You are curled up in your sleeping bag. The floor is hard. You have no pillow.
No one ever thought you might need one.
It is not hard to slip into sleep. Crickets are chirping. The warm summer wind blows from outside. You have been working hard all day.
No one gives you any reward for it.
Around you are your cabin mates. Some belong there. Some are only waiting to move.
No one has ever told you where you belong.
The stars twinkle in the sky outside. The moon shines gently. The cape of darkness is spread out over the world.
No one will lift the cape of darkness on your soul.
Your cabin mates are already asleep. They are happy.
No one has ever bothered to check on your happiness.
You are dreaming now, in both the literal sense and the figurative sense.
No one has come for you. No one cares. No one will bother.
No one is there.
You are sleeping like a log.
He could enter your dreams tonight, do you know that? Maybe he will.
Of course he's evil. He's evil made into a person. He's tried to kill heroes so many times. If he came into your dreams, trying to bend you away from goodness…
At least he would care.
You don't know who around you is already his, who is a spy, who is a traitor. Who has fallen. Who has agreed. Who has joined him.
They have someone who cares.
And even if he did come for you, it would be a ploy. He wouldn't want you for you. He would just want another soldier in his army. You'd just be another life to him.
He sounds a lot like the gods.
Your mind is wandering. It is sleeping. It is dreaming.
You are dreaming even when you are awake.
Who will come for you? What god will claim you? What cabin will you be in?
Will they come for you? Will they claim you? Will you move to your real cabin?
You know the answer.
You know it in your soul.
All around you are heroes. They all believe-they all know- they will go on quests, they will be legends, they will be loved.
You know the truth.
You were born into the life you live now. You were born to be a hero. The Fates spun out your thread long ago. You are destined for greatness.
No one seems to have asked you what you want to do.
You used not to believe in destiny. It seems much easier now that you know what yours is.
No one cares if you don't want to be a hero.
That's the difference between them and him.
One of them gives you a destiny.
The other one gives you a choice.
Maybe he will enter your dreams. Maybe he will make you false promises. Maybe he will tell you lies.
Maybe they'll do the same thing. But they'll do it in the daytime.
He's giving you a choice. Good or evil. Slavery or freedom. Life or death. Them or him.
They're giving you a statement. Good. Life. Slavery.
It doesn't matter what's spun. It can always be unraveled.
Maybe he's in your dreams right now. Maybe he's asking you. Maybe you're thinking.
Maybe you're saying no. Maybe you're choosing the light. Maybe you're accepting your fate. Maybe you're giving in to the life the gods have chosen for you. Maybe you're ignoring him. Maybe you're choosing the lies of the day over the lies of the night. Maybe you can't hear what we're saying.
Maybe you're saying yes.