“You made it, Giannis. I’ve been expecting you.”
Giannis narrowed his eyes, trying in vain to make out any detail of the speaker. After so long in the dimly-lit corridors of the temple, his vision was dazzled by the purity of the bright white light.
The man (god?) walked closer, but the chamber he resided in was of great size, and it would take him a while to reach Giannis. So Giannis stepped over the threshold and also began to walk towards him. It was only, then, a matter of seconds before Giannis was able to identify the being he had journeyed so long to reach.
“Scottie Pippen!”
“Judging by your surprise, the visions I bestowed upon you were too obscure for you to guess who you were going to meet,” Scottie said with a deep belly-laugh. “But I admire your perserverence. There are many who would turn back in the face of such uncertainty.”
“It just felt…important, somehow, I guess,” Giannis said lamely, not knowing how to act in front of one of his idols. The intense light seemed to grow stronger still, leaving them standing in a heavenly pool of white. “So you brought me here?”
Scottie nodded. “Yes. I sent one of my wardens to retrieve you while you took part in that little contest of yours. The name escapes me at the moment.”
“Bradley Center Bratwurst Barbarity,” Giannis supplied, feeling very foolish. The contest and his teammates seemed a whole lifetime away. In a sense, maybe they were.
“Yes, that was it. You mortals find the most clever ways to amuse yourselves! Anyway, you must wonder why you were chosen over all others for an excursion to my world.”
Giannis nooded his head, not daring to speak, lest he utter the wrong words and cause Scottie to withhold the explanation.
“It is quite simple, actually. In you, I see me.”
“Me?” Giannis asked, surprised. “Not Klay Thompson? Not Andrew Wiggins?”
“Your humility is admirable, Giannis, but it is also misplaced. Do you really think that I, the one who has conquered mortality to reign immortally on a star borne of his own mind, could misjudge talent so grievously?”
Given Scottie’s credentials both as a player and as a deity, Giannis could not argue. “Okay, I accept your assessment of my skills. But there must be some other reason why you chose me to travel to this farthest of places.”
“Now you’re catching on,” Scottie said amiably. “I did have some advice that I wanted to give you, and it seemed appropriate to impart it in person.”
Giannis leaned in, eager to hear Scottie’s wise words.
“Success comes to those who are patient. Those who reach out for it in haste and greed may find that it will retreat from their grasp.”
Giannis pondered these words. Their meaning was apparent to him, but that meaning ran counter to everything he knew about succeeding, both in basketball and in life.
Scottie smiled. “I see into you, Giannis, and I know that you doubt my words. I understand that doubt! Keep my message close to your heart, that is all I ask.”
The brilliant light had dimmed, and now, looking up, Giannis could see a hole, a skylight, in the ceiling above them. The eclipse of the unknown sun, defying time and physics by maintaining its presence for Giannis’ entire time in this dimension, still hung in the firmament, surrounded by purple sky.
Even as Giannis watched, the eclipse changed hue, and the black center was replaced by a swirling blue vortex, similar in nature to the portal which had served as his entry to this space.
“It is time for our paths to diverge, Giannis,” Scottie said, somewhat sadly. “I must stay in my realm, and you must return to yours. Even though we will part, we will remain together…forever.”
“Wait…!” Giannis exclaimed, but Scottie had turned and was walking away, back into the light. Then, Giannis felt his feet lifted off the floor, and he was drawn towards the cerulean portal. He felt no panic, though, only calm, as he lifted his head and stared into the dimensional rift. He knew he would never, could never, return to this place in his lifetime. Tears bidden by revelations of great magnitude flowed down his face, and he whispered the final words that he would utter in this dimension.
“Thank you.”