8 Zephyr

"HEY ZEPHYR, SHUT UP…"

Abruptly, his senses became unclogged. Sound, smell, and a mixture of odd, jagged, wet touch overtook him in a sudden burst like a crashing wave. 

Damp stone and stale air along with the unmistakable stench of decay and mildew flooded his nostrils. The air was thick and suffocating, broken only by the muffled occasional groans and hisses that slithered through the stillness like snakes.

Despite those noises, his mind focused deeply on the sound of liquid slowly dripping from the sky as though it was the ticking of a clock.

Nevertheless, it was not long before his focus was broken.

"ZEPHYR!!"

Something cold abruptly struck his face; a sudden, chilling wave rattled his spine, making him instinctively move backwards only for his left arm to be struck by something even sharper that oddly did not come with any pain nor feeling.

His eyes shot open, his vision gradually adjusting to the dim room lit by dying torches. 

He was In a box made of cracked stone, one that was the size of a kingsize bedroom with its ceiling extending high. 

Empty shackles hung from the mossy uneven wall, and the jagged, sharp ground had puddles which was clearly the source of that decaying smell. 

It was undoubtedly somewhere gross and decrepit, but only when his eyes landed on the set of rusted bars to his right did he realize where he truly was.

'A prison cell…'

There was a slight moment of shock before Joseph realized what happened, his face returning to its usual demeanour as everything flooded into him all at once.

_________________________

Zephyr

I am a calm person, frighteningly so for most others… But now, my calmness frightens even me.

'I'm… dead? This is a reincarnation... A new world. I'm sure of it.'

Looking at myself and surroundings, that was the first conclusion that my mind came to. To me, this was oddly sound; as though it was a feeling instilled in my very being. 

As I sat in solitude, my memories slowly trickled back into my consciousness, piece by fragmented piece.

'Nina… dear sister… All those memories were real… but merely a dream... They must have been...'

Last thing I remembered before entering this prison cell was my consciousness fading into black as that factory erupted into chaos. Everything beyond that point existed in fragments, obscured by a deep veil of shadows.

Beyond there, I was aware of certain things, but the full picture eluded me.

''I reached the apex of strength, Ki mastery, and power in the underworld… My code name was Wolf... I nearly lost my arm once during a mission... My best friend's name was Allen...' I paused, perplexed. 'Best friend?' A slight twitch of my eyes betrayed my internal conflict.

Hundreds of tiny fragments locked into place, some carrying more weight than others, each one I was certain was true, they were my memories after all. With these pieces, it was safe to assume that I didn't perish that night in the factory. No— that was an impossibility.

Although my last clear memory was when I was twelve, I have a feeling my current mental age was no doubt higher.

'Why only fragments? Why has my memory been corrupted? Is this a side effect of reincarnation?' I had no idea. 

Still, there were fragments that had yet to return. The ones that mattered most to me: 

My dear Nina's fate.

I tried squeezing my mind for an answer, yet only two things surfaced... No, three...

First: 'I kept her safe...'

Second: 'We will meet again... I promise...'

And third, a phrase that echoed in my ears, causing my entire body to pulse with its rhythm: "BROTHER!! PLEASE LIVE!!! I WANT YOU TO LIVE!!!"

'Did I die protecting her? Or was it a natural death?' I strained my mind for answers, but only the infinite mist of shadows that shrouded my memories emerged again.

Eventually, I surrendered to the futility of that path and concentrated on the other words... 'I kept her safe... We will meet again...' I pondered their implications…

'What could that mean? I guess it'd be best if I go with the flow for now until I can find answers… Then—'

"ZEPHYR!!!"

_________________________

"ZEPHYR!!" That voice, now ringing louder than ever snapped him out of his inner stupor. 

From the absolute darkness it came, and his gaze immediately followed— A voice that had always been there but that he had only just noticed, the voice of a female he did not recognize. 

He turned his head, and there he saw:

She stood before him, a little girl no older than ten with hair as white as snow, strands of it falling over her shoulders in a wild, unkempt manner. Her filthy, tattered clothes hung loosely from her body, the dull brown of prison garb highlighting the paleness of her light yet dirty skin.

Her eyes were like chips of ice floating in a murky sea, cold and piercing, as if trying to see right through him. They glinted in the faded light, reflecting the dim flicker of the torches that illuminated the prison halls.

Tall and proud she stood with her spine straight as an arrow and her head held high. Her movements were graceful and fluid, like a bird in flight, despite the shackles that bound her limbs grounded.

Although she had an appearance similar to that of a feral trapped animal, there was a sense of quiet dignity about her that would have commanded fear and respect from anyone if it weren't him.

Suddenly, something changed; her movements slowed, the ferocity of her eyes softened, and her gaze began to waver.

She took one step back and pointed, "ZEPHYR!! What's wrong with you!? How dare you not respond to me when I question you! Know your place servant boy!"

No response.

An odd silence grew— one that made the uneasy air in this decrepit place somehow even more unsettling.

'Zephyr…? My name is Joseph… So that must be my new name now…' Joseph looked up towards the girl calmly without wavering his gaze in the slightest. 

'I must be a slave or a servant… And she must be my owner it seems…' He calmly deduced. 

"HEY I SAID—"

His gaze was solely on the ground, only taking slight peaks up towards the girl to probe her reaction. 

Now was not the time to be arrogant. 'I have no memories from the owner of this body.'

He lacked power— the power of knowledge.

Right now he was no different than a newborn— For all he knew this entire world was underground, fat people were seen as attractive, pee was stored in the balls, and the laws of physics did not apply. 

This world was completely alien to him. He knew not his own strength nor that of this girl. Nor did he know her status and name, power dynamics, or what got him in this prison cell. He was completely unaware of who he was and how he fit in.

Seeing how she was his 'master' it was safe to assume she was more powerful than he was, or at the very least someone of significant importance to Zephyr's life. 

It was best he lay low— speak and interact as little as possible; act normal for now and simply examine. 'That's what anyone with more than half a brain cell would do,' Joseph concluded.

He had seen and even been a part of many master-servant relationships in his past. In fact, he had been on both sides and knew precisely how to act— even the slightest change of demeanour he could pick up on. One could say he was even a connoisseur.

Yet in this darkness, it became infinitely harder to do so even for him.

"Apologies mistress. This servant must have lost his composure and had a nightmare." Suddenly, Joseph took a knee and softly spoke.

He patiently waited for a response, yet she simply stood unmoving, her speech cut off.

'Hmmm? Is she in shock? Over something so simple? What kind of person was this Zephyr?' Joseph could not help but wonder. 

…

The room fell back to its sombre hush, yet it did not take long for it to be severed. 

"HEY!! WHAT'S WITH THE SHOUTING!! QUIET DOWN RUNTS!!" A loud, rumbling voice cut through the silence like a bolt of lightning. 

A sudden gust of stale air filled the chamber, causing the flickering torches to dance in the suffocating gloom. 

Heads snapped toward the rusted bars of the cell where a man, no, a giant stood. His silhouette was massive, towering above like a mountain of flesh and metal, his features shrouded in a thick miasma of darkness that left only his pricking eyes gleaming as if they were burning coals in a dark furnace peaking through his mask. 

Cold sweat trickled down the little girl's forehead as she unconsciously took a step back. All she could hear was the soft sound of her own breathing.

'It's him. That very same prison guard…' She gritted her teeth and thought to herself.

Her gaze narrowed. At that moment, an urge overcame her, one that burned like hot needles screaming at her to act. Yet, there she was, her body frozen stiff as if icy tendrils wrapped around her thighs. 

'Oh 'High Priestess', give me strength…'

The more she stared into his eyes, the more she could feel the weight of his gaze close in on her. 

Yet even still, she could not allow herself to look away.

It was only when she noticed what was directly in front of her did her face take on a completely new expression.

'Zephyr!?'

Her face widened. There, only a few steps away from the cell bars, that boy stood, breaths away from that man. Part of her thought he was crazy, that he was so frozen in fear, that he had simply forgotten to flee. But nevertheless, there was a deeper instinct that whispered otherwise.