When humanity is threatened only the super powered might of the Toronto Maple Leafs can be counted on to save the day. As the summer begins to fade and the days get shorter anticipation begins to boil. As broken hearts mend and line up to be broken all over again there are still some things undone, some conflicts holding out against logic and resolution. For one ostensible Leaf the conflict is immediate. 

Mitch Marner stares at the three gems in front of him, still and silent as he has been for the last  few hours? Days? Mitch is not sure how long he’s been in the cavern, what he is sure of is that he is taking a gem. He just can’t decide which. The stones are beautiful but that is beside the point. The point is power as it always is and each of these gems gleams with the promise of power. Still searching for the sign that will guide his fate for the next few years, Mitch does not have time to squander on frivolity but he does not rush his choice.

The red gem will give his attack abilities added flame damage. The blue gem will grant near immunity to electric damage. The green gem will enhance his evasion abilities beyond his already impressive level. All useful power boosts, but Mitch can only take one. It is a difficult choice.

Several times already Mitch has picked up his phone to call his friends and teammates on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Each time he has stopped himself before dialing. It has been a long summer of solitude for Mitch. Of course he’s been keeping up to date on all the happenings in the wider world, but he has felt like an outsider looking in as opposed to being directly involved. the hardest part has been watching friends leave. He can’t help but wonder if he had found his sign sooner maybe things would be different.

Those are the thoughts Mitch works to ignore. It is no good wondering how things might be different. Things are what they are. Mitch hasn’t found his sign yet. He thought it would be simple but it isn’t. He still has complete faith, it’s the patience that occasionally eludes him. These thoughts run through his mind a million times as he picks up each gem one at a time and studies it. Eventually he will have to make a choice.

Even if he could slot more than one gem at a time, he still needs to choose since the ritual protecting the cavern for millenia will only allow a single gem to pass the seal on the entry. Worse, once he leaves the cavern it will drift to a new plane of existence never to return. So Mitch stares at the gems hoping that one of them will call out to him.

The fleeting worry that he might end up shifting to another plane himself if he takes too long has Mitch sweating. He knows that there is little chance of that. He knows that his bond to this reality is strong. It would take a misstep of insane and gargantuan proportions for Mitch to end up in any other world. But fear does strange things over time. Mitch shakes his head as if the act would remove his doubts. If only he had found his sign already. Or perhaps the sign has been in him the whole time. Perhaps his truth has always belonged to him, has always been his to determine. Time is an illusion, a construct designed to contain the eternal flow of energy through space, but it is not eternal.

[Editors Note: I did not want to keep writing Mitch stories ALL SUMMER! I honestly thought I might get three or four. Please just put us out of our misery Mitch. PLEASE!!!!]