Right now, I feel this sadness deep down inside my heart, yet it's a peaceful sadness. I'm not sure why I feel it, but I feel it anyway as I sit in the Ray of Hope park. I am surrounded by beautiful blue flowers, sprouting around the Life Monument. I want to reach out and feel their soft, damp petals, maybe lower my fingers a bit more to pull one out of the ground, but all it will do is wilt and die, so why do so?

But I think I feel this sadness because it's part of Aldwythe's Landing. Everywhere in this place is filled with sorrow, despair, helplessness - and after only two marcs here, it feels like I've become a part of the sinister air. All the citizens live in fear - every single one of them. The children laugh, but beneath that laughter lies that uneasiness that knows that they may not be able to laugh for long.

Was this city once beautiful and thriving, filled with life and chatter and laughter? If you can call it a city...

I explored for a while, trudging through the streets, filled with people who had faces of despair. I was helpless, unable to help them, just to become one of them, blending in, yet a stranger in the midst...I visited Cory's Palace, saw the beautiful armour blessed by the gods themselves, then I visited the tower that was indicated to me by one of the men in the Palace. I could see the throne, so high up, so beautiful...

I was overwhelmed, I couldn't stay there, feeling inferior and uncomfortable. I took a corridor off to the side and explored some more, descending a flight of steps - only to be confronted by a maddened prisoner. My mouth fell open in a silent scream at the grisly sight, but then he moved forward, and I knew I was in danger. An actual scream finally escaped my lips and I turned and ran - ran and never looked back.

Then there was the fountain...a single ray of hope, like the heart of Aldwythe's Landing, bubbling and creating crystalline waterfalls, and I stood for a moment to watch it, silently and impassively, yet with peace in my heart, before moving deeper into the despairing town.

And now I sit in the Ray of Hope park, cross-legged, the hair falling into my eyes for the hundredth time, writing in you.

And I read the stone pillar, standing tall at the entrance, and for the sake of this beautiful park, I write:



[COLOR=Red]Welcome to our park. Here we try to

maintain some sanity in a crumbling world

while preserving a safehaven for us to escape

to when the troubles of the world become

too much for us to handle. You are welcome

to use this place as a gathering spot, but

please treat it with respect.[/COLOR]