Artemesia Family/Jared
Penitent Hero
The hero has wandered far, in the name of friendship now long forgotten, in the name of peace, now an ideal long discarded, in the name of bloodlust, now a sin long reconciled. his home is but a faraway memory of a place somewhere in his dreams. He had done his part, served as the silent but loyal follower, a hero to the people known not by his pomp but by his lack thereof. But those with the louder cries bellowed forth to fame and material glory while he remained only another silent follower. Battle became a sour taste to him, for he was but only a cog in the art of warfare, and as a cog, even good function was overlooked. He traveled to the east, to the land where the sun rose, where new opportunity awaited. He did it for one he deemed a friend, but also to leave behind his past as the silent killing machine called 'Hero'. But if only his heart was not human, he could have waved away the words of a woman he so admired, and continued his search for peace, or to resume his duties as this thing called 'Hero'. But no, his spirit was rendered confused, and he left to the land of war, where his bloodlust consumed. Bloodthirst when unquenched for too long leads to insanity. Nothing. He had become a null factor, a simple cog once more. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
And then he dreamed, the dreams of the ancestor. He looked once, at the sun overhead, and he realized his path was not the path of the hero, but the path of death. Thus ever he vowed to walk the earth, ever searching for release from the one word that forever haunts him: 'Hero'.
Twilit Sentinel
Nathan, dearest brother of my father, it was you who had inspired my wish to become the Hero of Good, Champion of Righteousness, Protector of Justice. But never did I think that those three ideals: Goodness, Righteousness, and Justice, would be independent. What is Right need not always be Just; what is Just need not always be Right; most of all, what is Right and Just not always mean Good. Before I could ask how you answered the questions I discovered, you fell, nameless, and your deeds were forgotten. My heroism was not my own, Nathan. My deeds were all in your name, for it was you who deserved recognition for your heroism, while I was always the coward paralyzed in hesitation.
No longer, Nathan. Had it not come to pass that you fell victim to the curse, and your body forced to continue walking the earth, fighting only to seek one powerful enough to kill you at last, to give you peace. What fateful irony that I would be the one who would unwittingly give you the peace you sought. Yet it was no victory to celebrate. Unknown in life, you fell in battle; nameless in death, you fell to your nephew. But the axe you carried even in the undeath shall not fall to rust. Ever now it will be a testament to the unbreakable will of heroism, though my reconciliation is yet incomplete.
In this darkened path I once feared I walked to the maw of night. Would I be lost in the scream of darkness? Then I saw at last the light that shone through the veil of darkness and blood the Prince made me create. The White Maiden stood before me, and when I gazed upon her, I was ever surprised at who I saw.
The girl will grow to be a wonder upon this land. No power, be it the Prince and his maddening bloodfury, or the unending and relentless undead, or the ferocious beasts of the wilds, will reach the girl. She is the one last flickering flame in the cold night that beckons to me. And in time, this girl will grow to bring the dawn. Thus ever I swear that in this small glowing twilight, I shall ever be vigilant, that my will never shall falter. Goodness, Righteousness, Justice: The unification shall sustain my body as I shield the final light against the winds of darkness.
04/19/2009: Into the twilit paths enshrouded by darkness, Jared donned the daggerless cloak.
The path he walked is not the path I chose/ Thus he told me not to believe her/ Yet how could he know the name of mine/ Was yet my own and not his own mirror?
