It's about a poor person who won the Grand Festival. One of those drabbles that takes a sizeable amount of effort to write. Sorry, this one is full of strange metaphors, but I hope you like it anyway.
I felt wonderful writing this.
The mood, I say, the mood!
Flame Of My Dreams
The pain flashed before me. The tears, the passionate shouts full of fire, the persistent remembrance at the back of my mind of a home on the brink of falling to pieces.
From a dark broken home I had emerged, cradling a glimmering candle of hope that I would win it a new life. With nothing but that hope, my journey began.
Every moment was bright and powerful, every step full of assurance that it was taking me in the right direction. They sped me on towards a light in the distance, a towering staircase where my dream awaited me.
The sweat, the determination, the near misses it had taken me, to break through the barriers and arrive at the grand stage, the summit of my arduous journey! The rivers of sweat had rained from my forehead, tears mingled with aching shouts full of rage. The tears were my price for weakening and faltering. Past the painful defeats and spurned attempts I had finally flown, broken wings taking to a crystal sky with no ceiling.
The toil, ah, the toil! The minutes had slipped away like shifting sands. But there was no use in hanging onto past sufferings. Onwards, I always told myself, onwards to whatever the future held—I was like an arrow on fire. The turmoil and rage came repeatedly to engulf me in cold despair—but I flew, I flew like the beat of an angel's wings, swept myself up from rising waters and held myself together as the journey went on.
Finally, the chance had arrived. I had given it everything I could possibly have given from myself, from my soul. My companions soared, spiralled, sang their hearts to the sun, and at last it had come to this final moment. This final, shivering, resonantly vibrating moment, where I would take the crown.
And the blazing light exploded upon the earth like a shimmering ray from heaven, beckoning the force of the sun inwards. Without fail. As always, without fail. The rays burnt away, and left the victor standing. My companion. Our side. I felt an overpowering wave of glory course over my life, like an everlasting, breathtaking sunrise.
I blinked, and all the pain was gone. All the anger, and frustration, and defeat--the shadows of yesterday, it was all gone as the page turned, and a new life bloomed beautifully upon the fallen waste. That lasting image of a broken home was all that lingered, and it filled my heart with joyful tears, tears that cut the darkness.
No more. You will suffer no more.
I reached out to touch the wavering picture, which scattered beneath my fingers.
The sun was bright as the roar of ecstasy and amazement poured from the stands and bathed me in warm radiance. The golden metal was cool in my hands, blessed, like I was holding the substance of my every dream, materialised.
But it was so much more. As I stood amidst the pouring sunshine and the laughter of a thousand people, I felt the chains of sadness falling away. The spotlight descended and I knew that the dreams of whole generations had been fulfilled. They rested upon the shoulders of those who had fought by my side—they had won a new life for us all.
The curtains fell, and the world was mine. The glorious, bright world we had watched from within a shadow, for which we had fought five tiring years to achieve—a world that renewed my blood and poured strength into my veins.
A new sun rose, and the world was aflame like a torch within the mountains, lighting up this new life that had started for me.
Yes, like I said. It's the mood that's important here.