โ ย i saw then how i had changed.ย โ
โ ย name one hero who was happy โ you canโt. ย โ
โ ย i feel like i could eat the world raw. ย โ
โ ย you are half my soul, as the poets say. ย โ
โ ย i have no need to forgive you. you cannot offend me. ย โ
โ ย i do not fear ridicule. i never have. ย โ
โ ย you have always trusted so easily; you have had so little in your life to fear or suspect. ย โ
โ ย do you hear me? please, say something. ย โ
โ ย your face is like quicksilver, always racing to something new. you unsettle me. ย โ
โ ย you do not give things up so easily now as you once did. ย โ
โ ย now i know how to make you follow me everywhere. ย โ
โ ย i would know your face in dark or disguise. i would know it even in madness.ย โ
โ ย there is no law that gods must be fair. ย โ
โ ย i have never seen anyone fight the way you do. ย โ
โ ย our dead come for their vengeance regardless of witnesses. ย โ
โ ย the sorrow was so large it threatened to tear through my skin. ย โ
โ ย when you die, all things soft and beautiful and bright would be buried with you. ย โ
โ ย you were always better with words than i. ย โ
โ ย i will never leave you. it will be this, always, for as long as you will let me. ย โ
โ ย you smile, and your face is like the sun. ย โ
โ ย i thought you were โ something. you do not โ you do not move like a human.ย โ
โ ย do you want to walk up to the woods?ย โ
โ ย you canโt be very wounded if you can stand for so long. ย โ
โ ย there are no bargains between lion and men. i will kill you and eat you raw. ย โ
โ ย we are like gods at the dawning of the world. ย โ
โ ย nothing could eclipse the stain of this dirty, mortal mediocrity. ย โ
โ ย i yearn for the darkness and silence of the underworld, where i can rest. ย โ
โ ย those seconds, half seconds, that the line of our gaze connected, were the only moment in my day that i felt anything at all. ย โ
โย you seem utterly unaware of your effect on the people around you. ย โ
โ ย it was almost like fear, in the way it filled me, rising in my chest. it was almost like tears, in how swiftly it came. ย โ
โ ย you are a weapon, a killer. do not forget it. ย โ
โย i have heard that men who live by a waterfall cease to hear it โ in such a way did i learn to live beside the rushing torrent of my doom. ย โ
โ ย if you have to go, you know i will go with you. ย โ
โ ย there is no one like you. ย โ
โย we have given each other wounds, but they are not mortal. ย โ
โ ย and perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone.ย โ
โ ย who can be ashamed to lose to such beauty? it is enough to watch you win.ย โ
โย do not let what you have gained this day be so easily lost. ย โ
โ ย you have killed them and taken your vengeance. it is enough.ย โ
โ ย no man is worth more than another, wherever he is from. ย โ
โ ย strange that such a small kindness feels like grace. ย โ
โ ย you can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature. ย โ
โ ย i cannot bear to see you grieving. ย โ
โย iย remember little more than scattered images from my life then. ย โ
โ ย i would recognize you by touch alone, by smell; i would know you blind, by the way your breaths came and your feet struck the earth. i would know you in death, at the end of the world. ย โ
โ ย i see a dozen men here ready to leap on each otherโs throats. ย โ
โ ย in my land a bow is marked as the weapon of cowards. ย โ
โ ย you may still make a good person. ย โ
โ ย you donโt bother to threaten me, yet. i should be worth threatening. ย โ
โ ย the memories well up like springwater, faster than i can hold them back. ย โ
โ ย i hoped that you would come. ย โ
โ ย the voices of the dead were said to have the power to make the living mad. ย โ
โย i have weathered the anger of gods before. ย โ
โ ย i thought of how many nights i had lain awake in this room, loving you in silence. ย โ
โ ย there is nothing in the world i want more than to know what you had not said. ย โ
โ ย you will never gain fame from your fighting. does this surprise you?ย โ
โ ย my mind is filled with cataclysm and apocalypse: i wish for earthquakes, eruptions, flood. only that seems large enough to hold all of my rage and grief.ย โ
โ ย i will not cry in front of you. ย โ
โย listen to me. you go too far in this. i will not be able to protect you.ย โ
โ ย there is no honor in betraying your friends. ย โ
โ ย iโm afraid I have been prompted by a rare stirring of guilt. ย โ
โ ย i promised myself that if i ever saw you again, i would keep my thoughts behind my eyes. ย โ
โ ย i did not want you to see my fear, though normally we kept nothing from each other. ย โ
โ ย gods and mortals never mix happily in our stories. ย โ
โ ย you will be dead soon enough. ย โ
โ ย you are destroying yourself. you will not be loved for this, you will be hated, and cursed. ย โ
โ ย you left yourself today. and now you are returned. ย โ
โ ย you are a better person than i. ย โ
โ ย whatever you do, i shall stand with you, as i always have.ย โ
โ ย you have looked at me a thousand thousand times, but there is something different in this gaze, an intensity i do not know. ย โ
โ ย my life is my reputation. it is all i have. ย โ
โย may i give you some advice? if you are truly his friend, you will help him leave this soft heart behind. ย โ
โ ย what are you thinking about?ย โ
โ ย even the boldest of people would whisper a prayer if they brushed against me. ย โ
โ ย the keen edge of my envy was like flint, a spark away from fire. ย โ
โ ย do you think we fight hopeless wars?ย โ
โ ย it is strange, that you would speak against betrayal. ย โ
โ ย if every soldier killed only those whoโd personally offended him, weโd have no wars at all. ย โ
โย no one has ever tried to take something from me. ย โ
โ ย stay behind me. ย โ
โ ย will you help me put the rest of my armor on?ย โ
โย yourย face is blank and barren, like another language, impenetrable. ย โ
โ ย i am here because i believe that we will win. i am staying until the end. ย โ
โ ย your presence is like a stone in my shoe, impossible to ignore. ย โ
โ ย he is not worthy of you. he never has been. ย โ
โ ย will you tell me who hurt you?ย โ
โย it is like a nightmare; i expect, each moment, to wake to relief. but there is no waking. ย โ
โ ย i do not need to prove myself to you. to any of you. ย โ
โ ย you have always thought too much of yourself. ย โ
โ ย some men gain glory after they die, while others fade. ย โ
โ ย even here, behind the darkness of my eyelids, i cannot name the thing i hope for. ย โ
โ ย our joy is so bright we can see nothing else but the other. ย โ
โ ย you have a tender heart. an admirable quality, surely. ย โ
โ ย you are spring, golden and bright. envious death would drink your blood, and grow young again. ย โ
โ ย i will not be the raven on your shoulder all the time, predicting gloom. ย โ
โ ย you look different in sleep, beautiful but cold as moonlight. ย โ
โ ย when there is greed, there is hope.ย โ
โ ย i could have told you more, of the dreams that leave me bleary and bloodshot, the almost-screams that scrape my throat as i swallow them down. ย โ
โ ย you are angry, and not without reason. ย โ
โย you feel mislead; you were promised victory. ย โ
โ ย you know, itโs funny; i keep thinking iโve seen you before. ย โ