Revelation - Wu

[Canary]

One more step, only one more. Maybe, gods willing, another after that.

The lone man took one more difficult step further towards the ridge of the sand dune.

His legs ached...his body ached. The unforgiving scorching gaze of the unfamiliar sun had long since cracked his dry skin where it did not bless him with blisters. The wrathful winds carried with it a plague of hot sand that kept lacerating his eyes, nearly blinding him several times.

One more...it is hubris to ask for one more?

The lone man took a third tired step. His exhaustion caused him to feel as if a thousand hooks of iron, raw and rusted with time, were imbedded in his muscles and trying to drag him to the burning sands below where he would not have the strength to rise again.

Part of him wanted to let them do it for unconsciousness would have been bliss compared to the ordeal he was facing.

But another part of him needed to continue. He could not let himself die here while others who had everything to live for met their doom so often in the numerous dark corners of the mortal realm. He knew there was water ahead...he had seen its sheen on the horizon.

It was much further than he had realised. It surely lay beyond the next dune...surely.

The lone man took another step to move past the sand ridge that blocked his view, the shaft of the weapon he used to prize now being used as nothing more than a crutch.

But the sand gave in and his footing could not help but follow.

Unable to keep his balance on the treacherous hill the lone man tumbled down the sand mount. Heaven and earth disparaging him and his vain efforts in turn, again and again, until he reached the end of the slope. The lone man was now face down on the cursed sand, where the hooks wanted him.

It took everything but he took one long gasp with his parched throat in an effort to muster the last of his energy to stand.

He failed, falling to his knees instead. He could not stand up anymore, his journey would end here for he now accepted that the oasis he had sought was nothing more then a lie. A trick of the eye.

He would die here, despised and unwanted by the very elements around him.

Alone

His gaze was drawn towards the clear blue sky but the weight of the weapon on his shoulder brought his mind somewhere else. It brought back visions of the village of his birth and a family who had turned their back on him.

A family to which he did not belong

It brought him back to the days where he had to learn to use it, fighting with men who would be his blood brothers for causes they thought just. He remembered them fondly. The times were harsh but that only made their bonds stronger. Stronger was also their pain when they lost another to the unending series of battles that would inevitably claim them all unless they chose another way. He missed the brotherhood, the ties which formed between strangers but he had realised that it was not a life for him.

A life to which he did not belong

Then came the time of gods. When he sought those that walked the earth for guidance, for a place to belong. He searched for one thing but found another...he found a different way. The dragon made man showed him the path to take and where it could lead him. He would forever be grateful for it gave him purpose and thus he swore himself to him and built a school for warriors to train and serve the clan.

But it would not last

He joined on a journey to save the fallen brother from the clutches of a sentient evil. He joined ready to die for he knew the risks...yet he did not. He did not die as others did. In the end, he could not even help them.

People who had a future laid down their lives and he, weapon in hand, could not even help.

He did not belong there either, after all. That realisation hurt...but he had to accept it.

As he gazed to the heavens he wondered if he should have stayed. He would still be alive, be it forever out of place. The sun's light wounded his eyes but his lids had long since dried up. He could not cry even if he tried.

As his mind finally let go and emptiness fell

Ah...I finally understand.