Chapter 1

Amid the infinite starscape of another dimension, the Master, as he was always called, made an attempt at something nobody had ever done before. He started gathering half of his soul's energy, still orders of magnitude more than mere mortals, to project it through a link with another universe he had spent months making. In his experiments during the last few days, he had probed the link for large masses with significant soul energy readings likely to be inhabited planets, trying to pinpoint a place where he would easily find another being to take over.

Gathering this much soul energy without splitting the soul hurt tremendously. Without years of training specifically in the rare soul arts, this would not have been possible. The walls around his gently lit cave were engraved with many layers of mind soothing arrays. His servants had done an excellent job with them, just to prevent a mind numbing headache on top of his current predicament.

After gathering his soul energy and taking a few moments to recuperate, he forced the energy down the link to the new universe. This was an even more strenuous affair, as he had to keep a thin strand of soul energy connected between the blob he was sending and the part of his soul energy still in his body. If he failed, he would lose all the time and resources spent in getting his soul this developed, and spend years recuperating. Still, a loss would not be fatal, and he could try again.

Hours of effort later, his soul energy came out the other end, near the planet he had identified. It was his first time perceiving it with this much clarity. He was looking at a rather beautiful blue planet, the only one of its kind nearby. This disappointed the Master, as his home planet was multiple times the size and had many sister planets. He had settled on it as he did not want to search further, or spend the time creating a link with another universe.

Closing in on the planet was slow, and he could see it rotating as he neared. Half of the planet lit and the other in darkness. The Master aimed his travel the latter as it would make it far easier to identify a city to fly towards, the nighttime lights being much more common and bright than at home. Moments later, he entered the atmosphere and picked a city.

It was large city, and it must have felt lived in during the day, but there were few people walking around. He saw many unfamiliar things, uncertain how to even describe them, but he would have plenty of time to find out.

He selected a random passerby, a human male in his early twenties, and wrapped his soul energy around the person's body. Giving it one last thought, he sent all of it to collide with the unsuspecting man's mind.

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Caleb was having one of those days. Internet was out in his apartment, he had no snacks, but he sure as hell wouldn't go to sleep early. He had gone to the night shop close by in order to remedy one of his problems and waste some time. Perhaps the internet would be fixed by the time he came back. Standing outside of the brightly lit shop, a bottle of coke in one hand and a bag of chips in the other, he looked at the streets.

If you forgot the scant few people walking around, it would almost seem like a liminal space. Everything was clean. There were no stains to find on the pavement, unless you looked really hard. The street had finished renovations just last week. Trees were planted at consistent intervals between the road and the sidewalk, a welcome change.

Deciding he had stood in place for long enough, Caleb started his walk back home. It would only be a few minutes. He lived in the city, after all.

As he continued to walk, a sudden chill enveloped him. Something screamed at him. A million needles seemed to prickle his skin, and a force smashed against his mind. Caleb's world began to spin, the soda bottle and pack of chips slipping out of his hands. He fell to the ground with a soft thud. He struggled, in his mind, to grasp what was happening. It was impossible to form a coherent thought.

Through pure instinct, he began to take action. Caleb knew nothing about soul energy, or how to use it, or even that he was making use of it at all. With much effort, he was slowing down the loss of his own energy, following what his instincts were screaming at him to do. He was overwhelmed, forgetting even about the outside world, doing everything to hold on.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, he had managed to create a status quo with the invading energy. He had lost much of his own in the process, and his headache only worsened. After seconds turned to minutes, Caleb began to feel hunger. A primal hunger. The invading energy... if it could eat his, he could eat it.

He began by creating an opening in his soul energy, for the invader to attack, and then cutting off the attack from its source. Gradually, with continuously increasing speed, he assimilated the invader's enemy. Until mere seconds later, the energy seemed to lose its drive. It stopped attacking, and it did not defend. It seemed inert.

Taking the opportunity, Caleb took ever bigger bites, not even bothering to let the energy settle. He did not know how long it took him, but he ate it all. Faced with the lack of more energy to absorb, his energy screamed at him. It wanted more. It needed more. He realized that his own energy was dissipating. He tried to grab onto all of it, but it kept slipping away. His energy searched everywhere for more to consume. It found that a thin strand of the invader's energy was still present, barely a remnant.

Latching onto his hope for more, Caleb directed all of his energy after it. The thin strand was not enough to compensate for the gradual loss of his own, but he had no choice but to keep going. It was the only way. And yet the more he followed, the thinner the strand seemed to become. He didn't give up.

Hours, or potentially days later, Caleb's energy smashed into another energy at a speed he could not comprehend. The blob of energy was broken apart by the impact, pieces flying in all directions. Having felt primal hunger for a long time, he took the opportunity and expanded as much as possible, grabbing the pieces and integrating them into his own.

Caleb felt more and more at ease with his situation. He was still relying entirely on his own instincts, but the situation was calming down. He felt a sensation of comfort settling in, the exhaustion caught up, and he felt an enveloping darkness sweep over him.

Sometime later, he stirred back into consciousness, a groan escaping his lips. His body felt alien, like he was wearing a suit several sizes too large. His thoughts were muddled, consciousness wavering between reality and an ethereal realm where he had recently battled an unknown entity. He distinctly remembered having a splitting headache, but he could not feel it anymore.

Opening his eyes, he found himself in a cavern, a place vastly different from the city street he was in what seemed to be just moments ago. The walls were adorned with otherworldly glyphs and symbols glowing with a soft, magical light.

As he struggled to sit up, he noticed his hands. 'What?' They were larger and stronger, with an unnatural pallor that he had never seen before. His fingers tingled with an unknown power. His confusion was compounded by a mirror he found in the corner of the cavern, its silver surface reflecting the image of a man he did not recognize.

Caleb was staring at the reflection of a powerful, ancient being, the antithesis of his previous ordinary self. 'Beautiful.' His new form was taller and exuded a raw sense of power, his eyes a vivid shade of silver. His features were sharp, commanding, and his body was enveloped in an opulent robe that seemed to shimmer. Symmetrical lines of soft light ran down his face.

Realization came crashing down on him like a tidal wave, remembering what had happened as if it were a dream. The entity he had absorbed was not simply a force but a consciousness, an ancient being who had attempted to take over his body. And now, he had awoken in the body of that very entity and absorbed a part of his memories. 'This... is not what I expected from a trip to the night shop.'

He looked in the direction of the door. It was easily twice his size. Caleb was nervous and did not know what to do. He wanted to do something to make the dreaded thought of opening the door go away, or worse, coming to terms with his current situation. Not that there was much he could do.