It is said that there is no greater sight than watching the sun rise over the great ocean onto the slumbering city of Britain in the morning. They say that it is at this blessed time of peace that one can find the spirits of the truly great people, long dead, wandering around the Chamber of Virtues to celebrate yet another day. To awake before the sun actually shines on land and gape in awe at the colors of red poking over the horizon and filtering through some of the taller trees is a vision of the great beauty in our land. It is such a sight that one can grab through the top of the southeast guard tower. It is a favorite place of Rainman, one in which he spent much time with the great mage Xander Xavier in the past. Each cloud on the horizon is intricately catalogued, each color burned into the memory of the young mage as he sits among the ramparts viewing the majestic glory of such a simple thing as a sunrise.

"Why canst it rain everyday?", he jokingly sighed.

All too soon, the sun is finally shining on the tops of merchant buildings, and awakens the bustling poplace. Rainman makes his way into the city. The peace becomes shattered by the shouts of common merchants, taking to the street to sell what they may have in their packs for little more than gold to transport themselves to the next town. Many times the loud shouts of these men becomes more than anyone can handle. Britain is a large city, and perhaps its the intense competition of living here that eventually taxed him into staying away from the city as much as possible. Through all of this, he trudged on, attempting to savor every quiet moment inside the city as possible, making his way to the Mage Guild tower on the north side.

"Is there a Stephenn working here yet this morning, sir?", Rainman queried the guild master.

"Ah, he has not come in as yet, is there a matter I can attend to?", the reply came.

"I thank thee, but no, I was responding to a matter at his request. I shall wait for him. Thank thee!", so Rainman waited.

He did not wait long.

Around the corner came the strangest of sights. It had to be a man holding some kind of polished metal, for the image approaching was similar to Rainman in the most incredibly peculiar of ways. Certainly, the clothes were different, but the face, the posture, the build, everything nearing perfection to the what Rainman had last seen when he looked at himself in the mirror.

He gaped in astonishment, unable to unfix his open-mouthed glare at the oncoming individual. It was only the fact that this man walked straight past him into the Mage Guild Tower that caused Rainman to regain concentration on the task at hand.

"Are you the Stephenn who query's for a researcher on yonder hotel's bulletin board?" Rainman was barely able to cease from staring. He realized the instant he'd asked the question that the world suddenly became all too disorienting for the poor man in front of him, for now it was he who was battling the uncanny resemblance they both bore to each other.

"Oh, I am sorry sir, it's just that.....have we met before now perchance?", Stephenn's face was white now.

"I do not believe so, I am Rainman, an aspiring mage and expert researcher. I have come in response to your post on the bulletin board at yonder inn."

"Oh! I see! Well, then, let us withdraw to my study and I shall explain the entire story to thee.", Stephenn lead up the stairs.

The mage guild tower in Britain was certainly one of the more beautiful buildings in Britain. Inside is a grand opening, much like a monastery, but its function is mostly for the purpose of summoning magically tamed beasts who are much taller than the average human.

Upstairs they began to discuss Stephenn's story.

"It all began very long ago in my childhood. I was barely 6 years in existence then. I do not remember much of the circumstances of our family back then, just that my parents were very busy with various magical sorts of things. My favorite toys were reagent bags, and runes. My playpen was upon an ancient pentagram, and my first words were 'vas rel por'.

It was during one of my parents most excited sessions of experimentation that I came to watch them in their experiment. I was bored as my toys were not satisfying me yet again, and there was ne'er a time when my parents played with me....

"Take Care to grind those well! They're too rare to falter on them now!" the father warned.

"Aye, husband. This is my task, tend to your book, for that is the prize that will allow us to accomplish this feat!", a mother replied.

For the next several minutes the two excitedly finished their preparations for the experiment. They poured a few potions onto the central dip in their experimenting pentagram, some were ground in further, others were simply scattered about with hurried instructions flying across the room.

Finally, the two joined hands and began long and meticulous gestures, each spouting some strange syllables of power that I'd never heard before. It took quite some time for anything to happen, even though the end effect was strangely misshapen and uncontrolled.

The ghastly image shocked and frightened me, so I ran into the room, yelling "mom!". In my haste, I failed to watch the ground in the room, and I tripped head over heels in the direction of the pentagram.

That is all that I recall. My next moments were awaking at dawn, with all signs of experimentation gone, and a herd of pigs banging at the front door. My parents were nowhere to be seen. I do remember the location of the house, but only just barely." Stephenn finished.

"Ah, that is more than I can say of my true parents! I have little memory of them at all, or their whereabouts." Rainman attempted to lighten the mood.

A moderate pause accompanied the last phrase, the two of them hit emotionally by the realization that they were both orphans, or seemingly so. It was of course, only a glimpse of a future friendship that manifested in the room they were in. Awkwardness was not in the silence that followed the story, more of an awakening to strange ties the two seemed to share. It was far more than the identical physical appearance now, it was taking its first steps to a greater realization of their own pasts.

"Well, if you have a map of the location of this house you were found in, I'll be certain to visit it and report on what I can find. Can you tell me how long ago it was that all this happened?" Rainman attempted to continue the conversation.

"Yes, I have it around here somewhere." Stephenn began to fumble through his piles of notes and books. "I have lived for approximately twenty years, although I cannot be certain because I am not certain of my own birth month.", He explained.

"I understand.", he replied.

A few minutes of searching, and the transaction was complete. Rainman agreed to search for evidence of Stephenn's family, to track down their whereabouts or fate, whichever came first. The two pseudo strangers parted on a note of promise. Rainman had all the information he needed to discover Stephenn's parents, and promised to continue searching to the end of his own days, "just as surely as I search for my own parents." He finished.

To secure the documents, Rainman walked to the First Britain Bank, and after reading all he could, placed the texts into his safety deposit box. The map he took with him, and retrieved a rune and reagents from the box. A quick phrase of power and he was gone, off to Vesper to locate the map's boundaries.

The maps extremities were indeed a walk from town. The walk itself was uneventful, and reminded him of his childhood. The forest had always had this effect on him. A walk along a river and a few hundred paces south, and he finally arrived at a grouping of abandoned buildings. Inside one of them was the broken pieces of an old pentagram. The entire grouping looked as though it had not been used in many years. Indeed, there was little left in the way of clues to be taken from the site. After an extensive search of the items left at the buildings... he casually marked a rune there, and began walking back to Vesper. A small trail, almost overgrown was obvious in the direction of Vesper, it appeared to be a trail head to an unfinished path back to town. It wasn't far before he ran into a very old, and very large oak tree. On it, there were two initials carved.

"R+M"

He took them down as notes, hoping they could lead to any knowledge of who once lived in this area.