‘’Are you in pain?’’ a voice asked. Everything was dark around Kane and he
couldn’t see anything. It seemed that he was laying on his back on a pool of liquid,
but no matter how he prodded and turned, he couldn’t get a firm hold and stand up.
Somehow he turned towards the general direction of the voice.
‘’No’’ Kane replied. ‘’Where are you?’’
‘’Everywhere and nowhere’’ it replied again.
‘’What do you mean? Who or what are you?’’ Kane asked annoyed.
‘’I am you, and i am not you. It is hard to explain. Are you sure you want to
know? If i do tell you, you have to promise me that you will let me take control over
your body more often than just when you are weakest. I have to save you time and
time again. I do not like that. I want to enjoy freedom every now and then.’’ it said
sinisterly. Kane did not know what to say or think at the moment. The voice really
sounded awkward and fearsome, sending chills down his spine. Then again, where
the hell was he? Was he dead? Oh yes, he remembered. He died. Shit! He died!
‘’Janine, my love’’ he managed to speak.. What will happen to her and the otehrs
now?
‘’What will happen to her now? Is that what you ask yourself?’’ the voice said
sarcastically.
‘’Yes i am. How the hell do you know?’’
‘’I just told you. I am you, even if i am not’’
‘’Ugh. Alright, just tell me. Where am i, who are you and what is going on,
please’’ Kane said. The voice was silent for a while.
‘’I am Egeryon. Who or what is Egeryon, you ask yourself. Well, i will tell you
young one. I am an ancient monster. A demon to be more precise. Your cursed
father and mother somehow trapped my soul with yours. How or why you ask? I have
no idea. One moment we were fighting, the other i awakened inside of you, taking
control when you were fighting your first monster. Now, even though i no longer have
my own body, i still possess some powers which grow by each drop of blood we take.
Some of my powers are mental, some are metaphysical. One of them is
regenerative, the other is destructive, the third is possessive. Maybe more will
awaken in time, but for now, i have already shown you some interesting things,
haven't i?’’ he said and roared in laughter.
‘’So every time i lost control, or did something new without prior knowledge, it
was you?’’ Kane asked
‘’Yes, it was me, young Kane. I know a lot more things, and i will teach you in
time, that is, if you let me heal you. Before you even just say yes, my price is the
following. When i ask you to, you will relinquish control over your body. I need blood,
massive amounts. Especially for what i am to do now. I will use up all of my reserves
to heal this wound. Still, the hole will not close up, but just the edges. I do not have
more power than that at the moment. Do you agree?’’
‘’I do, but on my own terms. I will not just relinquish my body whenever you
like. If you are ancient, you must have lived for thousands of years. The relinquishing
will not happen in my lifetime. You will stay with me and protect this body until i am
ready to move on. By then, you should have enough new reserves to get into another
body or regenerate this one, make it younger or whatever you are able to. Also, you
will never hurt Janine, Thanis or Alpha, even if it is self defense. Do you agree?’’
‘’I do’’ he said after a few moments. ‘’Man did I mess up. I took all of your
goodness and transferred them into that mut. Somehow, you managed to regain
some of it and prevented me to take control of your body. You have a strong will and
a strong sense of justice. I will refrain from doing anything stupid for the moment, as
it will only endanger myself also. Anyway, now, close your eyes and count to ten’’ he
said and his voice disappeared.
Kane did what he instructed, praying with all his soul it would work. As he
arrived at zero, intense pain came over him and he convulsed, throwing up on
himself, almost choking in the vomit. Something turned him over and he threw up
again, on the ground this time.
‘’He is alive!’’ a female voice yelled. ‘’Do something, Alpha!’’ it yelled again.
Kane slowly tried to open his eyes, but everything hurt as hell. Even his eyelids felt
the weight of the whole world as he couldn’t even open them. It was as if the silvaren
had run him over and ground him to dust. He tried to get up, but instead convulsed
again and lost consciousness for the second time
When he came to, he was covered in darkness, again. A harsh voice was
singing a song, which sounded awful.
‘’Why are you back so early?’’ the voice asked. Kane then figured out who it
was after getting his bearings again.
‘’Egeryon? Why am i here again?’’ Kane asked.
‘’How should i know?’’ Egeryon responded and went quiet. ‘’Well, maybe the
sudden recovery was a too big shock for you mentally and got sent back here. Let
me try something else. Again, count to ten’’.
‘’Wake up, Kane’’ a voice whispered into his ear softly. He tried opening his
eyes slowly, and bright light assailed his eyes. Slowly he opened them wider and saw
a beautiful face close to his. It was his dearest Janine. The love of his life, the one
person whom he would come back from the dead for. And he literally did.
‘’What happened?’’ he asked whilst groaning in pain. His chest felt like
something heavy was sitting on it. And with heavy, he meant a silvaren sitting atop of
him heavy. He couldn’t even move his fingers, his head, feet, or any part of his body.
‘’What is going on?’’ he asked more panicking this time.
‘’I have no idea’’ Janine cried out falling over me.
‘’Damn woman that hurts, get off of me’’ he said laughing gently, painfully. She
immediately withdrew and took a gourd and poured some water into his mouth. It
tasted better than anything in his life before.
‘’Help me sit up’’ he said groaning. She took him slowly and helped him to sit
up. Alpha came sitting next to him, letting Kane lean on him for support. They both
were expectedly waiting on Kane to talk. ‘’What? Is there something on my face?’’ he
chuckled.
‘’Damn you! You scared me to death! Don’t you dare leave me so early into
our life together!’’ Janine cried out, hitting his chest, then remembering he was in
pain and apologised. It hurt like hell. The hole was hurting like nothing before in his
life. The edges of the wound were already mostly healed up, but the hole in his chest
remained.
‘’Shit, what will the people think when they see me with a hole in my chest’’ he
chuckled to himself. ‘’Anyway, sorry to worry you guys, but, i got owned. I was
careless. I’m sorry’’ Kane said pulling Janine closer until she leaned her head on his
bloody chest. After a few moments she withdrew her head, an expression of fear
painted on her face, the like he had never seen before. An expression of pure horror.
‘’What the hell is wrong, woman?’ he yelled.
‘’Your heartbeat. It’s gone.’’ she said with a low voice. ‘’How the hell are you
still alive?’’ she asked. Yes, if Kane hadn’t known better, he would have said God.
But, this was no God. This was a devil. Sell your soul to live on your life. At least for a
bit longer. Life sure is ironic.
For a long moment he was gathering his thoughts, thinking about how to give
them the news they surely did not want to hear. Then just decided to keep it simple.
‘’I have a second soul living inside of me’’ Kane said abruptly. ‘’Basically, he
offered me help, in return for favours. He would let me survive and i would let him eat
our enemies. Simple as that’’.
All of them were stunned by this turn of events. Thanis had walked up to Kane
and kneeled, his head bowed forwards, whilst looking Kane in the eyes. He could see
the shock and terror in his face.
‘’You don’t get skewered like a pig every day and survive to tell the tale’’ he
laughed, trying to soften the mood up. ‘’Speaking of which, what the hell hit me?’’
Kane asked no one in particular. He felt Alpha moving behind him so he turned
around and looked at Alpha. He stood up and walked a few meters, took something
into his mouth and returned. He dropped it next to Kane. It was like a fang. The
silvaren must have somehow been able to launch one of its teeth towards Kane.
Brutal. O well, he was alive again and that was all he cared about at the moment.
‘’I am going back to sleep’’ Kane said and he slumped back over and fell
asleep right away. When i woke up again, what looked like half a day later, he found
himself bandaged and covered in a blanket, Janine, Thanis and Alpha sitting just a
bit away from him, around the fire, a big pot on top of the fire. A bit further away was
another, bigger fire where a big group of women was sitting. They all turned to him as
they noticed he woke up.
The smell of deliciously prepared food was assailing his nostrils so he sat up
slowly and felt a lot better than before. The pain was mostly gone and he could move
his limbs again.
‘’Do not get penetrated again’’ a voice said in his head. Kane just laughed
slightly and shook his head.
‘’Damn monster can talk directly to my mind now’’ he said under his breath.
‘’As if Alpha wasn’t already annoying enough to have around in his head, now a
second voice. If i didn’t know better, i would think i lost my sanity, tho i am not far
from it, i guess’’ he muttered to himself.
Alpha turned his head towards Kane and laughed, reading Kane’s thoughts.
‘’You are awake, finally. I was thinking about starting to eat by myself already’’
he said and roared out in laughter, or, howling sounded more like it, combined with a
snorting noise. The sound made Kane laugh out loud, hurting all over. The whole
group joined in on the merry laughter and the other women and girls came over to
their fire, to hear what was going on.
‘’Hey big guy. Janine, Thanis, ladies, Hawk, Tiger... Sorry for worrying you
guys. I can’t help it but get into trouble’’ Kane said and laughed out, then gripping his
chest, the pain still present. He bit through the pain and got up slowly, Janine,
standing up hurriedly, rushing his side. She took some of his weight on her shoulders
and helped him over to the fire. Thanis rushed towards them already and put some
cushions on the ground. Kane sent him a gentle smile and a nod, his face lit up like
the sun itself.
‘’How are you feeling, master?’’ Thanis asked, helping Kane sit down. ‘’We
were worried as hell. Never again do that to us!’’
‘’Im fine, dont worry. I’m pretty hard to kill now, trust me’’ Kane said and felt
the confidence he was showing the others. Kane knew he was hard to kill, especially
now that his heart was gone. He was basically dead. What a turn of events.
The group ate more or less in silence, the sound of the fire crackling was like
music. Kane loved it, or at least thought he did, or was it the other him. After they
were done eating, Kane stood up, deciding to go for a walk.
‘’Alpha, accompany me’’ he said and started moving. Alpha stood up and
walked after Kane. Some minute later they stopped at a big tree, Kane turning his
back to it and leaned on it for support. He still felt weak and he was feeling like it. He
needed more rest for sure.
‘’You know, we are not alone anymore’’ Kane said as Alpha sat next to him.
He just nodded his head and slumped to the ground.
‘’I will be honest’’ Kane said and stopped, looking for words.
‘’I know everything you think, everything you feel, everything that is on your
mind, every doubt, every moment of love, pain. I am you, just in a different form. Stop
thinking of me as a dog or a wolf, or an animal for that matter’’ Alpha said angrily. He
was right to be angry, Kane had thought of him as just an animal, a pet. But, he was
a part of him, a part which he missed now, a part which he needed to fight his inner
demon.
‘’I know. I am sorry. I have just realised that you are more to me than just a
pet. U are me, in a different way. You know, if i do what i planned to, and i kill the
king, how many people do you think will die? How many people will lose their loved
ones if a revolt sparks up’’ Kane asked, not knowing where all the emotions came
from. He had never cared about others, but now, something just flipped inside of him.
Kane did not know why, but, he loved Janine, and even her little brother in a different
way. Maybe he had a chance at redemption. Maybe he had been given a second
chance in life to be part of a family. He had to keep it alive at all cost. Nothing and no
one would do them any harm. He would kill anyone and anything that would seek to
harm them.
‘’I feel the same way’’ Alpha said and turned his head up, to gaze at the stars.
Kane loved to do that as well. Shit, again he was thinking of him as just a pet. He had
to stop doing that or he would lose him, or rather, himself.
‘’Say, Alpha, do you think i am a good person?’’ Kane asked abruptly. The
question caught Alpha off guard, he could see that much.
‘’A… good person?’’ he replied. ‘’Can you define what a good person is?’’
Kane couldn’t really. Never had he done anything good in his life, except this one
time, trying to save Thanis and the other prisoners. It.. felt good, to be honest. To do
something, not purely for yourself, but genuinely just because it was the right thing to
do. He rather liked it.
‘’Don’t let that smile go any wider, or your face might tear’’ Alpha said
laughingly.
‘’Let us go back, you big oaf’’ Kane said as he turned to go back. Alpha
followed him silently. Upon their arrival at the fire, Tiger and Hawk met them, doing a
perimeter search it seemed. Kane stopped a moment to talk to them.
‘’You two were marvelous today. I am very glad to have been able to fight
beside you two’’ Kane said, meaning it. The two of them looked at each other, not
expecting this, then looked back at him and lowered their heads.
‘’So are we’’ they said in unison.
‘’I am glad to hear so. By the way, how about you two get real names, like i
named Alpha’’ Kane said.
‘’How would you name us?’’ they again replied in unison. Kane thought hard
for a moment and then replied.
‘’How about Beta and Gamma?’’ Kane asked.
‘’What do the names mean?’’ they asked.
‘’Nothing much. Just something i read somewhere a long time ago. We could
make it mean second and third, coming in with strength just behind Alpha’’ he said
and laughed.
Janine walked up to Kane and took his hand just then.
‘’I see you like my familiars’’ she said.
‘’I sure do. They are good to have around. They might have been the factor
that let us survive today’s silvaren’’ Kane said. ‘’We just gave them names’’ he added
and smiled.
‘’So i have heard’’ she replied. ‘’But they were never like today. Something
must have happened for them to have transformed like they did’’ she added.
‘’That might have been me’’ Alpha said. ‘’I shared some of my power with
them’’ he laighed sheepishly, which sounded like a snort, again.They all laughed at
him and shook their heads.
‘’Anyway, you are coming with me, kind sir’’ Janine said, leading Kane towards
the big tent which they had set up for the two of them. Morning couldn’t be far
enough away, Kane thought to himself. Alpha sent him a laugh, mentally.