Oh boy, come to me, and tell me what
you have achieved. As I lay here weak and fading, extol your
experiences so I may partake in them.
As the embodiment of courage I defeated
a powerful demon with the woman of wisdom at my side.
I blew up an abandoned space station
containing a terrifying alien menace and insane synthetic humanoids.
As the god of thunder I destroyed a
shard of a primordial being imprisoned in a
I commanded a squad to fend off a
galaxy wide invasion by an ancient race of immortal, homicidal,
synthetic-organic starships.
Transforming into many shapes, I
defended a small town against a possessed imp and a murderous moon
with a magical vessel flute.
I won a race featuring cars,
hovercrafts, airplanes, monkeys, turtles, and an alien warlord.
I led 104,256 men into battle sixty
miles north of Washington D.C., against a cunning enemy.
As a gladiator, I followed, then
abandoned the leadership of a kingdom, before setting out with an
army (composed of soldiers, fighters, amazons, and ogres) to overturn
the system and establish a just land for all.
I aided the heir of fire in supplying a
pigment for a painting of a new world, by killing him.
I threw the winning touchdown in the
Super Bowl.
My son, what are those to a life?
They are as far removed as possible.
I saw a fighter pilot trust his
connection with a mysterious field which binds the galaxy together,
rather than a mechanical targeting computer.
I witnessed an honest, trustworthy
woodland people require trickery to join the cause of righteousness.
I watched a kid laughing in the
knowledge that an airplane turbine would crush him.
I saw a man investigate Vincent's life,
and learn he died not from suicide but murder.
I witnessed humanity flee a terrible
vengeance from their children, searching for their new home across
the stars of space.
I watched a military man attempt to
free a people not his own, but after watching their chaotic
bickering, hand them over.
I saw a family man, travel through the
tunnels of space in search of a home for his daughter, returning only
in time to watch her die.
I witnessed a boy, set up by his uncle
for the murder of his father, seek to deny his past, but forced to
become who he was fated to be.
I watched a man, searching for his
wife's killer, tattoo the past onto his body in the futile hope of
remembering it.
I saw a young man, who only wanted to
make enough money for a car, seek redemption after his inaction led
to his uncle's death.
And what are these, but pale
reflections of life! Tell me of something worthy.
I heard of a war, lasting many ages,
whose prize was three immaculate gemstones, but when won, they were
surrendered to the air, the earth, and the sea.
I read of a girl and her spirit, fated
to repeat the original sin of the past in order to save the
multiverse.
I learned of a chance meeting between
two men entering a court, one to defend himself against accusations
of impiety, and the other to accuse his father of murder.
I heard of four children who one hid in
a closet to avoid a cranky caretaker, and found themselves in another
world.
I read of a boy who, ill content with
his teaching, wandered far and wide in search of neither wife nor
child, though he had both, but timeless enlightenment.
I learned of a world were men and
women, quickened in bottles and raised by the state in total
subservience and complete happiness, subdue a stranger seeking truth.
I heard of a boy, neither as malicious
as his brother, nor as caring as sister, who was tricked into
committing genocide.
I read of a girl, abused by the son of
an employer and abandoned by her unforgiving husband, who suffered
for the sins of the powerful.
I learned of an orphan boy, brought
into a polarized secret society, who spent most of his time at
school, but eventually defeated Flight of Death.
I read of a people, so degraded by
poverty and injustice, that they toiled through suffering, overtaken
by an unsuccessful revolution, but found a measure of happiness with
reconciliation between an ex-convict and his adopted daughter.
What an enterprising hobby
literature is. I am glad you spent some of your time in worthwhile
pursuit. But I see you are ready to tell me one more thing. What is
it?
I was and was not. I lived and shall
die. I yearned and never was.
I don't understand.
Books aren't
necessarily a superior form of entertainment than video games.
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