looked around, two benches sat on either side of a windows overlooking the world below. He gestured for me to take a seat and did likewise across the way.

  He explained to me the importance of the story before startling me with the story itself.

  "It begins" He said, “When the light of the moon touches the earth three times in the space of a night."

  I raised my hand.

  "Yes?"

  "Isn't that impossible? I mean honestly we could do it but no one's allowed to because mankind will start fussing like a dying pigeon."

  "Well." He said, "To be honest, you’ve been given the permission to do so."

  I narrowed my eyes, unsure if he was telling the truth or not. "You're lying."

  I halfway expected him to burst out laughing but he just sat there and stared at me, more like an owl than a giant crow.

  I hesitated, "You can't be serious." I could almost feel him laughing but Mandrake simply waited.

  I flinched inside and waited for him to explain. I was the God of creation, not some halfwit human with a grudge on his shoulder. Why was he telling me this?

  Awkwardly we stared at each other for about three minutes and I wasn't going to press him because silence generally means something more profound. And so I began to think.

  Mandrake was a simple creature when it came down to it, the only thing especially unique was his size, physique, and his general knowledge of everything in existence. In fact, his sense of humor was absolutely pristine when he wanted it to be but he usually finds more entertainment in saying absolutely bunkus. His humor has a way of digging inside, and I've found myself confused at a joke at first only to spend the next three days laughing at every particular piece of cleverness hidden behind the faulty lines. And so my perspective on the current situation was somewhat belated by the fact that he'd do this more often than I'd care to recall.

  "So essentially I'm going to wake up tomorrow and find this all humorous, yes?" Mandrake still didn't respond so I sat back on my bench and thought some more.

  Mandrake, being more intelligent and knowing than anything in existence had just told me to do something that would rock the people of the Earth below to their very bones and I thought he was joking. Alright, I said to myself, this isn't some half planned joke.

  And so I grudgingly asked, "What do I need to do?"

  Mandrake sighed, "First I need to show you the man who is to fix the world."

  I squinted hard at him again. The kingdoms were at least seven hundred years away from chaos and finding him now would be absolutely pointless.

  "And then?"

  "And then we will freeze him for a thousand years until the time is ripe."

  I thought it over, but at least three different people came to my head who would be better suited for this kind of thing, "What if he fails? We need some kind of backup plan for this. Not to mention, the time stream has an exorbitant number of qualified hero types."

  "I've already arranged for possible future failings." He said, "I've worked out several others who can help him. Nothing huge, but this is how it needs to be."

  I chose not to refute him on the fact that just a moment ago he'd been saying all we needed was the man. Then again, I might simply have missed the implications involved.

  "What's his name then?"

  The man stood in the center of the courtyard of Marylin's estate. She'd had it rebuilt several years ago with permission from the most high. But in exchange she'd been forced to give up her father's title and her position in the courts. He shoved his sword into the rich black earth below. Nothing's happened the way it was supposed to since he'd escaped. Marylin had told him the truth about his family since then and all but one had been lost. His son. But he was thousands of miles away, fleeing in terror from the life he'd lost without a hope of seeing his family again.

  He gripped handle of his sword and set about in a thick series of moves, chasing imaginary foes across the yard. He'd asked Marylin for permission to make the field of earth instead of grass and she'd readily agreed. This was more than a small kindness on her part for she'd planned on planting a garden.

  The man stepped in to attack when a young boy's voice flitted to him across the yard.

  "Why do you call yourself 'the man'?" The voice was indignant," Who the heck thinks of these kinds of things? Did you call him that?"

  There was a low whisper and the sound of a small shove muffled by the ruffle of feathers.

  A series of expressions flitted across the man's face when he turned to see who was speaking.

  Mandrake spoke next, "We have come to offer you a proposition." He cocked his head while the man simply stared.

  "Well, actually we have two. The first being that you change your name."

  "My name is Glademier."

  The boy thought about it before shaking his head, "Too long. Just call yourself Glad, much simpler and all that."

  Glad flinched, "My father gave me my name. And I intend to keep it."

  "Then stop calling yourself 'The man' like some self-righteous hero..." He grumbled under his breath.

  Mandrake cut in, "We want to know if you'd be willing to sacrifice a thousand years under a deep hibernation in order to save the world from the calamity that will be your society."

  Glad stared hard, trying to understand why this was happening, "You're joking."

  "That's what I was saying." The boy interjected.

  Mandrake sighed, "Marylin will come along for the ride, as will one other whom you may either desire to kill or befriend-"

  "Depending on first impressions of course!"

  "A- yes, well, he is very important, his name is still to be decided as of yet, but hopefully you will recognize him for who he is."

  "What if I refuse?"

  "I think you already know that." The boy looked on Glad with pity.

  Glad sighed, "I'm not much of the man I used to be."

  "Well, no duh. You're much better for us at this point."

  "Why?"

  "Why else? We just told you your society is going to collapse in a thousand years. Why else would we want you all buff and stuff."

  Glad was slightly confused by the odd mannerisms of the boy, and the giant crow was really getting on his nerves, "May I have a mo
ment to consider."

  Mandrake stood resolute.

  "Sure, just don't take forever. We need to hurry up and confuse the locals in about fifteen minutes."

  Glad hesitated before returning to the house. He sought out Marylin in the meditation room, telling her of the strange visitors outside.

  "You know those are the God's of creation and knowledge if you're telling the truth."

  Glad shook his head, "They're starting to call me Glad."

  "Good! You're so gloomy all the time, why not have a change of name." She stood up and followed him outside.

  The crow was rolling around in the dirt and the boy was trying unsuccessfully to make a dirt castle when they returned.

  The boy looked up from his castle, "Mandrake!"

  The crow made a frenzied attempt to stand up, "Yes my lord!"

  The words the boy was going to say were caught in his throat, choked by Mandrake's response. He tried hard to get himself under control but ended up laughing even harder.

  This lasted for about five minutes while Marylin and Glad looked on with quiet amusement.

  "You called him the God of creation?"

  Marylin waved her hand embarrassed, "Well I don't know."

  The boy stopped laughing, "But seriously though, we need you to say yes."

  "Why?" Marylin.

  "What do you mean why? Can't you explain anything?" He was eyeing Glad.

  Glad looked irate, "You can't just expect us to give up our lives here in the city, there's too much to accomplish."

  "Like stopping the spread of corruption?"

  Glad hesitated, "Yes."

  Mandrake spoke up, "Well, to be honest, if you were to continue in your current time frame, you would truthfully be capable of delaying