I looked expectantly at the nocturnal bird of prey above me.

The night was chilly and the darkness made it almost impossible to see anything at all. But his eyes were wide and shone faintly in the darkness. The infinite, terrifying wisdom that he possessed was obvious just by looking into them.

It had taken me six days of travel to reach the woods, and the last two nights I had been unable to find him. But finally, this night, I found the right tree. And there he was, sitting there just as if he had been waiting for me.

My voice had cracked a little bit – speaking to the one being in the universe that can truly answer any question was not easy to do.

I waited nearly ten minutes after I whispered my question before he spoke. The sheer strength of his voice made me quiver a little bit.

“One. Two. Three.”

Crunch.