Olum’s legs dangled over the edge of a viewing platform high in the Stalwart Tree.

He took in a breath, enjoying the stillness of the early morning.

Olum smiled, staring down at the Shrouded streets of Kaden City. It was impossible to see from this height, but things were happening down there that would shake the age.

He heard footsteps on the steel walkway behind him.

“Did it take?” Olum asked.

“I’d say so.” His colleague replied, “Though it’s hard to tell with these things.”

He turned to look at the handsome man, raising a questioning eyebrow.

“He’s on his way.” The man assured, moving to lean against the platform's railing.

Olum nodded, looking out to the bright sky.

“We don’t really need him, though. Do we?”

“We need him.” Olum stated, “He’s important.”

“Right.” The man nodded, “But he’s not that important.”

“He’s important.” Olum repeated.

“Right, Right…” The handsome man rolled his eyes. “Everyone’s important. They all have their part to play.”

Olum smiled at the quote.

He let the silence linger, enjoying the gentle morning breeze on his face.

He sighed, looked down, calculating the distance.

“What are you sighing about?”

“Infinity.” Olum replied, staring out at the skyline.

“What?”

“I was thinking about Infinity.” The seated man repeated.

His companion rolled his roll of his eyes again.

“Breaking new ground I see.” He quipped. “You know, I’m surprised you can see anything at all, with your head so far up the ass end of the universe.”

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Olum did not react, still enjoying the tender breeze.

“Well…” The handsome man sighed. “Go on then. What is it about infinity that has you so vexed?”

“Which…” Olum replied.

“Huh”

“The question is, which Infinity. Not ‘what’.”

The standing man’s eye twitched, lips turning down to a frown.

“I was thinking about the infinity that takes place between when one slips from this platform and when they hit they ground.”

“Thinking of falling, are we?” His companion asked. “Is that fear in your ancient heart?”

Olum put a finger to his ching, digesting the question and all its implications.

“Maybe…” He pondered, “for a moment… But then bliss I think… All the way to the black.”

The standing man stared at his partner's unflinching profile.

“You know Old Man, every time I think I’ve got a hold on how you think, you say something so esoteric that I have trouble holding a thought of my own.”

That inkling of a smile twinged at Olum’s lips.

He glanced at his companion.

He raised an eyebrow.

“Do you really want to know how I think?”

The handsome man gave him a skeptical look.

“Surprise me.” He muttered.

Olum shifted his gaze back to the skyline, eyes a thousand miles away.

His voice took on a lecturing cadence.

“If you really want to know what a man is thinking, or what he’s going to do.”

His colleague let out an annoyed sigh, pushing back from the railing.

“You must only know two things about him." Olum continued. “What he really wants to do, and what he thinks others want him to want to do. If you know those two things, you can pretty well determine what they will do.”

“Really.” Responded the handsome man.

He sounded farther away than before.

“If you know so much, old man,” The man questioned. “Then what am I going to do, right now?”

A smile bloomed on Olum's face.

He looked down, watching his impatient friend as his body disappeared into a cloud below.

“What I least expect.”

The old man sat a while longer, letting the air settle from the sudden commotion. Trying to recapture the stillness of earlier. But he could not. It was gone.

He sighed, waiting for that familiar feeling to come on. The feeling of responsibility bordering on dread that came from trying to bind the boundless, to end the endless. But it did not come… A choice had been made… A new beginning had begun.

He couldn’t help but feel excited, even after all these years.

Maybe this would be the last.

He grabbed the guardrail, pulling himself up.

Stepping back to give himself space, he faced the rising sun.

Olum pulled a black stud earring from his pocket, putting it in.

His eyes closed, focused.

A shimmering haze alighted on the platform in front of him, stretching from the steel floor to a foot above the Old man’s head. A bead of sweat dripped from his brow as a slice of black unreality split the air. A hint of fear lanced through his body as he leaned toward the rift, then a playful smile sprouted, as his momentum carried him through, into the black.