I am a stranger in a strange land.

It has been decades since I last saw the lands of his youth. I remember feasting with kings, entertaining young maidens, and slaying ancient dragons on bloodstained battlefields. I could still feel the salt—scented breeze coming off the rising tide as I commanded pirate ships in search of buried treasure. I heard the roar of the blasters as I rocketed through the night sky in a starship, cruising past nebulae and towards frontiers unknown. Mine was a world of wonder — a land of enchantment.

But it is no more.

Now I find myself trudging through a graying landscape that grows darker as the days go by. I meet few people in my journeys, yet I am plagued by villainous monsters who claim these uncharted lands as their own. I confess I have lost myself in this bleak country; no matter where I turn or what direction I travel, I cannot escape it. I cannot find my way to the home I have made within his dreams.

As he grows older, so do I. It becomes harder to climb the crag-filled mountains and cross the tumultuous seas. I am affronted on all sides by demonic creatures who fight one another, attempting to assert their dominance. The only way I survive is through keeping silent and under the cover of night — though even that is filled with its dangers.

I pray without ceasing to the gods atop Mount Olympus. I pray that he would find his spark once more, that he would remember what it was like to be young and unafraid. I wonder if this is what his world looks like. I hope the boy lives in a happier place than this, though I am uncertain that I will ever find out.

He has a good soul, I am sure of this much. I have seen it within his dreams, in the love of a mother for her child. I have felt it in the embrace of his long—lost lover. I have heard it in the song of a nightingale amid the forest of his youth. His imagination once knew no bounds, and he created brilliant worlds to explore. I have lived many lives through his creations, all filled with hope, joy, and ample amounts of adventure.

But it is no more.

Snow falls now from the mountains, coating the land and chilling my bones. I will not survive this winter... I can feel it. But still I pray, even unto my last breath. I have hope in this child — this man — that he will create once more. The snow falls quicker.

Night is here, and I am near the end. It is difficult to move, difficult to breathe. I can barely feel my hands and feet as I lay down for my long slumber. An eternity passes in silence as I fade in and out of consciousness. But just before I close my eyes for the last time in his subconscious, I see them in the distant sky — endless constellations scattered across a dark expanse. A new star is there; his soul now finds rest among his kin.

I smile as the darkness wipes me from his mind.