The Legend of Amirin: A Modern Myth

Plíenich was not a man. Neither was he a creature nor a being, but he was certainly not a deity. He was, perhaps, an entity, but then, he could not be described by any pronoun if he was. No, Plíenich was no entity. He was something that most men of this world have not yet explored and even less understand. He was the only one of his kind on his world, though there is one of his kind on every world (men of Earth would favor the term “universe”) that exists. Most men hated him, and rightly so.

Plíenich had not existed forever. No one on his world, Conaín, knew when he had begun. Many said that he would never end, but the wise ones of every age said that nay, something that had begun had to end. Only things that had never begun could never end. Even so, Plíenich’s eventual end was only a small comfort to those who found themselves plagued by him. Indeed, most men thought that he would drag the world down with him when he finally ceased to exist.

It was not so. Plíenich’s very life-force, if it could be called that, was tied to Conaín and unable to exist without it. Plíenich despised his dependence upon his world, however. He wished to exist for all eternity, but that was against his very nature. He could exist only as long as Conaín did.

The misunderstanding that most men of Conaín had was that Plíenich was a killer and a thief. He was not; he merely delivered those who escaped the grasp of the true thief to him in good time. (The Thief has the same name on every world.)

Many people were found and taken by the Thief long before there was a need for Plíenich to seek them. The Thief could take many forms, such as disease, hatred, and disaster. Those who knew that Plíenich was not the Thief often thought that he was one of the Thief’s forms, but nay, Plíenich was of his own mind and will.

There was only one man on Conaín who was ever known to escape the Thief in all his forms and never meet Plíenich either. His name was Amirin, and like Plíenich, he didn’t end until Conaín did.

Worlds are stranger than most men find it in their hearts or minds to believe. A world has not three dimensions but four, although “dimension” is not correct because a dimension is something that is seen and can be measured. The fourth “Dimension,” as it shall be called, is not a physical or measurable amount of space. It is like a sheet, a world on top of and inside of and all throughout another world so the two are nearly one and the same. Beings such as angels and demons and the like (for on Conaín there are many lesser but similar creatures that move in the Dimension as well) dwell in this Dimension, and they may interact with everything in the first three dimensions even though the other dimensions cannot touch it. (So now you will see that “sheet” is not correct at all. There is no correct term.)

As for Amirin, he lived his life within the first three dimensions much like many others who were not plagued by the Thief. He became first a child, then a pupil, and soon a man, a husband, and a father. He was not great; merely a citizen of his country. But in the eyes of those who knew him he was greater than all, for he was thoughtful and kind, and most of all he was filled with love.

Amirin had no doubt of the fourth dimension. He did not understand it, and if he had he would have been the only one who understood it. He knew of it, though, and he knew that one day he would understand it fully. And so as he grew old, old even for a man followed by Plíenich throughout his days, and as Plíenich took all whom Amirin had known, Amirin began to seek the fourth Dimension more and more.

One day he found himself in it. And there he stayed, learning and loving, until Conaín met its end, for Plíenich has no power in the fourth Dimension.

It could be argued that Plíenich did catch his prey in the end, but it is not so. Amirin continued into the Everlasting; Plíenich could not follow him there. Of course, one could say that all men escaped Plíenich once Conaín ended, because all men continued into the Everlasting just the same as Amirin. Amirin was only different because he didn’t have to go through Plíenich first.

Plíenich does not exist anymore. Conaín has passed away, and Plíenich and Death of Conaín with it. The same will one day be said of Time, the Plíenich of Earth. Then all men of Earth will continue into the Everlasting as well, and neither Death nor Time will be able to follow.