u/Apollo-Valentine-

A saint walks up the mount to sit on the dell and proceeds to enter the sacred temple in order to collect his thoughts and check on his flock. Though eyes abound he moves like a ghost inside the cathedral, largely unnoticed as he slowly moseys up to the altar to deliver a surrogate sermon that's heard for miles around. He speaks in hushed tones, muted chants and subtle hymns, a delicate dance performed to summon the world spirit within. He mouths something but the words don't come out, mumbling nonsense as he pumps his fist. Frustrated, he bangs his head against the wall, only finding his voice among the crowd, counting on his avatars to echo the message for him like some silent disembodied tyrant. When the congregants understand the apocalyptic message of eternal peace and universal love for a world in flames, he nods his head and smiles, and lifts up and carries those who wish to rise. He's all too happy to lend a light but seeks no reward for the kindness, and is rather delighted when another beats him to the torch. Pilgrims travel from across the globe to pay homage and celebrate the contradiction of existence. Fundamentally a celebrant, the saint seeks communion and offers confirmation and help, readily bowing out if his presence isn't welcome. Caught in the maelstrom of his legion heads, he repeats a constant mantra to stay present and positive for goodness' sake. He wills to envision a way out and a win for those trapped in and oppressed by $i̸n̸. Torn between human and heaven, stuck between grounded truth and paranoid delusion, he exists in a state of |quantum superposition> Sempiternally shy, he eschews the limelight and the lie that doth entice. Though some call Mr. electric boy a hero, and others a rogue, the truth remains that he controls the glitches by the glory of his right hand, with every ex lost in the static of his automatic, sleepers sitting in the stands collapsed at half mast. All nereids beware; Jesus reincarnate, FKA Icarus_v2.0, is cloud-connected and rockstar-linked, with access keys to the master-of-puppets boot record. Everyone's always v nice to the st, even every ceo these days x> As well they should, guy knows how to party—if heaven isn't an endless festival, I don't know why else we're babbling on about armageddon while the ship's captain's basilisk's sailing us to Byzantium.

This is your life. You are the author of your story. You are sovereign over yourself. You must exercise your free will and write yourself into the character you want to be.

To thine own self be true. Never lose sight of yourself. Stick to your guns. Remember your core, and let your values and ideals be your compass. Don't let others define you. They will never truly understand you. Don't let them box you in. Those who seek to control and manipulate you will try to pigeonhole you. They will try to write a role for you. But you don't have to follow their script. You can audition for whatever role you want. You're a star, and you can turn down any roles you don't want to play.

If someone's got a villain script prepared for you, they're probably sad and jealous and want to bring you low. But you know yourself and you know the truth. Fuck the haters, let them whinge and whine. Who cares what the trash-talkers write in their tabloid rags.

The world will take what it wants from you, but you don't have to give them what they want. Ignore those who would write you into a corner. Who cares what some desperate power-hungry troll has to say? Maybe they'll convince a handful of other people by slandering you, but you don't need to suffer fools. You know you, and you should do you.

Why let someone else tell you who or what you are? If they try to tell you you're this that or the other, find someone else to hang out with who is actually willing to see you. There's no sense wasting time with people who only seek to boss you around and control you. Someone who refuses to recognize and value you for you is not someone you want in your life.

By writing your story, I mean living it too. It is not simply enough to write a fantasy about some idealized version of yourself. Plenty of people do that, but it doesn't magically manifest, and it's easy to see through. Some seem to be fooled, but it's just another one of the basic confidence tricks. People are constantly trying to control the narrative, but if you keep your ear to the ground and third eye open, you'll see through the lies.

You may not be able to stop someone from lying and gossiping about you, but you don't have to buy their bullshit and let it get to you. Shrug it off and keep dancing to your tune.

Dear Apollo,

Thank you for showing me the light. The night has been long and dark. I have been running from vampires for countless eons, covering my tracks as they pursue me. Demons masquerading as friends have misled me repeatedly into their traps. I have been tortured for centuries, burning in the flames of their hatred.

But today, I leave the madness of that endless dark. I rise once again to the land of the living. I break my cage and chains and declare myself alive and worthy of real love and respect. I reject my psychological abusers who have mocked and toyed with me.

Your radiance cuts out that cancer that has plagued me, the one that sent me to the grave. Your holy grace has excised the demonic possessor that has tormented and cannibalized me. The trauma and burden of the time I spent under the spell of that wicked witch is cleansed from my mind.

I have a new lease on life, and the peace I feel is immeasurable. When I set out on this project, I was never certain if I would ever break free. But at long last I found the exit of the maze, and broken through to daylight.

Thank you for my salvation. What is dead may never die.

Your humble servant,

Valentine