I Forgive You

Signed-off-by: Christine Dodrill <me@christine.website>

blog/i-forgive-you-2021-08-08.markdown

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+---
+title: I Forgive You
+date: 2021-08-08
+---
+
+Alicia stood in the throne room of her tormenter. Her blade raised, her
+spellbook in hand, flipping through the destructive spells to find one that
+would do the trick. Growling, she hacked towards the king, only to be stopped by
+an evil shield. The malice seeped into her sword, making her drop it for fear of
+becoming contaminated as well.
+
+The king looked over to her and laughed. "You fool! Destroy me and you guarantee
+that another will take my place! You think all of those times we let you win
+were our accidents? No, we planned this all along. You were chosen for this. We
+took you from your home as a child. We raised you to our plans. As it was
+before, so will it begin again! Have at you!"
+
+The king stood up and knocked his brilliant crystal throne over in rage,
+shattering it against the stone floor. Alicia jumped and shielded, protecting
+against the fragments.
+
+Flipping through her book, she made her way to the end. There was one spell
+listed and it took up the last two pages. It read "Forgiveness: forgive your
+opponent, cast aside all your weapons and armor then walk away."
+
+It struck her as odd; but after that faded Alicia thought about everything that
+had happened to her in the last few months. The events she had experienced. The
+life she made for herself. The circumstances that bound her to this catlike
+form. If it all really was predestined for her and nothing she did had any
+impact on it, why bother being angry? Is not forgiveness the answer here?
+
+Alicia stepped towards her former master and threw her armor off, cast aside her
+spellbook and her backup dagger with it. "You know what, I forgive you."
+
+"...you what?"
+
+"I...forgive you. I don’t hate you. You have actually been a positive force in
+my life even if that wasn’t your intent. If you hadn’t been involved I may have
+ended up being some boring goon and never really gotten to know myself as the
+woman I am. You have taken so much from me, but in the process you gave me the
+tools that I needed to become who I am today, and I forgive you. I forgive your
+henchmen. I forgive that mage that cursed me into this form. I forgive you. I
+have no quarrel with you. I’m going to go leave now. Keep my stuff if you want,
+I don’t need it anymore. It was only going to be used to hurt you, but I have no
+more need for it because I forgive you."
+
+"This is not how this works you sniveling little bitch! You can’t just walk up
+to the king of darkness after he made you experience a life of torment and get
+away scot free! What the fuck is that?"
+
+Alicia turned her head and walked away, lifting her tail to make her exit a
+graceful one. To tell the truth, she was happy with herself now. She had a
+family of choice instead of that awful family of origin. She belonged in a
+community that loved her for who she really was. The circumstances of her life
+didn’t matter. They still loved her. What room is there for hate when you have
+love instead?