Pillar world - Burrows of the deep
A whirling globe.
With great power one assumes a great responsibility. Often, one assumes far more. Rivalries provide a source of strength. A foundation. A contingency. When one finds themselves alone, confronted with the unknown and the unknowable at their back, this foundation is skewed.
We train every day to ensure that window, that margin of error is as small as possible.
Preparation can only take us so far however. A good plan never survives first contact with the enemy. The difference is great. The ‘lies’ and uncertainty collide to form a vicious cycle. The world we find ourselves in is a wild one. Harsh and relentless at times.
Five becomes ten as we find ourselves surrounded in fear and doubt. We take inspiration wherever we can find it, exploiting those feelings to push ourselves to our limits and back again. We make mistakes and pray that by the time they come to fruition we are safe again to recover.
Doubt is a hungry beast. It feeds on the bottom line, on the trust we place in our leadership, on our comrades, on our friends. It can be overlooked for a time, but a time irreversible. Sacrifices are made to it, to admit our mistakes. Without them life would be so much shorter.
That is why in the face of evil, we harden our stance. Our footholds are set like concrete, cold and indifferent. We stand the judge of our own path. The ones brave enough to approach must first cross that plane. A shield if need be. Pinned against their own devices, the true worth appears, as do the demons. It is that same shield that allows one lonely soul to stand their ground against monsters.
Sometimes we assume too much, and the doubt that lies beneath the surface grows large enough that the monsters can hide things in its wake. Whether they intend to or not.
It is this reason why we study and reflect. To understand the shape and changes in our mantle, and to clean the slate that we might stand again. The journey is long, but the shield is eternal.
Within it forms the shards of our past. The core of our memories. The teeth of our identity. The things that allow doubt to be harbored in the first place. The footholds that allow us to conquer our fear. For just as the shield forces others to reveal their respects, so too must it be respected.
When we find ourselves faced with monsters too many; When the wounds of the defeated begin to fester. When the currents no longer point to the tide before us, the time for one journey to end is nigh.
When pressed, the lurker Doubt will emerge. It will claim the fallen husks, but it will ask a price in return.
One cannot forsake the war and beg for peace. It is fabled arrogance to fleece the creature then, as the foundation it lays is then a delicate one. When pressed about this, doubt itself becomes an adversary, calling the ageless scars to its side.
There within a sea betrayed, a twice shattered mirror.
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Weakness spreads throughout as doubt claims its price. The shield answers regardless. Shards are cast out, embedded in the ground. The course, the set. The monsters no longer need to hide themselves, as the mud is slung before them. Their hand meets the crack left behind. No longer can you rise up to meet them, with the shield worn to its limits.
That is what it means to face armies alone.
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Monsters do not always seek us harm. It is rare and precious wisdom that allows monsters to be shouldered by another. To erase the scars from one’s mind and banish doubt in a time of need.
That is what it means to be rescued.
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A globe raised, points poised to strike from all sides. An anchor weight thrown abreast like a net. Hundreds become thousands, become once, become silent. A single mass made whole.
At its back, an adamantine wall. Next to that, few obstacles compare.
