Whistling as it travels across the air, the breeze drives in a path generally straight colliding into a tree, powerful enough to cause the leaves to all begin rustling, the branches to wave and bend to the breeze’s will. Many of the leaves do still hang on to their branches, for while the breeze is strong it isn’t necessarily dangerous especially to a structure as solid, only bending to absorb the breeze’s force but nowhere close to faltering.

At the other end of the tree there is one leaf however that does not cling strong enough, for once the breeze floods in the leaf snaps off of its branch and is picked up into the current, pulled from its home onto a course out of its control, off into the air alone to travel far from its tree, off into the distance as nearby stands the figure facing the mighty green mountains in the forestrous region, the figure’s chainmail-like black cape waving in that very breeze same with its longish black hair perpendicular to the figure’s orientation.

Ahead there are a handful of mountains as the area has sierras and ranges, although in the very center of the figure’s attention there is one that stands well above all, a mountain that supersedes its neighbors by magnitudes and stands high up to the clouds, as while all other mountains have green tops mostly smooth like hills, this one has a white top with tall rocky cliffs as the only Peak to reach the heavens. Of course many of them are indeed tall in their own right, including the one the figure rests on as it stands by a cliff high above the distant ground where the trees below are only small textures, with some other mountains shorter than the lookout and others besides the greatest being taller.

There is no visible end of the forest that seems to cover just about every area of the region other than the snowy extremes of the peak, as while the area of the recluse mansions was definitely rural this area has no visible signs of civilization at all, instead appearing completely untouched by man. The view of the forest is further beautified by the sunset sunlight as the day grows to its end, as behind the giant peak stands the cyan supersun gradually descending, as though penetrated by the snowy peak violently and slowly being wounded ever more as it falls down its blade. It only more fits with the lack of refinement in the sun’s circular shape as instead it bleeds unboundedly, blending the blue sky with its own tones, tones that emit a powerfully radiant cyan over the landscape that casts a dark shadow over the figure. The light pushes through the sparse and scattered clouds over the forest, no rain spared for the day.

As the figure watches the sun descend deeper into the colossal peak, the roars of the winds and breezes from such high altitude still rustling the leaves is mixed in with distant hums that do not appear natural, hums that gradually louden from behind, although is not paid any attention to by the figure.

On the other side of the lookout are many more mountains as the range expands in seemingly all directions, tall mountains interspersed with hills, all of them sprinkled heavily with trees that wave and rustle. With the lowering of the supersun, the cyan light starts to get pulled away from the sky and towards the horizon, darkening the heavens which begins to reveal dim dots above, although amongst the dots there is one significantly brighter, oddly rather than being white it’s instead blue. That dot also appears to be moving towards, getting gradually larger at the very least from the perspective on the lookout, and as it grows larger the hum coming from its direction gets louder.

An intense gust of wind passes with the breeze, more wildly pushing against the silky black hairs on the head, a few individual strands poking out from the chaotic weather although doing its best to stay tidy. The head does not turn even with the hum’s volume increase not showing any signs of deceleration, as instead its focus is planted on the mountain ahead and nothing else.

Sure the fields housing the estates were vast, but the mountain range is tremendously megalithic so much that from afar the figure is hardly visible other than being a black dot at the edge of the cliff of one of the shorter mountains, the cliff facing the direction of the drastically taller other mountain whose white peaks reach the clouds as it divides the sunlight in half. On the far other side the blue light travels with its hum mixed in with the current, moving past other mountains and hills in the direction of the peak.

Although it begins to descend early on in a first change of direction, for in fact its angling tells not of attempting a landing at the peak but instead at the lookout where the black dot resides. The cliff itself has a small portion of land without trees, allowing the dot to be better perceived, but not far behind it is where the tall green poles begin to cover the rest of the mountain as it does the majority of the lands.

Wind pushes even the small pebbles and rocks on the ground, pulling them into the current as they knock into each other and into the heel of the black boot, slightly dusting them before continuing past without as good of foundation, swept off and away as from above slowly descends the black SUV-styled pod, moving towards the end of the cliff where the trees begin, parking in a spot not exactly ideal especially for a vehicle of this size. The hum is at the closest which makes it louder than ever at first, although it gradually quiets down as the vehicle moves towards rest. Despite a cautious lowering it does manage to find its footing just off of the ground, making an adequate landing about a foot off the surface where it pauses its drop, suspending in air and remaining still for a few more seconds, the hum also finally reaching a volume low enough that it can be overwhelmed by the breeze. Coincidentally, the intense gust passes seconds after, not as violently pushing rocks and rustling leaves.

It isn’t very long until two parts of the wall where the doors would be positioned suddenly dissolve into miniscule particles which freely float away before dispersing into nothingness, a final whoosh that reveals immediately two passengers with a third one past the one in the back.

The first passenger to exit the vehicle is the one at the front, the middle aged European woman with short amber hair dressed in the black blazer and leggings, slowly and gently pulling herself out of the seat and making ground on the rocky cliff. After standing up she glances at the other door where out pokes the other woman although with an appearance of a young Japanese adult with long pink hair dressed in a casual white and pink oversized hoodie. She hesitantly lifts herself out of the pod too and onto the ground, stepping to the side to allow the visibility of the other passenger, the eldest of them all by presence with no hair at all, dressed in the brown overcoat over the black jumpsuit. The man scoots over to the other side before slipping out of the pod at last, revealing no more passengers inside as the three just stand side by side, facing the figure.

Together the three allies stand in front of the black security pod, facing the cliff where the figure in the black cape stands, that cape as well as its hair gliding in the wind with just a glimpse of the azure suit visible underneath the golden pauldrons, a few dim streaks wrapped around the back. The figure still faces the other way however, towards the tallest peak of the mountains, the one that continues slicing the setting sunlight further as it falls deeper into the wider base.

Now all three of them outside, the breeze impacts them too with the ruffling of their clothing, namely the large overcoat, but more intensely it pushes against the hairs both being the amber bangs and the long pink strands. Yet even standing against the repulsing current the three don’t sway contact from the figure, waiting in silence as they had already made their presence known and now just had to wait for the reaction.

Facing the peak as the sunset draws closer to its end, the figure does not turn its head, but it speaks in a voice exactly to the one on the moon, a familiar but deepened voice that reflects, “They’re all gone…I was too late and now they’re gone…and now here I am…where am I? Why is the day earlier? Why is my house gone? Why…,” the figure lowers its head before continuing, “why is my body different…why am I different…?”

Silently the three allies stare with somber faces as the man states in a tone becoming more confused and disoriented, “This day has been going on for the length of two, in the morning we were exterminating that strange ‘Angel’ aberration and now…I don’t know what’s happening...Orial doesn’t even recognize me despite having been connected all day…but I don’t recognize myself either.”

Head still low, the man glances down towards his right hand before raising it up to face the peak yet again as the sunset continues, now the vast majority of the supersun obscured by the mountains, only scant rays of cyan left shimmering between mountaintops.

“No, I know who I am, I’m the final member of The Shield, and I still have a duty to continue their work…even as the sole member. Then again, that is simply a return to norm, I’ve fought alone for factors more years than I have with them, and in the end I suppose this was never meant to last…so I should be content with how long it did. But I’m a solo hero, that’s who I am, being alone is my nature. It’s who I am. So I suppose ultimately…nothing did change…did it?” forlornly analyzes the man, his voice just barely above a whisper over the wind as at last the supersun vanishes beneath the mountains, now receding its light from the sky that transforms into the black night, a twilight left above, the glow only at the very edge.

Still the breeze remains, for at night it would only grow colder. The current flows through the long black strands of thick hair, waving behind the face that hasn’t changed direction, the glint on the golden pauldrons dulling with the lack of lighting to take advantage of the metallic texture. The only source of light is from the frosty crystal on the shoulder blade in the shape of the pencil, although the crystal is currently dim as hardly any power is parsed into it. Below the upper arm encased by the dull pauldron on the side is the black gauntlet which is only darker, for the best source of illumination left would be the blue streaks coursing around the body, which is at the very least detectable, albeit in faint hues before his chest and behind his back, those too dim.

Waving behind the man below the hair is the cape with the resting hood, gliding though made as light as feathers, although the man’s feet are planted stiff with no wavering like a large stone. The upper body then slightly puffs for the exertion of a deep breath, followed with the lowering of his head and the lugubrious acceptance: “I will remain who I am…or who I believe I am…and will keep moving forward myself…that’s the only right thing to do…. That is the only right thing for me to do,” as the numbing breeze is mixed in with the growing sound of rapid footsteps. At the same time amidst the twilight sky the dots brighten, sparkles in the sky as the recession of light allows for a greater exhibit of the stars, and without many white clouds in the sky it helps to view the purple and blue ones across the black ceiling.

The man curiously perks his head up, but not before a force knocks him from behind, nearly causing him to stumble forwards but before he could make a reaction he suddenly feels a pair of arms wrap around his torso in an embrace, and a body press against his back. Meditat’s azure eyes widen in an immediate reaction, his mouth opening from the sudden action but he’s interrupted by a desperate voice familiar and yet different, deeper perhaps but more so matured by a desensitization complementary of age: “You’re wrong, Meditat!”

Behind Meditat’s body clings Dana, her formal tailored blazer’s black sleeved arms tightly wrapped around his suit’s protective fibers and her head pressed by his nape, her hair flowing in the same direction as she speaks in an almost beg bordering on sobs: “You’re not alone, you’re not going to be alone! I’m right here, we’re right here! And we’re going to be here for you!”

Shocked just as much by the action they didn’t even notice the priming for, both Kokei and Ekitai glance in between each other before returning back to the two in front of them at the cliff’s edge while the twilight remains just over the peak.

After the immediate jolt, Meditat’s gaping mouth wavers slightly in challenge to find the right words, but instead grit together in defensive reaction to the flood of exactly what he’d want to say, his mouth still wavering before he’s finally able to open it again.

Still embraced by the arms that wrap all around him, as he’s not too much taller than her, Meditat lowers his head as his face begins to shift from a melancholy to a much more emotionally driven misery, almost on the verge of tears as he shakes his head.

In a voice challenged in coherency, stammering on words in a raw speech with a tone reflective of such sorrow, his first words become: “I lost all of them-…I-…I couldn’t even get to them before it was too late-…I left them alone and they-…they were worried about me…they were worried about me…they worried about me and I didn’t worry about them…I just left them alone to-…to die! I abandoned my friends…and now they’re gone and I-…I don’t recognize anybody here…I don’t know who they are…I don’t-…I don’t know if I know who you are….”

Holding him from behind, Dana stares off to the side with teary green eyes, having difficulty holding herself together too, but able to stammer out at the very least: “Well…can you at least tell me this…: Are you Meditat?”

Instantly opening his mouth to respond before pausing himself out of hesitancy, Meditat freezes for a moment before then more quietly answering in reluctance, “I think so…but I…I’m not sure anymore….”

Like a dome covering over the forest the black sky looms over decorated with long and beautiful nebulas that add color of mystical blues amongst the shimmering bright white stars, dots but much smaller than the whitish gray dot of the Moon whose craters and mountains can be seen from down on the ground.

Below the dome is the landscape, the forest stretching all the way past the horizon in every direction or at least with ends hidden by the many hills and mountains painted on the land, mountains such as the enormous white peaked one ahead, and even mountains such as the one whose cliff is being stood on.

Two of those standing on it specifically by the edge are Meditat and Dana, both appearing to be about the same age with at least insufficient disparities, the latter of whom rests against the former with her arms wrapped around him in an embrace, the former just continuing to stare off ahead with eyes that also shimmer, rays from his pupils in his irises like the stars above him.

Behind them by the lowly hovering black SUV pod stand Ekitai and Kokei, both watching the same twilight and the two before them, waiting while standing side by side in front of the many tall green trees that cover the rest of the mountain, the same trees all across the landscape making the only visible grass being the ones by the border.

Only so much could Dana hold herself before tears start rolling out of her eyes and down her cheeks, but through it she manages to push out a gentle smile before soothing, “Well, I’m Dana, and I’m a close friend of Meditat. And those two back there are my friends, and they want to be his friends too if he’ll let them.”

Without the filter that would help him maintain more formality in his terminology or at the very least the presentation of his speech, Meditat just mutters back still downcast albeit not resistant, “But…I know I haven’t been visiting you lately at least as much as I should have and I’m sorry for it but…why do you look so different…why did you change so much…?”

A slight smirk creeps on Dana’s face although one in sincerity before she jests softly, “What, are you saying I look old?”

Caught in a state almost in stream of consciousness, Meditat flusters in immediate fear and stammers, “Wait no- that’s not what I-,”

“I know, I just had to say it,” assures Dana with the smirk becoming more of a genuine smile, and she follows more soberly, “I wish I could answer all your questions…I wish I knew the answer to all your questions…but I don’t know what’s going on either. All I know is that you’re here right now, and that’s where I’m going to be. And we can work the rest out together…so please…just stay with us…for all of us….”

Meditat continues to gaze up at the same sight as before with those starry eyes, his lips parted, as the twilight ever so gradually recoils, the final closing of the day.

In his gaze are the mountains and hills ahead, covered in trees like those behind him, many of them not even discernible from grass, especially with the lack of light albeit for the slight notice in height from the nearby slopes. Straight ahead is the one mountain not fully covered in trees, for at the top the slopes are too steep for vegetation, and at the very peak there is a cap of frost, a mountain that for nearly everybody may be majestic but otherwise is an ordinary natural asset in an isolated forestland.

However, for a number only of a single digit, that mountain was not only a sight, but a home, a home of friends, no, a family.

Now, only one member of that family remains standing, for gone was the rest of his, long gone with bodies likely decayed.

Yet that one member wouldn’t be entirely alone either, for while the family he had been accustomed to was gone, another had come with the offer of their presence.

Another who offered to spare him of his isolation.

Yet in truth, doing so spared them too.

For they had also lost their family just that day.