Author's Notes: This is what I like to call my epic. I have been working on the plans, changing, rearranging, destroying old, creating new…for years. Since I first wanted to create my own galaxy, my own history, my own races, my own lands, my own legends…I have been working on it. Characters from my 6-year-old games make their appearances here. This is my epic. I am still working diligently on it. The other stories of mine are but stepping stones to learn to write better. Ultimate Choices is meant to be my symbological story. It is chockfull of symbol after symbol, legend after legend, typical fantasy story mixed with typical science-fiction to create something completely different. I hope the world enjoys it, I hope you enjoy it, because I enjoy it very much. Welcome to my life's work, for the stories within not just one world, but many, will take me a lifetime to write.

Ultimate Choices
Threads of Time

Light, but dark.

The universe is full of opposites; it is run by opposites. There could be no light without dark. There could be no dark without light. There could be no balance without both good and evil. The universe does not work without the opposites.

Love, yet hate.

Many a great person hath let it be known that life would not be the same without love. Yet let it also be noted that love would not be the same without hate. Love could not be what so many adore it to be, without its opposite. Without the hate, love would be the normal, and it would not be so great a thing. The fact that true love is rare makes it one of the greatest forces in the universe. Without love's opposite, without the stunning hatred…the great ones could not be great.

Life…or death?

There could not be life without death…

"I disagree!"

Oh?

"It depends on your definition of life. It depends on your definition of love. It depends on your definition of light. It all depends. Life can exist without death. Death is the hinderance of life. Death is what stops life; it is what puts the gift of life to an end. It is death that could not exist without life. Without life, death would be non-existent, but without death…life can still exist."

Is that so?

"The same is true with love. Love could be non-existent, if but hate were not apparent. If hate had no place in the world, then love could live on forever. Love is a force of good, and good lives forever. Good spreads faster than evil. Smiles spread faster than frowns. Love spreads faster than hate. Without hate, there would be no stopping the spread of love. All would be well."

But what of the concept of light and dark? Good and evil?

"Was there not good before evil? Was it not evil that corrupted the good? Light is a symbol of the good, as dark is a symbol of the evil. Darkness destroys the light as evil corrupts the good. Light can exist without darkness. But then…dark can also exist without light. Dark and light are the two opposites that can exist without each other. There are not many others."

Hope…despair…

"Hope and despair are opposites completely under control of the souls. Hope only exists when the despair is heavy. Hope…is what keeps us living through the despair. Despair can exist without hope, but hope is the light in the darkness, the good in the evil. Hope can save us all."

Hope can save us all.

"Hope is like a star—not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity."—C.H. Spurgeon