Creation began on 09-29-21

Creation ended on 10-08-21

Thir13en Ghosts

There's no Need to feel this Pain: The Hammer's Future

Profile Ten: The Hammer's Future

George Markley was a man that could be described as these few words: Dependable, respectful, caring, selfless, and honorable. As a blacksmith of reputable skill, he knew nothing of the darkness of greed or envy; he never stole a day in his life if a coveted item belonged to someone else. But then a man by the name of Nathan accused him of stealing from him, and the shifting tides turned.

"Uh, excuse me, sir?" Brother Correction spoke after Nathan accused George of stealing. "What exactly did he steal from you? I've known this man for ten years, and I've never seen him so much as steal a watch from someone that had one. What did he steal from you?"

"He stole my…my…my…" Nathan tried to speak, but his mind was blank; he didn't expect someone to raise the question of what the blacksmith had allegedly taken just yet, resulting in him stuttering as he couldn't think of an excuse to use.

"Sir, what did Mr. Markley steal from you?" Brother Correction asked again; by asking this simple question, he was changing fate through mere logic and humanity.

One way or another, the truth had to be heard by the people present when Nathan came and accused George of theft. While justice was stated to be blind at all times, justice had to be seen and heard, not just spoken and acted upon.

"He…he…" Nathan froze.

"Be honest, sir," Brother Correction said. "He didn't steal anything from you, did he? You're just looking to accuse, to blame?"

But Nathan, his face contorting into an expression of rage at how being asked a simple question so soon before he could come up with a story to convince the townsfolk to drive Markley and his family away, and brandished a pistol at Brother Correction.

"You're in cahoots with him!" He falsely accused him.

"Now, hold on a minute," Correction stopped him. "All I did was ask a question on what did he take from you. You didn't say exactly what it was he took. Unless we know what this is truly about, we can't resolve this peacefully. You point a gun at someone, you're already set in your intentions on causing harm to them. But all I did was ask a question. You have yet to answer. Is it because Mr. Markley never stole anything from you? You've never even saw him before until a month ago, and even then, you never so much as spoke more than fifteen words with him. And yet, you accuse him of something as outlandish as theft, which makes no sense at all. What does he gain from stealing from you?"

"He and his family don't deserve to live here," Nathan expressed, his voice now calm and collected, full of spite. "They don't look anything like the rest of the town and should just leave."

"They…they don't look like the rest of you? Is that why you accused him? You don't like blacksmiths? They helped build the railroads that allow the trains to run across the land and through the mountains. Why do you hate blacksmiths?"

"I don't hate blacksmiths!" Nathan confessed to him, his hand trembling with the gun. "I don't like blacks!"

"Blacks?"

"They're not like regular people! You can't tell what they're going to do until after they do it! You can't tell what they're thinking! They used to live in the wild before they started acting like we do!"

"And that's why you don't like them? Because of how they used to live? You know, not too long ago, before any of this existed, everyone everywhere lived in the wild. Everyone lived deep in caves, up in trees or in tents, had to hunt for food and forage. And then we developed tools to build better, learned how to cultivate food in places we couldn't imagine growing crops in, and we're still learning how to develop taller buildings and modes of transportation that get us from one place to another in a timely fashion. People like Mr. Markley will be a part of this venture. There's no denying that truth. Unless, of course…you persist in something as ridiculous as a false accusation…simply because you don't like him based on the color of his skin. There are worse reasons to despise someone that don't involve a skin color or profession. Sometimes, there's not even a reason at all to hate someone, just hate."

Nathan was starting to get the dreadful feeling that this man in front of him, sticking up for the blacksmith, was not who he seemed to be. There was something about him that was smarter than most, able to see things with a sense of clarity that wasn't seen in other people. And then, just for a brief moment, he saw something terrible. So terrible that it felt like a living nightmare.

He saw himself and his posse paying George's family an unwanted visit…and killing them. This, in turn, drove George to come after them and beat them to death with his hammer, exacting brutal revenge for the unjust murder of his wife and children. However, this drove the rest of the community to kill George for their murder, taking him back to his workshop and driving railroad spikes into his body, one after another, and later cutting off his left hand and fastening his hammer to the stump. And then, as though he were looking into someplace that didn't exist anywhere in the here and now, he saw George walking through some enclosed space, covered from head-to-toe in the railroad spikes that had been driven into his body…and wielding his hammer with brutal force against a man that tried to defend another man against him, exhibiting a rage that was only matched by his desire for revenge for what was done to his family by Nathan himself…born out of hatred.

"Aah!" He gasped, backing away from Brother Correction.

What you saw just now, he heard the man's voice in his head, was what will come to pass if you continue to persist in your false accusations of Mr. Markley and those just like him and his family. If you kill because of hate…or jealousy…or…lust or whatever reason that isn't just, then you must be prepared to have your own life taken from you against your will by someone else that feels the hatred or whatever emotions that drive them to commit the same act of vengeance towards yourself. This, in turn, creates a vicious circle of hate and vengeance, drawing in many people from all over that can't see another solution to otherwise-fixable problems. Walk away, Nathan. Just walk away.

And so, Nathan stepped back, surprising George and his family, his face looking paler than usual, like he had been terrified by something, and ran off, as though he were trying to outrun someone.

Brother Correction turned to face George.

"Thank you, sir," George praised him.

"Don't mention it," he replied. "I don't like it when people do things like that to other people because of hatred or some other negative emotions that tarnish everyone involved. See you around, Mr. Markley."

Walking away, Brother Correction allowed himself another look into the future beyond today, but only a year from today, seeing that George and his family were still around…but Nathan and his crew had left the town in favor of a new venture. Apparently, the man had been so terrified by what he saw of George in the previous outcome had he continued to harass the blacksmith and felt that his own future was best lived away from the man. He smiled as he knew right then that George was going to be fine for now…until something else happened and he would need to affect the outcome so that it was positive instead of negative.

-x-

Epilogue

There was something truly to be said about blacksmiths. They were like the foundation for many of the industrial era because they put in the effort to create the bones of many buildings or vehicles. One such blacksmith was George Markley, who was an ancestor of a one John Henry Irons, a giant of a man that was once in the military as a weapons engineer…until a sonic cannon demonstration went south and caused several casualties and injuries to most involved. He walked away from the Army after his best friend was left paralyzed with broken legs, returned home to Los Angeles…and ended up having to go toe-to-toe with a street gang using several weapons he had developed for use in the military because someone dismissed from the Army became power-hungry and wanted to ramp up the arms race.

"I swear, half of these situations should be used to make new movies that lift people up to inspire them to resolve the turf wars or drugs being flooded into their communities like bad candy," Brother Correction sighs as he read the morning paper detailing the clearing of George's descendant of any wrongdoing caused by the street gang and their weapons backer. "A guy that makes a suit of armor to fight the gangs that threaten his city, becoming an urban hero to the people. Very impressive."

And due to this, the previous future he had witnessed was undone. The fallen spirit of George Markley, the man who would become the embodiment of violence known as the Hammer…had been exorcised from the plane of existence. The hammer was an object in history that served a dual purpose, as either a weapon to destroy…or as a tool to build. But the violence and bloodshed that had been intertwined with the creative nature and passion of construction…needed to stay in the past feuds of war and battle, not in the present of expansion and positive wonders.

"Maybe they'll do a film or television series about a blacksmith entrusted with Thor's hammer to help rebuild society," he joked to himself as he walked down the streets of the City of Angels toward his next destination: A toolworks shop where he could get another helpful object.

A/N: A neighbor's elderly relative's refusal to follow simple requests drove me to work on this to completion. I get that they're elderly and not as active as young people are, but whenever they're asked to do something and never listen, complaining that they need assistance when they really don't because they expect to be pampered or something just makes me want to do worse than yell at them. But as much as I keep myself from wanting to cross that line between being a good person and an abuser, this is just one person that I have to deal with that upsets me to no end when they don't listen and always expect to be assisted. What does that really say about me? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter until the next one is up.