The skies were growing colder as of late.
Food was being stockpiled in homes, and the townsfolk were bundling their children up in furs and clothes to keep them warm in the fall breeze.
An aura of calm was slowly forming around the city. Each falling leaf froze midair, an unrepeatable piece of art.
A young man stood under the autumn trees. A soft, yet sharp, breeze passed through him.
His body shivered slightly. It was almost time for him to head back south to the sandy shores of his homeland, but something held him here.
Just a feeling. Like he was meant to do something great, but didn't know where to start.
It was a street he walked almost every day.
His travels abroad searching for something always ended up like this.
A feeling of emptiness that drowned out every other emotion.
A piece of trash blew in the wind. It flew past him, then got swept up into a whirl of air.
Eventually, it got caught on a fencepost.
He reached over and grabbed it.
~~~~
Come One, Come ALL!
To the Fairday Circus...
A caravan of magics lost to this feeble world.
Hope and rage.
Blessed and corrupt.
It doesn't matter.
All magics are equal.
Come see us perform; our lives depend on it.
~~~~
A strangely intriguing poster.
He pocketed the paper. It might be one last fun activity before he begins the long trip home.
The city around him blurred. It wasn't a problem; he just stopped focusing on every little thing.
That was how it had been since the first thing he could remember.
When he didn't want to pay attention, the world stopped.
Everything around him moved like snails - was that the saying? Those little things that barely moved.
Eventually, he found what he was looking for, a pillar of red and gold.
He focused more on it, and everything inside his vision sharpened back to "normal".
It was a gigantic carnival tent.
Children danced around, chasing bubbles.
Other older children played strange games he had never heard of.
The adults laughed and cheered as people danced around in strange outfits.
It was... peaceful.
The young man wandered around for a while, taking in the sights.
One of the men dressed up in a strange outfit came up to him. A clown.
He wore a blue and white jumpsuit and a full head of black hair.
"Have you noticed it yet?"
The young man looked at him, a confused expression on his face.
"Noticed what?"
The clown smiled and walked away. Each step squeaked out as he walked.
He was even more confused now than before.
The clown walked towards the largest tent, and the man followed.
What was the worst that could happen?
The grass beneath his feet let out a nice crunch as he walked.
The clown had disappeared. Strange.
Inside the tent was a show.
Men juggling sticks on fire, more clowns balanced on each other than should be possible.
There were even some elephants that stood on two legs.
People laughed and had fun. But the young man didn't have an eye for any of it.
Even the elephants, creatures from another land, didn't interest him the way that clown did.
He looked around, trying to find him.
The stands were full of people. More than were supposed to be in the town.
Perhaps people from all around had come to see the circus.
Every step pushed past someone. Each one was just as angry as the last before ignoring him and continuing to watch the show.
Across the tent, near the other door, he saw the clown.
It honked it's nose once and vanished past the curtains.
The man followed urgently.
He didn't know why, but the clown made him feel the same feeling that kept him here in this small town, away from his homeland.
He ran out the open curtain and saw... nothing.
It seems the clown had gotten away.
He sighed and drooped his shoulders.
"Looking for someone in particular?"
'Behind me?' The young man turned quickly.
A carnival master stood there, leaning against the tent. He watched slightly amused as the young man turned expectantly.
An emotion worked its way across the young man's face, before disappearing quickly.
Something like disappointment, or was that a hint of wonder in his eyes dying out?
"Sorry sir, I was just intrigued by something someone said. It seems he'd left before I could catch up."
The carnival master stood up and swung his cane over his shoulder.
He walked closer to the boy. His broad shoulders blocking the sunlight from the lowering sun.
"What did he say?"
The young man stood there for a moment. Contemplating something.
The carnival master walked closer. His grip on the cane growing stronger.
"I... I don't remember, sorry."
Immediately, he loosened his grip. The young man let out an internal sigh of relief.
The man reached his hand out.
"Would you like to remember?"
...
The world blurred again, and the man found himself standing right where he was when the clown had first spoken to him.
The world had blurred again.
Why did it do that?
He hadn't been the one to do that.
He looked around him; nothing was out of the ordinary, except for those strange performers.
The clowns, even the normal-looking ones, made him feel something different now.
Like something was looking at him.
Yet, nothing around him stood out.
What was he doing here again?
And why were the clowns important?
Something was wrong.
Panic slowly started building inside his chest.
Then that disappeared too.
His mind slowly numbed and took in everything around it.
He wandered around the circus, simply enjoying everything.
He even laughed a little at the clown's antics.
Still, time doesn't stop for anyone. Well, not for long anyway.
Soon, the lamps dimmed, and the clowns loaded up into their little cars.
The whole day passed by in a blur.
Blur...
The young man's eyes snapped open.
What time was it? He barely remembered entering the circus, and now it was almost nighttime.
A voice echoed in his head. One he didn't recognize.
"Would you like to remember?"
No, he did recognize it. Where was it from?
A lamp lit up in the distance, then two. Soon, he had a path to follow, and follow he did.
Their heat felt colder than it should have, and soft carnival music echoed from all around him.
The voice echoed over and over in his head, he grabbed it and tried massaging it to think clearly.
The lamps led into the large tent again, but this time it was empty.
There were no crowds cheering, and no circus performers doing tricks.
Just the trail of lights that led him there, and a podium to stand on.
The lights behind him slowly extinguished, until there was only one left, the one above the podium.
He climbed up on it.
The light went out.