The brisk winter winds tore through Xander's thin hoodie, making his skin ache as he walked to his job. He didn't hate it, his job, but he wasn't too fond of it. It paid the bills and that was about it... well his coworkers were nice, so there was that.

As he started walking on the bridge by his home, he passed the college grounds he lived right nearby, causing a much deeper ache than cold skin to hit him.

'Wish things could have turned out better, but I guess that's just not in the cards.' He could scarcely mask his bitterness, looking at the college, his own failure to finish school due to not having enough funds and signing the wrong papers giving him decent sized debt. 'Why must everything suck? School shouldn't be the end all be all.'

That was when the car hit him, striking him with sharp force, sending him flying away, off of the bridge and into the waters below. Shock and frigid cold overtook him, the taste of blood in his mouth only made it worse.

'Was this all I get? Twenty three short, miserable years... is that it?' And then, slowly, the world faded away, leaving him in a deep, dark place, falling further and further away from himself and the world.

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'My son... my son.... WAKE UP!'

He jolted to it, as a woman's voice shattered the shadows around him. Potent in her command, his very soul obeyed her. His eyes snapped open, but could barely take in what he was seeing. "The stars... are never that clear, or that many. There's too much light pollution in Rochester!" He saw everything, The MilkyWay, the Summer Trianlge, Ursa Major and Minor. All of it, as well as odd colors and shapes that made the Night up. "Wait, how is it night, I just fell in the water and why the heck am I not sore?"

Sitting up, he saw that he was dressed in what looked like a tunic, made of a grayish material. He was even wearing ancient looking sandals, nothing seemed right here.

"Where am I?" He looked around and found that he was on a hill, facing a small village, complete with something marble looking like a shrine. There were people milling about, torches lit in an archaic way. "I need answers, maybe they have it... guess the only thing I can do is walk?" Standing, he felt a slight dull ache in his left side, where the car hit him but that was it. Under his tunic, he was slightly bruised, but that was it. "Well, that could be worse... off I go, I guess."

And he hurried along, though hesitantly, as he made his way to small village, hoping for answers one way or another.