‘A long time ago, when he was a child, a holy man had told him a story. It was about a man who came to the end of his days and, looking back, he saw his footprints in the sands of his life. And beside them was a second set, which he knew to be God’s. But when the man looked closely he saw that in the times of his greatest trouble there was only a single set. The man looked at God and asked, ‘Why is it that you left me when my need was greatest?’ And God replied, ‘I never left you, my son.’ And then the man asked, ‘Why then was there only one set of footprints?’ God smiled and replied, ‘Because those were the times when I carried you.’‘
– Jon Shannow, to himself, The Last Guardian
