TERA Love Story Contest Entry - Darrastus and Matchai

A letter to the lonely and the loving of Arborea:

	I used to scoff at the idea of “love at first sight.”
	Every romantic cliché that filled the banners of shopkeepers in Velika, the happily-ever-after endings in the storybooks I read as a child, even the atrociously cringe-worthy pick-up lines disguised as greetings I heard all around me as I traveled throughout Arun and Shara, all of this meant nothing to me.
	My allegiance was to the Valkyon Federation, and my purpose was to serve and serve alone. I had no need for someone else in my life.
	Until I met her.
	Cheesy, right? I thought so, too, until she filled my mind with the lyrics of every sappy love song any bard has ever sang throughout Arborea’s history.
	Hah, I still remember, ten months ago, seeing her sitting on that ledge of the stairs in Velika, not realizing how my life was going to change.
	Matchai was a priest, a petite Elin (as Elins usually are), looking for a tank for an adventure into the first floors of the Dreadspire. I was captivated by her presence, and I felt inexplicably comfortable with her, as though I had known her for years beforehand; without any hesitation, I immediately offered to help.
	What was I thinking? Yes, it was an easy dungeon, and I was confident in my abilities of a warrior tank, but still! I was the type to be cautious, to learn about someone first, inspect their gear and their history of dungeon clears before helping, yet here was the most beautiful Elin I’d ever met, who needed a tank, who needed me.
	She noticed my application, and her face immediately brightened up, as though Baldr himself had given his eyes for the suns to shine upon her and her alone.
	My mind forgot its own principles.
	I forgot that I hated love.
	We cleared the Dreadspire together.
	Her beauty outshined Velik’s glory, but something else pulled me in. I felt like I had met the one companion every tank in Arborea longed for, a tank’s one true soulmate: a pocket healer.
	I was determined to make my new love my pocket healer.
	Thus, naturally, I took Match along on every dungeon run I did; I brought her to familiar places, and I dragged her to new, dangerous instances and bosses where she died, learned, and laughed alongside me.
	 Match became someone I could rely on to replenish my failing mana, to heal me when my block failed, to keep her tank healthy. She became my pocket healer.
	To top it off, she fell in love with me, just as I had fallen deeper for her.
	To this day, ten months later, we still run dungeons, share costumes, hunt for mysterious blue boxes around Arborea, and sit on that ledge in Velika together.
	I used to scoff at love, until I found love, and love found me.
	Thank you, Matchai, for brightening my world.

							From a certain pocket tank,
							Darrastus