"I don't know what to do." That's what I hear

So many times. I say this constantly.

Yet what I mean, I cannot say for sure--

I only know I'm lost, it's hard to see

.

The purpose in my life; it's hard to feel

What's best to do--what I need most in life

And…

Wand'ring through the glade like a lost Womble on speed, I sought refuge in the cleft of a sycamore tree.

Once upon a midnight dreary, I wrote a Ficlet - loud and clearly

Over many a quaint and curious volume from the days of yore

I need to love myself--but that's quite hard.

I don't know how to do it, nor do I

Have guidance, step by step success. I'm barred

From learning this great skill--I heave a sigh.

.

Oh, if there is a way to learn, I'll study,

Take notes, and practice till I…

Malika pushed off from the ground, slowly rising to her feet. The pain in her shoulder FLASHED a hot red, and for a moment she was sure she was going to pass out. Black spots floated in front of her eyes, and an overwhelming nausea flooded through her mid…

Mornington did not need to close his eyes. Rather, there was a superposition of that which would be over that which merely was. Descending under erratic control, he fumbled with infinite possibility and finite perception. His exhalations slowed, turned to…

Fire blossomed through her arm, and Malika sucked air between her teeth. Blood spilled onto the sheet covering her, but the coldness in her shoulder suddenly vanished, and she sensed that it was gone for good this time. Blue flame licked up from the blade…

The Archangel of Sparks.

Malika had heard of this, but she had never actually witnessed it. She had never been a devout follower of the Church, and her local vicar had never, to her knowledge, before summoned an aspect of any of the three Archangels. He …

Malika looked to the holy man.

"What say you, Reliath?" she asked. "Why didn't the greater dead destroy us, as Morduth suggests?"

Orthael thought for several long moments. "I cannot say for sure," he replied. "But perhaps, while the creature is more g…

Malika did not bow her head. So far as she was concerned, faith had failed her. Her eyes had been on the holy man, his vestments - tattered as they were - and on the implements of his office. And so she saw the candle of Varenniel puff out of its own ac…

Mistress. Morduth's voice whispered into Malika's mind. It seemed distant, far away, echoing far back in the recesses of her consciousness. It was odd hearing him like that. Before its voice had always been so strong, so vivid.

But that was before. Bef…

Malika tossed a glare at the Orthael. "Why?" she barked. "What has the All-mighty Flame ever done for me?" Her words were barbed and full of anger. Her shoulder throbbed, and she wanted nothing more than to be gone from this accursed place.

She paced o…

The cold in her shoulder withdrew. Malika hadn't even been aware of it until it was gone, but it eased some of the pain from her injury.

Some of the darkness from the Greater Dead leeched into your body when you struck it, Morduth said. It seeped in m…

Warmth spread through Malika like a breath of fresh air. She sucked air in sharply between her teeth. The sensation was almost painful. Heat spread through her, suffused her, warmed her on a level deeper than merely the physical. It coiled around her brok…

A bell rang in the distance, and Malika rose from her cot, plucking Morduth up from where it lay beside her. She knew the sound of that bell because she had heard it regularly most of her life. This was not quite like the bell in her village, though. The …

Had it been a year already, since the day Tor stood before his master and all the words turned to ash on his lips? It seemed so much further in the past, and yet he could not say what had taken him so long to arrive here.

The darkness stretched out before…

Thing is, this piece I'm writing, bares my entire soul. It involves you and me and all that we love and hold dear. It's told from my perspective, one that I think you need to hear.

But if I let you read it, I am crucifying myself. The sacrifice it entai…