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“You won’t be here always,” I was told many thousands of years ago. “Long as your life might seem, it won’t last forever. You were born. You live. And when the day comes, you will fade away into the beyond — your body vanishing, your presence eluding the world. If you think about it that way, humans... are not so different from us.”
“But it’s not fair!” I had argued, my fists balled up at my sides. “I could wake up, go out and explore, and have fun — forever and ever! I don’t want to disappear. I don’t want to stop existing.”
“Young Locria, such is not the way of the world.”
“Tell me why,” I had said, my cheeks red. “Why I must die.”
“You simply must. When the time comes — when the ones who can pull the Needles arrive — you will make way for the Dragon.”
“But why!?”
“Young Locria, there is no why. There is no reason for it. No fairness to it, either. But go. I urge you. See the Earth. Explore these islands. Let the wind brush against your face, and immerse yourself in the wonder of the world. The chosen will arrive in due time. Every moment you spend fretting over them is a moment wasted.”
She had brushed the side of my face with her hand, wiping away my warm tears, staring into my eyes with her own.
“You will be among the last generation of Magypsies,” she said. “It won’t be long before I’m gone myself. That will be when my responsibility falls upon you... do you understand, Locria?”
“N-No,” I had sobbed. “No, I don’t.”
She sighed, and somehow, she found it in herself to smile.
“That’s okay.” She held my hand. “We don’t have to.”
* * * * *
When our ancestors disappeared, their lifelong duties befell us instead. We watched their bodies vanish in a flash of light; we heard their final words whisper across the void, promising that they would continue watching from some faraway place. Whether those vows were true or not, we did not know. We were helpless to stop it. And I could only cry, and cry, and cry, grasping at nothing, and nothing wiped the tears from my cheeks in return.
There were seven of us in total. Aeolia. Ionia. Lydia. Mixolydia. Phrygia. Doria. Myself. We all wept, but I was the only one who frowned. And for many months, all I could do was wander in circles around the Needle that had been entrusted to me. It was in a dark, desolate place. A cavern so far away from the sky, yet somehow awash with strikes of lightning. The sun dared not touch this place, but I could see just in front of myself. Never beyond, though.
There I remained, standing vigilant, awaiting the arrival of those chosen to pull the Needles. I dreaded every passing moment. I mourned each fallen day. And I continued to weep — I wept violently, sometimes not even budging from the place where I lay on the cave floor. Despite everything, though, the destined people never arrived. Despite everything, nothing happened during that time.
Some centuries passed, and eventually, I stopped thinking about that far-off destiny. Some days, I would leave the cavern, daring to poke my head out into the sun. And how wonderful that sunlight would feel! I could feel its warmth against my skin, and that alone was almost enough to rejuvenate me. I listened as great gusts of wind swirled around me, birds riding their currents towards towering trees. I watched as squirrels chased each other through bushes and grass, and I cautiously laughed as a nearby mouse nibbled at a fallen nut. All these beautiful things, and not a human in sight.
As I began to venture away from the cave more often, I experienced all those things out in the sun. It was not long before I had forgotten about the Needle entirely.
Maybe it would never be pulled.
* * * * *
“The time can’t be too far off now.” Ionia giggled to herself, running her fingers through her beard, as we watched from atop a cliff. “Oh, I haven’t seen so many people since King Osohe’s reign. This is surely a sign, don’t you think, sweetheart?”
I was looking at the exact same thing she was, but somehow, I didn’t share the same joy. Several yards away — at a distant beach — figures were exiting the smoking remains of some sort of vessel. It was like a great ship, its hull scraping against the shore, cracks and holes lining its sides. One after another, chattering humans revealed themselves, gathering around what looked like a glowing egg.
“They destroyed all the rest of this world,” I said to Ionia. “Now that they are here, everything else we know could wind up destroyed as well. Doesn’t that bother you? That they’ll do whatever they want to this place, even if it results in our deaths?”
“...Goodness me, Locria, what are you talking about?”
“These islands were devoid of people for so long,” I said. “The Needles that we’ve been protecting were safe. But now? They’re in danger. How long until someone appears that can pull them?”
“Surely not too long,” Ionia laughed. “Oh, I’m so excited.”
“Excited?” I gasped. “Ionia, you’re losing your grip. I’m not excited about disappearing. I’m terrified of that.”
“Oh, there’s no point in wasting your energy like that, cutie-pie.” Ionia playfully nudged my shoulder. “Do you worry about the sun rising the next morning, or the next time it will rain?”
“...That’s entirely different, and you know it.”
“Is it?” Ionia shrugged, then took a seat in the grass. “I just don’t see it that way, I suppose.”
She reached for a nearby jar, unscrewed its lid, and dipped her fingers inside. Then, after producing a long pickle spear, she crunched into it with her teeth.
“How about a snack, dearie?” Ionia said, offering me the jar.
I refused — my appetite had left me entirely.
* * * * *
One day, I found myself faced with a corpse. However, this corpse was no ordinary corpse. Despite being completely dead, its mouth moved, and words flowed outward. Though it should have been forgotten, it was flanked by an army of soldiers, each hiding under the mask of a pig. Immediately, this corpse caught my attention, as even though it should have surrendered to oblivion, it somehow fought on. Riding in a casket made of steel, it introduced itself to me. Its name was Porky. A very strange name for a god.
“Yes, I’ve lived for thousands of years,” he reassured me. “Heck, maybe even tens of thousands of years! Dying? Don’t make me laugh...” He coughed for almost half a minute. “Master Porky will live for gazillions of years to come. And if someone doesn’t like that? Well, that’ll be their problem — up until they turn into a pile of worthless pocket lint!” He laughed and coughed, and then, kept coughing.
“How did you do it?” I asked curiously. “Aren’t you just a man?”
“Yeah, something like that,” Porky rasped. “A man who made the world his. A man who’ll make the world his again. A man who’ll surround himself with the people he needs so that he gets exactly what he wants...” Another stream of coughs. “You’re Locria, aren’t you? Help an old man out... I believe you know something. Something that I desperately, desperately need to know...”
Porky revealed a full line of brown, rotting teeth.
“The Dark Dragon,” Porky whispered. “Have you heard of it?”
The words of this corpse resonated in a way the words of the living never had.
“Of course I have heard of it,” I hissed. “I’ll tell you everything you need to know, too. But, I must know... what’s in it for me?”
* * * * *
I told him everything. In return, I received a new outfit, a wig, and permission to do whatever I wanted as long as I reported back to him. Though, I wasn’t sure what was stopping me from doing whatever I wanted before. Even so, feeling the wind and sun rays wasn’t cutting it anymore. Previously, I had been satisfied with those little pleasures, but every time I saw the people who had arrived on the White Ship, I was given a disgusting reminder. The reminder that soon, “the time” would come. “The time” that the other Magypsies so blissfully welcomed. Suicidal wretches. I wouldn’t give that horrible fate any kindness or courtesy.
One day, I remembered her, and the days she had spent comforting me before she faded away. I had begged and pleaded for an answer about why we had to go. She had given me zero answers. She had only said that it was the way it had to be.
I would prove her and all the Magypsies wrong if I had to. If that corpse could ride around in his casket and make the world his oyster, then I wouldn’t settle for anything less.
Before, I said that I had told Porky everything. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. I told him about the nature of the Dark Dragon. I told him about the other Magypsies, and I told him about the Needles. I even told him where they all were — except for one.
“She never told me where it was,” I had said to him. “For thousands of years, I’ve searched for it, and still, I’ve had no luck.”
He had not been satisfied with that answer.
That didn’t stop me from hiding the cavern entrance, one boulder after another, until it was sealed away for good.
* * * * *
Apparently, I was useful enough to Porky to become one of his highest-ranking commanders. I even suspected that he knew I had been lying to him, too, because he valued my silver tongue. “Charm those idiots with your words,” Porky said to me one day. “Wear that disguise so they don’t know who you really are, and explain to them why they’re so unhappy. Here, I’ll even tell you some of your lines.”
Besides manipulating the people of Tazmily Village, I also had an opportunity to see how they were up close. These people — these blithering morons — had wiped their memories after what happened to Earth before. It had been destroyed by humanity, obviously. But of course, that wasn’t enough for them. They had come here, after all. And, if what the other Magypsies had said was true, then those destined to pull the Needles would emerge among them.
How selfish. These creatures barely ever lived a century, and here they were, trying to take my life away from me, too. And that’s what I hated the most about them. They smiled. They greeted each other in the streets. They lived every day like they weren’t going to be gone in the snap of the fingers. How was it possible? How could they be so cheerful in the face of oblivion? Nothing they did was going to matter, and yet, they kept going. Even after almost all of humanity had been purged, here they were, hanging on with grins. Didn’t they know that death clung to our collars and commanded our each and every move? Were they stupid?
Here I was, alone in my misery, and I hated the world for it. Every chance I got to twist their smiles, I embraced it. Every time I suckered them into accepting Porky’s lies — lies of happiness, lies of materialism — I could feel my happiness grow even more. They were living a lie. All of them. Almost all had perished, and here they were, wiping their minds to convince themselves they weren’t next in line. I craved their sadness. Their misfortune. They deserved it. They were threatening everything I had.
Even when it wasn’t those villagers that were suffering, I still wanted to see it. Like with that monkey. That stupid monkey, with his stupid dances and stupid backflips. So happy to grace the world when his life span was a pathetic twenty years or so. A blink of the eye for a Magypsy. I was his master; he did as I told him to. What did it matter? Would he cry? Would he collapse? It didn’t matter. His life was a blip.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Porky was right. And as long as I didn’t tell him where my Needle was, I could walk all over these islands. I could do anything I wanted to do, and I could do it for as long as I wanted, and nothing could ever stop me.
Porky didn’t know it, but he wasn’t the one in charge.
* * * * *
Despite everything, the Needles started getting pulled. At first, I didn’t let it get to me. There was that kid that Porky dragged out of the depths of the canyon — I saw that one coming. But the other child, Lucas? The one from the village? I couldn’t have predicted that he was chosen. Well, maybe I could have, but I wasn’t looking hard enough. But it suddenly became easier to pay attention when the Earth was shaking, the ground was quaking, and the Dragon’s heartbeat was growing louder and louder by the day. I could hear it. Every time I visited one of my fallen sisters’ homes, I could hear it.
“I’m going to fight it,” I told myself. “I’m going to fight it. It doesn’t matter if they pull the other Needles. Just as long as they don’t find mine. I’ll hide it forever. I’ll kill the kid if I have to.”
I was never able to kill the kid. Instead, he chased me off each and every time. And as those Needles dwindled away, I could tell that Porky was growing desperate. He begged me to remember. He demanded that I help his digging crews search for it. Those endless requests chipped away at me one after another. I grew tired and restless. What would happen if I kept insisting that it was lost? And what would happen if Porky found where I was hiding it anyway?
If my Needle was pulled, would my life have amounted to nothing? No. I wasn’t ready for it to be pulled. I was at the top of the world right now. All these islands were underneath me. Porky was my plaything, not the other way around! I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready.
I wasn’t ready.
At one point, I couldn’t do anything but cry in my room. And as I cried, the mouse that I’d been trying to catch for weeks approached me, and it brushed against my leg. I remembered a time long, long ago, when I’d emerged from my cave for the first time in centuries, and I’d seen a mouse eating a fallen nut. And how happy I’d felt.
I held that mouse, brushed my face against it, and wept.
* * * * *
A splash of water. After my final confrontation with Lucas, the flames of my life were finally in danger. Not just because I was surrounded by sewage. But because the path had been blazed to my Needle. For thousands of years, I’d denied its existence and hidden it from the world. In the face of all my efforts, I knew the number was up, and that Porky was finally upon it. I couldn’t help but wonder who was really in charge now.
Either way, my fate was sealed. All I could do now was lie there, stuck at the bottom of that sewer, and wait for the end to draw near. I wanted to face the future and mourn. However, I peered into the void — the void I’d peered into my whole life — and I had no emotions left to give. Now, with nothing ahead of me, what could I do but look back?
See the Earth. Explore these islands. Let the wind brush against your face, and immerse yourself in the wonder of the world. The chosen will arrive in due time. Every moment you spend fretting over them is a moment wasted.
What if she were here right now? She would say something stupid, like that I’d never lived at all, or that I’d squandered every day of my existence. No. That wasn’t true, was it? I’d worked so hard. I’d worked so hard to make the most out of what I had. I’d climbed on top of all those people, and I’d made it to this moment. The moment when the Dark Dragon would wipe the slate clean.
If anything, hadn’t I won?
Hadn’t I?
I tried to laugh, but all I tasted was Porky’s filth.
* * * * *
A rumble. A flash of light. A deafening roar that washed across the entire face of the Earth, putting the old world to rest and bringing a new one to life. As I felt a warmth overtake my body, the water licking at what remained of my flesh faded away. No — my flesh faded away, and my body was quickly taken from me. It was like a thunderclap. Locria the Magypsy, there one moment, gone the next. I remembered the conversation I’d had with her so long ago, the day she faded. Strange — it felt like that had only been mere minutes ago.
Nothingness approached. So this was what it was like. So this was what I was afraid of. Even now, I was still terrified. At the very least, I wasn’t alone. I could hear voices as I faded away, and their voices were loud and clear. The voices of my sisters.
Let us go, Locria, they whispered to me, offering me hands that weren’t there. Our purpose is at long last complete. We can rest now. We can rest, together, knowing that our work is done.
They were still as excited about this as ever.
I don’t want to go, I responded to them. I was just getting started.
Then, her voice rang out — the first time I’d heard it in millennia.
That’s okay, she beckoned from the beyond. But you simply must.