'Is this how I die?'

Looking down at the black mist piercing his chest, Nix could see blood flowing out of the hole created by the shadow creature in front of him. His eyes followed the creature's arm from the hole in his chest, up to it's body and then looked at where it's face should have been. All he could see were to dark holes where its eyes should have been. No nose, no mouth. Just an expressionless face with eyes that peered into his soul.

'I can't just die like this! I have to try to get away! Maybe the healer could save me if I could just make it back to the party.'

Nix reached down and pulled the dagger hanging from his belt and put all of his strength into swinging the blade at what looked like the shadow creature's face.

Nothing happened. The blade passed through the creature's face as if it wasn't even there.

'What the hell? How could I miss at this distance?'

The creature lifted Nix's body up and then slammed him down onto his back. Nix dropped his dagger on impact and blood was splattered across the ground around his body. Nix coughed up more blood and his vision started to blur.

'I can't see anything. My body feels so cold. I guess this is how I'm going to die...fuck.'

'Don't give up yet,' said a soft voice somewhere nearby.

Nix looked around for the source of the voice he thought he just heard. Maybe the party had found him and he was saved. Then the voice spoke again but Nix realized the voice was coming from inside his own head.

'You can survive this but you have to give me control so I can use my power,' the voice urged him.

'Give you control? Who are you? What power?'

So many questions formed in Nix's mind and he was getting more tired as the seconds passed. Everyone knew he didn't have an ability so how could he believe that this voice could give him any power. Then again, he had lost a lot of blood and was probably just hallucinating this voice inside his head.

'I'll answer your questions after we make it out of this! Right now you need to let me help you or we will both die here!'

'Whatever, take control, I'm too tired to think anymore. I'm going to sleep.'

Nix could feel the pressure on his chest lift but his body still felt heavy and he closed his eyes. As he closed his eyes he felt like he was being pulled down into the depths of his mind. He could still see a faint light above him as he sank further down, as if he was looking up at the back of his eyelids.

'I'll get us out of this mess. Just sit back and watch!'

And that's when Nix's actual eyes opened back up and he could see the shadow creature still standing above him. It's arm pulled back readying the finishing blow that would kill him for good. Nix noticed how the black mist that was the creature's arm resembled a large blade.

'The worst thing about this creature is how silent it is,' Nix thought, 'Not a sound comes from it's movements so it's no wonder that it was able to sneak up on me so easily. I can't believe I'm going to die in a low rank dungeon.'

Then the shadow creature sent it's bladed arm down for the kill. Nix tried to close his eyes but couldn't. His eyes stayed wide open and trained on the creature's arm. That's when his body started moving on its own, like Nix was sitting in a seat and watching a movie through his eyes. His arms reached up and caught the bladed arm of the creature in hands.

'But how?? My dagger went right through its head earlier!'

That's when Nix noticed that his-or rather the hands he was watching though his eyes-were bleeding from both palms. The black mist was swirling around the wounds and looked like it was being sucked into them!

"This is our power! The power that we were born with!" the voice said using Nix's mouth but not his own voice. Nix started to wonder how this mystery voice that was in his head, was now coming out of his mouth.

The black mist started flowing faster into his palms and the creature tried to resist but couldn't stop itself from being sucked in. Nix finally noticed a change on the creature's face. It looked like fear. The creature knew that this was the end for it and was trying to flee.

As the black mist was sucked into Nix's body, the creature faded away until it was eventually gone from existence and there was nothing standing above Nix. His hands dropped to the ground and his body wouldn't move on his command.

'That voice from my head must still be in control.'

Nix tried to probe around his mind to make contact with the voice he heard earlier but couldn't tell up from down inside this dark space.

"Don't worry, I'm still here. Just not in there with you," the voice answered when Nix started to worry he was trapped.

'What happened to that creature and why can't I move my body? I need to get back to the party before another one of those things shows up!'

"We can't move at the moment. This is the first time we have absorbed a creature and its powers into our body. It'll take me some time to figure out exactly what ability we have gained from it but at the moment we have the more pressing matter of keeping our body alive."

'Why do you keep saying "we" and "our body"? This is my body!'

"Not exactly. We have finally made contact and now our minds have begun to absorb each other. Soon, one of our voices will disappear after our minds have combined completely."

'If anyone is disappearing, it's you! This is my body and I won't let you have it! Now give me back control so I can get the hell out of here!' Nix was starting to get angry that this mystery voice wasn't making sense. He was afraid to be trapped inside his head any longer than he had to be.

"I can't give you control. If you try to move this body in its current state, we will bleed out and we both cease to exist. Give me some time to test the ability we got from the creature and hopefully it can be used to keep us alive long enough to get to safety."

'Fine,' Nix agreed, knowing that made sense but still not liking the idea of laying here on the ground, 'At least tell me how this absorb ability works while we wait.'

"It's exactly as you just saw. We absorbed that shadow creature through the wounds on our hands."

Nix stayed silent in his mind for a few minutes, trying to process how he could have gotten this ability after being powerless for the last 23 years. He knew he never absorbed anything in the past so why could his body do it now? Had the attack from the shadow creature awakened a dormant ability he had all along?

"Yes and no."

'What?'

"I answered the question you were thinking. The shadow creature brought you to the brink of death and that allowed our minds to make contact. Your near death experience put your mind's wavelength into a lower frequency, allowing us to sync up and communicate as we are now. The ability, however, is mine. You still don't have an ability of your own."

'Stay out of my head when I'm thinking,' Nix spat angrily. He didn't like that he couldn't even think in his own mind without being eavesdropped on.

"Technically you're in my head since I'm in control at the moment," the voice said with a chuckle that caused him to choke on the blood still in his mouth.

Nix was about to respond when he caught movement at the edge of his vision. The mystery voice noticed it too but didn't try to turn for a better look.

"We found him!' came a voice that Nix recognized as the party's tracker, Bloodhound.

Then came more voices and shouts. Nix could hear footsteps rushing towards his body and soon he was surrounded by familiar faces.

"Stay still, I'm going to start healing your wounds," said Leigh, the party's healer. She placed her hands on Nix's chest and closed her eyes. Her hands started to glow faintly with a green aura and Nix felt a warm sensation move throughout his chest as her ability began stitching the hole in his chest together. "Just relax Nix, we will take care of you."

'Safe at last,' Nix thought. He wanted to fall asleep and let the party take him back to safety but he still couldn't close his eyes. Nix figured this was probably from being trapped in his mind. 'What if this is how the voice has existed inside my mind all these years?'

Then his body's eyes closed and he was left floating in darkness.

'That's exactly how I've existed since the day we were born,' the voice said from beside him.

Nix quickly turned his head to the side and saw a figure that made his jaw drop. The person beside him looked just like him but shorter and more frail looking.

'Who are you?' Nix asked. He really hoped he wasn't schizophrenic and this was some other personality that he created to bottle up his feelings.

'I'm your little brother...'