Something Equally Nonsensical

Old Gods

Prompt: "The old gods are dead."

Spoilers: none

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The old gods are dead.

Some went quietly — gently, even — tucked away, with infinite care, in boxes and drawers, to be kept safe until they could be passed on. Until they could become someone else's temporary deity. They were toys and books, crayons and marbles. They brought colour, and joy, and only the tiniest bit of strife. They'll be alright — they always have been.

Others struggled — clung hard, refusing to acknowledge that their time had past. Cited fond memories and happier times, when their rule was benevolent and welcomed, refusing to realise that these times, too, can be happy. It's just that there's no room for those particular gods in them, anymore.

Remembrance is always bittersweet, for those. They lived in laughter and secret smiles, in hopes and shared companionship, in the building blocks that formed a wondrous life that now needs to be torn down, so it can become something else instead. These are the gods of misty eyes and clenched hearts. The gods of happiness past.

The old gods are dead. It's time for the new gods.

Therein lies the fallacy.

Because they're all the same, in the end. In different colours, different shapes, different flavours. As we grow and change, as we tuck them in their boxes and let go of their influence, they become a part of us, one by one. Not past, not present, just us. The very core of who we are.

We carry them with us, wherever we go: those we strive to remember, and those we struggle to forget. Even the ones that slipped our minds entirely, like a dream upon waking. Always with us, and we with them.

The old gods are dead. Long live the old gods.

I'm looking forward to meeting you all again.

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Time: 15 minutes

Length: 296 words

Prompt: https://www.cameronmontaguetaylor.com/2021/01/23/morning-pages-the-old-gods/