I was the hero.

Mighty was I.

Climbing higher and higher,

Into life's endless sky.

All the way up,

As I conquered each base.

I never once realized

That each step, was a face.

A face of innocence,

Of purity too.

I had climbed on their dreams,

To make mine come true.

I had avenged their cities,

Or so I had thought.

But when I turned to accept gratitude

All I received was distraught.

I had made a shining pathway,

To achieve my high set goals.

But as I turned around to look,

I saw it wasn't made of gold.

As I looked a little closer,

I saw the truth behind its shine.

It wasn't my hard works,

It wasn't even mine.

The path had shined for reasons,

That I took the credit for.

When really, all was due to

The one's who had lived before.

To the caretakers, and the lovers.

To the ones who had shared.

The dreamers, the hopers

The ones that truly cared.

After surveying its beauty,

Of crystals big and small.

I finally came to realize,

It was created by them all.

By the faces I had stepped on,

To reach my mountain top.

By the cities I had gated

Just to see the villains stop.

As I stumbled to the fact,

That my city was dying.

Another thing hit me,

I wasn't even trying.

I found out determination,

Is not always the key.

Because if none of us had love,

Where on Earth would we be?

All my great feats,

Meant nothing to me now.

For I had lost in me, my love

Something I couldn't live without.

So I hung my once-loved cape

Against the closet wall.

After all the dreams I crushed,

Was I even the hero after all?