The skyscrapers of twisted mirrors rose into the sky again, threatening to pierce the swirling purple-green sky. The roads inbetween were broken and cratered, littered with burning debris from the assault. Acrid smoke tinged the air and made breathing a little uncomfortable.

Julian stood against one of the buildings, checking his weapons. The two blue and silver pistols had seen him through many scrapes, but none as dire as this. He was one of the last, maybe the last. The marshmallow demons had struck fast and hard, and no one had been able to stand in their way. Many had been lost on both sides, but more just kept coming, a seemingly endless tide of sugar coated demons, scouring the world.

The all too familiar sqwak of the marshmallow demons echoed from around the corner, and Julian saw them reflected in the mirrored building opposite. Somehow they didn't appear to notice him in return. He wondered if perhaps something or someone was looking after him. He'd certainly been lucky to last this far.

Raising the pistols to chest height, Julian readied himself to spring out. He watched the reflections of his enemies, horrifically twisted, barely humanoid shapes ambling down the street in virtually every colour imaginable, sugared skin glowing in the purple-green light that the sun cast through the sky.

He put his fears out of his head and jumped, spinning through the air and firing as twirled, striking several of the demons with golden rays of light, burning holes right through their bodies, felling them. His heart almost beat in time to the sound of dead demons dropping to the ground.

Adrenaline forced him onwards, landing in a crouched position as he continued firing. The smell of charred sugar reached his nostrils just before the demons began to react, stretching out their arms and firing coloured rays of their own back at him. He dodged most of them, expertly weaving and ducking between the rays, almost as if he knew which shot was coming next and how to avoid it.

Suddenly, a realisation hit him. This was all so familiar. Somehow, somewhere, he'd done this before, fought this battle before. He already knew that he'd fought so many demons before in this city, but this was more than that. This exact battle had already occurred somewhere.

Julian struggled to work out how he could use that knowledge to his advantage, while still ducking and diving between rainbow coloured rays. He returned fire again, felling more of the marshmallow demons. There were only a few left now. Suddenly, he was filled with a foreboding feeling. He knew how this battle would end, and because of that, he knew he was about to die.

Shaking his head, Julian looked up to find himself standing right in front of the final marshmallow demon, the pistol in one outstretched hand pointed directly at its head. In return, the demon had its arm pointed at his chest. This was it, he was going to die.

Seeing no other way out of the situation, Julian gave a mental shrug and pulled the trigger. A golden ray blasted through the demon's head, exploding it in a shower of blue sugar power. At the same moment, he felt a sickening, twisting feeling in his chest as, with its final breath, assuming the demons did breathe, his opponent released a deadly volley into his chest.

Julian slumped to his knees as the demon opposite did the same. He managed to stay upright though, unlike his fallen opponent. Steadily, he raised a hand to his chest, feeling for a wound, but while his clothes were burned and ragged around the point of impact, and his bones ached, there was no discernable injury.

"No, that's not right. I'm supposed to be dead." Julian muttered to himself, pulling at his burned shirt and looking down for any sign of blood at all. "Why am I not dead?"

"You are," came a powerful, low, echoing voice from above. Julian looked up to see a large lemon looming over him. That felt familiar too, but in a different way somehow.

Julian regarded the lemon cautiously. "How can I be? I'm still right here."

"You are not," the lemon replied, it's eyes looking blankly down at him.

"I'm not? Then just where am I supposed to be? And how can I be alive and dead at the same time?"

"You do not understand," the lemon remarked in emotionless tones, its voice still powerful, but now somehow soft.

"Damn right, I don't understand!" Julian retorted angrily. He watched the lemon for a moment, his angry eyes almost burning into its bright yellow peel. "Are you going to say anything?"

"Beep-beep-beep-beep," the lemon said in a shrill voice, quite different to how it had spoken before.

Julian blinked with surprise. "I'm sorry?"

"Beep-beep-beep-beep," the lemon continued.

Julian shook his head in confusion, blinked, and watched as the scene almost seemed to melt in front of him. Then, tiredly, he reached up one hand and pressed the 'off' button on his alarm clock.

"Next time you interrupt me like that," he snarled at the clock while climbing out of bed, "you're getting thrown out."

**********

It was another cold morning as Julian walked into work. The underground journey had at least been uneventful, although he continued to probe every shadow for any sign of his assailant from the previous night, and felt uncomfortable when anyone came within a couple of feet of him. Of course, this being the rush hour in the middle of the city, he felt uncomfortable virtually every second.

Emerging from the station of Livingstone Street to find rain pouring heavily from the sky didn't help Julian's mood. he silently cursed the loss of his umbrella in the previous evening's skirmish and trudged along the street as his suit quickly started to soak through.

Suddenly, as he walked, a flash of black crossed his version, and Julian found himself covered by an umbrella. His entire body twitched in panic and recoiled, almost sending him backwards to the floor, but he managed to regain his balance in time. The umbrella obligingly followed his stumbling footsteps and kept him covered.

As soon as the immediate crisis of falling over had been resolved, Julian's eyes traced up the arm attached to the umbrella to see the owner. What he saw almost made him tumble over backwards with shock again.

"You!" Julian exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock, belying the battle suddenly being fought inside him over whether to stay or run. The clothes were different, he now wore a suit rather than the ragged jeans and jacket of the previous day, but the rugged features, angular chin, barely shaven appearance and the eyes filled with purpose marked him as the same man from the previous evening.

"I'd expected a warmer welcome for the one who saved your life," the man said, looking and sounding almost disappointed.

"I," Julian tried. "I thought you were dead! Or, was he, that Kershaw person? Did you?" He stumbled over all his words at once, trying to make coherent sense.

"I'm afraid not," the man sighed. "Kershaw is rather good at dodging his fate, so it seems." He paused and grinned. "But then, I can't really complain, I've become rather adept at that too over recent years."

Julian half nodded, feeling a little more comfortable, possibly even somehow safe with this person. He didn't seem threatening. In fact, his eyes were almost playful now, contrasting against the seriousness of the previous night. It reminded him a little of Alice.

"All right," the man smiled. "Quick introduction. I," he gestured to himself with his free hand, "am Nathan." He left a pause for the name to sink in. "And you, my friend, are wet. Come on, let's go."

Nathan placed his free hand on Julian's shoulder and drew him to one side, back away from the underground station, and away from the Brushstroke Productions building. Julian suddenly snapped back to reality, and shook Nathan's hand from his shoulder, snapping around to face him in the middle of the people-filled street, businessmen and women pushing past the pair of them. Nathan did his best to keep Julian covered with the umbrella.

"Wait a second," Julian said, raising a hand. "Just who are you?"

"I told you," Nathan smiled innocently, "I'm Nathan."

"I heard that," Julian snapped. "I mean, what are you doing here, the day after saving my life, trying to lead me off somewhere."

Nathan considered this, looking around at the surrounding buildings. "In all probability," he turned back to Julian and smiled genially, "saving your life again."

"Is that a threat," Julian almost growled.

"Think of it more as advice." Nathan let his smile melt away from his expression and sighed. "Look, I'm certainly not here to kill you. If I had wanted that, I would have let Kershaw finish you off last night. No need for me to be involved. But, trust me, if we don't do this, and do it now, you'll be dead by this time next week."

Julian swallowed a little, and nodded. "Okay, I guess I either take my chances, or go with you." He paused to think for a moment. "What exactly do you want?"

The smile reappeared on Nathan's face. "To keep you alive, and to explain. More than that, I can't say here."

Julian sighed and held up his hands in front of his chest for a moment before letting them sink back to his sides. "All right, you win. But what am I going to do about work? They're expecting me any minute now."

Nathan nodded and chuckled quietly to himself. "Oh, yeah, almost forgot. Don't worry, it's all covered. Just give your office a call on your mobile, and confirm to them that you're travelling north to meet with the owner of Silverline Fisheries, as he requested."

"But Silverline never re-"

"Yes they did," Nathan interrupted. "First thing this morning. Tell your co-workers to check your voicemail; it's on there. Tell them he called you on your mobile afterwards."

"You must be kidding," Julian gave Nathan a look of disbelief. "How could you have-"

"Later," Nathan interrupted. "Just make the call for now, and I promise, I'll answer as many of your questions as I can later."

Julian fished his mobile phone out of his pocket and dialled his office number. He looked at Nathan uncertainly as it rang, and then up at the buildings as he spoke. "Yeah, Alice? It's Julian... Don't worry, I'm fine... Oh, he did? ... Yes, I know, I'm on my way there now. I'll speak to you more later, okay?" Putting the phone away, Julian half-smiled at his new found friend. Or, at least, Julian hoped he would be a friend. Anything was better than being shot at. "Well, I don't know how you managed it, but you did. So, what now?"

Nathan smiled and replaced his hand on Julian's shoulder reassuringly. "First, we get a drink. But I'm not used to this area, know anywhere good?"

Julian allowed himself a grin. "As it happens, I do. This way." With that, the pair walked away down Livingstone Street.

**********

The Angel was, as could be expected at this early time of morning, very quiet. Julian had led Nathan the long way around the block to reduce the chance the pair of them had of accidentally bumping into one of his workmates, and had waited long enough for everyone to be safely at work before he led them to his usual lunchtime haunt.

The bar staff had barely opened up, and the man serving at the bar smiled warmly at his first two customers of the day. Julian thought he had seen him serving at lunchtime on a few occasions.

Nathan ordered a couple of drinks and led Julian over to a table in the very furthest corner of the bar. He seated himself against the wall, placed the two glasses gently on the table, and motioned for Julian to sit opposite. Julian did so, after looking back towards the door hesitantly.

"Don't worry," Nathan smiled. "I'm keeping an eye on it. Here," he pushed one of the glasses across the table to Julian.

"Coke?" Julian ventured.

"It's what you usually order, right?" Nathan grinned. "Go ahead, it's safe."

Julian took a sip and nodded. "Yes, but, well, how would you know that?"

Nathan chuckled and took a drink of something that looked just a little stronger than coke, with a rich golden colour. "Oh, I've been watching you for a little while, Julian. Good thing I have been, too, or your little disagreement with Kershaw might have had a more sombre outcome. I just wanted you to pick somewhere you were comfortable with for us to talk."

"Watching me?" Julian's eyes widened a little. "Why? And I thought you said that you didn't know this area? And what is the story behind that Kershaw guy? Damn it, Nathan, what's going on?"

Nathan laughed quietly and grinned with what Julian was beginning to recognise was his usual playfulness.

"What's so funny?" Julian knew it was a question Nathan wanted to hear, but his curiosity just wouldn't let it lie.

Nathan sighed and smiled warmly, tapping the table in front of him gently a couple of times with amusement. "Because, when I was in your shoes, sat with my back to the door of a bar with some person I'd only just met, I was asking exactly the same questions. Only it wasn't Kershaw back then."

Julian frowned. "Oh? Who was it back then, then?"

"Some guy called Townsend. But that doesn't matter," Nathan paused slightly, his eyes a little distant, as if he was reliving a memory, "he's long dead now."

"Oh. That's reassuring," Julian said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Look, it seems like a lot of what you deal with, whatever it is, involves people getting shot."

"Townsend wasn't shot," Nathan shook his head slightly. Julian wasn't sure he wanted to know more than that.

"What I'm saying, Nathan, is that, before we go into anything, I'm not sure I really want to be involved in any of this." Julian took another sip from his drink and waited for Nathan's response.

Nathan slowly sat back against the padded wall, sinking very slightly into the soft leather. The smile that he had previously worn melted away to leave a sad expression that made Julian all the more uncomfortable. He looked blankly at the table and, when he finally spoke, his voice was low, sad, and filled with regret. "The truth is, I don't think any of us would be involved if we had a choice. But we don't." He raised his head, looking directly at Julian with the same sad expression. "And you don't."

Julian lifted his arms in confusion before letting them drop back to his sides. "Why not? I just walked into someone in the street, why should that get me involved in something that nearly got me killed once, and according to what you've said so far, could still get me killed?"

"It's more than that, Julian." Nathan paused and leaned forwards, folding his arms and resting them on the table. "You felt it when Kershaw bumped into you, didn't you? The nausea? The pain?"

Closing his eyes for a moment, Julian shuddered as he remembered the twisting of all his senses that had occurred when Kershaw had struck him. "Yes, I guess I did."

Nathan allowed himself a wry smile. "No guessing about it. We call it the Shriek. You don't have to be in direct contact to feel it, and it does get a little easier to deal with over time, when you're used to it. I don't envy you, getting your first taste up close and personal like that. It must have been terrible."

"You could say that," Julian nodded. "It's not an experience I want to repeat. But what is it?"

"The opposite of this," Nathan placed his drink on the table and stretched out his right hand towards Julian. "Shake." When Julian hesitated, he added, "Don't worry, it's not going to feel like that did."

Cautiously, Julian reached out his hand, bracing himself in spite of Nathan's promise. He took hold of Nathan's outstretched hand with the intention of shaking, but never quite got that far. As his fingers made contact with Nathan, he felt a warm tingling sensation flow up his arm. Suddenly, it felt as if his whole right side was buzzing with soft, warm energy.

Julian held his hand there for a moment, then drew back, looking at his palm with a bemused expression. "What… was that?"

"That," Nathan began to explain as he withdrew his hand and picked up his drink, pausing to take a mouthful, "was what we call the Calling."

"Wait a second," Julian raised a finger and waved it in the air a little, suddenly grasping hold of an idea. "If that happened just then, why haven't I felt it before when you've been in contact with me?"

Nathan chuckled and nodded, taking another long draught from his glass. "Very sharp. Some of us can control these sensations. It's hard, and you have to concentrate, but it can be done for a little while, though you can't really do too much else while you do. Last night, well, I had to react without concealing myself, but I think you were too overcome by the power of the Shriek when I collided with you. And besides, with the force of the impact, would you have even noticed it as something unusual, or just your head ringing?"

"I suppose you have a point." Julian suddenly realised he had been neglecting his drink. He decided to give it some attention, thinking as he drank. "But just what is it?"

"That's harder to explain. But it's how we can recognise each other. Think of it as two types of energy, both opposed to each other. We contain one type and they contain the other. When the same energies meet, the feeling is pleasant, but if the two different energies meet, the reaction is violent and painful, as you discovered last night, but ultimately, it doesn't do any permanent harm." Nathan paused and let Julian try to absorb what he had said. "Once you know what to look for, you can feel it without being in direct contact. It's not as strong, but it is still there. Can be damned useful sometimes, or it can be annoyingly restrictive, unless you learn to conceal your energy."

Julian quietly considered Nathan's explanation, which led him over the course of several moments and a couple of sips of his coke to the ultimate question. He looked directly as his new friend. "Nathan, just what do you mean by ‘us' and ‘them'? Just what is it that ‘we' are? And who are ‘they'?"

Nathan pursed his lips and blew air between them as he sat back, as if we was considering an almost insurmountable problem. "What are we? Well, that's a big one. We… we're what happens when fate gets bored."

Julian frowned over the table. "That's very melodramatic, Nathan. Care to explain any further?"

"Okay, cards on the table." Nathan placed his hands flat down on the table and looked at Julian, his expression serious, matching the tone of his voice. "If I tell you this, tell you the truth about everything, the first impulse you're going to have will be to stand up and walk out of that door. If you do, you're throwing your life away." Nathan saw Julian open his mouth to speak. "No, don't interrupt, I'll explain it all to you, you have my word. But, the only condition is that, if I do, you promise to me that you stay in that chair and don't walk out on me. Deal?"

Julian felt a rising tide of fear within him, but he fought it down, swallowing hard. He took a large swig of his drink, almost draining the glass. If nothing else, his curiosity wouldn't let it go. Why had he been attacked? Why was he still in danger? What was the deal with the Shriek and the Calling? There were too many questions.

"Deal." It felt almost as if someone else was speaking for him. Julian hoped that he would not regret his decision.

Nathan smiled, almost proudly. "Good. Thank you for your trust, Julian, I hope, by the end of this, that you believe it was well placed. The truth is, you weren't supposed to know this yet. You weren't supposed to even be involved. Not until you Awaken. That's what we are, you see - Awakened. Or you will be, at least. Given your reaction to Kershaw, I'd say you can't be that far off either. It differs for all of us exactly when it happens, that's why I was watching you." "That's probably the best thing to start with. Awakening. It comes to us all in different ways, but it leads to the same end, a realisation of what we are. Or perhaps, more accurately, of what we were."

Julian raised an eyebrow. "What we were?"

"That's right," Nathan nodded. "This is the first leap of real leap of faith for you. Just remember what you promised, okay?" There was a pause as Nathan seemed to try to decide how to phrase his next question. "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

"What?" Julian screwed up his face into a look of confused scepticism. "Well, I guess, maybe. I haven't really spent all that much time thinking about it."

Nathan smiled slightly and nodded. "Well, that reaction could have worse. But believe me, reincarnation is real, at least for us, I don't know about everyone else. As far as we know, we only comprise a tiny part of the population."

"If that's true," Julian ventured, "then what were we before?"

"This is where it gets a little sketchy," Nathan continued to explain, keeping his voice low and out of the range of any of the bar staff, or the other few patrons that had filtered in, each of which Nathan had watched like a hawk, presumably until he was certain they were no threat. "Even after Awakening, we don't recall much of our previous existence. Either the process of reincarnation has an affect on our memories, or we simply aren't allowed to remember. Either way, we don't get much of a picture. From those we have been able to gather, though, we do have some idea of what was happening."

"Wait a moment," Julian interrupted. "Not allowed to remember? Sounds like you're implying some sort of deity here."

"Of sorts, perhaps," Nathan nodded, and followed up with a single word. "Fate."

Julian blinked in surprise. "Fate? You mean, as in destiny?"

"As in destiny."

"You're saying that Fate is a conscious, sentient thing?" Julian waved a hand dismissively. "I don't buy it."

"You don't have to," Nathan sighed and shrugged slightly. "All of us have our own interpretation of what happened to us, you're entitled to yours as much as we are ours. What we believe or don't believe doesn't change our situation, after all."

"So what exactly is our situation?"

"Well, I can tell you the story that we've pieced together, but it's not complete, and I can't guarantee you'll like it." Nathan waited for any objection, but didn't get one, so he continued. "It wasn't Earth, we know that, or at least, we're pretty sure it wasn't. If it was, then it certainly wasn't during recorded history."

"Fate, or whatever you want to call it, drew up a battlefield and called forth two sides to fight. Whether there was meaning to it, or if it was just some twisted whim, we don't know. But these two sides, they were created, as far as we can tell, precisely equal. Precisely equal, and at the same time, precisely opposite. Forces of light and dark, if you will. Of demons and… heroes."

"Demons and heroes?" Julian repeated, his voice still sceptical. "I'm sorry, but this sounds like a fairytale, Nathan."

Nathan frowned for a moment, then a rueful smile melted across his face.. "Yes, yes it does. Just like ‘Little Red Riding Hood' or ‘The Three Little Pigs', when you were young. Only difference is, people didn't kill you over those."

Julian read the slight frustration behind the smile and looked a little apologetic. "I'm sorry, Nathan. You're right, people don't tend to get shot over fairytales. Please, go on."

"Thank you." Nathan nodded, the smile unwavering on his face. Julian wondered if he'd done this before. He guessed probably not. "Now, where was I? Oh, right, heroes and demons."

"How long the war raged for, we don't know. It might have been days, months, years, eons, we simply don't have any reference to tell. There were great powers involved, powers you could only begin to imagine. Technology, magic, a combination of the two, it was glorious, and yet, at the same time, it was terrible. In the end, there was so much death and destruction, the two sides dwindled to nearly nothing, being so equal that it came down to just a few on either side."

Nathan paused, and Julian waited for the next part of the story, but he didn't resume. "And then what?" He asked. "What happened to the few that were left?"

There was a moment of silence, and then Nathan shrugged and sat back. "We don't know. I do remember that my end came before that, when there were still a good number of us left. No-one who has Awakened on our side remembers anything beyond those last few."

Julian nodded slowly, trying to take the story in, his curiosity becoming more and more overactive while his common sense tried to tell him this was all nonsense. But somewhere inside him, somewhere he hadn't known was there before, something clicked. "If you're right, Nathan, then why are we here? And why are we still trying to kill each other? I assume that's what it is, right? The heroes and demons fighting again?"

"Got it in one," Nathan smiled. "You're catching on. As far as we can tell, it was the demons that started fighting again. We don't know what the point of this battle is, why we cannot lie our weapons down and rest now that we have left the battlefield that Fate created for us. But the demons are fighting, hunting us down, and so we have no choice but to return the favour. Right now, our main mission is survival. That's why I was watching you, to protect you until you went through your Awakening. Unfortunately, though, I had to intervene a little early."

Julian thought for a moment and smiled gratefully. "I'm glad you did, Nathan. Thank you. But one thing I'm not clear on still. I was attacked in the middle of a crowd of people, and yet no one seemed to see at first. And even once they had seen, after you saved my life, no one reported it to the police, no one seemed to remember at all. How could that be?"

"This is where it gets a little disconcerting, Julian. But I promised I wouldn't lie to you." Nathan drained the last of his drink and placed the glass firmly on the table. "The truth is, we aren't winning this time around. We're not even holding our own. The demons have somehow managed to get their fingers into everything, businesses, governments, the police, the military; they have ears, eyes and influence everywhere, and they use that power to track us down and cover up events such as the skirmish last night from official records. It gets worse, too. They have been able to access some small level of the power that they had before, which is obviously a massive advantage. To begin with, Kershaw probably used that power to hide you both from passers by. But I was watching you specifically, I knew where you were, and I could see what was happening."

"By contrast," Natahn continued, "we are restricted to what little we can scrape together." Suddenly he grinned, gaining the playful sparkle again. "Actually, it might interest you to know that Silverline Fisheries belongs to one of us. In fact, if you trace back through just about every company you've worked with over the last year or so, you'll trace a line back to Brightwing Limited. That's one of ours. It doesn't do well, doesn't make a lot of money, perfect for keeping it off the demons' radar. We've used it to keep track of you, and a few others, and it allowed us to arrange the time for this little meeting."

Julian felt his jaw drop, and took a moment to recover it. "You mean the entire Silverline project, everything I've worked for, it was all a scam?"

"Well, not exactly. We do need to keep that company ticking over, and marketing is part of that, but we made sure that you had to work with them as long as possible. We don't have an infinite number of little companies to keep track of you with. Actually, I believe Silverline was the last one."

"You've been watching me for over a year?" Julian exclaimed quietly.

"More or less," Nathan nodded, still grinning. "It was actually me who spotted you too. First one of us I ever found. You were on an underground train at the time, I was riding along in the same section and I heard the Calling. Took me a little while to figure out who it was as I passed along the carriage. I'm just glad you didn't get off while I was still searching! After that, well, I followed you home and let the others know."

"Others?" Julian asked, eyes belying his curiosity, which was still rampant within him.

"You'll get to meet them, don't worry. At least, the ones that live near us. We're spread pretty thin." Nathan's expression became slightly excited.

"This is the first time you've had to do this, isn't it?" Julian asked, grinning wryly.

"You can tell?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, afraid so. But you didn't do so badly." Julian sighed. "I'm not sure if I believe you fully, but the fact is that someone tried to shoot me last night, and you made that not happen, so I owe you at least the benefit of the doubt. If what you're saying is true, I should Awaken soon enough and know the truth of what you are saying, right?"

"Hopefully so, Julian." Nathan raised his hands in a half shrug and smiled. "If you're lucky, knowing this may actually speed it up. I've never known of anyone who had to be told before their Awakening before."

"So we're fighting a losing battle against ancient powers of darkness who seem to understand everything we don't, have access to powers we can only dream of, and could potentially have spies anywhere. Plus they're hell bent on wiping us out." Julian sighed worriedly. "Assuming everything you've told me is true, what do we do now, and is there anything you can do to make me more paranoid?"

Nathan reached inside his jacket suddenly looking beyond Julian with a worried expression. He ducked his head down a little and looked up to Julian. "Actually, yes there is. Given that Kershaw just walked in through the door, I suggest that you get ready to run." Slowly, making sure no one was watching, he pulled a small pistol out of his jacket and passed it to Julian. "Take this. It's loaded, you've got four shots. But don't try to take Kershaw, I'll deal with him." Julian looked at Nathan nervously, but accepted the weapon, slipping it as comfortably as he could inside his jacket as he could. "Go home; with any luck they haven't figured out where that is yet. Try to relax, and I'll find you later."

"What about-" Julian started.

"No time, he's seen us. Go, NOW!" Nathan shouted at the same time as he threw the table to one side, sending both his and Julian's glasses flying, smashing to the floor as he pulled out his own weapon and aimed at Kershaw, who was walking directly towards the table and pulling out his own weapon.

To Julian, everything almost seemed to occur in slow motion, as it had the previous night. As he dashed to one side, trying to get clear of the firefight that was about to ensue, he knew that his life had changed forever. Awakened or not, he was part of something now, something big, and assuming he survived the next five minutes, he was going to have to deal with that. But for now, he did the only thing he knew how. He ran.