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It is truly amazing the extents to which the human body can push itself. It can withstand a thousand pains with indomitable spirit. It can stave off death just long enough to survive one final task. It can even expand its heart to care and love when such emotions seem all but impossible.

Or, tuned into the feel of wind blowing past ones skin and over their hair, it can tune out a thousand noises to focus on nothing and everything all at once.

While the gentle breeze passed over a decimated garden in a severely damaged windmill, Maximos sat gently atop the red adobe style tiles, legs folded, and his hands gently placed on either knee. He wore a simple black pant and shirt, his feet bare. The smooth silk like material blew effortlessly int he wind. His eyes were sealed shut, and despite the heavy construction going on below, his senses ventured elsewhere. He could feel the spirits within him, and without, and for the moment his consciousness was with them.

It is such impossible darkness that calls a soul so deeply steeped in the ichor of shadow. A soul bridging the twilight between life and death. Those silent tears heard miles away and yet as close and as loud as can be.

This man was no hero, the dark it was....enticing, if not downright intoxicating. And yet it was also saddening and depressing. He could honestly not tell if this was something deep within himself lost...or someone so far outside themselves they were just as lost.

The pain, the black, the size and scale of it all was too much for the simple island boy to grasp or take in. He could not place himself there, he could not place his body in a place outside of pace. But he could speak...and speak is what he did.

A voice echoing gently in the dark, kind, yet cautious. These tears touched him deep, and moved him beyond the norm of conventional conversation. Who or why this person was didnt matter, only this pain. And an old heroes need to ease it. He spoke a sentence, barely audible, as it seemed to echo down a long dark hall and arrive as barely more than a whisper...but it would arrive. Coated in sympathy, and carried by sincerity.

Why are you crying?

Oh!

The voice seemed startled as she was startled. It seemed the perfect moment for the figure to jump back, but there was no figure, just a voice with no body. And yet as she recognized the voice, it seemed to grow that much closer. That much more defined.

I didnt mean to scare you...

The voice called out from a distance a bit closer than before. Outside, an eyebrow quirked on a very concerned looking face perched atop a windmill.

...its just me.

He concluded his sentence with. An odd answer, though in a place like this odd had very little meaning. There was a hesitation, a pause, as if the voice was in the middle of a sentence, but didnt exactly know how to finish it. The pause lasted just long to be noticed, but he seemed to gather himself quickly.

...Are you ok?

Progress!

She had accepted the definitive presence of a "You", in order or her to except a you, she had to accept a me. And if she was accepting herself and other people, well....it was all very confusing from there. The voice had seemingly gotten very close possibly even in the same room as her.

Who is...you?

It seemed to ponder on that thought for a while, not a long while, just a few seconds. Before it popped an answer.

Thats a good question too I suppose...but....

The point of it all being, that in accepting that he was there...he was there.

And literally, he was....or at least partially. Before her and upside down, though it was hard to tell, appeared two eyes. One black, one white, coming straight out of the dark as if it was face. Though there was no face.

I think, more important than who, is what...

Sadly Maximos wasnt very good at projecting his visage in places...but as the words formed, so did a mouth, just above the eyes, also upside down. Its white teeth, forming a perfectly friendly smile in mid air.

Such as, what wrong?

Safe?

The voice said in a curious tone. It slowly shifted back away from the woman, further into the black, though oddly it seemed more as if it was shifting back into a bright light behind it. As it moved back, more of it became visible in the black, until a dark silhouette of a man standing upside down could be seen. There was no detail, just the dark outline, peeking through the void.

Here, I cant hurt you.

Slowly the figure began to shift, turning clockwise, until it was almost completely horizontal, as if gravity was shifting just from him as he spoke.

And here, you cant hurt me.

His feet finally seemed to be resting on what should be the floor.

But if I leave...how will I ever know what makes you cry?

He had to be careful, there was a familiarity to this woman. Maybe it was her face, or her eyes, her voice? Something about her seemed to itch a part of his brain he couldnt reach. And for that reason he had to be cautious. What if this woman knew him from Aria? What if to her, he was only The Destroyer...

And so despite being instructed to leave. The eyes and mouth, attached to the non-descript outline of a person took a step forward, and took a seat directly in front of her. An innocent smile spread across his lips, something that seemed to beam forth boundless innocence, but more importantly hope.

His desire to remain hidden held not a candle to her desire to know who her visitor was. He would be compelled he knew it, and with his face revealed his name would follow and what reputation may follow that.

Gently his eyes shut, taking in a slow deep breath. In this place, thought was reality, desire forged space and time. But he could resist just a moment longer. He would answer her, but that question would be saved for last. The breath was slowly released as his eyes opened, the smile returning to his nondescript face.

You called me...

He knew the science, as years pour on souls infuse with more and more energy. After a very many years, even the smallest sample can be extremely potent. She felt incomplete, she felt as nothing, and so the missing piece he had borrowed obeyed the call. Though that didnt answer "who", she was.

But that was the easy question. He wasnt sure how to answer this only that he had to.

The visage of a candle appeared betwixt the two of them. Its light was gentle at first. With each passing flicker of the candle's flame, the light grew a bit brighter, a bit more revealing. It revealed his bare feet, his silky black pants, and loose black shirt.

I...

He didnt have the fluid words. The light gently cast upon his pale hands.

I'm...

There was a moment of silence as the light touched his chin and he pulled back, to hide his face for a moment longer. And then the words came to him, something of an epiphany. His oldest, dearest answer. He leaned forward, while sitting he performed as much of a bow as he could. His eyes to the floor, in the most formal of bows.

I am but a humble shadow.

He rose, his eyes meeting the ladies as his navy blue hair was revealed, his black and white eyes no longer dis-attached, but a smile still pursed on his face.

My name is Maximos, and I do not believe we have had the pleasure of being formally met.

Understandable, it wasnt an exact science this sort of thing can be really confusing some times. He smiled, and tried his best to begin an explanation.

Well not exactly like tha--

"No! NO! NO! Please! Go away! I don't want to be seen. I DON'T WANT TO EXIST!--"

His sentence was stopped cold, an outburst like that, it was so sudden. It wasnt the way she said it but rather, what she said. It was so surprising, so starling.

He just barely caught glimpse of the tail whiplashing through the void. Driven by instinct he reached his hands out to try and grab the candle catching it just before it hit the ground. He looked up trying to see what caused such a thing, silently hoping it wasnt his introduction.

"UUUHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGNNNN!!"

While most would jump away from a screaming stranger, Maximos jumped forward bringing the candle with him him. He could not stop her scream, but he most certainly would not abandon her during it. When finally her breath gave way, he would speak gently, calmly. His tone as sincere as the warm features on his face.

Why...?

He begged, his tone mourning the loss of someone he barely knew.

What could hurt you so badly as to make you wish not to be?

He took a deep breath. Imagination just as vivid as reality. And though his body stood perched on the windmill roof, he could feel each breath sting and singe as his mouth almost instantly dried. His lips parched, he would dripped sweat had it not been dried in the same unbearable heat.

It hurt, it burned like hellfire, but not even a fraction as bad as she hurt inside. He would not turn away or entertain the thought of abandoning her for even a second.

She had asked such a simple question, there wasnt a doubt or hesitation in his mind as he answered.

Why would I?