There Were Few Things Worse Than Being

I'm Sorry, Gemma. But We Can't Live In The Light All Of The Time. You Have To Take Whatever Light You Can Hold Into The Dark With You.

As A Kid, I Imagined Lots Of Different Scenarios For My Life. I Would Be An Astronaut. Maybe A Cartoonist. A Famous Explorer Or Rock Star. Never Once Did I See Myself Standing Under The Window Of A House Belonging To Some Druggie Named Carbine, Waiting For His Yard Gnome To Steal His Stash So I Could Get A Cab Back To A Cheap Motel Where My Friend, A Neurotic, Death-obsessed Dwarf, Was Waiting For Me So We Could Get On The Road To An Undefined Place And A Mysterious Dr. X, Who Would Cure Me Of Mad Cow Disease And Stop A Band Of Dark Energy From Destroying The Universe.

No One Asks How Or What I Am Doing. They Could Not Care Less. We’re All Looking Glasses, We Girls, Existing Only To Reflect Their Images Back To Them As They’d Like To Be Seen. Hollow Vessels Of Girls To Be Rinsed Of Our Own Ambitions, Wants, And Opinions, Just Waiting To Be Filled With The Cool, Tepid Water Of Gracious Compliance. A Fissure Forms In The Vessel. I’m Cracking Open.

But If We Are To Remain A Great Empire, We Must Have A Greater Understanding Of The Hearts And Minds Of Others.

No Person Has Ever Held All The Power. There Must Be A Balance Between Chaos And Order, Dark And Light. With The Temple Magic Bound To You, The Realms Are No Longer In Balance. The Power Could Change You... And You Could Change The Magic.