Then the man told him,

Why go down this path?

It is treacherous,

The path is crooked,

With no place for stable steps,

Below is a ravine that leads to hell.

Surely there is another path?

The hero shakes his head and offers a smile,

The way, I have consulted oracles for,

I have asked wise men to advise me,

I have asked artists whether the path was poetic,

This they told me and this I say to you,

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There is no reward without risk,

To succeed I must risk death,

I must tempt fate,

Daring the heavens at every step,

To strike me down where I stand,

To banish me into hell,

For the path I’m on,

The reward I seek,

Is not something that should lay with untested hands,

If I can walk this path,

At the end I would claim,

Though there was no place safe to step,

Though the path was crooked and the high winds threatened to topple me,

This was the path that I sought,

This was the path that allowed me to claim it,

If the path were a garden of roses,

If the path assured me of my standing,

It would not be a reward I claim,

But the sustenance of bottom feeders,

In the depths, drinking from the river,

Even if I was given a chance to run, I would not,

My path lay laden with nails and traps,

But this is why god molded me as he has,

This is why I was tempered to this step,

Simply to risk my fall into the abyss,

In truth, I needed no reward,

Alas, I was crafted and this is the path I must walk,

The man shook his head,

Pointless, he says,

It would have been better to be satisfied with hell,

The hero laughs, a heart-wrenching laugh,

Tears flowing from his eyes,

As his mind wanders to what could have been,

If he had been so blessed,

Alas, I was crafted this way, he says,

Mourning, for himself and for the world, wondering about a girl...