“Everyone has a Pandora’s box that once it’s opened cannot be resealed.”
“This box could be anything. For most, it’s not a real thing, it’s an event that shapes the rest of your life as all of the evils of the world become very, very real to you.”
“Maybe your father opened the door one day and beat you so badly you tasted blood for hours.”
“Hell, it’s possible a fire covered your home and burnt everything away until there was nothing left but your charred body laid bare for all the world to see.”
“No matter the case, once the box has been blown wide open, you can’t simply try to slam it shut. Your father can close the door as he leaves, but the room still bares his sin.”
“You can wrap yourself in bandages and cover up the burns, but you’ll never truly be the same as you were before.”
“All the hatred, war… and fear.”
“That’s the most damning thing of all hidden in that box.”
“Fear.”
“It controls you, drives you, and haunts you every step of the way.”
“I opened the box when I investigated that first crime scene left behind by Jasper Redgrave. His grotesque, twisted ‘art’ was my first view into the real world. I opened that bedroom door and suddenly Pandora’s Box was blown wide open for me. My life was twisted and ravaged from that point forwards.”
“Not for a single minute since then have I been able to sleep, eat, or even breathe without looking over my shoulder and wondering what horrific, disgusting thing I might witness that day. The fear I felt drove me to the brink and made me face the truth.”
“Arcadia is a terrifying place.”
“Full of deranged criminals, broken minds, and shattered dreams.”
“And despite it all? After all this time, I learned something.”
“You can’t put the evils back in the box.”
“But you can learn to face them head on.”
“Because when you open the box, there’s one thing inside that can save you. Under the evil and insanity is something that you can use to fight back.”
“There’s hope.”
“Hope is the thing that gets you off of the ground even when the war around you brings you to your knees.”
“Hope is what makes you see clearly even when hatred clouds your mind and threatens to destroy you and everything you know.”
“And at the end of the day? When your pistol is empty and your body is broken, hope is all you have left.”
“So I don’t fear being put in that cell.”
“I know I’m going to a war I want no part in.”
“My title is gone, Attano left me behind, and Arcadia feels like it’s falling apart.”
“Yet I still hope for the future.”
“I still hope to walk out of that cell with my head held high in triumph.”
“I’ll rise above the fear, above the hatred inside.”
“Because nobody is above the Law.”
“And I AM the Law.”