(Written in front of the Gryphon's Tower)

Your mind tricked you to feel the pain of someone close to you leaving the game, of life.
So here it is another chance
Wide awake you face the day
The dream is over
Or has it just begun?

This bit of prose haunts me. The stark knowledge that I am going to die, as the ancient wyrm hurtles toward me haunts me. And the poetry and red roses haunt me most of all.

"Come live with me and be my love And we will all the pleasures prove That valleys,groves. Hills and fields Woods or steepy mountains yields." A lovely bit of verse, strangely punctuated perhaps, but nothing one would notice on first reading.

"If all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd's tongue, These pretty pleasures might me move To live with thee and be thy love." Haunting and melancholy, the implication is that the world and love are not young, nor do shepherds speak truely.

"Come live with me and be my love, And we will some new pleasures prove, Of golden sands and crystal brooks, With silken lanes and silver hooks." This one a bit more confusing. silken lanes and silver hooks?

Yes, I could go insane trying to find hidden meaning in these pretty words, but what I really want to know is, why were they sent to me? Why was the vision sent to me? It seems certain that Lark's demise is connected in some way. Carlotta and she shared the same bloodline. But how an I connected? Why did a Knight of the Western Kingdom take on the role of nursemaid to me? What was Alfred going to tell me? What was Max going to tell me? I think I should think about making a journey to see Gelmir. After Elensul's description of his mood and his grudge against the Foxes, it may be foolhardy, but he may know. If I do not find out soon what I am, I fear I will go mad. 

The trip to the Wind Shrine was as my life, dark and light in equal portions. The angel showed me once again that futility, that impoverished spirit, that I feel daily. I try hard to ignore it, but it tracks me like a black dog. Sister Fara cheered me somewhat. When I restated my fears about Stephen's prophecy, she looked at me with her clear eyes and said "You would never harm your friends Jaden." My heart leapt at her confidence, and I felt better for a few days, but after the poetry and red roses began to appear next to my breakfast plate, and when I found that they were not signs of esteem from my lady Lia, I began to feel uneasy. That perilous night when I awoke to stand in Carlotta's place, facing down the red dragon of my nightmares, yes, awoke and stood breathing it's evil reek and feeling the heat from it's body, I knew. Happiness for me is an illusion. Until I solve this riddle, I can never be really happy.

Sadder still, the truth may be harder to bear than the not knowing.