Marcus awoke to him walking in an [url=http://www.townofhomer.org/photos/2014-07-evening-600.jpg]idyllic landscape[/url] something seemed, off. He made a quick look down to his right arm, it was still there, his companion's hand was still clasped around his bicep. 

"You stopped, what's up?" 

He stood silent for a few seconds, slightly confused.

"Marcus?" 

Memory came back, it made sense now, he was just daydreaming.

"Nothing, just thinking" 

"You've been thinking a lot"

He chuckled internally, for someone born without sight, Mary was deceptively perceptive. 

"So, now that you've stolen me away to here, wasn't there something you wanted to ask me?"

Blind as she was, she still knew exactly where they were, the same hill they'd first met, when he'd literally crashed into her. All those years ago. He could tell that she also knew precisely why he'd taken her here, they'd danced around it for so long.

He turned to look at her, and that's when he noticed the cracks on her face

Almost as if it had turned into a human shaped pane of glass, there were jagged incisions, all revealing a deep void underneath the flesh, she impatiently opened her mouth to say something, but all sound that came out was the scream of crystal giving way.

He opened his eyes.

The pod was embedded into a bank, and he could hear chatter, a strange sound unfamiliar to him, but it was clear that it was a language of some sort. Light greeted him as it spilled in from the shattered acrylic panes. A series of dull [i]thumps[/i] could be heard, it was clear that whatever was out there wanted in.

Not on his watch

He triggered the emergency bolts on the front of the pod, triggering the canopy to blast off with explosive force. As soon as it was clear he generated an intensely bright flash of light in front of him as he clambered out and onto the sand. Then he shifted his power and cast a dark gloom over him, lengthening out his shadow and causing the general ambiance to darken considerably. With his mind he reached out and touched their open thoughts, scanning their language and forming an understanding of it.

"Who dares" he said simply, his voice boomed as it projected from the gloom. Hoping to scare off the locals so he could search for the new Archon