"Then let us begin with speaking of your current situation and about our," Ravana paused, seeming to struggle with finding the right word. Finally, he continued though there was a slight caution to the tone of his voice. "Connection."

"I'm not a fool," Serena said, smiling vaguely. "I can tell that you were tied to the shadows that devoured the Celestial Empire."

Ravana tilted his head slightly in response. The motion only served to highlight how bizarrely he moved. Not being able to see his face properly left Serena feeling uneasy. "It seems you've figured it out. That makes things easier."

"How so?"

"Now, we don't have to play games any longer. You'll learn quickly enough that I prefer to speak plainly, at least with those I'm forced to work with."

"Well, that's good news!" she exclaimed. At least she knew what to expect. With this newfound knowledge, she would hopefully be able to stay calm.

"Indeed, it is. First off, I wish to warn you that much of what I'm about to reveal to you may prove shocking and disturbing. Do not take offense; remember, this is all part of the plan."

"What 'plan' are you talking about? What did you mean when you say I am connected to you somehow?"

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she regretted them. Now that they had been voiced, there was no going back. They hung heavy between them.

Ravana stared intently at her. "You must understand, I cannot allow myself to give away too much information yet. I had spent far too long rebuilding as much of my strength as I could and set my plans in motion to allow unknown elements to affect my work."

His explanation made sense to her. As a result, she decided to accept the truth of what he told her. For now anyway...

"Fair enough," she replied after a moment. Her hands twitched nervously against each other. It wasn't easy for her to trust someone who refused to show their face. She found herself wishing he'd just remove his hood altogether. Then maybe she wouldn't find it so difficult to deal with him.

After a brief pause, Ravana asked, "And what is your name?"

Serena hesitated briefly before answering, "My full name is Serena Araceli, ward and sibling of Veles Silvertongue. I am or was I suppose, a member of the innermost parts of the Royal Council with various titles including Master Alchemist. I do not know if I have any blood relatives, but Veles informed me that I am from some of the most noblest and ancient lineages and castes of the Celestials."

She nodded slowly, still trying to figure out how exactly she should respond next without giving away too much information. She felt somewhat relieved knowing that she didn't need to hide anything from this man.

"I see..." Ravana murmured. "Then let us begin." His voice became more animated as he spoke again, though it seemed almost mechanical compared to his earlier tone. "As you can no doubt see, I am bound to this library and a few other places." Something in her expression must have given away her curiosity as he elaborated on that. "We are not close enough to warrant informing you of the particulars. Regardless, I have been whispering to beings over countless years and worlds in an attempt to gain enough of existence to affect the worlds outside. One of these whispers was to your precious brother."

Her eyes widened in shock. He couldn't possibly have meant Veles!

"That is correct," Ravana confirmed. "If I hadn't spoken to him, then I might never have gained the power necessary to regain a physical form free of the shackles even for a moment. Without that ability, none of my schemes were possible."

He paused for a second. "Of course, once I regained some semblance of life, I began to wonder why I bothered to wait so long. There is nothing left to lose, after all."

Serena did like where this was going.

"However, while I waited for that day to come, I learned a great many things about the universe and its inhabitants. I discovered truths about magic itself, secrets concerning the gods themselves, and knowledge about the very nature of reality. You will learn much along those lines later, I assure you."

This time, she did hesitate slightly before speaking. "The shadows were you draining the life from others to try and restore yours in some way."

"Yes," he answered simply. "They were. I would be lying if I said I regretted it, however. That shadow-life may have helped me achieve a goal that had eluded me for far longer than I care to admit. However, when I finally returned to myself, I realized that such actions cannot continue forever. Even if they could, it isn't worth the time and effort setting it up."

"You nearly killed me!" She blurted angrily.

Ravana shrugged nonchalantly, which only made her angrier. "Well, yes. As I mentioned previously, I needed to reform my body. This involved consuming the energy of another being, and there was little choice in that matter. If you don't mind me saying, you're quite lovely; perhaps I'll make use of your energies sometime in the future, although I imagine it won't take long until you've exhausted yourself entirely. Besides, it gave me a chance to test whether or not I could bring myself back at all."

He tilted his head as if confused by something. Then he spoke again. "However, all my plans are currently at a standstill and I am back at where I began due to you."

She stared daggers through him, but he didn't flinch.

"When I tried to consume you as well, your will to live..." Ravana stopped as if realizing something else. "No, if considering the [False Life] spell that was placed on you, then perhaps your very existence fought back. In a marvelous and horrific display of brute force, you turned the magic effect onto me instead. I just barely managed to remove myself from you before I was the one completely devoured by your wondrous emptiness."

"I'm sorry?" Serena asked incredulously.

"Don't worry, child. It wasn't personal. However, we are now connected. Due to my current condition of being little more than a spiritual entity, you were indirectly made an anchor in reality for me. In short, I can haunt you, and overtime or growth between us, I could regain my previous power enough to restart my goals." He paused as though pondering what he'd say next. "Of course, I might even end up able to do so without needing to resort to such measures."

Her anger seemed to subside somewhat, leaving her looking thoughtful. She took a deep breath.

"How exactly does this work? Are you inside of me somewhere, or...?"

"Not yet," he replied after thinking carefully about how best to explain. "At least not directly." His expression grew grim. "My current form is rather different than most other beings and requires a host of sorts to keep functioning outside of my prison. At present, I am merely a collection of scattered fragments of memories and knowledge, held together by the last remnants of my spirit. They are still too weak to fully restore my former strength, but they should grow stronger with time."

Serena frowned. "That doesn't sound good."

His eyes narrowed. "It isn't. That said, I must admit that while I cannot claim complete control over my new form, I have been given a certain degree of autonomy. For example, I can influence you without physically occupying your body, as you experienced earlier. More importantly, however, I can communicate with you, despite my lack of corporeal presence. This allows me to share thoughts and ideas with you, which means that you don't need to speak aloud whenever you want to converse with me. As long as I know that you wish to talk to me, there shouldn't be anything stopping us from doing so. Of course, it would make things much easier if you learned how to project your voice properly. My ears are far sharper than yours."

Serena nodded slowly, understanding dawning in her eyes.

"I am glad to see you are quick to understand," Ravana said. It was damning praise more than anything and boiled her blood. "Due to you absorbing much of the power that I had painstakingly hoarded in an attempt to recover, your methods of handling magic were forever altered. I have no doubt there would be other life changes due to this as well. Unfortunately, I can offer nothing regarding those matters at this point."

He paused again before continuing, his tone growing softer. "In truth, I fear that this situation may prove worse for you than I initially anticipated. If I truly wished to take advantage of you, I could easily possess you entirely. You would never notice until it was already too late. Fortunately, I find myself unable to commit such actions against someone who shares my ideals. I suppose you could call them my morals. Or...perhaps it is because I see in you a kindred spirit."

Serena stared hard at him, her face blank. Ideals? Morals? "Why did you tell me this then?" she asked quietly. "You didn't just choose to do so out of kindness, surely. What possible benefit could come of telling me all of this?"

Ravana chuckled sadly. "Because we are allies now, Serena. And that makes everything else irrelevant."