Yeetboy0206

Maddock Tam gathered his family and took them to move out. The dream was broken. The man would never be the same again. The only real home he ever had...was now taken from him. All he had left was his wife and children, and he'd be DAMNED if they were taken too.

Lilac got word of the news and weeped once more in her and Manuel’s home. The poor woman was just starting to come to terms with her mother’s death.

Lilac finishes vomiting in a bucket for her last bout of morning sickness just in time to get a letter from her bird. Her wailing scream of sorrow could be heard for miles from Viru, as there was nothing louder than a child that lost their mother.

Estevot Heymor looks on from the Seven Skies, taking some amount of happiness that Lenora was still safe and making safe communities for the vulnerable and oppressed.

Maddock Tam was once a boy who simply wished to be a Knight. The boy became a squire. The squire became a Knight. The Knight became a man. The Knight became a husband. The Knight became a father, the Knight became a Lord. The Lord became lost because those who loved him left, and he was too uncertain to follow. He knew some of them hated him. They may say otherwise, but deep down, he knew he had failed them. No more. Maddock knew that Beleth, as a people, as an idea, in its purest form, free of the taint that had grown onto it, would live on. But Maddock had accepted...he would not be the one to bring about that dream. Maddock sharpened his remaining sword. He put on his chainmail. He put on his old helmet. He had trained until his body was finally back to its peak form. Maddock had made a mistake. One he would not make again. He had trusted in systems to prevent injustice...But systems fail. They corrode, they decay. That is what led to the Empire in the first place. Now, Maddock knew the truth. Injustice doesn't get destroyed by systems, but by people. Maddock Tam took in a deep breath. When he was a boy, he was raised to believe in grace. That one could be touched by the divine and become transformed into a better person. But he was also raised to believe in RETRIBUTION. So he would help bring this war to an end. He rode out of Anatis. It was time to start making the Emperor bleed.

Maddock Tam stood at the highest point in his city. He stared out into the horizon, thinking on all that had happened. How much of it suddenly felt so meaningless now. He thinks of the Greyes and growls. He thinks of Juniper and growls. He thinks of all the people whom he's failed, and Maddock climbs down, returning to training. His fury was evident, and he would hone it into something that would ensure he never failed anyone he loved again.

Maddock was at a meeting where he learned most of this prior...but he knew this wasn't the end. The Lord's Work was never done. He prepared himself for what he was going to become. His body had been rebuilt. His spirit had been revitalized. His mind had been reformed. Now...it was time to slay a dragon.

Maddock wrote a singular letter to Peter, before continuing with his missive. "You are a coward. May GOD forgive you for what you've done." He continued his writing.

Maddock Tam read this and something finally snapped in him. "No more being led." It was time to lead. By example. He picked up his pen.

Awesome post Keia!

Maddock Tam trained. After almost two years now of being confined to a wheelchair, after almost losing his resolve for his home, for the Dream...No more. No more allowing himself to doubt the right course. No more allowing this enemy the grace that only GOD can grant. No more treating the enemy better than the children they maim, torment, and kidnap. They want to rule the world. They want to do it through fear. Then Beleth will become a Nation Without Fear. "No more...When this war is won, the Empire will not survive. They will be witnesses to the death of a nation of their own making, brought about because they didn't listen to those they oppressed who used reason, while they used blades." "NEVER AGAIN."

Maddock Tam smiles reading this along with the other mayoral candidate introductions. "Very good. Despite my issues with the situation that led to this, it is good to see so many eager people trying to improve Anatis and refusing to give up on the dream."

Maddock read this as he rested in a bed, in convalescence after almost dying. He looks at @BlauRpsit in confusion. "I think someone made a bad typo on your behalf."

Instead of finding a warm mouth and belly to make its home, the potato laid next to Maddock equally prone. It seemed there was no getting through. The voices were too loud. They grew more hateful, venomous. “It’s your fault, you didn’t do anything. You betrayed your family for the failure of a dream you called home. You didn’t make the world better, you helped make it harder for them. There’s nothing you can do to fix it now, they’ll hate you forever. No Mama, no Greyes, and what will your Cindy think when she looks upon your wretched face? You aren’t the man she fell in love with. You are not the man she once adored. You are not her kind and gentle husband, and you are not the love she knew before. You’ve left a trail of death in all your families, as you traded friends like objects you could use. Failed to many times to count on your hands, all because you wanted to bring them back to you. But no amount of improvement to Beleth, no amount of love for them will change that you are a spineless maggot, finally where he belongs, in the grave.”

Maddock lay still by the riverbank, his breath coming in short. His heart still beat, but only time would tell if someone would find him, and if he would live long enough to see that the dream he had thought crushed had survived. That he was proven wrong. That there is still hope.

Maddock still lay at the riverbank. Time was counting down. Either salvation or damnation awaited him, no inbetweens.

Maddock Tam still lay at the riverbank, seeming almost dead to the world. Time would tell if he would be found and brought home, to see that, in the end, he was proven wrong.

Another letter joined Maddock, and he didn't look. He couldn't look. The voices grew louder, their venom dripping into his ears as he curled up in the dirt.

A letter found its way to Maddock, dropping near him. He looked at it, and he slowly tilted over, before hitting the ground. The sad truth was that he didn't see the beginning; he didn't see the warning. He didn't see the love. He just saw the last two sentences and heard his Mama whisper in his ear a confirmation of one of his greatest fears, "I told you so."

[!] Maddock Tam sits as he finished his poem in the middle of the night, scribbled in a fit of uncontrollable emotion amongst the chaos of his burgled home, as he sent it around Azuras. He didn't know who'd see it, and to be honest, he didn't think it would reach any of the people he hoped it would...but he still hoped...just a little. "Unless" I look upon my people And I slowly break apart. So long I fought to keep them safe, Yet now they break my heart. The enemy of man is pride, That parasite is inside all men. It drives them to homicide While pretending that it’s to benefit them. That pride I see in so many of us, In refusal to try and seek what’s right. Now they all do wrong and cause a fuss As I weep alone in the dead of night. This home of mine now becomes a tomb, For my dreams, loves, and community. Emptied and pillaged, my own children’s room, Yet I can’t bring myself to hate the crime against me. For their anger is human, and their hatred of me, It's something I can understand. For you see, I hate myself more than anything, For the failures to protect this land. I apologize for my naive sins, For believing the best in all of you So much so that I didn’t see The problems that will take me away from you. I cannot eat, I cannot sleep. My belly is empty, my heart is frail. It is only a matter of time, Before I reach the end of this sorry tale. My heart beats slower by the day, So I leave you with my very best In well wishes for all of you, I pray, Even as your hate spears through my chest. I love you, Elly, I love you, Viv. I love you, those I call family, Whether Greye or Rovare, I pray you live, And treat each other a little more kindly. I love you, my sons, my daughters, my wife. I love you, old friends, my Rex, and Mama. Even if I remain hated in life, I hope I left something of worth in the drama. I wish I could see all of you one last time, Even if you have nothing but swear words to say. To have all of you in one room, regardless of crime, And look upon you, just one more day. I am sorry for failing you in how I die. Writing now as I feel that forsaken caress, But the many tethers that drove me to try, Now lay cut and severed forever…Unless. Unless people choose love and try to be kind, Unless people forgive and choose to overcome crime Unless people seek justice, not vengeance, to find Unless people unite, or try one last time, Unless I see clearly that there is still hope, Unless they still care about whether I die, Unless my faith doesn’t make me a dope, Unless they show me that we can still try Unless all of you care a whole awful lot, None of this is going to get better. It’s not. And Maddock walked off, not really leaving. He just stepped outside the walls and went down to the river. He didn't know how much time he had left; his heart felt so weak. He had a couple days at best. But he knew he wanted to be outside and see the sunrise one last time. His mind was so foggy now. A healer would probably say that Maddock's mind was ill, that he wasn't thinking straight or understanding fully what was happening. It was like trying to ride a horse, but with incomplete instructions. He needed help. Maddock started seeing things in the dark, glimpses of face he hadn't seen in years, faces that crept in, whispering in his ear of his failures, of his worthlessness, of his complete and total mistake of an existence. It was one particular face, the woman who was the closest thing to his mother he had, that made him lose what clarity he had. She didn't say a word, but Maddock didn't need to hear the words to know that Juni wished he stopped thinking he could ever be loved by her after all this time. Maddock reached the riverbank. He sat down and just shut down, waiting. No one was coming to help...unless.

Maddock read this missive and smiled slightly. It gave him a bit of hope that Beleth would still survive.