They traveled for two days, sleeping under the stars, until they reached a new town about twenty miles from the one they had met in. The new town was a little bigger than the last one, but not by much. Erick and Nomad walked into the town and soon found a place to stay. Though Erick hadn’t seen or heard from Nomad since that first night he still held the door open for a few seconds before he went in so that Nomad could go in first. When they found a spare bedroom Erick said out loud that Nomad could take the bed and that he’d sleep on the floor.

There were a few more people in this house than Nomad was accustomed to. He never spent much of his time around the people he lived with if he could avoid it and the fewer people there were in the house the better. They always reminded him of the family he might have had. That had been Nomad’s main reason for never staying in any one place for very long. Erick on the other hand, would spend most of his time in the living room with the family reading books, watching TV or just thinking.

“You there, Nomad?” Erick called out from time to time.

Nomad still hadn’t decided what to do regarding Erick and so he never answered his calls. For the most part, Nomad wanted to observe him.

“I’ll be leaving this afternoon.” Erick called out after they’d spent a week in the house.

Nomad had been expecting this and began to collect his few belongings. They consisted of the clothes on his back and the Bible. Nomad had tried reading the Bible before but found it difficult to understand. There were a few passages that stood out to him but for the most part he just carried it around with him out of habit than anything else.

That evening, Nomad followed Erick out into a cool light breeze and they both walked in silence. Another night was spent underneath the stars. Erick, Nomad could sense, never really fell asleep and Nomad began to suspect that he didn’t need to sleep as often or as much as a normal person. His mind was full of thoughts, but when Nomad attempted to probe into them, he found the way blocked. Although Nomad knew that he could break through, he held back.

The next day, they arrived at their new home: an empty, run down apartment building on the outskirts of a large city. Nomad was standing at the window looking out at the park across the street when Erick began to speak.

“This is where I learned to use my powers,” he said. “Where I first lived after running away from home.”

Nomad recognized the park.

“That’s where I first woke up.” Nomad said, pointing out the window and allowing Erick to see him.

“Is that the first thing you remember?” Erick asked.

Nomad didn’t answer.

“Tell you what,” Erick said, “If you answer one of my questions, I’ll answer one of yours and we can go from there.”

Nomad knew he didn’t have many answers for Erick but nodded anyway.

“What’s your name?” Erick asked.

“I don’t know,” Nomad finally admitted.

“Well, what can I call you then?” Erick asked without missing a beat.

“I answered your question.” Nomad pointed out. “It’s my turn.”

Erick looked upset but relented and waved for Nomad to go ahead and ask a question.

“What all can you do with your powers?” Nomad couldn’t hide the hunger in his voice as he spoke.

Erick’s mind opened enough for Nomad to see images of him flying, throwing blasts of energy, moving objects with his mind, moving faster than humanly possible, lifting a car with his bare hands and making a shield around him that could deflect bullets.

“Can you teach me?” Nomad asked at once when the flow of memories stopped.

“Not so fast,” Erick said with a smile, “It’s my turn to ask you a question.”

For a moment Nomad wanted to turn invisible and wait for him to give in, but knew that he was just being childish.

“Fine.”

“Well,” Erick began his second question, “If you don’t remember your name, is there something I can call you?”

“I sometimes call myself The Wandering Nomad.” It felt ridiculous admitting this to Erick. “You can just call me Nomad, for short if you like.”

“So, Nomad, what do want to learn first?” Erick asked.

“Teach me to fly.” Nomad said.

Erick shook his head. “Let’s hold off on that for now.”

“No.” Nomad said. “You asked me what I wanted to learn and I told you.”

“And I will teach you to fly…later. Flight is a difficult thing to master and I think it would be better to start you off with something easier like making an energy blast.”

“Then why’d you ask if you already knew what you were going to teach?”

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” Erick said, “We can start with flight if you really want to but I think you’ll have an easier time if we start small.”

Nomad shrugged.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Erick said. “Now hold your hands close together in the center of your chest, one hand over the other with your palms facing each other.”