I stand guard as I have for millennia. The bitter wind and snow is a constant reminder of what happened here and there is no one to comfort me.  The rest of my kind have all left to fight the war, but this is my post. This bleak landscape, now lifeless and abandoned, hides a treasure I alone protect.

Life once blossomed here. Rivers and forests; there were entire fields of flowers in more colors than the human eye could ever see. Fish swam the rivers, birds filled the air in flocks so large they could blacken the sky, animals both large and small roamed the prairies and climbed the mountains.

Then the humans came as caretakers, and my enemy came soon after. He divided the humans with greed and deception woven into words of promise. Everything fell into rot as they turned from governing the land to governing each other. Prosperity became scarcity, and they fell into a war that spread more rapidly than any fire.

The humans were purged from here, and the snows came, burying what little life remained. I look at the sky now, only dimly lit with the far away sun, and I know that the war rages on. I long to join the fight. Though it takes another ten millennia, I will stay my post and protect my treasure.

There will come a day when the Tree of Life blossoms again, and I can step aside to let the humans return to Eden.