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ShortAxel - double homicide III. — Description
There's magic in the mountains.

Not spells and potions and witches, none of those silly things. But real, true magic.

If you've never spent a day all alone, completely isolated from the civilized world of houses and friends and family, you cannot understand what magic is. Magic is a feeling, a whisper on the wind, the fleeting glimpse of a bear cub in the forest, the sight of a geyser erupting, a sunset from the highest peak. Magic can only be found deep in nature, when you've completely surrendered yourself to the world around you and let go of whatever plagues your mind.

For many years I was like you are. I didn't know what magic was, I hadn't tasted the beauty of the world on my tongue. I led a simple life and lived in a simple home in a simple city. I had an unimportant simple job entering useless strings of numbers into useless strings of spreadsheets. Back then it was simply a shell of a life. I had no idea what living truly was.

In those days I had a girlfriend. I planned to make her my wife. We would live in my simple house and I would support us with my simple job. We would have children. Then we would grow old in our simple house and spend all our time on our grandchildren. At the time it was like a fantasy; the idea seemed to be perfect in every way.

But fate, a force I never before believed in, has a very funny way of changing things.

The first unique thought I had was to use a few days of vacation time and visit a mine five hours away. I was going to mine up a beautiful stone and have a jeweler help me craft a ring. I would propose to my girlfriend with the most beautiful and heartfelt thing I had ever created. She'd be so surprised. I couldn't help but smile the whole way there, even though it was absolutely terrifying to drive so far away from the only place I had ever known.

I remember the first moment I arrived quite vividly.

The sun was just starting to dip below the treeline, to sink deep down into the thick pine forest that had ruled this land for centuries. Below my feet was simply dirt, a thing I had never before felt on my feet quite like this. In some silly way it just felt right. Back then I could only assume I was happy to be off the road, but now I know the truth. I was taking the first step towards finding where I truly belonged.

He was a mountain man with thick, dirty fur and the truest smile I had ever seen. It pierced right through my soul and filled me with such joy. I couldn't comprehend how this total stranger could fill me with so much happiness. After all, he did nothing but smile! What I didn't understand then was that his was the first genuine smile I had ever seen. His emotions were pure and raw, always on display. He hid nothing down in the deep depths of his soul but love.

On the first night we did nothing but talk. We sat around a campfire while he asked me all kinds of questions. At first they were things one would expect. Things about my girlfriend. Her name, how long had we been dating, what colors does she like, what kind of things did we enjoy doing, when I planned to propose. I responded with the fake enthusiasm I had grown up with. Morgan, a year, purple and silver, simple dates over simple dinners, on our anniversary next month. He seemed genuinely interested, like he truly cared about all these trivial details.

And then he started to ask real questions.

Was this my first time away from home, had I ever been in the woods before, had I ever built a fire before, had I ever been camping, did I know anything about nature. A simple start, truly, but at the time I was a bit blindsided. It had never really occurred to me that people lived outside of the cities and towns I grew up knowing, that people really truly lived out in nature. Not just while they had customers at their novelty nature destination businesses, but each and every day.

I was intrigued.

As the days wore on I fell in love. Plants and trees had never been anything but pots at the grocery store. I didn't know what it was like to walk amongst beings that have stood for hundreds of years in a place they had ruled for thousands. I had never watched aspen leaves shimmer and dance as the sun set behind them, a sky exploding with every color known to man offset by nature's own handcrafted sequins.

The first time I saw a sunrise was the first time I felt my soul.

He took me up the mountain under the cover of darkness, to the highest point of the land he called home. Animals moved all around us. A river rushed past, sending a spray of mist onto my fur as it curled down a cliff and became a waterfall. The sky began to lighten, soft puffs of cloud danced across the horizon. I was in awe before it even began. The last leg of our hike took us through a gentle fog. It clung to my fur in a sweet embrace, welcoming me to the world.

We sat down on a large boulder, side by side, and spoke not a word. I could see the dark valley below us, stretching out for miles and miles and even more miles. Nothing passed through my mind but the beat of my own heart. I had never experienced anything like this before. The true magnitude of the world slowly began to wash over me. How could I have wasted so many years in one tiny place? How had I not known what else the world had to offer? What beauty awaited discovery even further from home?

Before I could be lost to myself I looked up to the sky. I could only gasp.

A perfectly round sphere of bright red was rising through the distant fog. The streaks of cloud above were ablaze, red as autumn leaves on the bottom and cold mountain purple on the top. The clouds above those were bright, brilliant gold. Even still above those was another layer, a gentle brushing of pale gold on cream. It was the most magnificent sight I had ever seen. I wished I could bottle it up and carry it with me always, around my neck and close to my heart. I wanted to live the rest of my life right here with this sky. I never wanted it to end.

But nature is slave to no man and the sun continued to rise. We watched it slowly climb through the fog, through the small clouds obscured by fog. All we saw was a thick coat of purple but the fiery red sun illuminated what our eyes could not. It danced with the barest brush strokes of cloud. I knew nothing of art but in that moment I understood. I knew what beans had been trying to capture since the beginning of time. If I had been an artist this sight would have led to my magnum opus, the most stunning work in the world. I wished I could share it with the greatest painters, poets, musicians, and actors. I could not tell you their names but I knew this would change them as it had changed me.

The low clouds glowed brighter and brighter, redder and redder, as the sun grew closer and closer. I was on the edge of my seat, practically salivating with anticipation. The sun hid behind a thick cloud, coyly teasing me. It was maddening! Excitement bubbled within me as I stared at the top of the cloud, begging the sun to speed up her dance.

And then it happened!!!

At long last the sun burst through the layer of fog, sending rays of light across the sky. The valley below was streaked with warm light. I finally tasted the sun as the rays hit me. It felt like a physical force, as if the sun herself had left the sky just to touch a hand to my cheek. My mouth hung agape as the sun continued to rise triumphantly through the sky. The clouds around her glowed a soft pink-gold as the horizon warmed to the most stunning shade of blue I had ever seen.

For the first time in my life I was alive, really and truly alive. I could feel my heart beating and my lungs thick with air. Blood seemed to flow through my veins for the first time in all my years. I had tasted magic, felt it on my tongue and let it fill me. It had torn the veil from my eyes, from my heart, from my mind, and allowed me to finally see.

I never returned to my simple life.

Many years were spent with my rugged mountain man, forging jewelry and daggers and swords in the heat of the Earth. He taught me all he knew about blacksmithing, nature, life. I ate up every word he spoke, first as friends and later as lovers. But no matter how much the moon longs for the sun, such a pair can never last. Our years together were long and blazing, like the white hot metal he so lovingly molded. Even now, all these years apart, embers still smolder in the depths of my heart for him.

But I had been set free and could no longer be tamed.

Since those days with him I have lived a thousand lives. I have walked a thousand miles ten thousand times. I have seen ten thousand sunrises nearly three times over. I have seen so many sights I once thought impossible. I have climbed ten thousand mountains and counted ten million stars. I have cherished this beautiful world and all she has to offer, each and every day of my life.

That first sunrise, that first bit of magic, changed the course of my life. It broke me free from the husk of a bean I had lived as. It lit a fire deep inside me that will never go out. I cannot live without the mountains, the trees, the rivers, the streams, the geysers, the rocks, the dirt, the ocean. They are all a part of me now.

So yes, child, I do believe in magic. And so should you. Hold onto that spark, keep it close to your heart, and take it to the mountains. Let the Earth herself show you and you'll see.

Magic is the single most plentiful resource in all the world.