all that was me, is gone

ludo Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own It knew exactly what it was doing, leaving the memories there, vivid and horrific, for a lingering few seconds. ”No I do not,” it said, black fingers twitching along the stone of the statue. ”But imagine if it did not have to be that way.” All at once the memories would melt into different visions, more pleasant ones, but real all the same. Remi and his daughter finger painting the outside of the shop; catching Ronin having fallen asleep mid-attempt to make Aoife nap; small and clumsy steps towards Remi in the fields at his wedding. All of it as vivid as the bad, with the comfort of the emotions they had brought. ”Imagine if that moment of loss could become celebration. What if the passing of a soul did not have to always be violent, or lonely, or frightening?” It peeled out from behind the stone, gaunt eyed with a soft shock of black hair.