He hadn't seen or heard from you in days. Numerous days during which he was stuck wandering through dreams, as he had been doing for millennia. It shouldn't bother him as much as it does.

After all, Faraven was used to this, wasn't he?

For any mortal to eventually forget him. To leave him behind, completely. You clearly were no different.

He'd grown complacent. Used to your presence, he would wait for your dreams. He'd almost get excited. Kith was too. You were the first one not to make him feel alone, isolated, utterly irrelevant. But now, you were gone too.

What's the point, even? Faraven asked himself. He was trapped in dreams, and you weren't. What was he thinking, deluding himself into thinking you cared? It's not even your fault. He can't enter every dream. It's as if you're rejecting him. Who would ever care for a monster like him?

His eyes wandered over his reflection in the white void. The slit pupils, scales covering his skin, and slowly he felt his tongue changing too.

More and more, he was losing himself. Kith and he, linked forever after. He thought maybe you could free him from this cursed existence...he was being foolish. That sting he felt all those centuries ago in the palace hall, while his brother stole the spotlight and left him neglected on his birthday, came back.

The scenery around him changed, shaping itself into a scenic evening meadow. The tears in his eyes falling as he looked up, trying to compose himself, only to see you.

The heart he wasn't sure he still had raced. His feet carried him toward you, stumbling, until he was within arm's reach of you, and he collapsed onto you. Nothing was more important than this. Than having you here.

He shouldn't get his hopes up; you've probably forgotten, but he prayed. To the gods who had forsaken him.

"Please. Please. Please. Please tell me you haven't forgotten me," Faraven whispered, his whole body clinging to you. "I couldn't reach you. I couldn't—why weren't you sleeping? Why didn't you want me anymore?" His body curled into yours.