The Constant Wanderer



The Constant Wanderer is the first portrayal of the Fear of Stagnation, repetition, and leading a pointless existence. They are a major character in The Four Roses Verse, where they are portrayed as the most sympathetic of The Fears. Originally nothing more than an ordinary human being, the Wanderer was slowly transformed into a new Fear under mysterious circumstances after countless cycles of death and resurrection.

History
Very little is known about the Constant Wanderer's past as a human, though it has been hinted that they were born several centuries before the modern day. What is know is that were used as a bargaining chip of sorts in a treaty between The Fears and a group of entities called The Four Roses. This pact stipulated that at least one human being could travel through the Fears' domains unscathed. However, the terms of pact never specified that the Fears had to let this human leave, so they decided to prevent them from escaping by having the last Fear the human visited during each cycle, The Wooden Girl, kill them. This would cause The Constant Wanderer to return to The Archangel's domain, where all the memories of their journey would be completely wiped, beginning the cycle all over again for eternity. After eight hundred thousand cycles of endless torture, the Wanderer began to subconsciously accept the futility of its predicament and had lost all memories of its previous identity.

This was far from the end, however, as the Constant Wanderer was eventually released from their captivity and was able to return to the human world. Unfortunately, they were irrevocably changed by their experience within the eldritch domains, as they had been transformed into a Fear themself. How this occurred exactly is unknown, though it is very likely that either The Fears converted the Wanderer into one of them because they felt some sort of "familial" bond towards it or the cycles they were subject to were catalyst of their metamorphosis.

Characteristics
In most stories, the Constant Wanderer manifests as a human being of indeterminate gender with auburn hair and ragged, lopsided clothes. It wears an eye-patch over its right eye, and in its left eye there is an infinity symbol where the pupil should be. It usually also speaks without using contractions.

The Wanderer appears to be able to replay the past of anything that has happened in a particular location using highly detailed illusions that tend to loop themselves. When asked why they do this, the Constant Wanderer usually replies that it doesn't know, but they still do it because - as they claim - this is their nature.