Disclaimer: I do not own Ayreon or any of their songs, all glory goes to Arjen and his utter brilliance.

Recalling: "Forever" of the Stars

They gathered and waited, the humans watched the familiar lights and sounds that gathered before the all too human, haunting voice spoke, the voice that had plagued them so with its trials and dangers that had killed four of them, and left only four.

The Roman stood resilient . .

The Knight watched warily, fearing his earlier questionings may have angered the being . .

The Hippie watched in wonder . .

The Futureman waited patiently, ready for whatever came next . .

"I am of the stars. I am called "forever". Eternity courses through my veins. It is cold beyond your sun where we come from. We seed the universe with the milk of a million moons. You are that seed. Your earth is our experiment. We vanquished the dinosaurs with the careless trajectory of
a child's lost meteorite. We peopled your planet to experience your emotions - such feelings lost to us aeons ago. How we envied you your loves and passions, your dangerous desires. The fires of your emotions gleamed like lost beacons in the darkened depths of the fathomless universe. And eight of you, plucked from Time. Not randomly, you understand. Representatives of
your world's turbulent history. We have observed your tribulations from nameless nebulae. The experiment is over. I am weary now. So tired. I too am far from home. Open the gate - complete the circle. You won't remember - you won't recall - for I am only the air that you breathe, after all . ."

The old, decrepit door creaked open and the four turned to face it, resilience shining in their eyes and a new found knowledge still fresh in their minds. Out of all of them, it was the Futureman who grieved inwardly at the fact that he would soon forget what he had learned. The things he had seen while in this world of psychogenesis frightened him . .

The path of man was not a bright one . . and he would not be able to warn anyone . . . .

Author's Notes: Short yes, but it has a little something to do with the events that will come later in the story, which will only involve one of these characters . . once. This story will be based off of Arjen A. Lucassen's album 01011001. The Ayreon project is very complex, and if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask me. The upcoming chapters will be longer. And just in case, this chapter comes from the end of Ayreon's album Into the Electric Castle.