The legends

He looked at me. Opened his mouth and closed it again.

I was silent.

"Happy Birthday!" he said, but I knew he wanted to say something else.

I hugged him. Nodded to him.
He needed to say what he needed to say. I already knew the words he was about to say, but he didn't know that.

"The legends are true," he spoke it. "You have to die. Otherwise ... the people will die."

I had known this legend for an eternity, and yet for the first time it touched me when he spoke it.

"You must go."

I strode away, into the lonely mist.