A strange creature you are, little orc. I have found your essence in the most unusual of places.
I first stumbled upon you in the lost city’s library. You’d filled its empty shelves with perfectly organized encyclopedic texts, and you were studying for assignments. Strange tasks for an academic:
- Spending time with friends
- Sleep soundly
- Exercise regularly
- Read for pleasure
Piled higher and higher, every task manifested as another stack of papers that grew every moment you looked away.
I suppose I can’t fault you for wanting to do it all, and succeeding partially.
Your dreams made me curious. Such strange visions and textures all woven together into a grand fabric. A haphazard quilt, threaded by an unyielding desire to understand – and to be understood.
You carry those words with you, heavy on your back, throughout all your travels. There is a certain nobility in your heart that I can sense in the imagery your mind conjures. A daring hope that burns from within, never snuffed out, but afraid to grow.
The things you hope for, though. They intrigue me in their modesty.
So many mortals hope and pray for the greatest of things. The power to rule, the wealth to indulge, the influence to bend anyone’s will to their desire.
But you, orc. You seek belonging in a way that I’ve rarely seen. You dream of bringing magic to your clan, welcomed with open arms. You dream of sharing your culture with your classmates, met with eager minds like your own.
You know the truth, though. Your gifts would not be seen so charitably, gifts though they may be. For all your good intentions, there are too many fragile egos, too many tragedies to look past and see your heart’s desire on display.
That’s the tragedy I sense in your soul. That your greatest wish, to share and indulge in the glorious freedom that knowledge can bring, will never come to pass because there are simply too many emotions in the way. And those emotions are the greatest danger you’ll ever know.
All it would take is one person to look at you and decide that you are a monster, through and through, and end you. You fear that it may be someone you trust, but I know that a stranger could bring the same harm to you and your loved ones.
How odd, then, that your soul should one day shatter into so many reflections. Each piece flung across the eternities, piercing the veils between realms and finding the most unusual places to hide themselves. Stranger still that you would stand and look at yourself in the mirror – to be the one to shatter it in the first place.
Perhaps by then you will learn that life is not a problem to be solved or a mystery to be understood, but an experience to be lived.
You have so many dreams after that moment, I couldn’t possibly evaluate them. Luckily, you captured only my attention, and not my Creator’s.
But if He ever demanded a judgement…I would offer you forgiveness, Brexothuruk.
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Orcanist 