• Tumbling from her perch on the canyon wall, the girl screamed for help. Of course the nearest help was just as likely to think her an assassin and simply let her fall, but that thought had never occurred to her. In the flash of an eye, and the deep thud of air rushing about to fill a void, the girl was gone from her mid-air plunge and safely in the arms of the man she'd come to know as her father.

    Her father, a man she'd never known as a babe and had to seek with her own detective work, wasn't like most men. That much should have been obvious by his ability to shoot fiery beams of light through his enemies at an alarming rate. No, he was special in another way. Unlike the vast majority of the population he could simply walk wherever he wanted. Not just all about the countryside, no no much better than that; he could travel across hundreds of miles, perhaps thousands, at the simple thought in his mind and a step of his feet. Presto! He was where he was going. And just like that his daughter was no longer falling to her death.

    After some time explaining and proving her explanation, the girl found herself invited into the company of the caravan her father had been guarding. She was saddened to learn he did not know her. He believed her claim, saying he sensed something about her, but he didn't remember much of anything.

    As it had turned out, some time ago, her father had battled a mind mage. These were men whose soul task was to digest the thoughts and memories of others. They were secret stealers, thought eaters, destroyers of intellect and devourers of imagination. They were trained to manipulate the people by using their immense powers to control any one man or woman bold enough to stand up to them.

    And her father, as she learned, had done so. He had done so quite well even. In fact it was a problem on a new level for him as he discovered a woman he had cared for deeply was now mother to his daughter... a daughter he couldn't bare to think of losing to these foul tyrants. And so he fled until such a time as he could fight them off for good and be with his family knowing that he would not bring upon them these vicious monsters.

    But plans don't always go as such and her father only knew what he knew for he had feared for his own failure. Setting aside a diary and the materials necessary, he had enabled himself the ability to recover in the event he should fail the final battle with the leader of the mind mages. He had indeed killed the very last of them and to that end was successful... but at the cost of his memories. And now he sought the help of a great healer who could undo the damages.

    That night, beneath the starlit sky in the cooling desert sands, for the first time the girl curled up in her father's arms before falling asleep by the fire. She fell asleep to his stories of grand adventure and wild locales and his hopes and dreams to be with her and her mother when he would be whole once again. She slept soundly.

    Her father, however, did not. But that is a story for another day.