Essetia & Romul

And although I wasn't losing my mind, It was a chorus so sublime

He came back to me, sluggish and faded, but he came back all the same. I saw him as the curtain fell away from the cathedral entrance and I saw him as he told me of a Lord come to visit that very place of worship. Somehow our paths had rejoined after my life had fallen apart… I could momently recall telling him of the beauty of the Hidden Falls just before it was taken and how utterly happy? I’d been.

I’d named him dreamer because I’d seen something in him that was not unlike myself… At the time I thought we’d both been searching for something, hoping it would simply appear. Of course, those were the days in which all things seemed possible- our age and ignorance had fooled us into thinking we were immortal. Yet, time had changed everything, at least for me, and I knew -I knew- that happiness wasn’t something anyone could contain or bottle up. It was a state of mind that was all too easily tarnished and also a state of mind that took years to shine, to luster.

I watched him as I approached, my body swaying to a midnight rhythm, and I imagined him again in the Rotunda. He’d appeared so fragile back then and perhaps even fragile now as he shivered against whatever ghosts were borne of the past. I shook my head, uncertain if I was welcome at his side… Where moments before I’d been joyous, childish even, I felt again unsure… Anxiety coursed through my nerves and I fought hard to ignore the impending effects of worry and doubt. What the boy had awakened in me were only memories of what could have been and dreams I wasn’t entirely willing to let go.

Dreamer asked if I’d ever seen the chapel without the pale shades of the snow to hinder the multicolored, glass ceiling. It was a shame that I’d never returned, a damn shame. The regret was obvious in the way I looked at him, still separated by a few feet of moonlit ground. “I haven’t returned. I guess I was waiting for you… You never finished your story about the Lord,” I informed him softly. As if it mattered now…

Yet, Dreamer continued, his vague explanation leaving me feeling somewhat bereft. I assumed we all left at some point and then returned. Maybe that was a sign of growing up… Maybe we needed to spread our wings before we settled into the daily life Helovia so willingly offered us. But there was so much room for boredom and for thought- I guess that’s why we so often drove ourselves crazy as well. “I left too for a time… and when I returned, everything had changed,” I stated distractedly. The rift, the war, the deaths. Things had certainly changed, but life continued on as if they hadn’t. “The Hidden Falls was invaded- I told you once I’d take you there, but that’s not feasible anymore…”

The admission pained me, choked me, and left me to flounder in the mounting agony. Instead of allowing it to manifest outwardly, I felt silent, deadly so. I’d been a captive in the Basin then, a useless chip in a game of chess that I’d never win… “Then, rifts were formed between Helovia and worlds beyond. Apparently strange horses came through the rifts, ones the Gods claimed to be saving… As far as I know, or from what I’ve gathered, diseases and malevolent gods accompanied those creatures and Helovia was at war until they were finally neutralized. So much has happened dreamer.“ I breathed, almost fascinated by the number of events I’d chosen to ignore until that point. “But I reside in the Dragon’s Throat now, a choice I made after the invasion… It’s a shame though, because I said I would take you to see the Falls… Perhaps one day you’ll accompany to the Throat instead?”