t all started with The Idea.
And The Four set out to claim it.
It would be a long road.
Right at the beginning, three stopped along the path.
And The One Remaining could have sworn they said "Go on without us."
Later he would not be so sure.
But The One set off on his own to claim The Idea.
And he did.
He wrestled it to the ground, tugged and pulled at it, until he'd drawn it out of the ethereal and into the real. He sculpted the edges into diamonds and the top to curves.
It was a beautiful Idea.
And it was his.
But no sooner had he set The Idea up on a Pedestal, displaying it proudly, that The Three did catch up with him.
And they were Strangers.
What had started as the Quest of Four had turned to the Quest of One and they'd missed the long road.
They hadn't seen the mountains he climbed alone with The Idea.
They didn't understand that The Idea had become his.
They didn't understand The Idea at all.
But they pushed past him and towards at The Idea. They reached out to change its shape. And each time The One leapt to block their hands. But there were too many of them and The One soon tired of all the reaching and blocking.
And, slowly, The One watched as The Three changed The Idea.
The beautiful curves The One sculpted were turned to squares and the crystalline edges were turned to coal.
And The One felt death.
It was the death of The Idea for The Idea was changed.
And it was the death of The Three for they'd been changed.
And The One stared into The Idea until it filled his vision, until he saw only it and knew only it and everything else was like shadows.
And it was then that The One struck.
The One lashed out at The Three in anger. The One could see only the perversions of The Idea. The One saw only his own rightness. The One wanted vengeance for the death of The Idea.
And vengeance was his.
And with that, the Quest of Four was over. The Three took The Idea, battered, and walked down the rocky road with it. Heavier than before.
And The One ran into the distance, down the road of promise and potential.
Like a shadow.
– DMP
5.22.96
