Day 272 - Reenactment Story

Reenactment Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

After the great disaster, very few people believed anymore. Faith was a luxury that few of the living could afford anymore. Of course when disaster happens, there are those that will always believe more. And this did happen. There were many new cults and many new ideas and rituals and paths one could try and take in an attempt to gain salvation. The vast majority were dead. And the vast majority of the surviving lost the ability to believe. But a very small and quiet minority gained a faith and a dedication that was unparalleled in recent times.

There were many ways to look at the great disaster and many questions to ask – was it deserved, was it fate, was it man’s punishment, was it salvation? Some would ask those questions. Others figured the questions didn’t matter. Others would contend it was happenstance or bad luck. Either way most of the world was dead. It didn’t matter what caused it, what mattered was how to survive it and rebuild it.

One powerful group of anti-religious fanatics decided it was those of faith that should be blamed. Their incorrect logic reasoned that the religions had gotten things wrong and they had prayed to the wrong deity and either the wrong deity brought death to them, or the right deity was very angry about the whole situation and decided to clean house. There was no way to prove such a theory. It didn’t matter. The remaining men and women of religion learned very quickly it was best to hide their beliefs. Hide them, or else fear for the worst sort of bloodshed retribution possible. The anti-religious fanatics were doing a little house cleaning of their own, and the new world held no place for the people of faith.

One man had his own private theory. He was not a man of science or of religion. He was a man of the strange, the dark, the mystic. He was a man of questions who sought truths that others were afraid of, or didn’t know existed.

He had one main line of questions – could man impersonate the gods, and if so, what would happen when he did?

There were ages and ages of routines and rituals. Some of it was ceremony. Some of it was culture or tradition or history. But some of it was darker and more dangerous.

Deity impersonation was an ancient and important aspect of many lost civilizations. The priests and shamans would be dressed to represent the gods as part of special ceremonies. Sometimes it was believed that this was a simple ceremony, but sometimes it was believed that they could become the physical manifestation of the gods, bringing with them hope or fertility or any number of pleasant outcomes. Or if the gods were angry or dissatisfied, death.

What if somewhere in history, mankind had discovered the ultimate ritual of death? The ritual had been real and it could have been accidentally or purposefully recreated and when repeated it had caused the great disaster.

This was one idea. But if it were true, it would mean that of all the rituals and routines there was some bit of truth. If could mean that if there was the power to destroy, then there could also be the power to recreate. Man had gotten it wrong, but man could also get it right.

The anti-religious fanatics had killed and destroyed and burned everything they could. Right or wrong, they placed the blame on the men of ritual and were destroying anyone they could find that took part. They were oppression. They were death and destruction. The great disaster freed them and allowed them to become just as awful as they wanted to be.

The mystical man with the questions knew he had to stay hidden until he had some answers. He would be killed otherwise, just for asking the questions. He collected books. He collected knowledge and traditions. He wrote them down. He practiced them. Everyday he tried something new. Everyday a new ritual, a new reenactment. Somewhere in one of them would be a bit of truth, and the truth would be able to set them all free. He just needed time, time and patience and practice. The fate of the world rested in his ability to somehow recreate the one thing, the one most impossible accidental thing, which would work. It was infinity, with only the slimmest of odds, but he had no other choice. He learned the rituals and found new followers and prayed that he could get one thing right.