Obie and Death
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The Dark God, the Grim Reaper, The Angel of Death; those were some of the titles that he held. He preferred the title Guardian of the Worlds, though most people did not know him by this title. Most people only saw him as the one who took their life and loved ones away, but he held a much more important job than what normal people saw.
Yes, he tore people from their lives and brought them to the realm of the dead, but no one ever saw the deeper aspects of his job. No one ever knew what he did to keep every world going: shuffling people from one reality to the next, setting up lives and tearing them down again.
No one ever knew what his job truly was, until Oberon showed up. Nothing about Oberon was normal, so it made a strange sort of sense when Oberon slipped between the borders of the world. He wasn’t dead, the Guardian would have known and it wasn’t like the dead ever stopped at the area between the worlds. No, that small dimension belonged only to the Guardian.
Even after all of these years, the Guardian still didn’t know how Oberon managed to get to his dimension between worlds. The boy had just showed up one day, splashing his way up the edges of the river of dreams and totally ignoring the boats that rested at various points along the river. The Guardian had turned in shock at the noise the boy was making and he shuddered at the whoop that the boy let out.
“Hey, it’s about time that I ran into someone in this strange place; I’ve been walking for what seems like days and I haven’t seen anyone at all. It’s so creepy,” the boy had shouted out when he caught sight of the Guardian. The boy ran out of the water toward the Guardian and skidded to a stop before him to grin.
“Who are you, what are you doing here?” the Guardian questioned. He stared at the boy, trying to figure out the answers to his questions by sight alone.
“My name is Oberon, but call me Obie, and I’m just exploring so far. This really is an interesting place you have here; the view is really quite marvelous.” Oberon bounced in place and stared up at the night sky that could be seen through one portal.
“You shouldn’t be here; how did you get here?” The Guardian ignored Oberon’s rambles as he paced around the boy.
“I walked, didn’t you hear me earlier?” The boy gave him another grin and the Guardian glared at him in return. “What, am I not supposed to be here or something, you want me to leave? I’d rather keep exploring, since I haven’t been to the shore in such a long time, but if you want me to leave, I will.”
“You’re not supposed to be here,” the Guardian said and the boy wilted at his tone. “But it should have been impossible for you to have made it to this dimension in the first place; I wish to know how this happened.”
“Does this mean that I can stay?” Oberon perked up. “I can just tell you how I got here and then I can stay; that sounds good to me.”
“I didn’t say that,” the Guardian ground out. “Explain.”
“You think we could go someplace else to talk? Maybe take a seat in the sand or on that hill over there?” Oberon motioned to the portals with a hopeful look.
“Here shall be fine for now, now, please explain.” The Guardian pinned Oberon with a look and the boy finally relented.
“Okay, okay.” Oberon sent the portals one last look before focusing on the Guardian. “I was walking along, minding my own business, when I stumbled over a crack in the pavement and fell onto this one guy. I managed to knock both of us down and, boy, he cursed a lot.”
“What does this have to do with you finding yourself here?” the Guardian asked, running out of patience.
“Well, it was the guy who sent me here,” Oberon exclaimed. “I tried to apologize to him and explain exactly why I just sent both of us to the ground, but that seemed to annoy him even more, because he said that I reminded him of someone. I asked him who and he brushed me off.” Oberon stopped to scoff and shake his head.
“And all of this has a point?” the Guardian prompted. He motioned for Oberon to continue and to hopefully get to the point soon.
“The guy was a right idiot, said that he would give me a taste of my own medicine. I expected that he would punch me or something, but instead he waved his hand and we were standing on a riverbank instead of the middle of the sidewalk.” Oberon paused to take a breath and the Guardian raised his eyebrow. “He told me to head down this way and to tell the first person I met his message, so I suppose I should tell you.”
“Tell me what?” The Guardian frowned as he tried to puzzle out exactly who sent Oberon here to his dimension without speaking to him first.
“The message was: ‘The Maker says that payback is a bitch;’ though I have no idea what any of it means.” Oberon trailed off when he saw the look on the Guardian’s face. “You know what it means?”
“Did this Maker say anything else?” the Guardian asked instead of answering Oberon’s question.
“He said that you would look after me until it was time for me to head back home. I’m not too worried, though, because this place is cool,” Oberon said, his eyes wandering the place once again.
“Great,” the Guardian mumbled to himself. He scowled and put his arm out to stop Oberon from stepping into a portal. “Watch your step when you’re away from the river.”
“So who was this Maker guy anyway?” Oberon asked. He bounced in place instead of bounding off as he wished to.
“I doubt that you do, but do you know who I am?” The Guardian would be very surprised if Oberon actually had an answer. People in every world had an idea of what Death looked like, but they all agreed that Death did not have long, curly hair.
“I have no clue, but you have to be better than that Marker guy.” Oberon gave the Guardian a wide grin.
“I am known as many names, but most know me simply as Death,” the Guardian said and then waited for the fireworks.
“Cool, does this mean that I’m dead?” Oberon looked delighted at the possibility and held his arm up to inspect it in the candlelight.
“You’re not dead; I am the only person who can outright kill people. But, just as I end life, there must be someone who begins life and this is the Maker,” the Guardian stressed. The boy was going to be stuck there until the Maker decided to send him home and it would take longer if Oberon kept mangling the guy’s name.
“So, what is this place anyway?” Oberon dismissed the explanation, going back to the magical sight in front of him.
“You’re stuck here until either the Maker sends you home or I kill you and send you to a new life, so I might as well explain things.” The Guardian sighed as he noted that Oberon didn’t even flinch at the idea of being uprooted from his life by death. Then again, the boy was now stuck in a strange place and seemed to think it was all a brilliant adventure. “This is my dimension, my home, a place in between all worlds. You’re going to want to watch your step and walk where I do until you get used to sensing the portals.”
“Portals?” Oberon still looked enthralled with it all and was now twisting his head wildly, trying to spot the portals.
“Entrances into the other worlds; they are all around you. Some of them are quite easy to see,” the Guardian motioned toward the portal of the shore than fascinated Oberon time and time again, “and some of them take a while to find.” The Guardian motioned next to a small group of rocks that, upon closer look, turned into a whole small city.
“So cool,” Oberon whispered as he crouched down to look at the tiny world.
The Guardian sighed as he watched the boy. How could the Maker think that he and Oberon were so much alike? Maybe he meant physically? The Guardian frowned and shook his head. Though, his quick inspection of the boy brought up a question that he had been wondering since he first spotted Oberon. “Did you walk up the river the whole way?”
“Yeah, for at least a couple of blocks or so, though it is hard to tell in this cave system.” Oberon straightened up and grinned at the Guardian.
“You didn’t try one of the boats along the way?” The Guardian blinked in shock.
“I didn’t feel like it, besides I like the water.” Oberon shrugged before giving the Guardian a calculating look. “So, I already said that you could call me Obie, but what should I call you?”
“You can call me Guardian, I suppose.” The Guardian shrugged. He had plenty of names, but he rarely had anyone who wanted to speak to him for any length of time.
“Cool.” Oberon leapt forward so that he was standing by the Guardian’s side and latched onto the Guardian’s arm. “Now, teach me how to recognize these hidden portals, will you? I don’t want to step on anyone.”
“You’d be more likely to slip into their world, but I’ll teach you.” The Guardian gave Oberon a hesitant smile and the boy grinned back at him. Oberon kept his hold on the Guardian’s arm as they stepped forward, but, for some reason, the Guardian couldn’t find it in himself to be annoyed.
