During her time as a trainee in the Swordsmen ranks, Summery had a very interesting encounter. This happened on a day when the sun seemed unusually bright in the unusually cloudless sky. Her trials as a Swordswoman brought her to the outskirts of Payon, and after a brief rest period within its woodsy walls, she ventured southeast to train herself.

A large flat of land rested in the midst of mountainous woods, and from below it, Summery caught a glimpse of something rather odd. A strange, glowing figure was perched near the back of the flat. Summery peered at it as much as she could without hurting her eyes. Then, she went around to find a way up to see who the figure was.

"Hello," the young woman called as she came close to where she had seen the light. By this time the light had died down some but it was still quite apparent. It was the aura of a young but sturdy-looking figure who sat quietly amongst the grass. He watched the Bigfoots stumble by and on occasion, waved his hand at one, killing it without so much as touching. Summery was amazed at this feat but in no way deterred from further investigation.

"That was some trick," she said as she continued to approach him. The stranger stared at her blankly, then his blank expression gave way to a small smile.

"It's something I can do," he said, and his voice echoed reverently. Summery took his neutral composure as an invite and found a soft spot in the grass near him to sit down. She had such an innocent mind that she always thought everyone was friendly until they showed themselves otherwise.

"What are you doing way out here," she asked him.

"Taking a break," he replied. "I've done so much, I just thought I could use the time off."

"Oh. Well, time off is always good." Summery reached into her hip bag and retrieved a small, green container. "I should probably take a break for now, too," she said as she poured a series of multicolored dots into her left hand. After the container was set in her lap she put the whole handful of dots in her mouth and ate them contentedly, her face puckering but a smile remaining. The stranger watched her with a wierded-out expression.

"What... are those," he asked, and seemed slightly repulsed.

Summery smacked her lips a few times, giggled, then replied. "Skittles! Sour Skittles, to be exact."

"I've... never heard of Skittles," the stranger said. "What are they?"

"Candy that tastes like fruit," Summery replied, then giggled again. "The Sour kind are rolled around in sour crystals, to give it that extra zip!" She held out the container in his direction. "Try some!"

"..." He stared at the container as if it were poisonous, then simply held up one hand. "No thanks. Though I'm sure they're quite delicious." Smiling, the stranger put that same hand behind his back. "Do you know what sour thing I like to eat?"

Summery put more Skittles in her mouth and chewed them while she waited for his answer. With a smile almost as big as his face, the stranger pulled a bag with a potato symbol from behind his back.

"Chips! Sour chips are delicious," he declared, then proceeded to rip the bag open, and began shoveling chips into his mouth. The two of them looked very amusing together--the stranger scarfing down chips, and Summery chewing on Sour Skittles. They ate and ate until their mouths were sore from eating sour treats, then sat back and laughed at each other for having puckered faces.

Once their laughter died down, they sat quietly and watched the creatures of Payon Forest wander around them. When silence became too much, Summery decided to ask a question.

"So, what are you taking a break from?"

The stranger smirked and looked down at his aura. "Well, you might say that I keep this world running smoothly. I fix what gets broken, restore that which needs to be... Add that which we don't have."

Summery blinked big eyes at his response. "Really? Like what?"

He looked up at the sky and thought for a moment, then looked to her with a smile. "Like... this." Suddenly the sun dropped from the sky and the moon took its place as day went to night. Summery was startled by the sudden darkness and shrieked--fortunately, the stranger's aura was bright enough to keep them both illuminated.

"You... you.... you made it night!" Summery stared at him with even bigger eyes. The stranger rose to his feet and raised his arms to the sky. When he spoke this time his voice carried across all of Midgard, reaching the ears of every human and creature wether awake or asleep.

"In the beginning, there was darkness! Then TonyMan said, 'Let there be light!'"

Nothing happened.

"... I said, 'Let there be light!'"

Nothing still.

The stranger seemed quite perplexed. He rubbed his spiky hair, scritched his temple, then knelt down and began sifting through patches of dirt where footfalls had killed the grass. By rubbing one patch he uncovered a light switch laying flat on the ground. "Ah, there we go," he declared, then rose to his feet to shout again.

"LET THERE BE LIGHT!"

Once he kicked the light switch, the stars and moon slid out of the sky, giving way to the sun as the beautiful blue of overhead daylight replaced the black of night. The stranger felt quite triumphant, while poor Summery felt quite dumbfounded as to how all this came to be.

"You just... you just..." She stuttered, unable to find words to describe what she just saw. When she looked down to find the light switch that he kicked, it was no longer there.

"How did you do that," Summery asked as she flailed her arms.

"It's what I do," the stranger replied with a casual shrug, then sat down once again amongst the soft grass. While he resumed staring at the wildlife, Summery continued staring at him. Eventually she tore her gaze away to watch a Dokebi dance around a pair of Eggyras.

"Well, I can see how you'd need a vacation from something like that," she commented after a while. "If that's the least of what you do, you must do a lot of great things."

"You mean like being taken for granted?" The stranger's laugh echoed across the forest. "Oh, it's nothing serious. I do what I love. Just like I'm sure you do."

Summery smiled at him. "Of course I do! I'm training to be a Crusader. You don't get to be a Crusader unless you really love it."

"Indeed." He put a hand to his own mouth as he yawned big. "Mmm! Getting sleepy. But I've still a few things to do before I rest."

"Try this," Summery said as she reached into her hip bag, then held out a small canteen. The stranger took the canteen, sniffed its contents, then leaned back and poured it all in his mouth. It was coffee, pure and simple, and it was just the kick he needed to wake himself up.

"Delicious," he declared, then gave the canteen back to her. "That hit the spot! Thank you very much."

"No trouble at all," Summery said with a smile, though she knew this meant she would have to head back to Payon sooner than she wanted to. Coffee was keeping her training sessions lengthy and without it, she'd have to rest before she wanted to as well.

After a brief stretch, the stranger rose to his feet once more. "Well, it's back to work for me. Thanks again for the pick-me-up."

"No problem," Summery chimed, rising to her feet after him. "I should probably get back to work as well. You don't become a Crusader by watching the wildlife go by."

The stranger put a finger to his chin as he examined her. "Tell me, what are you using in the way of training equipment?"

She looked perplexed, but showed him anyway. She held up a small training sword that had barely a blade to it, and a round, tin shield that looked ready to break. "Just this. It's not much, but it's all I could afford."

"I see...." With the same finger that he touched his chin, the stranger touched the tip of Summery's blade. A sparkling light surrounded the blade and grew the training sword into a more formidable weapon. The light then flew to the shield and reshaped it, making it larger and look like new. Summery looked her shield over several times and gave her new sword a few practice swings before declaring, "Oh wow, thanks!"

The stranger smirked as he brought a finger to his lips. "Tell no one," he said, then his own aura engulfed him like a giant flame, and that flame dissipated in the wind, taking his form with it.

Summery stared long after the stranger was gone. She knew she would never forget him.