Earthless

There was a very lonely man. The loneliest man still alive they say. One night, he found himself deep in the forest. He made a fire with sticks and pinecones. The fire took his thoughts from him and floated them to the treetops. He could hear them echoing down the mountains. He could see them making the leaves stir. They were not surprising to the man - he had seen & heard his thoughts a thousand times. He had felt them hollowing out his heart, making a little canoe of it, to float down the stream of his tears. Yes, he knew these sad thoughts very well.

But to the Owl of the Vagabonds, this man was singing the sweetest it had ever heard. The Owl came and perched on the tree above the man's head. It sat and listened for a long time. The loneliest man knew nothing of the Owl of the Vagabonds. He knew nothing about being NightWorthy, but he knew indeed what fire meant. It was not cold that night in the forest. He had built the fire to keep him company. He had built it to empty his head and heart. When the fire grew low, the man's song came to an end. This was when the Owl tried to call to him.

"Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you?" said the Owl.

The man raised his head. It was the saddest song he had ever heard. It rang of a solitude eons old.

The Owl called again: "Who cooks for you? I do!"

The man began to cry. His heart collapsed heavy. He did not know that he had just become NightWorthy. He did not realize he was never to be alone again. All he knew was that the Owl sang the saddest song - it snowballed into his own sadness and the world became a sad place. At that moment, he could no longer bear it. Slashing at his wrists, he freed his spirit. It floated up to the sky in a burst of magic. The Owl of the Vagabonds leapt from its perch and seized the soul with its talons. It dragged it back to the earth and then devoured it whole.

The Owl now had the man's song beating in its own heart. It sang this song the rest of the night. The Owl knew that this song was always and forever to be its favorite. But the Owl was also wise - wisest of the wise on high. He knew he could not keep this song for long. He knew this song needed to be shared with the world. When the dawn came, the Owl of the Vagabonds passed the soul as a pellet. This pellet was a perfect piece of coal. This piece of coal grew into a man.

This man was Coal Preacher.