Very Short Story - The Heart In Glass

 I wrote this short story for a challenge long ago as a little poke at the fantasy/scifi idea of the sole hope for salvation and why it might not be a bad idea to have a backup...;)

The Heart In Glass

In ancient times, in ancient lands, there was a man.

Admittedly, this was not unusual.

But this man was faced with a terrible evil and he knew that what must be done could be done only with cold steel in the place of his heart. And so it was, he called upon the ancient light of power to pull all the love out of his soul and, sealing it with a glass container, he buried it high in the mountains, deep in the snow of year long winter, to be hidden from weak temptation by the roll of oncoming storms. But he feared, and he was right to fear, that with cold steel in place of his heart he would forget himself and so before he acted, he wrote what he had done and concealed that too within a beacon that would manifest should he fail to return for the love in his heart within ten thousand days.

And he did not. For his fear was true – the man forgot himself within the grip of cold steel and lost love and rose to become a scourge as great and terrible as the evil he sought to suppress. And the people were sore afeared and knew not what to do until one night, over the winter snows, a beacon rose glowing like a distant star and two brave souls did follow the call of the siren light and find within the letter of their terroriser.

Hope sprang within their hearts. In the name of their poor, suppressed people and in sympathy for their terroriser, who they now saw had fallen pray not to evil but to his own sacrifice in their name, they battled forth, fighting creatures sent to thwart them and magic sent to burn, struggling through howling gales and violent blizzards as they fought their way into the mountains and therein towards the place where the love of the monster who had once been a man was concealed. And they dug and they dug within the visceral grip of snow until at last one man’s fingers fell upon the cold touch of glass. Frantically, he pulled the vessel forth.

And it was empty. A large crack snaked its way along one side. The storms it seemed had taken their toll upon the slender glass.

The love had dripped away.

And then the creatures came and the brave souls and all their hope were slain as evil ran triumphant with no hope of reprieve.

And the moral of this grim and morbid tale? If one is going to hide away one’s sole hope for salvation in dangerous and storm-wracked mountains, seal it inside something that isn’t fragile.