They say the tactic if you’re lost in a maze is just to keep to the left. If you hug that left wall constantly you’ll eventually make it to the exit. But where is the fun in that? Surely the fun of a maze is in the journey, not the destination? The maze is supposed to challenge and test your very being. To appreciate the maze you have to understand it, and to understand it you have to experience it fully. You have to live the adrenaline rush, not run scared.
I treat my journey around Arcadia like a maze. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been exploring unknown levels, unsure of what each turn will bring me. Unsure which monster might lurk in the dark recesses. But each step is a necessary one. I would not know half the things I know about Arcadia had I skirted the edge of each level and avoided as much contact as possible. I would not stand here as War today had I avoided potential conflict. Only those with no courage would do such a thing. And only those with no sense of adventure would hug the left wall.
Felix Foley is the kind of guy that would hug the left wall. He wants to breeze through life without drama, avoiding all the monsters in that maze, but he hasn’t realised yet that the monsters can still find you either way, whether you skirt or stride, it’s just that if you skirt the edges it’s easier for the monsters to trap you in a corner. Monsters like Doom, who simply changes people he doesn’t like into souped up false versions of themselves, declaring that they are now the “best versions of themselves”. Monsters like Doom just prey on the weak who lurk around the edges of life. He sees that vulnerability in them and strikes.
I stride through the maze, fearless, because I know the knowledge that journey gives me will long outlast the rush of just surviving. You might say that’s easy for someone who can’t die, but that was my mindset before I gained immortality too. Head on, no regrets. Live or die trying.
On the other hand Felix Foley avoids the maze, scared, thinking life is all happiness and joy, when it isn’t. If you live your life thinking everyone is your friend, and everything is brilliant, and just avoiding the hard choices and conversations, how will you ever improve? How will you ever grow? The training wheels you impose on yourself will only shackle you, only anchor you down to your current ability.
The fact of the matter is, Felix, you might want to “just keep left”, but that ain’t right. You need to be brave now. Let out a little bit of that inner Scissors, and storm straight through that maze like the man you want to be. Like the man your mother deserves.
Fuck keeping left, tear that maze a new hole straight down the fucking middle.