It has been long enough. His body no longer loiters in the reeds and water. He is gone and with him, his blood; his life; the very imprint he had created as he fell into the moist ground below. It is all gone and so, I do not feel afraid as I come to the exact spot all things had transpired. I am merely a sightseer; I am merely here to see what I can find out about such a tragedy. That is, if anybody can bring it upon themselves to ask. The winds are silent with accusation. Do they dare not breathe a word of suspicion lest their world crumble more? Perhaps Heyel had been right in a sense. Perhaps he truly did keep things together - or at least, he allowed those who believed in him to remain atop their pedestals. Without him, everybody seems so... uncertain.

There is a chill in the air now. The river runs crystal clear and cold. The reeds wilt in the wind and the sky seldom changes from its bleak shade of grey. Today, it is exceptionally obvious that winter comes calling. The clouds linger low, daring to bite at the top of Spirane's peak. It keeps the others tucked away - nice and quiet, safe and sound in their dens of ignorance. How pleasant. It allows me to stroll across the field without hesitation, finding my place in that barely-there clearing. I breathe in the air. It no longer tastes like the warmth of his blood; his musk is gone, long since washed away and yet, it still sends a prickle of satisfaction and red hot excitement through my very flesh. My skin prickles and itches with an anticipation that will never be quenched. Perhaps it should have been me who took his throat; what did his blood taste like? Feel like? Solaris would surely never tell me. I do not think we will ever feel the same satisfaction as one another in that regard. A shadow might reflect its caster's image yet it runs deeper and darker.

I take my position then, basking in the feeling of such intensity. I lower myself into the reeds; my belly touches against where his blood had been, my toes sinking into the mud, slick with rains long gone. Somewhere in there, the earth stills eats of him. Slowly, I allow my eyes to fall shut - it is in that darkness that I can relive it all. I can feel him once again and, perhaps, it is in that darkness of shallow sleep that I can be the one to finish the job.