Prologue
I have already learned the true nature of this world; every single language spoken by338Please respect copyright.PENANAFnBqLcrGMp
all the miscreated, bid farewell to all those that I ever met, and just finished predicting338Please respect copyright.PENANAIiQiBSkmcB
most outcomes - not bad for someone born only a day ago.338Please respect copyright.PENANAGIIcLuZHKW
And now I must wait here for him, atop such a generous outcrop of stone; one so338Please respect copyright.PENANAqWJKylp4zE
easily protruding from the most graceful display of running water. A creek, I think it338Please respect copyright.PENANACOY2wdY5B4
is called, that much like me, seems to always be running but never getting anywhere.338Please respect copyright.PENANAM0fE6GeGcD
I cannot think of a better example of the flow of time and design working perfectly338Please respect copyright.PENANA7bDsMNteuf
in tandem. Yet another sample of what can be expected in this world above, I suppose338Please respect copyright.PENANAVZuJpppfUq
and hope; an example that for so long has dared to cross these woods that the one338Please respect copyright.PENANAT4Shn6HRFL
I am waiting for, sometimes calls his own.338Please respect copyright.PENANAv9KXAdkJs4
He should be here any moment now; my inherited memories keep assuring me338Please respect copyright.PENANApmOGJOYwNv
that he comes by this exact spot every day to make his crossing, and today will be no338Please respect copyright.PENANAuzoWpmF5Ao
exception. He will come. He will come and he will find me; he will find me, and he338Please respect copyright.PENANAOyhiUQTH3x
will say:338Please respect copyright.PENANA5i95T71usG
“And who might you be?”338Please respect copyright.PENANADDSMBJuFgn
After I turned around, I was greeted with a weird-looking old figure, much more so338Please respect copyright.PENANAU6QaQOvTqP
than I was expecting, with an uneven pair of glasses barely hanging from his slightly338Please respect copyright.PENANAEX7HlgNvu0
twirled nose and a long set of grey hair cascading, knot after knot, from the top of his338Please respect copyright.PENANAi39mm28ICp
head. Several pieces of mismatched armour were strapped to his tall if a bit hunched,338Please respect copyright.PENANAVn6olgDHQE
body. They had been collected over a long period of time and from all kinds of sources.338Please respect copyright.PENANAB1PvDgcBqO
His right hand held a solid piece of armament; he tried to disguise it as a walking stick,338Please respect copyright.PENANAUij85Vsy00
but it was most definitely a good weapon. A haversack hung from his other shoulder,338Please respect copyright.PENANAjR9norizj1
it was half open and mostly filled with all sorts of plants and a few samples of fungi.338Please respect copyright.PENANA42GgpzdTax
Then I noticed behind him followed a beast of burden; great of size and with quite338Please respect copyright.PENANAOs3tidF3OF
the relaxed jaw hanging under its corpulent nose. And if all the satchels covering its338Please respect copyright.PENANA8sTFiVqB5I
blue and green skin were not enough to define its purpose, its mellow eyes surely did338Please respect copyright.PENANAs4rusWVLsx
the trick. Also, between its massive shoulders and the middle of its curved back, rested338Please respect copyright.PENANAMnLDA6cxDX
a large, purple saddle. One that was just big enough for two.338Please respect copyright.PENANAKmUQJJKH0j
“I was waiting for you,” I steadily revealed to him.338Please respect copyright.PENANAYyTovbLjeM
“It would certainly seem that way.” The old man replied quite unpreoccupied,338Please respect copyright.PENANArtRKdMbPJj
“Please tell me then, how is it that I am fated to find a little one such as yourself out338Please respect copyright.PENANAZ69jpOIWry
here, in the middle of these woods?” He asked as he began tying that beast to the338Please respect copyright.PENANAuKkTJuIjkU
nearest tree.338Please respect copyright.PENANARDOc1fGxJr
“I just said,” I repeated without taking my eyes from all the papers I was holding,338Please respect copyright.PENANApvapIrHiYj
“that I came here to wait for you.”338Please respect copyright.PENANA72BzArGgj9
“Quite right.” He stared at me for a moment, and then finally wetted his boots as he338Please respect copyright.PENANAlxRUV8PhlQ
ventured into that running water to make his approach. He did so slowly and carefully,338Please respect copyright.PENANAnOluGBc4d3
as to not frighten me, which caused me to smile in appreciation. All the dirt and rips338Please respect copyright.PENANAYAQtIWclir
in my mostly white clothes easily conveying to him that I had gone through quite a338Please respect copyright.PENANAtwfXRzLhsq
lot recently.338Please respect copyright.PENANA98awcHxHuz
“It’s alright. You can come closer.” I told him unabashedly.338Please respect copyright.PENANAF9t4bmhKsS
“Oh, were you writing?” He was quick to notice when close enough, “And at such a338Please respect copyright.PENANAKJByFqStpy
young age as well. Remarkable.” He then quickly followed that with a high opinion of338Please respect copyright.PENANA5iYpHAuU99
my scattered drawings, before picking one up: “And what about these? Did you draw338Please respect copyright.PENANA4AwcOkMVpw
all of them as well?”338Please respect copyright.PENANAg7vDomIqM9
“I did.”338Please respect copyright.PENANA3U3yJ0gRx9
“I know this man...” The old man confessed, “and this woman as well.” He added as338Please respect copyright.PENANA6zndlmFPcj
his eyes caught glimpse of another half-finished sketch. He picked up that one as well,338Please respect copyright.PENANANFQW9p86by
and then held them close to each other ...338Please respect copyright.PENANA0dRwGTD1ou
“I know these people.” He insisted, without taking his eyes from those two pictures...