Talking To Ghosts

"These murals, they are nothing short of incredible. Only the hands of a God could create something so majestic. They span the entirety of the circular room, even reaching the domed ceiling. If studied in the correct order, they seem to depict the life and death of an entire universe, one separate from our own Praesi."

"There are others, but it is clear that whoever created these murals favored a certain planet. Earth, it is called. If I am correct and have not yet lost my mind, then this planet is the only one that supported life. I had once thought these carvings to merely be the fantasy of some dead artist, but there are too many details. Too many specifics. Even more than the thought that there is a universe that has gone undiscovered for so long, I find it difficult to believe that any man would go through so much trouble to depict something that does not exist."

Cafe reads the words from his notebook, written as Yoru had spoken them. Gira and the others had found a floating palace in the trunk of the Praesi, and inside, the murals he speaks of were carved. Could it be his brother that created the depictions? Or maybe someone else from Earth? Cage does not know, and despite the hope he had before, the writing doesn't prove anything about his goal. His brother.

Cage sighs, reading his notes about the members of Tiren's group.

Twelve individuals, all worshipped like Gods by those that inhabit the Praesi. Even Gira, the one who wrote about their travels, is worshipped by some for his deeds. His description and knowledge of each planet and civilization he visited are unmatched.

Gira Mersha's records have helped all of the Praesi learn about their neighboring planets and those across the branches. According to what Yoru read to Cage, Tiren, the leader of the company, noticed Gira's talent and brought him along for this sole purpose. The writer never participated in the heated battles against the Umbra, yet he was just as important as the ones that did.

And somehow, every civilization possesses copies of the records. How? There are four volumes of Gira's work, and not counting the Outland Planets, there are still thousands that the books had to be given to. Cage finds it hard to believe that any ship would be able to hold so many of them.

Cage sighs again, leaning back in his chair. He had expected to experience some revelation when studying Gira's work. That has not come, and now, he's not sure it ever will. Cage wipes a hand over his face, staring at the dark wood above his head, thick darkness surrounding the candlelight shining on it. No point in thinking about it further.

Now that the self-study is over, it is time for Cage to get to the thing he has been waiting for. He closes the book with his notes in it, and slides it across the table. Then he grabs a smaller book about the size of his hand with his fingers outstretched. Yoru gave him this book, saying that he should write down his thoughts if he ever feels overwhelmed by his circumstances. Apparently, nearly every Rajin woman does this. Losing the men in their lives to war is normal for them, but the commonality of it does not lessen the effect it has on their minds.

Maybe Cage would write down his thoughts eventually but for now, the tiny journal will be dedicated to learning about his strange powers. He opens the journal, brown leather squeaking. With the same pen he wrote his notes with, Cage begins to write down the knowledge he already holds about his powers.

Cage thinks of his powers as a vault, though there may be things he discovers about them that changes this analogy. With those strange tendrils of black, he can absorb things and place them into a black space, the vault. Even now, Cage can sense the two Rage Stones and three balls of strange energy, one much larger than the other two. Though as he does this, he notices something strange.

No matter how hard he tries, Cage cannot sense the carcass of the centipede or the parasite that Kyro said he absorbed. He can summon things in his vault back to this world, but he never did that with either of the dead creatures. Where did they go? He thinks hard about it, running through everything he has done up until this point. Soon, an idea pops into his mind.

Kyro said it during training today, Cage has gotten stronger since absorbing the creatures. And though his teacher may know nothing about it, the carcasses have also acted as Cage's food. The only conclusion these two details bring him to is that the creatures must be inside of his body, rather than in the vault. But even that makes little sense to him. After all, if that is true, then shouldn't Cage be getting bigger? He has begun to look a little more like a living person, but the change is not what should come from a creature as massive as that centipede.

Cage will need to test his powers more if he means to answer these questions. He looks at the window across the room, wooden shudders like small double doors open to let the violet moonlight and soft breeze into his room. A blue sun and a purple moon. The sight will take some getting used to.

A large flying insect lands on his windowsill, and he is startled to notice that it is not a dragonfly as he first thought. This isn't earth, Cage thinks, of course it's not a dragonfly.

The insect is shaped similarly to the pond-dwelling insect, with an elongated body, transparent wings, and six thin legs holding its body up. However, this creature is nearly the size of a bird, with rough brown skin and a large stinger at the end of its tail.

Cage studies the creature, and it stares back with multifaceted, beady eyes. He looks at what has been written so far, a few bullet points, questions written under each. He plans to answer every one of them eventually. Though the appearance of the insect draws his eyes to one bullet point in particular:

-Can absorb living things. Bodies do not appear in the vault. Possible that they are absorbed into my own body.

-Both creatures absorbed so far were dead. Can I absorb those that still live?

Cage looks back at the dragonfly-like creature. How kind of you to volunteer as my test subject, he thinks. Before answering the question he just read, Cage finds that this is a perfect opportunity to deal with another. Two birds, one stone.

Cage raises his only hand, narrowing his black eyes at the creature, focusing. He calls those black tendrils. They slither from his fingers like ethereal snakes, floating toward the test subject in randomly curving paths, smoke wisping from them as they travel. The creature jolts on the windowsill, but seems to not notice, or not see the death approaching slowly.

Suddenly, the insect flies from the windowsill, but it's attempt at escape is futile. The tendrils wrap around it's body, and those transparent wings buzz in a frenzy. It's too late, Cage thinks, gotta be quicker than that.

The catch is pulled back toward Cage slowly. So slow that he thinks of meeting the tendrils halfway. He stays seated. Moving so suddenly may cause something to go wrong.

The creature lands in Cage's hand, those black tendrils soaking through his skin and disappearing. He stares at his test subject for a moment as it squirms in his hand, and he can feel the terror permeating from it. Now that he thinks about it, Cage has been able to feel strong emotions from every living thing he encounters, and that apparently includes insects as well. It must be a part of his powers. Another question to answer in the future.

Cage throws the thought from his mind, focusing on the insect as he had when absorbing the centipede and Rage Stones. A full minute passes, and his efforts are met with squirms and tiny, almost inaudible squeaks. Another try, and the same result. The question of whether the tendrils could travel away from Cage's hand has been answered, and he is now beginning to think that the other is being answered as well. He had hoped for the other outcome.

"Ow! Dammit!" Cage hisses as pain suddenly thunders through his entire arm. On instinct, he flexes his hand, a crunch following the action. The insect ceases its movement, thick grey liquid flooding from its body and through the fingers holding it. Cage curses again, and soon sees the cause of his pain. The dead insect's tail curls upward, the stinger at the end lodged into his finger. Tremors of pain still course through his arm, even as he pulls the stinger out of his skin.

The tendrils appear from Cage's hand, and the creature is swallowed by the creeping darkness almost instantly. His question is answered, but that is overshadowed by the pain. He stares at his hand, grimacing. A clear liquid bubbles from a tiny hole in Cage's middle finger. Venom. That explains the extreme pain.

Cage almost regrets his impromptu test, wishing for the venom to leave him. That is, until his body answers his wish. Cage's skin crawls, bulging in long, thick sections as if large worms have dug into his body. A tiny bead of black appears where the venom seeps from, disappearing a second later, along with the venom, the hole in his finger, and the worm-like protrusions slithering through his arm.

The pain subsides, and Cage sighs in relief, staring at his hand. Even the grey blood was absorbed. There is no evidence that the creature even existed in the first place. Cage had felt a tiny hunger before, and now it's gone. He expected it, as well as the minuscule increase in his sight, hearing, strength, and everything else physical. Though the change is so small that it would have gone unnoticed if he was not already looking for it.

Cage closes his eyes, and his mind drifts to the vault. From what he can tell, the blank space must only exist inside of him, or maybe it exists somewhere else, separate from this universe. As soon as he enters the vault, floating in the darkness as an invisible pair of eyes with no body or soul, Cage realizes that the space has gotten bigger.

Though the actual size of the space is indecipherable due to the endless darkness, Cage can sense that what was once a bedroom, is now an entire mansion. Two Rage stones float before him, one slightly smaller, the top flat and smooth unlike the pointed top of the other. There are four balls of energy here now, the three smaller ones encased in perfectly round crystals, while the larger one is unrestricted. The carcass of the test subject is nowhere to be seen, as expected.

Cage studies the larger energy. While the smaller ones are only white, stagnant inside the crystal, this one is half and half in its color. One half is the same frozen white, while the other half waves like a flame, the colors ever-changing. Red slips into violet, violet to blue, blue to green, and green to yellow. No one color stays long before the next takes over.

The colors call to Cage, and he is hypnotized by their beauty. He reaches for the energy with an invisible hand, and it disappears, along with the three smaller ones. Cage is sucked from the space instantly, a gasp echoing through the darkness of his room. Wide eyes bolt every which way, searching for the presence he feels here with him. He finds it.

The candles are extinguished, yet the glow of the figure sitting on Cage's bed sheds light on every corner of the room. A Rajin man as tall as Kyro sits there, though his build is on the lanky side, a Collector suit stretching over his thin yet defined muscles. Straight silver hair drapes to his shoulders, and thin brows sit atop narrow, pitch-black eyes. Though the most striking feature is the energy that layers over his body, like white smoke that emits a bright glow.

The Rajin man smiles, staring with those black eyes, the same as Cage's, "Hello, Cage. It's Mavyl," he says with a deep voice that's clouded with distortion.

Cage can only return a stare, unsure of whether to believe what he is seeing. He closes his eyes tight, counting to three in his head, then opens them again. The man is still there, staring. Cage pauses, and after a moment, a realization slams into his mind, one that he does not want to believe, "That... thing was you? H-how did you get there?" he asks.

"You put me there."

"What?" Cage responds with a wrinkled forehead.

"There is a reason my uncle calls those creatures parasites. I was inside of the one that you absorbed," Mavyl says.

"I..." Cage's eyes widen, his heart twisting, "I'm sorry."

Mavyl raises a silver brow, "Do not be. I would have died either way. I needed to die," he says, "Parasites live in the worst conditions on any given planet, and take over the body of anyone unfortunate enough to get close. They feed off the body, keeping it alive. The person inside only dies when the parasite does."

Cage nods, brows furrowing in confusion, "Why did you need to die?" he asks.

Mavyl pauses, gazing with no emotion behind the darkness of his eyes, "I was meant to die on the battlefield that day, but my uncle... No, I have forgiven him. He gave me a chance to give mother one last goodbye."

Silence falls for a time. Cage looks at his visitor, a dead man. One that he is speaking to, against all logic the universe can offer, "Why do you have eyes like mine?" he asks.

"A result of seeing it. The end. You spent a thousand years there, and still do not know?" Mavyl asks, humming soon after, "Ah, that's right. Lithi did mention that."

"Lithi? Who?"

"The one who knows you best. You will meet him, eventually," Mavyl responds. His body begins to wisp away, his feet, then legs dissipating into nothingness, "Take care of my mother for me. I was selfish, right until the very end. Now she is left to deal with the damage," he smiles, the erosion of his body rising to his torso and arms, "I don't think I have to tell you that though."

"Wait! How do you know I've met Yoru?!" Cage asks, standing from the chair.

"Your soul belongs to more than just you," Mavyl responds, his hair and neck chipping away now, "Go to the palace. You will want to find your brother before he finds you," The visitor disappears, leaving Cage with only the moonlight to accompany him.

Cage stands from his chair with a blank expression, walking over to the bed and plopping down where Mavyl once sat. Those last words confuse him, his brother is trying to find him? Shouldn't that be a good thing? Yet it did not sound like it would be, coming from Mavyl.

Either way, Cage's goal is still the same, and now he has a lead on where to find his brother. He needs to get to the palace, the same one mentioned by Gira.

Cage sighs, rubbing his face. The mother and uncle deserve to know about this. They are both deeply hurt by Mavyl's death, but maybe, just maybe, the late Rajin's words will help them heal their wounds. It could also have the opposite effect, throwing Kyro and Yoru into an even deeper pit of grief.

Cage will tell them, he has already decided. However, at least for Yoru, that will not be before those wounds have time to heal. So much has happened that he sometimes forgets it has only been two days since he arrived.