I had long lost track of time.

The meaningless days blurred together, whirling past me like gales of wind, shifting the line between imagination and reality.

I was lost.

Not literally, of course. I knew I was somewhere in the Starfall Isles, though I didn’t care to determine which region I was in. No, it was my internal sense of direction that had packed its bags and abandoned me. I was left to my own devices.

Here, the trees were tall. They soared into the dusky sky, groping for clouds, for sunlight. I rested my heavy body against one of the sturdy trunks, and stared off in the distance.

A gust of wind swept away my sigh.

I couldn’t recall how many years it had been since I left my original clan, full of anticipation and hope, and took on my Search. I traversed through virtually all of Sornieth—the searing canyons of my home, where trails of burning tears flowed through the veins; the crackling, stifling air of the Shifting Expanse, its dry, rolling plains seeming to whirl with the wind; the sun-kissed empire marked with tragedy of the Sunbeam Ruins; and the rest of Sornieth. A beautiful land.

For a while, I was exhilarated by the sights, the new sounds, the wonderful aromas; they set my young heart aquiver with exhilaration. I drank it all in, but even that couldn’t quench my undying thirst. Only one thing could.

Multiple times, I thought I had found it. I felt a spark in my heart, a blissful tugging in my mind. But it never lasted—they would leave, it would collapse, and my soul slowly vanished while my heart gathered dust.

Eventually, what hope I had withered into oblivion. The future seemed bleak, with no light or exit, and I doubted that I would ever complete my Search. A horrible prospect for a proud Guardian.

A small, insignificant beetle traveled inquisitively up my talons, stopping occasionally at the sculpted grooves that defined my scales. I envied it; how would it feel, to be free of any worries besides searching for and not becoming food? In a way, we were similar, I suppose: neither of us had any ultimate purpose in life. I flicked the beetle off, watching as it struggled pathetically to regain its balance. I felt no remorse.

Then, heavily, as though carrying the weight of a fortress with the foundation cracking, I stood up, and beheld the sunset.

Loneliness never left me alone.