There's an old legend about the Trusk Forest, the area just east of downtown Lenton. Many of the elder locals were quite familiar with it, as their parents and grandparents before them had told them the stories when they were just children. Many believed it just a silly fairytale, and why wouldn't they? It was stuff of make-believe quality, after all, with a sense of unrealistic magic most in modern times associated with vibrant imaginations and movie manipulation.

Legend went that once every ten years, when the moon was at its fullest and the stars shone the brightest over a cool, cloudless night, a dense fog would settle over the Trusk forest floor. It was thick enough for some to get lost if they were to ever traverse the area, especially without proper knowledge of the forest's layout.

The stars, ever so bright, would give off their own ethereal glow and shine down upon the dense fog. It was in that fog that strange, almost mystical beings would form and rise like ghosts from a graveyard. The likeness was similar, as those whoever saw the act would run, terrified that vengeful entities were after their souls. The purpose of these beings was not to take their souls, but to attach to them in order to become whole, a living, breathing human being while creating the strongest bond two beings could ever share.

Unfortunately, most never had the chance at life. The forest was not used often, especially during the time of the ten-year alignment, which led to the entities, known as Soul Stars, fading away with the fog as the sun rose the next day.

Tonight, however, fate's design had quite the plan for one Soul Star as the sun finally set. The fog was quick to decend and cover the forest floor, and the Soul Stars soon emerged as wandering, floating entities of mist with no exact shape. There, they remained in waiting for a human being to walk through the fog, the dense blanket acting as a tether to the earth.

He had been preparing for this night for quite some time. He wasn't sure exactly how long ago he started waiting for a night when everything was so perfect, but he knew that he must have been in his early teens when someone he knew claimed to have seen something in the Trusk forest. He claimed that something formed right in front of him and attempted to chase him. The Boy claimed that the thing was going after his soul, or trying to capture his body so that the being could use it as it's own.

He didn't believe this. He was a man of science, as he told himself, and was going to prove that such a perfect night wasn't supernatural at all. Even though he wanted to debunk the myth, the young man, now in his early twenties, hoped that something from the myth was true. Science was all about proving ones self wrong, and even though through multiple layers of his personality he was strictly science, deeper in, he loved tales of myth and fantasy, just simply because they were far too impossible to exist.

The young man had even taken a few courses in astronomy to get himself accustomed to the stars. He walked through the forest at the very least a few times a week to get himself fully used to every tree and bush. His travels even took his to the local library and retirement home as he wished to learn more of the legend. He couldn't get much out of the older generation, but the books helped him to a fair degree. With the help of the library, he now knew what he was looking for.

"Tonight is the night." He mentally told himself as the stars began to show. The young man quickly rushed off to the forest as fast as his legs and a car could carry him, legally, of course. darkness quickly began to cover the sky as the young man reached his destination. He was only going to the edge of the forest in his car, and would walk through the forest without the vehicle. The dense fog covered the forest, but the young man was so used to every tree and pathway that it didn't obscure his navigation all that much. Each step was slow and careful. He may have known his way around the forest, but the fog was slowly starting to get to him as he went onward. "Come on Booker. You've been through here countless time before. The fog shouldn't be a problem at all."

The Soul Stars were wandering aimlessly through the dense fog, their formless bodies almost blending completely in the mist surrounding them. It was an interesting sight to behold, indeed, each floating mass passing by one another without so much as grazing another entity. Their movements were fluid-like and slow, almost hypnotizing.

Then there was a disturbance, one that was felt by all created out of the fog as immediate as the first footstep inside the forest by the one human who had entered. The entities now moved in one direction, their body's only slightly quicker as they continued on the path of which they could feel the life energy of said human walking straight for them. The closer they came, the quicker their movements until they were moving at slightly more than the pace of a slow jog.

It wasn't long before they were right before the human, each entity rolling forth on instinct to reach out to the source of life. Many would have the possibility of passing over the human if they were quick enough, but only one would have the chance at becoming a living being; only one would be born on this night.

As Booker walked on, he swore to himself that he had seem some things in the fog. He couldn't make out any shapes or forms, but he could see things moving around him and the fog. He wasn't sure if was only the fog, just being moved around to appear as something else, but he continued to walk at a slow and stead pace. He needed to be calm. If there was actually something out in the forest, then he couldn't be afraid to face it. He wanted to know if some sort of entity was in the forest or not, and he knew that staying away from an unknown thing would keep him from having his questions answered.

The fog only seemed to have gotten worse, and he had an increasingly hard time trying to keep himself from getting lost. As he moved further, he began to slow down and take in the area. Booker didn't want to get lost, so once he found a relatively large tree, he stood by it and looked around to see if he could tell where he was. The young man calmed himself and looked around. The fog in the forest was a rare occurrence, but other than that, nothing seemed all that odd to him. Booker was able to vaugely see some things in the fog, but he only assumed that it was his imagination as he began to walk again.

Closer and closer the entities came until their target was felt rather than seen only a few yards away. The human was at a standstill for a small amount of time, and in that time the entities had gone back to their slow, gentle motions. When the target began moving once more, they were quick to bombard it.

All at once, the Soul Stars moved forward in a rush, the fog swirling around them in tandem to the quick gusts of movement. Many passed right through the target even as it moved. Their acttions were to somehow meld to the target in order to grasp onto its life force, not to drain it, but to take just a smidgen for themselves to create the bond necessary for their life. It did nothing to hurt the human in any way.

Several attempts went by without success as one entity after the other passed through the host. It took all of another minute for one of them to latch itself to the host. Most of the entities backed off almost immediately from the human, sensing that a bonding was taking place and that one of their own was now destined to exist this very night. There were a few, however, that attempted to knock the Soul Star away from the host in hopes to gain the upper hand and create a bond instead.

After several hits, the Soul Star was knocked from the host, the bonding having only been partly completed. It rushed off through the trees and into a small clearing where the light of the moon and stars could easily reach and penetrate the fog. There was a sudden bright light as a swirl of energy bloomed around the Soul Star, and in its shapeless place, from bottom to top, a human was formed.

Her skin, strangely littered with silvery patches and veins, was pale in the light of the moon, as were her scared, vivid blue eyes. Her hair, darker than the night sky, fell about her in loose ringlets and bobbed just slightly as she attempted to look around her.

What was this place, she wondered? Where was she, and why was she here?

Booker walked on, completely unaware of the entities that were attempting to bond with him. His slow steps moved even slower when he would occasionally look up to the trees, hoping to see some of the stars out in the night sky. Each attempt of finding the stars however, was a failure since the trees obscured his vision of the sky above him. As the night passed, he was losing hope that something would be out there. He wanted for the Soul Stars to actually exist, even though he wouldn't admit that to the public.

All thought were halted as a sudden bright light attacked Booker's eyes. The young man was forced to look away for a second to allow the light to die out. He hoped that whatever caused the light would be what he was looking for, so he quickly moved to where he saw the light originate from. It didn't take long for him to get to his destination, and when he did, he was startled. There was no fog in the area, and the moon's light illuminated the small, treeless clearing. He could see a pale skinned woman. It was odd enough that she had such a skin tone, but the pitch black hair and the silver patches scattered around her body only made it a much odder and more interesting sight to see. He was a little afraid to speak to the being, and assumed that it didn't notice that he was in the area yet..

His light hazel eyes scanned the woman as best as he could from his position, and many emotions flowed through his eyes. He wanted to go right up and speak to the being that had just appeared, but he was unsure if it would run away out of fear, or attack him for the same reason. Booker breather slowly as he looked at her and steadied himself to face whatever would happen after he spoke out to the being. "H..Hello...?"

As the woman looked about her, she began taking in the various sensations she was feeling all at once. The night air was cool and somewhat dense, causing tingling goosebumps along her exposed skin and filling her lungs heavily. The ground below her bare feet was soft and hard all at once, the grass and fallen leaves there damp against her toes. The short, white dress that covered her form thin but comfortable and swished at her knees when she moved. Though she was still frightened, she was quickly calming as she registered each sensation for the first time. These were nice feelings; they invigorated her and made her feel...alive.

"H..Hello...?"

She turned abruptly at the sound of something...someone...calling out to her. Her eyes fell on the form of the human she had attached herself to, though she had no memory of the occurance. In fact, she had no idea exactly what she was or had been before. This was a telling, worrying sign. The bond had not been completed as it should have, and though she manifested, if she could not seal the bond, there was a possibility that she would fade away. It was uncertain how much time she had, but for now, she lived.

She gave a small smile to the stranger, though he didn't really feel much like a stranger. It would be best to err on the side of caution, but she was calm and unafraid in this man's presence, and that should have amounted to something. It was an instant trust, one of the traits of the bond she had attempted to create, and one of the few things that she had succeeded in gaining.

"Hello," she greeted gently, looking around momentarily before her eyes caught his. "Do you know where this is...where I am?"

She shivered lightly as a small breeze gusted by, just strong enough to chill her even further. It was still an invigorating sensation, though it was becoming slghtly uncomfortable.

"I don't have a memory up to now. Do you know me?"

Booker didn't know what to say, or how to react when the woman replied to him. He suddenly felt at ease, and was no longer worried about anything bad happening. He was a little curious about how he was suddenly so calm in the presence of the being in front of him, and he had the urge to walk up to her as soon as the breeze picked up. He may have felt calm around her, but he had just met her, and he was unsure if she felt the same amount of calmness around him. He didn't want to step over any lines and scare her off, even if it did seem highly unlikely.

He was about to answer her question when she spoke up once more, so he decided that he would answer the question that she had given them in that order. The young man took a small step towards the pale skinned being and hesitated slightly just before speaking. "This is the Trusk Forest. A little ways away from Lenton." While he informed her of her location, he was mentally debating if this was all a hallucination or not, since it would be the best way to explain the calmness he felt around the being, as well as the fact that she had no memories at all. Booker shook his head lightly and smiled lightly at the woman as he took a larger step and offered her a hand, even though there was still a bit of distance between them. "I don't know you. You just... Appeared. You don't remember anything at all?"

The woman watched as the man before her took a small step forward, noticed the hesitation in his movements before he spoke. Ah, so this was a forest, outside some sort of town, no less. In all honestly, she wasn't sure where she expected to be, but the information was still surprising.

He was smiling now, a small smile that was light on his face and somewhat inviting. He held out his hand between them and extended toward her. He also spoke again, inquiring about her lack of memory. She ignored the question for now, instead focusedbon his outstretched hand. She understood the gesture well enough and moved slowly forward on her own accord, watching for any sign of unease from the man.

When she was standing just before him, she reached out her own hand and placed it against his, palm to palm. She looked down at their contrasting skin tones and found herself curiously turning his hand over to find that he had no markings as she did. Did that make him different than her, or was it the other way around?

"I don't know if there was anything to remember," she said lightly as she looked up at the man a moment, studying his features now that she was much closer. Her eyes widened a moment as a name suddenly crossed her mind, the syllables sounding in her mind as if it were something she had known this whole time.

"Reyna. My name...my name is Reyna."

It didn't seem all that bad, as the woman in front of him seemed to have understood the gesture of shaking hands, so it was evident that she did know a few things, but probably not many. With her hand joined with his, he now saw just how different they two of them were. His lightly tanned skin compared to her pale and silvery skin made the difference very obvious at such a distance. He couldn't help but to smile a little more as she examined his own hand to see that they were different from each other. He wondered how she came to be, as he only saw her just suddenly appear from thin air. He knew that there must be more to it, but he knew that he couldn't ask her. She probably didn't know herself, and nobody in town would know either.

His eyes studied hers as they widened, wondering what she was thinking about, or what realization had dawned on her. The woman's name was Reyna, as he heard her say. She didn't have any last name at all, but it didn't really bother him. His smile receded a little more to be more comfortable on his face as he stood there, still feeling the skin of her hand next to his. He nodded in understanding and told himself that it wouldn't do any harm to tell her his full name. "I'm Booker. Booker Anderson." He introduced himself calmly as he slipped his hand out of hers and studied her with curiosity.

His name was Booker, so he said, and it fit him nicely. She liked his name.

Reyna found she was disappointed when he let go of her hand, though she easily brushed it aside in favor of following the trail of silvery veins going up her arm with her eyes. She reached over and touched one gently, trailing the length of her arm until she could no longer see it. Did the marks cover her entire body?

"I'm different from you," she stated rather than questioned, easily able to tell that they were both completely different despite both being human. She had no idea of her beginning, that she was an incomplete Soul Star with a semi-bond she had attempted to create with Booker. She had no idea that her complete existence depended on him. The problem was, neither did he.

She shivered with yet another gust of wind, this time wrapping her arms around herself to keep in what warmth she had.

"It's so chilly out here. Is there anywhere in Lenton that's more comfortable?"

Booker nodded to Reyna at her assessment. He couldn't say anything to her since there wasn't much to say. It seemed obvious that she didn't know what she was, or how she got there, so he couldn't question her. He assumed that she could have been a part of the legend that surrounded the forest, but she wasn't like what he had researched. She was a full human, not some sort of celestial spirit without a form.

As the woman shivered, he wanted to find a way to keep her warm, but other than giving her his own jacket or using his warmth to heat her, he couldn't do anything. He may have felt comfortable around Reyna, but he had only just met her, and there was probably some sort of boundary that kept him from giving her his own warmth. Slowly, Booker unzipped his jacket and slid it off, handing it to her so that she could keep warm. He would be fine until they reached the car, so not having his jacket wasn't a problem for him.

"We can head back to my house for now." He said as calm as possible. It felt odd for him to suddenly invite a woman to stay at his house for the night, but where else was she going to go? They could stay at his apartment and he could use the futon in the living room. He didn't see any problem with it, as he would be fine sleeping on the futon. "It won't take long for people to realize that the population of Lenton went up by one, but I don;t think many people will care. Come on." He said with a small smile as he turned around and took a step back in the direction that he came from. "We can drive back and it'll take us much less time than walking."

Reyna watched with curious eyes as Booker made to remove his jacket before handing it off to her. She gingerly took the article of clothing and put it on opposite of how he took it off, surprised at the instant warmth that made contact with her skin. It felt much better than the cool night air, and the small gusts wouldn't be able to penetrate through the slightly thicker fabric.

She was then being beckoned to follow after him with the promise of somewhere to stay, and she was prompt to follow. The forest was nice, but Reyna was sure it was no place to sleep for the night. Besides, she trusted Booker. It was in her blood to do so.

As they made their way through the thick fog, Reyna made sure to keep close, maybe closer than was necessary, to Booker so as not to lose sight of him. She could feel as if there was something watching her from all around, and though she wasn't afraid, she still found it eery. She could even just barely see what looked like little blobs of mist floating around, though she wasn't sure if it was just her imagination and decided not to point it out.

"What is Lenton like?" She asked as way of conversation, unsure how far out they were from the car.

As soon as Reyna took her first step, Booker turned back around fully and led the way back to his car. He was sure that he was going the right way back to his vehicle, as they had passed a few different trees that stuck out among all of the others. It was eerily quiet on the walk back, and Booker was thankful for the woman following him, as struck up a conversation to pass the time. He glanced back at the pale woman and shrugged. "It's a nice city. Plenty of things to do, lots of different people with different views. It's unique to say the least."

He explained to her how despite how the city has grown, it still has lore dating back to when it was only a small town. The town stuck to it's roots, while at the same time growing and evolving along with the rest of the world. He had a somewhat small circle of friends that he hung out with occasionally, and mainly because most of them lived in the same building that he did, so it didn't force him to go out into the open and face people he only knew vaguely. He felt like he explained so much while they walked on, and just as he was about to start another topic, he was met with the edge of the forest where his car was. The car was somewhat old, but he had a person work on it so that it would still work well, and he was happy with the interior that was very different from the exterior. It had a new radio system that could connect to his phone, as well as all sorts of other things that he toyed around with every once and a while.

Booker opened the passenger's door first before walking around to the driver's side and getting it. Closing the door as he sat down, he looked at Reyna and waited patiently for her to get ready before starting the car and driving off.

Reyna was happy to listen to Booker as he talked about the city of Lenton. She had never been in a city before (she had never been anywhere before, really) and she was fascinated by the things she was being told. Whatever these lores and traditions were, she was quite interested in them.

She continued to listen intently the whole walk until they came to the edge of the forest where Booker's car was parked. Though Reyna had never seen a car before and, by that fact alone, shouldn't even know what they were, she somehow knew what her eyes were looking at. It was just basic knowledge, like knowing it was a car, that it was a faster means of travel and took fuel to power it. It was this same basic, almost instinctual knowledge that had her buckling her seatbelt when she entered the passenger side.

As Booker drove, bright blue eyes found beauty in the night sky, now having a completely clear view of the moon and the plethora of stars littering the dark expanse. It was simply stunning, and it eased her mind in ways she couldn't explain. The city of Lenton also had its own beauty, the night life and lights doing little to block out the sky's own luster. Her eyes were shining with delight at everything she saw.

She looked to Booker with a bright smile.

"Everything's so lovely here."

Booker drove home in silence. Usually when driving, He would have his radio on, but this time he was just going to drive without it so that Reyna would be able to look at the world with awe without any other distractions. He was actually a little surprised that she knew to fasten her seat belt and get in the cat, but he didn't openly say it. As the two of them Reached Lenton, Booked couldn't help but look out the window as well and gaze at the town in the darkness. It was so peaceful and quiet, with only one of two other cars on the road at the time. It always seemed to be like that, where whenever it got dark, all of the traffic would find a way to disappear. He never questions how full the street could be one moment, then completely vacant the next, but he was curious as to how it happened.

When Reyna spoke up again, Booker nodded at her as he slowed down a little and continued onward. He knew his way back to his apartment, and from what he saw, they were almost there. "The night just makes everything so calm. I'll never get how it works, but it just.. does." He began to think once more about how he would be sharing his house with her, and soon after that, another thought came to his head. She was a completely new being, with now person items whatsoever. They would have to go out and get her clothes so that she wouldn't be stuck with only one set. He was lucky to have his apartment, his car, and the clothes that he wore, so he wasn't sure how he'd be able to pay for the clothes without having the risk of being broke. Of course he had some money, but it was all for things that he needed, like rent, and food, and other things. As the two reached the apartment complex, Booker pulled his keys out of the car and got out, walking to the other side of the car where the sidewalk was and waiting for Reyna to leave the vehicle as well.

Booker was right; there was something all too surreal about the night, how peaceful it made everything. Maybe it was because it was truly a time of relaxation, a time when the mind as well as the body was able to rest from the day's activities to begin again the next morning. It was the natural rhythm of things.

All too soon, the car came to a stop, and Reyna followed Booker's lead of getting out of the car. Reyna eyed the building for a long moment, seeing the multiple windows along the front, some lit up and some as dark as the night.

"This...is your home?" she asked curiously, a bit confused. Though she had the knowledge for certain things, there was much she still didn't know about the world she was now a part of, and it was all because of her partial connection to Booker. Her basic knowledge was of things that he knew, but because she was not yet a complete human being...she was lacking in some aspects.

As she continued to look over the space, her eyes suddenly caught movement to the side of the building. A white cat was there, moving about slowly before pausing and carefully looking over the area. Reyna had somehow inadvertently caught the creature's attention, both being caught in an eye-lock for a good ten seconds. Then, as if whatever interest had disappeared suddenly, the cat ran off, disappearing into the night. How peculiar.