I will tell you a story –

one you’ve heard a thousand times

of loss and pain and glory,

of a myriad of heinous crimes.

All the mythology of ages past.

the heroes and villains of today –

all built on the images that last,

all to warn us not to go astray.

- Prologue -

A peaceful realm there lies,

prosperity and love all about.

The kings are just, kind and wise,

 all is right even with the rowdy crowd.

- The signs of Chaos –

The kings begin to age and wither,

their justice and wisdom falter.

The people begin to sense fear

the early cracks in the fabric of order.

- The Cataclysm –

Invaders cross the border walls,

the wells run dry, the land turns arid.

No glory remains in kings’ halls.

The city weeps  and death will scar it.

- The rise of the Hero -

From the ashes an individual Divine,

half-Man half-God rises to the challenge

to protect the weak from heinous crime

and return to order this place savage

- The Hero’s  Journey – Into the Underworld -

Through flame, sorrow, pain and shadow

the Hero searches for the saving light.

With the weight of the very world saddled,

his very soul and being tested and tried.

- The Hero’s Journey – The Road back –

Withered and waned, with his prize in hand,

With hope at heart and a conviction as steel,

The Hero meets a trickster of cunning grand,

the prize is lost forever, no longer fully real.

- The Hero’s Journey – The Return –

With a sunken heart and empty hands,

before the walls of home the Hero cries

in despair and endless shredding pains.

In his darkest deepest moment he smiles,

with a new realization of his true power –

it was never the light he truly sought,

but his individual will to never cower

through all the shadows and evils he fought.