Memories

6 years ago, there was a chatroom I roleplayed in. It was a place of laughter, friendship, and even love. The people the built the place; myself, as an elf, Bella, as a vampiress, and a few others...never expected it to grow as it did: From a homely inn at a small corner of cyberspace into a manor house that all that sought entrance were welcome with open arms and minds.

We were happy. I evolved into a character borne of an old nickname, a succubus with a tale of mystery and woe, and found my first true love...an angel with wings of iron. The love bled into reality, and though it was doomed to fail, it brought me into a self that I didn't know existed. Until that point I didn't know I could be loved for my creativity; had no idea that I had the power to attract someone by the sheer force of my imagination.

And it was good.

The lyrics of the above video suit that chatroom well, as it died rather violently when a greedy group of ignorant children stormed the place and frightened the majority of its denizens away. I always imagined the place left as a little more than a blasted shell, with tables and chairs strewn about, the bar left standing, singed and maimed with bits of glass everywhere. All our little treasures, all the things we held dear...gone except for a few items that would not be broken because they could not be broken. We had given them power, you see. That power will sustain them as long as we remember.

Some of us players still linger in the wings, keeping touch with each other in the only way we can, through instant messagers and a little community site, Mirtanna Manor. Nothing seems to work, for no one is the same anymore. We can't get into the Play anymore. It's sad and hard, feeling those little aches borne of missing the days of long ago. It's like all our little tales are locked away in a chest, and only time has the key. Would that I could take hold of the past and force it to give us that key again.

"All of my memories keep you near
In silent moments imagine you'd be here
All of my memories keep you near
Your silent whispers, silent tears

All of my memories..."

~Within Temptation