[Two Conversations by the Campfire]

He was trapped... trapped... trapped...

Darkness pressed in on him within this prison. He could not breathe, could not move. Countless whispers rang by his ears every day, and every day, It screamed and wailed at him.

He was desperate. He wanted to save It. But he discovered that no matter how hard he tried, he could never truly rescue It from that sea of suffering.

He wanted to roar, but no sound came out. There was no sound here at all. The silence was driving him mad!

At last...

Amid the endless darkness, a glimmer of dawn finally appeared in the distance. A voice told him—go there, go there, and there would be a solution to everything. As long as he went there, everything could be solved!

Like a madman, he charged toward that dawn. He swore he had never moved so fast in his life. Not even when Galakrond had hunted him had he ever been this fast!

And finally...

He had arrived. He had arrived.

He came to the dawn and, overcome with joy, seized that lone glimmer of light within the boundless darkness.

Yet the instant he grasped it, the glimmer went out. At the same time, an incomparably enormous octopus-like monster wrapped itself around him with a sinister cackle. "Embrace Me, Guardian of the Earth. I shall resolve all thy confusion! Embrace Me, Guardian of the Earth!"

Whoosh!

Daval Prestor abruptly sat up in bed. For a moment after waking, those eyes that could make even the apex predators of the food chain recoil in fear were blank, unfocused, and devoid of life.

The blazing campfire stretched his imposing silhouette long across the stone wall beside him, exuding an oppressive presence.

Prestor looked around. Only when he saw the cave's surroundings did awareness finally return