The Pandora Index (Older work)

A Lonely Passenger (Prologue)

As the sun hung above a lifeless red ocean, an estranged ferry floated against a red horizon, it's blue paint was still as bright as the day it first set sail so many centuries ago. The engine has long sat dormant and may never give life to the propellers again. In this ship's passenger lounge sat a single figure, it was the only being to occupy the entire craft. This figure was no longer of the affiliation of man or woman, nor was it a beast. Regardless, this figure chose to look like a man today. Not to say that there is a today anymore, there isn't a tonight either. There was no tomorrow, no yesterday. Everything has reverted to a permanent state of daybreak now.

Or was it twilight?

The figure of set its glass of iced tea on a nearby table as it propped its crossed legs onto the bench that was opposite of its own. A silver pen weaved and rotated around each of its individual fingers with such velocity one could confuse it with a shimmering snake. The figure flipped another yellowed page of an aged book that was almost as ancient as itself. Almost half of the book's pages were wrinkled, stained, and brittle to the point that they would crumble like dead leaves if handled the wrong way. The other half of the book was many times neater, only being slightly less yellow and rough around the edges. The scrap that made up the cover served as the only thing keeping the book from crumbling away back into oblivion.

The heavy silence was briefly broken by the sound of two melting ice cubes fighting for position in the perspiring glass.

The details of the figure's face were hidden by a white hood, but the atmosphere around him clearly showed his disinterested expression.

As the figure reaches the last line in the ragged pages of the book, it stops just as it has always done for almost a millennium.

"Maybe next time...perhaps?"

The figure calmly closes the book and set it next to its glass. It slowly stood up and walked out to the edge of the observation deck and it watched as a familiar figure began to try and hoist itself onto the meek boat.

It sighs.

"This was how it started, wasn't it?"