Cold, sharp winds rushed through jagged land, smashing against hard stone and ancient ice. Snow swirled up into the air as if the wind and frozen water were beginning to dance across the isolated landscape. Shafts of sunlight peeked through breaks in the clouds, adding contours of shadow and light to the valley. Few creatures ventured to this place and almost none for very long. If isolation could be found on Earth without going under the sea, this is where it would be found.

A sole figure sat in the landscape, legs crossed and seemingly ignorant to the bitter wind and piercing cold. The rock-hard man appeared to be becoming part of the mountainside, ice and snow slowly enveloping his immobile body. This was the place he could go to truly explore himself, the place where he could walk through his very existence without interruption or distractions. So much had been in unrest lately, outwardly and inwardly. His mind nearly exploded with pressure of... something less than a month ago. (Had it been a month? Time was lost to him here, minutes sometimes stretching into eternity, hours rushing by like seconds) Worse than days leading up to Kiev. Not that it mattered now; the pressure had left and the Hell on Earth that was Ibiza was over. She was alive, despite her endearing independence, and her safety was all that matter.

His time here had been fruitful to say the least. Each trip had further crystallized his understanding, his familiarity, his immersing into his inner self. It was like he was reaching the cusp of something new, as if something was waiting for him on the metaphorical other side. He felt quantum coarse through his body, though the ground and air. It fueled the furnace of his body and mind and it opened the door to mastering the self. Could there be a limit to what his kind could do? Quantum had allowed him to further and further master his own existence; what limits could there be to someone who was a god in their own mind and boy? If everyone and everything is merely one small part of an interconnected reality then what happens when one of those parts had absolute power over itself? Would power over the other parts come next? What if reality was only a lone gem and everything… everything was simply a facet upon it?

Eddies full of snow danced about his immobile form as if the wind was trying to invite an inanimate object to join in a frozen waltz. He felt, no, saw the cusp within him, waiting to be reached. The wind continued to try to engage his stoic body in its play, snapping with impotent frustration at his metallic hair and pale eufiber. Musings, logic, instincts, emotions, and more lined up in his mind like tumblers, each rotating to solve the combination and then… nothing. The wind’s tireless insistence for interaction rolled over his ears, almost mocking the cusp-turned-wall in his mind. Where had that sense of enlightenment gone? Acceptance of one’s nature, exploration of quantum and its relation, allowing the mind and body to adapt instead of fighting for stasis… baseline foundations and nova milestones had been passed but something again blocked the path. It was clear to him: all of the teachings here relevant to his unique path had been incorporated. It was time to move forward lest become part of the mountain.

Reality, whether or not it existed, called him back. She was here, his sole link beyond himself. Odd, he hadn't called for her and she hadn't told him she was coming. His legs unfolded and he stood up in the howling winds. This was either a good surprise or a bad surprise. He hoped it was the good kind but life didn't ways turn out that way. Still, it would be good to return home with her... his mate, his love, his life. What good was the path to enlightenment if you didn't share the joy? What good was realization if you didn't spread the knowledge?

Sure feet found solid footing as he bounded down the slope. A trail of whirling snow followed him as he almost skipped down into the icy valley, leaving an almost cartoon trail behind him. He came to a small ledge, letting his momentum carry his body away from the mountainside and he drifted across the expanse. The wind screamed with its own joy, pleased that again its relentless call had been heeded. His feet found solid ground again on the other side and he rushed again across the frozen ground, carrying his dance with the wind as dashed. Crests and gullies fell beneath and behind his body, his trail becoming more and more ethereal until he abruptly stopped on a rough ledge, letting the wind continue on without him.

Below sat a sheltered gully, low enough in altitude to allow life to exist but concealed from the rest of the world. A few huts, nothing more than a hamlet perhaps, sat surrounding a few large fire pits, a sign of how humans found a way to live anywhere. But that wasn't what caught his breath in his throat, breath he didn't even need. She glowed in the mountain air, delicate skin covering almost primal sinew barely affected by the deep cold. She moved with a cat-like grace to match her yellow eyes, each motion betraying the new sensual nature he knew and had experienced within her. The beauty of her physical presence combined with the allure of her mind and the elegance of her personality made his heart race in excitement.

She hadn't seen him yet, apparently engrossed in a conversation with the Old Man (there really wasn’t a better label or name for the Old Man; mentor didn’t fit, nor master, nor sifu, nor sensei… perhaps guide or friend was proper). It made sense, he mused. He knew she was interested in the philosophy of the Teragen and the Old Man certainly sounded like one at times. It definitely made him relieved for her to explore that path; it confirmed what he suspected and it certainly gave him newfound confidence. After all, there was essentially no difference between the two of them and the philosophies of the Teragen.

He measured the path to her and let the ground fall below his feet, sailing towards his companion with his inhuman grace. Concerns about bad news drifted away; no matter how bad things were he had been away from her too long and the experience of being with her again would wash away everything else. He landed softly behind her with a flurry of snow and air, knowing his bubbling emotion was almost certainly spilling over their link to her, acting as an unintentional greeting. With her, he was ready to take the next step into an ever-shrinking reality.

Yes, it was time to return to the world.