0xa95498f5…fdf0sent to0x1b0d65ff…623c·#16,485,004·view on Etherscan
Prose from a Realmsman IIIThomas Radio*People adapt to survive over time, making houses into homes. An Adventurer must adapt every day, as travels take them through jungles and caves, over waves of sand and salted water. I’m learning to be swift in pen and foot, so that I may cover all there is to see. No longer can I pretend I am an Adventurer with a destiny of glory, but onward still I travel. I am but an author offering my voice to the Realms. I will not shout the loudest, for all the secrets I’ve discovered exist to be tended. If you are reading these passages you must accept the task to keep our world beautiful.*
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#### Out the Woods, Once More
Embers snap with smouldering burrs\
as thornbristles twist\
and dried wood burns.\
The denser the forest\
the less there is sound.\
The further you go\
the less to be found.\
Unless you go further,\
further than most,\
to find what wonders live\
in Mother Grove.
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#### Magics Returned
Spirits renewed\
and a day's journey ahead\
I am on the edge of the natural world\
From here on I walk hard-packed dirt by carts and mules\
passing empty fields reaped by sharp sickles\
not even a cloud in the sky\
From a barren waste, I must pluck up the courage\
to return to places where\
the Realm feels lived in\
and corrupted.
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#### City Justice // A Proper Verbal Lashing
STOP!\
YOU THIEF!\
THERE!\
YOU!\
IN WHAT BLACK WATER POOL\
DID YOUR WITCH MOTHER\
BREW YOU?!\
AND I HAVE TO YELL!\
TURN AROUND!\
GIVE BACK THE BREAD!\
ALL YOUR BAD DECISIONS\
HAVE GONE TO YOUR HEAD!\
YOUR EARS ARE GETTING FAT\
THAT’S WHY YOU CAN’T HEAR!
\
The boy did not stop.\
Ran ‘round the corner,\
right to his pops.
\
I’ll tell ya,\
how disappointed I am.\
I raised you to be better,\
and not get caught.\
But now you must run.\
I’ll miss you, my boy\
Go now, be quick\
you must leave,\
I hear the knights riding\
but please leave the bread, son\
your father is starving.
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#### Injustice Delivered
Your unscrupulous tongue,\
dOn’T pUNish ThE mAn\
fOr ThE SInS oF ThE SoN.\
I’ve had it with humanity\
the people are sick\
and what’s worse is the land of decay\
we’ve left for our kids.
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#### Do I Dare Follow Legends?
Father,\
I’m alive. Blood does not flow through me but rushes! Oh what a quickened heart can do, I’m in the winds. I wasted no time absconding from the Realms, I heard talks of a citadel protected like a fortress, for it holds secrets unseen. There are spirits whispering answers to questions we haven’t thought to ask. I can taste the musty library from my time studying, the knowledge which rests is ancient and natural! They say no one has found it, or if they have they’ve never left as many have never returned. The map is long and will bring me home before I set out. I pray you to convince me not to follow through because if I remain in my ways I will set out for the citadel tonight!\
Make haste,\
Father!\
I’m off.
<br><br>
#### Mountain Mouths
A system of tunnels\
hidden in the high hills.\
So a mountain mouth cave\
will swallow you clean.\
First I must hike\
in order to descend\
where daylight is valued less than soft stone\
and legend is hidden among forgotten bones.
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#### Rator
Down here\
There are creatures that crawl\
Slither\
Snack upon flesh\
With sharps claws that click\
Clack\
Tear apart and thresh\
before consuming.\
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#### Coffin Caves
I’m buried alive,\
a mountain of weight above my head\
as I venture deeper into the Crypts.\
My guide is a native\
who lives subterranean\
and knows his way through the inky black.\
I hold a lantern\
to illuminate low ceilings\
and stay back my fears\
of true dark.
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#### Crack Stone Spills
The waters here are pure,\
the liquid vitality of the world.\
Deep beneath the calloused crust\
I extinguish my flame before I immerse,\
the coolness done in total,\
and the darkness complete.\
But in these pools life glows,\
Algae has found its way of light\
an Attunement I feel so distant from after my time in the city.\
Perhaps I’ll stick around\
And find my inner luminescence.\
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#### Contained
In hollow halls, my pilot of subterranea\
tells me stories of those who have left the caves\
and never returned.\
A society safe from whatever it is we do above\
has their own turmoil to deal with.\
Staying away from trouble and turn in\
can only protect you for so long.
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#### Efforts Released
There is no light at the end of the tunnel,\
exiting one created comfort,\
when the day is still young. \
I emerge from the catacombs,\
a burial site hidden from the surface,\
a place of worship within\
a microcosm apart from what I knew.
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***End of Chapter 3***