The Ranger by Matthew Stewart
The night sky is still and cloudless. Countless stars shine down from the heavens, their cold light resembling that of the Alewife's silver scales. A gentle breeze caresses its fingers through the crowns of the trees. The only unnatural light is the warm amber that pours out of the window of the home nearby. Inside sits a figure - introspective and lost in thought - his features often muffled behind the ghostly veil of pipe smoke. Watching the ethereal wisps stretch their fingers across the silent canvas of the room, a reoccurring thought makes another visit:
"What happens after?"
"What happens after?"
It's a thought that's been visiting him more frequently these past months, extending its stay each time it greets him. So familiar now, the thought, that the next time it came to him he hurriedly picked up a journal where other such rumination is written - thumbing through the pages, searching for the section where he swore he had put it to pen once before - but the page was not yet written.
This thought, once a rare manifestation, has become a regular matter of excogitation.
"What happens after?", he wonders:
"What happens after this stage of creation and its trial has passed? Is it for the good and the righteous to live eternally in peace? Or is there another struggle yet ahead, a battle to be fought elsewhere? Throughout all of time, it has been the greatest trials, dangers, and evils that has forced man's greatest character to rise up out of him in order to become a paragon of strength and virtue - each challenge an opportunity to be formed into something greater than what he was before. If there is eternal peace, will we become static - to be forever locked in blissful tedium? If so, then let it be - one cannot complain about an age of perfection. However, this thought makes me believe this end is not so; perhaps for those who are content with such a life, but not for those warrior-souls which thrive when faced with a challenge. Peace on Earth - maybe; but is there chaos elsewhere?
Just as our Father seeks His Remnant through such a trial of hardship and chaos - refining them in the fire, as it were - is the only purpose of such a Remnant to administer within a kingdom and watch over other good souls? And while I agree this is all good and important, to carry out noble roles in an honourable and benevolent manner - is this the final destination? This thought grows and tell me "no".
What happens after Judgement, when the King returns and peace reigns the land? It all seems so static. I believe this end makes most rejoice, yes, but I believe that out of the Remnant, another fragment will be called out to face whatever other challenges or dangers lurk in the unknown. I really can't expound more, for this thought is beyond my comprehension to explore any further at this moment. And maybe those that share this feeling of fire running through their veins, those who feel they need to face a challenge in order to rise above it, may understand - or do I fool myself? With the great challenges we face within this trial, our kind fails miserably. Those with the fire-blood pumping through their veins haven't even risen together to meet our King on the battlefield.
What happens after? No man could ever know. This thought tells me there's something more than the bliss of a static eternity; however, my reason tells me that there's more than an infinite battle. What would the purpose of either be?"
And this thought, like most others born of that ethereal nature, can only be explored so far until its ambiguous nature causes it to dissolve and vanish back into that realm from which it came, and it left him as soon as it appeared.
So, what happens after? Perhaps someday we may find out, but not this day.
This thought, once a rare manifestation, has become a regular matter of excogitation.
"What happens after?", he wonders:
"What happens after this stage of creation and its trial has passed? Is it for the good and the righteous to live eternally in peace? Or is there another struggle yet ahead, a battle to be fought elsewhere? Throughout all of time, it has been the greatest trials, dangers, and evils that has forced man's greatest character to rise up out of him in order to become a paragon of strength and virtue - each challenge an opportunity to be formed into something greater than what he was before. If there is eternal peace, will we become static - to be forever locked in blissful tedium? If so, then let it be - one cannot complain about an age of perfection. However, this thought makes me believe this end is not so; perhaps for those who are content with such a life, but not for those warrior-souls which thrive when faced with a challenge. Peace on Earth - maybe; but is there chaos elsewhere?
Just as our Father seeks His Remnant through such a trial of hardship and chaos - refining them in the fire, as it were - is the only purpose of such a Remnant to administer within a kingdom and watch over other good souls? And while I agree this is all good and important, to carry out noble roles in an honourable and benevolent manner - is this the final destination? This thought grows and tell me "no".
What happens after Judgement, when the King returns and peace reigns the land? It all seems so static. I believe this end makes most rejoice, yes, but I believe that out of the Remnant, another fragment will be called out to face whatever other challenges or dangers lurk in the unknown. I really can't expound more, for this thought is beyond my comprehension to explore any further at this moment. And maybe those that share this feeling of fire running through their veins, those who feel they need to face a challenge in order to rise above it, may understand - or do I fool myself? With the great challenges we face within this trial, our kind fails miserably. Those with the fire-blood pumping through their veins haven't even risen together to meet our King on the battlefield.
What happens after? No man could ever know. This thought tells me there's something more than the bliss of a static eternity; however, my reason tells me that there's more than an infinite battle. What would the purpose of either be?"
And this thought, like most others born of that ethereal nature, can only be explored so far until its ambiguous nature causes it to dissolve and vanish back into that realm from which it came, and it left him as soon as it appeared.
So, what happens after? Perhaps someday we may find out, but not this day.