The young boy found himself in a vast expanse of what could only be 
called...  nothing.  A great void, where he stood (floated?) he saw nothing 
but blackness.  But dispite the compleat emptiness his surroundings, he 
looked about with wonderment.

	"Where am I?"  The young boy asked, not expecting an answer, it seemed a 
question of reflex.

	The boy felt somthing in his surroundings change, he couldn't put his 
finger on what.  But The voice behind him told him all he needed to know.  
He turned.

	"You are in my realm.  A little pocket of my own creation, outside of time 
and space."  The man before him replied.

	The boy stepped (drifted?) back a pace, looking at the one before him.  The 
man was naked, his only posession a sword, kept in a black metallic sheath, 
of what was definatly chinese in design, and placed for modesty's sake in 
front of him.  The rest of him was very very pale, the colour of a person 
who has spent absolutly no time in the sun if it could be helped.  The boy 
looked into the man's face, fine cheekbones, slightly hollow cheeks, thin 
lips and eyes the seemed too hard, to sad.  "Who are you?"  The boy asked, 
trying to hide the quiver in his words.

	"My name is Daeore Dermegil.  Exiled here in the year of 2000, by my own 
doing."  He replied, then asked, "And you?  Who are you, to have come here 
to this place?"

	"I'm Tommas, Tommas Minsuke."  The boy managed before a moment's faulter 
under those hardend steel grey eyes.  "M...  My sister and I were trying 
somthing...  And there was a flash of light and sombody yelling and then..." 
  Tommas's voice failed again, as he tried to remeber the prosession of 
events that brought him to this near empty place.

	"Hmm...  Aspiring young mage perhaps?  You sound alot like I did, once."  
Daeore's eyes softened a little as he looked at the boy.  Very young, 
perhaps twelve, short, dressed in rugged looking grey jeans and an equally 
robust looking white shirt, both showing the scuff marks one would expect a 
twelve year old to collect.  His face was round, slight almond shaped eyes, 
like his own, and a haphazzardly arranged mop of black hair.

	"Mage?"  Tommas asked, his brown eyes curious.  "You mean like a wizard who 
uses magic to fight monsters and stuff?"  The quiver in the young boys tone 
was gone now, replaced with the eagerness one has when they want to be told 
a story.

	"Close.  Not all mages fight monsters.  Some like to study, to find out why 
things do what they do.  Like a scientist.  Some use there tricks to make 
themselves wealthy, or to gather influence among the normal people. "  
Daeore sighed quietly.  "But it isnt a fun as it sounds.  At times, the mage 
has to make hard choices."

	Tommas sat (fell?) and looked up at the man, "You sound like you speak from 
experience."

	"Long ago, I was killed because of my power."  A pause, "For I was a very 
powerful man indeed.  I could make metal melt with a look, or freeze the 
hottest things solid.  But it wasnt because I was destructive.  It was 
because I had tried to make somthing happen.  I was too curious."

	"All my teachers say that being curious is natural."  Tommas said, looking 
at the mage as if he had grown a second head.  "And you cant be dead!"

	"Let me explain..."  Daeore sat as well, placing the sword across his 
knees.  "In the year 2000, I discovered somthing magical.  Not an object, 
but an event.  I had discovered nine people who were tied together, like 
destiny, or Fate."  he paused to let this sink in, "This drew attention to 
me...  Deadly attention.  Being a creature of curiousity, I didn't care.  
So, I continued to look into this 'event'.  Now, I wasn't blind to the 
danger, so I planned ahead."

	"Planned ahead?  What did you do?"  Tommas interupted, his eyes filled with 
curiosity at this story.

	"I left behind a note, so if I did die, my love, whom the note was for, 
would carry on."  Daeore sighed with the memory of his love, but shook the 
vison away before it drew him in to far.  "I was in fact killed, but, as 
'they' held my spirit my love continued my quest."

	"Putting the bits of the puzzle together, she had triumphed where I had 
faultered.  This 'destiny' was fulfilled, and a great power was unleashed."  
Daeore paused to take in a breath, "I was no longer bound by 'them', and was 
free to gather that power, and bend it to my will."

	"So you made yourself alive again?"  The boy asked quietly, "But wouldn't 
'they' just kill you again?"

	"If not them, then somthing else would."  The mage sighed heavily, "But, 
somthing else happend when I returned to the world, alive again.  A second 
wave of energy, was let loose.  A paradox like the first.  A predestined 
'Fate' had been pre-empted, and I was alive, when I should not have been."  
he smiled slightly, though it looked unnatural on his face, "I was able to 
use this power as well...  But for somthing else."  Another pause as he 
gathered his words and blinked away a tear, "I knew that if I was killed 
again, there would be no return from where 'they' would put me.  So, I used 
the power from the two paradox events, and made them forget."

	"Forget?  Everyone?"  The boy was puzzled.

	"Yes.  Not only did the universe forget who the great mage Daeore Dermegil 
was, but everything that could ever have a chance of being traced to my 
existance was erased.  Only a few unremarkable objects and a few unsolveable 
mysteries remained."  Finally, the denighed tear did fall, sliding down the 
mage's cheek slowly.  "Even my love.  I erased my existance from her mind, 
and sealed my power in her earings...  Her favorite ones."

	"You sealed your power?  You mean you locked it away?"  Daeore could almost 
see a little lightbulb over the child's head.

	"Yes.  As I was when I found I could first use the arcane.  I have all the 
skill I used to, but none of the capacity.  A power plant operating on a 
single chunk of coal."  the Mage shrugged.  "It was intentional, this 
weakend state.  I will draw less attention this way."

	The boy smiled.  "So the bad guys who killed you won't find you when you go 
back?"  then Tommas paused and looked thoughtful.  "How are you going to get 
back?"

	"Now that you have awakend me from my thoughts...  I can return at any 
time."  A pause, as Daeore reguarded the boy thoughtfully.  "Would you like 
to help?"

	The boy's eyes widened with surprise.  "Uh huh!  Sure.  But how?"

	The mage stood, his right hand weaving a small pattern in the air.  "Close 
your eyes and think of a familiar place.  Your home, or back yard, mayhaps 
the place you vanished from."  He closed his hand into a fist, and with a 
ruffle of cloth, he was clothed.  A simple black pair of pants, a black 
button up shirt, and a plain brown belt.  The boy had already closed his 
eyes, which were scrunched up in concentration as the mage belted his sword 
to his left side.  "Ready?"

	The boy nodded as Daeore placed his hand lightly on his shoulder.  "Good.  
Then open your eyes, for we have arrived."



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