Platypus walked across the desert, sun beating down on him. It was hot, but it was nothing compared to the mass of scorching emotions tangled up in him. Guilt, shame, helplessness, self-doubt, he didn't know how many more. He was burning up. Thaidakar had called him son, but he would be more like the sun. Heating up then expiring in one final burst of energy. (leave me alone, I know that’s not how the sun works.)
“What makes you think you can beat him now?” a voice in his head asked him. “You couldn’t stop him before, and he’ll only be stronger.”
“Stop,” he said out loud, only the sands around to hear him. “You’re better than this. How many wars did you stop, how many people did you save?”
“Oh, but you failed to save the one that truly mattered to you. Both times the occasion occurred, you failed?”
Enough. Platypus stopped thinking about that and wondered where he’d find the monster.
-
Eventually Platypus stumbled across a town. It was abandoned, a ghost town by the looks of it, but perhaps it could be useful. There would probably be a well, and he could always use some water. He sighed, wondering, not for the first time, and certainly not the last, what would have happened if he hadn’t killed Thaidakar. “Desolation would have done it anyway,” he told himself. “Or am I just trying to comfort myself?”
-
Platypus walked across the desert, searching for a monster, or the Blade, or something, anything! He couldn’t find anything. Finally, he came back to the others.
“You were right Moni. Happy now? I couldn’t find it. I felt a Plotblade, but it wasn't Unity. I think it was something like Beginnings, but it could easily have been Trauma, or even Endings if I didn't know you had that one."
@Nameless*