Eternal

You had a brief revival of the “glory days” when you first fought along side Lena. And while it was fun while it lasted, you believe you’re done with such things now. A storm is coming and you’re not going to stand in its path because it’ll ultimately be a fool’s game.

You take steps to seal up the more accessible entrance to your sanctuary. It would take quite the effort to try to break in now, but you doubt if anyone will make the effort. You’ve been in this situation before and you handled it just fine. You can easily do it again despite what Dendrin might say.

You do wonder how Lena will handle the situation. She’ll probably fight, but if she’s learned anything, she’d do better to flee with her family. In any case you’ve made your decision and you return to the familiarity of the garden.

“Looks like I’ll be spending a lot more time with you again Talia, just like the old days.”

Year 65

Several years have passed and you still haven’t a clue what’s been going on the surface nor do you care anymore. You haven’t even made the attempt to even take a peek, you’ve kept your entrance sealed and haven’t dug out any new ones. As predicted nobody has attempted to intrude on you, so why bother leaving?

Throughout the years you’ve been trying to keep your mind occupied with your conversations with Talia and even Dendrin when he sees fit to speak to you anymore. You also continue to write in the journal you keep, but if anyone read it now, they probably wouldn’t understand any of it as your thoughts have become disjointed and not of a sound mind.

You babble a lot to yourself nowadays, and not just in the usual way you do with Talia. Over the years you’ve actually been including others, such as arguing with Cyrus on a regular basis about how his tactics will not work against an Empire encampment or laughing at Murk on his latest tale of how he’s failed to woo Bianca.

In other words, you’ve practically gone mad. One moment you’re fully aware of your surroundings and living in the present, the next you’re living in the past again. You’ve created your own reality and aren’t leaving it anytime soon. Dendrin tries to snap you out of it, but eventually he realizes the futility of the task and stops speaking to you altogether. Hardly matters as you’ve got more than enough disembodied voices in your head to keep you company.

You continue like this for a few more decades until you eventually die as the mad hermit you are, and like most mad hermits, you leave no lasting presence in the world.
End Of Story