“The future casts its shadow backward through time.”

EZRAH 7:16

A hot wind tore through the valley. Along an arid, cracked surface that once was a riverbed, a man crawled. His strength gone, unable to fill his lungs, he surrendered to the inevitable. He rolled onto his back and pulled a cumbersome mask and breathing apparatus from his face. His chest rattled as it rose and fell. He looked at the clouds and tried to remember when they had been vivid white against blue skies. His childhood felt so far away, more like something imagined than a memory. Tears came. He began to pray.

Something rumbled in the distance. The man rolled his head to the side and searched the horizon. There was a flickering yellow light and a plume of rising dust. The noise grew louder and the light brighter. He recognized the sound—one of the Legion’s motorbikes. It was riding at him. The man closed his eyes and began to drift away.

“I wonder, where is your father in heaven now?” The voice came as though from a great distance. “Do you still believe?” 

Slowly, the dying man felt the weight of his body return. The voice came again, much closer this time, more distinct. “Where is your father now? Are you still here? Have you flown away to heaven?”

The man opened his eyes and saw a Legion soldier standing over him. 

“We will welcome you back into the fold.” The soldier knelt down beside the man. “I can help you. That sweet, clean air you so desperately long for—I have it right here, in the palm of my hand.” The soldier held out a small canister. “Shall I? Will you return to us, my fallen brother?” He began to connect the canister to a tube at the side of the man’s mask.

The man raised one arm and weakly pushed the canister away. His voice came as a rasp. “Leave me. I won’t—” He broke off with a rattle. 

The soldier leaned in, the visor of his mask only inches from the man’s face. “Is your father coming to save you?” Behind the mask, the soldier’s face was smiling; his eyes were red embers. For a moment, the eyes of the man and the soldier were locked. The wind grew calm and a hush filled the valley. The solder placed a hand on the man’s chest. “Your father has abandoned you.”

“No.” The man held his hands up toward the sky. “He is here. He is with me.” And with those words, the man died.