When I was a fledgling, in the dormitories there was no electricity. When the sun set it was candlelight only.
Every fledgling was given a candle. How you used it was up to you.
The guy next to me, there was something about the dark he didn’t like. He would keep his candle burning all night, while I preferred moderation, to only burn my candle wisely. Only when it was absolutely necessary and never a second longer than I needed.
But that wasn’t enough for this kid, he had to have all the light on him so he started to burn the candle at both ends.
Sure, it made his room the brightest and he really stood out in that dormitory. Others, like moths, were also attracted to his glow.
But the trouble with burning the candle at both ends is the wax runs out quickly.
And what this kid didn’t realise, you got just the one candle. Once it was gone, you were in the dark. Forever.
So it came to be the boy founded himself smothered by the darkness he hated without any light to comfort him, while the light in my room endured for many years.
Tag, you remind me a lot of that kid.
There is something about darkness you fear; I can see the anxiety in your eyes, the nervous twitch in the movements of your body and the false confidence in the patterns of your speech.
You fear being unseen by others, obscured by the shadow of anonymity.
That’s why the light of an ordinary life is not enough for you, so you burn your candle at both ends.
Parties, pleasure and profligacy, all day and night, from sunrise to sunset, day after day.
And that big light your life emits, yeah it draws a few moths, it’s grabbing the attention of onlookers.
But like that boy in my dormitory, you think once you’ve burned through the wax of your candle, you can simply light up another.
But Fate gives us all just a single candle and Death allows no exceptions.
My own candle flickers only when I need it to and only for as long as it takes to complete my task.
I have never feared the shadows and that is why I am timeless.
But you cannot give wisdom to an ass. I expect you will come into our match just as you do in life, burning the candle at both ends.
You will want to be the brightest light inside the ring, to have all the attention on you.
That suits me because when your candle burns dry the darkness will come and it will choke you with its Black Hand.
Tagged and bagged, your body will be dragged from The Slaughterhouse by the light of my unending, burning candle.
It’s the only candle that never burns out.
The greater good.