Seems so long ago, the summer of 242
When two NightCreatures chanced to meet
and in Ashtan their friendship grew
With strains of laughter, and smiles so sweet

From youth sprang a thirst for adventure
and they wandered the better known paths of Sapience
Sometimes alone, Sometimes with friends, and oft together
each new discovery delighting their exhuberance

A day came they embarked on a special adventure
With hearts aflutter and souls ignited
The first tendrils of a budding love they nurtured
At first tentatively and then more excited

Snowballing with each passing day
Their ardour welled up and fused incandescently
in passionate kisses, longing touches and embraces they lay
amidst the daily patinae of rats, pixies and Necromancy

Their yearning hunger gradually engulfed them
and as they lay with bodies entwined
they cursed any distractions - lag that deadened
staggered time zones, ISPs and shared lines

An uncommon commodity, privacy was precious
punctuated by the whispered warnings "The eyes are here..."
Temptation and longing battled with cautious
A kiss here, a caress via tell, and looks longing to linger

Alas, this love is but a memorable glow
One Night only one 'Creature descended on Sapience
patiently she waited at first, although
days turned to months as her hopeful messages fell on silence

With time her consternation and anxiety grew
nameless demons gnawed at the edges of her mind
till every possible portent seemed to be true
for the mate she could not find.

Months turned slowly to years
and the NightCreature wandered further
Holding back a growing tide of tears
She searched in vain for her lover.

In her travels, the Mohave beckoned
She wandered in a reverie of pleasures past
One day, in such a mind, she happened
on a lonely skeleton of human cast

Bleached by sun, the flesh long since devoured
by hyenas and monitors (creatures of the remote),
lay the bones of some lost soul, white and scoured
A dirk held - as poignant as any suicide note

A gleam of gold from the skeletal hand
betrayed the ring her lover wore
Curiousity swiftly turned to anguish and
Realisation seared her to the core

Her shattered screams rent the empty desert sky
and years of pent up sorrow and longing
washed in waves over the bones so dry
held fiercely to her breast, keening.

Perhaps you see a moral to this sorrow,
Maybe somewhere is solace.
I can only pray a brighter tomorrow
for a forlorn NightCreature staring into the Abyss.


Penned by my hand on the 1st of Valnuary, in the year 248 AF.