• Blood run in thick rivulets down my arms. The wounds speaking of my previous battle.

    Death was at the corner and somehow I have embraced it.

    I've lost so much and probably even more if I continued to live.

    What is the repose in living when there was no meaning in preserving a life?

    Life is empty, cold and bleak. Walking in the earth is futile.

    If I do die, where will I go?

    I have fled my human roots such a long time ago and now...

    I have no knowledge as to where I might belong.

    Where is the hope the gods above has gifted us?

    Where is the dream of salvation promised to every man?

    Where is my reason to continue living?

    I stumbled upon a thick root upon my deep thoughts, falling to the dirt that cradled my fall. I cursed under my breath as pain reverberated along my body. A light shone in front of me and my gray eyes widened.

    My whole being trembled but I stood my ground and brandished my faithful and bloodstained kunai. I posed it in front of me with my uninjured hand but the familiar deep baritone voice called out to me.

    And my salvation has come with the simple utterance of my name.

    "Tatiana."