The flickering light of the candle illuminates a tan parchment. An elderly, decrepit Uruk marks the final sentence of the page, before placing the ink-dipped feather away. A look of anguish sits on his face, and if the leathery skin of this monster could produce a tear, you would expect to see one.
Emptiness... All the power in the world and it just feels empty. An eternal sence of fatigue that weighs down upon the soul. Do I still have a soul? I must, for I once had everything: wealth, infamy, armies, cities, land, loyalty, immortality... power. I wielded the might of an Arch-Daemon, I brought Al'khazar to its knees with my presence. But it was all for naught, generations change, faces fade and new personas appear. No recognizance for the past, and no use holding onto it... Power. I've spent my whole life in search of it, I obtained it with deceit, death, horrid actions, and used it to commit more of the same. Yet it has brought nothing.
How can halflings have such merriment? Do they not realize the insignificance of their actions? They dwell with eachother, drinking the days away with singing and cheer. But if I, one who had it all, could not find meaning in my vast riches and influence, how can they expect to find it within fellowship and ale?
...
But it is something I have not tried.... I used to have ones I called friends, their names long since spoken, forgotten in the winds of time, faces engraved only in my own memories. I dwelt with them, within Sanhar, Sanjezal, even Al'khazar was a home to me. How many remember these names? Do they evoke emotions like the ones I have had? Who can remember the might of the Ferox'Legio? The intimidating prison of the Uruk? The brick city of the Goblins? The mighty maze beneath the desert? None. Only my memories entertain me, and they simply remind me of the constant horrors I have wrought upon the land.
Power does not last, wealth fades, land is destroyed and corrupted. Cities fall and their leaders fall quicker. But memories persist, they remind of us the past and help us anticipate the future. A cloak of nostalgia that prevents mistakes, but doesn't regret them. Nothing. Without our past, we are nothing.
...
I was the worst monster, I did not realize this. What greater evil is there than to destroy the memories of another individual? To take the identity of a being, drain them of life, leave them as a puppeted husk? Not only did I do these actions myself, I taught others to do the same. The tyranny! How could I be so caught up in myself to realize how my actions would affect others? What memory will they have of me? What is left of those that I tormented and tore from their own persona, leaving them lifeless?
Nothing. Nothing is left, and only I am to blame.