Prologue
Present Day- The wilds of England
The blue of the lake never changed, despite the passing of the seasons, months, years, centuries. At first, the lake seemed to be shrouded in a mist when seen from far away, but as a person approached, its true brilliance started come out until the breath literally seemed to go out of a person. At first glance, after coming out of the grim darkness of the forest which led to the lake, it would hurt the eyes because of its brightness. The water reflected the sun in such a way that it seemed to sparkle off it, at first blinding the person. It had stayed the vibrant green blue that it had been the first time the old man had passed through the area, when he was still young and optimist about the world and its future. Of course, it had been many years since then, and the old man was tired. He had lost his sense of optimism after seeing all his friends, everyone he had ever held dear, die one after another, and had lost his hope in the years waiting for his turn to join them. The lake, in a way, was an object of grief for him, because here he had said goodbye to each of them and here they all lay, waiting for him to join them in eternal sleep. But he could not. He had watched as the world around him aged, fell, and was reborn anew many times, and yet he had not aged a day from the first time he had walked by it as a young man leaving home for the big city. Of course, now that the world had started keeping track of its citizens, through pictures, videos, and IDs, he found his old disguise of the old man a lot easier than his actual form. It had become almost a second skin, the ache in his bones, the dimness in his vision, his impaired hearing, and maintaining the spell was almost of no cost to him anymore. People were a lot less suspicious of a harmless old man than a youth with a goofy grin and gangly limbs, and most importantly, it helped him fade into the background. Today, however, that ability to fade into the background had almost cost him his life as a speeding truck had narrowly missed him. Of course, it wouldn't have killed him but explaining why he had survived a full on collision to the group of boys playing football on the other side of the road would have been difficult. Remembering the frank openness of the boy that asked him if he was okay after the encounter and the playful banter that the boys had engaged in had brought back memories of young men, banter, cheerfulness, and a sense of belonging that the old man had been missing for far longer than he cared to remember. But then, it was his destiny to wait, to watch, and be ready for any sign of the return of his king. If he had known as a young man, when he had first heard of his destiny, that this is what it would have entailed, lifetimes of waiting, would he have gone through with it? Probably not, as he was tired now, tired of the unexpected burden of watching the world grow old, of watching everyone die, of the grief for those long gone days that never seemed to abate. But then, his name probably should have clued him, even when he did not know its true meaning as he did now. He was Emrys, the immortal.
Present Day (A week later) - Washington State
Eleanor finished the book, and huffed in disappointment. Yet another ending that missed that perfect mix of epic, sweetness, and plain old happiness that she had been searching for ever since the dream last night. She could not remember any of the particulars, or even what the dream was about, but the feelings which she had woken up with is what she could not get out of her head. All day, she had tried to settle, first by going out to do some shopping with her best friend, then by helping her mom cook, and then watching some TV with her sisters, and finally by reading one of her favorite novels, a romance novel by Lynn Kurland. It wasn't one of the books she usually read, because it did not involve a complicated plot or excitement, nor was it a classic, but rather it was simple and sweet. She turned to this book every time she could not get something out of her head, or comfort, and usually it helped. Not this time, though. With a groan, she got up from her bed and looked on her clock. Only 7:00 PM, which meant that it was too early to try and fall asleep again, hoping to dream this same dream again so that this time she might remember more of it. She glanced in the mirror by the side of the door, and saw her reflection looking clueless about what to do. A round faced girl, because she still could not think of herself as anything else, with honey brown hair falling down her back, stared back at her. She wasn't overly tall, a mere 5'6", and had always hated her hands because she thought her fingers were too chubby. Her face wasn't really remarkable, she had always thought, since it gave her a bit of a baby faced appearance, but also had a kind of sternness to it due to her thick eyebrows and her deep Cupid's bow that made her lips look on the verge of smiling. However, if there was one thing that Eleanor had always been a little vain about was her blue eyes. They were the color of a mountain lake, going from aqua when she was happy about something to stormy gray when she was mad. Right now, those eyes were a dull blue, as in a stone which had once been bright but had now lost its luster, and confusion shone deep in them. It was something that was usual for the majority of almost-fifteen year olds, but it wasn't something that Eleanor was used to feeling. Since she had been a toddler, she had gone after anything she wanted with a tenacity that surprised most people. It showed in the sparkle in her vivid blue eyes, her sense of purpose, of hard-work, and plain old stubbornness. That was why at the tender age of one and ten months, as she was toddling away with the mannequin used for CPR lessons at her first swim lesson, she had had to learn moderation. Now, that equal parts stubborn and persistent streak hadn't left her, but it was usually buried within and only came out in special occasions. Still, in the fifteen years of her life, she had never felt this sensation, and she wasn't sure of what to do in order to get past it. Finally, she sat on the window seat. Her favorite features about the room were those big windows that compromised the eastern wall. Tonight, she just by them, with her feet curled under her, and just let her thoughts wander. She could feel the refreshing midsummer breeze just starting to come in, shifting the heat that had plagued her all day, and could see the stars light up the suburban community around her. Tonight, a full moon shone around her, something that she usually failed to notice. As she stared at the moon, she started to feel sleep encroach on her, and decided to not fight it anymore. She gave in, smiling as if she was meeting an old friend.