"Who... no, how... wait, parasites?!"

Jeffrey, slumbering in his human-shark hybrid form, stirred in his sleep due to the noise Noah was making.

"You can use your inner voice to talk to me, we share the same body, after all." The gravelly voice responded.

'What the duck?! Share the same body?'

Noah concentrated and thought of his response, uttering it in his mind. "Who are you?!"

It appeared to work as the voice in his head responded: "My name is Silas."

"Silas...? That's the name that lunatic, Voidstrider said, back in the alley."

"Yeah, don't be too harsh on little Olivia, this is my fault."

Noah was panting heavily, feeling like his head was about to burst. "You... She wanted to kill you!"

"Yeah..." The gruff voice sounded somewhat bitter.

"How... why are you in my head to begin with?"

"I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, kid. I tried to take over your body."

"Huh...?" Noah was stunned by the bluntness of that statement.

Silas sighed within the confines of Noah's mind. "The less you know, the better, but let's just say I got into a scrap and lost my own body. You were my last resort."

"Why me?!"

"You were the closest to me, while fitting the requirements."

"What requirements...?" Noah couldn't believe that his life had turned into a living hell over something so capricious and arbitrary.

Noah sensed Silas mentally scratching his cheek as he pondered how to explain it.

"We call people Touched because they manifest certain abilities by using powers that came from the other world, right? Well, what if I were to tell you that every living thing in this hellhole of a world, is 'touched' to some degree?"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Huh...?"

"You have been altered too, just not enough to manifest powers. But your children probably would have."

It all began to fall into place. Noah could never make sense as to why he would suddenly manifest his Touched powers at age 31, especially when Touched children typically first manifest their abilities at age 3 or 4.

"I've been using your power this entire time..."

"That's right. You did pretty well, all things considered."

"And the 'scrap' you lost? It was with Voidstrider?"

"That little squirt?" Silas laughed. "No, but she is the reason that you're still in control of that flabby meat sack of yours."

'Lovely imagery, thanks...'

"I... couldn't bring myself to kill her and didn't expect little Olivia to track me so fast after finding a suitable body."

"Yeah, that's really touching, I'm getting all misty eyed here, you motherlover..." Noah was angrily scratching his itchy hand.

Silas laughed again. "By the way, what kind of animal are you? In the street? You couldn't find a toil-"

"Never mention that again!" Noah got so flustered that he actually shouted.

"...No... I swear I didn't eat the guests..." Jeffrey mumbled in his sleep, again stirring due to the commotion.

Noah sighed in frustration. "So why are you an annoying voice in my head instead of wearing me like a meat suit?"

"About that, had I tried to take over your body, you would have exploded into a red mist."

"Thank you for the vivid descriptions, it really helps with the immersion..."

Silas ignored Noah and continued: "You were in pain while running for your life in the Hollowed Depths, right? That was me... changing you into a vessel that can contain me. Alas, I ran out of time."

Ignoring Silas' creepy way of putting it, Noah asked: "Ran out of time?"

"Yeah, you did well to survive, but you would have died in that temple, had I not intervened."

"You mean that ancient hall where you told me to raise Steve?"

"Yeah... By the way, Steve? Seriously? ...Anyway, did you think you actually had the power to command such a powerful existence?"

Noah's gaze fell on Steve, ever vigilantly guarding over him, even now.

"At that point you were about as feeble as a newborn kitten. All of the power I had reserved for taking over your meat sack, went to raising that warrior, instead. And then I fell into slumber, only recently waking up."

Noah found that explanation plausible. After Steve, he struggled to raise another minion, and was only able to raise Claws, after becoming significantly more powerful.

"Say, why did that psychopath, Voidstrider even take me this far out of The Arc, instead of just killing me in the alley?"

Silas grumbled, evidently disapproving of Noah's choice of words toward Olivia, yet finding it difficult to entirely fault him, given the circumstances.

"I'm guessing that she was worried I'll just fly into another person after she would have killed you, so she took you as far out of the city as possible, although I really was stuck with you."

"Well, aren't you two duckers just so considerate towards everyone in your attempts to kill me... So, what now that you're awake? You're taking over my body?"

"No, that ship had sailed. You actually did real good out here. You're too strong for me to take over now."

Noah wiped at the sweat beading on his forehead. "Let's pretend I believe you... so, what do you want from me?"

"I won't apologize for doing what I felt was necessary at the time, but how about I'll help you out? Let me ask you something, what do you think my... our power actually is?"