White butterfly. That was what he saw first - a hairpin with a white butterfly with shifting patterns holding her hair in a bun. She herself looked like a white marble statue, more like a 3D print which had yet to be painted. She looked older than him and had an air about her that indicated she was used to ordering people about and having her orders followed. Her left hand rested across her chest holding her right hand which cupped her chin as she looked at him with a Mona Lisa smile. Her eyes moving over him with a look he knew well - a look of someone trying to figure out how they could use him. That made him lose interest in her and he looked around.

They appeared to be in a domed area with a white mist flowing over it, reminding him of patterns of oil floating over water. He was getting the feel of being in a black and white movie. Looking at himself he could see he was in a simple t-shirt and loose fitting khakis. That surprised him since he expected to see similarities to what he died in, not clothes he preferred and found comfortable. Seeing his white hands and fingers was unnerving and somehow made him really feel dead.

“What is your name?”

“What are you?”

“How did you die?”

“Where are you from?”

“... What skills do you have?”

“Are you a queen or think of yourself as one?”

“Empress. Tell us what you did for a living.”

“Annoy people. What do you want from me... Your Highness?

“... What makes you think we want something?”

“What makes you think I care... Your Brilliance”

“...Why don’t you answer?”

“Why don’t you ask the right questions... Your Magnificence?”

“Unless we know who you are, we won’t know the questions to ask.”

“Secrets. We all have them, how can I share mine when you won’t share yours... Your Elegance”

“How do we know you are not wasting our time?”

“You are wasting my time, why... Your Munificence?”

He may not know what was happening, but he would not bend to find out. If it was important he would be told, eventually. If it was not, then he’d get to his eternal rest quicker. She was looking at him queerly, uncertain yet sure, as if she was eating a bitter fruit on a dare. She would finish it and win, no matter how bad the fruit tasted. Then she seemed to see something behind him that made her lips curl into a smirk. He turned and saw the dome expand, taking in two clouds. He quickly glanced to see she had moved into a small dome of her own that still connected to his but with just a tiny opening.

He kept his focus on the clouds moving towards him. The two clouds were slowly coalescing into large dogs. Or maybe wolves. He had never seen wolves in real life only in movies. These seemed similar just half as much larger. They had now developed four feet, a large fur covered body and eyes which gleamed hungrily at him. They came up to his chest in height and had a shaggy lion like mane. Both gave a low growl as they bared perfect rows of sharp teeth except their enormous fangs. Two on top and two at the bottom, overlapping like scissors and long enough to have grown beyond their snout. These had always been visible and made them look even more menacing. As they padded forward it was clear they were aiming for a pincer attack as both moved to different sides of him.

He was scared. He had always been afraid going into a fight, but he had long ago taken his guru’s words to heart - “Fear is natural, it is instinctive, a manifestation of your experience of all lives you’ve lived. Don’t ignore it, for it is a tool. Used well it will give you adrenaline, heighten your awareness, sharpen your senses and quicken your thinking. Fumble and it will paralyze you, make you overthink and make you hesitate.” Over many fights and situations he had stopped fumbling in fear, instead using the gifts it brought. He moved towards the center of the dome. Many would seek to eliminate a path for their enemies by putting a wall to their back, but he found it stifling. Having his back to the wall meant there was one direction he couldn’t move and there was something he could be pressed against. When facing a new opponent he preferred to keep all paths open and available to him. He would narrow them once he had learned his enemies style of fighting.

The vampire wolves appeared surprised to see him move towards them as they were not yet ready to co-ordinate their attack. To keep them off balance he kept closer to the wolf on the left, tempting it to attack as he passed between. As the wolf leapt at him, he turned avoiding the wolf’s teeth, pivoting on his left leg and kicking out with his right, aiming to use the wolf’s momentum to knock him into the other one that was mid leap.

His leg passed through the wolf.

Where his leg “hit” the wolf, the wolf lost its shape, turning into cloudy wisps, quickly converging back into the wolf’s form once his leg had passed. Soon after the other wolf landed, sinking its teeth into his forearm and making pain explode in his mind. The pain worsened as the wolf jerked its mouth, tearing away his... cloudy stuff! This time it was his forearm which turned cloudy and the wolf appeared to take some off it away in its mouth. Even though his forearm reformed, the pain persisted and almost paralyzed him. Almost. He managed to fall forward and roll away, just as the first wolf he had dodged came back for his own bite.

“Pain is not the problem. It is just a message. It tells you that something is wrong. It tells you where the real problem is. You don’t ignore pain, you don’t bear the pain. Like any other message, you acknowledge it, then you file it away and solve the real problem. If you try to deal with the pain and not the problem, the problem will deal with you.”

The problem was the wolves could “eat” him while he couldn’t hurt them at all. His leg passing through the wolf’s body had not seemed to cause any problem to the wolf.

“I can help. In return I want you to...”

“Keep wanting”

He gritted his teeth and got to work. Since he was dealing with unknowns the first step was to fill in the gaps. The wolves were fast but he could keep up if barely. He was able to dodge at least one wolf’s attack, that too half the time. They kept taking bites out of him and the pain piled up. While he kept testing out various theories on being able to deal some damage, with little success. He tried going slow, going fast, open palm, closed fist, kicks, shoulder knocks, head butts... all ended up in smoky clouds. Conversely, only teeth were working for the wolves. In all their attacks their claws had turned cloudy when connecting with his body. He had considered biting them but put that aside as a last desperate measure. Even if it worked biting would mean sacrificing himself to take one of them down, he was just not there yet.

Also there had been that one attack where had come at him from the same side. One had managed to sink his teeth in but his dive had taken him under the other one. This other wolf landed closed to him and growling in frustration had taken a swipe with its right fore-paw, tearing off his flesh then gobbling it up as it floated between them. His aim was to grab them, beat them, to find a way to victory, their aim just seemed to be get a bite out of him... could that be it? Could it be so simple?

“You seem quite comfortable fighting, even in an unknown place, against unknown enemies. We are impressed.”

“I know myself. I know the place, it is where I have my feet planted. I know my enemies, I see them. The rest are minor details which are just a matter of time. Stop bothering and let me finish.”

Empress Mara was very impressed. She knew that he was doing something considered impossible in their world and was doing it on the strength of sheer will. She could see that he had never touched on the mysteries of shakti or prana, like a baby, yet was fighting like a high level warrior. He had sass born out of confidence and intelligence. She had gotten lucky, or maybe this poor soul had gotten unlucky.