I have been many things.

As a child, I was a poacher. I was a predator of the forest, for reasons that were not my own.

As I grew and understood, I left.. running for many years as the prey that I, myself, had hunted.

As an adult, I stepped out into the light. I became a Knight. I became a Templar. I led many, fought for what was right, and held their tenets to my heart.

But even as times change, and so do the people, there will always be those that struggle to fit the mold cast upon them. In the end, everything I have been was always bound in the chains of others, constricting who I was and preventing who I wanted to be.

I lie, sneak, cheat, manipulate, and deceive. I wear the guise of an angel with a soul much darker than that. The skins of a poacher are too tainted for me, and yet the armor of a Knight shines too brightly.

So now I walk a path between the two. Those tenets are still on my heart, but sacrifices have been made. To protect myself and those I love, there is little I will not do anymore, even if it casts so dark a shadow that others would fear to step inside. This is my resolve, my conviction, my path.

I do not walk this path alone. Beside me are others that society might shun, but hold their heads high as they follow their own hearts. They are people I know, people I love, and even people I hate. But regardless, it is the path that binds us, and I know that should I falter, they will be there to pick up the pieces and succeed where I could not.. just as I wouldn't bat an eye should another fall, picking them up and forging onward.

It doesn't matter what we do. It's why we do it that burns fiercest in each of our hearts. It's the benefit it might bring, and the possibility that no one else will have to walk the path we do. We walk it, because no one else will. We do what is needed, because no one else will. But at our very core.. we do it all for ourselves, and no one else.

We are many things.

We are outcasts. We are knights. We are kids. We are sages. We are engineers. We are brave and foolish and wise and ignorant.. and arrogant and timid and formal and chaotic. However, together, we are a shield; An Astral Aegis that shines in a kaleidoscope of different people, different places, different motivations, and different desires. It defends one sole path in the hope that one day, it will no longer be needed. Yet, until that day, we will do what is necessary, no matter the cost.

We are who we are.. and we'll fight to remain that way.