Sacrifice
I remember it was the last time we fought together and I remember it still as if it were yesterday,the sound of a thousand strong army,victorious and proud,having forged victory from the very ashes of despair.
I remember seeing him standing there,majestic and tall,eminating that confident aura that all who knew him admired and respected,he had seen many victories in his life,yet if you looked hard and I mean really looked,you could see a faint sadness in his wise eyes,it never used to be there,for his life had been filled with joy. I remember standing there and looking back at the life we had shared together,trying to remember where or what could have caused his silent burden.
For I knew his secret,how he came to be in my lands and the legacy he had to fulfill,and so I shall tell you his story,and in telling it live part of it again,in my heart at least.
No-one really knew where he came from but it was long talked about as to how he came to be here,for it was Jadespear who pulled the small cloth bundle from the lake and with trembling fingers untied it to find a newborn,no-one believed him of course for the child was alive and breathing,and no magic could be so powerfull as to cause such a miracle. Jadespear was insistant,and raised the child as his own,when he was old enough the child was trained in the arts of war and diplomacy and became the young man I first met in the caves below Buya.
His zest for life was something I will never forget,everything was new,the lands had so much to offer him,and his natural talent for the blade combined with his tactician mind gave him many oppurtunities to prove himself,which he did many times over.
Ah,but the wilderness,I remember when the guards first let the community explore there,such beauty and such untamed majesty.
I remember the monkeys and I also remember the power they possessed,yet the young warrior seemed to thrive on danger,my healing skills were poor,yet we learnt to become a team and he always looked out for me no matter the danger.
We had so much fun back then as so many people did,the land was new and we were learning to be part of it,I remember the ice beasts and the heroes who fell time and time again to hold them back from Buya and Kugnae,I remember they were too much for the young warrior,yet even through his pain and weeks of healing he laughed as he recalled the thrill of that fight.
It wasn`t long after he healed that he was offered positions of authority,all of which he accepted,and I knew it wouldn`t be long before something good came of it.
We had shared so many adventures by now,yet time had moved on so fast and we were carried along with the winds,as the wars came and the Nexus changed I saw less of him,and it was hard for both of us,yet he was duty bound and the lands needed him.
I believed that,and so did he.
My fondest memory of him was in the sunken grove,we spent a great deal of time there,and he would tell me of his dreams.
He told me once of a dream he had of his parents,and how they had told him to be strong,and that he would have another chance.
I knew there was more to tell,yet he would never say,and in the days running up to that final battle I saw a differant man,I know they say that power corrupts but he was a good man,yet the burden placed upon him was immense and it did change him,for too many men had died in this war already,and they all looked to him for guidance,I cannot imagine what he must of felt behind his confident eyes.
I shouted to him,but the cheers of the warrior hordes made it impossible for him to hear me,he handed a letter to one of his men and turned from the army he had led and walked into the wilderness.
They found his armor and his clothes besides a lake,in the sunken grove,yet his body was never found,some blamed the Zibong,others whisper of the grove being haunted,yet I know the truth.
I will always question why I never followed him that day, if I had known I would of held him back, yet in hindsight knowing what I know now, that would of been selfish.
As I watched him walk away,I was aware of a robed figure by my side an old man,he stood and watched and he was smiling,a kind smile that made me wonder who this man was.
He spoke at last,and I will never forget his words for they changed my life,forever.
He told me that the balance requires certain conditions to function,that these conditions in mankind were called fate,and every living person had a fate.
He took my arm and led me away from the field and all the while he told me of history and of those who suffered so that others could have a better life,sacrifice is what turns the wheel of humanity he said.
Yet I remember we stopped at a crossroad,and he turned to me and spoke one last time,he spoke of fates reward and how the land repays the community,and he told me that those who live out their last days in sorrow are sometimes granted another chance at life,through the Nexus in a new form and with a new life.
I never saw that old man again,yet his words stuck with me,and they carried me through the sorrow and loneliness that was to follow and it gave me hope.
For the truth is,when I looked hard,and I mean really hard into the eyes of a fledgling warrior,or a energetic infant,I could see something there,but it wasn`t sadness now,it was life and it is when I understood the cycle of life and the meaning of fate,that I knew my husband had been given his second chance of happyness,on that day and upon that battlefield,he had served fate and fate had gave him his freedom.
What of me?,the old man said we all have a fate to fulfill,I know i will meet my young warrior again one day,untill then I train the young and show them the wonders of this amazing world,a world that so many had worked hard to make.
I understand it now.