Microstory 703: Force of Hope

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The entire galaxy listened intently as a young woman named Ladriane Nuvin read aloud from the Book of Anseluka. She was in contention to be the first to touch the Scales of Tamsin the Judge, losing to Isaura Peak by a small margin. After hearing what the book had to say, Fostea fell into a deep depression. We hastily signed a temporary ceasefire with our Thuriamen enemies. They gladly accepted our terms, leading us to believe that they were experiencing their own internal issues. For weeks, people went about their days without much interest. Everyone seemed to be feeling numb, living in a dreary haze world. We experienced no defectors from Lightseed, but little enthusiasm for the Light of Happiness either. It would appear that, though people continued to believe in the Light, they were disappointed by it, and no longer excited for the taikon to be fulfilled. Something had to change, and fortunately, the new taikon outlined in the Book of Anseluka predicted this would happen. Like the Force of Faith, a new quantum field began to distribute itself across the galaxy. Called the Force of Hope, it acted to reignite people’s optimism and fervor. Slowly, but still miraculously, Fosteans began to wake up, and start seeing this for what it is. We don’t need to treat this bitterly, or with such frustration. Here we have this new divine book, with a new set of instructions. And we haven’t been reading it over and over again for the last several hundred years. This can get us out of our funk, and remove the burden of predictability. We’ve spent so much time coming up with all the ways the taikon might manifest, now we have the chance to experience them with no preconceived notions. It was hard to see the Light of Truth when you thought you already knew everything about it. Now that we see there are still things to be learned and discovered, the Light of Life can be seen in its true glory. Be hopeful, my friends. It is a new day, and the end of the ceasefire is rapidly approaching. It is time we start thinking about how we want the galaxy to be run once the taikon are achieved—and they will be achieved. We must have hope.

Microstory 51: Range

I woke up yesterday afternoon with a single thought. I had to go somewhere I hadn’t been before to hike and take photos. I’ve been working on a phone app, and one thing I’m planning on having is a photo of the day. I already had a couple hundred just from living life that fit the bill. I try to use ones that don’t show people’s faces. The legal issues that could potentially arise just aren’t worth it. I like to walk to get my exercise, so this was killing two birds with one rifle. I found some a trail that looked good, and drove out there. I got lost once, but it was easy to get back on track. As I was walking along the lake, listening to music, I could hear loud snapping sounds. I pulled up the map again and discovered that there was a shooting range nearby. I decided to keep going and take a look. The man at the booth agreed to let me watch, and even gave me some earplugs. There weren’t very many people there, so it wasn’t that exciting. As I was sitting there, I realized that I recognized the place. It’s where I first learned to shoot while I was in scouts. I joined the troop just in time. At some point after that trip, the leaders decided to keep guns out of the hands of minors, and we never did it again. There was talk of paintball, but even that scared the helicopter parents. After a few minutes of watching a father teach his son, as well as a woman I believe they had just met, they turned on the cease-fire lights. While they went down range to check out their work, I went up the hill to the side so that I could get a good picture from the other direction. What I discovered was that there was a second section on the other side of the hill, and they were not in cease-fire mode. They were able to get the bullet out of my shoulder, though, so everything’s fine.