Read The Burden of the Protector for Free Online Page A

precious daughter with her. I pleaded for her to come back, making promises and giving assurances. To no avail.
    Eight years later, Eriéla fell victim to a terrible sickness. The disease took her life after two long years of battle. She died in my arms, hearing my voice repeating and repeating that I loved her, that I always had. I also covered her with apologies. Eriéla went without giving a response, but I believe she was comforted all the same.
    My daughter blames me to this day for her mother’s passing. Blames me for being the one with her in the end, thinking it was a privilege I didn’t deserve. The only comfort I got from those hurtful events was the chance to see my children. I take comfort in Faron, who is the only one still talking to me.
    In all this, my family remained loyal with their silence. No one reported my interest in books or my strange behaviour to the Sy’Iss. Although I had never told anyone in my family about my discovery and, more importantly, about my decision to hide it from the Sy’Iss, I could see a dangerous pattern emerging. Like I had done at a younger age, my children and Eriéla were lying to the Sy’Iss.
    Sometimes, when lying awake at night, I try to make myself believe that my children haven’t talked out of some kind of respect for their father. I imagine that deep inside, they must still love me, still see me as their father. This belief becomes stronger as I get closer to the eternal rest. Yet the most likely explanation is that their silence is fed by fear, fear that whatever fate befalls me will also befall them, and their children.
    How long I have left is unknown to me. Up until now, I have felt old, certainly, my bones and muscles tired, but that is to be expected after a life of walking and running through the highlands of Yurita. I also feel alive in ways I have never experienced before. At the same time, my unrest has grown. I am unsatisfied here, even though I am told that I should be content, happy, and enjoy these last days in well-deserved tranquility.
    I wish I could go outside more often and walk, maybe even roam one last time in Yurita, cross the bridge of Saril, look down and quiver from the fearsome heights.
    I am not yet ready to leave.
    *
    Shading 7, year 3001, Dàr is 60.
    Earlier this day, I came to a terrifying realization. The discovery came to me slowly, over the span of the last eight days living in this house. Small observations at first. Voices at my door at the strangest of times. A high number of protectors, and even a few soldiers, constantly coming and going around my lodging, on the roads not far away. My son being interrogated before entering and after exiting.
    Then the signs became more flagrant. A constant guard at my door. Now two at all times. Uncanny noises and murmurs at random moments. Movements outside the house, heard through the walls. This morning, I awoke to see a face looking through my window. After I recuperated from the shock, I got up and moved toward the opening as fast as my aged body would allow me. I found the glade outside empty, the trees creaking, pushed around by a feeble wind. Or had it been the passing of someone sneaking away?
    I am being watched.
    This will make my work much harder, the writing take longer. I do not dare take the chance that someone might read some of these words over my shoulder. I need to make certain not to arouse suspicion, and so no more writing long into the hours of the night.
    I am starting to worry that I will not be able to complete this work. The best I can do is write one letter at a time, one word at a time. And hope I won’t be discovered…
    *
    Falling 7, year 2965, Dàr is 24.
    Following our unsuccessful search of the clearing, it took two days until Vìr and I could meet again. Those two nights were atrocious for me. Almost no sleep, with continual visions of the object and of the dark passage. Disturbing dreams. The daytime didn’t bring any reassurance. I tried to find the thing