A/N: The Kiara story will have to be delayed. RDR2 has been invading my personal time, and I love it.
Every year since Six Fronts, I lost friends to our enemies, or something else entirely. Kabr. The Lords. Vell and his team. Saint. Andal.
Cayde.
As a Guardian, I'm used to being an instrument of death and destruction that inspires terror in my enemies. I'm used to dying over and over until I have no more enemies to die against. But when a friend dies their final death? I'll never get used to it.
By some foolish hope, I wanted the Red War to be the last time people I cared for would be permanently taken from me. For a while after the Traveler woke, I let myself believe that, finally, it would be the same kind of shield we have been for it these past few centuries. That it would finally help us help ourselves. That it has come to save us again.
What a fool I've been.
The Traveler saved us and destroyed Ghaul utterly, but could we have won without its interference? We now cherish our Light more than ever as we mourn those who fell, but has the Traveler spoken to us since?
No, and I doubt it'll start anytime soon.
As I stare outside the window of this apartment, I can't help but feel a strange distance between myself and the god-like entity that seems to watch over us. Back then, I used to think that being a shield for the Traveler was the highest calling I could answer - that protecting it meant seeking out my enemies far from home.
But when I look at the beautiful, sleeping figure beside me on this warm bed, I realize what went wrong for all of us: we forgot to go back and protect our home. And I don't mean just fighting to retake the City and keep the Traveler safe either.
We forgot to look after our own.
So it's up to us to protect each other from the monsters lurking in the dark. It's up to us to be our own swords and shields. That's what a Guardian does.
And I'll be damned if the Guardian next to me falls before I do.
Got my curated Horror's Least and a horrible Mindbender's Ambition. If I get a better roll again, I'm publishing the Kiara story ahead of time. Take it easy, folks.