He/him
Twenty-five
November 17th
Opelucid City
Gay
Researcher
Grunt
Days fade into a watercolour blur / Memories swim and haunt you
TAG WITH @alba
Alba Evovae
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The King’s Ransom
“It's you.”[break][break] The king has seen plenty of people from the dream of shields — faces that have blurred together in the fog of memory — and Alba is no more special than them. Just another passing face from a distant life. It will give him the silent, regal apology it gives the rest of the dreamers; ‘I do not know you, I do not remember you, but I remember what you have done for me.’[break][break] “I have questions — so many questions — but I’m not here to ask them.” The shiver in the man’s voice appends: ‘Not yet.’ He is staring at a fiction ripped out of the storybook, placed into the world as if it belonged. As if it was the only page that deserved to be kept.[break][break] Once more it asked for tales, for it to feed and grow fat on.[break][break] So be it.[break][break] “Ice and fire, ideals and truth… Let’s see if I can tell a story that touches on them both.” Nestling himself by the High King’s throne, Alba’s voice takes on a different cadence. The timbre calls to mind someone recalling an ancient tale (or creating a future legend). The lilt calls to mind someone putting a child to rest, not putting on a show for a monarch.[break][break] “There was once a land that stretched out into the horizon: a hostile waste where the sun filled the sky during the day, and stole its warmth away during the night. It was a land that sought out whatever life had managed to bloom in its desolate soil, and tried to stamp it out with all of its might. This was the way of things, the law that had played on and on for as long as anyone could remember.[break][break]
“But life took root all the same. When the ground split apart under the burning heat, a bright green shoot unfurled from the cracks. When the cold wind blew, it let the frost creep over it, and waited for warmer times. And over to the west, as if fleeing from the rising sun… was a village. It was a small village; the land was too full of hate for them to truly flourish, but they were hardy folk who refused to die out.[break][break]
“The people were a clever sort. They found ways to take shelter from the land, and nothing could have made it angrier. The land was a clever sort, too, but the earth is slower to move than people are. If it stopped to ponder a new way to destroy the village, they would change with the life it had neglected to kill, and survive with a new scar. This was the false stalemate they had grown to accept: a game that could be won, and was all the worse for it.[break][break]
“But when a cycle is based on constant change, something will come along to break it, no matter how long it takes.[break][break]
“When the land had once more gone into deep thought, a man looked out at the slowly spreading green and thought to himself: ‘What if the world could be green forever? If the land can be so full of life, why is it so desperate to snuff it out?’ With questions burning in his breast, the man marched eastward, speaking to the ground beneath his feet with every step.[break][break]
“‘O’ violent land of dust and gravel, what have we done to earn such hatred?’”[break][break]
“The land could not remember the last time it had spoken, or been spoken to. It pondered its reply late into the night, letting the day’s heat linger as it did so. As the first rays of sunlight emerged, it answered: ‘I have hated you for as long as I can remember. You must have committed a grave sin once, but I no longer know what it was.’[break][break]
“As soon as he heard this, the man replied: ‘O’ ancient land of fading memory, what is the point in punishment for a long-forgotten crime?’[break][break]
“The land pondered its reply long into the day, letting the night’s chill linger as it did so. As the moon cast its gentle rays on the world, it answered: ‘This is the way of things. I am accustomed to the dust and its silence; the green and its noise is too vibrant.’[break][break]
“As soon as he heard this, the man replied: ‘O’ stubborn land of muted whispers, what is stopping you from changing? I have come from a place that sings and shouts, to prove it is alive. But I have walked for many days in your quiet paradise, and have come to appreciate its solitude. Does it not tire you, to have to spread death to every corner of yourself?’[break][break]
“The man had said much this time, and the land took much longer to find its reply. Silence reigned on and on; the man thought he had been abandoned, until it suddenly said: ‘Yes. There is much of myself, and so little of you. Hunting down every blade of grass is a weary task, but it is my task to fulfil. This is the way of things; see how you march, while I have no need to move. I will not change. I do not need to.’[break][break]
“As soon as he heard this, the man smiled. ‘O’ land, you have already changed.’ The land had only thought about their talk for a long time. When it turned its attention to the wider world, it saw green flourishing as far as it could see. The earth had grown wild in its absence, filling itself with colour and noise.[break][break]
“When it saw this, the land was stricken with fear; a fear deep enough that it stretched to the far corners of itself. Blinded by emotion, it cracked and splintered itself into many parts, as if running away from this new unknown.[break][break]
“‘You, who marched across me with your talk of change. Is this what you wanted? Did you wish for me to break myself apart?’[break][break]
“The man was old now, old and tired. He had stopped marching, and instead rested against a towering rock. After a moment’s silence, he said: ‘I only wished to help my people, and perhaps help you. I did not imagine this would happen, but I do not think you have broken yourself. You have just become more like me.’[break][break]
“As soon as it heard this, the land replied: ‘You have cursed me, and now I march across the world as you did.’ But the man did not respond, for people are bound to change, and life is bound to die.[break][break]
The land had come to enjoy their talk, and the silence that filled where the man’s voice once rang out was a new kind of curse. And so, it let the disparate parts of itself roam free — free of its anger, its desire, its law — and chose to tend to the life where the man had stopped, in hopes of preserving him even when all else had been forgotten.”[attr="class","gunstest5ooc"] NOTES[break][break]@calyrex [googlefont=Poppins] [newclass=.albaTemp]--accent:#7269d6;[/newclass] [newclass=.albaTemp]font:12px Roboto;letter-spacing:.3px;line-height:17px;[/newclass] [newclass=".albaTemp a"]font:12px Roboto;color:var(--accent);[/newclass] [newclass=".albaTemp b"]color:var(--accent);[/newclass] [newclass=".albaTemp i"]color:var(--accent);[/newclass] [newclass=".albaTemp u"]text-underline-offset:3px;text-decoration-color:var(--accent);[/newclass] [newclass=".albaTemp h1"]font:18px Poppins;color:var(--accent);font-weight:bold;letter-spacing:.5px[/newclass] [newclass=".albaTemp h2"]font:16px Poppins;color:var(--accent);font-weight:bold;letter-spacing:.5px[/newclass] [newclass=".albaTemp .tag"]letter-spacing:.5px;text-transform:uppercase;line-height:18px;font:800 14px Poppins;color:var(--accent);[/newclass] [newclass=".albaTemp .post b"]font-size:14px;letter-spacing:.1px;[/newclass] [newclass=".albaTemp .pkmn div"]background-color:var(--accent);[/newclass] [newclass=".albaTemp .pkmn img"]margin:5px -7px -10px -7px;[/newclass] [newclass=".albaTemp .credit"]width:125px;background-color:#1c1c1c;font-size:10px;margin-top:7px;padding:3px;[/newclass] [newclass=".albaTemp .credit a"]font-size:10px;font-weight:800;[/newclass] [newclass=".albaTemp .fainted img"]filter:grayscale(100%);[/newclass] [newclass=.rbynote]border-width: 9px 9px 9px 9px;border-style:solid;border-image: url('https://i.imgur.com/UUqNs3l.png') 9 9 9 9 repeat repeat;padding:6px 8px;color:#232323;text-align:justify;font:11px Calibri;letter-spacing:1px; margin-top:20px;background:#aaa;background-clip: padding-box;[/newclass]
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