Dreams of Destiny (Ch. 3)

Your soundtrack: Destiny - Stratoverius (Probably misspelled)

The cool mist wrapped around me like a velvet glove as I tussled with my cloak in my sleep. Something was wrong, the dreams didn't stop, even when I woke...

"Guan, you have to go, this is your destiny, stop trying to hide from the truth and listen to me!" Was this a turtle that was talking to me now? Geez, maybe I needed a doctor...or just to hit myself. Too much revelry apparently makes Guan a very confused person. I was still dreaming, must've killed the alarm again. Damn those easy to cast thunder spells. I sighed, rolling out of bed and heading to the locker to pull something out for breakfast. Hmmmm, cranberry marmalade with some bagels, sounds like a plan.

"A much better plan would be to go to the shrine and pay attention," said the jar of marmalade, which I promptly dropped, and it shattered on the floor, much to my moogle, Kaporegi's, chagrin. "See, you won't be making sense until you resolve this, you know what you need to do."

As Kapo looked at me questioningly, I simply asked, "I suppose you didn't hear that, did you?" The poor moogle shook his head, and I nodded, turning and heading back to my room, "If I'm not back in a week, let the Warriors know that I might not be returning for me, and feel free to distribute my things."

"But Master, you can't just leave that way, they need your help to train!" Kapo was always so sensible and energetic, and I admit was a reason I was able to maintain my sanity in the recent weeks that this had been going on.

"Tell Masters Kenshin and Doc what is going on. I'm sure that they'll probably know more about it than I do, but I'm going to this mystic shrine now...we'll see what happens from there." I bowed my head to my old friend, and vanished into the thick darkness that enveloped my room. The only beacon from within - a small solitary flame of a crimson cinnamon-scented candle that Tess gave me long ago, and that I used for meditation. I sat on my zabuton and breathed in deeply, focusing my spirit towards its origins, and traveled.

I ducked to the side just in time to save the feather from being sliced off my hat by a scythe's swing intended to decapitate me. "Ah, lucky for me Dark Knights can't aim worth a damn." Of course, I was in such a rush to move I didn't have buffs cast, "Very bad RDM form," I thought to myself, and cast Gravity on the being, my Auster's Staff coming easily into my hands as I unleashed the spell and dashed back out of its range and adding the barrage of armors that I'd studied, and a Barsilence just for good measure while listening to the speech with pretty much disinterest. The typical I'm so-and-so and I'm here to kill you had gotten old by this part, but when I tuned back in, fully buffed, I hear:

"That would imply you think me a simple Dark Knight. I'm a composite, just like you are, Guan." A small smile seemed to come to the creature's face, though it was mostly shadowed by helm and armor. "Do you want me to repeat it for you now that you're paying attention?"

The Tale of the Heart's Blood (Ch. 2)

And the soundtrack for today's story -- Nightwish - Ever Dream

This is when I met Tessah, who to this day remains one of very few women that come hell or high water, if she needed me, I would drop what I was doing and teleport to her aid without question of my own welfare, no shove from the One needed. She brought a fresh perspective of life to me, and let me see that just perhaps, the One above really does know what they're doing. Faith wasn't something meant to be tossed away at a whim, especially when one has already seen the truth of the matter. That was why she had taken up the path of the healer. Later, the avatars spoke to her and she surpassed all her limits as a summoner before embarking the way of the Corsair, which is where we reunited for a while, joining together for a powerful refreshing combination to parties with COR & RDM through the higher levels of battle. Now that our times have shifted again, I still miss her from time to time, like when you look over your shoulder expecting to see a shadow but find nothing, there is a hollow in my heart that I have come to accept there, in lieu of the pain one might expect.

During my journies, I think the One decided to show me another shard of light when I met Vally. She's a tall Elvaan with bright sparkling eyes, silver hair, and a smile that I swear is everpresent. Always a cheerful word, and one of the most selfless people that I've ever met. I try to dig up things that she would enjoy and volunteer to do them, since it's rare for her to ask for anything for herself. I think my times with her have been a personal meditative solitude in a way, just a sense of peacefulness that I've never known before. I'm just glad she shared her heart with me these times, and allowed my song to borrow her grace. And now...times changed again, and we rarely get to see each other anymore, another hollow to absorb the pain that refuses to exist.

I could spin you tales of the people I've met, the hearts I've seen, the deceptions that I've witnessed both of self and others... Ultimately, it would all boil down to just a being trying to make the right decisions, knowing that there are people in need, and being willing to change and go with that feeling wherever it may summon him. But somewhere in this spiraling tale lies the center of me, and that, dear reader, is the path we now travel.