It was dark around her. Nothing existed or survived in a world of eternal emptiness. So why was she here? She could not remember where she was or where she came from. It was not important. Nothing mattered in world of darkness. Nothing but her.
Suddenly there was something.
Pain, pure and intense, flooded from her head, chest and back. It consumed her, swallowed her into an even darker pit of emptiness. Fear threw its claws into her, paralyzing her limbs. But they both was absorbed by the raw sense of betrayal and hurt, which seemed to surround her small body. Why did she? She was angry, screamed into the darkness, trembled with rage. How could she?
The rattle of heavy chains filled thick silence. Words, unable to grasp, floated to her. She knew the words, she understood them, but she just could not hear them properly.
A sea of agony threatened to drown her. She fought it, the sweet pull of depression, the desire to just stop caring, but it was strong. I do not understand.
Depression won and pulled her under its wing. But in the next breath (or was it the next life?) a man appeared before her and every thing else faded away. The world stopped. Time, pain, fear and depression. All that was left was she and the mysterious stranger.
She could barely se him, due to all the chains that wrapped themselves all around his body and the strange darkness that surrounded them. All that she was allowed to se by the blackness was the chains and a pair of sad, sad golden eyes.
She could not look away from his powerful gaze. She was rooted to the non-exist floor by the sadness and the desperation in his eyes. His sad golden eyes pleaded to her, called to her, beaconing her toward his wrapped up form. He needed her help. He needed her!
With a sudden movement, he stretched out his hand toward her. She stopped, slightly confused. Her gaze travelled between his eyes, the hand and back to his sad amber pools. Hesitantly she reached for his pale, slender hand with her own, but as she was about to make contact with his skin, he disappeared.
Darkness gave in for flaming blood-red and stinging snow-white. She tried to cover her eyes, but found she could not. She blinked and found herself…

…awake.
Kaoru stared at the blue cloth that made up their mobile home. She sat up in her sleeping-bag and placed her head in her hands. Those dreams just got worse the nearer they got to the mountain.
In the purple bag next to her, Misao her best friend and dream-reader, sat up and gave her a concerned look.
“The dream again?” she asked. She had been with Kaoru from the beginning, when the dreams had begun. She had also been the one to convince her to search for the source of the dreams.
“Yeah”, Kaoru answered in a tired voice. “And this time, I could almost touch him. But the moment we were about to touch, he disappeared.”
Misao nodded and got a thoughtful expression. Kaoru knew she focused on her gift to understand the dream.
“We are close. That thing about you almost touching must mean we are not to far away from him”, she said when she focused on Kaoru again. Her sea-green eyes sparkled with curiosity and life. “Anything new?”
Kaoru hesitated. Those strong feelings had been there from the beginning, but his eyes. Never before had they been so needy. He needed her. To what she still wondered, but his need had been there, to raw and exposed. She hid her face in her hands.
“He need me”, she said quietly, her voice muffled. “I don’t now how or why, but I saw it in his eyes. He needs me for something.”
Misao was silent. Kaoru could feel her eyes watching her in concern. She lifted her head and met her best friends’ eyes. Misao smiled.
“Good thing we are close then.” She looked at her watch on her wrist. It was a strange thing with three pointers and four circles with numbers and symbols. “Full moon tomorrow”, she mumbled, probably to herself. “The sun is going to rise in five minutes. Let’s go to our shower before Meg wakes up.”
Meg or Megumi was Kaorus’ brothers’ girlfriend since two and a half years. The girls were rather close with the woman, but they all loved to tease and annoy each other. She was like an older sister for Kaoru and the best healer in the whole country. Other friends in the gang were Kaorus older brother, Sanosuke or Sano, and Misaos partner Aoshi. He was a wizard in a modern time and a very powerful one to that. Sano was the groups own security guard. He was well educated in the art of fighting and a self-declared champion in fist-fighting. The fact that he had a soft side and a big heart toward his sister was well hidden.
Kaoru nodded toward her friend and silently they left the tent they shared with Megumi.

“I still can’t believe you two would do such a thing against me!” Megumi said in mock anger and hurt. The shower was empty and what water there was to bath in, was cold as ice. Winter had barely left over to spring, so the ground was still cold and hard. And the water was melted snow.
Kaoru and Misao did their best to stop the grins that threatened to split their faces. They failed and all three girls broke down in a fit of giggles and laughs.
“Sorry Meg. But we wanted to shower, too”, Misao said when the laughter had died down. She busied herself with combing Kaorus mass of midnight black hair. Megumi huffed and turned to find her boyfriend. She was not angry for real. It was just a show.
Kaoru allowed herself to enjoy the simple feeling of someone touching her hair. It made her relaxed to the core and it had even happen that she fell asleep. Now she slowly dozed of into a light slumber and with any kind of sleep, the dreams come.
A hard tug on her hair jerked her awake. Her blue eyes searched the cleaning around her, and with a silent sigh, she realised she was still in the camp.
“You fell asleep and started muttering. The dream again?” Misao said as she braided the shiny hair.
Kaoru nodded. She had hard time finding her voice again. The pictures had been so clear and the feelings so strong.
He had been different this time. The man she saw in her dream was a carefree and smiling youth with sparkling crisp-white wings attached to his back. An angel then, probably a guardian. His subject was an elegant woman in her late teens. She had long ebony black hair, deep-brown pools of secrets and pale skin. She was really a classic beauty. The boy was in love with his subject and on one forbidden night, they expressed that love in an act as old as time itself. The morning after, when the youth still was asleep, the woman left to betray him. Several men come to the house they shared. They caught him still asleep, and to prevent him from escaping, they broke his wings. And that was when Misao woke her up.
“He is showing me why he is wrapped up in chains”, she whispered. Misao placed her hands on Kaorus shoulders and gave them an encouraging squeeze. “He was betrayed of both his subject and lover. And the enemies sealed him away.”
“Subject?”
“He is or used to be a guardian angel.”
No more words were said about the angel, as Megumi announced the breakfast was ready.
They packed up their mobile home after that and began to climb up the mountain again. They had been climbing for two days now, and as higher they came, the more they saw of the spring. It came earlier up the mountain, than in the village by its foot. Soon, they could take of both mittens and scarves.
They walked for several hours before they sat down to eat a quick dinner. Megumi, being the only one who could cook well, managed to make a rather good dinner with very little to work with. They would soon have to return to the village. Their food was running low and they did not like the thought of being without food in on a mountain.
When they had stored the food and plates away, they began to walk again. Kaoru began to feel very uncomfortable, the higher they reached. He was close. She could feel his rising hope and failing strength. He tried to reach her, but his energy was running low. Kaoru could almost feel the brush of his mind. It was not the first time a supernatural being tried to probe her mind. And if he had been at his full strength she wouldn’t be able to stop him.
“We are close. He is trying to reach me”, she said mostly to herself. She felt how Misao watched her from behind. She was worried. Worried this fallen angel, in fact was a demon. But she didn’t voice her fears. Kaoru was old and experienced enough to take care of herself.
Kaoru stopped after just one hour and stared at the mountain-wall in front of her. Here the mountain rose straight up in the sky and without climbing equipment, they would have to move around it or go back.
Kaoru scanned the wall in front of her. It was unnaturally smooth and high. She doubted even a gecko lizard could climb this wall. She turned to her companions. They looked at her, waited for her to make the decision. She sighed and sat down with her back against the wall.
“We rest for some time and try again later. There have to be a way up or inside.”
She closed her eyes and rested against the wall. She listened to her friends’ movements and mumbles. They wanted to go back home now. Five days of travelling and a wall of stone. They all were tired after these days. Kaoru could not blame them. She, too, was tired, but she knew the angel was somewhere around.
“Kaoru?” Misao said. “We are thinking about going back now. We can’t move past this wall and there is almost no food left. We have to go back.”
Kaoru opened her eyes and looked into Misaos tired ones. The others were behind her and they all looked very hopeful. But just as Kaoru opened her mouth to agree, a strong feeling of fear and hopelessness gripped her.
Please… don’t… go. I… help!
Kaoru stilled and concentrated on his voice. She felt him in the back of her head. He was a mass of fear, pain and darkness. Her heart ached for him, and with her strange powers she reached for his mind and tried to locate where he was. She found a call from inside the stone she was currently resting against.
“Misao, he is talking to me.”
Her words brought life into her friends’ tired eyes, and they all grouped around her.
“How does he feel?” Megumi demanded.
“Is he an angel or a demon?” Sanosuke asked with anxiety in his voce.
“What does he say?” Misao squealed.
But Kaoru was not listening to them. She focused all her abilities on finding her demon. With closed eyes she gripped his mind and held on firmly. Speak to me. Hold on, she said to him, tried to encourage the being to talking with her. But she could feel how his consciousness slipped from his grip and soon she only held an empty mind in her grasp.
“Aoshi?” she said without losing her contact with the fallens’ mind. “Open the wall. He is somewhere inside this mountain.”
“Inside the mountain? It can be a little difficult”, the mage admitted. He studied the wall and the ground before it. Kaoru moved out of the way, still with the beings mind inside her own.
She knew Aoshi could split the barrier before them; he just needed some time and preparation.
“Those who made this stone-barrier were rather skilled. I can barely find their mark.”
Kaoru had worked alongside with Aoshi before. Together they had found and killed close to fifty demons.
“Do you think it will take long time?” Kaoru asked. Her friend just shook his dark head and after a few chosen words, the wall before them split and soundlessly moved apart. Soon a large crack opened before them, and with hesitant steps, they moved inside the mountain.