A Modern Odyssey In Real Time (Part II)

 As tho it had been a dream, the succeeding journey came and went, spanning a time that seemed to expand a full life, then ending too soon. It began with a radiant smile and a pair of blue eyes, followed by the most delightful laugh the ear could endure. From there, a pleseant hazy dream defined the tendons and marrow of my essence for longer than I could have envisioned. 

This pair of blue eyes and radiant smile took my arm with grace. Her charming touch kept my mind awake and even a small word from her was better validation than all the riches of the world could afford. A creature with her staggering beauty deserved all the marble castles in all the kingdoms and I went about to fetch them to her at the first, though all I could think of to say was "Do you like sandwiches?" 

Fortunately for a poor soldier like me, she loved sandwiches. And I loved her.  

She need only to stand and exist to inspire a song in my heart. Though heart to paper translation is never fully accurate, here's a very fine interpretation of her song:

O to be under her eyes of blue and skies of blue

Watch the sunset by the sea of blue and wearing blue too

The warmth within her gentle voice 

Left this poor soul without a choice but to fall under her spell of blue

A rose-petal kiss from her made my day and every day

I didn't hear from her I'd pine away and go out of my way

To hear from her heart to heart

And never get too far apart to feel every part of love's sway

Whene'er I looked into a future so bright, she gave most of the light

Climbed mountains, sailed oceans, won fights, she was there aright 

But I was to stay in her past 

And none was to last as I found out one horrible night

Well, as the song says a dream for me became a sudden attack from an enemy of mortal proportions. She cast her sweet face in a different direction and lighted upon a soldier to her liking. All at once, the light within every corner of my heart, those sky-blue eyes with flecks of gold, the velvet-soft skin adorned lightly in blue plaid on a sunset-streaked beach was a thing of the eternal past. Our lives to not be entwined, nor our smiles to be reciprocal again. I sat for a long space of time, and even yet, confused, defeated, horrendously directionless: Suffocating in sorrow, drowning in depression, and crippled by my own glorious memories. 

This poor soldier, friendless and abandoned, straightened once more his armor and walked heavy into another day, as my whole world looked the other way. 

A Modern Odyssey In Real Time (Part I)

A long time ago, on a social media platform far, far away, there was a proverbial mountain community. I was but a young and inexperienced internet traveler at the time. I knew so little about traversing the wilderness. I happened upon a group of three sisters who names were unpronounceable to the human tongue. They frolicked at once as a group then thither in solitude. One reached the place I stood and asked "All alone are ye, in so barren a land? Behold, I can shew you a place where there is community, there is family, there is friendship of the deep variety." Unable to answer a loaded question I said "Hello".

By the hand, I was lead by the three into a world where everybody had a tight and customized circle of friends. Each circle was intertwined with another and if one wasn't careful they could easily be entangled to the next. Here, I found a world of creatures so frightening and wonderful at once, I knew it could only be home.  I had considered removing the portal that leads to any other social media except this, though I'm very glad now I didn't. Was I the only humanoid among so vast number of comedy and tragedy?

It was a stone's throw of time before my path crossed one known as the Blonde Mountain Troll, for that was their only understanding of our kind. But in that moment, I found one who was altogether like me. Barefoot on a road less traveled, misunderstood in a world away from ours, this could only be my proverbial Baby Sister. Was she a real human on the other side of reality? Only time was able to whisper the answer in my ear. 

On the days when all seemed lost, we knew that we could always set insanity back in its tracks. During the time a face turned my head, her ear turned to me. When tears ran down both sides of her face, I held my shoulders strong. There was no doubt she was my Baby Sister, and I, her guardian brother, proud to watch her grow up strong, smart, and fierce. 

One sad day, the creatures within our world withered. Life flourished there no more. The path we tread daily overgrew with thistles and at times, washed away to be imperceptible. My proverbial Baby Sister was on the other side somewhere, with no way to hear my call or speak a word to me. 

As I continue down other paths, far, far away from that magical land, my fluttering and waning memory lights every so often upon those golden days, when two long lost siblings had a friend, and the never-ending Circle was, for a short time, unbroken.