The story always begins with a boy. The boy is always innocent and always lacking confidence. And somehow, the boy must always find a way to save the world. The boy always faces his greatest fear. The boy always approaches final defeat. And somehow, the boy always finds the courage… the strength to face his greatest fear, to mature into a man, and to defeat the great evil which always plagues mankind.
In our story, there is always love. Romantic love is best, for it speaks to most everyone and motivates the same. Occasionally the story will focus upon brotherly love or sacrificial love unrelated to a romantic interest, and it is here that that story most often fails. Not that a person cannot experience those other loves, of course, but because eternity cannot remember a story which does not move its soul. And eternity is shockingly predictable.
What lives in the hearts and souls of men lives on forever or dies in obscurity based upon the merit of their stories. Some stories live forever, but none save a few survive whose lot was not cast upon the fervor of love.
The boy is a type of ourselves. We are young, innocent, lost in an unfamiliar forest and pressed to our wits end to survive the night. Many strangers along the way offer wisdom or deceit, and the words we accept will guide us either to safe passage or to our very doom. Lacking the basic skills of a seasoned adult, we must choose whom to trust based upon very simple and untested instincts.
Every smile could hide a grimace. Every handshake a sword. Every meal could be poisoned. Every moment a trap. We live with the uncertainty that comes from being thrust into a story without the narrative. We are characters waiting for someone to map out our inner character, our purpose, and our destination. The lack of response is nothing short of disheartening, yet the story must continue. The story does not stop for uncertainty or ill will.
The story is always all-consuming. It does not yield its permanence for the weak of heart. Those tested like our boy must choose whether to cower and be consumed or to stand, stretch, face the darkness, and consume the dark itself with light.
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