Warrior

  I used to be like you, once... Did you know that?  Slithering about in the ocean of shadows and sorrow; clawing at everything with all the rest?  I swam in the muck and I drifted in ignominy and indifference, trying so hard to be like all the rest.
It was so damn hard for me to be like you.  Do you know how hard I had to work to be like all the rest? To covet what they did? To abase myself and crawl, all the while watching it all with a sort of detached disinterest?  I struggled each day to find a reason to continue, and each day, I found none. How could I?
Then one day, I dragged myself out of that shadowed sea of darkness, pulling myself up on to the shore, dripping the filth from my body... caught in a penumbra between worlds... I was so tired.  The sun dried my wings though, and I fanned them curiously. They were bright, shining things that I'd not noticed before, caught in shadow.
Free from the darkness, I examined myself in the reflection of a pool of clear water, looked in to my heart, and what I found startled me.  I was a Valkyrie; a warrior goddess, and I had been all along.  I had allowed them to drag me down, to strip me of my power, and in my despair, I found myself unworthy of the world.
Now, I realized a shocking truth: I was more than worthy, and I would crawl and scrape no more. I was a Goddess, a valiant warrior, and I would no longer be pulled down in to shadow.
My light is so bright; look for me, and you will find me... I am here.  All you need do is reach out to me.  I will sear the darkness from your soul, and you will know peace and joy in my presence, and in your own.  For you, you are so gloriously beautiful, too.