Vetus

The evening had peered through the space in between the conifers in shade ochre and mauve, striking  where moss was foreign to the ground. The moss kneeled northward for miles on end into a carved stone throne where the standing tall and wise Vetus, the king of seven horns looked down on his current inquiry.

It was a man, a prophet of great wisdom he was known by and one who currently went through a crisis of faith. The prophet bowed before the man and said.”Oh great king, I come to you in dejection and humility. Many years ago a part of myself grew too burdensome for me, so I went and thatself off of me and threw it into the river. But year after year he keeps finding me and trying to force us into unison again.”

“What parts did you split off?.” Asked the king.

“Monsters called addiction,stress,anxiety, depression”

The king paused to think.”IF you ejected parts of yourself why are you surprised that they want to rejoin you. True these parts you tried to rid yourself of do not feel pleasant but they have their place, for you see one can not feel despair without knowing joy. One cannot love someone if they cannot mourn them and one cannot separate these things from themselves. You must acknowledge that these parts of yourself are natural.

“But king” the wise men cried out. "I rid myself of these things because of their consequence. How can one accomplish any goal if all they listen to is despair, how can one discipline themselves if all they know is vice and how can one come to overcome these things if they cannot rid themselves of them.

“Child, did I say you had to give into them? I say you must balance yourself. For one cannot work without sleeping and one cannot find fellowship in his lonesome. It would be for some man who works himself to death to call out a drunkard for his stupidity.”

“But I am neither a drunkard nor someone who over strides. I am a deeply spiritual man, one whose goal to live the best life he can.”

“Tell me prophet, do you seek perfection in every action you take.”

“What right man wouldn’t king”

“What right man would? Why seek to attain something always beyond your reach? It is the struggle to get there that counts in you prophet.”

And so the prophet took the great king's advice and returned to his land to tell this tale.