The sounds of death and destruction tore up the pass into the valley - war was at hand. Screams from the battlefield, the booms of cannons, the clash of steel all rolled down the valley and out of the pass at the far end. Fires raged in places and consumed the bodies of the dead, filling the air with a horrid stench as demons fought each other with guns and blades and fists and fangs. Chaos reigned supreme, with officers shouting out orders to the lower ranks, those lower ranks too busy saving their own hides to pay much attention. It was about numbers, at the end of the day. Besides, no strategy would work, anyway. Each carefully thought out, secretly communicated, well hidden plan of attack had an equally well made counter. There was nothing but stalemate; each side fought for victory over the other, but could not overpower them enough to end the battle, and it raged on, day and night, sun or storm. This battle was part of a much larger war, one that had been going on since the dawn of mankind. It was responsible for the concept of one side calling itself good while the other was named evil. It was responsible for any and all strife that exists within day-to-day interactions. It exists within all of our hearts. The Forever War, the ultimate battle of good versus evil, was at hand, playing out in this valley as it had in so many others, and would continue to in yet more. Always was either side on the verge of victory, but never to win. It was said that only in death would you be released. I do not believe this. We cannot escape the entrapment we put on ourselves. There were common demon soldiers, and then there were the adviser and commander demons. These higher demons reported directly to the supreme commander of either side. They were his friends and allies. They gave him advice. They followed his judgment without question. They had been bred to fight. Their sides represented either good or evil, and they would hold it to the death. The commander of the good side was a man of the age of 22, the only man present in the valley of demons. After all, they did need direction. He was already bogged down and weary of the war, but had no choice. It had to be fought, so that mankind had a chance to continue in the light, knowing it was doing good. How could he not fight? And every day, he and his demon army were attacked or set out to attack the opposing side, continuing the horror as it slowly ate away at everything he was. But the fight went on, and so did he. An old man was standing at the foot of the pass into the valley, listening with a tear in his eye to the sounds of battle. He was a retired veteran of this war, who was lingering with the hopes of doing something for the people still trapped within. He was weary, tired with age, but there was a gleam in his eye, and that gleam was knowledge, wisdom. The wisdom he bore, he full well knew, could save someone's life. But neither could he interfere, as no one would hear him over the sounds of battle. He turned his head down, and prepared to go. The young man finally broke. He realized what was truly going on. "STAY THIS MADNESS!!! FIGHT NO FURTHER!!! LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS AND GO!!!" At first the demons were confused. There was a war to be fought, after all! Again he shouted his command. The soldiers fled the battlefield back into their caves in the mountainside. The commanders came to him angrily. "How could you do this? All we have done for you, we have come and gone, we have fought valiantly and been your trusted friends and advisers, and this is how you treat us?" ------------------------------------- The old man heard the cry of the young man, who was but a boy compared to himself, and stopped. He turned back towards the pass, and stopped to sit on a rock and wait to see what happened. A while later, the boy came out of the pass, looking weary and haggard. "Good morning" said the old man. "But, sir, it's evening! How could it be morning?" he replied breathlessly. "My friend, what you do not realize is that it is morning for you. Come, walk with me. Tell me what happened; I will not judge you." The boy stopped a moment, tilting his head, considering. He then followed the old man's lead. They walked on a road out of the mountains that lead towards a meadow. It was spring and the flowers were fresh and the grass was green. "I told them to go away" he said at last. "The demons. The soldiers went away quickly. The commanders, each of whom I knew by name, where shocked and tried to turn on me." He paused, thinking. "But I convinced them to stop the fighting. To stop being of one side or the other. I dispersed them." The old man considered this, and then asked the most ancient, simple, and complex of questions: "Why?" The boy laughed. "This whole time, I never realized it but I was the commander of both sides. They were both fighting under me, and the commanders kept pulling me one way or the other, because I told them to. I never once suspected this. But there were no sides at all. Just inventions. That's why no one ever won." "My boy, you have realized at a youthful age what it takes most people a lifetime to learn, if they learn it at all." The boy then frowned. "I think there are some of the demons still there, trying to fight, wanting to pull me back. I followed them for so long, even though it was myself..." The old man made a gesture and said "Naturally. You're used to confusion and warfare. Give that time, it will go away. What you must come to learn is to cast off all these things. You must not let inventions of your mind nor people outside your mind tell you what to do. What you must do now is follow the sun, and if not the sun then the moon, and if not the moon then the stars, and if not the stars then trust the dark... but the key, the most important thing, is to follow your own heart - walk to the pace of its beating, walk in the direction it flows, for that is where you must go." "Thank you" the young man said. "I already feel free..." "No problem at all. I am happy for you" replied the old man. "I never caught your name, by the way." "My name...?" the young man scrunched up his eyebrows deep in thought. Finally with an exasperated sigh, he gave up, and said "I don't know, I forgot my real name. Perhaps I never knew it in the first place. I just don't know. I feel just as lost and confused out here as I did in the valley at war." The old man turned a kind face to him and said "Your mind was left ruined as is the valley. But you are free. Patience, my young friend, you will find a way. I am Solace."
