The Guardian of Eternal Life: A Cautionary Tale

———FROM A WRITING PROMPT IN VA GROUP: WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU FOUND THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH——-

Ponce de Leon thought the Fountain of Youth was in Florida. He was only off by about twenty-five hundred miles and an alternate dimension.

I found it when I found something I can’t explain standing in front of me.

I stood there; my pistol pointed at. Even as I cocked the hammer back, I knew my actions were stupid. The pistol would do nothing against whatever this was. It moved and shifted like a cloud. Sometimes it looked like a bear, other times, a waterfall, and sometimes a Native American woman.

I’d been hiking in the Wheeler Geological Park. It’s the remains of what some said was the largest super volcano ever on Earth. It exploded millions of years ago and may have been the most powerful explosion our world has ever known. So powerful that it might have triggered a global ice age.

Today, all the remains of the catastrophic explosion is a series of rattlesnake haunted features that look as if they’d been torn from darkest pages of The Lord of the Rings.

And, of course, whatever this thing was that twisted and shapeshifted like a whirlwind.

I’d come face to face with it unexpectedly. One minute, I was hiking under a bright April sky. I could smell sage blooming and hear the distant sound of rattlesnakes as they shook their tails and greeted the warmth of the sun. The next there was thunder. And within a few steps I went from bright sunlight to this. The sun was gone, and I saw an expanse of stars that took my breath. That look robbed me forever of the skies of Earth. Mighty Orion and glorious Scorpio would be nothing more than mere sparks compared to it. I was looking into the very heart of a galaxy.

Around me, the terrain still looked like that of the park, but the sounds and smells were gone. Instead, there was cool breeze. I looked behind me and saw a hole, a doorway in space and time. Through it, I could see the bright sunshine and the features of the park. I remembered the local Native Americans had regarded the San Luis Valley as “Holy.” They told stories of places where you could walk easily between worlds and of the Sky People.

I’d never paid much attention to those fables. Now, I wish I had because what I had once thought of as a fable was stone cold fact. Without trying, I’d stumbled through one of those places and into this world. Perhaps what I was confronting was one of those mysterious creatures they spoke of.

“Your weapon,” it said, “is pointless. The danger here isn’t from me and it will not protect you.”

If whatever this thing was wasn’t the danger, then where was it? It had so much as said there was danger here.

“You speak?” I asked, surprised.

“Yes, of course.”

“And what are you?”

It seemed to think about that for a second before answering. “I am the Gaurdian,” it said.

A cryptic name, I thought. “What is it you guard.”

“Long ago the source of life eternal was established here. But men proved unworthy of the gift.”

The only thing near it except for volcanic ash and stone was a small stream. Tiny really. It flowed from the ground went a few dozen meters and then disappeared back into the dirt.

“The stream?”

“Yes. Drink from it and you will never die,” it said. “But be warned. It only works for one person and never is a very, very long time.”

“Never die?”

“Never. You could stand in the center of an exploding star and not have a hair singed. You would laugh in the face of death and time.”

To never die. What a concept. I looked around at the ancient place I found myself. It Looked like the remains of the La Garita Caldera. the only difference was the sky and we seemed to be the only two living creatures here. I was still in the same place but in some weird alternate dimension.

They caldera had formed millions of years before. That represented a time scale that in reality meant nothing. The world had changed a dozen times, species came and went, and Humanity barely filled a small crack in that time.

Drink from it, I thought. The idea that I might witness incredible things, an infinite number of sunrises, stars living and dying was staggering. I’d see the fate of the universe! I could take one of our spaceships and tour the heavens because time meant nothing to me.

A cold chill ran through me at the thought. I would bury everyone I knew and generations to come. Humanity could be long gone, and I’d still be here. The Sun would grow old, die and fade into the cosmic night and I would still be here.

And then it struck me. I was already offered eternal life by God. As one of his children, I was already heir to tomorrow and the day after. The grave already had no claim on me.

If I drank from the stream, it would mean I’d stopped trusting God with my eternity and would take my destiny in my own hands. That would almost be a bad as when Eve ate the apple. She ate from the Tree of Knowledge. I’d drink from the Stream of Everlasting Life. Since I’d stopped trusting God with my eternity, I’d sin. Sinners went to Hell, but this would be a Hell of my own making. I’d be utterly alone in a dead universe with only the ashes of the stars to keep me company.

I holstered the weapon.

“What are you going to do, human?” the Guardian asked. “Die or to live forever?”

I already had a better offer.

“This place robbed me of the skies of Earth. I’ll be damned if it robs me of my soul.” I turned and walked back into my world. But before leaving the Guardian behind, I looked back and said, “I’m going to forget I ever found you.”