A Conversation With Days Gone By

Wirt closes his eyes

Breath in, beath out

Sink into his own mind and find that space, that cranny that expands as soon as he touches it

A clearing in a forest

Hammocks hang from the trees

Beds of woven vines litter the ground at random

A women sees him, standing there in his own mind and smiles broadly

"Wirt!"

She is slightly overweight, with dark skin and hair, and she gives him a giant, loving hug as soon as he comes near. He melts into that hug, breathing in her soothing scent of fresh baked goods. What baked goods exactly he could not tell you, only that they would be the sweetest, best tasting ones ever made

"It's so good to see you again, Angel. How are you?" he asks, slightly wearily

She laughs and scoops him up so he is riding piggyback on her shoulders, he yawns and lays his head on her hair as she starts walking toward the other end of the clearing.

"I'm pretty good darling, but you look exhausted. Been a rough few days?"

"You bet," he yawns. "It's been exhausting the last while. I'm trying to negotiate with the leader of North Korea-remember that place?- to go through that region and you know, grow plants and stuff. It's so heavily controlled by soldiers that I can't grow so much as a dandelion without the military running at me, waving their guns and yelling at me in Korean. There's an epidemic going around, Congress is trying to get rid of the government not being able to see texts on phones and stuff, and Greg is going through a carnivore phase. You?"

"Business as usual darling, some of us Caretakers dreaming away the eons here, others watching the world through your eyes."

As they walk, other Caretakers grin and greet them by name, even as Wirt and Angel see other Caretakers in hammocks high up in trees, sleeping away. Some have been sleeping for hours, others for centuries.

Such is the nature of eternal beings.

"Got any stories for me?" Wirt asks with a grin from her shoulders. It had become a tradition between them, whenever he came to visit the Caretakers gone by that she would tell him a story. They had been doing it for years now.

"Why? You can access the memories of the others better than I can, hun!" she laughed.

"We have this conversation every time! It's nice to hear someone else tell me the story rather than just remembering it, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah I see what you mean." Then she grew thoughtful. "Have I ever told you the story of how the First created the worlds?"

He shook his head, slightly startled. "You mean the way she always told it to the Second before she disappeared? I don't think i've ever heard that before. I mean, I remember other people telling the story but no one can actually remember the actual creation of the world"

"Right you are kiddo. The memories of the creation of the world would drive us nuts. Those memories are not meant for any sort of mortal mind...The First Caretaker of the Unknown, though this was long before our beloved Unknown was even a seedling, came from another place, and when she arrived here it was empty. Nothing. No matter, no space, not even time. It's hard for us to wrap our heads around, but that's how it was."

They had arrived at a house of sorts, when they went inside it was soft and cozy, with plush couches and blankets. Angel turned around, back to a couch so that Wirt could hop off her shoulders, falling backward onto the cushions. She sat down next to him and continued to talk.

"So, she created. She created time and space, the planets and stars, and, when she was finally pleased a few planets of her choice could support organic life, she created it. First, plants, followed by animals, and finally, humans. As our species aged, the other plants and animals around us evolved, but we remained the same. She gifted a select few of each species with bits of magic, absolutely nothing compared to her might, but still formidable. These gifted creatures became the shapeshifters, two-forms, fae, werewolves, and the like. But, time passed, and she selected one human to train in her powers and raise to be an apprentice of sorts. Mind you, this was long before humans invented names as we know then today. We may not evolve but we certainly got smarter over the eons. Names were constantly changing, based on anything from what they were doing at the moment to overarching achievements, accomplishments, and even descriptors. So we just call her the Second. For many, many thousands of years, the First continued to walk the Earth, using her magic to maintain the Second's life. She passed more and more power into her, inadvertently at first, doing it to keep her young but in ever increasing amounts as the First grew weary of her eternal existence and the dismal pain of human after human living tiny lifespans and then passing into the void. She began to lean more and more heavily upon the Second to take care of the planet. Then one day, she made the decision.

She ended her own life, leaving the Second alone as the Caretaker of the planet. The Second still mourns the First to this day.

Fast forward, and we have Caretaker after Caretaker, apprentice after apprentice. We grew the Unknown from a single seed planted in the dirt, we ruled as kings over the Unknown and the world for a time, before our pride felled us. For a long time, our powers were passed down through a tribe in Africa, down to me, before my family was held at musket-point and I was brought to the new World as a slave. Eventually, I fled the South and passed my powers to Samuel, who then passed them to Dante…"

"That was his name? Dante?"

"Yeah, you didn't know that? We managed to patch up the last of his memories just a few days ago."

Wirt whistled "four years and you just now managed to dredge up his name? Seriously?"

"We've been busy!" Angel said defensively. "He was crazy for a long time. That sort of craziness really destroys memories. AND we were training you" she punctuated this with a hard poke to his side.

"Hey!" Wirt complained "I was a good student! It wasn't that hard to teach me stuff! Maybe you were just a bad teacher!"

"True, true," Angel admitted, sitting back down on the couch. "But you still haven't learned… THIS LESSON" and launched herself at him and began tickling any spot she could reach until he admitted that she was an excellent teacher, thank you very much.