Onward!
Just an essay for the reflections book all seniors in my highschool are required to contribute to. This is the rough draft, I'll put up a final copy later.
.I’m peculiar in that I see the world as just another plot from the books I write. I will never be too old for make-believe, that’s the game writers can’t afford to give up after all. It’s what colors the world extraordinary. It’s what makes things more interesting than they appear, where a walk in the woods becomes an epic quest, or school work seems like solemn and important training, necessary for the battles and trials ahead.
I wonder if all adventurers feel such trepidation as they prepare to leave their comfortable if provincial village and life to seek happiness elsewhere. I seek nothing but my own satisfaction in life, and the satisfaction of helping others along the way. Who knows where I shall wander, if not the gods or some advocate of Fate? I know not. I have a destination plotted out, and perhaps I shall make it there, perhaps I shan’t.
But I have learned that the destination is trivial to the journey, and it is the journey I shall commit to, just as comrades and I rehearsed for life out on barren terrain, knowing that bonds of friendship, unity of heart, and strength through determination is what makes the destination worth arriving at. And to that, I honor my Marching Band and the warriors beside me as we marched into each battle and emerged victorious. And I honor my many wise instructors, with whom I studied the languages and poetry of the dead and still thriving. I have studied wars and civilizations long before my existence and how the people of today dictate what shall become of tomorrow. I have learned about the composition of the very land I walk on, the mysteries, magic, and art of the sciences, and the art of art, of music, of the precise and subtle alignment of words, of beauty.
In short, I have completed my basic training. My classmates shall go forth in their various endeavors, and some shall be knights and some shall be merchants and some shall be rulers and some shall be fools, but I don my traveling cloak and take my walking stick in hand, ready to follow my own path. I will go first to a university, yet another dragon to slay, and then into the horizon. I have made it this far already and I haven’t even left home; there’s no telling what wonders lie beyond the realm of familiarity I’ve been so accustomed to.
I pick up what I will need and leave the rest behind. My cap and gown my helm and cape, my pen my sword, my wit my shield, and my heart a beacon into a dark and frightening world. I am a storyteller, and as I walk across the stage I will walk into a new realm, where I must turn my child’s play into works that inspire awe and thought. And soon I will call to the world, “Those who love stories, gather ‘round me”. And those who love stories will hark and listen. This burning confidence could not have been won without the pride of leaving a trail of vanquished foes behind me- all my fears and doubts melt away into dusk, all those villains who hindered me are long gone. There is no one left but my muse and I, and together we shall take on the world.
Onward! A happily ever after lies just beyond the horizon! Onward! To the bright and shining future!