MCSM: Shattered Souls [COMPLETED]

•Epilogue•

And there you have it. The story of how I became a 'whole person', but lost so much in the process.

I healed. I recovered. I was isolated and sullen for a little while, but I got over it. We began adventuring again, and slowly, over the years, the Shard Trials began to slip from my mind.

I never forgot. I never fully let go. But I learned to stop dwelling on it. It was never my choice to get into that situation, and it was never my choice to hang onto the memories it left behind. Like I told Jaq back in the ice trial, it's hard, letting go. Even if you're finally at peace, it can still feel wrong. 

For a while, new adventures didn't dull the pain, but they distracted me. They kept me in motion, kept me looking forward. My friends did their best to keep me going, and by the time the five of us started to drift apart, I was back to being okay on my own.

The white sword ended up in the treasure room with several tokens from our other adventures. I vowed never to use it again, not for anything and anyone. To this day, I have only broken the promise once, and there was no other choice.

As it turns out, there were more Shards, more problems and secrets to be dug out. But that's a different story, one I'm not quite ready to divulge yet. 

It's been a long time since then, the horrors of what I considered the Shard Trials. I still have dreams about the whole ordeal. Some are vague, foggy images of red eyes and bright swords and blood coating my hands. Others are clearer, of Justin's bright smile, Jenni's nervous eyes, Jaq and I running through the halls of the memory-castle. Not dreams as much as memories worming their way into my subconscious. These are the kind that I wake up slowly from, tears leaking from my eyes and a sharp pang of loss stinging my heart.

But those kinds of dreams are not alone. I've been through several kinds of hell since then, and every time has been difficult to get up from and keep pushing forward. If you ask me, it doesn't matter what kind of life you're living, because life never has a solution. It doesn't matter how hard the struggles are that you leave behind, because new struggles always take their place.

That's the simplest definition of being human I can think of. We stumble, we fail, we fall to our knees and weep. But in the end, we always get up and keep going, because it's all we know how to do.

No matter the odds.

No matter how many tries it takes.

No matter what we lose or how long it takes us to keep going.

No matter how shattered we are. 

• the end •