Godly Glory Preface: The following is my first attempt in a pretty long while (about two years, actually) to break out a written piece that’s not based in the collaborative roleplaying environment. It’s been largely inspired by a conversation I had with a friend in regards to how one might define the personality of a “God.†I’m pretty sure it’s not nearly as good as it could have been. It’s meant to be a short account of the experience of attaining that “top of the mountain.†I hope that this will get plenty of constructive criticism, so that I can improve upon it as days go by, and perhaps, weave it into something with a greater plot basis, as opposed to the simple “reflection†idea I’ve got at the moment. Feel free to send me your criticism (again, keep it constructive). Rough/First Draft A solitary figure stood tall upon the top of a mountain. It wasn’t so strange a sight its own right, as there were many peaks to which a person could ascend. Yet this one was different from the others. Other mountains had that annoying tendency to come to a halt as soon as the sky impeded upon their processions. Yet this peak that this being had sought after and attained had been able to pierce through the sky as a knife might have pierced the skin. Even the highest flying clouds had grown jealous as this being passed them by, attaining a height that even they had pressed and failed to reach. And so the figure had come to that peak without even the smallest wisps for company scaling to the top with naught but their wile and determination, and claiming the right to be considered the enlightened being they were. This is as Olympus, they had thought upon reaching that desired throne. Looking down upon the world below, they came upon an incredible sensation: there was, as of that moment, nothing that stood out of bounds. Everything at the bottom mountain was in eyesight and earshot. They could smell and taste the woes and glories of the people so far down. And most incredibly, they came to feel that the answers to all of the woes were right at the tip of their tongue, itching to burst out from even the slightest space between lips. And in that same moment of rushing understanding and desire, their mouth had cracked open, and consequentially widened beyond that. Their voice escaped through their breath, calling out to that world so far below. A smile broke out across their face, dominating the previously wise and solemn expression. Surely their words could carry so far below and around. Perhaps they could speak out as far as they could see, hear, taste, smell, and feel, and give the answer to the problems felt from that glorious vantage point, or call upon others to ascend to such a place all their own. Yet there were no ears close enough to hear those words, and the clouds, so spiteful as they were of this newcomer’s presences beyond their reach, were quick to move and block the light in its path, casting it only dimly through their hollowed bodies. The lone being dropped their head in the frustration of it, and old emotions once thought purged by the climb took new seed, spreading as vines through their body. The realization was there at last; they were gone, far above the society they had effectively striven to transcend. It was just as they had wanted, to stand above the world they called their home, to see its splendors and shortcomings, and to then set forth in fixing the latter. Yet now they were distant from that world, beyond its reach, and more so beyond ever reaching back to it. The light they had found would surely be cut off en route by the clouds, and the veils of night that came and went, and muffled by the sheer distance between their mouth and the ears they sought to be heard by. Others might come to join them, but that was not a likely prospect, as they had been the only one in ages to even break the clouds, let alone reach the peak. By way of a look around, it was clear that to descend and speak with range of such ears would be more a risk than to stay atop, lest their knowledge by compromised by a harsh fall. Someone else had to experience what that lone individual now felt, to witness that sensation of understanding, to share in the knowledge that only ascending to such a high peak can bestow. Yet what were the odds of another going so far before falling, or turning around out of their own fears? The chances seemed only slim, and perhaps so low as none at all. The solitary figure at the top of the mountain bowed their head low. A tear or two broke from their eyes as their heart pumped a furious beat not unlike that of an unrequited love. They were gone, far above that society they had effectively striven to transcend. And now that they were gone, there was no way back.
