The Odyssey

My latest piece... quite happy with this one... wasn't expecting to write it so soon... but w/e

Enjoy...

The Odyssey

And so begins the odyssey… the journey that I shall take into my mind… to explore the emotions inside my heart… I have been preparing for so long… trying to prove myself… Fighting for those whom I love… I have come so far… it’s finally beginning to change… my life… my world… it’s becoming so clear… No longer just a sparkle in the night… The light shines high above my head… and I face the darkness that drifts just below… This life… it is no longer one of conflict… of strife… of pain… I see the world now… I see with opened eyes once more… I feel the freedom that once blessed my heart… I feel the joy echo through my soul… I am ready now… and so I take the dive… and enter my mind… Such a different world… torn apart by the emotion of my life… There are so many thoughts… so many ideas… so many dreams racing across the horizon… it is so amazing… to see what lies inside here… I can feel the emotions that I have embraced all my life… and even so, I can still see the fight that I face every day… The constant battle with darkness and light… good and evil… Joy and Sorrow… And yet I continue to fight... although I cannot see what the future holds for me… and I do not know what lies ahead down my path… I am more certain now… than any moment before in this life… I feel free… no longer bound by the chains of life… No longer trapped in the will of Fate… I am free… to do as I please… to fly where my wings will take me… Wings… I finally have them… and I can see myself… transforming into the being that I have always desired to become… My ascension begins here… with you… You have been in my mind for quite some time now… since the day I met you… I thought you were different… special… and now my heart has blossomed once again… and for the first time in my life… I’ve felt those feelings come back… I’ve embraced the winds of love… I’ve freed myself of this void… I do not know where our paths shall go… but I hope that I may share mine with you… This is the first side… the beginning of my emotions… Joy… Happiness… Freedom… This is what I have become now… After so many years… this side of me has finally awoken once again… My inner child… my inner being… my essence… that has been locked away for so many years… has finally been released… Life is no longer a search… a meaningless quest to find a light I thought I could never seek… I’ve found it… and I am happy once again… I do not feel the strife that has toiled my soul for so many years… the scars upon my body have begun to heal… and slowly fade away… It brings joy to my heart to know that I am no longer afraid… of the life that may never come… and the happiness I’d never find… for it’s here… after all my searching… all my dreaming… all the tears in the night… and the pain I’ve had to suffer… after all the friends I’ve gained and lost… and those precious few I would defend to the death… I’ve found my resolution… and so I must delve deeper… into my soul I must go… Into the past… a place I would dare not travel… for even now it still haunts the deepest recesses of my soul… but I must continue… every path must have a valley… and with the strength that I have gained… I feel that I am ready… and so I dive deeper into the mind… The present slowly falls away… and I am now in a world of the past… I can see myself once again… lost… with shattered wings… and broken dreams… I see a boy… not a man… a boy… lost in the struggle of his life… caught between the pain given to him by those around him… and the conflict that rests inside himself… This was my time… and although it scars me to know what has happened to me in the past… the innocence that was raped from this child… I know now… after so many years have passed… It had to be done… the tears… the sorrow… the pain… have made him stronger… have made me stronger… Even here I can feel the pain of the past… the burden that has haunted me for such a long time… but I know now… these were the trials that I had to face… so that I could look inside myself… and find the dream that has given me this undying hope… I know the despair that lies in the past… I know the loneliness… and the emptiness that plagued my childhood… I know the pain that I felt when I locked myself away… when I had no one else to turn to… It all seems worth it now… For I do not know the kind of man I would have become if it weren’t for these trials… Yes they hurt me deeply… and yes I still feel the repercussions today… but I am stronger… wiser… happier now… because of that… These hands that have forged so many Dreams… and shaped so many lives… They have truly made a difference in those lives whom I love… Although I have brought on conflict in the past… I feel like I have changed their lives… as they have changed mine… I no longer need to fear the past… I no longer need to fear the pain… I walk to myself… a child… lost in a sea of tears… and give him the embrace that he has longed for… I feel the innocence that had been stripped away… the joy that was defiled into sorrow… and the Apathy of life that was reshaped into a universe of emotion… I am thankful now… for everything that has happened to me… but yet still I must delve… into the depths of my soul… where my secrets… and my dreams lie… and so I dive deeper… into the darkness… into the void… and yet… as I continue to fall… I can see light approaching… and as I cross the threshold… I am blinded by it… here… in the deepest corners of the soul… lies the Dream that started my path… Here I stand before Hawk Dynedockia… Lord of Chronia… Master of Time… The Great Crimson Blade of Dreams, Shi’Te’Ku in his hand… this… this is my destiny… I stand before the being I have always wanted to become… even now… a woman stands by his side… Mana… This is the life I have always wanted to live… and this is the hope that has always brought me from the darkness… I put my hand out… trying to give a feeling to something never thought to be tangible… their hands meet mine… and so many thoughts race across my head… the Past… Present… and Future… all combined into this moment… Time has no meaning here… This world is forged by emotion… and brings light even in my darkest hour… it is here that I have retreated too… here in the depths of my soul… You are my hero… and as I speak those words… I shake my head… confused… I point to the figure behind me… I turn around… and here… here of all places… I see you… standing tall... I point to you… I walk towards myself… Two entities… One dream… Our hands meet once more… and a great flash of light envelopes us… the light clears away… and now only one remains… it is I… The true Crimson Dreamer… The embodiment of both… This is the person I truly wish to become… Master of both worlds… of both lives… This is the Destiny… My Destiny… I walk again towards those eyes… towards you… you look back at me… with those curious eyes… I reach out towards you… and you towards me… our hands embrace… and I look again into those eyes… where yet another world resides… I am truly happy… now… and as I fall lost into the spheres of your world… I realize now… it is you… who is my Hero... it is you who has let me seen the side of me that I have always thought lost to Fate… it is you who has let me embrace the winds of Love… and it is you who has looked into the eyes of The Crimson Dreamer… and found the truth… You embraced me… you smiled at me… You are my wings… and You have forever changed this world of mine… Now the Odyssey is complete… I feel myself awaken from the Trance… My journey is complete… My soul is at peace… and my life is finally down another path… The path of both Dreamer… and Destiny… I am both… My name is Matthew J. Casartello… and inside my soul rests the human Chronius… the personification of my life… and the greatest warrior Time has ever known… the Chronian, Hawk Dynedockia… This is me… this is everything… this is the man that I have become… and I am proud to share this life with all of you… Thank you… everyone…