What's Going On!?

"What was all that about?" asked Marigold. Her tone made it clear that she was annoyed, but her face also showed a hint of genuine curiosity. 

"Would you rather I had said I was a Holy Knight?" I replied. "These people don't understand me. You heard him—it's all just a bunch of phooey!"

"It's all or nothing with you, isn't it? If someone doesn't want to listen to you ramble about your Holy Knight stuff, it's not worth engaging with them at all, huh?"

"It's not about listening to me; it's about worldview. Think of something you believe in strongly. Something like 'helping other people is good' or 'no one is born evil'—whatever you believe. Now imagine someone who thinks the opposite. No matter what you do, you can't change their mind. Could you have a relationship with that kind of person?"

Marigold thought for a moment, then pointed at me, then back at her. "Aren't we like that?" she said.

"It may be true that you have not yet accepted the whole of my beliefs," I said. "But I'll admit: I have not provided any proof to you. All I have is my faith, and I understand that faith does not constitute evidence. But I imagine you to be rational, Marigold. If the sky were cleaved before you, and the divine came forth and touched the ground, bringing with it revelations yet unimagined, would you not be convinced?"

"Wouldn't anyone?" she replied. As usual, what she said made sense. Perhaps it was I who was illogical. I was trying to apply rational thinking to what in reality amounted to nothing more than an emotional response. In the past, my musings had been met with dismissal and harassment, so I had become averse to sharing them in order to avoid such conflicts. The truth was that Marigold was really a quite ordinary person who seemed to see me as some sort of clown. It was only in my excitement at having finally enlisted a mage that I had thrown caution to the wind and leapt back into my old fervor, and it was only by sheer luck that Marigold had not quit on me. Still, speaking to her wasn't so difficult; perhaps she was more accepting than most.

We walked in silence for a minute or so. It was late afternoon, and by now most of the townsfolk had gone home. Upon our return to the town square near to the inn, Marigold sat down on the lip of the fountain that decorated the center of the plaza.

"So, Godwin," she said, "What did you think, today?"

"Well, we didn't find anything of interest." I wasn't expecting to find out anything useful, but I was disappointed regardless.

"I mean aside from that," said Marigold, lightly shaking her head. "The people, my magic, helping out..."

"...Oh." I wasn't sure what to say about that. "It was... alright." It hadn't been too boring, but it hadn't been particularly exciting, either. "I guess I was a little surprised at how many people you actually were able to do something for."

"What, you thought magic couldn't do anything?"

"No, I just didn't think there would be that many people who needed helping."

"You really live in your own reality, don't you?" she said, looking at the ground. A cold gust passed by, and I was glad to have worn my cloak, even though it had been muddied by my earlier expedition into the hole where that clumsy sartil had gotten himself stuck. I turned my head, squinting into the wind, which had come down from the wooded mountains to the north of the village, and as the wind subsided I noticed something unusual. There was a hole in the plaza's paving.

Marigold noticed me staring at it. "What is that?"

"It's a pit," I said. I stepped closer to it, and Marigold stood up to get a look as well. We peered down into the hole, but there wasn't anything inside except dirt and rock.

"It's about the same size as the one earlier, isn't it?" said Marigold.

"With Edsall? Yeah." I couldn't be sure it was the same, but the dimensions were certainly similar.

Marigold tapped her staff around the edge of the hole. "This wasn't here before, was it?"

"No, it's too big. We would've noticed. The other one was probably recent, too. Otherwise it'd have been filled back in by now, right?"

"Unless it's for construction or something." That didn't make sense. Surely if it was for construction they would have put up a barrier or at least a sign. What was there to construct in the middle of the town square anyway?

"Wait," I said, pointing ahead of us. "Look, there's another one." Indeed, there was another hole. The two pits seemed identical, and Marigold came to the conclusion that they were probably dug with magic.

"Perhaps... Could this be a sign from on high?" I said, cocking my head skyward.

"A sign of what?" asked Marigold.

"I don't know," I replied. "The divine is a mysterious realm. In fact, it may be impossible to understand these things without witnessing them directly. Perhaps what we are seeing now is akin to a point observing a line, or a circle seeing a sphere!"

Marigold snorted. "What are you talking about? Circles can't see, dummy." I glared at her, silently lamenting her closed-mindedness. "Look," she said, "I think they might just be some holes. You don't have to explain everything you don't understand with some unseen force."

"But why else—" I cut myself off as I heard an unusual sound in the distance. It was a rumble that rose from the north and grew louder until it became a roar. The ground shook violently; ceramic planters crashed down from shop windows. Marigold stumbled, and I grabbed the fabric of her cloak and pulled her back to keep her from falling into the pit in front of her. Something was happening. A faint glow appeared from the holes in the plaza, then from a spot out in the dim plains beyond the edge of town, then again farther out, continuing in a straight line. The glowing spots appeared with an increasing frequency, and I saw two more lines of them coming from the left and right. The lights were converging, and as they rose in elevation and brightness I realized that I was staring at the very mountain where Marigold and I had studied the strange rock the day before.

"Godwin! What's going on!?" Marigold panted. I had no answer save for an uncontrollable wide-eyed grin.

"Why are you smiling!?" Marigold shouted, her facial expression pleading frantically for an explanation for any of this.

The lights collided and erupted with a sound like crashing waves into a golden radiance that shimmered like an aurora as it snaked its way into the sky. The forest, soil, and the rocky layers beneath were split, and the mountain's single shallow peak became two.

Together, we stood and looked on in awe as the world was pierced. Suddenly, what looked like a massive arm was thrust up through the ground, stretching a six-fingered hand across the pink bands of sunset. Another arm followed, and the hands came down and took hold of the mountain and widened the rift, making way for the head and the body of the giant creature to emerge.

The rumbling grew stronger, and Marigold, clutching my arm tight, tried to pull me away as the stone path beneath my feet started to crack, but I didn't move. I would not flinch. I would not run. Arms crossed, eyes narrowed, I stood my ground as I witnessed my first great discovery be birthed from the planet. I couldn't stop laughing.