Kayne woke with a start, sitting upright and alert, ready for a fight. He wasn't sure what had spooked him as he looked around the bright living area of his one-bedroom flat. Calming down, he took in the familiar surroundings and reached for the TV control to turn off the screen that was humming with black and white static.
Yawning, he stretched his arms as he laid back on his comfy sofa, slapping his lips together a few times and relaxing. His mind kept nagging him to remember something, but he couldn't quite place his finger on what.
"Fascinating. Such a marvellous use of ingenuity and technology in an otherwise barren world." A calm voice came from behind him to his left, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin as he sat up and turned around so fast he almost fell from his seat onto the floor.
A handsome-looking man with strange eyes sat in his armchair with a laid-back posture, his legs stretched out, resting on his coffee table, crossing at the ankles.
The man had one of his cups in hand, and he noted it was the one that either Rick or Tom had gotten him for a Secret Santa one year. He would put money on it being either of those two since on the cup was a half-naked lady who went fully naked as the temperature of the cup rose.
Is that hot chocolate?
The cup-wielding man looked around fifty or sixty, but it was hard to say as he appeared to be in excellent condition physically. His short to medium-length white hair met a stylish white beard at his ears that framed a regal-looking face.
Kayne observed that the man was wearing an ornate open white jacket similar to a trench coat that went down to his knees and had some black runic designs framing the bottom. He also wore a plain white shirt that was open at the top and tucked inside some tight-fitting black trousers. They were then also tucked into the black boots resting leisurely on his table.
The outfit looked like some suave older noble had stepped out of the 18th century. The oddest thing about the man was still the otherworldly multi-coloured eyes that sucked you in.
"What?" Kayne blurted out as his mind was still trying to process the sudden appearance of this strange man in his home. He wasn't sure how to respond to finding a bizarrely dressed stranger lounging in his living room.
"Your broadcasting device, I believe you call it television in your memories? To think that a world devoid of all but the barest of essence could allow our species to flourish." The man answered as he regarded him with a scrutinising look.
"Wait, what? Who are you? What are you doing in my house?" Kayne asked a series of rapid-fire questions, his brain still trying to catch up to what was happening.
"Ah, right, I forgot. Your memories might take a couple of moments to return. I had to be quite intrusive when I established our connection. Your soul is remarkably stalwart for someone so untrained." The older man replied casually as if everything he had said made perfect sense.
"What are you…" Kayne was just about to throw out the strange older man when a sharp stabbing pain shot through his head, and images and sensations came back to him of space and a giant world where he was reborn. Now that his memories had all come flooding back, he realised who the man was as he backed up a little on his sofa in worry.
"There we are. Your memories have fully returned to you. Good. No need to fear. I mean you no harm." The man placatingly gestured with his empty hand as he leaned back into the chair, sipping the hot chocolate in the other without breaking eye contact.
"What is going on? Aren't you a ghost? How am I back in my old body and home?" Kayne demanded as a series of questions flittered through his mind as all recent memories hit him like a sledgehammer to the brain, causing him to massage his temples.
"Well, that's quite an interesting question in itself. I guess I should be considered dead. At least the actual me should have perished. However, this severed part of my soul limps on alone throughout the ages, a pale shadow to the magnificence of my authentic self." The man said wistfully with a faraway look before returning to himself and looking over at him.
"Anyway, haven't you already figured it out yet, boy? I can read your thoughts as fast as they appear. I didn't think you were this dense. You're in a dream, of course."
A dream? Wait, did he call me stupid? Well fuck you too, you old goat.
Kayne thought as he glared at the older man, trying to evaluate everything happening. The barrage of memories and the peculiar position he was now in frayed his patience down at the edges.
"You know I heard that. What part of 'I can read your thoughts' did your small brain misunderstand?" The man drawled as he emphasised reading his thoughts like speaking to an idiot.
"This isn't the first time you have directed vulgar language at me, but I must say I admire your guts, or is it ignorance? I could flay your mind and drive you insane with but a few thoughts, you know, perhaps it's best to be a little more tactful?"
"Erm… sorry?" Kayne stuttered out. The man didn't come across as malicious and had remained easy-going and aloof until now. If he could read his mind, it might be best to be a little more respectful, especially if he could follow through with his threats.
The idea of having his mind read like an open book didn't sit easily with him. He did have an idea of how to mask his thoughts, but he was curious if it would work.
Worth a try?
"It's fine. I guess you are a descendant of mine, after all. You probably get your fire from her side, though. She always was a little mule-headed." He said as a longing look crossed his face at the mention of 'her'.
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Hold on, did he say we're related?
"My name isn't Macdonald, and I have never owned a farm. What is this!?" The man demanded as he finally sat up straight and heavily put down the empty mug onto the table with a glare.
Kayne had decided the best way to avoid having his thoughts read by the man was to cover them with an annoying, repetitive song. He sang it as loud and annoying as he could in his head. Judging from the reaction, it worked.
The mention by the man of their relation caused the impromptu defence to flounder as confusion caused cracks to form in his obnoxious rendition of the children's nursery rhyme. The man stood up with an exasperated sigh, slapping his thighs as he slowly rose and seemed to dust himself off.
"A novel idea for a mental defence, to be sure, but it's useless against me. Seeing past the surface thoughts, whilst more difficult, is still child's play for me." The older man casually mentioned it as if it was just a fact, not the brag it sounded like.
"We're related? How is that possible?" Kayne ignored the man's critique as he stopped repeating the song in his head, convinced by the man that it was a little pointless.
He hadn't ruled out using it again, as even if it did nothing, it was still probably quite frustrating to listen to. It's not like he wanted anyone reading his thoughts.
"Alas, it is true. How else did you think I woke up? I felt a bloodline connection during your unorthodox arrival into this world. I must say, though, One of my children must have reproduced with pond scum at some point down the line, resulting in this… disappointment." The man spoke sarcastically, starting with a hint of disdain, running his strange eyes over Kayne as if looking him up and down.
"How is that even possible? Wait, do you know who my biological parents are then?" Kayne ignored the man's insults as he felt he might be able to gather some information regarding the actual parents of his new body.
One of his self-appointed quests in this new world was to unravel the mystery of his birth. He wasn't overly bothered about finding the parents who had abandoned him, but he felt he owed it to that part of him that was the original owner of this body.
"No, I do not. I don't mean the infant body that you have merged with. I mean the you who travelled to this world as a disembodied soul." The man stated clearly as if he was speaking to a child.
What annoyed Kayne was that he was a child now, so it's not like he could even really argue the point.
"I don't understand. How are we related, then? I'm not even from this world. It would make sense if the body you had a connection to were my current one, but how can you be related to the original me?" Kayne tried his best to articulate his questions as constantly thinking of his past and present bodies still bewildered him.
"Obviously, one of my descendants travelled to your world, met a woman and settled down. You see, when a man meets a woman…" The man slowly narrated as if speaking to an idiot before Kayne interrupted and cut him off mid-sentence.
"Okay, I get that part, but what about the bloodline relation? That doesn't make sense, as my body didn't travel here. You said it was just my soul?" The more they spoke, the more questions Kayne had, and he wanted to spit them all out one after the other but held back, knowing it would only slow things down.
"When a person exists normally, there is a connection between body and soul on a fundamental level. The things that happen to your body leave marks on your soul and vice versa. Even though you arrived here without the meaty part, I could sense this connection." The man said, again sounding and looking condescending as if he was teaching someone something obvious they should already know.
"Well, how am I supposed to know this? I've just arrived here!" Kayne shouted at the man. He was just about to call him a bag of male genitalia when the man waved him off, dismissing him with a look that promised repercussions if he spoke those words.
"Time is running out. Maintaining this connection between us for too long is difficult for me. Come, let's go. We have some work to do. Your mundane questions can wait for another time." The man sighed as he walked over to the door into the hallway and gestured for him to walk through it as he stood waiting by the side.
"You may not know this yet, but your body is quite injured. I know you wish to learn what you refer to as 'magic', but if we do not repair the damage done, then it will be tough for you to have any future worth having." The older man calmly said upon seeing his hesitation in stepping through the doorway. Kayne looked at him and the opening before shrugging and following along.
In for a penny, in for a pound, right?
He noticed he was not in his hallway as he entered the doorway. He had appeared elsewhere. The sudden change caused him to feel a momentary flood of vertigo. Once he got his bearings, he could finally look in amazement at the sight before him.
He looked as if he was under the ground in some massive open cavern. The cavern's ceiling was covered in a rough layer of large glowing white crystals here and there, which provided the light for him to see all around. A large crystal sat in the centre and dominated the others like a sun compared to stars.
He was standing on the corner edge of what appeared to be a large grey Aztec-style pyramid with stairs running down the middle of each side. The steps led up to where he now stood: a large, flat, empty area on the top. From what he could tell, he could make out several smaller pyramids surrounding the one he was on, which looked to be in the centre of all the rest.
As he looked around, he noticed that the man was also with him, standing off to the side and observing him with a bored look. However, he never made any attempts to interrupt him.
"You know, you have not even told me your name yet." Kayne broke the silence as he focused his gaze on the strange man. He was curious about him, but mostly, he asked because he felt awkward under the stare of those weird eyes.
"If you can successfully learn what I teach you, then perhaps I'll tell you. Otherwise, there is no point in someone useless learning my name." The man replied with a shrug, but he didn't look or sound arrogant when he said it as if it were a matter of fact. The constant arrogance from the man caused his temper to flare a little inside.
"If it's a lesson in sarcasm, I think I already have that down." Kayne bit back. He was getting a little wound up at the older man's verbal prodding and decided this wouldn't be a one-way street, no matter how much he felt threatened.
The man just walked forward a few steps with a derisive snort as he waved his hand out in front of them, causing a giant image of a naked baby to appear suspended mid-air.
Kayne stepped back a little, raising his hands in defence, thinking he was just about to come under some attack. He lowered his hand and steadied his breathing, seeing that wasn't the case.
The life-like image faded into a blue outline of the baby with what looked like some circulatory system highlighted in green that ran throughout its body. In various places scattered around the green lines were ominous red dots that pulsed slowly, highlighting those areas.
The man gestured a hand forward as if asking for his thoughts on the floating outlined figure. Kayne studied the image briefly, hoping to figure out its hidden meaning so he wouldn't have to ask the man for help if this was the test, but he knew it was futile and gave up.
It's not like he can't read my mind anyway.
"Yes, I can read your mind. Now, enough of that. What do you make of this?" The man said as he slightly nodded his head at the floating image. Kayne took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts before providing his speculations but also wondering what this was all about.
"So I am guessing this child is the current me? That looks like the circulatory system that pumps the blood around the body, but it doesn't quite match. The green lines all seem to congregate in that blank, dim green area just above the navel, and that's too low for the heart unless the human anatomy in this new world is different, I guess. Is it?" Kayne decided to speak out his observations to the man. Even if he could pick them up as thoughts, it still seemed weird to converse without speaking.
"It isn't. This outline is the basic essence-gathering system inside your body. It is completely separate from the one that moves blood around." The man motioned for him to continue as he stood straight with his two hands behind his back.
"I don't know what essence or an essence-gathering system is, but if you want me to play a guessing game with you, at least give me a chance." He said as he grumbled internally about being expected to know about things he had yet to encounter.
"I know you're a child, but don't be petulant. You already have all the information needed to work this out. You can consider this a test of sorts if you like." The man criticised as he stared at Kayne, wearing a frown on his face.
Seeing the man who could harm him get a little upset, he focused his mind back on the task at hand as he habitually scratched at his chin. He wasn't sure if the man could even hurt him for real, but erring on the side of caution seemed like a good idea.