Home.....

Silence would lay over the land about. Aenied....Home of hundreds of wonders...

To the north. in the middle of the ocean, serenity played its part with the gentle lapping of the waters, hardly a cloud in the sky. With a sharp surge of mana particles, this calm would be discontinued.

The small waves of the ocean would morph into a whirlpool, pulling the waters toward an unknown center. All sides of this pool would rise as the spinning force increased, pulling the center of the pool farther and farther toward the ocean floor.

With a final touch of the tip to the dark sea floor, the sides of the pool would freeze into place, a blast of sub-zero energy touching the water to instantly solidify it into ice. An explosion would occur, cracking here and there among the ice as the salt in the water separated, forcing the ice apart.

Once again, silence would become absolute over the area.....

In that moment, a blast would occur in the air, clouds developing over the hole in the ice, swirling around in the way a maelstrom would. Lightening strikes would occur in various locations, ending with a final surge of electricity discharging into the center of the frozen pool. The ice would blast up into the air, the entire frozen section of sea rising into the air.......Only to lay floating calmly, slowly circling around a single point. The ice would then come together to create a massive frozen sphere in the air. Once completely joined as one, the sphere would explode out, the ice melting back to fall into the water, leaving a single floating orb of light where the central point of the sphere had been.

The sphere would float down amongst the raining ice to land on top of the water. Resting there for a moment, the light would dissipate, revealing its interior as a single man.

Shown by his signature pony tail and squared glasses, as well as wearing a thick set of snow robes and a traveling cloak, William Emmbers would slowly start making his walk toward land.

Stepping onto the shores, the sea returned to its natural state, William would smile over the scarf wrapped around his neck, "It's good to be home."

"Indeed it is, but what the hell did you turn into? Jesus?"

Trader stood leaning against a tree in a forest bordering the shore, arms crossed and a smile playing on her lips. She wore her usual attire; worn and slightly torn jeans, black Converse High-Tops, black shirt supporting some band, black hair streaked with blue and green a messy feather-duster atop her head. Her nose stud shone as if polished, the diamond reflecting the green of leaves and gold of sun.

She smiled at the being of William Emmbers, all teeth and happiness. She was still half-hidden in the surrounding trees and shadows, but she could see him fine. The water lapped at the shore, it's thin fingers reaching out and then receeding in a hypnotic motion.

But there is no such thing as home, is there?... Only a symbol of welcome and merriment. Internal wars. Blind peace. A place of hate but of love, a place.... Only a place.

William would look around for the voice, his eyes drawn to the figgure leaning against a tree on the outskirts of the woods, "Jesus?" Looking behind him, he would laugh, "Oh, no I uhh..." Turning forward, William would walk closer to the person, his eyes attempting to discern if he knew them or not. "No, I'm not Jesus.....Not even close...." His eyes would drop to the ground. I am no savior.

As he approached closer to the woman, he would realize that she had a keen resembelence to someone he knew, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it...."So, how did you know I would be here?"

Trader would cock her head to the side, then smile, almost like she was smiling at William's shoes, while she was really just spacing out. She sighed, an inadible sound, then looked up under her eye lashes and fringe of bangs at William's face. A beautiful face, at that.

She shrugged. "I just so happened to be taking a walk, ya know, and uhh..." She thought for a moment, something reasonably smart-ass worming its way into her head.

"I thought I was seeing Jesus again, and was thinkin', 'Ya know what? I just might hit him up on that request to buy a cheese burger....' So here I am, looking at some one who I guess isn't jesus but wondering if he would like to get something to eat anyway." She raised both eyebrows in an innocent glance as she chewed in inside of her lip. She knew William woulnd't recognize her. So why not have some fun?

William would smile as he ended his approach, standing right infront of her, "Something to eat...Sounds good. But first...." He would raise a hand, snapping his fingers, his clothes changing into something more comfortable, an extremely baggy set of camo shorts as well as a black shirt with a lightening strike moving across from shoulder to hip, his foot ware that of rope sandles.

"Ummm...Before we head off..." he extended a hand, "Names William, but you can call me Will or Emm. Nice to meet you."

Trader took the shake. "Nice to meet you, Will." She liked that adaption of his name more than any he had previously stated. One-sylable, common.

"I like your shorts." She broke off her end of the shake and stuck her hands in her pockets. She would wait for him to make the first move to leave. That was just the kind of person she was; a follower, not a leader.

She let her smile fade to a feeble, crooked one, her eyes sparkling. He had introduced himself on his own. He had never given notice to her having to introduce herself.

Unless he inquired, she was going to stay that way.

In his oblivious way of thinking, Will would turn, "It's been a while sense I have been home. Care to make any suggestions?"

He was oblivious...But carefull so in the fact. This person looked compleatly different, so they would have to be that of someone else. He would then turn, taking the first step, wondering if Eclipse was still open.

He slowly started his way down the path way heading south.

"As far as I know, is it."

Yeah, She thought, It isn't him.

Trader had hoped it was going to be some one... Else, She thought. Some one else. She pushed off the tree with her shoulder, hands in her pockets, and followed Will, eyes lowered in thought.

Who did you expect it to be? The hair. It was the hair that had made her think that way. Think that it was some one else. You left for a reason. Why do you expect to see him around every corner?

She didn't know why. She just followed. That was what she did. She didn't need a reason.

Did she?

Watching from afar, a stranger in a dark cloak stood in the cold black shade of a rather large rock. Somewhere between earth and sea this massive boulder stood as a divider between a rocky cliff that dropped into the freezing waters, from the life filled forest. This stranger, masked by the hood of his cloak, stepped behind a tree, and for a few moments time seemed to slow around him. A soft wind blowing just enough to part a section of his hood. A lock of hair, dark blue or dark purple, it was hard to tell, slipped in front of a cold, yet soft, blue eye. In that moment time resumed its normal pace, and the stranger was gone, never emerging from behing the tree.