[center][h1][color=yellow][b][u]Karamir[/u][/b][/color][/h1][/center]

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The sun was setting as Karamir walked through the forest. There was a bitterness inside him. No answers, no explanation, no purpose. That was all he wanted. Yet the beings who created it all, him and the very world itself, could not provide it. Or perhaps they did provide it, but chose not to. Leaving him to figure it out for himself.

But why?

Was he a plaything? A test? Some experiment for them to observe and study? But even if that was the case... [i]why?[/i] What about him was worth studying or observing? The only things he could influence were the fate of a berry bush or the occasional wolf. Phystene had made him an offer, and while that might have given him more things to do... [i]why?[/i] If he was given a gift to aid his survival, that still didn't answer the question of what he was surviving [i]for.[/i] Even if he was capable of producing offspring, wouldn't they just go on to do the same things he did?

So why?

He could end himself, he realized. Answer the question with a simple "there is no why." Then throw himself from a cliff, or plunge a spear into his heart. He could stop leeching off the creatures that seem content with their lack of purpose, and instead he could let it end.

But then he would be a failure. Survival... such a vague, seemingly pointless task, but also the only task he had ever been given - the only thing expected of him. His ultimate mark on the world would be one of disappointment, which sounded worse than leaving no mark at all. There was no good answer.

What was one of Phystene's suggestions? Go on great hunts in Kalmar's name? Kalmar, who had given him all that he needed, but none of what we wanted. His name was already similar enough to Kalmar's, so it felt as if anything he did would already be in Kalmar's name. He did not resent his name, no, but why must he be tied to someone who had long since parted ways with him? Someone who did not even consider him a son, despite being directly responsible for his creation. [i]Why?[/i]

He wondered if the animals of this continent even had the capacity to contemplate that question. Perhaps that was why he seemed to be the only creature with these struggles. He had been told his intelligence was greater than theirs. Great enough to question existence, but not enough to actually answer that question. [i]Why?[/i]

The more he thought about it, the more he convinced himself there was no answer at all. Then he considered that perhaps not even the world's creators were smart enough to know the answer. He laughed bitterly. Were they just as confused as him, and hoping that by observing creations such as him, they would somehow find the answer for themselves? Yes, perhaps that was their secret. They told him it was something he had to find out for himself, but that was only because they couldn't admit to their own weakness. The fact that they were so afraid to show their weakness was a second weakness. 

What other weaknesses did they carry? Kalmar had told him that one god had already snapped and turned into a monster. Another wanted to destroy the world because he was unwilling to find a place in it. And another had nearly started a war over a petty dispute.

Yes... they all had to be just as lost and confused as him, if not more.

He recalled his maker's words. [color=orange]"There is no telling how high you might rise, how strong you might become. Or you might fail, and end up lower than where you started. Not even I know."[/color]

He would rise, he resolved. He would become stronger. Strong enough to stand next to the gods themselves. His maker had told him that anger, when mastered, had its uses. So he would take the anger within him, the bitterness, and he would hone it and sharpen it and harden it, to aid him in this goal. He did not know if such a goal was achievable by him, or even possible, but he would try. And if, somehow, he succeeded, he would look into their eyes and call them out for what they were.

Perhaps he would fail. He probably would. But at least it was a purpose.

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[hider=Summary]
Karamir wanders, reflecting on his meeting with Phystene and his lack of a purpose. Every line of thought he goes through eventually ends with the question of [i]why?[/i] Eventually he decides that perhaps it is a question not even the gods themselves know. Believing that he has found some sort of secret or facade, he decides to become powerful enough to match the gods themselves, so that he can call them out for it.
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