"Man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world."
― Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays
"Get off me, you idiot!"
Ven groaned as Cain shoved him to the side. His hand fell on a metal bar, a light gleam in the darkness. It carried a strong electric current, a buzz on the skin that his aura drew away.
"Where are we?"
"How should I know, we're probably out in the multiverse somewhere," Cain growled, his eyes a dim red. "Get ready to fight, we might be neck deep in avatars soon..."
A horrible blast of air pushed against them, led by a shrill screech. A light rounded a corner ahead. The harsh glare revealed well-packed tunnel walls and a pair of sturdy rails.
"Uh oh..."
Ven reached out and grabbed his master. Pulled tight against the wall, he met Cain's angered glare.
"That's a train!" Ven yelled over the machine's roar. "We have to..."
His words lost steam as Cain shook him off.
"I know what a train is, and I'm not about to cower from such a thing!"
Palm raised, Cain cast a net of runes. They wrapped up the train like a captured beast and brought it to a halt. Pressed to the glass, layered in a heap with Mara, Brull, and Lyra, the King scowled, a wrathful light on his face.
"Cain, you bastard," The Dragon King bellowed. "What are you doing messing with my city's property!"
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"Can we go find them now..."
Kalina lay, dispirited, head rested on the guild's bar. They'd worked their way through a dozen drinks, yet no one had appeared. Her entrance was beyond ruined, she just wanted to see her friends.
"Just wait, they should almost be..."
The doors swung open and Mara and company spilled through the door. Cain and the King were engaged in a heated debate about property damage, while Mara and Ven led the way to the bar.
"Oh, hey Kalina," The cat-kin nodded. "Are you here to welcome Ven home... who's your friend?"
"Welcome HIM home?" Tears pooled at the corners of Kalina's eyes. "I've been gone for a year and that's how you greet me!"
"Gone?" Mara blinked. "I guess it has been a while since I saw you..."
"I was on a grand adventure, you awful cat!" Kalina balled. "Syy and I have been traveling the world, having fun, and making friends!"
"More like making trouble and robbing people blind," Syy stepped forward, hand offered to Mara, her eyes on Ven. "Greetings, I'm Syy, Kalina's self-appointed caretaker."
"Traiters burn in the afterlife..." Kalina huffed, ankle-deep in a pool of tears. "Didn't anyone miss me at all?"
"I missed you, Kalina," Ven rubbed her tiny head. "I've been stuck with that cuss Cain for a year, it's nice to see all my friends again!"
"You like me more than Cain?" Kalina's hands wiped at her eyes. "I thought everyone liked him better..."
"Are you kidding," Ven smiled as he placed Kalina in his palm. "He's a miserable bastard, and I like you a thousand times more!"
"You must be Ven," Syy sized Vendak up through slitted eyes. "Kalina never stops talking about you..."
"Shut up, squire!" Kalina launched herself forward, body used as a gag for Syy's voice. "I only talked about him when you asked!"
"Stop choking your friend, Kalina..." Ven pulled her free of Syy's mouth and patted the woman on the back. "And yup, I'm Ven. Nice to meet you."
Syy shook his extended hand and a spark of green lightning flashed between their palms. A small snake that burrowed until his aura seized hold.
"Sorry!" Syy lept back, one hand nursed by the other. "I don't know what happened!"
"It's fine..." Ven raised an eyebrow. "So how did you two meet?"
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"Ahhhh..."
Ven lay back, nestled into his bed for the first time in months. Today's events replayed themselves in his mind. The white figure and his strange words, the return to find modern technology already in use, and his meeting with Syy.
"That woman isn't what she pretends to be..."
Ven buried himself in his blankets. The spark that passed between him and Kalina's odd companion tasted... different. Pure, or distilled? He didn't know, but she wasn't some random Nirvana cultivator.
"Her energy tasted like victory..."
A hint of the moment, when you stood the winner. The sweet rush of unexpected gains. His instincts told him nothing, she might as well be a cat for all the danger he sensed from her. His teeth clicked together, a small snap that came unbidden.
"Too bad she's a good guy..."
The first taste had awakened a hunger. His mind couldn't leave the memory alone. Only the full force of his will had kept him from eating the woman whole.
"There you are!" Cain's voice pierced Ven's woolen fortress, unwelcome but unstoppable. "It's time we started round two!"
"Oh come on!"
Ven groaned and wrapped himself tighter. He'd been gone for so long, all he wanted was a single day to rest.
"No can do, my useless apprentice," Cain unearthed Ven from his bed and dumped him onto the floor. "We've got to go back and figure out that rune of yours!"
"But what about my friends, I wanted to spend some time..."
"Don't worry," Cain waved him off as their surroundings melted into a desert of grey sand. "I'll change the time flow here, one second out there is a year for us."
"That's not really what I..."
"Now shut up and get drawing!" Cain shoved a stylus into Ven's hands. "I want to see you almost finish that rune again before you head home."
"I can't even remember making it, how am I supposed to do it again?"
"Not my problem," Cain raised his dagger. "Draw, my useless, ignorant apprentice!"
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Ooulin trembled, a flash of terror that roused him from his dreams. His eyes flashed, black, then white, a look of dread on his simple face.
His mother was back and this time he would not be able to escape. The woman who came with her had a greater gift than him for the lines of fate. She would guide Kalina right to him, and hold him until he left his shell.
The turtle sighed and embraced his fate. He slipped back under, to dreams of a peaceful life.