Date: 15th Emberturn, Cycle 1
Location: Mechanica Cliffs, Southeastern Wasteland Divide
Watcher: Nocthane, 2nd Era Driftscribe

“A Guardian stood at the cliff’s edge, unmoving. For 19 cycles, it did not recharge. It did not return.”

I reached the cliffs just after Fifthlight’s haze lifted—those serrated ledges where the southern Wasteland cracks open into nothing. The locals call it “The Drop,” but old cartography lists it as Mechanica Divide.

What drew me wasn’t terrain.

It was the residual scorch marks.

The cliff edge glowed faintly—ash grey stone marked with four deep burns, each spaced exactly 1.6 meters apart. The pattern matches Striker hooves. But the strange part isn’t the heat signature.

It’s the time.

Telemetry confirms a single Guardian stood here for nearly nineteen full cycles, unshielded, unsheltered. No recharge trace. No communication bursts. It simply stood, facing the Divide. Watching.

Waiting?

Locals say the Wasteland winds howled louder during that time. Animals refused to cross the ridge. One Rustborne claimed her own implants began malfunctioning when she got too close.

When the Guardian finally left, it left no footprints.

Just those four scorch marks.

And a thin black line, carved into the stone, extending perfectly straight toward the Forbidden Zone.