The Fabulous History of Skyreacher

Poignant exploration of dualistic nature of dreams, and their ability to form society.

The boy was one of those few lucky people, who never doubt their purpose. It might have to do something with the fact he was born in a small village right next to the world´s highest mountain. The mountain so majestic, the village never known sun. To climb it, nobody even thought about such foolishness. All this took root in the young mind, and bloomed into a beatiful dream of conquering the indomitable titan.

He spent his every waking moment imagining a glory and thrill of an adventure, but as he was convinced the villagers wouldn´t approve his idea, he kept his plans to himself, and just on the day of his departure he kept the note: "I am reaching for the mountain´s peak."

Being full of joy he is finally living the dream, his steps were as light as feathers, the looming mountain appeared as good as conquered, and our young hero already planned even more grandiose adventures, in which he could truly prove his might.

If you have ever wondered what could it possibly take to crush lofty ideals, and wild, roaming spirit, in this case, it was three weeks on the road with zero training, lack of supplies, poor physique, and pretty bad sense of direction. Starving, freezing, with the peak seemingly not an inch closer, our young hero made the first reasonable decision in his life. He condemned everything, and turned back, hoping to at least save his life.

Meanwhile, the villagers shed tears for the young fool days ago, and even began recovering from such a senseless lost, when they saw something crawling on the horizont. At first, it looked like a heap of rags, but soon they found out it was the boy they wept for. After days of tending, he finally regained senses to perceive his failure so complete, that surely he would be remembered, just not in the way he planned.

Seeing villagers clumped around his bed with eyes wide opened and ready to listen, he regained some of his morale, and started describing his journey. The villagers, probably experiencing something dramatic for the first time in generations, were so excited they forgot to breath, which encouraged the boy to make the story more daring and colorful with every passing sentence. So when he got to the point of his inglorious retreat, it took him just a moment to decide for a more inspiring ending, and proclaimed with voice full of glory: "And so, with that last step, defying all powers of nature that tried its best to sweep me off, I finally reached it. As by some miracle, suddenly everything calmed down, blizzard subsided, and I have seen the world, as only god sees it. I cried of joy over that beauty. I felt god touching my face."

He was sure he overdone it with that last bit, but as still none of the villagers were breathing, he continued: "I reached for the sky, asking for providence. For me, and my people."

Since that day, the boy was revered as a hero, and was given all sorts of privileges. They started to even call him The King of The Mountain, but it didn´t catch up, as it was too long. Then they´ve tried The Mountaineer, but that was too bland. Finally someone remembered "the reaching sky" part of the story, and so ever since he walked by the name of Skyreacher.

As years passed, our hero started to notice that his stories, however clever, and stunning, started to loose their thunder, and even detected some hints villagers might demand some proper work from him. Not being really good at anything, except vividly describing his fallen dream, he decided to make the first step: "I once again, will conquer the mountain! Yet again, I will reach for the sky!"

He already felt dumb saying it, but strangely enough, the villagers bought into it, and applauded loudly.

The second journey quickly reminded him of his youth´s naivety. As this time he wasn´t carried by the power of dream, every step felt heavy, he was cold, uncomfortable, and, well, bored, all that pretty much instantly after he left the door. No way he is going that far this time. With that thought, he found a little cave and decided to wait it out.

Three weeks passed, and yet again, he returned, this time in much better condition, and even well rested. For villagers, that was obvious proof of a divine grace, and with rekindled interest listened religiously to his every word.

As time went on, the boy turned into the sage. His fame bloated out of all proportions, mainly due to newly found enterprising talent of the villagers, who sold already preposterous stories with yet another layer of luster. And so it happened, that once misguided boy became revered idol of world renown, and was visited often by various kings and lords, for advice, or spiritual lead.

Even though he constantly maintained his all-knowing subtle smile of Skyreacher, on the inside he felt like a miserable old fool who devoted his life going camping to some bloody cave, and lying about it to just about everyone. It was with utmost will he protected that secret, which proved to be more difficult with every passing day.

It was during a dinner, when some little girl suddenly hugged him: "You are the bravest in the whole world! I wanna be just like you, Skyreacher!". Suddenly, something snapped, tears began to well in his eyes, and all-knowing smile started to vanish to never return. Then, he slowly stood up, and after a while, being pierced by eyes of everyone, he finally opened mouth, and with tired voice of an old man said: "I lied to you all. I never made it anywhere near the peak. Forgive me, if you can."

After such news, whole life glimpsed before the eyes of petrified villagers. Just after they realized they were like fools living the lie, even greater disaster struck them. Without that very lie the village will loose steady income from selling the idea of being the birthplace of Skyreacher, symbol of human will and endurance. Business was bursting, plans grand. No way this old fool ruins it for everybody.

So, they asked him kindly to show them the cave in which he dwelled, and once there, they beat him to death.

It took mere days before the world was overwhelmed by heart-breaking news: "Skyreacher has perished during his 29th ascent." People from all over the world poured in, the village, once humble and modest, finally fully transformed into a huge fair, selling random stones as being from the top of the mountain, ropes, boots, and just about any garbage villagers found in their basements, all with proper seals of authenticity to recognize those sacraments from just any regular, heavily overpriced trinkets.

As the coffin, containing only Skyreacher´s trusty ice axe, as the actual body was hastily disposed of in the woods to avoid scrutiny, was being buried into the ground sanctified by the pope himself, the seemingly infinite crowd was soaking in bold epitaf on the enormous headstone: "Here lies Skyreacher. By the Power of Dream, He Conquered Reality".

Nobody was able to hold their tears. Except the villagers, the only sober people left in the world.