Breaking Dawn

[Ilu Asu]

Dawnbreaker

Ilu looked up to the night sky; It was still, serene - without a cloud in the air. The heavens clearly visible at the darkest hour, lingering so close nonetheless. If man were to reach up he could very well touch them with his own hands. The very definition of it's beauty illuminated without flaw, without dissent..an uninterrupted stillness that used to seem so far out of reach.

It didn't matter anymore.

He was used to it by now, for almost two years did he bear witness to this untainted cycle of renewal. The struggles that consumed those around him were gone, but not without the crippling pain and tantalizing thoughts that comes with such a choice. Not a single dawn passed without the contemplation of the path he walked, but he knew that with the totality of his being that he was right. Things had changed drastically within the cult, and within himself. Questionable choices undertaken without question, not to mention an absence in leadership. A fire that burns but does not spread, keeping warm only those who dare walk so close to it - opening their hearts to receive it.  Perhaps it was a chimera of ideology, different seeds bearing a similar fruit...this is the way of things that are allowed to be interpreted. It pained him to think of his brothers and sisters, for he missed them dearly - though he knew this journey must be undertaken alone.

It no longer bothered him now, for he knew it was his stain to be cleansed.

His gaze shifted from the tranquil glow of the night sky, down to the river that did it's best attempt at reflecting it - though it too was born with the inevitable twists and turns that one can not necessarily foresee. It was a fitting expression, forcefully carved into the earth over time. Though there was truly little value to the comparison save for his own experience. The solitude provided him with the medium to entertain such reflections, the possibility to curate an emptiness of mind that simply could not be maintained due to the rampant troubles that plagued Vallaki. It was a gift, he thought - to be able to move as a vehicle to end the suffering and malfeasance that spread seamlessly throughout Barovia.  However, there were no dangers here, this was  an unclaimed domain.

A hundred dawns passed him by, then one hundred more.


The Morninglord’s light was brighter than it had ever been to him before, and each day he bathed in it’s cleansing radiance. It was who he was, it was the symbol of hope and retribution. An unfallable beacon of life, serving as a reminder that the static and suffering are but temporary grievances in our lives. He was surrounded by the knowable truth that darkness is only the absence of light, and all things are made whole once again. It was a cycle bestowed upon man by the gods themselves, of rebirth and renewal. Around him he saw the balance in his past, from the girl he once was ashamed to love - to those he had stricken down in the name of the dawn. Acceptance and understanding is why he had come here, to align himself with the stars in the heavens. To stand at the highest point in the land - to look down at the mists and it's relentless toil on humanity. He had known what his life had become, and accepted these facts unknowingly. A war with no end in sight, each side fighting relentlessly for an inch of soil. He had long lost count of how many victims the old night had swallowed whole, as it were impossible to know the extent of such casualties as they happened so frequently. It was not a war in the traditional sense, as everyone and everything shared their existence within a space. It was a resource that everyone was after, perhaps the most precious one of all.

"Time."


The word quietly escaped his lips as his thoughts subsided, the dawn had bleed into the colors of the sky that had caused his mind to race. He found himself doing this often, a new reality that knew no permanence save for that which he gave it. He silently committed his prayers as the orange glow burnt away the remainder of the night, warming the stone around him as he thought about that four letter word.

"Perhaps it is." He thought to himself as he ran his fingers along the cover of a tome - A golden book with a delicate sun stitched into the cover. He would be leaving this place with far more than he came with, and thought long and hard about the implications of such. His belongings collected, he looked one last time at the sky before him. Like all things in life, he knew that this place was temporary.

He smiled at the sight one final time before turning his back, and began his descent.