The Last Quest

08.29.97

Across endless miles of desert I ran.
It’s black sand splashing around my feet.
Making a squishing sound I’ll never forgive it for.
I’ll have to rember to add it to my list of hates.
After days of travel I came to a rock.
But not just any rock.
This rock was special in a unique way.
For you see this was the only rock in the desert of black sand.
Its uniqueness sprung full force from the fact that it had,
No name,
No color,
Nor any substance.
After careful thought and intense consideration.
I added it smartly to my list of pet peeves.
It had, after all, offended me.
This was a moment for action.
I quickly pulled my hammer of thought from my shirt pocket,
Where I had thoughtfully hidden it,
In case they searched me for contraband.
Then throwing all caution to the wind,
I briskly set to the task at hand;
Smashing and bashing with a furry.
Born on the wings of confusion,
I pulverized the rock into nothingness.
Standing gloriously over my triumph,
I briefly wondered:
Was this the fait of all such rocks.
Curious thought.
One for the great philosopher, Insanity.
But my quest called,
And I eagerly answered.
Glancing apprehensively to the left,
Then tensely to my right,
To the front,
Then the rear,
You can never be to careful,
They might be watching.
They are sneaky like that.
After insuring absolute solitude,
I carefully and very gently
(Least I damage it),
Placed my thought hammer back in its home.
Time to move on.
Time to find my name.
Eons later night fell,
Leaving me in instant and absolute darkness.
Undaunted I ran.
Mere moments,
Approximately the life span of most rocks,
The storm came,
Biting at my heals.
It’s bark was like that of a freight train.
Instantly I knew that its bite would be much worse.
Slowly but surly the rain caught up to me.
At first,
Due to its bitter taste I thought it was blood.
Suddenly,
With a bright flash of insight,
Or maybe it was lightening.
I realized the obvious,
Not blood,
It was the taste of Pain.
Like dominos falling,
Everything fit into place.
Like recognizing a face,
But not knowing the name that goes with it.
The storm was an old acquaintance of mine.
I had knew the face,
But now I knew her name,
Sadness.
And the night was an old friend of mine.
His name was Despair.
Defiantly not acquaintances which I wanted to be re-aquatinted with.
But why here,
Why now.
They must have sent them for me.
Well this was a game I’d played before,
And I knew just what to do,
I ran.
Ran even faster than before.
I sat a pace which none could match,
But oh how they tried.
After several years of this,
And when the darkness and the rain were mere memories.
I found it,
The wall.
The barrier that was knowledge.
At last.
After life times (not mine of course),
Of searching,
My quest was almost at an end.
Behind the wall,
My name,
And my destiny,
Waited patiently for me.
What was that?
You want to know about the wall.
My apologies,
I truly did mean to tell you about that.
Simply put,
It was one big fuck,
It stretched forever to the east,
And then forever toward the west.
Toward the heavens it had no end.
Even if it did I would not have been able to reach it.
You see,
It was perfectly seamless,
And polished such that it was as smooth as Ice.
Its color was the same as the sand.
Black as night.
So there I was,
Standing before the last barrier,
And I must admit,
They had done a mighty fine job of building it.
A lesser man would have lost heart then.
I on the other hand knew its weakness,
I knew its substance, sanity.
A very ridged material,
But so very fragile.
Grinning wickedly to myself,
I reverently withdrew my thought hammer.
Smelling victory,
I threw back my head and laughed.
As if sensing its impeding doom,
The wall seamed to tremble ever so slightly.
Concentrating and gathering all of my strength,
I swung the hammer in a mighty ark,
I felt no impact,
Nor heard a sound.
But impact it did.

As I stood watching,
A small crack appeared.
The small hair line crack slowly,
Made its way from the point of impact,
Upwards toward the heavens,
And was soon out of sight.
Then another appeared,
Moving toward the ground.
Then one went toward the west,
And another toward the east.
Then all of a sudden,
The cracks divided,
Branched,
And multiplied.
Then it stopped.
Every thing stopped.
My heart beat,
Once,
Twice,
Three times,
And the wall fell,
As silent in its death,
As it was in its life.
But none of this did I notice,
For before me,
Not three feet away,
Was the object of my desire.
My armor to protect me from Them.
And I knew,
My name was Agony.