It is strange...
Something still holds us here. Even after all this time... Some did go. Us, unlucky few, are gone but perpetually returning.
The sky is... different now.
But the fields...
We do not need eyes to know that the grasses still sway gently in the winds.
The paths of existence are surprising.
To have grasped the infinities of time and space, the boundless fractal planes of spirit and reality... And yet here we are, contemplating these same fields as we once did,
...talking to some sort of rodent.
We can feel your presence, little creature
Your attunement has become... closer to ours, yes.
And you can speak... Or listen.
To a... being like you, it is an unimaginable gift. Though a gift that does nothing for your struggle.
It can all fade, like a morning mist beneath the glory of the sun. We found a way.
It cost us dearly, but we found a way.
Oh, I beg! Don't ever mind!
I'm only walking, grazing the fields of beyond what you can imagine!
No matter, just barge right on in!
Never would I claim that *creatures*, of *flesh* and *blood* were... annoying!
Never would I remind, that this is a holy place! That it was, before my ancestors ancestors ancestors fought wars for magnificence and splendor, with... *sticks*!
I wouldn't assert, that I *can* indeed be distracted, because I am *not* a god. Merely... Not a mortal.
Oh how could I ever ask, why things went the way they did? Why when we left, for right, for better, I was stuck, *stumbling* on the *threshold* of everlasting serenity?
Here, among the grime and dirt, not feeling, but watching. As iterators impotently churn and fray, a disgrace to the legacy of which ruin my brethren are blissfully ignorant.
As bugs crawl on the holy stones of ancient glory.
Essentially Unchanged.
You have no name.
I once had! I was embalmed, adorned, readied for the journey.
There was laughter and tears. My name was sung, loud and clear.
Did they know? That I didn't quite leave, didn't quite stay?
Should I be ashamed? That I stay close to where my memories are kept?
Should I be ashamed? That now, I envy your prison...
From up here, one can survey the misdirection of our progress.
Behold an empty husk of a land! Populated only by storms, ruins and abominations...
Present company excepted, of course.
Most of us have forgotten this place. Corporeal matters seem so distant now... As viewed through veils upon veils. They are all through to the other side. Me... I see veils, in both directions.
So I like to come here, close to where we used to live. Perhaps... I sat here, still inside my vessel of flesh, and watched a sunset. It's too long ago to remember.
Never-ending cycles within cycles.
But as far as we go... it is important to remember where we are from. I was Count of 2 living blocks. I had children.
Perhaps it's only important to me because I was unable to go. Perhaps... I was unable to go because I still considered those things important.
A little beast.
May I ask... Do you eat?
Crunch crunch, yes? Ha!
So strange.
We ate, we did eat! Or was it merely our bodies?
Ha! To you, there is no difference I suppose.
To tear flesh from a living being... grind it between ones mouthbones into component parts...
Dissolve those parts in a cauldron of acid within one's self, extracting its essence...
Ha! Ha! So disturbing!
So fascinating!