Minus Year 9000-

Maren Grabbing the Stars From the Sky looked at the ceiling of his bedroom. He

could feel the stresses inside his frail body. He wouldn’t last the night. All of his

teachings would be gone with him.

He wished he had more time to learn and to teach.

A wooden dog entered the room and walked over to his shallow bed. It looked at him

with carved eyes. Then it sat at his side.

“Woody?,” said a voice from the door. “Where have you gone?”

The dog barked. It didn’t move from Maren’s side. The wooden eyes seemed intent

on the ancient man’s face.

A man in a light blue costume came into the room. He wore a dark shirt under his

jacket. He pushed back strands of dark hair from his weathered face. Eyes the color

of his wardrobe assessed the dying man calmly and passionlessly.

“I can’t do anything for him, Woody,” said the stranger. “He’s reached the end of his

personal timeline. We have to let him go to the Underworld to work off his sins.”

“Who are you?,” said Maren. He didn’t like that his home was invaded by a man who

talked to wooden dogs.

“I’m sorry,” said the stranger. “My name is Errant. This is Woody.”

The dog barked at the mention of his name.

“He’s wanted to visit you for a while, but we’ve had some things to do, so this is the

first time we’ve had time to come by,” said Errant. “I’m sorry we’re too late to cure

your malady. We could have given you another few years.”

“I would need a century to teach what I know to my people,” said Maren. “I have

barely scratched the surface. No one else has been able to master the Four Points.

They seem to master one and remain there.”

“Not many can see the functionality of it,” said Errant.

“Exactly,” said Maren. “They want to stay with the thing they are best at doing. I

want them to be able to reshape their lives.”

“They are already doing that with what you have given them,” said Errant. “Learning

more that they don’t want is a waste. And let’s face it, you’re dying. You won’t be in

a position to judge things in a bit.”

“I don’t have to die,” said Maren. “I could live forever.”

“I suppose, but you would have to know something that no one else knows,” said

Errant. “And I don’t think you’re quite there yet.”

“I suppose,” said Maren. “I thought that being able to do all the shaping I wanted

would be enough to make myself happy. Then I thought raising a family would be

enough to make myself happy. Then I thought teaching others would make myself

happy. Now I am at the end and I don’t think I have ever been happy at all.”

“And how would you be happy as an immortal?,” said Errant. “You would never be

happy moving among your people if you were never happy now.”

“I could learn happiness,” said Maren.

“I doubt it,” said Errant.

“I would like to have the chance,” said Maren. He held up a hand that was more bone

than anything else. “Can you help me?”

Woody barked a full three seconds. It was enough to lay out a whole argument. He

wagged his tail when he was done.

“He could still turn evil and kill everyone,” Errant pointed out.

Woody put a paw on the dying man’s chest. He barked once. Then he sneezed.

“Woody says you should be given a chance to prove your mettle,” said Errant. “I can’t

give you immortality, but I can give you reincarnation until you satisfy the conditions

on the gift and no longer need it.”

“How would that work?,” asked Maren.

“You’ll be reborn with all of your knowledge every time you die,” Errant said. “There

may be gaps between lives, but you will be returned all the same. The souls that are

supposed to be born instead of you will be shunted to the next available life.”

“What happens to the souls I will be replacing?,” asked Maren.

“Nothing,” said Errant. “They just get put in the next available life down the line. The

Underworld isn’t going to keep them around if they can get rid of them as soon as

possible.”

“How do you know this?,” asked Maren.

“Because that’s my job,” said Errant. “That’s why we came up to talk to you in the

first place. Your successor could be a force for good like no other, but so could you

with the right amount of time and experience.”

Woody barked in agreement.

“And Woody thinks that maybe if you go around enough, you’ll be able to protect this

part of the world when trouble does come,” said Errant. “I don’t really agree with

him.”

Woody barked.

“Because going around enough can break the mind that it is happening to,” said

Errant. “You know that. It’s basic humanity.”

“But you will give me a chance,” said Maren.

“Yes,” said Errant. “Are you sure you want to do this? You might live thousands of

lives until things start.”

“I can do it,” said Maren. He didn’t know if he could but he was more concerned

about dying and staying dead.

“All right,” said Errant. “Let me make the connection. A lot of people won’t believe

you’re the same person. You’re going to have to deal with that on top of retraining

to get back in shape after your deaths.”

“Retraining?,” said Maren.

“Dying is going to hurt your memory,” said Errant. “You’re going to have to work on

your skills and abilities until you remember everything.”

“I can do that,” said Maren.

“All right,” said Errant. He pulled a rod with a jewel on one end from out of his

jacket. “I’m making the connection now.”

Maren felt the air shift around him. He closed his eyes. He sensed a pull on his heart.

He wondered if he was being foolish. No one should live forever.

And did this Errant really have the power to do what he said?

Pain shot through Maren. His eyes opened wide. His heart beat against his chest like

a panicked bird in a room. He looked at the two visitors. The wooden dog had its ears

back. The man in the suit held his rod in the air and wore blue light through his skin.

“That should do it,” said Errant. He put the rod in the inner pocket of his jacket.

“I don’t feel any differently,” said Maren. He looked at his hands.

“You have to die before the effect kicks in,” said Errant. “I think we should leave you

to it.”

“Don’t,” said Maren. “I don’t want to die.”

“No one does,” said Errant. “But you will live another life and another until you don’t

need to do that anymore.”

“Will you wait with me?,” asked Maren. “Is that too much of an imposition after what

you have already done?”

“I suppose not,” said Errant. He looked around. He settled on a cushion. Woody lay

down beside him.

“I feel so tired,” said Maren. “But I can’t sleep. I haven’t felt this way in a long time.”

Errant nodded.

“I remember when I first learned to shape the earth,” said Maren. “It was the first

thing I learned how to control. You should have seen the looks on my friends’ faces.”

“I imagine,” said Errant. “Had fun with it, did you?”

“Yes, but then I started working on using the other elements,” said Maren. “It took

me years to show that I could do it.”

“What did the other masters think?,” said Errant.

“They didn’t like the fact that I had mastered the Four Points, and they couldn’t,” said

Maren. “They tried to stop me from teaching.”

“How long have you been trying to teach others all four elemental curves?,” said

Errant.

Maren closed his eyes. He tried to breathe, but everything seemed to collapse inside.

He slowly sank away under the darkness.

Errant stood. He frowned at the dead body laying on its bed. Woody put his paw on

the bed.

“I think we should go,” said Errant. He wrote a note on a piece of paper and placed

it on the body. “There’s nothing else we can do here.”

Woody howled before he pulled his paw back.

The two immortals left the room, letting the students sleep in the outer chamber. They

would discover their master before long. Errant held the door for his companion so

they could walk out of the school and head into town. He still had things to do to get

ready for the future.

Setting up someone to teach elemental forces to his people seemed a good way to

hinder the Abyss when it did arrive to destroy things.

Errant hoped he hadn’t made a mistake.