Scattered Letters

Scattered Letters

To Your Excellency Alvis, It has been far too long since I last sent my regards. It feels as though centuries have passed since I penned a letter to you in this manner. Back then, I wrote in sheer desperation inquiring after my master's whereabouts, only for my letters to go completely unanswered... Perhaps you see me as nothing but an ungrateful upstart who seized upon a changing era to claw my way to my current station. Or perhaps I am still the same lowly kin you have always despised, a mediocrity trailing after your student and your enemy, incapable of grasping your true ambitions. I offer no defense against such judgments. Yet perhaps resorting to any means necessary is simply an instinct running in our wretched blood. In that respect, I have certainly not disgraced your early patronage at least... Looking back on it all, I never would have left our snow-shrouded homeland without your recommendation. I certainly never would have joined Hvergelmir, nor would I have met the mentor who profoundly altered the course of my life. I know full well this was never your intention. To you, I was only ever a pawn. But I remain deeply grateful, regardless of how you viewed me... For centuries, I have driven the iron tracks of Snezhnaya ever onward. They have carved through blizzards and eternal night to reach frontiers you and your peers could never have fathomed. The shadowed realms I have walked, those hidden cities that have never known the sky, perhaps stretch further than anything even His Majesty the Belyi Tsar has laid eyes upon. Along the way, I have watched countless dreams crumble to dust, and crossed paths with strangers from another age, until I finally exhausted a lifespan that ought to have stretched much further into the future... Now, my lifelong endeavor is complete, and my days draw to a close. All those old grievances have faded into absolute insignificance. Therefore, this will be the last clandestine missive I ever send you. Let it also serve as my parting counsel. Let it go. Let go of those ancient grudges. Just as my master once spoke of those exalted ideals: The power of love is way more profound than the petty hatred festering in your heart. Your unremarkable and lowly kin, Izmaylov