Foreigner felt weightless, his mind and body sinking into a pool of inky blackness. There were moments of pain that streaked through the empty abyss like white lightning. Each line cut through the darkness illuminated his surroundings just a bit further, until he could see the bottom, a pool of still, black water with glimmering wisps moving underneath the surface. His feet upon taking a step on this expanse caused minor ripples to spread outward, a drop in the ocean of his mind. He looked around once more and saw his surroundings shift and contort into something less abstract. In a blink of an eye, he was standing in a room. His presence felt familiar and left him at ease, being surrounded by a multitude of books in various conditions and artifacts of peculiar sizes and shapes.
“I organized the study for you. I couldn’t stand the clutter.” A voice called out from behind him. Foreigner turned around to see a woman standing by the doorway, thick brown curls trailing down to her shoulders with a mischievous smile and soft brown eyes. Reflexively, he pulled close and at the moment he opened his arms to embrace her, she walked through him.
“You take such good care of me, love. I appreciate this.” His own voice, yet softer and laced with an undercurrent of regret, a feeling of loneliness and a desire to spend more time with her in this room. He turned to see himself in a blue dress shirt and black slacks, an elaborate looking staff leaning on the table in the study, holding this woman tightly and caressing the back of her head and the small of her back.
“This is my wife.” Foreigner stated. There was a choking sensation he felt bubbling in his throat as warm tears streaked across his cheeks.
“Well if you appreciate me so much, why don’t you take a break from all this research and come to the Nest with me and Carlito,” She shifted around the old him, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him closer, “We could set up a picnic in the park. I’m sure he’d love to spend time with his big, strong dad. And I’d love to spend more time with my lovable man.” She chuckled at the last comment, raising one eyebrow.
“Wow, I’m a lovable man now,” the old Foreigner raised an eyebrow of his own while smiling, his eyes looking into hers for a long time, “Well I can’t just disappoint my wonderful woman after all the work she’s gone through.” He leaned in for a kiss and the room lit up with a ray of sunshine. After a moment, the old Foreigner pulled back to look at the open window and said “I guess even the sky above wants us to go to the park if the sun is out. Get Carlito dressed while I prepare something downstairs.” She merely nodded and headed for the door with a smile on her face. Before she left the room, she lingered at the doorway and turned to the old him.
“You know I love you, right?” She stated.
“I do, love. You know I love you, right?” the old him replied. She shrugged and blew him a kiss.
“For your sake, you better.” She stuck out her tongue before running out of the doorway, her footsteps a pleasant sound of life in this home. The old Foreigner was frozen in place now, mid stride towards the doorway with no indication of movement towards the downstairs like he’d promised.
“Who am I…” Foreigner whispered, walking around the room to construct what kind of life he had before everything went awry. From the staff and the artifacts and the mention of research, he could at least assume he was a Fixer, although what kind was far beyond him. Looking at the books provided a mixed bag of results. There were some spines that were legible, either referencing an event called the “Smoke War” or the more recent looking spines talking about the “Whitest Night, Darkest Day” phenomenon. More curious to him was how the text shifted, as if the language was being molded to be legible to him, almost like it was being translated in real time. Foreigner turned to the artifacts in their sealed glass containers. His eyes were immediately drawn to this floating orb, faint markings lining the sphere in all corners which felt like letters but did not translate like the spines of the books did. Another artifact was a tiny coffin structure, a rusted metal chain coming out of the top with no other discernible features.
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“Curious…” Foreigner wasn’t sure what to make of these items. He walked over to his window and looked out. The ground below was beige with few blades of grass and shrubbery filling out the yard. A thick wall of concrete was raised around the perimeter of his home, about five feet in height with barbed wire lining the area above. Further beyond the expanse of gray dust, he could see the silhouette of a massive wall that looked to consume the sky if it could. Foreigner turned to his desk and began scanning it for material. There was a manilla folder scattered around the pile of unorganized paperwork that garnered his attention. Just as he was prepared to read through the title and the surrounding documents, he felt a presence.
“Oh… so you’re back once again…” This seductive whisper caused the foundation of his home to peel away. Foreigner was in a panic, looking around to find the source of this mysterious voice. “But there is something different about you… there is something different about me too, it seems…” A slice of darkness cut through one of the walls of the home, revealing an entity poking from beneath the surface of the still, black expanse of water. The face was serpentine with 6 yellow slits for eyes glaring at the Foreigner like a predator looks at prey.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?” Foreigner looked around his surroundings and the staff from within the study materialized in his hand.
“Who am I… what am I doing here… questions that obfuscate your… precarious situation.” The voice was deep, each statement resonating in the chest of Foreigner as its syllables were delivered in an apathetic and languid manner. “The real question to be asked… where is the rest of us and where will you go… to find the solutions to these problems?” Its yellow eyes narrowed further. Foreigner’s home had crumbled around him in a flash and once more he was surrounded by an overbearing emptiness… except something had changed. Like a light in the dark, a sphere of his home illuminated the darkness from the sky above, a sun casting rays down on the darkness that pervaded all corners of his mind.
“Why won’t you answer my questions?” Foreigner asked the peculiar entity.
“An answer would… flood this place and cause the embers beneath the still waters to burst into ash. I can advise once… more doors are open. A sliver is enough to awaken us from slumber… open more doors and take your answers then…” The entity closed its eyes and sunk into the waters below, a silhouette of a massive serpent caught in between the motes of light in the darkness. With a sudden crash, a bolt of white lightning struck Foreigner and he reeled forward, gasping for air and blinking at the sudden shift in surroundings. He was strapped to the chair in Jin’s workshop. Foxtail looked expectantly at Foreigner while Jin removed the restraints binding Foreigner to the chair.
“So,” Foxtail started, “Did you find anything juicy in there?” Foreigner stared into space for a moment before coming to a conclusion.
“There wasn’t a lot, but even that was enough. Let’s just find this Meister and get a more thorough procedure done. There’s a lot left just underneath the… surface.” Foreigner replied. “We can talk about some of the discoveries I had along the way to the Turned Stone Office.” Foreigner turned over to Jin and grabbed their hand. “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate having this sliver of a memory back.” Jin vacantly looked back at Foreigner, the only registration of feeling coming from a slight nodding of their head.
“It was merely a service that served my best interest. Your appreciation is tangential. Now please leave this workshop and find my Meister if you wish more work to be done on your condition.” Jin waved his hand towards the door and stood stock still, waiting for Foreigner and Foxtail to leave the premises. With nods of appreciation from Foxtail and Foreigner, the two exited the workshop, making their way towards the Turned Stone Office looking for Foreigners’ big lead.