Worth Dying For

With threatening sullenness, the murky lake ignores my pacing. The slime lapping across my bare feet. Long have I known there is no way around this lake. Its infinite shoreline deceivingly invites me to forfeit the rest of my days in the attempt. Braving the unknowns of the depths before me is more than I can fathom at the moment, though certainly my ultimate route. Monsters reign beneath the surface.
The fairy tales promise a happy ending. Life, though, is no fairy tale. However determined to face down any horror that would deny me passage, there is no guarantee I will slay my Grendels. Guarantee of victory is no victory at all. It is precisely because the risks are real that the battles must be undertaken, and I must proceed to enter the water.
Life is worth dying for.