Defeating the Darkness within

[Frisk E. Coyote]

Jack shut the book and sighed, laying back against the stacked mats and gazing up at the dark ceiling, which he illuminated here and there with the flashlight. It was all a little hard to read, thanks to the manner of speech, and the cursive handwriting, but he had gathered things about demons and magic and saving the world. What interested him most were the magic spells and their descriptions, as well as how to cast them, listed down in the manuscript in order of difficulty and effect.

A couple of passages had gripped him however, each written with different penmanships suggesting more than one author;

"Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi sed saepe cadendo."
(Scribbled Underneath: It's Latin- here's a translation. "A water drop hollows a stone, not by force, but by falling often." Basically, he's telling you that everything has a weakness, even stone, so don't be too full of yourself. Also, patience is virtue and you have to think of different ways you wouldn't normally use in order to survive.)

"O child of earth, through fire and flames you march, through billows and waves you crawl, through storms and gales you brave, where thou goest be unknown."
(Scribbled Underneath: This means "Keep moving forward, no matter what." You're going to face a lot of hardships, and you don't know if what you're risking everything for is worth it, but just keep moving forward. It's the only direction we can go.)

"Ye heart can be hardened, but never be it stone."
(Scribbled Underneath: "There's only so much you can take before you start to lose faith, but be steadfast and never lose sight of who your are".)

"Stand proud like the mountain, but be humble like the ground."
(Scribbled Underneath: I'm sorry, he's from China, so you're not supposed to take this literally. "Be proud of who you are and what you can do, or what you've accomplished, but never think that you're better than everyone". You need them, and they need you.)

"Y'know glass? That's made from sand. The same thing that gets in our eyes and blinds us also helps us see better when put in specs. Don't ya'll think that's funny?"
(Scribbled Underneath: She's kind of a joker, but her sense of humor is... strange. She reminds you that you and your powers are flexible; you can harm, and you can help. What do you prefer?)

"If you're reading this, then you are a hero of the earth. Fate makes no mistakes, and I'm sorry that our burden has passed on to you. Your age, gender, race or religion doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, happy or miserable. This burden is now yours.

I am the one who interpreted my descendants' passages above. Like them... I'm supposed to leave you some words of wisdom or encouragement... but instead, I'll leave you a warning:

The road ahead will be rough. You will learn things about this world you will wish you had not, and you will experience hell.

Enclosed is a weapon in crystallized form. We have no name for them, but this one is attuned to earth. Notice a theme in the passages above? The power of earth, its characteristics, its imperfections and faults, all of it- is now yours. If I sound pessimistic to you, that's only because I have grown to hate this weapon as much as I love it. These are personal matters that I will leave out.

I'm not expecting you to believe any of this, and if you do believe, I don't expect you to be jumping for joy at it either. You're going to throw away your life, everything you know, to risk everything for the sake of a world full of people you don't know.

This is where my earth themed words of encouragement come in, I suppose, haha...

I know nothing of your life... but mine was hard. I was a damaged, homeless woman with no future, until I came into the possession of the earth weapon. If your life is anything like mine, here's what I have to say:

The weapon chose right.

You have to be as stubborn as a rock, not in the way you're thinking, but in the way where you're too stubborn to give up and too stubborn to give in to your suffering. No ocean or storm can move a boulder. No natural force on earth can move a mountain. You are a survivor; all you have to do is endure, like the slowly dying world you live in, kicking and screaming to survive after the people pollute its oceans, cut down its trees and fill it with garbage and chemicals. The earth will outlive humanity.

-And you will outlive your suffering. So be stubborn like a rock... and good luck."

The wolf cub mulled these words over, and was surprised to feel unshed tears welling in his eyes. He blinked them away and snuggled the leather bound book close. If this really was real, then bring hell on. A road to his future just got unblocked.