I looked into the river, peering deeply into that of my own reflection. What do I see? Fire. An all consuming hate for myself, but I also see sadness, and a deep love for others, and trapped behind the three warring factions of love, hate, and the toll they all take. I see a boy. Trapped. Scared and humiliated. Just wanting to run. To be free of it all. Click. The factions cease their endless war for but a small moment, and look upon their leaders. The reaver, who thinks all must be bound by hate to truly live. The warden, who thinks only of the people outside his own prison. And the boy, who's infinite sadness is matched only by his want of freedom. They stop, look at each other, and then to me. The warden is the first to speak "we must protect others and guide them through their hell, lest we be one of the many who put them there." The Reaver is the second to speak "would you listen to the man that has brought more suffering upon us than any other? To be great we must see his end and fight to preserve ourselves, you must see my reasoning is sound." I then look to the boy expecting him to speak. He merely stands there, his eyes cast upon the ground. It seems as though eons go by, the whole if time crushed into one small moment of hesitation. the feeling of anticipation clutches my senses and wrenches them, how beautiful the cold touch of steel starts feel upon my head. I am about to give into deaths kiss when I hear the boy whimper. I look to him, and he to I. No words need to be spoken. For the boy is me. Thrust into a war of which he should never have been a part of the the factions combine into one image, a boy, on the cusp of manhood. With the cold caress of death to his head, and a lifetime of pain on his back. It is me, the true me. I throw death away and into the river, and choose to love for the boy, not for the people who I strive to protect through any suffering I feel, not for the hate of myself and all those who seek to undermine me, but for the boy. For freedom, and adventure, and the hope of better times. Because for all the people who broke my life while I tried to save theirs, and for all the times I've hated them for doing it. I still ignored the boy, it was time to finally give my love to him.