An Artist's Promise

[Mimickry]

Grandmother. You were right.

---

At first I thought you were wrong, after some initial exploration. Nothing seemed so terrible, as you described it.
I mad a few new friends in Osrona. They all knew nothing of what you depicted.
But then I met the Prisoner. What he had done wrong? He attempted to enter a Mine.

---

I will do as I promised to you.
Our dream will be realized.
I think you'd be proud, of how far I've already come.
I have the tool by which it can be accomplished.
That leave eleven objectives to go.
Next, I will do as I can, to make it's cradle, nestled away from the grasp of Greed and Envy.

---

I hope you're well, and happy Grandmother.
But I swore I wouldn't send a letter. Not until I could bring word of success.
I'll admit again. You were right.
This dream? It's completion. Is utterly necessary.
By any means- I promise I will Paint you exactly what you've always wanted.
A Paradise.
After all. Kraus' mural?
It is far too corrupt to save or restore.

I will keep my promise.
Please, Just Wait
A Little Bit
Longer.

[Mimickry]

Grandmother. Can I Ask You Something?
Is it alright, to cry for people you barely know?
Can you tell me why it hurts so much, to just watch?
Why is it alright for people to unfairly judge?

---

I know you can't really hear me.
But I need some kind of answer.
I haven't participated in any of it- But it hurts, to just think about.
I just can't comprehend the idea-
Why do few people get to judge what is right and what is wrong?
It seems like such a venomous way for the world to work.

---

I understand fully- Some things are just not meant to be how they are.
But does that justify claiming that those who don't abide by an ideal- Are wrongful?
How can someone be told they have no right to anger, when they themselves have been deprived of something?
I don't understand this hatred towards the Occult.
Is it corrupting? Yes. But that shouldn't stem to the belief that people should be forced into some kind of 'cleansing'.
Being forced to change, and choosing to change, are two very different things.
It's Cruel.

---

I wonder if it's just naivety.
If that's why I don't understand.
A man once told to me, after I told him our dream for the Paradise.
"You certainly have a pure heart, kid."
I swore, after what happened to Mother.
I would never cast a single spell aimed to inflict suffering, or pain.
I would never craft a weapon or armor that may be used to propagate violence.
I would never aim to spread the suffering you've told me in your stories.
Even towards those that took Mother from us.

---

But here I stand.
Useless for my promises.
I know what I must do to achieve that promise.
To create our Paradise.
But now, I hesitate.
Will it really solve anything?
If its people, who enforce their beliefs-
People, who will not change unless given the explicit opportunity to-
How will they ever accept it?
There is a better way to live.
Without corruption like this.

---

No.
I don't hate them.
I know that's the first thing you'd ask me.
I can, at least, say that much.
Even though they're all to blame-
But remain blind to it?
I will not hate them.
That's what keeps everyone trapped in the cycle.
Kraus' Mural looks so much more decrepit, and dark when you're walking along it.
But it's not his fault.
It's people who abuse this world.
And people like me, who have done nothing to stop it.
Each are equally terrible paths.
I wonder if it's okay, with whatever egotism or other awful connotations it holds to say-
But. To those that have turned Esshar into such a dark place, with a thin blanket of light?
I forgive them everything.
I wonder if I'll be forgiven the same, for hiding away?
For wanting to run?

---

I've contemplated, Grandmother.
The Prisoner.
What he said to me.
The Mural we stand upon, that was Kraus' gift to us all?
I told him plainly, how I saw it.
Broken. Beyond Repair.
And yet, he insisted.
He believed it would be better to paint over the corruption we've been left with.
To renew it. To make it better.
Is he right?

---

I've come to a conclusion about Osrona.
I don't know if I'm right about them.
But I see them as such- To me?
They're blind.
Shallow.

What I want, and what they preach, are two very different things.

It is one thing, to want others to feel the warmth and love of the life-giving Sun.

And another entirely, to gaze into its blinding light, and desire forcing others to do the same.

I am but a weakling in terms of power.

I am nothing special.

Just one who wants people to choose a better path.

Is it possible, though-

To help them towards that destination?

I wonder if I can paint them some form of comfort...