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There once were two children.
Two children, with minds which loved another.
Once upon a time the ocean stopped for mortality.
Mortality in the shape of a woman.
One blissful day a child was born of wisdom.
Wisdom borne child who walked hand in hand with war and wove a tapestry the Fates did eye.
One blissful day a child was born of seafoam.
Seafoam borne child who walked with feet skipping in currents and broken threads drawing the Fates eyes.
Divinity touched children once were born.
Born of racing thoughts and crashing waves.
One upon a time two children met in a storm.
In a storm of water and war which swept across the world.
Two children met and the broken threads trailed into the tapestry being woven.
And their fingers touched.
Once upon a time the world ended (for him).
Once upon a time the world ended (for her).
Once upon a time the world began anew with two children stepping forward to face the world and reclaim the end.
Everything changed.
Nothing changed.
A tapestry woven of broken threads clasped destiny in their hands.
The light of tragedy trailed from their fingers.
An ancient evil stirred and heard their breaths.
And love, pure and sweet and surviving the odds saved the world.
Look at the waves, how they meet the shore. Look at the trees, how the fire consumes them. Look at yourself, and know your Fate is inevitable.
That is how they met.
Children began the end and the beginning.
Children with soft skin and red blood.
Children, treasured things. Children are small, delicate, unknowing. Bright eyes shine out and stare at the world. Even marred by abandonment, death, shame, and pain—bright eyes shine.
For the world is there and so are they. And they are children.
They can grow.
They were children, with hopeful souls and breathless awe.
They were children, refusing the world when it said give up.
They were children, and that made all the difference.
Oh child, blonde and black bent together as they perched in their seats.
Oh child, born of raging winds and crashing waves and blood soaked plans and wild ideas.
Oh child, you were born with golden ichor in your veins.
Why do you bleed red?
The threads of fate wove through their fingers, tangling into the tapestry she wove. Broken threads connected them, shaped by the relentless sea, tamed by mortal love.
Their Fates had come for them.
They were not yet Divine.
But they were yet Godly.
Spools of eternity waited for them. Shaper mover maker. Warrior thinker weaver.
Conflict was born an eternity before them. Conflict shaped by fools and pride. Conflict hardened by those who died.
And yet.
Yet.
What is Hate in the face of Fate.
.
..
…
….
Now matching breath for breath, eyes locked in moonlight and oceanlight, hold your breath.
Dive deep, hands clasped, and trust.
Trust as you fall into the depths, a bubble forms, the water rises. Trust in the hand that guides you through the water. Trust the voice whispering “it will be okay” “the future is still possible” “I won’t let the monsters get you”. Trust in the hope, in the love… don’t trust the despair.
He is there for you.
She is there for you.
You have each other, even as you fall deeper than ever before.
Fall, and know you will be caught.
As the Ocean carries the Earth so too with the seafoam carry you.
Face the trials, oh child, oh children, oh borne of divine and mortal love alike. Face the trials and hold fast.
Hand in hand, step in step, steady breaths matched.
Enmity may rise, a wall in your path.
But what is a Wall to Fate’s Call.
The Quests will come, trials for divinity to be. Now face them child, children, as you face all else. Face them with hands clasped and love in your heart. For mercy is offered for those with hearts true and hope earnest.
Even Death has a heart, a flower by their side.
So hold your love in your heart, guard it with body and mind. Ancient enmity rises and whispers, claws prying for that heart. Whispers seeking cracks to dig into.
It’s not fair, they whisper.
Life isn’t fair, they whisper.
Don’t you wish things were different, they whisper.
They don’t whisper of the violence they will use.
They don’t whisper of their plans when they rule.
They don’t whisper of the hatred in their veins.
Life is not fair, you know this.
Oh child, oh children, you know this well.
Life isn’t fair, so make it fair.
Hand in hand they faced the Lord of the Dead. The King of the Under. The Husband of the Dread.
Hand in hand they escaped his wrath.
Love true and whole, welcomed them. Once they fell, once they rose, bubbles spilling out as they reached the surface.
For the Ocean held the Earth.
(And Seafoam held You)
Weaving a dance of love they faced War’s trial.
Did you know? War is Love.
Did you know? Love is War.
Did you know? Threads spun around them, ribbons spiraling, as they stepped into the dance. One is born from the other, one begets the next. Perhaps death cannot beget life but War and Love trade their lead as they spin in a dance eternally.
Step one, step two, step three, turn- face the blade coming for you.
Her heart at your neck.
His life in your hands.
You know your next step.
Always there is someone who wished to shatter the love of those hand in hand step in step. For the world is not fair, and not everyone seeks to make it fair.
Not everyone faces the Gods and makes a demand.
Not everyone gives up eternity in favor of Hope.
Not everyone catches their love by the waist with bubbles around them and (remember the day you saw your dearest wish?) (what would that wish be now?) (Would it be me?) kisses them so that they might know your love.
It is a story known eternally, yet filled with tragedy.
Remember? Pallas died to Athene’s blade.
Remember? Hyakinth fell from Apollon’s throw.
Remember? Orpheus looked back.
Love so deep it can only end in tragedy.
(Not this time)
(Not this time)
(Not this time)
Her blade did not strike him. Her throw did not hit him. She didn’t look back.
(Her brother struck for him, darkness striking fierce and true, darkness in venom dripping deep, darkness which burrows into his palm)
But she was there when he woke.
But she waited.
She did not look back for she felt his eyes.
She did not need to look.
She loved him.
He loved her.
That is enough.
(And gold crept into the tapestry)
Memories will hold and have held love together, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Absence reminds the heart of what it had, what it wants, what it loves. Absence lets gold spin through their minds, through their ink dark hair and soft sandy strands.
Hand in hand, step in step, they walked together through the trial. The first and the second alike. Then the third to follow and the fourth they feared. And even the fifth, the greatest of an age, the end of an age.
Together they walked through death and back to the living.
Together they entered the ocean, aboard a ship of the dead with war at their heels. A storm ahead which would devour them whole.
What a sight it is, when the tapestry woven glints with gold, stars eternally gleaming. Two lovers in sync, flow through the heavenly river.
Find the ocean below.
Remember, as the Ocean holds the Earth… so too does seafoam hold you.
(Love and War are dancing partners, born of the waves and the skies)
(So too are you)
So remember your names as you face those who would change you. So remember your hearts as you face those who would break it. So remember your Fate as you face those who would steal it.
In the dance of love and war, hands clasped in tune as their steps mirror, they steal through the dusk with golden weave.
An oath made upon divinity is an oath one ought keep.
(He did)
And on rainbow steeds an oath comes true, borne through ocean’s wrath. They landed and landed a nd stole aboard the ship of war.
To the skies, did the ram go once more. A final flight for the one borne for the heavens (and killed for the earth).
Remember your name, remember your purpose, and sing to the rainbow.
That which ought to bring promise, a connection which binds the heavens and the seas… as it binds child to child.
The truth is known.
And the heavens accept what is known.
Two lovers, hand in hand with breaths in sync reveal the unseen and unknowing to those unknown and return to the tree which was one of three.
One, which stands tall on the hill.
Two, which stands hand in hand.
Three, which is traitor hated oathbreaker.
And life returned where death ought march.
(whispering words through branches as they see the might of their unity)
Your journey is not over yet, your growth is not complete. One day your might will unite and the world will shake at your wrath.
But not today.
Today you face the lion’s roar and the scorpion’s tail and you brace yourself for being torn in two as the shadows creep and crawl and consume you whole.
It’s not over yet.
This is not your end, fingers tangled in threads which weave the distance a tapestry of eternity.
Gold is in the weave.
Watch her hold the weight of the world (this is just the beginning).
Watch him scream and reach out (you’re out of reach).
Watch his hunt begin.
Remember your name as the hunter becomes the hunted.
Remember your name as the sun arcs across the night.
Remember your name as the boar charges forth.
Remember, this is not the end.
The boar is a sign.
The end begins.
Now face love and war as love holds your hand, and know that love is war and war is love and it all comes from want of love.
Want of love, want of land, want of power.
To want is to love, to covet and crave.
Eros is loving madness, it is the madness of love.
Love is war.
And war is not gentle.
So too do you hunt for your war.
Madness spins in your chest as you face the Mad One and plead your case. We’re all mad here, in the land of love and war and eternity wrought hope.
Not hand in hand, but breaths in sync and tapestry wrought.
Mirror the heavens (you can be what they wish to be).
See now how death comes as death should even for its own favored child. For death might love but death can never leave. Death is final.
A flower by its side which leaves each year without it.
But this is not the end.
Are you ready now? At the end of the path and before the monument to your heart?
Even now you hunt, hunt and hunted, hunt as you pass by the coveted jewel, hunt as you slice through Fate’s rule, hunt as you race to the feet of the spool.
Reach out a hand, through dusk and night, and grasp hers.
Hold the weight of the heavens (this is just the beginning).
Watch her scream and reach out (he’s not in reach).
Love falls but you are still together.
Hand in hand as the stars rise and the heaven’s shudder.
Now battle anew for life forever. Even as the heaven’s shake and the Titan’s roar you are above and below and unafraid of war.
Just now, you stood in the highest reaches.
Yet now, you dive into the deepest depths.
Remember your name, for it would steal it from you.
Remember your goal, for it would rip it from you.
Remember yourself, as the depths shudder and shake and rewrite time and space.
You have a goal, you have a purpose, you have the power.
(Remember yourself, for the heavens split with the wrath of fire and storm and the land shakes as the ancient beast awakens and the chains begin to break)
You are the Source.
(rest now and breathe)
Return to the homeland from whence you came and clasp hands once more for you were (separated) meant to be by each others’ side.
The heavens croon and remind you the battle is not over. So prepare.
Prepare.
And enter the depths anew.
Red-light and golden strands lead the way to the skull lined war and the earthen giant.
(Remember that the Ocean cradles the Earth)
Now death comes forth once more and you face the beginning and end of the path. For the heavens do not forget and no matter the heroic death legacy is the sum of your life.
Soar on open wings and prepare yourself.
Prepare.
For the depths have opened and the golden eyes open and now you must walk hand in hand to face the end.
Face now the face that started everything. The one who united the pair. Face now the traitor, the damned, the oathbreaker.
And prepare your guard.
You home is threatened and the land is ready. Prepare yourself.
Prepare.
For the war.
Daughter of War you stand tall and firm.
Son of the Ocean you stand tall and firm.
Hand in hand.
Step in step.
Battle begin.
Now rage and see firsthand that which has borne your love. That which your love has borne. Death and life dance in tune as love and war dip low and bow. You are the final stand. You are the final voice.
Now hand in hand race to the finish and face the guard of the deepest depths with venom laced breath and a thousand fangs that lash.
A hundred hands may win the day but all would have been lost without-
You.
Both of you.
Hand in Hand.
Facing the end.
For this is not the end.
(It is your beginning).
Now breathe and face the world you protect.
Do not forget you are of both worlds. Born of divinity. Born of mortality.
Born of that which was shaped by sky and divine hand. Born of the war and the sea and all that brings forth love.
Even as death trails your footsteps and war unfurls their blades you are hand in hand.
Step in Step.
And you grasp her hand to pull yourself from the currents of death.
Now hold tight for she holds you together.
Now hold tight for he needs you to be whole.
Whirling around each other, the steps of a dance known in your heart as love and war and cradling seafoam spin and twine, feet threaded as threads spin. Death streaks between you, blades raised as the warriors fall. You are the final step.
Now a blade sinks into (your ba-) her shoulder.
Now he screeaaammmmsssss.
And the world shudders.
And the bridge collapses.
And she lives.
(But only just)
Face down the light of the heavens and remember that she yet lives.
As hand in hand step in step you face the dragon’s wrath.
And hand in hand step in step you climb the mountain path.
And the last left standing as you face the crumbling king offers the cursed blade.
Oathbreaker they say.
And hand in hand they say goodbye.
(And finally the sun shines on them again)
(And finally they are free of the weight of eternity)
(And finally… it is them)
And they wake, denying divinity…
But it does not deny them.
The sun shines upon them as they open their eyes, the threads between their fingers tied tight as gold suffuses the tapestry.
And they are complete.