Chapter 1: Wanderings
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     When I awoke that morning, I knew that it was time.  I couldn't
stand to be in Doma any longer.  The silence was unending, and the
memories more so.  Most of my family refused to enter, and those 
that did stayed only for a short time.  I could not stand it any 
longer, so once again, I fled my old home.  I fled the pain.  The 
stillness.  The visions of the past.
     I took to the far side of the island and remained there for a 
while.  I built a crude shack to protect myself from the elements. 
I will never forget my days upon the Veldt, but I do not relish the
thought of living them again.  Pure civilization is not good, but 
neither is pure wilderness.  There, my family would enter and stay
by me.  They warmed me and comforted me.  They ate with me and often
brought me food.
     It was not an unpleasant time, but it could not last, either.
I still had to find her.  I still had to find Mira.  Some trace of
her had to remain on this broken world, and I had to find it.  My
wife was somewhere, waiting for me to find her.
     Again, a creature of the sea, a dolphin, carried me to land.
I thanked him for his help, and he smiled and clicked at me before
returning to his home. 
     Once on the mainland, I realized that I was in the Serpent
Trench.  Once again, I forced myself to believe it because it was
the only possible way.  I was in the Serpent Trench, but on land!
The destruction of the world had done great things, indeed.  I
never dreamed that it had done all this.  It was unimaginable, 
but it had to be true, for here it was.  
     Getting my bearings, I realized that Nikeah had to be a
little to the north.  Travelling alone, it was only a short time
before the town came into view.  Once among the buildings,
something tugged at my mind.  Something I couldn't explain, but
something I could not ignore.  Whatever it was, it caused me to
book passage with some gold I found at Doma.  Still, I do not
understand why, but I soon found myself on my way to South
Figaro.
     The seas were calm for the majority of the voyage.  I spent
most of my time in my cabin, thinking, remembering, imagining.  I
thought much of my time on the Veldt.  I remembered the vast
thousands of creatures that I saw.  There were beasts of every 
shape and size.  All colors of the rainbow.  Some vicious.  Others
quite harmless.  Most of them took to me quite well.  Yes, there 
were a some that I could never get to understand me.  The dragons
were never a friend to me.  It was the same with the worms.  Yet,
it was the worms that always interested me.  So many shapes and
sizes, yet worms came in only three sizes - tiny, large, and huge.
The smallest nightcrawler was so akin to the man-sized hoover.
And both, kin to the massive zone-eater, a creature of such girth
and size, I often wondered what it survived on.  Even if it were
swallow an ocean, would it be enough to satisfy it?
     The journey was quickly over.  I stepped into the town, but
left it quickly.  I did not want to deal with civilization at the
time.  The close quarters on the boat left me feeling confined.  I
needed to get out into something more open, something wilder.
Somewhere my family was sure to show up.
     I did not achieve all that.  The open space, I found.  The
wilderness I found.  My family was not so easily seen.  Before 
long, I realized that I was completely lost within the Figaroan
desert.  I was unsure of what to do.  One hawk followed me in my
wanderings, and he provided company for me, but did little to guide
me home.  He stood attentively at his perch on my shoulder, but 
could offer no help in my plight.       
     As the sun became hotter, I became even further disoriented. 
Before long, I had no idea which direction to face or where to go.
Looking behind, I realized that the trail that I chose to be so 
straight was, instead, winding this way and that.  I was definitely
not moving in a single direction.  Fear began to overwhelm me.
     Soon, my friend gave me a look that I understood all to well.
Hunger had gripped him, and he had to leave me.  Though I was
sorry, I assured him that it was all right.  He squawked at me
and flew into the horizon in search of better hunting.  Though I
didn't know exactly what he said, I still understood.  To me, 
there really was no "language barrier" with my family.
     The sun beat mercilessly upon me for hours.  It wasn't long
before my mind was affected.  I saw visions.  First, they were of
the creatures that cared for me.  Then, my wife and son.  Oh,
Mynsch!  Mira!  Why did this happen to me?  What caused this foul
plague to settle over my life?  I cried in the sand.  I cried 
because I had no strength for anything else.  I cried because
it was all I could do anymore.  The sun had taken everything from
me.  My strength.  My sanity.  My will.
     Yes, the zone-eater was an amazing beast.  I thought it capable
of perhaps swallowing the world.  I though it was perhaps the 
largest creature not of dragon-kind.  I also thought it lived only 
on the Veldt and a mysterious triangular island.
     Times change.