A brief excursion into the world of sappy MapleStory romance. It’s a bit limited in its capacity of MMO-relatedness, but my excuse is that I hoped to capture the essence of Maple ‘relationships.’ ‘Sides, I spent a whole hour on it! Ain’t that dedication enough?! Oh. It’s a one-shot for all you it’sbeensolongsinceaToaLWchapter apocalypsers.

—

The wheels of the taxi rolled down the highway with the slow, meandering pace of those long, melancholy days in late summer. It was not a feeling entirely alien to me; after all, wasn’t this the mere culmination of six years of anguish? That sense of inescapable hopelessness hovered near the tip of my tongue.

The smoky-gray skies of Kerning City loomed on the cusp of the horizon. It is funny; I’d always thought the sky in Kerning City was bloated with a horrendous glow of orange. Yet in my exoneration of hope and joy, the sky seemed a murky gray. No sunshine reached my cold skin, despite the fact physical sunlight was splashed upon my neck thanks to the setting sun.

The countryside rolled by outside, and that lump of choked-back feelings in my throat grew threefold. The few leaves that still clung on to their respective trees wavered in the wind, as if unsure whether to stay or go. There is something humbling about watching telephone lines flow by in a bleak environment devoid of any other signs of human encroachment.

I’d waited six years for this. Six years to feel her warm embrace wrapped in mine. Of course I loved her, yearned for her. There was no other explanation sufficiently explaining my purpose in being here. Yet these six years have only been marked by tremendous pain and bitterness. My love exponentiated only through a perverse fear of losing her. In retrospect, there may be no love that exists solely for the purpose of loving someone.

I recalled the many times I thought I’d come close to seeing Amoria with her, and the subsequent refusals that sent the mundane earth spiraling away from me. I have a propensity for being stubborn on such matters as these, which may yield answers to the inexplicable reasons for my continuous pursuit of this that cannot exist.

Most likely I am insane. But either my intellectuality sees too much, or I am aware of something that my intelligence refuses to accept. I considered ending my pursuit of this happiness long ago, yet I still remain here for reasons unknown even to me. Either it is out of extreme devotion or perhaps it is simply madness.

She lives in Kerning City. It is where she has staked her hopes in life, a choice that has cost me her presence in my life. I did not know whether to follow her, nor did she care. However, I know now my heart longs to come to this city. After all, one-sided affairs burn wilder than ones that are controlled.

Ultimately, I love her, regardless of what else may cloud my vision. Yet at the same time, a realization lingers at the back of my mind—it is out of my reach. But what can I do? The heart is a strange and stubborn creature. It yearns for that which it insists it wants, and tortures the owner who cannot feed it.

At last, the wheels of the taxi skidded to a halt. To see her again would be a rebirth, a revalidation of my love, my hope, my lust for this broken life. But there would only be a departure letter on her door, the last testament to her presence in my life. The last leaf of hope had already fallen to the ground.