Upon a cloud the twin of all the rest, lives the Unicorn Rescue Squad. For centuries it has been necessary to move quickly when a unicorn faces danger. Evil hunts them because they are pure, more than for trophy of their blood or bone The bounty upon them, the reward for their slaughter, is a thing of legend among the most foul of monsters, the lone beasts and the swarms. Thus, our squad of heroes lives to defend them and passed the responsibility down the generations.
Edmund sat upon the cloud, feeling it hug around his healing limbs. Their cloud-abode was ever-warm, ever with the sweet aroma of honey and blossoms. The rest of his squad were dancing and playing music, taking time to enjoy this rest between missions. His eyes found the laval-scars upon his hooves and, for a moment, he could smell the acrid stink of them burning again. With a deep breath he reminded himself of the unicorn family they’d saved that day. Evil lost. The good guys won. At that moment the cloud glowed blue-grey - their rest was over.
Echo sat in the dark. Water dripped. The wind whistled through winter denuded trees. Upon the window pane beat a wisp of a twig, a twig so thin it was almost a ghost. A mean draft reached under the door of her cottage, reaching as if it were an octopus formed from vapour-snow, if such a thing were to exist. With a shivering sigh, Echo picked up a piece of long dried firewood and placed it in the ash-freckled hearth. She struck a match, shielding it with her free hand. Its tiny glow illuminates an old photograph.
How nice it must be, she pondered, for such memories to feel sweet. It had been so many years since those happy days and still they were printed in her uncried tears. Before her eyes could gloss, thunder rolled across the city and she re-gazed at her unlit hearth. What a difference it made, she thought, when the flames leapt in their merry dance illuminating her home with their sepia glow. Yet before she could ignite it, her pager sounded and with a flick of her hand the nascent fire became a smoky charcoal trail. Duty called once more.
From the safety of the shadows, she watched. Remaining hidden was the only guarantee of seeing another day, yet it also guaranteed his end. Then who was it that would wake up tomorrow? Not this version of her, not a version of herself she would ever respect or forgive. To go out there alone, however, would most certainly mean two body bags instead of one. So, she raised the silent alarm, prayed her friends would arrive in time, and struck a bold pose in the streetlamp’s glow.
“One thing an ocean of caviar will teach you,” said Bruce, “is that those fish eggs belong to the water. The finest things in life can’t be bought and sold, enjoyable though they can be. Give me a mansion without love and I have nothing. Yet still, I would not live in a hovel. I would not dwell in the dirt and cold for the sake of appearing humble. So, what I’m saying is, heroes suffer more than most; that’s part of this way of living. So, take the good times when they come and let them warm your soul, ignite your smile and bring your feet to a merry dance. Yet these trappings of wealth are but chains and locks.”
We can reframe our hero and villain characters as apex nurturer-protector and apex predator respectively. Whether we are looking at Kong vs Godzilla or the character of Dominic Toretto in the "Fast and the Furious" franchise vs any of the villains his team faces, we see the same theme. Humanity is looking to run itself with apex nurturer-protectors rather than apex predators because this is the way to peace and sustainability.
“If you can find it you can eat it,” said Bruce, dragging light body armour over his cotton onesie. “Make yourself at home. Order in what you want, so long as it’s not from FiveStarRipOff.com. I’m on night duty, see you at sunrise.” Then, with an aching sigh, he reached for the door handle and was gone. Heroes are that way I guess, there one moment and gone the next. Duty calls and that’s it.
“You know they’d never do it for you,” said Mary. “They’d sit in their palaces and eat caviar while you burned.”
“And if I stop,” said Grace, her eyes finding her friends, “what of our entire way of life? What future will the children have? I have to cut a path and pragmatism has its own demands.”
“That it does,” said Mary. “Be careful out there. Heroes don’t grow on trees. We can’t replace the likes of you.”
“I’ll do my best to stay alive,” said Grace, pulling on her winter coat, her face hugged in fur. “It is what it is. My path is my path. Chin up, Mary. When life becomes an interesting story, it’s always the worst of times.”
I realise you've been looking for a hero, yet maybe you'd accept a hera instead?
The true enemy of love is when emotional indifference takes command of logic; for only when love takes command of logic can good choices be made. Indeed, love in command of both our higher logic and our primitive drive is humanity’s hero-mode.
Found in Nexus; A Treatise to Defend Love as Mankind's Answer, authored by .
Both heroes and villains are aggressive; the difference is that the heroes have well developed self control, empathy and the ability to think with logic.
The hero works from a sense of love and duty, a desire to protect others, a willingness to take on suffering if it keeps others safe. They use their aggression for noble purpose; they develop self control and an ability to do the harder thing when it is the right thing to do. The villain has only desire for power and money, they think nothing of making others suffer, so long as they gain advantage. Their aggression is destructive because they lack empathy, because they made choices for emotional coldness - those infinite paper cuts to the soul. The villain wallows in their own sense of victimhood rather than using their pains as part of their emotional education toward an empathic self. As such, a world of money only benefits the development of villains, heroes would work hard everyday for others and consider it an honour to have the chance to do so.
When one has been in the cold for so long, without the smallest ray of hope, and all that you love hangs in the balance, a leap into the unknown becomes prudence. That you cannot see the ground you must run on matters not, and in time you learn that this faith that pulls your heart onward is leading you somewhere better. As the hero in any adventure story, there are hardships, heartache and loss along the way - more mental pain than you thought a soul could bare. You will face your fears, learn how to take tests and then receive the lessons of them. For in this fight of self vs self, always ensuring that the brave and empathic version takes the victory, the best version of yourself is born, the hero that was there all along.
The love of a hero is as a rock, not as a mist. A hero realises that love brings a duty of protection and so, love is for the brave only. There are so many ways to love, to show that you would sacrifice for the other. This is the love that feeds and brings health, so be it everyday that you breathe. So, if you seek love in this existence and adventures in the ethereal beyond, be a hero to those you love... and love in ever wider spheres... your family, your community... until that love encircles the globe and you love all.
Even amid the chaos, amid the melting horizon, we are strong; for it is the finest of steel that is born of such divine flames. We march through, ever so coolly, with a swagger that speaks of our confidence. We are the heroes and the knights and it's time to dance up some beats.
I am the servant of the meek, the master of the strong and the enemy of the evil. Choose where you stand carefully because I always win; it is what a hero does. So ask for help, follow or run... the choice is yours.
I wasn't a hero until you came after my baby girl. Then it was war. You crossed the line and I don't forget. I won't rest until you're beaten - and I don't mean just beaten down. I mean dead. There isn't a place you can hide, I will find you, destroy you. I don't much care how it happens, I don't need you to suffer, I just need your cold black eyes extinguished from this universe. You may think it an overreaction, but you underestimated how much I love her. Don't think I'll play by "the rules" either, love allows us to exterminate vermin that attack children. I'm coming. Just know it.
There is so much to admire, but your raw honesty is the best part. I love how your words spill out real slow as if the truth can take its time. It's as if there is a force behind them, yet the kind that is respectful and quiet - a determination that's observant and patient. And in those words is a wonderful compassion, an awareness of the vulnerability of others, of the sort that is born of painful experience. So when you tell me of your sorrows, believe me when I say I believe you, because it's right there in everything you are, from your eyes to the pattern of your thoughts. You are as the loving parent, tidying, supporting yet encouraging growth. It takes a great spirit to come through so very much and become the person that you are. So yeah, I admire you, that's easy peasy.
The days are getting lighter; summer is approaching; the spirits of the people are rising. I've spent this past winter fighting but my scars are healing well. My sword is quite blunt after so many battles, but every one of them was fought with love and every one of them necessary. I have no more use for it now, the long war is over. Only the healing days are ahead for our people and soon I will be able to walk among them. Love is our only prize, it's all we want - to raise our families in peace and prosperity. Lord help us keep our hearts generous and our minds open. A hero I may be, but my head is always bowed to our creator and our mother earth. A humble heart is a great gift indeed.
Ella is a hero, you should have seen her work. Every day she worked for a better tomorrow, a more noble outcome. For her a rock in her path was simply an opportunity to think harder, to develop new solutions. Every fork in the road she walked both paths until she was sure which was the right one and then she ran as fast as she could. She held on tight to her dreams and woke up every day like her success was already there, she just had to keep on walking to it. "Mind over matter," that's what she would say, "whatever your goal is, keep striving, we're all going to make it together."
The hero was nothing like hollywood promised us. She taught us how to heal, how to speak in the language of dreams so that the whole mind would understand. She showed us how our texts, our songs, were the workings of minds trying to heal themselves, searching for answers, reaching out to the divine and often being mislead by the dark side. Once we relearnt how to read we understood that we were part of divine creation and it was our free will that would allow us to choose the right path home.
...You may think this is a dream, in some ways you're right, but when you wake you'll find each day just a little warmer and brighter than the one before... I am the hero you've been looking for. I am the one who will take down the walls. I am the one who knows the answers. I cracked the code and I've already passed it on the best way I know how. From here on in it's just a matter of making a clearer path for others to follow. Hold love in your heart and be brave, the answers were here all along, we just didn't know how to look. Sometimes we need to open our eyes, see and hear what is in plain sight. Be patient, this will take a little time. I love you. I always persevere. The war is over.
When times are darkest a hero is born. A hero comes to be a spark, setting a fire in hearts that have become tinder dry. A hero will lead, sacrifice and inspire; then the torch of bravery must be passed on. They arise to wield the power of love and shun the love of power, they come to show us what we all are inside, heroes waiting to be reborn. Our heroes show we are worthy of our birthright, worthy of the love that rises under our wings.
"...Everyday people do
Everyday things but I
Can't be one of them
I know you hear me now
We are a different kind
We can do anything
We could be heroes
We could be heroes
Me and you..."
Authored by , here.
I always thought heroes were rare. All the story books told of their large muscles or other qualities an ordinary person couldn't hope to aspire to - but I've seen so many that it can't be so. I've seen teenagers be heroes of kindness, showing the kind of perseverance that would rival any fiction character. I've seen young men helping strangers in the street on every and any opportunity. I've seen people of all religions and ethnicities pouring their time into charity, into the homeless and volunteering at schools. You might think they don't measure up to Hercules, but I disagree. Leading an honest and descent life without the adulation of a crowd or adoring fans is heroic. Working long hours to put food on the table for your children is heroic... and from what I've seen there's a hero in almost every one of us.
Jerome was the kind of guy you got bored of even before he opened his mouth, as in frequent as that was. He was more like a piece of furniture in the precinct than part of the team, no-one even bothered trying to hide their eye-rolls when they got paired with him. It wasn't that he was bad at his job, he was quite thorough, and a good shot too. He just didn't watch the same shows we did, laugh at the same jokes or like the same music. When he wasn't around we had fun at his expense. But that day in the down-town core when I got taken by surprise and held hostage, there wasn't exactly a line-up of officers to come rescue me. The old warehouse was a death-trap, too many places to hide, not much light. I'm told Jerome didn't even wait to be asked, he just togged up and came in alone - armed to the teeth, but alone. He didn't get out scot free either, he's got some new perforations in his right arm. When I thanked him he just nodded and said "You're welcome, Claire, anytime."
There was a sadness to her frustration, one born of a love that would ever be eternal. While others suffered, she did too. Yet even on the darkest of days, she was our hope, the flicker of a flame in hurricanes that should have wiped it out. In time she became a beacon, a lighthouse; it was as if she somehow separated the pain from herself, that it was still there, still free to roam brain and body, palpable to any eye that cared to see. Yet she moved, talked, loved, helped, shone... as if she were a child in a summer meadow. She rescued us as if from above, while her feet were far below ours. That's how we came to allow the rescue mission for the fate of Earth, to send her in, to bring him home against all odds. If she's there with you, she's your last hope, and his... so it's no use looking for the cavalry. She's always won, but that's not the same thing as a guarantee. You might want to help out a bit with the rowing, grow your own selves a bit 'taller.'
When you work for the benefit of all humanity, appreciated or not by your contemporaries or community, the good universe colludes to raise you up and bring opportunities. The evil force will do the opposite. When you learn how to make each curse a blessing, to learn from pain and be led through your sense of love and integrity, then you win great things for all. That is the way of the hero and the hera.