After years of dedicated academic work, and then months of physical application, it had come down to this. He was almost there, almost face to face with the oldest and still unknown evil, ready to win or die trying. Jack had called it the Man. Having no other name for it, they all called it to the Man too. If Jack was still alive, Daniel wondered if would be making sarcastic comments about ‘sticking to the man.’ Through research, Daniel had discovered the only way to kill the Man, was with the sword that was forged by the Man’s own hand, and used to kill his own family in his first and still unending fit of evil insanity. Daniel was getting tired, he should stop here and rest, it was getting dark and a storm was coming in. The intelligent thing to do was stop and rest, get out from the weather and be fully rested for the battle in the morning. No, if stop and rest for tomorrow, the Man will be fully rested as well. I need to keep going, us my element of surprise and take him by force. Daniel shook his head and kept on a steady pace laden with tired determination.
Looking up through the tree tops, he could see Mideon's rare pale, third moon. Like a beacon it kept him on course, showing him the way. Mideon's third moon, Elella, was only visible every seventy-eight years. She could be seen night and day for a brief fourteen cycles. Most only saw her beauty once in their life time. Elella seemed to glow in an unnatural pale, pearlescent pink during her brief affair with Mideon's gravitational pull.
The edge of the forest was visible, only a few feet away. He knew the Man was camped at the far end, most likely taking shelter in one of the ruins older than even the pale Elella. Daniel stopped for a moment, sitting on a mossy boulder, to center his mind and a drink. Fashioning the leaves and vines around one of the great looming trees, he positioned them to trickle the rain water into his water flask. He needed a drink badly, and a shave. He ran his fingers over his scalp, feeling the stubble that had grown in over the past week and scratched his chin. Daniel had shaved his head during a moment of insufferable heat. That was when he was still in the bad-lands, two days before he had reached the cool elements of the woods.
Daniel drank the first flask in sizable amounts, allowing it to reenergize him. Then he placed the opening of the flask under the leaves again to fill it up once more. While waiting, he closed his eyes and just listened. He painted the world around him through the sounds he heard. The wind was a soft caress, carrying dead leaves and singing with the trees. He could hear water in a creek somewhere behind him playing the rocks and skipping through the vines and branches trailing in the water. The drip, drip, of the water into his flask made a hollow, but filling sound. Under him, he could feel the hard mineral through the soft green moss that had claimed it as home before he had. Daniel just sat and watched the world around him through the sounds he heard. Resting, getting a solid hold on his center for the last step of his journey. The dripping, had become and quiet slipping sound that let him know his flask was full and his rest was over.
As he stood and put the flask back into his sack, he could hear and feel the wind picking up. Almost as if it was getting up and intended to go with him. His steps were still determined, only with out the exhaustion that had filled them before his momentary respite. Once out in the open, the wind was much stronger, it seemed more foe than friend now. With out the sheltering roof of tree tops, the rain quickly wet his clothes and did its best to seep its cold into his bones. The light around him seemed to lose its glowing element, looking up, he saw that he storm clouds had hidden Elella from his view. There was no turning back now, he was so close. The circular architecture of the ancient ruins could be made out in the distance. Daniel thought he could make out the light from a small fire, but did think that the Man was stupid enough to let his position known. If it really was a fire, it was nothing more than a rouse to confuse him and make him feel even more alone and cold in this weather.
There, at the base of the hill that held the oldest known alter in Mideon, Daniel looked up and saw the silhouette of his enemy in a brilliant flash of lighting. Daniel drew his sword, and stood there, waiting, with his scabbard laying heedlessly in the grass by his feet. The wind whipping through his stubbly hair as the lighting cut the sky and the thunder cracked the air. The clouds are dark and ominous as they start drizzling a light rain. The wind blows harshly, making the drops feel like pin pricks and driving the water into his eyes blurring his vision.
"Daniel…Daniel, wake up." Sam was shaking his shoulder and he realized that yes, he was still at work. And no, he hadn't defeated the Man yet.