"I Finally Did it Eli ..."

“My ankles are starting to hurt—a lot.” I mutter to myself as I slouch forward as to not fall from the steep incline. My right eye twitches as I slow to stretch my ankle by extending it out and in. 

But there it is, I can see it. Atop the grassy hill there is that tree. It bearishly umbrellas over the hilltop, the branches dance as the breeze glides through the leaves; the moonlight beaming through the crevices of the leaves.

Making it to the top, there but stands a figure with a ravaged and tattered cloak looming over the hill—over the ocean. The ends of the cloak sways along to the guidance of the breeze; the figure’s head gets jittery and bounces within the perimeters of the hood. The figure appears to giggle mischievously.

“That’s crazy—you actually did it Enoū.” I ecstatically acknowledge. Enoū blasts his whole body out as his hood flings back.

“I did it Eli!”  Enoū orbits closely as his arms stretch as close as they can to me. “Oh man! After doing things over and over and over and over, fighting dragons and learning so many spells, and oh gosh, the spells!” Enoū erratically swings and clutches his arms, strafes and kicks back and forth and wobbles his head back and forth; emoting with his brows and eyes as much as the human body allows. “I was getting so tired man! I didn’t think I would stumble into the ether so randomly!” Enoū animatedly plummets his arms and torso towards the grass as to convey his fatigue.

I giggle maniacally with one hand on my chest. “Wait, wait, hold on—what was it like? How are you still here?” My posture erects as I intertwine both arms and prepare to observe the enthusiastic fellow.

“Ok, so; check this.” Enoū’s palm faces up. “After the party and when my body started to glow and I left this place, I went into the ether right? The ether!” Enoū’s palms attract towards and repel repeatedly. “I was suddenly in place of these dudes! They called themselves the Guardians! They’re crazy!” 

Enoū proceeds to explain how the Guardians and how the ether work and how the ether is this one place where people can go after achieving something great in life and how this goal is different for all. 

“Right, right!” My mouth gasps and grins as my eyes dilate and pop as I witness the events that unfold in front of me. “But how are you here?”

“Right my bad!” Enoū stumbles back as he scratches his head. “Ok so after talking with these guys, they wanted me to go through this gate and actually enter the ether but I told them if I could come back for closure y’know? And they said yes!” Enoū whips both palms up.

“Wait, so are you dead? Like a ghost?” I creep in and have my hand ready to poke Enoū. My eyes narrow steadily on the target. “Is your body a spector?”

“Whoa whoa whoa there! Ok so yeah, I’m not dead but I am. Well, my body is just hollow; things can go through me.” My fingers line up as I ram them into Enoū, but go through and come out from the other side.”

“That’s freaky.” I say. A smuggish grin streaks throughout Enoū’s face as his eyes light up.

“I said that too!” The two of us hunch over as we wheeze and plummet to our knees as we belch out the overpowering laughter. We regain some control for a few seconds before laughing just as hard that we sluggishly push one-another over back and forth.

The laughter subsides. Enoū regains consciousness first as he raises himself up. A few moments later, as do I. Looking up, an eager palm is reached out for me; I grip onto Enoū’s arm and lift up too. The two of us triumphantly oversee the ocean.

The moon’s shine suspends as a streak of light gliding across the ocean; rippling and breaking as waves collide and topple each other. The tree aside ruffles and hisses as waves of breeze travel along its leaves and branch bristles. 

“So,” I glance over to Enoū. “What did you do … to enter the ether?” Enoū stands idle; the moonlight gliding across his cheekbones, emphasizing the strong jaw structure; a grin full of satisfaction and serenity; The end of his cloak still whipping across the grass. Enoū closes his eyes.

“I realized …” Enoū releases a sigh. That grin of his, turns into a lofty smile. “That I didn’t care about entering the ether—anymore.” The proud boy shifts his body at me. “Eli … this whole time, most of my life, maybe if not, all of my life, I just wanted to enter the ether—And I didn’t know how to do it.” The proud boy takes a turn as his smile subsides gradually. “I wish I could’ve said that I enjoyed my life but I think … I think all of the things I’ve done were only in hope to enter. Training, getting my magic powers,” Enoū raises his jacket. “Getting these abs, becoming knights, fighting dragons, and all of it—I only did it because I wanted to enter.”

“And you did enter—you did it Enoū!” 

“Wait; that’s not the end.” Enoū lays a hand out. “I wanted to enter so badly, and everything I did never worked. At some point I just stopped enjoying life and—got sad. But that night, at the party—it was so amazing, so great—everyone from the village was there and the music was beautiful and the games were fun and the drink was mighty tasty too.”

“Well of course, on that day, 10 years ago you defeated that one dragon, remember! There aren’t many foes that are as strong—” Enoū lunges and comes in for a grippy hug. 

“Eli—thank you for everything—friend. At the end of the night when I was crowd surfing, I saw everyone; all our friends, all of our comrades and my family and my cousins and everyone! Even the ones I didn’t know!” Enoū looks at me, a tear forming and gliding down his face. “But when I saw you—I remembered everything I’ve gone through—you were there too. That’s when I realized—I don’t wanna go anymore. And then I did it in the way I didn’t want to.”

My eyes swell up as I fight a smile that frighteningly wants to concave down. The edges of my smile twitch downward as they remain up. 

“Enoū—everything you did was still right—regardless whether they came from selfishness or not. At the end of it, you saved the village or you stopped bandits or did a good deed—you did it to help.” Every word takes up a lot of breath to say as my voice begins to break.

“I shouldn’t be going away like this though! I didn’t do anything with a good heart!”

“Enoū—everything you did was good of heart. You could’ve murdered and succumbed to learning the dark arts but you didn’t. You’re leaving and you only left good in this world.”

“B-but, that means we won’t be able to spare anymore—I won’t be able to beat you.” Enoū whimpers as his voice breaks. 

“I always remembered someone saying, ‘power is the most just thing one can have; for power is not just the raw strength, or the mental fortitude—but simply the opportunity to do great.”

“Who said that?” Enoū chuckles between whimpering and the heavy sighs.

“You did.” Enoū’s giggle lingers even more as he wipes away tears.

“What does that have to do with winning?”

“You don’t need to be strong to do great—when you already beat me to the ether. I’m gonna get there too soon Enoū! And I’ll come and find you!”

“And we’ll both get reincarnated together?”

“I’ll find these guardian people to make sure of it!” 

Enoū breathes in and out heavily as his cheeks stretch up to his eyes and his mouth grins as much as one can; tears profusely glide down as his cheeks turn red. 

“I’ll see you there friend.” Enoū lays his palm out—one last time. I reach for it but end up phasing through the hand. We both end up looking at one another and exchange a small laugh.

Both of our hands line up and shake as if we were to actually commit to a handshake.

“I’ll see you there friend.”

“Best friend.” 

At that moment, Enoū’s body radiates an overpowering bright light. Enoū backs away as he raises his arms to his sight, looking at his palms, then to me. A fearing look appears onto his face but then is replaced with a triumphant smile. Enoū’s feet faded away, as does his legs, then torso. Enoū looks at me and raises his arm high above his head as he sincerely waves from shoulder to shoulder. 

I raise my arm too and wave it back. Enoū fades away, into the ocean—into the moonlight.