Prologue
I have already learned the true nature of this world; every single language spoken by318Please respect copyright.PENANAAluC4tAUq6
all the miscreated, bid farewell to all those that I ever met, and just finished predicting318Please respect copyright.PENANAEAZL1sSOmv
most outcomes - not bad for someone born only a day ago.318Please respect copyright.PENANAMILESddaXH
And now I must wait here for him, atop such a generous outcrop of stone; one so318Please respect copyright.PENANA4cdK3PtjTR
easily protruding from the most graceful display of running water. A creek, I think it318Please respect copyright.PENANACQyHquIHWl
is called, that much like me, seems to always be running but never getting anywhere.318Please respect copyright.PENANAFIsVVrWoYu
I cannot think of a better example of the flow of time and design working perfectly318Please respect copyright.PENANAaH0CxK1SRX
in tandem. Yet another sample of what can be expected in this world above, I suppose318Please respect copyright.PENANA3CLw9i9RKK
and hope; an example that for so long has dared to cross these woods that the one318Please respect copyright.PENANAwjHZu0pA6Y
I am waiting for, sometimes calls his own.318Please respect copyright.PENANA2a1szB5owP
He should be here any moment now; my inherited memories keep assuring me318Please respect copyright.PENANA1bgmtGjqo7
that he comes by this exact spot every day to make his crossing, and today will be no318Please respect copyright.PENANAXZKuZ2uwIs
exception. He will come. He will come and he will find me; he will find me, and he318Please respect copyright.PENANAbD9BaJIY4c
will say:318Please respect copyright.PENANAkzIpbrZqkK
“And who might you be?”318Please respect copyright.PENANAJnxbOptTdW
After I turned around, I was greeted with a weird-looking old figure, much more so318Please respect copyright.PENANAQnB8BpaUSK
than I was expecting, with an uneven pair of glasses barely hanging from his slightly318Please respect copyright.PENANAyLfW8PaaLR
twirled nose and a long set of grey hair cascading, knot after knot, from the top of his318Please respect copyright.PENANAaLRoO9B0ck
head. Several pieces of mismatched armour were strapped to his tall if a bit hunched,318Please respect copyright.PENANAdOwPJNj2Gk
body. They had been collected over a long period of time and from all kinds of sources.318Please respect copyright.PENANA7ztSVQ0ef9
His right hand held a solid piece of armament; he tried to disguise it as a walking stick,318Please respect copyright.PENANA4FwE5rWdlP
but it was most definitely a good weapon. A haversack hung from his other shoulder,318Please respect copyright.PENANAViQxsDo2VV
it was half open and mostly filled with all sorts of plants and a few samples of fungi.318Please respect copyright.PENANAdUrRquzIOs
Then I noticed behind him followed a beast of burden; great of size and with quite318Please respect copyright.PENANAKh9Y1uDMHD
the relaxed jaw hanging under its corpulent nose. And if all the satchels covering its318Please respect copyright.PENANA3oaIq1PKnJ
blue and green skin were not enough to define its purpose, its mellow eyes surely did318Please respect copyright.PENANAa7rsH4ZY8M
the trick. Also, between its massive shoulders and the middle of its curved back, rested318Please respect copyright.PENANAcaThwAj85l
a large, purple saddle. One that was just big enough for two.318Please respect copyright.PENANA5uoZPznlpr
“I was waiting for you,” I steadily revealed to him.318Please respect copyright.PENANATSvs9KVvfr
“It would certainly seem that way.” The old man replied quite unpreoccupied,318Please respect copyright.PENANAhJuDq4B5Qt
“Please tell me then, how is it that I am fated to find a little one such as yourself out318Please respect copyright.PENANA4dWWs9Ow0h
here, in the middle of these woods?” He asked as he began tying that beast to the318Please respect copyright.PENANAXTYLYkllga
nearest tree.318Please respect copyright.PENANAqM4lEJtdBl
“I just said,” I repeated without taking my eyes from all the papers I was holding,318Please respect copyright.PENANA15LciP08JJ
“that I came here to wait for you.”318Please respect copyright.PENANAwZc2ptOvDR
“Quite right.” He stared at me for a moment, and then finally wetted his boots as he318Please respect copyright.PENANAPJ2MVt2elB
ventured into that running water to make his approach. He did so slowly and carefully,318Please respect copyright.PENANAZpFY5LwYa9
as to not frighten me, which caused me to smile in appreciation. All the dirt and rips318Please respect copyright.PENANAQxUfAKNsCL
in my mostly white clothes easily conveying to him that I had gone through quite a318Please respect copyright.PENANA9hEb347igj
lot recently.318Please respect copyright.PENANAc5ubBppUlF
“It’s alright. You can come closer.” I told him unabashedly.318Please respect copyright.PENANAVUXfpZvHro
“Oh, were you writing?” He was quick to notice when close enough, “And at such a318Please respect copyright.PENANAvke027pbx7
young age as well. Remarkable.” He then quickly followed that with a high opinion of318Please respect copyright.PENANAWg95SebvIF
my scattered drawings, before picking one up: “And what about these? Did you draw318Please respect copyright.PENANAiXhvWDrm1l
all of them as well?”318Please respect copyright.PENANARBpjYdKWqJ
“I did.”318Please respect copyright.PENANApGWYcf7ffq
“I know this man...” The old man confessed, “and this woman as well.” He added as318Please respect copyright.PENANAvdYNw1ip0x
his eyes caught glimpse of another half-finished sketch. He picked up that one as well,318Please respect copyright.PENANAXrfWKXQbI1
and then held them close to each other ...318Please respect copyright.PENANArMsUfPuohg
“I know these people.” He insisted, without taking his eyes from those two pictures...