“What a dashing young man! Such presence!”

He was about to depart in the forest when he heard a strange voice in his head. He tried to look around but so no one.

“What are you searching for young man? Are you perhaps looking for.. this? “

In front of him, clothes appeared out of thin air. He tried to grasp it but it disappeared as soon as he tried.

“Or this?”

This time it was a knife. Unsure, he didn’t try anything this time. He waited for the voice to speak again.

“Not as fun as I like them…”

In front of him a purple tent appeared. The entrance was pitch-black and no matter the position he took to look inside he couldn’t see anything.

“Come, come and meet me.”

He could just go away from this spectral voice but something told him he should go and meet this .. man? Even if thing went wrong he would somehow solve problems with his strength. After a few second of doubt he finally went inside.

Was he saw surprised him even more. There was nothing but a table with two chairs. The chairs looked like thrones made of velvet and gold. Seeing no one, he sat on one of the chair and waited. He closed his eyes and when he opened them again a man was sitting in front of him.

It was an African man with a skull painted on his face, a black suit, sunglasses, a topper and a cane. He had a big grin on his face and behind him, spirits were drifting in the air.

“Hey!”

“…”

“I almost forgot” he face palmed and snapped his fingers. “It should be ok now. Speaking trough your mind would be boring after all”

The young man was unsure about what he should do. Seeing this the strange man grinned and crossed his arms.

“You can speak now. And hear, you can hear.”

“….”

“Now, now kanan, we both know that you have a question.”

“How?”

The strange man threw his arms in the air and laughed

“Vodou my small friend, vodou”

“Who are you?”

“Some call me Sanmdi, other Baron but I took a liking on Baron Samedi.”

“…”

Kanan glared at the strange man. He was no fool, everything that was happening until now wasn’t possible. It would require something as impossible as magic to do it. He thought about it and remembered something the man said:’vodou’. Back when he was young one of his teacher taught about a cult that revered spirit. He stared at the baron and spoke.

“Are you perhaps a Spirit?”

The man laughed and sprawled on his chair, putting his legs on the table.

“You’re quite knowledgeable, I’ll give you that. Yes, I’m the spirit governing over death. Well I say that but my wife is governing me so see me as some kind of second man.”

“…”

While they talked, Samedi was playing with card while one the spirit behind him stared at kanan.

“Why are you here?”

“Well our chief, or god as you human call him found you quite interesting. Your spirit somehow allowed you to see event from different world and even feel them. Some spirit even lent you their strength. Did you never wonder why you were so strong, almost invincible?”

AS he said so, he extended his hand to me and brought it back to him. Following his hand was a green smoke with a smiling face.

“See? This jokester lent you your strength against your hearing. What a jokester.”

Not believing him, kanan tried to punch the table but it didn’t even leave a dent on it.

“Ha ha ha ha, how does it feel to be human again?”

“…”

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let you like this on this world you know nothing about. Think of it as some kind of present.”

He took a strange pose again but this time, the green smoke came out of his body and went inside kanan.

He shook a bit and sat back.

“I will never do it again.”

Feeling strange, kanan looked at his hand and body, trying to find if anything changed. To his surprise his white skin became matte but nothing else. Seeing this the baron laughed.

“I gave you tree presents, or power if it help you understand. I leave it to you to discover them, just tree words: spirit, card, shadow. Now I bid you farewell for someone you know way too well came to take you.”

As soon as he finished speaking, everything disappeared: the tent, the baron, everything. Kanan could only hear a light laughter in the air. He stood up and looked around. Behind him stood a man with a complete black armour covering his whole body and an alien squirrel on his shoulder.

“What the…”