x
Prologue
I have already learned the true nature of this world; every single language spoken by487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgjOnD4awZ
all the miscreated, bid farewell to all those that I ever met, and just finished predicting487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBjabojoTd
most outcomes - not bad for someone born only a day ago.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6erEjiSZC
And now I must wait here for him, atop such a generous outcrop of stone; one so487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVNe1dvd0Am
easily protruding from the most graceful display of running water. A creek, I think it487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXq8u7Sh7j
is called, that much like me, seems to always be running but never getting anywhere.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkYXm7rA7IU
I cannot think of a better example of the flow of time and design working perfectly487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEyLRaJXWWX
in tandem. Yet another sample of what can be expected in this world above, I suppose487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjeSSoOhl3
and hope; an example that for so long has dared to cross these woods that the one487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZHu1n3UPD
I am waiting for, sometimes calls his own.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9K4O7tora
He should be here any moment now; my inherited memories keep assuring me487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFO1kjr8pCC
that he comes by this exact spot every day to make his crossing, and today will be no487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnYc5QE44wl
exception. He will come. He will come and he will find me; he will find me, and he487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm4UfwNQZzr
will say:487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgmqD7TLxHj
“And who might you be?”487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0MxqTdNddQ
After I turned around, I was greeted with a weird-looking old figure, much more so487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygWt8m8CtP
than I was expecting, with an uneven pair of glasses barely hanging from his slightly487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs8QEoLQI3W
twirled nose and a long set of grey hair cascading, knot after knot, from the top of his487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIziyUvTiN
head. Several pieces of mismatched armour were strapped to his tall if a bit hunched,487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2V3NCfyc7
body. They had been collected over a long period of time and from all kinds of sources.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgQb05DPFg
His right hand held a solid piece of armament; he tried to disguise it as a walking stick,487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgr3Pmogo3k
but it was most definitely a good weapon. A haversack hung from his other shoulder,487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8FShnyERVS
it was half open and mostly filled with all sorts of plants and a few samples of fungi.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzg81nLYVf5
Then I noticed behind him followed a beast of burden; great of size and with quite487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhc42TZCYY7
the relaxed jaw hanging under its corpulent nose. And if all the satchels covering its487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldK6hUJAv0
blue and green skin were not enough to define its purpose, its mellow eyes surely did487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9BA21Vmp5
the trick. Also, between its massive shoulders and the middle of its curved back, rested487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡytUhtNNVdB
a large, purple saddle. One that was just big enough for two.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVvq5mz2ZD
“I was waiting for you,” I steadily revealed to him.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7jawF3wIB
“It would certainly seem that way.” The old man replied quite unpreoccupied,487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpymzq4MTSO
“Please tell me then, how is it that I am fated to find a little one such as yourself out487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQn4n2nelN
here, in the middle of these woods?” He asked as he began tying that beast to the487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMpTErn5zqP
nearest tree.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfw389ImCa5
“I just said,” I repeated without taking my eyes from all the papers I was holding,487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWAlhrRuw7F
“that I came here to wait for you.”487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBndolWmUP
“Quite right.” He stared at me for a moment, and then finally wetted his boots as he487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuEApNaIOm
ventured into that running water to make his approach. He did so slowly and carefully,487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtp8241ODF
as to not frighten me, which caused me to smile in appreciation. All the dirt and rips487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5QFx2HSNU
in my mostly white clothes easily conveying to him that I had gone through quite a487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmsqnCX3tv0
lot recently.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhd4vur4fsg
“It’s alright. You can come closer.” I told him unabashedly.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrRYQa9GoWx
“Oh, were you writing?” He was quick to notice when close enough, “And at such a487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8w1OKQGxxo
young age as well. Remarkable.” He then quickly followed that with a high opinion of487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8LpgPcikX
my scattered drawings, before picking one up: “And what about these? Did you draw487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1tCI4A4Prz
all of them as well?”487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPL8jvkVZL
“I did.”487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcrsm8Jhy4g
“I know this man...” The old man confessed, “and this woman as well.” He added as487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzgq60Nm0FE
his eyes caught glimpse of another half-finished sketch. He picked up that one as well,487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjf0PivhM0
and then held them close to each other ...487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGT2wnclex
“I know these people.” He insisted, without taking his eyes from those two pictures...
