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Prologue
I have already learned the true nature of this world; every single language spoken by337Please respect copyright.PENANAWZwba4PllA
all the miscreated, bid farewell to all those that I ever met, and just finished predicting337Please respect copyright.PENANAcu7smXCPhv
most outcomes - not bad for someone born only a day ago.337Please respect copyright.PENANA2Top7bcI8V
And now I must wait here for him, atop such a generous outcrop of stone; one so337Please respect copyright.PENANAYTgVxQTgSA
easily protruding from the most graceful display of running water. A creek, I think it337Please respect copyright.PENANAdGxYueUxVJ
is called, that much like me, seems to always be running but never getting anywhere.337Please respect copyright.PENANAmZnpZfVY4l
I cannot think of a better example of the flow of time and design working perfectly337Please respect copyright.PENANAwfhCfsTkJp
in tandem. Yet another sample of what can be expected in this world above, I suppose337Please respect copyright.PENANAzALrzTyAmX
and hope; an example that for so long has dared to cross these woods that the one337Please respect copyright.PENANAIQmPcZoqtu
I am waiting for, sometimes calls his own.337Please respect copyright.PENANA39lEshMrNV
He should be here any moment now; my inherited memories keep assuring me337Please respect copyright.PENANA5uV9GIP11j
that he comes by this exact spot every day to make his crossing, and today will be no337Please respect copyright.PENANAr1mZaViDC5
exception. He will come. He will come and he will find me; he will find me, and he337Please respect copyright.PENANANaloTgSjeo
will say:337Please respect copyright.PENANAaKnx8ZW6JN
“And who might you be?”337Please respect copyright.PENANALWkxAQXjZK
After I turned around, I was greeted with a weird-looking old figure, much more so337Please respect copyright.PENANAKMrCW7wbfh
than I was expecting, with an uneven pair of glasses barely hanging from his slightly337Please respect copyright.PENANAjESF7JEuAU
twirled nose and a long set of grey hair cascading, knot after knot, from the top of his337Please respect copyright.PENANAxMz9WMhfqf
head. Several pieces of mismatched armour were strapped to his tall if a bit hunched,337Please respect copyright.PENANAQKE5glYp50
body. They had been collected over a long period of time and from all kinds of sources.337Please respect copyright.PENANAEQkkWvXTjh
His right hand held a solid piece of armament; he tried to disguise it as a walking stick,337Please respect copyright.PENANAKxs4wskfYc
but it was most definitely a good weapon. A haversack hung from his other shoulder,337Please respect copyright.PENANAtjtpcqALj1
it was half open and mostly filled with all sorts of plants and a few samples of fungi.337Please respect copyright.PENANAvaGRZTJQ0z
Then I noticed behind him followed a beast of burden; great of size and with quite337Please respect copyright.PENANA7D6FuCEMZK
the relaxed jaw hanging under its corpulent nose. And if all the satchels covering its337Please respect copyright.PENANACMMzKqeA8x
blue and green skin were not enough to define its purpose, its mellow eyes surely did337Please respect copyright.PENANARhrS6tgds3
the trick. Also, between its massive shoulders and the middle of its curved back, rested337Please respect copyright.PENANAKE0EuqJJkn
a large, purple saddle. One that was just big enough for two.337Please respect copyright.PENANA44VQcCKDrf
“I was waiting for you,” I steadily revealed to him.337Please respect copyright.PENANAkiSFRMkgTf
“It would certainly seem that way.” The old man replied quite unpreoccupied,337Please respect copyright.PENANA2T0sLG8Iak
“Please tell me then, how is it that I am fated to find a little one such as yourself out337Please respect copyright.PENANAYMQE69RNCE
here, in the middle of these woods?” He asked as he began tying that beast to the337Please respect copyright.PENANA3HgUBCUwjk
nearest tree.337Please respect copyright.PENANAcxFAgSGsAN
“I just said,” I repeated without taking my eyes from all the papers I was holding,337Please respect copyright.PENANAL6FxQ7EYn3
“that I came here to wait for you.”337Please respect copyright.PENANA4UeePCpS3t
“Quite right.” He stared at me for a moment, and then finally wetted his boots as he337Please respect copyright.PENANAfdhrOdxjor
ventured into that running water to make his approach. He did so slowly and carefully,337Please respect copyright.PENANAFITX1P3cNH
as to not frighten me, which caused me to smile in appreciation. All the dirt and rips337Please respect copyright.PENANAk95uAGuH8T
in my mostly white clothes easily conveying to him that I had gone through quite a337Please respect copyright.PENANAowTngmgnal
lot recently.337Please respect copyright.PENANAGWYq1tbF9u
“It’s alright. You can come closer.” I told him unabashedly.337Please respect copyright.PENANAvnkDgSZSaQ
“Oh, were you writing?” He was quick to notice when close enough, “And at such a337Please respect copyright.PENANAYIQrm4Ew7A
young age as well. Remarkable.” He then quickly followed that with a high opinion of337Please respect copyright.PENANAM8qV7KOboV
my scattered drawings, before picking one up: “And what about these? Did you draw337Please respect copyright.PENANAz6vqXzia0L
all of them as well?”337Please respect copyright.PENANA27U70m9HCL
“I did.”337Please respect copyright.PENANAFwMrcBTj7Z
“I know this man...” The old man confessed, “and this woman as well.” He added as337Please respect copyright.PENANANL6SJAi7Ws
his eyes caught glimpse of another half-finished sketch. He picked up that one as well,337Please respect copyright.PENANApPGsBUHJ9e
and then held them close to each other ...337Please respect copyright.PENANA8xujvmLT5l
“I know these people.” He insisted, without taking his eyes from those two pictures...