Thump

Thump

Thump

Your heart does not beat, it sings.

This was something I had learned back then and forgotten now.

Well, until now.

As the creature before me…I take that back. To call what was before me a creature would be a failure to capture just what lay in front of my eyes.

This was a being of much greater level and strength than my own.

A being who operates under a system of rules just as I do my own.

Before this event I believed that I was free of this realm and it's chains. That I played out my life according to rules that didn't hold me down. That since I was not spawned with letters above my head, with back stories made up, that meant that I was free.

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The being in front, the one I once considered a slave to the realm, began to walk towards me.

He moved with grace.

Each step is a calculated endeavor

His voice broke the silence and my heart.

Nothing is more hideous than a man without purpose in his step. What is my purpose, you might ask yourself?

To end your existence.

To show you that this realm has consequences and stakes and that you haven't respected any of it.

He smiled a lethal grim to end a grim statement with a period that was meant to be as final as it gets.

From far away, a voice began to play into my head like a song forgotten and now remembered.

Faintly the words of a dialogue from long ago began to play in my head.

The beating is the rhythm but if you come to peace with your soul you will find the song of your heart.

Mastery it will bring a power and purpose beyond your current understanding.

I tried to listen.

I tried to calm my heart.

To come to terms with what I could control and what was beyond my reach.

But, nothing.

I just can't.

I said with a resignation that got caught in my throat.

The older man with clear blind eyes, with a cloak the color of trees and hair as white as snow, responded.

You can't for now.

But keep listening.

That's the most important element in the world, the one they never speak of. Many love to speak, to hear the product of their tongues.

Don't fall into their rhythm.

Open your ears and your soul will find the answers.

With that, the voice faded back to black, back into memory.

Before me the once creature, now man, rested only feet away.

He maintained that venomous smile.

One that spoke of a guaranteed victory.

Of an ego that kills.

A man like him must have never suffered defeat.

Inside I could feel the rhythm of my soul.

Moving in ways that seemed unnatural.

As if asleep and now awake.

Looking past the prince of web and to my men across the barrier...

I gave them a smile.

I offered them hope.