The sounds of the workmen finishing the stage and lighting, erecting barricades on the floor in front of the stage, setting up the drums and keyboard, and tuning the guitars echoed all around him as he walked out onto the stage. No matter how many times Cullen had walked out onto this very stage it still never failed to thrill him while at the same time scare him nearly to death. He looked out over the empty floor below him and the empty chairs that rose high above all around him and felt his adrenaline spike yet again as he imagined them completely filled with screaming and cheering fans.

The house lights were out along with the stage lights as a simple set of spot lights danced back and forth over the crowd and then over the stage over and over again. Thirty thousand people were chanting for him as he and his band prepared to take the stage. Cullen's six foot-two inch frame was clothed in his normal stage attire; long sleeved black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a pair of jet black Levi's, and his comfortable black cowboy boots. Strapped around his shoulder and hanging down at his side would be his favorite electric guitar that he always used for the first song of the night, a 1968 Gibson Les Paul Custom. When the last of the lights finally died out the drummer slipped up onto his seat and began to "click" out a count on his drum sticks and that was it, it was his turn to take to the stage and start the first song. He moved to take that first step and all of a sudden he was back standing in the middle of the stage with all the work continuing on all around him.

Cullen shook his head once, then again, to completely dispel the memory that had fully taken over his mind and senses for a moment. He sighed softly and looked straight up for a moment. He had thought that he was getting better but that vision-like memory was the only evidence he needed to know that things not only weren't getting better but that they were getting worse, much worse. Again he shook his head and turned away from the empty arena floor and headed over towards the racks of guitars and the new roadie who was tuning them for tomorrow night's performance. Cullen nodded to the new guy, Max he thought his name was, and passed him by as he headed towards the first rack and his personal guitars. He didn't have to search the rack long before he found the guitar he wanted, his "68 Les Paul. Pulling it from the rack he quickly slung the strap over his shoulder and ran his fingers over the strings to be sure that it was already in tune. Nodding in satisfaction as the silvery notes floated up and away from the guitar he let it fall to hang at his side and then turned back towards the stage.

"Max, please have everyone take a quick break so I can have the arena area to myself for about ten to fifteen minutes. I need to get rid of a few jitters and I'd prefer to be alone while I do it." Max nodded his head. "Sure thing, Cullen" I'll just tell the boys to take an early lunch and we'll be out of your hair in just a few minutes."

Max set the guitar that he was working on back into its slot in the rack and called to everyone else over the radio to tell them that they've been given an early lunch break and to make sure to take it outside of the building. The arena and stage area are now off limits until after lunch per Cullen's request. The other workmen and members of his own road crew were very quick to comply with Max's orders and within five minutes everyone had left to go find lunch, including Max who spoke one last time as he was stepping out. "If there's anything I can get you while I'm out, Cullen, please call my cell and let me know otherwise we'll all be back in about forty-five minutes." Finally Cullen had the quiet solitude he so desperately desired.

Moving over towards one of the smaller amps he picked up one of the cables to his guitars and plugged it in. He turned the volume on the amp up to an eight and then Cullen made his way out to the middle of the stage. Quickly he ran his fingers over the strings once more to make sure that the guitar sounded in tune and he watched as each note came out of the amplifier a bright, brilliant gold. A small smile spread across that usually happy face of his and he began to play and sing.

World turns black and white Pictures in an empty room Your love starts fallin' down Better change your tune Yeah, you reach for the golden ring Reach for the sky Baby, just spread your wings

We'll get higher and higher Straight up we'll climb We'll get higher and higher Leave it all behind

Run, run, run away Like a train runnin' off the track Got the truth bein' left behind Falls between the cracks Standin' on broken dreams Never losin' sight, ah Well just spread your wings

We'll get higher and higher Straight up we'll climb We'll get higher and higher Leave it all behind

So baby dry your eyes Save all the tears you've cried Oh, that's what dreams are made of 'Cause we belong in a world that must be strong Oh, that's what dreams are made of

Yeah, we'll get higher and higher Straight up we'll climb Higher and higher Leave it all behind Oh, we'll get higher and higher Who knows what we'll find?

This was a song that Cullen had played over and over and again and again until he knew the chords perfectly, until he could see them in his sleep. In the beginning the notes flowing out from his guitar and amp were the most pristine silver that he'd ever seen made by himself, but as he continued on through the second verse the color of the notes began to change and by the time he got to the mini-guitar solo at the end of the third verse they were pure gold. The radiance from golden notes flared brightly to the point where Cullen was ultimately blinded by the light, yet he kept playing. This was something new to him and he knew instinctively that he should see it through to whatever end it showed him so he continued through the end of the solo with his eyes closed. A sudden breeze washed across his entire body and it seemed that the arena had gotten colder by several degrees, but the blinding light was still in his eyes and so he continued to sing and play and ultimately finish the song.

So baby dry your eyes Save all the tears you've cried Oh, that's what dreams are made of Oh baby, we belong in a world that must be strong Oh, that's what dreams are made of

And in the end on dreams we will depend 'Cause that's what love is made of

As the song came to an end the last of the glowing golden notes faded away and Cullen found that his senses were slowly returning to him. He could hear that the last of the notes he played were only being put into the air by the guitar strapped around him. He could hear and feel the wind against his face but the sound of the wind made no sense to him. It sounded as if he were standing on a city street rather than on the stage back in the arena. Before he could open his eyes a crippling pain took him, causing him to bend and twist with a deep hunger, a massive headache, and the pain of something he couldn't quite recognize but instinctively knew that he should know this feeling. As his eyes opened to take in his surroundings he sucked in a deep, startled breath. Cullen finally realized that he wasn't in the arena anymore but standing out in the middle of a city street with a woman walking towards him nearly fifty yards away. It was right about then that he simply collapsed to the ground in a heap, just at the very edge of consciousness.

(Lyrics to the song Dreams by Van Halen)

(Taken from live play)

Cullen had neither seen nor heard the young woman's approach but he certainly did feel it when she nearly tripped over him, yet this was nowhere near enough to cause him to come out of the dizzy stupor he'd suddenly found himself after the song. It took the light smacks to his face to finally rouse him back to a state of full consciousness. "Wha" What the hell just happened" Where am I?" He looked up at her with those striking hazel eyes still looking a bit disoriented and seriously confused for a moment before he remembered that his guitar was still wrapped around his body and was now lying on the cold ground beneath him. He quickly shifted it onto his back and waited for an answer.

"There we are. That's it, sugah?" She began to worry about the lack of words coming from the stunned drunk, a relieved grin coming to her painted lips of rouge. As she helped him to sit up, her sniffer was at work. She didn't smell an ounce of liquor on his breath, which puzzled her. But she overlooked that knowing full well that liquor wasn't the only thing that could knock you off your feet around these parts. "I was hoping you'd tell me, stranger." She chuckled, and glanced at her wristwatch as she pulled him up. "Well, look, I ain't got all night to sit here and chat?" She was just going to let him go off on his confused goings, but something tugged at her insides. At her chest. She knew what it was. "Ah mother..." She groaned this very softly, and resumed that thought at full volume. "Let's get some food in ya, that should help clear the cobwebs some. How about it?"

While the last of the dizziness faded as she spoke the confusion still remained and he was relatively sure that staying here alone wasn't going to get him the answers that he needed so letting the rather striking young woman with the southern accent take him to find something to eat didn't sound like such a bad idea. "Sure, why not. Sitting around here alone isn't going to help me figure out what the hell's going on and where I am..." While he spoke his stomach growled rather loudly. "And as it turns out I seem to be rather hungry at the moment as well." He offered her a slightly weak lopsided smile as he stood up; making sure the guitar was secured tightly around his back. "Please lead the way."

"Now that's the spirit." She nodded, noticing the carefree attitude and found it familiar. It reminded her of Home a little. Heaven knows she was far, far away from that place now. "I'm sure a meal will at least take one of your problems outta your way." Had she paid closer attention, she'd have more of a welcome in mind for a newcomer to RhyDin. The lopsided smile earned him a simple nod as she stepped back, pulling at his arm to heave him to his feet. Once that was out of the way, she squatted once more to reclaim the hanger that she had dropped moments ago when she nearly stepped on the guitar-toting man. "Well, mister..." A pause. She noticed the guitar then, and played onto that. "Mister Guitar, you are very lucky I left my stilettos at home today else I'd doubt you'd be using such a pleasant tone this moment." Once she reclaimed the plastic covering laundry tote, she chuckled softly and prepared to lead the way as requested. With a heave of the bag over her shoulder, she began to walk, she carried on speaking in hopes of him catching up to her.

He chuckled softly at her comment. "I suppose that I might be at that, though with everything that's happened to me already I'm just thankful to be alive at the moment." As she moved on towards wherever she was taking him he moved to follow after she took only four or five steps. "If you don't mind telling me, where exactly am I?"

Her chin had to rise, eyes having to peer up at him from her modest stature of 5'4 as she replied. "You're in Rhy'Din. Welcome, I guess." With a shrug, she could relate to him more than she let on. He was luckier than she was when she arrived, that was for certain. She didn't have any tour guide to spell it out for her. Perhaps it was why she was compelled to help him through it. "I'm guessin' the Nexus took you for a ride and spat you out here. Nasty thing, that Nexus. It is a greedy, unpredictable, and unforgiving gambit.." That was the best way she could put it.

He was quiet for a few moments as they walked, processing everything she'd just told him was surely going to take a little time but he chewed through it for those few moments all the same. "The last thing that I remember was that I was on stage in Seattle running through a warm up song to tune my guitar here....The notes had just switched from silver to gold when all of a sudden I was blinded by an intense light as I finished the song. The next thing I knew I was laying on the ground and you'd almost tripped over me." Thanks to his rather stunned state he wasn't thinking clearly enough to edit the part about actually seeing the notes he played spreading out through the air in front of him, the one part of himself that he'd always kept hidden.

"Sounds like you had quite a trip." He was talking fast, and not making sense. The boy was probably delusional. And the nexus did get anyone more than spacey. She gave him credit for that, at least. She could barely make sentences during her first moments here. He was stronger than she. And she sensed some charm that was beyond any type of smile he could lay on her. It was a tickle now, dim. Very weak, like he was. "Just slow down some for now. After you're fed, we'll go over it a bit more, alright?" A hand came to his shoulder blade to give a harsh but simple pat.

He nodded once, his head still swimming for nearly all it was worth. "That sounds like a really good idea..." His stomach seemed to second that notion with another long, loud growl. "My head seems to be all over the place at the moment and it's not getting any better at the moment." He felt somehow reassured by the pat on the shoulder she gave him; it at least told his dizzy mind that he truly wasn't dreaming. After a few more moments of walking silently beside her he suddenly shook his head and blushed furiously as he looked at her. "What terrible manners you must think I have. Here you are helping me, someone you don't know from Adam and I haven't even told you my name." Again he shook his head as if he was berating himself internally. "My name is Cullen, Cullen Tabor."

"You can't be so terrible. You're walkin" with somebody who almost mistook you for asphalt." That managed a sincere chuckle from her, as she shrugged off the formalities. Southern laid-back hospitality dripped from her soul, and it didn't need much in return. His introduction yielded a long pause. "I'm Blair. It's a pleasure to meetcha, Mister Tabor." A broad smile came to her face with a simple nod. "And for what it's worth, welcome to Rhy"Din." She shrugged, allowing a bit of her guardedness slip. "Nothin'll ever prepare you for this place; you'll see what I mean real soon. All you gotta remember is that this isn't a dream...No matter how much it can seem like one. Remember that."

He nodded and smiled. "The pleasure's all mine, Blair....and thanks for the welcome. It's not every day I get to play speed bump to a pretty young lady either." His jovial mood lifted for a moment as he looked around them as they walked on but seemed to return when he looked her way again. "I think you're right about nothing every preparing me for something like this place....If it didn't feel, smell, and sound so very real I'd have to swear that I was dreaming right this very second." He shook his head again. "I don't know what it is, but since I....woke up, for lack of a better word, I get the feeling like I should know what it was that happened to me to bring me here but I just can't put my finger on it."

"Don't you worry. All that'll come to you in time. It's right that you don't quite know much yet. It would be far too overwhelmin", don'tcha think?" It was then that she slowed her walk, and took a turn in the alleyway. She had to take the Talent Entrance. Not the Patron entrance. Her eyes looked up and sidelong toward him. She could feel that tickle becoming more noticeable. A brush turning into a full blown touch of contact. Music" it was sound. Something organic and channeled into impulses of sweet uniqueness. She was having difficulty getting a read on it. What she could sense was its growing potency, and how it slept inside of him. She was a budding Medium, but nothing too proficient to define what she'd never encountered before. She was advanced, but still so young. Her pastel green eyes winked with light when her eyes cast themselves on his form a bit more" critically. Dismissing her own glance with a grin, she pushed the door open. "You can take a load off while I work. Won't be long til I'm done. You won't mind waitin" around for a few sets. It'll give ya time to gather your thoughts together.? She distanced herself after that intimate gaze she had secretly graced him with, as she entered the back entrance first.

He reached to grab the door and held it for her once she'd opened it. Taking notice of the entrance that they were using and putting it together with her mentioning him having to sit through a few sets he made a quick assumption. "So I take it that you're a fellow singer then." That was more of a statement than a question, but the hint of question was there all the same. He smiled. "It'll be nice to actually be in the audience for a chance rather than on stage. I'll be more than happy to wait until your shift is over. You're right, it will give me a chance to collect my thoughts and to get something to fill my seemingly empty stomach." With his head in the state it was it was no wonder that he missed the deeper look that she gave him. Cullen shook his head yet again. "That's strange....I'd just eaten about an hour before all of this happened....I must have been out of it a hell of a lot longer than I thought." Shrugging his shoulders he followed her into the establishment.