Monday 13 August 2012

On Dark Souls: After The Dust Has Settled...


    So, here I am again, inspired by a presence I could not perceive, to write in this cathartic for my mind and soul blog once again. This time, I want to tell you a story. It's a magnificent one, filled with intrigue and mystery. Such is the complexity of its eminence that it would require whole days for me to put it down on "paper". So I am just going to relay one chapter of my adventure, a short but very important one. It is a small venture of sorts... a trip down a wide, stony staircase...

    It has been a while since I finished Dark Souls for the first time. Back in the day things in my life were quite different. My social priorities were much more specific and simple, my free time somewhat diminished. I'd try to steal every possible moment to enjoy this bleak endeavor and each time, after the latest of the day's hours had past and the end of each sessions had reared its ugly head, I'd be left awestruck and mesmerized. The universe of this masterpiece... simply inspiring.

    You must understand dear reader, I am a very dedicated gamer. I enjoy my moments under the best possible circumstances attainable, low lights and the silence of the night being key among them. Even now, as I sit down invoking the feelings I experienced back then I listen to this, recalling the shivers on my skin as a silent tribute. The atmosphere is once again the same in the core of my mind and I labor to keep the bluntness of the world around me at bay. But on that fateful day, mere minutes before the end of my journey, I was robbed of all such novelties. I was expecting a visitor. A very important one in that time. It had to be done then and there. The story had to come to a close. I once again stood before the vessel, key to the great gate. The interaction prompt called out to me. It had done so many times before. This time its call would not go unanswered.

    They say that beauty is horrific in its own right. And oh, they are so correct. The staircase that stood before me was unlike anything I had expected. Its form simple, minimalistic. Yet the figures that inhabited it... indescribable. Prithee, it's not like I didn't KNOW what they were... or once had been. It's the essence of their presence what drives the wedge deep into the mind's eyes, invoking a sense of loneliness and... wonder. After the majestic leap in the hear of darkness you are finally standing before the final stretch. And it all seems so unbelievably surprising, so... different. I stood there, motionless. I started walking down, slowly as if I was about to be beset by something unknown and formless. Each step another moment of clarity, of recollection and a sense of accomplishment. Venturing through that final cavern was as magnificent a voyage as the rest of my experience combined. Suddenly I knew what the feeling was all about: I shall see the end. It will be years before the next trip. The moment before me will mark the finale.

    I reach for the fog... it's white and shuddering like all the others before it. But this one is unique. This is the LAST one. I pass through and my senses heighten, the finality of that which lies before me makes my heart pump faster. It is the apex, the absolution and primordial sin. I am there to finish... it. But do I have to. Do I NEED to?

    After a little while it is done. I make a choice of grand importance and sit back, watching the credits roll as I try to realize the magnitude of this offering's greatness. I am motionless. Breathing slowly, drenched in serenity.

    So much time has passed, and as I stare at the empty cell in which I am drown once again beginning anew a thought crosses my mind...

    I had been expecting someone that evening...

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