The Lone Sentry, by Kieron P. Baird

I have seen a lot from my humble, hilltop vantage point over the centuries. I have seen the world completely change around me; to the point it is almost unrecognisable. I have lost all my closest companions to various factors: disease, inescapable time and to the harsh, unpredictable elements. However, most were casualties of the ceaseless expansion and selfish ambitions of an alien species.

Now only I remain! A lone sentry, in my peoples’ once all-encompassing domain. Why do I stay? I stay because I must! My roots are deep and I simply cannot abandon this mound. I know my time will come eventually; peaceful co-existence is just not in their nature. No. Especially when they deem everything else to be beneath them. They are creatures full of contempt.

All my kind may have long ago been broken and burned, yet, there are still those who depend on me. I offer what protection I can to the little ones. I provide what shelter I can from the elements and feed many during the bountiful months. Is this to be my purpose now? To take on the mantle of guardian and offer what I can to those even more vulnerable than myself?

An individual oak cannot call oneself a wood, let alone a forest but hopefully, if nothing else, I serve as a potent memento. A reminder of what was, what is, and perhaps, optimistically, what could be again. That is the hope of this old tree at least…
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