Encou'actalu'un

 I am Encou'actalu'un. I am the Keeper of the Past. I have lived a thousand ages, have seen a thousand empires, have walked a thousand paths. I have watched the world grow and die and rebuild itself again.

My story begins with that of time, when the Great One, Ivranar, wove himself into the World. Then was I born and given the charge of Keeper. My purpose is to remember.

Thus was I placed atop the highest peak, Ciunevil, so that my gaze may sweep across all the World. I was to see that which unfolds over the world below.

I remember.

I remember when the Mortals were created by Order, when the Winds of the World were still fresh, and brought with them the scent of all things pure - of ocean brine and evergreen. I remember the beginnings of kingdoms, watching the first cities unfurl over the Blessed Lands, seeing great towers rise, and banners of silver and gold unfurl. I remember the first wars. The stench of death and fire that swept over me atop Ciunevil. I remember the pain of loss, a wound beyond all others: deep, and untreatable. Every life lost was a shrivelled and lost leaf of my own.

I was naive to believe that the end to this World's troubles. It was but the beginning, a slow decay that only began with grand visions and bloody battles. I watched, helpless, as the cities of mortals grew. I watched as forests were hewn and mountains carved away, as lakes were dried and oceans dirtied.

I stood, trembling, as the great cities grew and grew, until they stretched for thousands of miles across, belching black and acrid smoke into skies darkened with smog; as the rain began to burn like fire. And still wars waged on, and whole species disappeared.

For centuries, the world decayed, rotted until a terrible plague swept across the lands, sparing none that walked under those blackened skies. Only then did the people of our World know of what they had done, and remembered the times of the World's youth. A new cause sprung up, and a new war to fight for renewal.

This was a war without death. A battle against all that hurt the Word. A quest to bring back the Golden Age of all that once was. For a while, it seemed a war without hope, and I wept upon the summit of Ciunevil, for I believed the world to have already ended.

But lo! Before the last of my leaves had shriveled and died, a seedling was found in the deepest reaches of the Earth, small, full of hope. It was brought to me, and with my blessing it was placed in the heart of what once was the greatest forest known to the World. The beginning of our victory had been wrought.

With a devotion I had never before seen in mortal mind, that seedling was grown tall and strong, with leaves of silver and bark of gold. Under its boughs, grass and wildflowers grew once more, spreading across the lands around. Creatures the world hadn't seen for a millennia returned from their hiding. Wars, death, and poverty were no more. The world was once again pure, and it rejoiced.

So my tale ends. The World is full once more, thanks only to the efforts of mortals in a war against their own doings. My boughs are again filled with the leaves of life, and still I stand strong, upon the slopes of Ciunevil. I, Encou'actalu'un, Keeper of the Past, whose job it is to remember.