He didn’t know where he was going, he never did. He just followed his instinct where it told him to go and stopped when it felt right. He didn’t know if there was some higher force above guiding him, telling him in subtle ways where he should go and where he should stop; or a force below guiding him. If he was being frank, he didn’t really care. All he knew as that he had a job to do, and he was going to do it. Some people might call it a calling, or some form of destiny; people with a grander sense of self-importance about themselves and what they do. He knew what the fruits of his work did, but he didn’t take any credit for it. He did not revel in any praise. It was just what he did. He was a force of nature, not one to be bargained with or contained. He simply was for as long as was necessary, and then he would be no longer.

Still, people gathered around him, flocked to him when he was on the move. They wanted to see this force of nature in action, to try to understand it, to try and curry favour with it. There seemed to be nothing he could do to stop them, so as long as they didn’t get in his way he let them pass. And even if they did, it was their own fault should they receive some radical change to their persons. They had been warned.

It was never something so casual as death. He could have helped them if that was all it was. There as nothing permanent about death, he experienced it every couple of centuries himself. But life and death were locked in a cycle, so after one inevitably came the other, back and forth, back and forth. Another one of those forces of nature that simply Was. But other changes had taken place that had been much more permanent. When those happened, it was a reminder that there were forces out in the world even greater than he was.

There was a small crowd following him now as he walked. The number fluctuated, depending on the time and the day. Sometimes people would break off for a few days and rejoin later, some people arrived to see what the fuss was about, stuck around for a few days, and then left to continue their own lives when nothing exciting happened. But he had noticed four in particular that had stuck with him on this pilgrimage, as if he were some kind of leader that was going to lead them somewhere. Though he tried to distance himself from the spectacle of it and do what he was supposed to do, he couldn’t help but admire when some people stuck with him for so long. He was routinely surprised by the tenacity of some people. He wondered how they fared once everything was said and done. After the anti-climactic moment, the crowd usually departed back to their regular lives – but something inside them still changed.

He walked with seven people, the ones who had been there since the beginning, and three others that trailing behind and asking questions – hoping for some bit of revelation to be bestowed upon them. They were routinely disappointed when they didn’t receive anything, but they still followed. That tenacity that he admired.

One person had asked him earlier how much longer they would be trekking for. He had answered them honestly at that point that he wasn’t sure. He was never sure. He set out each day knowing which direction to travel and that was it. He didn’t know if that day would be the day or if he had another week to go. And the proof they needed for that was the fact that they had started that day together with no idea how much longer it would be, and now he was certain that they had arrived. Or at least he had arrived. What they did next was up to them.

He stopped in the middle of a parking lot. This was it. Not this spot exactly, but he was close. “Were almost there,” he said out loud to the group, as if this had been a group effort. He looked around, the parking lot was attached to the public library, and they had a large lawn there with a few scattered trees for shade, and decorative boulders.

“Can you tell us what you’re feeling?” Someone asked.

“How can you tell that you’re almost there?” Another person asked.

“Is it like a voice in your head?” A third asked.

These questions from people who had joined their group in the last few days. They were asking questions that he refused to answer. The four remained silent, watching and waiting. Had one of the four asked then he might have considered it. Since they remained quiet, so did he, and instead lead them out onto the lawn. He stopped and everyone gathered around him in a circle. He pulled a small pouch from his jacket and extracted a single seed from it. He knelt down on the ground and used a knife to dig up some of the soil. He planted the seed and covered it back up. Then he stepped back and waited. After ten minutes he took another step back, sat down on the ground and began meditating. Not in any deliberate sense where it was necessary for whatever came next. He was never sure what exactly would come next or how long it would take, but this was a better way to spend that time waiting; focusing his energy inward so that he was ready for whatever came next.

Some people continued to ask questions, hoping for some answer or insight into what might happen next. When he didn’t answer, the questions slowly stopped. The majority of people grew bored with waiting, and they eventually wandered off back to their lives, ready to tell people that they had seen Him, followed Him even, and that it had led to nothing.

Some people had claimed they had followed him in the past, had experienced him and been changed by it. But most could not handle the wait which sometimes stretched as long as three or four days. A long time to put your life on hold when you had no idea what was going to happen. That, or they had been lying.

Only the four stayed, they sat down behind him and begin meditating as well, or at least some semblance of it as they understood it. They had been committed and would remain so until the very end. He had a feeling they would not need to wait very Iong.

It was evening, twilight, when something started happening. He had a feeling this is when it would take place. Twilight was a thin veil of time between day and night, not quite one or the other, and doorways and magic always seemed to be at their most powerful during that time.

When it was too dark to see, but too light for the streetlights to come on, that’s when the ground where he had plated the seed begin to glow. The four opened their eyes and stood up. The Man continued to sit, watching the pulsating glow in the ground push at the dirt and growing bright, trying to push itself up out of the grand. Some of the people were shocked, their mouths hanging open, while others looked on passively, waiting to see what happened next. Then a beam of blue/purple light shot out of the ground. Clumps of dirt rained down on them is the laser shot into the sky. The four couldn’t contain their surprise or excitement as the light shot up and they followed its trajectory. It was a wonder, but they didn’t know what it was they were supposed to get from it.

Neither did the Man. He never knew what was going to happen once he planted the seed, or what other people witnessing it would experience. All he knew was what he had to do. Sometimes the people experienced great things; like one group who all won the lottery. Not a jackpot, but a tidy sum to help them out. Another group passed out and woke up missing fingers and toes. He could never be held accountable though, there were enough warning stories circulating around that he was not liable. All they could do was live with the consequences or keep following and hope for a better outcome next time. No one chanced a second encounter.

Bolts shot off from the main beam and hit each of the travelers. It passed thigh each person, knocking them to the ground.

The beam subsided, shrank back down to the world, down into the ground. A light snow began to fall, the first of the season.

The Man stood up once the light had faded. The streetlights had all come on, and he could see faintly in the shadows a tree sapling where the seed had been planted. His work was done.

He then looked around the park the four people that had stayed. They had all disappeared. He had seen the smaller beams come off the seedling, but had the four left on their own accord, out of fear? Or had they been absorbed by the light?

It was a curious idea, and this was one of the few instances where he hoped he found out what had happened to them. Though he very much doubted he would.

He was exhausted. Though it seemed like he did little once the seed was planted, it did cost him an immense amount of energy. He would go and find a cheap place to stay for the night and in the morning he would start again. Also, by morning word would have gotten around about the four, and a fresh batch of followers curious to see what happened and what will happen next will find him.