Sun Tzu gave many lesson on knowing all about your enemy
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
But what if the battle isn't what you think it is, and your enemy isn't who you think they are?
What if you aren't who you think you are because you have been poked and prodded, goaded and manipulated into a place where you are a stranger to yourself? Acting and reacting in a way contrary to your spirit.
What if your fear and anger, betrayal and distrust have fermented the fruit of trust and friendship? A bitter wine to make you drunk on your need for revenge or melancholy enough to cocoon yourself away.
What if another has sown the seeds of discord between you and others so they can reap the rewards of your labor while you battle? It does not matter if you win or lose, either way, they gain.
The Moth flies toward the light of the moon, a futile pursuit, fleeing the shadows of friend and foe.
The Wasp, threatened, stings even its ally, leaving a painful wound but also sentencing itself to weakness or death.
The Spider waits for both to fall, weary or wounded, to feed on what they have left inside. (It is admired as a predator, and never called a parasite as others who feed on the living often are.)
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The Silken Snare
Short StoryThere are spiders among us. Spinning webs of pain and angst while sucking the life-blood out of those they call enemies and friends. Listening to the vibration of despair and fear along invisible silken threads, they feed on our souls and steal our...
