sorry it is taking so long between but got a lot going on. thank you for the kind words and reviews. feel free to keep them coming

~oOo~

Andrea took a slow deep breath and hoped her nervousness would not be noticed.

It had been a bit of a stressful experience preparing for the evening. She had rushed home from campus at the end of her day, talking to Kate by phone the entire time. Her roommate had readily agreed to be absent all the while telling Andrea how she knew he would call. Andrea was too distracted to argue otherwise. There were a million things going through her head at the moment. She had to get home, figure out what they would eat, prepare it, and then get herself ready.

There was just one giant glaring problem with all of this of course. Under no circumstances whatsoever could she cook . . . at all. She could barely open a pack of ramen, how was she going to cook? Even Kate had given her an incredulous look when she said she was going to make dinner. And three boxes of over cooked spaghetti later, she finally admitted defeat. She called the Thai Market and ordered the Siam duck and tofu spinach soup with a side of vegetables and rice and then prayed it would get delivered in time.

She did not want to seem like she put out to much effort for this evening but found herself blowing out her hair anyway, with Kate's help. Her roommate had been playful and teasing and offered not to return at all tonight if Andrea wanted. She did not plan on him staying the night. In fact she did not plan for either of them to stay in at all. She was hoping she could find a way to get him down to her friend Hayley. Andrea trusted her opinion when it came to people since Hayley seemed not to trust anyone. Of course she had a weakness for a pretty face much like Andrea so there was always the possibility that it would backfire, but she still wanted another opinion.

Kate had laughed when Andrea told her this and shrugged saying that she would come back around midnight just to be safe. As Kate left they confirmed their usual agreement that, should anything go wrong Kate would text periodically to check in on her. If Andrea did not text back, Kate would come to her rescue.

Andrea had waited till Kate had left before she got dressed. The outfits her roommate had set out for her had Andrea rubbing her eyes in frustration. Short skirts and off the shoulder tops that were more fit for . . . well, Andrea did not know what they would be more fit for. She only knew she did not dress like that. She pulled out a pair of fitted jeans and a simple v-neck shirt. If they decided they would go out she could just slip on some flats and a scarf with her coat. It was fall but it was not so cold yet that she would need to bundle up.

Andrea had just finished getting the food out of the delivery containers and onto plates when he had shown up at seven thirty on the dot, bottle of wine in hand. Andrea found herself somewhat perturbed at how handsome he looked. She took his coat and could not help but admire how he filled out the fitted button down shirt and dark jeans that were cuffed over what looked to be some very expensive shoes. She wanted to hate how effortlessly beautiful he was.

Jerk.

They began the dinner with the usual small talk. He complimented her apartment and the meal. She thanked him for the wine and prayed he would not ask her if she made the dinner herself. It was about half way through when the discussion turned back to their topic of conversation at lunch.

"So," Agner began as he picked up a clump of sticky rice and duck with his chop sticks, yet another thing that he could do effortlessly, "I have been thinking of what you said earlier and hoped that you might elaborate, about myth and religion. Tell me in what sense is God the personification of myth?"

"You weren't listening at all were you?" Andrea laughed and shook her head. "It is all so much more than all myth is true as it is that all myth goes back to religion and religion to myth."

Agner smiled as he reached for his wine. "Do go on."

"Well," Andrea set down her chopsticks and reached for her own glass, "all ancient civilizations had their creation myths. The stories in the Old Testament Book of Genesis are a reflection of much older myths that were told in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia from at least 3000 BC. In fact," she said taking a sip of her drink, "the further back we go the more dominant the creation myth becomes – to an extent that has yet to be fully apprehended by scholars."

Agner leaned back in his seat and swirled his glass as she spoke.

"Behind the creation myth always lies the supreme being, worshipped by the ancients under a variety of names and guises. This great god or goddess – was the creator of all things, and so was the cognate of religion in the sense that He-She bound mankind back to its origins."

Andrea leaned forward as she spoke becoming more intent on her topic.

"Consider the evidence from the world's oldest civilizations like Egypt and Mesopotamia," she continued. "Here, in these creation myths, the great god, or goddess, personifies the formative cosmos or universe and the entire myth of creation and the entire created universe. Here lies the key to the modern concept of God. As the creator, God by definition becomes his creation, sun-god, moon-god, nature-god, river-god, and so on and so on. But He is always much more than his visible manifestations, and he is mysteriously greater than the sum of his parts. His pure essence is said to be the divine soul, or spirit, or intelligence. In this etheric and quintessential form, God was stirred to life, created the universe, filled it, and surrounded it. And so He became immortal, invisible, omniscient, and omnipresent – visible and yet invisible, closer than we can possibly conceive, and yet further away than we can possibly imagine."

"So,"surmised Agner, "God is not a person. Rather, he is a personification. He personifies the 'true' story of the creation of the universe and in this sense, God is the personification of myth."

"Yes!" exclaimed Andrea, grinning triumphantly. "Of course, the ancients worshipped God under many different names and images, since each region or city had its own local traditions but behind this multiplicity there was only ever one God/Goddess, and one creation."

"I imagine that devotees of modern day religions would have something to say on all this," Agner mused, watching Andrea from over his glass. She responded with a dismissive wave.

"God did not appear with the establishment of Judaism, nor with the establishment of Islam," she sniffed, "or even with the earlier cults of Egypt and Mesopotamia. No, as the creator of the universe, God existed from the beginning of time, by definition."

"The principle is straightforward enough," Agner smiled "although I doubt many people will accept this as truth."

"Well yeah, that is the difficult part," agreed Andrea, "there are just so many specific points of disagreement between religions. But if all of these scattered truths between the religions could be bridged in the knowledge of one great truth, one great God. A God who can't be the God of one tribe or the other but the God of all humanity."

"And how would you attempt to bridge this divide?"

"The only way to go forward involves going backwards, into the past. If we can understand how religion evolved over the millennia, then perhaps we can reconcile the modern day differences."

"I admire your devotion to faith."

"Oh, well, I am not sure if I would go that far," Andrea laughed, "I just teach a class is all."

Agner looked at her curiously.

"So, do you believe in God?"

"I was raised Catholic so it only makes sense that every day is a crisis of faith," she said with a laugh, "but the idea of a perfect being, all knowing, all loving, all powerful, well, if that is the case and I am not saying it isn't, but if it is then He has a lot to answer for."

"You do not believe that everything has a cause?"

"It's impossible to go backwards to infinity with causes."

"Therefore there must have been a first cause which was not conditioned by any other cause. Could not that cause be the One?"

"The One?"

"God."

"Oh, well no. If you allow one thing to exist without cause then you contradict your premise."

"You make it sound simple," he said with a wry smile. "The ways of the world or laws of the universe have been framed in such a way that stars form and life can emerge. Nature itself is finely tuned for this. Animals, plants, even planets show clear signs of being designed for specific ends, finely tuned in fact. There must be a designer. Could it not be argued that the odds against this happening by chance are astronomical?"

"You could argue anything when it comes down to it. What you are talking about is some anthropic cosmological principle. And if that is the case then the odds against all possible universes is equally astronomical. Besides that principle merely states that if we are here to observe the universe, then it follows that the universe must permit intelligent life to emerge . . . or something like that."

Agner laughed and shook his head.

"You teach the 'personification of God' but believe the contradiction. My mind spins with the argument."

Andrea smiled and finished her wine as she got up and began to gather the dishes.

"I don't know what I believe," she laughed as she scraped her plate and set in the sink. "I would like to think that I have a personal relationship with God but I have a hard time assuming that everything imagined in mental experiences, like dreams or visions or hallucinations or whatever, actually exists. Not everything is a religious experience, especially the dreams I have been having."

Agner rose from his seat as she spoke and set his plate down by the sink. He looked at her thoughtfully.

"I hope it does not discourage you that I believe in the One . . . in God. I myself believe that there is purpose in all things, divine or otherwise. As for dreams or visions or hallucinations, well, you might be surprised at what one can discern." He took a sip of his wine and leaned against the counter next to her. "What sort of dreams have you been having Andrea?"

Andrea almost dropped the plate in her hand. She had not even realized she had spoken of that. The damn wine! How many glasses has she had? She stumbled over her words.

"What? Dreams? My dreams? I don't know, I mean, they are just dreams that I've had since I was a kid. Nothing to really talk about I suppose. Just dreams."

"I understand if you would prefer not to talk about it . . ."

Andrea glanced at Agner and could see the amusement in his eyes and became more flustered.

"What? It's nothing really, just some dreams I have." she shrugged and set a plate down in the sink. She supposed she could tell him about them, a little bit anyway. As long as she left out the part with him in it. She kept her back to him as she spoke, busying herself with the dishes.

"They are kind of silly really. I am by water or maybe I am in water, or it's my reflection in the water or something and I am surrounded by stars. They are in my hair or they are reflected in the water in my hair, I don't know. And there is a figure, another person who is there, which isn't odd in itself except that he is always there. Ever since I was a kid he has been there. And then there is fire and I wake up," she remarked nonchalantly "Had them for as long as I can remember. I am sure there is some sort of case study in this or something."

Agner spoke softly from behind her.

"This figure, the other person who is there . . . what . . . what does he look like?"

Andrea was glad that she was not facing him at that moment because her eyes went wide as she tried to feign innocence. She had always been a terrible liar.

"Oh, I don't know, just a figure, a faceless, nameless figure. Look, it's nothing really. I've had them since I was a kid. I was thinking, maybe we could – hey are you okay?"

Andrea spun around to face him, desperate to get them off of the topic of her dreams. She was about to suggest they go to her friend's place of work when she stopped mid-sentence. Agner stood at the sink, his fair skin looking even paler than usual and as still as stone. She stepped up to him and grasped his arm, peering up at his face with concern.

Oh God, she thought in a panic, its food poisoning I just know it. I gave him food poisoning.

"Agner? Are you all right?"

Agner blinked and looked down at her. When his eyes met hers Andrea was struck once more at the strange way they captured the light, bright beautiful grey eyes that were filled with light and sadness. A hand that she had not realized that was on her shoulder moved to the side of her face as the other followed suit. Her heart pounded in her chest and she felt her blood flood rush and her face seemed to burn where his hands touched her. Her eyes were locked with his. She could not move even if she wanted to. The light within seemed to hold her fast. They encompassed her, surrounding her and she felt as if he could see straight into her as he pulled her very soul out for inspection. They moved closer and her heart quickened.

This is it, she thought, dear Lord please don't let my breath reek of Thai food.

PING PING PING.

Andrea jumped, startled. What the f-

PING PING PING.

She whipped around to find the source and saw –

PING PING PING.

-her phone flashing on the side table.

"Dammit," she spat as she ran over to grab it. "Goddammit, sorry sorry!"

It was Kate of course, texting her to make sure that everything was going alright and that she did not need to be saved. Andrea pounded out a quick text telling her she was fine.

"Sorry, that was, um that is Kate, she uh . . . just a sec . . . yes send! Send! Ugh, stupid phone. It is Kate, was Kate no biggie. She was just . . . just uh sending a text . . . so . . ."

Andrea looked at Agner from across the room. His color had returned and he stood now leaning against the counter watching her, his head tilted slightly. Andrea was torn between wanting to rush over and jump him and wishing the ground would open up and swallow her. They stood there staring at each other for a moment before she spoke.

"Do you want to get out of here? Maybe go somewhere?"

Agner smiled.

He had drove so they decided to take his car across town instead of a cab. Andrea almost pissed herself when she saw his car.

"You have a Tesla?! You drive a Tesla?!"

Agner grinned as he held the door for her.

"You should really have more concern for the environment Andrea."

"I like to think I do, but I am afraid concern for my wallet comes first."

The bar that her friend worked at was a little craft bar in Hell's kitchen so they took Columbus down to Ninth. It was not much to look at. Just a little hole in the wall called Valhalla but Andrea knew that Hayley would be there tonight and most likely getting off her shift any minute. She figured they would just stop in, grab a couple of beers, let Hayley give him the once over and then leave. They found a place to park a couple of blocks away and when Agner opened the door for her and offered his arm, she smiled when he pulled his arm close to his chest so her hand was snug between them causing her to lean close against him.

She felt giddy and light and if she were not so desperately trying to remain calm she would have skipped. She almost giggled out loud at how ridiculous she was being.

They finally arrived at the bar and Andrea felt herself somewhat reluctantly release his arm as they took a seat. Hayley was finishing up her shift when Andrea waved at her, gesturing at Agner from behind his head when he was not looking. Hayley looked at her dumbfounded for a minute before realizing who he was and her mouth went into a little 'o' as she held up a hand telling Andrea to wait just a moment as she finished up closing out.

Andrea ordered an IPA while Agner ordered a stout, surprising the bartender when he asked for a 12oz glass instead of the usual 10oz usually used for a stout beer. Andrea cocked an eyebrow at him.

"I'm not going to have to drive you home or anything right?"

"I feel confident in assuring you that you will not," he answered with a smile.

Andrea was about to retort that she was not so sure when she saw Hayley walking up.

"Oh, there she is," Andrea hopped up out of her seat and moved to the other side of Agner to greet her friend, "Agner, this is a good friend of mine Hayley. Hayley, this is Agner."

Agner politely rose from his seat and smiled as he extended his hand to Hayley. Hayley for her part had walked up with a grin as she looked at Andrea but when she saw Agner, all traces of her smile were gone and she stood there looking at him, surprise flashing across her face as she froze. Agner's eyebrows rose with curiosity as he stood there with his hand outstretched in the space between them.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," he offered almost as a question.

This seemed to snap Hayley out of whatever had come over her, but she did not smile as she had earlier. Instead she looked at Agner almost warily as she took his hand.

"Yeah," she replied, "pleasure."

She gave Agner's hand a firm shake and released it.

"Andrea can I talk to you for a sec," she turned back to Agner as she began to pull Andrea away. "Would you excuse us for just a moment? Be right back."

Aegnor stood there watching the two women with a perplexed look as they weaved their way through to the back of the bar. What had just happened, he wondered. Did he somehow know this woman? If so he did not remember. She was small with short dark hair and tattoos. He would think that he would have some memory of meeting her. She seemed to know him, or had some idea of him anyway. But she most certainly not know just who he was, could she? No, she could not. He must have met this woman somewhere before but where? He was still standing there trying to puzzle it out when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Well, it is most certainly a small world after all."

The hair on the back of Aegnor's neck rose as he stood there stunned. A million images from ages ago raced through his mind, dragging back to another place in time. An impossibility come back to life, an old life come back to haunt him. He turned slowly around to face gray eyes that were identical to his own.

"Aikanáro," the ghost from his past sneered.

Aegnor's eyes narrowed and his hands tightened into fists, knuckles going white.

"Carnistir."