The things you’ll see out there, it’s beyond anything you’ve seen. It holds so much more beyond these simple... things. That voice rang out in his head, echoing among the deep passages of the cavern that seemed to eventually lead into oblivion itself. A slow exhale as he sat on the edge of that platform, eyes watching the hidden, yet babbling creek that ran below him. It had been years since he had seen the Old Man. Years since he harbored doubts about his journey, his training, or simply doubts about himself. Well, no, that last one hadn’t been so long. A stone was traced with his fingers, metallic surface grinding down the pebble back to almost base nothingness as he attempted to search meaning within that void. It had been an eternity since he attempted to discern what the meaning of his training was. What he was supposed to do in life. Why he held onto the only piece of advice that’s isolated him more and more from those he’s met. The fingers relaxed their pressure as the stone dropped into that chasm, sawllowed by the void, and returned no answers. A long exhale followed that only served to further the silence he already sat in. “I wish I understood.” A wish, a fantasy, a constructed fake reality that he could place himself in. Somewhere he was smarter, somewhere he was stronger. Somewhere he was braver. Somewhere he belonged. His head dipped ever so slightly as he began to laugh in that old ruin. The damp cavern mixed with dusty stone that resultedi n the fueling of the dread that seemed to encompass his entire being. Smile for the world, because no-one else will. Her words were like a fire for the moth to come. A guiding beacon in that thick fog that had providd him direction for all of these years. But here? In this moment? He couldn’t smile. He couldn’t smile for the bats that lay dormant, watching him. He couldn’t smile for the abyss that greeted him with open arms from below. He couldn’t even smile for himself. “If you’re happy, they’ll be happy. When you smile, they will smile. Y’jus’ ‘ave ta take th’ step ta change ‘em all, Talan.” His voice, nearly dead in his throats, turned into a loud whisper as it bounced along the cavern’s walls. A single breath. “Things can change, ya jus’ ‘ave ta be th’ first step they choose ta be.” He had absentmindedly grinded down another pebble, pasuing the action as his mind drifted back to reality. He slowly stood up as he allowed it to drop over the edge. A truth he believed for so many years. A truth that was his defining piece of advice he kept close to his heart for his entire lifespan. He dusted himself off, tightened the straps on his armor, and began to journey deeper down the cavern. All those years I held that truth close to me. How many of them were simply a lie I never wanted to admit?
