Magical Things on Earth or Sky

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ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END —
There is an end to everything, to good things as well



…Yet stars will watch at night,
And morning rise as before…

[austintorn@aol.com]

“Well,” said the General, “I hate to leave you all hanging about the Soviet prison escapade, but, you see that I am indeed alive and so you know that the best is yet to come, and so you can sleep well.”

They all then heard the deep rumblings of a very large jet landing above the bunker.

Magic Dragon—the General, smiled, “All this time, I never even dared to hope…”

“No one had authorization to land tonight,” piped down the air controller, “plus no one even knows about this place. Our defenses are not firing!”

“He has his own auto-authorization;” the General answered. “never-the-less, we will not unlock the bunker just yet. If he can enter, then he is friend. Nor do I hear or sense any roar of warning from Bronto above.”

Out on the airstrip, Bronto let out a cry of joy as a figure deplaned.

“Ah,” added the General, “Now I sense a joy above—a lantern of light has arrived.”

“Who? A ghost returns?” someone asked.

“He is not one who walked the Earth searching for a good deed, but is a good deed unto himself, for he ferreted out the bad deeds.”

They all waited in suspense. There were the clicks of the bunker door unlocking and then the rustle of someone walking through the dark tunnel—and the tapping of a cane.

A voice came out of the darkness, “Rascal, old friend, how might you be?”

“Now,” thought The General aloud, “who could it be who only ever called me ‘Rascal’, my code name from above? Welcome, GrandMaster West.”

Even before the former # 1 West entered the light, they could sense the emanations from his glowing being—the goodness, the courage, and the depth of the care within.

GrandMaster West entered, looking very fit, but for a slight limp, like someone only about the age of 70.

He gave the General a hug, and then Trish—# 1 East.

“Master,” said Dragon, “these are all of our higher ranking members.”

“Ah, Rascal, you are the Master here now. You all look to be among the finest protectors and butterflies of forever that we have ever known. I have read of your exploits.”

He then shook hands with all of them and met their gaze, some of them with tears in their eyes, for they had known or heard of him, but thought him dead and gone.

“How is it, Master,” asked Dragon Master General Rascal, “that you even resist Time itself, looking younger than ever?”

GrandMaster West paused, then answered with a kind of a poem, his energy flowing and captivating, even projecting an image for all to see in their minds…

“The Waves of the Ancient Swells
Of the Unforgettable Tides
Swept Ever On…

As Time, now hoary with age,
Hurled forth its ashen change,
The charge ever san, pale and colorless,
That force born to summon decay, so endless,
‘Gainst Nature’s World each and every day,
Time and time again, feeding all upon,
In its bloodless, white and waxen way;

But, the everlasting rose would never fade,
Its luster even brightening by the day,
Ever unsuccumbing to the sickly, peakèd
State draining drawn the life away.

Entropic seas still denude the mountains,
Yet, this enduring flower, never-endingly
Has cast Deathly Time aside,
Ceaselessly somehow thriving on,
To that which was the imperishable,
The flame of beauty inextinguishable,
Forever celebrated as immutable,
Gaining its perpetual permanence
From the undying love of the glorious truth.”

No one spoke for a while. He was here, the one who had raised the Nijna Empire to heights unknown, the one who had brought forth Rascal as their new leader, the two of them saving the world several times over. The intensity of life’s wondrous being swelled through the operatives on this, the night of nights on the Forbidden island of Niihau.

“Well,” said RascalPuff the Magic Dragon, “perhaps we should indeed continue our tales tonight in honor of our guest. If we become pleasantly weary and tired, then that will only add to the sense of what I felt in my trek through the mountains of the Soviet Motherland.”

“You kept me up in those days, Rascal, crossing those ink black rivers,” added GrandMaster West. While you were the prime candidate to replace me, you were also much too valuable to be running around in the field. I thought to kill two birds with one stone, however; due to some new high tech, I see that you have found a way back into the field of many stones, doing both of your jobs very well, I must say.”

“My team does it.”

“You are of that team, being both the coach and a player, too, Rascal. I heard you recently flew a helicopter up the side of Mt. Blanc.”

“OK; well then; thank you, Master.”

“I am no one’s Master now, Rascal, but more like the Lone Ranger.”

“You will always be the Master.”

Rascal thought back, summoning forth the tale of his prison break, the darkness of death lying all around, the threat ever hovering near…

[austintorn@aol.com]

GrandMaster West hung his cane on the back of his chair and walked normally over to get a drink.

Tarina regarded his now perfectly working knee, eying it as he returned, his chair next to hers.

The GrandMaster whispered, "I heard that you, too, had a knee operation. All is not always as it seems. It's not mind over matter. My injury is feigned."

"I thought so, for your cane is actually a weapon that would never be confiscated."

"Our secret."

[austintorn@aol.com]

I really doubt if this guy is going to make it. It would probably take the TOE and even Robert to save him.

[austintorn@aol.com]

Poor Rascal. His escape pod of the jet-pack went up in flames from the explosion he had to cause at the prison to be able to escape. His support team could not get in place and had to disperse. He is without much much. He is in the middle of nowhere in Russia. A Soviet helicopter has landed nearby. He is now the most forlorn and loneliest man on Earth.

All good things… [must come to an end].

[austintorn@aol.com]

Thanks, Robert!

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Rascal heading home, ever home,
passing over Diamond Head Crater
(not seen since over it)
on Oahu near Honolulu…



…as bidden to the forbidden land of Niihau by GrandMaster West…



…where good things ended and even greater things began…

[austintorn@aol.com]

Rascal landing on Niihau on the runway between the mountains.



Is the story of this era over? No, not yet… not yet.

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The Road to Hana



What fate awaits?

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The door is ajar…