In all of his years here he'd seen this place wear any number of faces, more than he could possibly recall at once. He'd seen the changing of seasons from one moment to the next. Autumn's flaming colors fade away to be replaced by the soft, white cloak of the mistress of winter. Spring's riot of colorful new growth melt into the deep greens of summer. He'd seen large areas destroyed during those times in his life when he was at his lowest, and watched them rebuild themselves over time. This place reflected his moods with remarkable speed, one could never be sure what to expect from one moment to the next.
But nothing in his memory could compare to the devastation that lay before him now. The landscape in every direction looked as if this had been the center of a nuclear testing ground. Nothing green could be found anywhere, only shades of gray. Nothing moved. The air itself was as still and stale as the air of a sealed tomb. The wind refused to touch the ground. Even the heartbeat of the land was barely discernable, this place was dying.
Slowly, painfully, he scanned the terrain, something must have survived. Like a black and white photo of an old battle ground, there was nothing but emptiness and ghosts of what had been. Fire had swept over every square inch, taking it's time to consume everything it could possibly find, and leaving nothing in it's wake but ash. The ground was scarred by enormous gashes cut haphazardly from horizon to horizon. The sky had draped itself in black and gray, as if dressing for a funeral.
He'd been away too long. Left unattended, this once beautiful place was vulnerable to attack. Reality had, at last, scored a kill here.
He felt sick all over, as if he might vomit his very heart into the dusty ash that covered the ground. This was all too much, how could he have let this happen. Falling to his knees, he rocked back on his heels, looking up at the sky for some comfort. Finding none, even there, he fell over forward onto his hands.
Digging his fingers deep into the charred soil, he clutched his hands violently. He sat back, opened his hands, and saw his own future.
"No,..." he whispered. "NO!" he yelled at the sky, clenching his hands so tightly that blood began to trickle down his arms.
The Watch stood in ruin. Remnants of smoke pouring from the structure smudged the skyline. It looked as if a massive explosion had torn it asunder from the inside. Large sections of the walls had fallen away, some still standing at odd angles. What kept it upright with such damage was a mystery, but it still stood. Although now it was more like a grave marker than the center point of this world. Cracks ran up and down it's nearly 3 kilometer height like spider webs. The walls of the maze had been smashed flat by the blast, as if some great giant had stomped his foot down there. The water of the lake that the Watch sat in the middle of, was like dirty blood.
He kept hearing the same words over and over in his head,...how could he let this happen. Spreading his wings, he lofted himself over the toxic liquid.
Looking up towards the top of the Watch from it's base was always a dizzying experience, and now it was sickening as well. He made his way inside, moving quickly up the vast labyrinth of spiral staircases and hallways. Some were missing, having collapsed, and he found he had to take alternate routes many times. Entire sections had been reduced to piles of rubble, leaving huge, open wounds. The Watch had become a crypt.
It took him nearly an hour to make it to the uppermost spires. He felt the death of this place trying to rip the life from him every step of the way. But he was numb now, shock had taken over. He walked blankly out to the highest balcony in the Watch.
From up here it was even worse. The tower looked like a spear that had been thrown down by an angry god, stabbing deep into the heart of the land. The lake of blood made it seem even more so. The landscape was nothing more than a scorched and barren wilderness.
How could this place ever heal,...if indeed, it could at all. Perhaps if he had come here to think, to work things out sooner, he could have avoided this. It had never crossed his mind that he could ever damage this place on such a vast scale. And now that he was here, at the heart of it all, he found that heart dying slowly. In retrospect, it was no wonder that he had been feeling the way he had of late. He was dying inside, and had avoided coming here to solve the problems, to find a way of understanding and dealing with it all. What would he do now, was it really too late to repair.
In a world where he had never been truly alone, he found himself in total solitude.
"Yes," an angry voice said, from the shadows behind him. "It's too late,..."
