Chapter 3: Cold

‘What an unbelievable boon.’ The old deity thought to himself while working to retract its Essence tethers without leaving so much as a particle for prying eyes to find. The small creature was hurtling through Reflectias domain while slowly being torn to shreds by the ambient Essence current. Yet, somehow it ended up at his proverbial doorstep in the outer regions of unknown space, with its mind even somewhat intact enough for it to agree to the contract! Granted much of its soul line had been shredded away, to the point that most of its remaining memories were the ones he held onto the closest in his psyche.

Such things were of no matter to the old giant. He had long ago lost all bindings to humanity and saw only an opportunity to be exploited. The act of sending the human back to his own world and little female would have taken no more than a blink of effort. Unfortunately for the biped that would not have been to the slumbering goliath’s advantage.

‘With that corrupted bug on the face of the newly awakened Realmling, with a small sliver of my essence awaiting dormant. My plans can be accelerated at an enormous rate. As long as it survives long enough to awaken it.’ If Michael could read the mind of the creature that he had met, he would have vomited from the sheer amount of disdain in its voice. Along with subsequently evaporating from the amount of boiling Essence that was rushing around the enormous space rock.

‘Now all there is to do is wait. I have hidden for centuries. A few more years is nothing. My time of hiding will be long forgotten, as my return will echo across the cosmos.’ The torrents of essences finally calmed leaving the space rock floating silently without a soul being the wiser to the monster hidden within.

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The rest of my fall happened unbeknownst to me. My consciousness had been fully stolen leaving no memory of the trip until suddenly I felt a cold that permeated my body so deeply it felt hot. Opening my eyes took more effort than I would have liked. Blinking a few times I felt something slide off my eyelids and onto my face. I quickly realized it was snowing. There was in fact a large amount piled on top of me. That would explain the cold.

Raising my arms to wipe it off my cheeks I stared at the hands before me with horror. Unbelievably small and frail-looking they were far more tanned than my original hands had ever been, but looked bloodless from the cold. I gulped only to feel how dry my throat was and curled over into a vicious coughing fit that wracked my entire body. It finally subsided but left me feeling drained.

“What the hell is going on.” The sound of my voice was another mystery. It was not the one I remembered. Though I was having a hard time bringing up the different memories of me speaking for some odd reason. Everything in my head felt jumbled and foggy.

“Aye ye sewer rat get away from ma’ doorstep else I snap your legs!” The harsh slur of the sentence had me pause. I looked up with blurry eyes to the figure that just emerged around the corner of the apparent alleyway I was laying in. His figure was large, though I didn't know if that was true, realizing how small I was as I stood to my feet shakily.

“Are ye deaf, or have a death wish runt?” He took a threatening few steps forward and came into my full view. His heavily bearded face did little to disguise how dirty and rugged he looked. It was the face of a man who cared very little for personal hygiene. Rather, opting for smashing his face against a wall it appeared.

“I'm sorry I don't know where I am, I didn't mean to be at your doorstep. I… am not sure where your doorstep is in fact.” I looked around after finishing my explanation, only just noticing the lack of any doors at all in the cold snow-covered alley.

He glared down at me making the pot marks that covered his face deepen in an unnerving way. Then his eyes traced down to the front of my thin rag of a shirt that was doing very little to combat the cold. He then took a harsh breath in after squinting and pointed at my chest.

“What in the gods is all over y’re chest? Is that all blood you little undead shite?” Frowning, I followed his finger with my eyes and realized that there was in fact a huge red stain on my shirt. It covered all the way down to my waistband and placing my hand against it I felt the sticky sensation of quickly drying blood. I never had a weak stomach for gore really, but the sight of so much blood on my chest was unsettling enough to make my head spin slightly.

Still gazing down at my chest I noticed the epicenter of the liquid life blossomed right below my left peck with the darkest shade of red being located there. Pushing my hand near it I felt the hole in my shirt and then a very fresh scab covering a good 5 inches up and down. Pain flared from the mere touch. Well, this was uncomfortable. I was beginning to connect the dots in my mind with what Demios said about a vessel.

‘He sent me into the body of a freshly murdered child for fucks sake!’ I was eerily close to having a panic attack.

‘Breath damnit breath!’ Now was not the time to freak out. After I know more about what was happening around me I can rightfully lose it.

“I believe it is. But no, I don't think I'm undead. How would I know?” Looking up at the larger man he seemed to be flashing through a variety of emotions from anger to disbelief and then a little bit of fear.

“I don't have a rat's ass clue! Get the Fok’ out of ma’ alley. I’m warnin ya’!” Realizing he wasn’t fully deterred from attacking a blood-covered half-frozen child made me take a few tentative steps back towards the opposite exit of the alleyway.

“Okay, I didn't mean any harm, I'll leave you be.” Holding my hands up in a placating gesture hoping it would calm the obvious homeless man to some degree. After getting a good couple of feet away from him I turned on my heels and walked fully out of the alley into the brighter road. The view of bundled-up pedestrians covered in layers of rags similar to my own shuffling through the crowded street filled my vision. The buildings on either side of the snow-covered pathway were made of a combination of roughly cut stone and untreated wood. Honestly, nothing looked up to code whatsoever as some tilted in one direction far more than they should. I finally noticed the scent of the place assaulting my nose. Rotting wood and animal facile matter, mixed with what I assumed was human as well.

“Get out the way!” The shove took me off guard. Landing harshly on my tailbone I glared over to where it had originated from. The figure of the said assailant was already walking briskly past without so much as a glance back. I balled my fist wanting to shout obscenities at the asshole, but let them die on my tongue. That wouldn't help my current situation at all. I needed information, mainly on where and who I was and why this boy had been left stabbed and killed in an alley first and foremost. Everything else came second.

Pushing off the ground with a grunt I stood up while wiping my hands on my pant legs to keep the snow from chilling me even further. It was already seeping through the tied strips of cloth that this child had considered shoes.

“Antone! Antone is that you mate!” Hearing the yelling voice across the street I paid it no mind while thinking through the next steps in getting answers. None of the populace so far had seemed very forthcoming or helpful to say the least.

Only when the owner of the voice was grabbing at my arm did I react. I had taken a few Jiu-jitsu courses in my life, it had been years since I attended actively, but some reflexes were ingrained. As the hand yanked my elbow I grabbed out and grasped the forearm while shifting my hips. Rotating and bringing myself to a kneeling position I threw the attacker over me and heavily onto their back with a thud. I raised up my hand in a fist fully prepared to bring it down repeatedly onto their nose.

“Hey wait! I don't mean to surprise you! It's me, Reny!” Gazing down at the pale red-headed boy I felt some twinge in my mind.

‘How could I remember this kid?’ The idea that I was recognizing him from memories not from myself, but from my new self was extremely strange. Images of the child known as Antone running through the side streets following the red-heads unruly mane of hair flashed one after another. I'd known him for what I think was two years or cycles as they were called. Time was different here on this rectangular plane. We met after my mother lost her job working for a seamstress making scarves of exotic silks… I think. There was still a fog over my mind that refused to lift.

He was staring up at my face searching my features for something. A mix of worry and fear crossed his face as he looked down at my shredded shirt.

“Are ya’ alright mate! That's an awful lot of blood… did the guard do that to ya. It's a miracle you got away! How are you still moving! I mean… I know y’re tough… but that.” He left the rest of the statement unsaid while pointing at my torso. The worry in his voice sounded genuine and rightfully so. The Antone he knew had not made it at all.