He shivered as he leaned on the rail of his balcony. The northern chill was as comforting as home, and as unknowingly annoying as home was too. It clung to the skin like a overzealous aunt, prodded you like a long-gone cousin. And yet, for Cayden, he wouldn't of wanted it any other way. He had grew up with the cold, adored its rough touch, enjoyed its silence. 

With a slightly tanned hand, he pulled down the blue muffler covering his lips. He wanted to actually feel the winter wind brush against his entire face. And before long its ghostly whisper had announced its presence. Lifting his neck to meet it, the rambunctious hollering of his family echoed from out his floorboards. It was exhausting to be with them and painful to be without, so he restrained himself to just being near; just close enough to know they were there. 

Anymore than that and they would be on his hate-list most of the time. When he turned to face the dark sky, only the dull glow of his green eyes had time to widen. For a white comet seemed to have silently carved its path towards him. 

[i]Death came for me early?[/i]

“Wake up,” came a soft muttering to his ear. “wake up,” it repeated, urging him on. “wake up, Cay!” It finally yelled. 

Three blinks and he was looking up at a foreign sky, the light blue too bright for him to had been home. Turning his head with a small motion, he spotted a round monster. Its orange fur, large black horn, and wide red eyes implying a weird amount of joy. He had never seen anything so happy to see him before, even tears had built up at the corner of its eyes. “Y-You're finally here!” it screamed, though its voice was undeniably boyish. 

“Here? Where is here?” 

“The Digital World,” answered the round monster. “My future kingdom to be exact.” 

Pushing himself off his back, he looked around at the jungle surrounding him. He spotted a cracked branch, weird and unearthly plants, but no one else. He suppose that was for the best though, he worked much better when he was alone. 

“I'll be more than happy to explain my kingdom later but for now,” he paused, glancing around at the dense foliage and trees. “we best get going.”

“Whatever,” he said, grasping the monster by the horn as he stood up. “Lead the way.” 

A slight chuckle left the monster as he swung around in his grasp. “You're a strong guy. I like you, Cay.” 

“Yea, yea. I'm not really a talker so don't do so much yourself.” It took a few minutes, ten or twenty, before the monster stopped them at a tree. Cayden looked it up and down before letting his hand reach out to touch its bark. His eyes narrowed when it continued on, phasing into it until his entire body had stepped through. 

At the sight of the others, he grimaced obviously. “You've got to be kidding me, Tsunomon.” 

“Nope, these are our friends!” he shouted excitedly. The damn thing reminded him too much of his family, too much of his introverted nature. He rubbed his shoulder and for the first time realized his was wearing clothes. He looked at the black short-sleeve shirt covering his torso, the slim khaki jeans that fell into black boots, and oddly enough a pair of goggles that hung off his neck. 

He groaned again before speaking out to the group. “What the hell is going on here?” As usual his voice was lacking of the rage he spoke from, instead it just simmered.