A Welcomed Meeting

A pale hand rests on the split head of the centipede. Those orange, beady eyes are still, and the massive mound of crimson flesh sags atop the ground. Black blood still oozes in thick, slow-flowing streams. It pools at Cage's feet, staining his skin.

Cage closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He was unconscious when he absorbed that parasite, so he isn't sure exactly how it works. But, if he's correct, then it should work the same as with the Rage Stone. He focuses on the warm, hard flesh beneath his touch, and a gasp from behind lets him know that something is happening.

His black eyes open slowly, and they widen as Cage sees the black smoke creeping along the entirety of the centipede's mangled head. He can't see over the massive head of the beast, but he feels the tendrils reaching, stretching across its several-meter-long body. Seconds pass, and the tendrils stop moving after covering a little less than half of the centipede's body. Disturbingly quick, it streams back to Cage's open palm, narrowing to a handspan wide funnel as the covered part of the centipede's body disappears from this world.

The back half of the long body is left behind, entrails and black blood gushing from the open side. It's as if the front half of the carcass never existed in the first place.

Silence falls like an anvil. Ash falls slow. The stuffy wind caresses the land like it always has. A volcano in the distance vomits bright yellow lava. Critters crawl between divots in the rocks, looking for food. The universe beyond this burning planet churns and breaths with trillions of lifeforms, unaware of the change that will be thrust upon it. Whether that change will be favorable to those lifeforms, only their creator knows.

Kyro stands frozen, staring at Cage's back and flowing midnight hair. A strange, foreign feeling rises in his heart. It feels... wrong for him to be witnessing this. He suggested this, sure, but he did not expect it to be so easy. So quick. So meaningless. It should be impossible. Kyro has heard of many different powers from different civilizations, but they all use Vas and Anima. Neither of those magics can accomplish something like this.

But why is he surprised? Kyro had seen it before with the parasite. Yet while it was unsettling, it had not brought this feeling upon him. Cage seems normal, despite those black eyes. If the other Rajins meet him, will they be able to tell? Will they know this indescribable feeling as well? Kyro fears that if they do, then someone will die. And for a reason unknown to him, he cannot see that someone being Cage.

"I wonder why only part of it was absorbed?," Cage turns to meet Kyro's disturbed expression. The Rajin man's eyes are distant as he stares forward, and Cage can tell he's in deep thought. About what? Who knows. His thin black brows furrow, "Kyro?"

Kyro seems to drift back to reality with the call, though the look on his face stays, "Sorry, I just..." The nine-foot man stares at Cage, "...Let's walk."

Cage nods, stepping with Kyro over the black rocks. Cage feels even stronger than before, his appetite satiated to the point that he cannot absorb anymore at the moment. His steps are firm now, and he no longer has to look where he places his feet. Also, everything is a little brighter. Cage can even see dips and cuts in the rock on those distant volcanos, which were once merely black blobs against the grey sky.

Cage still doesn't understand what is happening, and he's not sure if he ever will. However, a thought passes through his mind. He's not solid on the idea, but it's as if he's regaining something lost to him rather than merely stealing bodies. He will need to know more, to use his power more. Either way, it's comforting to not have to worry if his body will devour itself.

Cage glances up at Kyro, who has returned to looking distant. The Rajin walks firm, his massive blue body packed with muscle. It makes sense now. He would need muscles that big to hold the power he just displayed. Is Kyro thinking about what just happened with the centipede? Cage doesn't know, but whatever the Rajin is thinking about, it's clearly disturbing him to a great degree.

"You were gonna tell me about Vas?" Cage breaks the staunch silence, black eyes returning to the path before him.

Kyro raises his brows as he's pulled from a river of thoughts. Whenever Kyro gets like this, he finds it difficult to stop himself. His thoughts often overwhelm him, swallowing him whole for as long as they can. Unless someone or something distracts him, "Yes. I believe I was," Kyro says, pausing as he organizes the words in his brain.

"Vas is physical magic. I can use it to change the shape of objects that I touch," Kyro says, holding up his sword before him. That white energy flows from his hand and covers the weapon in a thin layer. The entire sword morphs, every part shifting together until the wide double-sided blade becomes a long spear, "Changing the entire shape like this requires much more focus, so I only do it if I have time in battle. That's why I only changed the size earlier."

Cage nods, staring at the spear as it shifts back to the normal massive sword, "Can everyone do that?" he asks.

Kyro shakes his head, "No, not at all. Every living thing has Vas inside them, but few can tap into it," he responds, "I didn't gain Vas magic until my fifteenth year. Some gain it earlier, and some later, even into their thirties."

"Can every Vas user do what you do? That would be pretty boring if everyone is the same," Cage says.

"It definetly would be. But no," Kyro says, placing his sword on his hip, "I've heard of Vas users that can light their weapon aflame, morph wood to water, and change the weight of a boulder to that of a feather. I only know of one man that can do it, but Vas can also be used on your own body. I'm sure there are others that can do it though."

Cage nods. He goes over the words again and again in his head. His thoughts are less muddled since absorbing the centipede, but there are still many things he has trouble remembering, especially about his previous life. However, if he encounters an enemy with Vas magic, Cage needs to remember what Kyro is telling him.

Cage glances at the sword on Kyro's hip, one brow raised. He stares at the symbols spanning the blade, a question rising in his mind, "Do those symbols have anything to do with Vas? They must be important if they're on your weapon."

Kyro nods, eyes forward to the path ahead, "They are very important to me, but are not connected to Vas," pointing to each of the three symbols in turn, "Iron. Blood. Duty. Keep your weapon within reach, protect your family, and never ignore your responsibilities," Kyro says, glancing down at Cage, "Rajin men do not read, but even I can do this much. You speak Trellian, but cannot read it?"

"What? Trellian?" Cage asks.

"Ah, right. You would not know," Kyro says, "Trellian is the shared language of every civilization on this side of the Praesi," He furrows his brows as he realizes something, "If you are from earth, then how do you speak our language?"

"I... I don't know," Cage responds, words trailing to a whisper. He hadn't even realized that he was speaking another language, but he notices now that his words are more guttural, the syllables in each word much more than with English. How did this happen? Has he been speaking this language since he awoke? Or did something cause his tongue to change?

Kyro stares down at the man with furrowed brows, though they eventually return to the path ahead, avoiding the lava river they walk beside. Another mystery, another question that will probably go unanswered. Kyro has been in a constant state of surprise since meeting Cage, and his mind grows tired. Nothing makes sense anymore.

Cage glances up at Kyro. There is not much he can do about his language shift at the moment, so he throws the thought to the side for now. Though he's had a question in his mind for some time now, "Were you in the army before? The way you talk and move, along with your fighting skill, it definitely seems that way."

Kyro flinches, surprised by the sudden question. He sighs, eyes glued forward, "Yes. I've spent most of my adulthood a soldier," he says, the memories of his final moments as a part of the Rajin army stinging his mind, "But that is in the past. I am a Collector now."

Cage nods, eyes lingering on the Rajin man. The memory is clearly not a pleasant one for Kyro. He won't gain anything by prying further, so Cage decides to drop it. Instead, he looks around at his surroundings. That lava river is close, about a dozen meters away. They've been walking along it on their trip, and Cage wonders if Kyro is using it to navigate.

Cage follows the slow flowing river with his eyes, noticing that it runs into the base of a volcano a few miles ahead.

Its daunting size makes the other volcanos in the distance look puny. He looks to the top of the massive volcano and furrows his brows. The spiky slope comes to a sharp point at the top rather than opening like the others. Is it really a volcano? Or just a mountain? Perhaps he will find out when they get closer.

---

"We'll camp here," Kyro points to an opening a few meters in diameter at the base of the volcano. To the side, there is another opening rising from the rock in a half-circle, much smaller than the other. That lava river runs through the opening, shrinking to an arm's length in width at the enterance.

Cage nods, craning his neck to gaze up at the massive heap of rock rising to the sky, "This one is different. There's no opening for the lava to flow out," he says.

"There will be," Kyro responds, eyes never leaving that cave, "We may have company."

Cage hums in response, looking at the cave. The edges of the entrance are fine and smooth, as if someone had simply cut a piece of the volcano out. Cage follows behind Kyro as they near the cave, and he notices a soft light flickering on the walls leading inside. A campfire, "Should we be ready for a fight?" he asks, glancing up at Kyro.

Kyro shakes his head, "Only Rajin come to this planet," he says, halting as footsteps can be heard coming from the cave. Heavy footsteps.

The rock vibrates with the footsteps, and a moment later, a hulking figure ducks out from the cave. Cage thought that the Rajin beside him was tall, but as the purple-skinned man before him stands straight, he rises to be at least three heads taller than Kyro. His body is bursting with muscle, and Cage thinks that one of the man's scar-covered arms has to be as big as his own torso. He wears that same black leotard, the sleeves reduced to ripped fabric at the shoulder. Whether the detail is intentional or merely a result of those two hulking logs disguised as arms, Cage can only wonder.

"Ah! Kyro!" The man's cheeks stretch with a toothy grin as he looks at Kyro, though one of those teeth is reduced to a dark hole. The man's boulder-like head is void of any hair, save for bushy silver brows that sit atop grey eyes.

Kyro returns his own grin to the man, walking up. A loud clap echos and the two men clasp hands, "Ingen! It is good to see you," Kyro says, "Thank Betor you are well."

Ingen laughs, nearly shattering Cage's eardrums in the process. Everything about this man is huge, "When have you not known me to be so?" Ingen says, dropping his hand to his side. He looks over Kyro's head and glances at Cage, humming, "I've never known you to be an interloper. Who is this?"

Kyro half-turns, waving Cage forward, "His name is Cage. I found him here," he says with the same grin as before. Seeing a friend seems to have lifted the Rajin from his dour mood.

Ingen, donning that same wide grin, nearly breaks his neck to look down at Cage as he steps up beside Kyro, "What in Betor's name would possess you to come here?" he asks.

Cage looks up at Ingen, shrugging, "I'm not sure. Let me know if you find out," he responds with a stone face.

Ingen's thick brows furrow at the remark. His grin widens, and he cracks, breaking into that booming laughter, "Haha! I like him already!" he yells, "Say, where are you from?"

"I'm from E-"

"His memory fails him, Ingen. Even he is ignorant to his own origins," Kyro cuts in, never losing his smile as those grey eyes, like lanterns in the night, meet his own.