Finding Me.

The Heartstone

EpiPrologue

Lo held her grandmothers necklace tightly in the palm of her hand. Her fingers were cramped, but she couldn't let go. Her knuckles were white, and a lesser woman would have crumpled over in a sobbing mess over the severe gash in her side.

Instead, all she could do was stare intently at what was in her other hand. It was an amazing jewel the size of a coconut, weighing at least seven or eight pounds. It was transparent with a beautiful red hue. Lumps of mud, vegetation and slime covered much of it, but despite the layer of filth, there was no doubting the truly glorious gem she held.

It seemed wrong, a sin, to have it covered in such a disgusting mess. She closed her eyes, at last she had what she came for. So many others had tried, but their intentions were less than admirable. The nearly impregnable fortress, the truly frightening guardians. Thinking about it reminded her that she had just been through a lot.

As she held the stone in her hand, the throbbing in her side stopped, and she felt suddenly lighter. She wasn't sure what it was, but it felt good, it felt...right.

She opened her eyes and looked about to find that she was still standing in the fortress. She peered at the trail of bodies she had left behind. They were not human, perhaps, but it certainly seemed a waste. After her discussions with each of the guardians, she had realized that they were only doing what they thought was best. They protected the gem at all costs. Most of them were obsessive, thinking only of the stone at all times. It was a sad fate for all in the fortress, but now the stone could be put to good use. She didn't know how exactly, but she could tell it would all work out now, that was just one of the many things she simply knew.

She knelt down on the ground and wiped the stone cleanly on the thick, green grass which had engulfed the entire platform where she was standing. No doubt some of Sententia's work. She hadn't noticed in her previous battle that the entire chamber was surrounded by a near endless grove of trees. It had been so bright in the area that she wouldn't have noticed them. She supposed that each tree likely meant something to poor Sententia. It was likely not best to dwell on him. Killing him had to be done, She would leave the grove as it was, and hopefully it would flourish even without it's protector.

Lo finally let go of the pendant. Her hand strained to return to grasping the air, the fresh indentations from gripping the pendant still worn into her fingers. She quickly placed the stone into her leather pouch. It was a tight fit, as she had estimated the stone to be much smaller, but at least it didn't look like it would fall out, it would be a tragedy to lose it due to clumsiness after all of this work.

Lo picked herself off her knees and took one last glance around the platform. It was an amazing feet of engineering or magic, or whatever. The forest around her, the white stone steps and entrance leading down. The intricate carvings on the stones seemed to tell a story of the stone, but she didn't bother trying to figure it out. She might feel better, (much, much better, even) but she still had several small wound and one very large wound that all needed treatments. The Blind Tree of Occulum stood in the center of the platform. All of the stories about the tree were right, which is surprising, considering no one had ever made it this far.

She speculated briefly to herself, wondering if perhaps...one of the guardians had told someone about the tree. It didn't matter she supposed. She looked at the white stones again, running her hand across them one last time before she descended back down the stairs. It was time to return home.

She's so high above me.

Sometimes, I look at my hands and think to myself...

"Is it possible that I'm cursed with this splotchiness for s reason?"

It's an endless amount of fun for people to ask about it. Like cancer or something.

"What happened to your hands?"

"Oh, one day, I just thought to myself 'MAN! This canister of thermite is just not starting my hands on fire enough.' "

I always have some stupid asshole thing to say about it. I guess I just don't want to be reminded that I'm some sort of freak. Isn't it already bad enough that lots of people are scared of me, and that I'm fat? No, I have to look like marble cake too.

Now the skin on my arms is peeling. I'm sure a lot of people are going to think the two are related. At first I thought they were related, until I remembered the bad sunburn I'd gotten.

Ah well.
I tried to cut down on my food intake last week, but I've simply plateaued. It might have been that brownie sundae I had with my niece though, either way I haven't lost a pound all week, and I'm getting tired. I keep thinking that doing less will help, but it seems to have the reverse effect. Every time I run a mile on the treadmill, I feel like I should have gone for twice as long and twice as fast. Of course, when I move up to the speed I'd like to go at normally (4.0-4.5 MPH) I start to feel a terrible pain in my side. Not pretty, but I have been getting better.

As for actual lifting, I've moved up to 3 sets of 12 reps of 180 pounds on the bench press, and 3 sets of 20 reps of 170 pounds on the a machine. I feel like I should do more than those two. I tried to work my biceps, but I can't stand it. I don't know why, but my triceps have always been stronger, I can barely curl 40 pounds, it's pathetic, I think I've seen several women in the gym who can curl more.

Speaking of women, I'm consistently seeing a pair of 30-35 year old women at the gym. One of them looks fantastic for her age, the other one smells fantastic. I can't bring myself to talk to either one of them, they look like they could easily be married. Still, that one chick has an amazing...well, anyway, she's very fit.

Not that I would have any chance anyway, not that I'm even sure I would want one.

Actually, no, I would totally hit that, but still, there's about 7-8 much skinnier and more muscled men in the gym whenever the two go. Maybe that is why they go. I dunno.

Either way, I need to start losing again, I want to lose at least another 20 pounds before august is over. Previously, I'd stated that if I had continued at the pace I was going, I'd have lost 210 pounds by October. Technically, that would put me underweight quite a bit, but it's a nice goal to shoot for. I'd be ecstatic if I could lose half that much, though my goal is to hit 170 before next year. We'll see, with the stress of school, work and all of these other new endeavors, one can't really tell.

Anime Banzai is what I would consider to be right around the corner, I don't think I'll be going as Kamina, since I just can't pull off the half naked look. Even if I were to get skinny by then, what if I still had all of that excess skin to fit back into? Like Fat Bastard.

No thanks, I think I'd rather go as a Dalek.

I'll probably end up dressed as someone with very little exposed skin. And maybe a girdle.

Hrm.

Earlier I thought of a really funny joke involving the word mammary.


Something about short term mammary loss or something.

Damn, I totally forgot it.