A Terrible Purpose

They came out of the north through the woods, gathering in full fury. Powerful and gleaming, the horse’s hooves thundered even in soft terrain. Clouds gathered as they passed, leaving behind swirling blackness where but a few seconds previous had been sunshine and white, colorless sky. Never had I seen such a determined and unified beast and rider. 

The horseman’s cloak flowed in the wind behind him. It became the yarn that spun the turbulence overhead. Heavy metal clanked as the horse chomped at his bit and snorted clouds of mist into the air. No purpose, no destination was too impossible for this beast and rider. No power could deter them from their elusive destiny. 

I could sense that mortal man was not their enemy, nor their goal. He was but a bridge they traversed to an unknown future, and he was barely incidental to their terrible purpose. 

As they drew near, cracks formed in the earth and shot towards me like lightning. Dust rose around them, spinning off like whirling dervishes set free in a frenzy of ecstasy. And a devil was their host, riding the wind before them……….. 

It came to me like this, or so it seemed — enlightenment — riding out of the north with terrible purpose. 

I kept it to myself, for the unenlightened would only say it was a dream, and everyone knows dreams are just random fabrications in a world fraught with meaninglessness. 

But when the distant rumble of a Midwest summer storm vibrates the human inner sanctum, and cold, fresh air startles the sensibilities, others feel a distant longing for something new and different. I, on the other hand, stand in my soul’s new vigor and regained innocence and await the horseman who will bring magic once again.