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I spy a flicker in the hinterland as I approach, trampling drifts, toward the dying ember.

Discovering a fireside absence, but where hast thou gone? My dearest brother. Now I walk, I trod these roads through unknown territory; I walk this road alone. Once more illuminate the crags that I’ve heaved aside.

T’was buried but not lost, i find myself yearning for the glory of what once was. Dear brother, I beg the gods you hear me. I plead a blessing that all is well and that this treacherous plight would not be for nothing.

I stand among the ruins of this snow capped wilderness with this Palladian regret. The trees whisper as I retrieve my sabretache from atop the bones of the fallen. For the years lost, my brother, I swear to all I will not let this be for nothing.