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The River
Walking down to the river, Gard paused and looked at his reflection. His battle-scarred body was old, sixty-nine it seemed, but he had lived far longer. Surely, there must have been a time, a place, where his kind aged as others did, not ceasing to age at a certain point and then being condemned to exist in an aged body for all eternity.
There must have been a reason.
The Petlars lifespan was only twenty-four hours. They were born and then they died, living an entire lifetime in in those hours. Why was that? Why were they cursed to such short existences and Gard's own people the Evabon cursed to live without any sign of death by old age? In his bygone youth, Gard had heard the clan elders simply say "What is is." Such answers answered no questions. Even in his old age, Gard wondered why things were thus. Would he and his kind outlive all other races on Third Earth until all the remained was the Evabon and their age-old enemies the Labinnac, stuck in a conflict that had already seemed to have lasted an eternity?
The Old Savage knew not. In his long lifetime, he had seen states rise and fall and be replaced by new states, only for them to fall and then be replaced by new states. During his long exile in the Vast, Unknown Wilderness, he had seen it happen. Standing on the very edge of that domain that some dare not enter, he had watched. His exile was now over, he had rejoined the world, but how many states would he see come and go?
"Gard!"
Pulled out of his thoughts by the calling of his name, Gard stared down into the river. Where had once been his reflection, Bengali now was.
"Bengali?" Gard asked. The Wilderness was strange, sometimes one could not be certain what one saw was truly what their eyes beheld.
"Help me!" Bengali cried. "The Soul Stone! The statue has the—" As quickly as he had appeared, Bengali had vanished and once more Gard saw his own reflection in the river.
Understanding what Bengali had meant, the Old Savage stared up at the colossus had gazed over the entire area. The statue had the Soul Stone… But how? How did it get there? Why was it there in the first place?
Rubbing his chin, Gard thought about his long exile in the Wilderness. Never had he ever encountered anything like this before.
Sighing, Gard wished he had someone with him. He was alone. The strength of the Evabon was the Clan and the strength of the Clan was the Evabon… And he had left his behind.