Re-Birth?

A dull thumping sound periodically echoed from beyond bringing with it a dim awareness of warmth and safety stirring me into consciousness, or as much of it as I could muster.

Images flashed across my mind.

A bumpy cube, with a tear running across its topmost faces, exposing from with a starry sky occluded by mist, dripping from the tear like blood from a wound.

The world shifted and I found myself staring at a city of pearly white stone, it's perimeter adorned with seven towers, cracked and crumbling. Yet what drew the eye in, almost like it meant to, nearly willfully, was the huge tree, with a stark, bony wood and bright red leaves growing our from the very center, its pores leaking a bloody sap.

No. That was no sap. It was blood.

Then I saw them.

Bodies. Hundreds of them. Thousands even.

Hidden in the shade of the overgrown roots digging into the city's foundations, serving as fertilizer.

The world shifted again, this time to a castle floating in the sky.

A man strode into the throne room, alerting the residents, only for them to freeze, as if time itself had stopped.

Except it hadn't, for their eyes betrayed the fear they felt in their very soul.

The man took another step, as vines burst forth from the stone bricks of the court, flowers blooming on them like little firecrackers, releasing a sparkling pollen across the room.

The man though continued to walk, his steps ringing ominously in a tip-tap on the floor, as he made his way to the head of the room, climbing the steps leading up to the throne.

The man on the throne, who had intially looked regal, with golden, lizard like eyes and platinum blonde hair, had lost all his composure as he trembled weakly upon his seat.

The walking man, now upon the throne pedestal, cradled the king's chin upon his fingers as he whispered something, and the world blurred away, even as cracks spread across the hall, and I was pulled away to another memory.

Yes.

Memories. That's what these were.

Someone's memories.

Mine? No. An almost instinctual urge answered for me.

The feeling was distinct. And certain.

Another scene appeared.

An ocean. A grand one too, frozen in an instant, then shattered in the middle with a single punch from the man, as a four armed demon watched in horror, tears flowing from his eyes.

A golden armour rose from the hole, radiating golden waves of energy that gave it a sense of ... power.

Then it shattered, all the same, with a clap of the man's hands, turning to dust, flying away in the wind.

Next came a world of fog. Near imperceptible machines littered the landscape in the distance, and before me stood a man. A very blurry man, pixelated almost, like genitals in hentai.

"Man, how ugly do you have to be that the world itself pixelates you?" The walking man taunted.

I turned around to face the voice and saw him walk through a tear in the sky.

The tear. The one on the cube. This is it.

I felt what could be called a childish smugness at connecting the dots on that one.

"No, no, no~" The pixelated man quipped, wagging his finger as he bucked his hips.

"It's to hide my supremely handsome visage!

Don't want to steal other's wives, now do I?"

"No?" The walking man asked, amused.

"Of course not! I'm a nice guy after all~" The pixelated man refuted, puffing out his chest theatrically, nostrils flaring.

"Truly!" The walking man played along, replying mockingly, "A gentleman."

"So you'll let me go, won't you?" The pixelated man pleaded.

The walking man smiled genially, coming to a stop before him, and raised a knife hand, as sparks of power arced across it, knitting a glove, shaking calamitously.

"No, I don't think I will." He said, as he rammed the hand into the pixelated man's chest, shattering him from the inside out.

He exploded, chunks of his body flying off in all directions as the walling man wiped the pixelated blood off his face.

The world blurred away once more.

Many more scenes passed away, some with the walking man, some without.

As I tried to make sense of it all, the final one appeared.

How did I know that?

How...

The urge to question things faded as suddenly as it had appeared and the memory started playing.

It was the man again, older now. His fearures seemed...soft, softer than they had been at the castle. Or the ocean. Or the foggy palace where he killed the non-descript quippy man.

He was saying something. Something I couldn't quite make out.

But what I could see was the attention he paid. To me. To his words. Stopping to think every now and then. As if it had been carefully considered and yet hastily put together at the last moment.

As he droned on and on, a rift lay open behind him, in the void where he stood, shimmering with a thousand thousand stars.

No. Those were worlds.

Somehow I knew it. An infinite multiverse. Just waiting, ripe for the picking.

It brought forth a feeling within me, one of curiosity and freedom. An earnest yearning for what lay beyond.

And for the first time, I felt it. The cage. All around me. Like a blind man brought to sight, it became clear to me what this was.

And with it became clear the man's words.

"....Great burden placed upon me. But that is not what I want for you. Or me. Or whatever you are.

I just want you to have what I didn't. What I missed. What I gave up in pursuit of the mission.

I just want you live a free and happy life.

This is the gift I give to you. Least I could do after....

The memories will become clear to you over time. Use them well. They'll give you the advantage you need. Goodbye now, sweet child.

Live long and prosper." He said, a smirk cheekily spreading over his face as if he'd made an in-joke, and he raised his hand in an odd gesture, splitting his finger down the middle before walking into the rift as something came into view.

There, in the gap of existence, grew a tree, with its branches poking into the many many worlds, extending seemingly forever.

Then with a jerk, I was brought out of the dream, and into what felt like a searing pot of acid and poison, a blinding light straining my eyes as I let out a scream.

What came out though was shrill cry. A whine.

So did another beside me, as if copying me.

Then, I passed out from the shock, a gentle voice soothing us, with honeyed cooing.

I felt from within a word emerge.

Mother.

And the last thing I could make out was a name. Two actually.

"Rudeus and Kaidus..."