Everything went black and the next thing he was conscious of were his lungs filling with water...nasty, metallic tasting water. Instinctively, he gathered his legs beneath him and his arm thrust upward. It took a second to realize his arm was out of the water. It wasn't very deep. He pushed himself up, coughing out the nasty liquid as he rose into the air. He remained on his knees as he cleared the water from his lungs. He was about to ask himself where he'd ended up now, when there was a flash of soft purple light before him. He looked up, still sputtering and hacking to see this strange huge looking being suddenly congeal out of the mists. Maybe it was just his vantage point he thought. But as the huge hand reached toward him, he had a second thought on that. The hand was black...black, half-shiny reptilian looking skin with black clawed nails. Again, instinctively, he reached for the sidearm and then realized everything was wet. "Who, or what are you? And where am I?" he asked - really not sure he'd get an answer. There was an answer, but it came in his head. The voice was as dark and stygian as it's owner. "It is I who summoned you here at the request of 7. We mean you no harm. As for who I am - I am 19. I am a Shadow Walker. You will soon learn what means and why we look as we do. You have been summoned to the world known as Aman'tala." 'You could have picked a better... wait, you can do that?', he thought to himself. "I can," the voice came in his head again, giving the man in the water a start. There was laughter. "When calculating these things across such distances as light years, one is allowed that there can be a slight error. As I understand, where I snatched you from was not a good place...aye?" The man laughed softly to himself. "It seems I never am in a good place," he said, taking hold of the proffered hand. This 19 was strong, but so was he. "You can hear my thoughts, can't you?" "Aye. Keep hold of my hand and we will go to see 7." "Ohhhh, here we...!" he said as they both dissolved into thin air. ***** Background is from AJ_Cool's 'Cosmic Events' in the freebies Lens flares by Savage_Dragon in the freebies. Thank you both! Water is "Flood" filter from FlamingPear.com. I highly recommend their filters for PShop. I've had mine for years and I love 'em. You can try them for free for a month. 19's outfit is retextured 'Moroccan Dreams' (DAZ) Mystery Man's shirt is Smay's 'Bad Guy' shirt retextured. You won't see his face or most of him for awhile yet...because.... ;) He's a surprise coming. Shhhhhhh. ***** As always, thank you so much for your views, comments and faves! They are always appreciated. I hope you have a wonderful today/tomorrow...well, it's all relative, isn't it? ;) Ray