Izhmayel sat and stared intensely at the Gate. The sun was starting to set and the colors it cast over the sky made everything look strangely vibrant. Massive stone slabs were arranged in a circle in front of him and in the middle of it was a huge post and lentil. The stone slabs of the gigantic gate cast long shadows on the dark green grass that surrounded it. "Hopefully, this one will be an easy one. No Shadows, no crazy battles..." Izhmayel sighed. He never thought he'd be fighting in a large scale battle like the one he'd fought in the other day; both dark and light beings fighting for control, their never ending war. He thought he'd seen the last of that kind of fighting when he severed his old ties. He shook his head. Nope, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He heard a soft footstep off to his left and quickly turned to the sound with his guard up. Another traveler, it looked like, or to be more precise, another possible Keeper. "Yeh'll have teh wait yer turn, next one's mine," Izhmayel said, as he watched the newcomer come to a stop next to the gate.

The man that had just walked up made an 'after you' gesture, but said nothing then stood there patiently for the gate to open. He had a dark blue cloak on with its hood pulled up over his head and a mask that covered his mouth, so that most of his face was hidden. Only his eyes were visible, which Izhmayel noted were a crazy assortment of blues.

Purplish magenta glowing runes started to etch their way slowly across the gray stone slabs of the gate, signaling that it was time. The air in between the doorway began to shimmer and distorted the view of the empty grass field behind it. A mass of light in the shape of a human formed in between the two posts. The form solidified, continuing to give off an intense glow, and then suddenly it cracked. Hundreds and thousands of little lines etched their way all across the figure then burst into a colorful sparkling mist. And in the middle of the mist was a young woman.

"Oh, hell no!" Izhmayel exclaimed then pointed to the cloaked man. "You can take this one!"

The man made another 'after you' gesture.

"No, no, it's alright...this one's a bit more than I asked for, actually a LOT more than I asked for...An' besides..." Izhmayel looked over towards the girl. "I guided her the other day."

The man gave Izhmayel a cold hard stare which chilled him to the bone. There was something pure and deadly about his gaze, almost like the white hot wrath of an avenging angel, that made Izhmayel jump into action.

"FINE! Alright, I'll take her..." Izhmayel walked up to the young lady, her hazel eyes were glazed over and her movements were sluggish. "So, we meet again, Miss Walker."

Lin slowly turned her head towards Izhmayel's voice.

"Where does thou want teh tread today?" Izhmayel asked and took Lin's arm then guided her out from under the gate.

"North."

Izhmayel smiled. "Alright then, north it is. No Collectors this time, that's a good sign...let's hope you won't actually turn to be a Walker this ti–"

"To the Orphan Village."

Izhmayel froze, how did she know about the village? Her kind shouldn't know anything about this world unless they've traveled the same path more than once, which rarely ever happens. Sure they may travel similar paths, sometimes they crossed paths with one they had previously travelled, even traveled a bit on a path they had been on before, but that still wouldn't make them knowledgeable about the land; or, at least, he didn't think so. "You've traveled this path before, then?" Izhmayel asked when they started walking down a dirt road.

Lin shook her head. "No...there are lots...lost wandering... gathering... shadows..."

"Uh, yeh sure ya wanna go that way? It sounds like trouble." Izhmayel stopped and suddenly turned around. "An' speakin' of trouble, yer gonna be in all kinds o' it if ya don't tell me why yer followin' us!"

"I thought I might be of some assistance," the cloaked man replied.

"An' why would we want yer assistance?" Izhmayel asked narrowing his eyes.

"She is right. A darkness grows around that village...you will need help getting there."

"How do ya know?"

"Because, I was there a few days ago."