The Outlook
After walking for what seems like a lifetime, the road finally opens to an outlook. The last few steps have set your calves and thighs on fire, and you use your palms to lever your legs past the finish line…
You made it! Up through the heavy grey clouds, you feel as if you’ve ascended to the heavens themselves… but for what? What can you see? What on the hell has all that walking achieved, if there’s nothing to show for it? You walk to the very edge of the outlook, so far out you can feel your toes drifting into the night sky.
Beaten down, you heave a great sigh from the pit of your lungs. It’s a strange, deep exhalation of air that seems to go on… and on… and on…
The air cuts like a knife through the heavy grey clouds and parts your view, like Moses splitting the sea. There in front of you Valentine – in all its glory. You can see everything now, every rich vein and story… all the different weathers and routes swirl together, bursting with life and wonder.
You take another deep breath and push away the clouds entirely.
This is it. This is Valentine.
You have become a part of the very Afterglow itself. You see multitudes before you. It sings to you.