On Top of the World

The Beginning

Once there was a lonely god, sat upon a cloud, overlooking the world and found he was bored with the sins and the actions of the corrupt, sick of the demanding and greedy, and done with those who blamed him for their misfortune.

This lonely god had sat for millennia overlooking the humans, feeling naught but ill every time he looked upon them.

This continued until finally he could bear it no more and set upon the earth, looking one spark of good he could use to know, to reassure himself, that his actions, his creations, weren't just flawed experiments upon that high cloud,

In the guise of a peasant, he set out to the first kingdom of man and knocked thrice upon the door.

"Hear me, lords and ladies, kings and queens, I ask but a crumb and a drop of water to slake my savage pains! Provide me this and blessed be your soul."

But the lords and ladies, kings and queens, simply scoffed at this raggedy old beggar man.

"What need have we, our souls to bless? We who own the land and lives of the peasants and serfs? What need do we have of a old man's blessing? You'll have neither dirt nor piss from us, little man, you'll have as you came and so you shall leave!"

And so, the forlorn god left those soaked in avarice, knowing that their greed corrupted them, knowing they could never join him on that cloud.

Now he came upon a village of man, rustic in nature yet full of life and still in the old peasant garb. he came upon the gate and thrice again our old god knocked, and once again, he bellowed.

"Hear me now, men and women, soldiers and serfs, for I am poor and weary, I ask but a crumb and a drop of water to slake my savage pains! Give this to me and blessed may you be in the eyes of our lord!"

But the men and women, soldiers and serfs mocked the raggedy old beggar man.

"A crumb and a drop of water? For a blessing of an absent god? what need have we of such a blessing? Where was this god when our backs burned in the sun? When the lord's whips split our skin as we plowed their fields? Where was the old god when our kings ordered us to war whilst they sat in their thrones, basking in their false glory? Nay, he is no god to us and there shall be no crumbs or water drops for you, Prayer of False Hopes. Leave and take your false god with you!"

And so the old god left the weary, for their lives were hard and they knew not how much he loved them, knowing that they could never accept him, that they could never join him on that cloud.

The old guy, still in his guise sat upon the riverbed and he wept, he wept for the lords and ladies, for the kings and queens, for they would never know compassion for all they knew was want.

He wept for the men and women, the soldiers and serf, for they would never know comfort, for all they knew was pain.

And finally, the old god wept for himself, for he would forever be doomed to sit upon that cloud, alone for millennia.

As he sat weeping, a soft glow enveloped him, a light shining from behind, illuminating him and cloaking it's wielder in shadow.

"Who sits there weeping so terribly?" asked a voice, neither cruel nor hateful, nor sinful or wanting.

"Leave me, I am nothing but an old, old man who has known love and lost it, who has felt pain and bore it, and who has been turned away by the world he once called home, aye I am not but a lowly beggar sir, and that is all I can be." said the old god, watching the rippling river before him.

The stranger behind him said nothing but as they sat there in silence, the old god heard the turn of the lamp behind him and watched as the warm glow of the light slowly died.

"It's just as well, what right have I to the light when my eyes have been blinded for years?" said he.

"Good man, what makes you believe you are blind? Have you not the courage to look up?" asked the stranger.

The old god looked up and his eyes were met by the shine of the silver stars and the iridescent moon.

"This world, no matter how dark it is, always has a light in it, whether the light is hard to find or damn near gone from sight, never worry good sir, for it shall always come back, that is why you cannot despair. It's the same as with people, while they may be made of avarice or based in pain, there is good in them that they fear to show others."

"And that's why I'm here sir, to try and show the people here that they can be good. To try and show kindness so it may be given in turn." A shuffling was all the old god could hear as the man searched for something in his satchel.

"And as such sir, I wish to give you this." The man placed something beside the old god and walked away.

"Well, I guess it would be alright if they all joined me on my cloud." said the old god, smiling, as his looked down at the stranger's gift; two loaves of bread and a skein of wine.

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The End