Moving past the remains of the Forest of Thorns and around the lost Citadel, Kyrion arrived at a large lake in the middle of a tundra. The area was cold and desolate, and yet it seemed oddly familiar. Only much more dead than he recalled. Kyrion walked over to what was once a garden and found it was full of dead and dying plants. The grass was also dead, and no creatures lived in the lake. Next to the park was a cottage, which, while old, was well-maintained.

Approaching the door, Kyrion felt a presence inside and knew that it, too, had sensed him.

“Come on in. You don’t need to knock. There aren’t any secrets with us.” Said an older but weaker version of his voice.

Kyrion turned the knob and scowled. “What happened to you?”

A shaggy man with short red hair, a red goatee, green eyes, and a wiry frame lay on his side. A hole in its chest where his heart should have been, as his upper body was littered with countless scars.

“I have been like this since you managed to leave me and reach our body on Imala. Not the best of circumstances. But one of us needed to stay behind at the time.”

“What happened to the two kids that were with you?”

“You’ll figure that out in a few years. They wouldn’t have been able to leave otherwise.” ‘The shaggy Kyrion stood to a solid five-four, dwarfed by his counterpart.

“I remember you being much taller.” Kyrion smirked.

“How old are you now?”

“Fifteen. Is time that trippy.”

“We’re seventeen then; we weren’t this tall back then; what did you eat?”

“Anything and everything including olives. Wait seventeen? I’m not the youngest!” Kyrion looked about before scowling.” Wait what happened to those two years?”

“We had to plan and getting back wasn’t as easy then as it would be now. Back then you were quite weak. And time wasn’t on your side.”

“Why did we separate?”

“Because you were a child who didn’t deserve to be stuck here as it was my selfishness that caused us to be trapped here. I chose power over family, ruthlessness over leniency, and to join the side of destruction while you were subdued for a lifetime. By the time I wanted to fix things, it was too late. I believed a world without me would be more peaceful. As I came to learn later. I was very much wrong and trapped here, with you unable to do anything. So I asked a friend of mine for a favor, and he decided to gain a few more favors while he was at it, leading to the situation you are in now.”

“What was the favor?”

“Transplanting one of our natural affinities into someone else. Although that helped you in more ways than one. There are a few things you’ll need to do to pay back my debt.”

“Our debt I guess. Which affinity?”

“It was a form of higher energy affinity that I didn’t have. Which was quite weird given that we shouldn’t have had any affinities back then.”

“Who got the affinity?”

“Your cousin Asela received it.”

“Sister, ah, is that why she’s marked.”

“All fateless are marked somewhere, along with those blessed by spirits. Your affinity was in your brain, so when it was transplanted, the affinity appeared on Asela’s forehead.”

“A little fire is nice, but it’s all too common in our world.”

“That it is. Got any more questions?”

“You know who the other fateless are, don’t you?”

“I did. Sadly, that knowledge will be lost when we merge unless you really wish to know.”

“Is Lin fateless, is that why I’m drawn to her?”

“Some of my memories and emotions left over echoed in your head. Is what i’d like to say, but that didn’t happen until she accidentally cut your head off. Our emotions haven’t been shared in years.”

“Uh-huh. Well, come on then. Let’s get this over withr.” Kyrion was just about tired of this old dude.

“Just like that?” The shaggy man scowled.

“Just like that. You appeared to make sure I understood that Psycho wasn’t actually a part of my soul. You also taught me how to properly keep people alive, even if it was minor information. So long as you don’t make things complicated, I’m fine with you joining my soul.”

“You’re too trusting.”

“If you betray me and do something to harm me or my friends, I will trigger a brain aneurysm that will kill you while only you while resulting in amnesia at worst for me. Does that help?” Kyrion looked down at himself, his expression unchanged.

“Just me. How are you certain you’ll be able to do that?”

“I have lanced my own memories once. It hurt for a week but it was worth it. But I used that knowledge to alter other’s memories every now and then. It’s useful for treating PTSD, or trauma from an injury after their body has been healed.”

“And you will treat me as trauma if I turn out to be evil.”

“That is your one and only warning. I will put us both down if I must. I’m trusting you by telling you I can do that.”

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“Fair enough. Anything else I should know?”

“I found two other shards of my soul. Which makes me assume that I have had only half a soul prior.”

“You’re already an expert?”

“Nope. But I have had some weird encounters.”

“Did you choose a path of bloodshed and corpses?”

“A few monster corpses, the two shards are mostly free. If you’re good I’ll even let you run around in your own body from time to time.”

“You mean you’ll let me have full control?”

“No. You’ll get a separate body to run around in, I know better than to give you full control now. Let’s go.” Kyrion scowled.

“You’re impatient.”

“My favorite teacher shares this flaw.”

“All right then.” Kyrion took his hand and scowled as he felt a connection, as though someone else’s memories tried to join his own. But hit some sort of barrier.

“So, do you want to keep our memories or shall we forget them?”

“Oh, I didn’t know that was an option; you lived your life. Let them have no bearing on mine. You’re forgetting, bub.”

The shaggy man shook his head with a smile on his face. “Most would kill to know their future.”

“You aren’t my future. Isn’t that the point of all this? Now any skills and techniques for fighting. I’ll gladly borrow. I suck at one on one combat and have to overcompensate with a lot of mana, and shenanigans.”

“I doubt it’s that…” Kyrion’s fights played through their head, and the shaggy man replied.

“Your decent, given that you don’t specialize in direct confrontation, your style fits. Your shards are meant to fill that gap but you will probably inherit most of my fighting instincts and intuition. It’s up to you how you use that.”

“Great, now get in there.” Kyrion pointed to his head.

“Yes sir.”

Kyrion’s body solidified as his two bodies fused into one. Mind and soul had become one, and for the first time since he’d been in this strange place, Kyrion felt whole. Knowledge of himself became apparent, and his connection to his power here was greatly amplified as red armor covered his left torso. Purple armor made from the same material had manifested on his form from his right side. Where the red had a fire motif, the purple had tons of ripples. His head and legs hadn’t been armored yet, but his body was mostly complete. Everything in the universe was connected by lines of space, and through them, he could travel.

“All things are connected.” With those words, a portal connecting to the Tower opened before being closed by a powerful force. The forcefulness sent Kyrion flying, and his purple armor faded a shade.

Kyrion sighed and got back to his feet. “I’m missing something.”

“Like what?” Something asked from within his head.

“Order? No….Not quite right.” Kyrion moved to the shore and formed a chair of earth, which he sat back on.

“Stability?” The voice added.

“That! Maybe…” Kyrion looked down at his chair and wondered how he created it.

“Your legs and feet are connected to the ground.”

“Huh. You’re pretty smart person in my head.”

“I am you after all. It’s a given.” Said the helpful voice.

“I’ve finally lost it.” Kyrion immediately got to his feet and stomped. From there, the ground spit and spiked upwards, nearly piercing his chin and going straight up. Had he been in his home world, that would have been a painful death. It was a minor inconvenience as the spike was an extension of his body.

“I do believe that you are indeed insane.”

“Not helping.” Kyrion tried to sense the pulse that shot upwards and slowly pushed it outwards. He stomped again, and the spike shot towards him, stopping inches from his left eye.

“Huh, try angling it away from your face?”

“No duh. Sheesh. Any other helpful advice?”

“Not yet.”

“Fine.” Kyrion felt the pulse in the ground, pushed it away, and used his will to alter its angle. He stomped a third time, and a stone spike shot outwards and away.

“Good for you.”

“I did it’!”

“Yeah. Now after deciding on your direction. Instead of stomping I want you to draw a shape with your foot. It can be a circle, square, or triangle. Just be sure it’s quick.”

Kyrion sighed as he pressed into the ground, focused, angled the power, and drew a rectangle. A dense sheet of earth rose up before Kyrion, acting as a shield or earthen barrier. The effect was so surprising that Kyrion kicked the ground in triumph. The large wall shot up and away before landing with a crash as a deep rectangular hole lay in the ground in front of him.

“I have a lot of experimenting to do before I go.” Kyrion had decided to spend a month in seclusion practicing and refining his earth soul abilities.

After he achieved a suitable level of mastery, his right leg was fitted with a brown piece of leg protection; the color darkened until it appeared black. The mismatched nature of these abilities was starting to get on his nerves. Finding that he couldn’t progress any further with this alone. Kyrion opened up his senses, felt a specific location out and took a step forward.

----------------------------------------

A confused serpent looked down at Kyrion as he appeared out of nowhere with no sign of his arrival. No magical fanfare, he was simply there.

“Hey, buddy. I found who I needed to find. All that’s left is to climb the mountain to get back. Correct?”

“Your soul is much stronger now than it was before you arrived. It seems. What do you plan on doing with that power?”

“Go home and cause trouble. Although I get the feeling I won’t be able to go anywhere that doesn’t already have a trace of my mana. Everything else is limited to ten-mile jumps. Although getting back to a place I’ve been is quicker, in fact. I should explore the continent and mark down locations back home.

“Don’t do that on a large scale until you become an expert as most deities may see it as a challenge to their power. If you’re not careful, someone may send you to another universe if you cause too much trouble.”

“When have I ever caused trouble?” Kyrion didn’t look the serpent in the eye.

“How many times do you breathe in each day? I have never known a soul as chaotic as yours. Just looking at you is making me queasy.”

“Touche. At least I plant trees to combat my waste of oxygen and thus claim the moral high ground.” Kyrion scowled. The abyss is oxygen? As the question was asked in his head. It was a form of gas essential for many living creatures to breathe. It can also be highly combustible if concentrated. You can manipulate oxygen through your wind affinity. You have done this subconsciously. Now, you may do so willingly.

“Oh. Oh no’s.” Kyrion realized something concerning. Something flabbergasting. For the first time in Kyrion’s life…

“What’s wrong Kyrion?”

“I can hear my inner monologue. And it’s got an accent.”

“This is no accent, this is just my voice. I was giving you direct information. Did…Did you already forget about me?”

“So, you can hear your own thoughts. Why is that strange?”

“My head is supposed to be quiet. That way I can focus on controlling the chemicals in my head. How can I do that when I hear someone else in the background? Clearing my mind is supposed to be easy. Simple and direct.” Kyrioin was clearly overthinking and making a mountain out of a molehill.

“Kyrion, why is your nose bleeding? You don’t have blood.” Said the inner voice.

“I smell burnt bacon.” Kyrion twitched as he suddenly and painfully died while in a pool.

“Ah. He didn’t make the portal strong enough and a part of his soul needed to catch up. Trouble indeed.”