text: Light settled within my sight as I stepped towards the dying glow of a fire. I watched the flames’ sparks flutter into the sky in desperate attempts to escape their fate, before perishing in the abyssal darkness. Collapsed afore the blaze, I could feel the menacing pain of an arrow lodged betwixt my ribs. I winced as I pulled it from the hole it tore through my torso; but my long journey taught me well enough that pain was only a reminder that I still lived. As I wrapped a cold, weathered bandage underneath the blue fabric of my tunic, I reflected upon the odyssey that dragged me to where I was now. I began as we all did: a hopeful warrior called upon by the blight the Dark Goddess had laid over us. People’s minds would fall apart to reveal a core scorched by despair and madness, leaving only husks that would march these lands in ravenous rage. They dotted my seemingly endless road with death and ruin; shifting my hope from success to survival. But in spite of the horrors I witnessed or the torment I endured, I recognized that turning back was no viable option. Because with each reluctant step forward that I made, the world took one step backwards into irreversible destruction. Now, my track of bloodied footprints had arrived at their finish line. Arrived at this skeleton of what may have once been a great watchtower, but now stood only as a cage to trap the light of a dimming fire. Alas, with what little strength I had been allowed to scavenge, I trudged into the black obscurity. With vision barely adjusted, I could identify the hundreds of corpses of those that reached this place before me. I knew I wasn’t the first, but I hoped I’d be the last. Though the word "hope" itself was only a stranger to me now. But, I had no time to argue with my own thoughts, as the path of bodies had diverged into a tremendous throne room. Amidst the thick shrouds of darkness that layered the air, I could discern an immense figure sitting atop a throne of shattered armor and weapons. Her very silhouette had replaced any true, human-like form that perhaps she once donned. She slowly stood up, exposing an enormous dark blade that lie in place of her forearm. Realizing the threat that was approaching, I grasped the hilt of my sword and swung it from its sheath. My blade arced towards her rushing form, but met no physical resistance. The battle-worn weapon simply passed through the shadows of her towering presence as if she were darkness itself. I froze in a moment of shock, then found myself looking into the lifeless eye sockets of her gaunt face above me. Without warning, I felt a frigid force pierce my chest and I was heaved backwards. Greeted with the uncomfortable cushion of the ones who came before me, blood began to permeate my tunic and pool beneath me. And with that, I was given my final taste of the feeling of being alive... I walk forward, facing down the dark that would dare try to keep me from finding my path’s end. With each step I take, I can see more and more bodies bereft of life. Each one defines themselves with a different armor or different tabard; but inside them, they all carry the burden of a quest failed. Just before entering what I believe to be a large room, I look down to see a warrior, clad in blue, lying inert and painted with the dried blood of defeat. I know I’m not the first to enter this place, but I hope to be the last.