Master...
By Nightsong
What am I? I am… nothing. I
can barely even think any more. I used to be normal. I owned a store. I was
engaged. Why did I give that up? I gave it all up for a black cloak and a
vision of a warrior. Beyond a warrior. A master. The vision bade me come, and I must come. I left
my home without a word to any. Just threw on this shroud and started walking. I
have no supplies. No food, no shelter. Just these visions.
I have come to the
northlands in search of him. The master of my visions.
There are others like me. They do not speak. I do not speak. We forever march
on. Why are we doing this? What drives us? I cannot ask the question. All I can
do is walk. One foot in front of the other… to darkness.
I'm not hungry. I should be.
It has been months since I left. Why haven't my friends come after me? What of
my fiancee? I had a life before this! Now there is
only the master. Why do I not hunger? Why don't I stop? I want to. I can't. I
can't stop. The master bids me onward. I can't disobey. I have no will.
I am a puppet. My strings
have been tugged, and I am pulled to the master. Why can't I stop.
I am tired. I don't wish to be here. The cold… I have entered a monstrous
crater. It swallows up my hopes and dreams. Monsters surround me. I'm scared.
Let me run away. Please. I can't run. I continue, deeper into the darkness.
There are people with me.
Who were they? What did they give up? Do they want to run from here? What has
happened to us? I wish I could curse the master, scream horrible things and
spit in his face. I can't. All I can do is march, his
voice beckoning me onward. The voice… who is he? He's almost like a part of me.
It's as though I'm him… or is he me? But that can't be right. I am an
individual. I had a life. I had friends, a family, a
woman who loved me. I was. All of that is gone now. There is only the march. I
would give anything to go back.
At least it will be over
soon. I can see where the master beckons now. A cliff.
His will, my will, is to leap from it, to be swallowed up by the intermingling
light and darkness. The lifestream…
and the jagged rocks that I will fall upon. All of
this, for his glory. Why? I don't want to die. Please, I don't want to
fall. Such a long way down. I can't stop walking. I
can't stop.
I had a life, but it has
been taken.
I had a voice, but I am
muted.
I had a will, but it has
been bent.
I had it all, but it was
always his.
It's clear now. As I prepare
for the fall, it is made clear.
I am nothing. A clone of the master. Made in his image
to die in his image. Why? For his glory. But I
had a life, I did. No no no,
don't want to fall. Stop walking. Stop stop stop!! I can't stop. One foot over the
edge. The other follows all to quickly. The air whipping around me. I want to scream. I can't. Even
now, he is my will. The ground nears me. It's going to hurt. I wish I'd gotten
married. I wish I'd told my family I love them. I was close to a perfect life.
I took it for granted. But now, I am noth-
.
