"There was a time when things were much simpler for me." a voice cracked the darkness and silence of a damp tomb. A deep voice, filled with authority and age, wisdom and grace. "A time when the world was fresh, men were brave, and children innocent."<br/><br/>The sound of heavy boots fell against cement. "That time has long since passed, I often wonder what has happened to the world." A small light flickered, reflecting off of a pale face, gaunt yet regal, fierce yet calm. The flames licked at a cigarette, lighting the tobacco and paper to embers. The light left the face as the first embers of the cigarette were pulled upon, smoke entering the lungs of this person. A sharp inhale, as the embers of the cigarette gave away that this person's arm had moved, and the sound of an exhilarated breath escaped into the silence.<br/><br/>The doorway to the tomb, made of steel, opened inhumanly easily for the man who emerged. He stepped into the darkness of night, brighter, indeed, than the damp tomb, as all the stars in the heavens shone brightly. "What<b>has</b>happened to the world?"<br/><br/>The man closed the door, again as simply, and turned again, facing the night. He dragged upon his cigarette again, exhaling joyously.<br/><br/>Then, he felt it. A being so ancient as he, and in tune with the blood that flowed within him, and those he loved, it came as little surprise, but he was shocked it came so soon... or so late.<br/><br/>He felt the awakening of two beings he knew, and very well. They rested in opposite locations, and he wasn't quite sure which to visit first. The two of them had gone to sleep, coincidentally at about the same time. He had not. He had regressed from the world, and meditated for a time, but this being, this ancient creature of darkness, refused to slumber. The last time he had slumbered, he had awoken in a state that was not quite him. Quite the opposite, actually.<br/><br/>His long white hair glittered in the moonlight, being played in the wind; his blood red eyes shone deeply in the shadows, piercing the darkness. He stood near six feet, with boots bringing up higher, closer to six feet and two inches. His traditional black leather duster that had rested upon his torso is replaced by a brigandine duster, fitted with steel plates under the leather, the shoulders covered with steel pauldrons, chainmail sleeves covering leather to his elbow, and a pair of steel plated leather gauntlets. Straps bound the duster closed taught against his torso, still as formfitting, and exaggerating his form more than his old coat. Steel full-greaves covered his lower legs, hidden behind the duster's brigandine tail, with sabatons covering his boots. A leather hood rested atop the pauldrons, the entire suit - the leather and the steel - carefully dyed black.<br/><br/>He smiled as he felt another wave from the two who woke. Pulses through the winds he controlled. He caught their scent on the wind, estimated the distance to both of them, and decided. He put his cigarette out against the cement tomb, and flicked the butt into the distance, as a red gateway appeared in the wall of the tomb. "I suppose it's time, then. We shall see how these events unfold next."<br/><br/>He lifted his hood over his face, his visage now cloaked in shadows too dark to be natural, and stepped into the gateway.