I stared into the flames of the campfire pondering on what would happen on the morrow.
"You have changed."
I glanced upward from the fire to Mayrin and said, "I could say the same of you."
She blushed profusely before smiling and nodding, "Yes, I have come a long way since you and Kuri held me down to cut off my bug infested hair." She shivered involuntarily then and smiling I went back to staring into the flames.
"What bothers you? Are you concerned about confronting the Witch?" Mayrin asked.
"Are you?" I asked knowingly.
She looked down, suddenly pensive, before nodding her confirmation of my question.
"Why?"
"She is very powerful. None have ever overcome her."
I stared at the flames for a moment before I posed a question to her, "If you had to choose a winner in a battle of the spirit between Kuri and the Witch, who would it be?"
"Kuri," she said, not hesitating in the slightest.
Nodding I said, "Then why fear since he was the one who sent you on this mission?"
"Because he's not here," she replied honestly enough.
"Perhaps not in body, but in spirit I would say, yes, he is."
"I don't understand."
I tried to explain it to her, "People have come to look at me as a man of importance, a hero if you will. They think I can accomplish anything that I set my hand to do. That there is no enemy that I cannot vanquish, but I tell you now that they are all wrong. I am but a man. There is nothing greater in me than any other man, save for one thing, and that is obedience. When Kuri found me, I was a boy on the verge of manhood with no purpose in life. He gave me purpose. He showed me the hidden aspects of the spirit realm that takes place all around us. He trained my body for combat, my mind he sharpened with wisdom, but his greatest gift of all was that he showed me that my spirit is the only aspect of me that will continue past any deeds I accomplish in this life. From there the decision has been a simple one and yet a hard one. I pledged my allegiance to the Creator of my spirit in that I have purposely done that which I knew to please Him and obey His will in my life. He is the force behind all my greatest successes and the gracious giver of all my greatest joys in this life. To Him I deny nothing. I forsake all in place of my obedience to Him. Whether I live or die in this coming confrontation is of no concern as I know it is El Elyon's pre-destined will for my life to be here in this moment. I tell you a truth that many are yet unaware of, Mayrin, and that is that El Elyon and Kuri are one and the same!