"I come in search of a worthy opponent!" he said as he burst through the monastery gates.
The monk stood. "Then your quest is finished."
"So you'll fight me?" he asked expectantly.
"I cannot," the monk replied. "Your only worthy opponent — it resides within you."
He flitted from crisis to crisis, never stopping for long. To every distraught mother and panicked child, he left his greatest gift: perspective.
Deep below Mars’s surface, a tunnel machine hums. Abandoned centuries ago, it still carries out its task: prepare a subterranean enclave for the soon-to-be colonists.
On the planet’s surface, not a trace can be seen. Its legacy is a hidden journal of churned bedrock.
“What if it rains tomorrow? I’m gonna worry all night.”
“So what if it does?”
“I hate being wet.”
“You shower *every* morning.”
“That’s different!”
“Is it?”
“I don’t wear clothes in the shower.”
In the downpour, scandalized mothers covered their childrens’ eyes.
She stared up at her previously short boyfriend. "Tryouts?"
He nodded "Tryouts."
"Doesn't it feel weird, going from 5'4" to 6'7"?"
"Yeah. But genetic mods are legal, so nobody under six feet has a hope of making Varsity." He grinned. "Plus, now I can dunk."
"Look, it says right here on his ID: 'DNU - Do Not Upload'. Weird."
"I'm surprised that's still an option."
"They got rid of it decades ago. Guess he's been off-grid this whole time."
They stared at the corpse, mindscanners in hand, unsure how to proceed.
"Eh, he probably woulda wanted it anyway. Let's just do the scan."