Radiance of Reality

My gaze stretches out onto the image of the dazzling, star-filled pond. I stagger closer, releasing the grasp on my bow and arrows; they tumble to the ground. My eyes are clouded, and hatred overwhelms me like a tornado over a village. As I near the shore, I drop to my knees. My eyes become streams, quietly flowing in the heat of summer. My hands are dripping with the blood and weight of my faults... my failures. I throw my head up to the sky and the stars, just a bit more real than the pond's deceit. Please... please... these sights are too much. I am on the edge of the fall into oblivion.

The imprisoning silhouettes of fantasy fade. A silent breeze passes over my face, and returns my teardrops to the vast ocean of the universe. The blessed radiance of reality pours over the horizon, and there is light...