Castle

Once upon a time....

A knight rode up to an ominous and gloomy castle.  It was a cold and stormy night atop Mt. Destiny. The knight dismounted his trusty steed, Wind Dreamer, and made shelter at the base of the castle.  Entrance to the castle was forbidden and the knight, weary from his travels, needed rest.  Through through his armor, a spark of joy alighted in the knights heart, his quest was coming to fruition.

For you see, in his journey of 22 years, the knight had crossed vast distances, lands of desolate beauty, immortal in their vastness. Facing challenges so peculiar and adverse, that it had utterly transformed his person.  His quest relentlessly beckoning him forward. For though his quest was simple it was intensely personal to the knight.  The pursuit had been given by his loved ones, to achieve what they could not.  An eternity of remembrance was forced upon the knight and his crusade. Though not tasked with discovery, the knight had come to relish in the adventure, find a satisfaction in the unknown, and bending it to his will.  Thus shaping the knight with a resolute and curious character. Both dependent upon the quest and the journey.

As the knight awoke, filled with purpose, he strode up to door of the keep.  The knight tried the door. Finding it locked, he called Wind Dreamer over with a quick whistle. The horse swiftly and brutally kicked the door in and with his sword raised the knight stormed in. The charge lasting only briefly as the knight found......nothing. The castle seemed deserted.  The hesitation in the knights step was evident, his heart pounding with anticipation, yet no enemy, no foe to face, nothing.  The knight was shaken, the glory he had dreamt of, the purpose he had sought, came crashing directly into reality with the force of lightning.  No he thought there is more to this castle.

The knight continued further into the castle.  Filled with disillusionment, the knight began to imagine the castle as alive.  The hearth's lit, weapons being sharpened, enemies at hand. The knight attacked, but found no purchase, for he struck at shadows, ideas.  Undeterred the knight pressed onward, deeper into the keep, his delirium growing steadily.  He fought to the steps of the tower, an open spiral staircase, and in the knight's eye magnificent in it's grandeur. Enemies now flooded the steps, but nothing could stop his fury. So the knight ascended, step by step, slash by slash, he rose, higher and higher into his mind's sanctum.  Time warped, slowing to a calm breeze, as the knight realized his journey neared its end. Wishing for every breath to last an eternity, the knight surmounted the final step.

Upon breaking the portal, the truth of his situation exploded outward, painting the room with a reality filled with deepest trepidation.  Had his quest been in vain?   The room abandoned for untold eons had only one thing, a window.  The knight realizing his glory dashed, his quest a failure, aimed to throw himself from the tower. He ran to the window. But something held him, a realization that had been building for decades. Out the window, the sun was rising, his onslaught lasting a full day.  The knight watched as the sun's light grew in intensity, coming to envelope, not only the tower, but the entirety of the land that stretched out before him.  And with each passing second, the knight's sorrow was replaced with hope, his purpose being rebuilt from the ashes of his mind's fire. The hope soon overtook the knight, that this wasn't the end of his journey merely its quest. 

As the sun was rising further into the sky, the knight departed the castle, riding on the back of Wind Dreamer, to destinations unknown, a destiny untold. 

My Life as Metaphor...