The Dystopian Locket

If the prayers of the past, were answered today,

What was the vision revealed, from the prayers that have been “preyed?

The uncertainty of death, the mysteries of the void are vast,

The realization the days of future in more ways than not, resemble those of the past.

The desolation is real. The landscape is barren.

The heat is unbearable. There are but a few souls behind us, and quickly they are trailing.

The ground they have covered, the vengeance they have sought,

The bodies they have laid to rest, in my possession, is their resolve that is brought.

They cannot have it. It is not theirs to behold.

I have sacrificed everything, just to steal back that which was sold.

You, see? Today…There is a price to pay, and it is not paid with riches and gold,

It is paid with honor and blood and vengeance, just like the days of old.

The pursuers. A demonic gang of miscreants, loyal to the ways of ancient deviants.

The pursued is just one man fighting against the physical manifestation of his own demons.

They will do all that is asked to secure what is theirs by right,

I just want to find my peace, the decision made easy, just, and fair. What is wrong in doing what is right?

I loved her. She was the embodiment of that which was beautiful, decent, and good.

For her I would do anything, right or wrong, and because I could.

She made a desperate plea with that devil to spare a life that was not her own.

In exchange for a trinket, a reminder of a time that was long gone and not now known.

It was simply a heart shaped locket. Born and formed from an amethyst rock, found on a rocket.

Hid for a century in a decrepit dresser, amongst other miscellaneous trinkets and sprockets.

The piece was unique, a one-of-a-kind design disguised as a symbol that withstood the test as time,

Handed down through the generations, a reminder of the beauty, created as a symbol, timeless and divine.

It was with reluctance and piety that such a deal was made. My life for the locket, that was the trade.

This reality was unfiltered, untethered by the influences of madmen hell-bent on treasonous raids.

Though I walked amongst those that offered up the semblance of subjugation.

I was not among those that were conquered, even though we hailed from the same nation.

The terms of the exchange were met, and the deal was done. I was free to go despite the tears of some.

The battle was lost, and yet, somehow, they say the war was won.

Though what was lost to her now, could not be seen as a win. The deal that was struck expunged my original sin.

I had to resort to what I knew and have known to be true. Do onto others as they would have done onto you.

So that is what I did and at first chance I took, that which they held sacred, without a second look.

Their 1st mistake was hiding something so precious in an inconspicuous book.

I saw his possessions laid there by his bed, before I crept to where lay, and put my knife to his head.

And in just one move, the action was swift. He was the devil and now he was dead.

Their anger is justified, I took the life of their leader without consequence or thought.

Their vengeance will be heavy, a life for a life, the promise that is sought.

I have run to the end of my wits, all the way to the end of the earth.

To deliver back that which was hers since the time of her birth, for myself, but a moment of self-worth.

I find her, alone in a sea of loneliness and despair, surrounded by strangers like the days of yester-years fairs.

I pull her to the side, and beneath my cloak do I still hide, the treasure of her life, I revel it all in stride.

From the depths of my soul, I know this life is close to an end, but my appreciation for her sacrifice is but the parting gift that I send.

For out of my pocket, launched like a rocket, in this dystopian future, I present to her back, the heart-shaped locket.

Where do we go from here? What is the end?

Of this passage written for you, the reader, my friend.

In all of existence, in our own truth we cannot hide,

Every perspective is different, so in this, you must decide.