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You are eight, sitting in the dirt with a black eye. A group of bullies were attacking a dog, throwing rocks. It was defenseless, and they are three and you are one, but you can do something. You can help, you can protect. So you step in, and you are beaten, but the dog is safe, and that’s what matters.
You are twenty, selected for the most ambitious expedition ever created. You’re no scientist, no wizard, but you are strong. You can protect people, from everything from a thrown bottle to the mysteries of the other planes. You can protect them, because you have to.
You are twenty, with a black eye and a brave heart and no home. You cannot fight the Hunger, the monstrosity which destroyed it. But you can train, and learn, and fight, and protect the six scraps of home you have left.
You are twenty-one - twenty, with a black eye and a new outlook on strength. You cannot punch the Hunger, you cannot protect your family alone. But you and your family can protect each other, together.
You are forty-one - twenty and you sneak up on your friends and startle them and laugh because some levity is needed after twenty one years, but in your heart you know they need to be prepared. You are fifty-one - twenty and you don’t know how to coach, how to lead, but someone needs to help these kids so you’ll damn well try. You are fifty-three - twenty and you finally have a face, a person, a name for what’s been chasing you and yet you can’t hurt it, you still can’t stop it from killing your family over and over.
You are sixty-seven - twenty and you try something new. You’re not an artist, you’re not very good at details or patience. But you take your time, you try and try again and pour your heart into this hunk of wood. The duck you end up with is lumpy, it’s bloodstained, but it’s so heartfelt and it’s yours. And you know that, and so does Fisher. They love your ducks, and you make more, and you grow as an artisan and a person and a friend. And when you are nearly sixty-eight - twenty-one, they go with you, another friend to protect.
You are eighty-five - twenty and you are on trial. You are charged with crimes for what you see as your strengths, threatened with death for being who you are.You’re chained, imprisoned, and you still do what you can to protect your family. You still try to protect this world, this world trying to kill you. You try to fight - and you are stone.
You are one hundred and twelve - twenty and you are tired of seeing worlds destroyed. You are tired of running, of hiding, of delaying and distracting. You want to fight, and yet you can’t. You can only run and hide.
You are one hundred and nineteen - twenty and you split the Light of Creation, and you’re finally hidden. You create the Temporal Chalice, try to hide it, end up giving it to a kind man and little girl. You trust them to protect it, to protect their people. And then your relics begin to start wars, to destroy lives, and you don’t even know what your Chalice has done. The ability to rewrite time is so insidious, so subtle - whole lives could have been rewritten and you won’t ever know.
You are one hundred and twenty and you go to see Lucretia and
You are one hundred and twenty - twenty and
You are twenty.
You are twenty-one and an apprentice carpenter in a little town called Raven’s Roost, a town which stretches across the sky on networks of pillars and bridges. You are a hard worker and you are happy. Steven, your mentor, sees great promise in you.
You are twenty-four and the leader of a rebellion. The governor, Kalen, is a despot and a tyrant and a bully, and you can’t stand that. You’re no hero, no revolutionary, you don’t want to kill. You just want to protect people. And so you do. And for a while, you succeed.
You are twenty-five and the happiest you’ve ever been. You’ve defeated Kalen, freed Raven’s Roost. You’ve married Julia, your mentor’s daughter and the love of your life. You’re an extremely successful craftsman and about to earn the title Master Carpenter. For once, everything is perfect.
You are twenty-five and nothing will ever be okay again. Julia is dead. Steven is dead. The town of Raven’s Roost is burnt to the ground. And Kalen lives.
You are twenty-five, six, seven, eight, nine. You’re thirty and nothing matters.
You are thirty-one, on another forgettable job with two others you met on Craigslist. Nothing noteworthy about it, until you meet an orc woman with a crossbow and your coworker’s cousin Gundren. Gundren destroys a town with a gauntlet of fire and kills dozens, including himself and a kind stranger named Barry Bluejeans. You’re saved by the quick thinking of the orc woman, Killian; you retrieve the gauntlet; and then things go really off the rails.
You are thirty-one, and you fly to a moon that isn’t a moon. You meet a woman called Madam Director, and a strange creature called a Voidfish. You’re hired as Reclaimers in the Bureau of Balance, to hunt down artifacts of frightening power, to protect people from the dangers these relics present. You may not be able to have a dog, but you have a purpose again.
You are thirty-one, and you’re on a train. You find a clever little boy, a badass dwarven wrestler, giant crab, and a mystery. Through teamwork, listening to the kid, and general dumb luck you manage to save the day without too much collateral damage.
You are thirty-one and you’re in a little town called Goldcliff. You fight some plants, kill some enemies, race some rad battlewagons, and make (and lose) some friends. You retrieve the relic and have your first run-in with a Red Robe, your sworn enemy. You are afraid.
You are thirty-one and things are starting to get confusing. The Director - Lucretia - isn’t telling you everything. On your search for the next relic, you meet a reaper who says you’ve died nineteen times, which can’t be right. You chop off an arm and eat a rock, which are maybe not your brightest ideas - but they work, so.
You are thirty-two and locked in a single repeating hour in the town of Refuge. You die and die and die and meet a goddess and a little girl. You’re given a magic lance and an impossible choice. You can stay with the Bureau of Balance, keep hunting relics, continue on your path. Or. Or you can have Julia back, have Raven’s Roost back, have your happiness back.
You are thirty-two and Julia will always be twenty-six. You want to go back, more than anything you’ve ever wanted. But to trade Julia’s life for all those potentially killed by the unrecovered relics? That’s not something she would have wanted.
You are thirty-two and you stay thirty-two.
You are thirty-two and things aren’t adding up. Lucretia is lying to you. You still go after the last relic, but you’re wary.
You are thirty-two and make sacrifices, so many sacrifices. You are thirty-two and
You are forty-two. You lose your health, your luck, your chance at vengeance. You have no memory of the man who killed your wife.
You are forty-two and a Red Robe is trying to help you.
You are forty-two and that’s not you in your body, anymore. You are forty-two and
You are dead.
You are dead and you are a mannequin and you do not want to live forever.
You are dead and you are working with a Red Robe and you are infiltrating the Bureau of Balance. You are dead and you are starting to remember. You are dead and the Red Robe is Barry Bluejeans is back.
You are not gone, but you cannot tell your friends that. You infiltrate the moon, the Fantasy Costco, and you find your body. You swim with the Voidfish, and you are starting to remember, and you see the Hunger attack. You fight them off until your mannequin body is destroyed, until you cannot fight anymore, but it’s not enough. You can’t protect Johann, you can't save him.
You are thirty-two and you are back and you are alive. You are naked and you have a sword and you are not going to let this monster kill your friends, your family. You confront Lucretia, your boss, your friend, your sister. You remember.
You are thirty-two, twenty, forty-two, one hundred and thirty-two. You are dead, and you are alive, and you remember. And finally, after all these years, you can finally save the things you love. You can finally face the Hunger.
You are going to fight. And you are finally going to win.