Deep in the recesses of his mind, a shadow lurked. A dark looming shadow of ultimate evil. A shadow that only wanted the silence...

Clef awoke from his bed with a start. Sweat poured down his face and his breath came in short sporadic gasps. His chest felt heavy and his body felt weak. He lifted his hand and ran it through his thick hair, noticing that as he did, it trembled. "What was that?" he mused to himself in the dark room. "That is the third time in as many days I have had that nightmare."

Pushing away the blankets of his bed, Clef pushed himself out of his bed to land on the wooden floor of his bedroom with a thump. Quickly he pulled on his robe to shield his bare chest from the cool morning air that entered through his open windows. Looking out of them, he could almost see the sun rising above the hills. At the moment though, the light was soft and muted, lending a sort of dream-like aura to the forest.

"Its beautiful here..." he mused to himself. "Silent and wonderful, a perfect place for me." Shaking the earlier dream from his mind, he smiled and breathed in the morning. The weakness that he had awoken to had dissapeared, and his trembling had finally subsided. Suddenly a figure in the distance startled him.

"Eme-chan!" he yelled at her from his window. The figure looked around, the large green eyes startled.

"Master Clef?! Where are you?" she answered. As she whirled to look for him in the early morning light, the dress she was wearing whirled around her. Clef drew his breath in.

"Up here!" Clef waved from his window. Emerria looked up and smiled. "Where are you going?" he asked her as she pulled her cloaks tighter around her.

"I am going for a walk!" she replied. "Would you like to come with me?!"

"Hai, give me a minute though!"