He did not know where he was. Everything was black. It was so dark that he could not tell if his eyes were open and seeing nothing or if they were closed and himself dreaming.

The blackness blotted out all. It invaded his being until the only thing that he could remember was a wild and exhilarating ride against a storm.

Gradually he became aware that a point of flickering orange light had appeared and seemed to be bobbing toward him in a zig zag pattern. With each zig or zag, another orange light would appear. Will stared at the phenomena in fascination until it dawned upon him that someone with a torch was approaching and lighting torches that were ensconced in the walls. From the straight lines formed by the orange points, he appeared to be looking down a hall or corridor.

By the dim flickering light Will could see that the walls were made of uneven bricks of what he thought might be black basalt or obsidian. Whatever it was, it also appeared to drink in the light. That last thought made him shiver.

With the faint light came not only awareness of his surroundings but also memory. He had been on a horse. A great horse with.. someone. He looked around. There was no sign of the horse, just the tall red headed man in black. As if sensing that he was being observed, the Rider turned and glanced at the boy.

"Follow me." The strangely accented voice was coolly emotionless.

Still vaguely uneasy yet feeling strangely compelled, Will did as he was bidden. After all, what choice did he now have? He never once thought of his family, they, and everything else, were forgotten.

The walk down the corridor felt like forever to Will. Neither he nor his companion broke the silence so the only noise was that of their muffled footfalls - a noise that still managed to have a strange reverberating quality as if they were not two figures walking but many. It unnerved Will and once, when he could not resist the temptation of looking back over his shoulder, he had to muffle a small gasp. If it was unnerving walking into the unknown, it was even more so to have seen the torches behind them extinguish themselves of their own accord. Or perhaps it was the dark, endless, empty feeling void that left unlit torches left in its wake. Will felt very small, the light was so fragile in this place. He shivered again and edged closer to the man he was following. The man still made him uneasy but he was infinitively preferable than being alone in the dark.

After what seemed an eternity, the corridor finally came to an end before two great barred iron doors. The man's pace never once slowed and it looked to Will as if he was simply going to try and walk through the doors without opening them.

As the man approached however they slowly swung open inwards and Will found himself entering what his mind could think of as a throne room. The shrouded hall stretched away before him and, at the end, cloaked in even darker shadows, he thought that he could just make out nine great throne-like, yet unoccupied, chairs.

For some reason Will thought that they would go in this direction and illogically dreaded this, though to his relief they did not. The man turned instead to the right and they soon found themselves in a small well lit, comfortably furnished room. It smelt of heady incense and Will found himself relaxing. This was normal, unthreatening.

The man gestured to a cushioned chair. "Sit." He seated himself in another chair. Will did as he was told.

"Welcome to our stronghold young Will. My name is ..Rider and I am one of the members of the ..ruling council here. As this council is made up of very important and powerful people, like all here you will respectfully address any member as my 'My lord' or 'my lady'. You may call me 'my lord' or 'lord Rider'. He chuckled for a moment but the laughter never touched his icy blue eyes. I will be your ..mentor.

The uneasiness that Will had felt before returned only to vanish just as quickly when his new mentor continued, the tone seemingly more like a friendly chitchat.

« Would you like some refreshment? It was a long ride and there is much that we must discuss Will Stanton."

&&&&

Will was seated on a simple chair, the red haired man, the Lord Rider, he mentally corrected himself standing a little distance away. It gave the boy the strange impression of being at school.

"Long ago, the Light, our ancient enemy.." the Rider was saying and Will tingled at the word Light, he felt, he thought, like a sleeper trying to wake from a nightmare - no, no, dream.. why did I think nightmare? – and finding that they cannot. He forced his attention back to his lord. "… took and hid the six Great Signs of Power. These Signs are all in the form of a circle quartered by a cross and it is your task young Will to seek out these hidden signs, for only with their help, and that of certain other objects of Power, can we hope to prevent the Light from taking control of the earth and mankind."

"But sir," No response. "My..er..Lord.." Will regretted his outspokenness instantly as he found cold bright blue eyes starring compellingly into his.

"Yess..?"

Mouth suddenly dry, Will swallowed and continued. The possibility of simply saying 'er nothing' had disappeared as soon as this stern, black clad man had turned his attention upon him. "Isn't er..Light supposed to be good? I mean," he gained a bit of speed, wishing to end his question as soon as possible, "there are so many adjectives like 'holy' etc that have been attached to it.." he trailed away.

The Rider laid a gloved hand on Will's shoulder and Will, for reasons that he did not comprehend, could barely repress a shudder.

"You are but newly awake and you have much to learn. Your first lesson young Will therefore is this; things are not always what they seem. You think that 'Light' equals 'good'? A romantic notion! Taking your examples, 'holy light' is generally used to describe a 'light' around someone or something is not?" He did not wait for any response from Will but continued, "this is not really a 'light' but an aura! And an aura as we know is a sort of personal radiation. Think of it as an intangible fingerprint." The Rider leaned down to look Will in the face, his bright, blue eyes again starring compellingly into Will's blue-grey ones, "Remember boy, sunlight burns, light creates a shadow that can betray you if the light hasn't already done so!"

He straightened up again. "You will be taught more in time. As I was saying,» he continued «it is your task to seek our these signs and it is for this high reason that you were born and are part of us» (was he imagining it or was their barely audible laughter in the air?) . «It is for that that you are called the Sign Seeker, the Seeker of the Great Signs of Power that have for so long remained hidden from us."

Will knew, though he did not know how, it was like the knowledge was embedded inside him, that this strange and somehow frightening man spoke the truth. He was the Sign Seeker, the one destined to search out the Great Signs.. and yet something didn't quite ring true to him.. He frowned, but the vague feeling that something wasn't quite right remained as hauntingly elusive as the now forgotten music that had awoken him that morning.