"What do you see?" She asked, and in her voice was the tiniest waver of uncertainty. "What will we make?"
"I see..." Odyssial mused, feeling oddly hopeful, "A long, long path ahead, winding and uncertain. We will make many mistakes. We will stumble. We will fail. Many of us will fall, to the blades of our enemies or our own incapacity. I see ruin, and devastation, new horrors such as have never touched the world before. But we will learn from our mistakes. When we stumble, we'll correct our footing. From what does not kill us, we will emerge stronger. We will grow. And one day, a far day from today, the world will be a better place than it was the day before. And the next day, better again. And the next, and the next, and the next, and then one day, we'll turn around and we'll see that this world, it's not so bad as it used to be, it's not so cruel to be born here. One day at a time, into the golden forever."
"Oh, Ody," The maiden had sat down on his shoulder, feet kicking in the wind. Her voice broke, ever so slightly. "That's beautiful. I, I truly hope we can be what you dream, but, but - "
"There's always an ending," said the maiden.
"Not always," said Odyssial.
