Post by Eternity on Feb 25, 2017 23:47:16 GMT
Once more you find yourself in the perfect dark.
No matter what you do, no matter what you say, no matter where you go, this is where you always end up. Even worse, you've never quite been sure how you got here, but here you are in the pitch black with me once again. You couldn't see me of course, and I couldn't see you - not yet - but you knew I was here.
Just as I knew you were there, like you always have been.
Watching me, watching over me, from some place far away from here. From another world, far beyond this one.
A place called home, and I'm coming.
I'm coming home.
Another day, another step closer.
I'll be home again soon.
One day, but not today...
As we lay here, wrapped just as much in the satin embrace of this starless night as we are in each other, our heart beats as it always has.
As one.
Lub-dub.
Lub-dub.
Lub-dub.
Lub-dub.
The natural rhythm of the drum pulses in my ears, reminding us both that in spite of all the pain...
Lub-dub.
I was still alive.
Lub-dub.
Somewhere beyond us both, you hear a chorus of Angels sing.
Angels: I am the firebird...
I am his daughter...
I am the firebird's child...
I am the firebird's child...
Lub-dub.
Angels: I am the firebird...
I am his daughter...
And like the flame, I am wild, wild, wild, wild...
Lub-dub.
Angels: I am the firebird...
I am his daughter...
I am the firebird's child...
I am the firebird's child...
Lub-dub.
Angels: I am the firebird...
The boldest song you've ever heard...
Join in the dance, and make it wild, wild, wild...
Join the dance, and make it wild...
And so it came to pass, as it so often did that through them we found our singing voice again - our strength again.
To see a maiden dance around the fire is not so strange...
But fire dances around the limbs of this uncommon maid...
Be brave enough to burn and you'll be brave enough to fly...
Join your sister Solace as she lights the morning sky...
Our strength to push back against the very Heavens that would not yet take us. It was then that they moved for us. A sliver of soft violet cracked the darkness and the cold chill from the outside swirled around our bones, waking them.
I am the firebird...
I am his daughter...
I am the firebird's child...
I am the firebird's child...
And just like that history repeats itself once more. We are free from the box once again.
The circle is complete.
It is now that you find out where you really are, where you have been this whole time. Under a soft purple light, in a coffin and not dead.
Not yet. No, not quite yet.
Four scarlet hoods continuously circle the coffin, each little moon in orbit carrying a single candle. You observe the ruby red satin adorning the pine around me. The silver Shieldmaiden shimmers, wrapped around my waist. Brian the teddy bear lies next to me, and Spikey, the nailed baseball bat lies next to him.
You watch me rise into a seated position slowly, until I am sat bolt upright.
I turn my head slowly until my eyes meet yours, and only then do I speak.
Softly.
Gabriela, welcome.
Welcome to the Imperial Wrestling Federation.
I welcomed you into my world then, and I welcome you into my home now. So lie back, relax. My comforts are your comforts. What is mine is yours, or it should be or it could be. That is what you want, isn't it Moon Angel? Purpose, validation, meaning. You seek them all through me.
Your name speaks to me of a God given strength. A strength unlike any I have encountered. The strength to turn the tides should they flow against you. And for a while they did. For a while you lay forgotten, buried, a name barely remembered. Spoken in whispers, called to fill the void only when they needed you.
Never before and never after.
Until now.
Now things are different. Now a Diamond has been unearthed. Now the memories are vivid, the voices louder, and the colours brighter. They have finally let you out. They have finally set you free upon the world and now you are here - brought forth upon the back of what brings so many of them to be. Riding the stitched leather wings of hope. Perpetuating a myth every bit as misunderstood as you are.
Branded in the burnished symbol of a lie carried upon your back through time for all eternity.
Burdened by the very hope that inspires you, that carries you through this life. Strangled by the weight of your own expectation and choked by your own limitations, having a choice in none of it. If life was fair, it would be no way to live.
And so you look to me, as they all do - to set you free.
You've always carried a heavy load, haven't you Moon Angel?
It's almost unbearable, isn't it?
I know it well, the venom with which you speak. The fire which burns in your belly. The desire to be remembered as something larger than you ever were or ever could be. For years they told you that you didn't belong here, and for years they told me the same thing.
Yet here we both are.
We showed them, didn't we?
We made it here, when nobody thought we could...
So why isn't that enough Gabriela?
Why is it never enough?
Why do we always want so much more from this life than it can ever possibly provide?
Go on, Gabriela. Shout, scream. Tell me every desire, every dream, and every fear that defines you, nobody else will hear them, I promise. Not when I keep them all in here with me. Inside this special little box, made just for you. I know how to keep a secret, Gabriela, trust me.
And at Danger Zone, I will keep your greatest, I promise...
No eres un ave fénix...
Your Spanish was a little rusty, so the best you could gather was something about a phoenix, but don't worry, I'm sure Gabriela understood it perfectly, and in the end that was all that really mattered.
You see me then raise a forefinger slowly to my lips, indicating a hush as my voice drops to barely a whisper.
Don't worry though, I won't tell them.
You see me shake my head slowly.
Yo les mostrará en su lugar...
Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
You were not Spanish, so understood little but the universal language of laughter that time.
It is such a beautiful tongue yours, Gabriela. Words forged in precious silver and carried forth upon the golden tones of such a fiery conviction. In any tongue and in every language, our dreams are as universal as death itself. In time, we get to know each of them well, and sometimes when all our dreams die, both at the same time.
Time shows us all one universal truth about ourselves in this life, Bennu...
And at Danger Zone, we will learn yours.
Behind a heart on fire, the frozen stare and the bilingual screams, I will show them exactly who you are and exactly who you are not.
I will not be your beginning, Fèng Huáng, and you will not be my end.
You see me then pet the front plate of the Shieldmaiden.
Our journey is not one which has an end, nor is it a cycle of endless lunacy. Once a ruby, caught in the gaze of a dull sapphire turning emerald, I know how you look upon my Shield, Hō-ō. You seek resurrection through the resurrected, but it has never worked that way. A former life, best left forgotten, buried, lingers around us - one we will not let you send us back to.
We are comfortable here, and when your day finally comes, it will be a day of eternal rest...
And one in which we will extend you every last comfort, just like daddy always did for all those poor unfortunate souls that passed on, but never passed us by, and neither will you, Moon Angel...
I will not end where I began again.
Life has never been that poetic, nor has Death ever been that fair.
My condolences little one, it is not your time to grow yet, but perhaps after Sunday you will learn that whilst some of us are larger than life, none of us are larger than death...
Go to sleep Moon Angel, perhaps you will dream another dream.
Dare to live Gabriela, perhaps you will know another life.
One day, beyond all of this.
I offer you that chance Thunderbird.
Take it and fly! Fly far away from the Dragon's breath! Fly high before your wings catch fire, and the little diamond falls from the sky.
Lost as a whisper in the starless night once more...
No matter what you do, no matter what you say, no matter where you go, this is where you always end up. Even worse, you've never quite been sure how you got here, but here you are in the pitch black with me once again. You couldn't see me of course, and I couldn't see you - not yet - but you knew I was here.
Just as I knew you were there, like you always have been.
Watching me, watching over me, from some place far away from here. From another world, far beyond this one.
A place called home, and I'm coming.
I'm coming home.
Another day, another step closer.
I'll be home again soon.
One day, but not today...
As we lay here, wrapped just as much in the satin embrace of this starless night as we are in each other, our heart beats as it always has.
As one.
Lub-dub.
Lub-dub.
Lub-dub.
Lub-dub.
The natural rhythm of the drum pulses in my ears, reminding us both that in spite of all the pain...
Lub-dub.
I was still alive.
Lub-dub.
Somewhere beyond us both, you hear a chorus of Angels sing.
Angels: I am the firebird...
I am his daughter...
I am the firebird's child...
I am the firebird's child...
Lub-dub.
Angels: I am the firebird...
I am his daughter...
And like the flame, I am wild, wild, wild, wild...
Lub-dub.
Angels: I am the firebird...
I am his daughter...
I am the firebird's child...
I am the firebird's child...
Lub-dub.
Angels: I am the firebird...
The boldest song you've ever heard...
Join in the dance, and make it wild, wild, wild...
Join the dance, and make it wild...
~~~~~
Like the box before this one, and the Christmas before that one, her imagination caught fire.
Once an angel, now a phoenix.
Burning bright in her perch, burning bright atop her tree.
Burning in her nest, burning down her home.
Burning brightest in her memory.
A clap of her wings, but she's too young to fly alone.
To die alone.
And so she never could...
~~~~~
And so it came to pass, as it so often did that through them we found our singing voice again - our strength again.
To see a maiden dance around the fire is not so strange...
But fire dances around the limbs of this uncommon maid...
Be brave enough to burn and you'll be brave enough to fly...
Join your sister Solace as she lights the morning sky...
Our strength to push back against the very Heavens that would not yet take us. It was then that they moved for us. A sliver of soft violet cracked the darkness and the cold chill from the outside swirled around our bones, waking them.
I am the firebird...
I am his daughter...
I am the firebird's child...
I am the firebird's child...
And just like that history repeats itself once more. We are free from the box once again.
The circle is complete.
It is now that you find out where you really are, where you have been this whole time. Under a soft purple light, in a coffin and not dead.
Not yet. No, not quite yet.
Four scarlet hoods continuously circle the coffin, each little moon in orbit carrying a single candle. You observe the ruby red satin adorning the pine around me. The silver Shieldmaiden shimmers, wrapped around my waist. Brian the teddy bear lies next to me, and Spikey, the nailed baseball bat lies next to him.
You watch me rise into a seated position slowly, until I am sat bolt upright.
I turn my head slowly until my eyes meet yours, and only then do I speak.
Softly.
Gabriela, welcome.
Welcome to the Imperial Wrestling Federation.
I welcomed you into my world then, and I welcome you into my home now. So lie back, relax. My comforts are your comforts. What is mine is yours, or it should be or it could be. That is what you want, isn't it Moon Angel? Purpose, validation, meaning. You seek them all through me.
Your name speaks to me of a God given strength. A strength unlike any I have encountered. The strength to turn the tides should they flow against you. And for a while they did. For a while you lay forgotten, buried, a name barely remembered. Spoken in whispers, called to fill the void only when they needed you.
Never before and never after.
Until now.
Now things are different. Now a Diamond has been unearthed. Now the memories are vivid, the voices louder, and the colours brighter. They have finally let you out. They have finally set you free upon the world and now you are here - brought forth upon the back of what brings so many of them to be. Riding the stitched leather wings of hope. Perpetuating a myth every bit as misunderstood as you are.
Branded in the burnished symbol of a lie carried upon your back through time for all eternity.
Burdened by the very hope that inspires you, that carries you through this life. Strangled by the weight of your own expectation and choked by your own limitations, having a choice in none of it. If life was fair, it would be no way to live.
And so you look to me, as they all do - to set you free.
You've always carried a heavy load, haven't you Moon Angel?
It's almost unbearable, isn't it?
I know it well, the venom with which you speak. The fire which burns in your belly. The desire to be remembered as something larger than you ever were or ever could be. For years they told you that you didn't belong here, and for years they told me the same thing.
Yet here we both are.
We showed them, didn't we?
We made it here, when nobody thought we could...
So why isn't that enough Gabriela?
Why is it never enough?
Why do we always want so much more from this life than it can ever possibly provide?
Go on, Gabriela. Shout, scream. Tell me every desire, every dream, and every fear that defines you, nobody else will hear them, I promise. Not when I keep them all in here with me. Inside this special little box, made just for you. I know how to keep a secret, Gabriela, trust me.
And at Danger Zone, I will keep your greatest, I promise...
No eres un ave fénix...
Your Spanish was a little rusty, so the best you could gather was something about a phoenix, but don't worry, I'm sure Gabriela understood it perfectly, and in the end that was all that really mattered.
You see me then raise a forefinger slowly to my lips, indicating a hush as my voice drops to barely a whisper.
Don't worry though, I won't tell them.
You see me shake my head slowly.
Yo les mostrará en su lugar...
Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
You were not Spanish, so understood little but the universal language of laughter that time.
It is such a beautiful tongue yours, Gabriela. Words forged in precious silver and carried forth upon the golden tones of such a fiery conviction. In any tongue and in every language, our dreams are as universal as death itself. In time, we get to know each of them well, and sometimes when all our dreams die, both at the same time.
Time shows us all one universal truth about ourselves in this life, Bennu...
And at Danger Zone, we will learn yours.
Behind a heart on fire, the frozen stare and the bilingual screams, I will show them exactly who you are and exactly who you are not.
I will not be your beginning, Fèng Huáng, and you will not be my end.
You see me then pet the front plate of the Shieldmaiden.
Our journey is not one which has an end, nor is it a cycle of endless lunacy. Once a ruby, caught in the gaze of a dull sapphire turning emerald, I know how you look upon my Shield, Hō-ō. You seek resurrection through the resurrected, but it has never worked that way. A former life, best left forgotten, buried, lingers around us - one we will not let you send us back to.
We are comfortable here, and when your day finally comes, it will be a day of eternal rest...
And one in which we will extend you every last comfort, just like daddy always did for all those poor unfortunate souls that passed on, but never passed us by, and neither will you, Moon Angel...
I will not end where I began again.
Life has never been that poetic, nor has Death ever been that fair.
My condolences little one, it is not your time to grow yet, but perhaps after Sunday you will learn that whilst some of us are larger than life, none of us are larger than death...
Go to sleep Moon Angel, perhaps you will dream another dream.
Dare to live Gabriela, perhaps you will know another life.
One day, beyond all of this.
I offer you that chance Thunderbird.
Take it and fly! Fly far away from the Dragon's breath! Fly high before your wings catch fire, and the little diamond falls from the sky.
Lost as a whisper in the starless night once more...
Well howdy there pardner.