"Hear you these, the last words I shall speak before crossing the veil. You have no clan. You shall have neither clan nor kin until that which has been taken shall be restored."

What did Artos mean, when he pronounced that I would have neither clan nor kin until that which had been taken was replaced? Did he intend to pronounce a dying curse? Did he mean to offer an observation? A prophecy? Or, perhaps, a warning?

And restore what? What was taken that must be restored? Did he mean the lives that I failed to save... the lives that I had, in fact, consumed? Did he refer to the worlds that I had helped feed to the machine? Did he speak of the activated fail-safes in blood and bone and body, against which I must guard all those to whom I am closest? Did he refer to the place and time of my birth, my people and the Song which once all shared ?

I hear his words. Time and time again, when I see the shells of those whom I have known briefly flare and fade, when the eternal essence moves beyond the Veil, I hear those words. When, in the cold of the world I look around me, when I see the wreckage of relationships that I have touched upon, those words echo in my ears.

Whether intended as curse, prophecy, or observation? I do not know... some days, it would seem the only difference might be intent. And Artos offers little insight into the matter.