The bus took off leaving a trail of toxic fumes that made Lucian feel like gagging. As he saw it, he was in the middle of nowhere, all by himself in a strange land. He remembered how he sauntered off the bus like he knew what he was doing, or even where he was going. Honestly, he just wanted to get away from that interrogating girl as fast as possible. He'd found it impossible to keep his cool around her.
'Nora.' he grumbled as he thought of her.
He stood at an intersection, rows of similar looking houses extending in all four cardinal directions. Not knowing which way to go, he wondered if he should've just out right revealed the truth of him being a body "thief" to Nora.
She seemed like a nice girl. maybe she would've helped him out. I mean, it's not like he intentionally stole her best friend's body. Plus, he knew nothing about this place, and he had realized that the thoughts that randomly popped into his head seemed to be more correcting, rather than informing. He would mistake one thing for another then a sudden correction would pop into his mind. He mistook that machine for a beast, but then the information about it being a bus popped into his head. He suspected that all this information came from the mind of this body seeping into his consciousness. Like the way he suddenly knew Nora's name.
Still, it seemed as though his intent had to be directed at the object or presumably, the person in order for the information to dawn. He crossed his arms looking around his unfamiliar surroundings. Some things were obvious like the road, even though it looked different he had surmised its purpose. The bus and the cars acted similarly to wagons and horses as he'd come to learn. And these similar looking buildings were obviously houses since he'd seen the towers earlier and they were much, much bigger. He was almost completely certain of all this except for that memory rush he had experienced when interacting with Nora. which he had no idea what prompted it.
He had his theories though. Firstly, maybe it was caused by her touch, as it happened when she was holding his hand. He thought this was unlikely since she had done a lot more touching before that moment.
Secondly, it happened because he was interacting with Nora, and thus memories relevant to her were shown. There were lots of memories in that hurricane, and all the one he had managed to diserne featured her in some capacity. It was obvious that She must've been a really important person in Lucas' life to have all those memories of her swimming around.He thought this theory was more likely since it had a clear cause and effect, interaction with nora, memories with nora. still coloration did not mean causation and he couldn't be certain of this theory just yet.
With the third theory, he hoped it would be wrong. The thought that Maybe the memory rush was possibly a random occurrence was scary to him. This would mean that it could happen anywhere or anytime. Lucian saw this as a problem because he could think of plenty of inopportune times for it to happen, considering it rendered him immobile and unaware of his surroundings when it happened on the bus.
And then there was that thing itching at the back of his mind. He clearly saw the reflection smile, was this body's soul still intact? Would it try to take over? How was he even able to possess this body in the first place when he passed right through the others?
He sighed in frustration. 'Too many questions.'
He calmed himself down, deep breaths, in and out.
'I can do this, step by step. I arrived here so I can get back, firstly I need a place to stay.'
This body probably had a home so he just had to find it,
'How hard can it be?'
he just had to trust the instincts of his body, so he began to walk erh–'left!' following the street where it led.
As he walked he tried to organize his thoughts and what he remembered. His memories before the altar were clouded, he had a vague impression of the land he'd come from. When he saw something in this world, he'd recognize it as similar to something else. That was about it, but if he strained his mind trying to remember a pain would shoot through his head as it did in that culty basement where he saw his mother and father in that vision. he shuddered as he remembered the dreadful sight, he hoped that the scene of his mother and father hurt was just an illusion but deep down...
Maybe this was intentional, was someone repressing his memory? Maybe the culty people had something to do with it... maybe he was repressing it himself.
He passed a street light as he walked the block and recognized it as a street lamp before a thought popped into his head correcting him.
'street light.' he thought. as he approached the end of the block he decided to go right. The neighborhood was quiet, the foreboding kind of quiet that made him feel like something bad was about to happen. He hadn't seen anyone else on his walk, a few cars had passed by, but the streets were empty.
Soon, he was passing a gray colored house, it had a similar build to the other but it was noticeably more aged. A small rickety gate went around it, it had a well kept lawn, and at the porch was an old lady, silently sitting on a rocking chair, rocking back and forth with a thick blanket on her lap even though it was a hundred degrees out. She seemed to be enjoying the evening air as she sat back watching the clouds.
as Lucian passed by she turned her attention to him. Her glassy eyes squinted, making the wrinkles around her eyes more pronounced. she smiled, giving her face even more wrinkles. Lucian thought she seemed like a pleasant old lady, her smile was sweet and kind. He smiled and waved back, not wanting to seem rude. As he was about to turn away from the old lady. Her smile turned into a deep frown and Lucian froze in his tracks.
The air became thick as he struggled to breath, clouds gathered–or was his vision going dark. He wasn't sure, but he didn't have time to figure it out as he suddenly fell to his knees, his crimson bag hitting the floor before him as he grabbed his chest wheezing for air.
His eyes lingered on the old lady as her frown slowly turned into a smile. A sinister smile that spread from cheek to cheek expressing glee at Lucian struggling to breath. Her squinted eyes fully opened as her gaze barred down on him. Her eyes were no longer glassy, just black. Black voids filled with malice, bottomless pits of evil that pulled his mind in. He stumbled back, his butt hitting the floor, his breath getting shorter and shorter, a familiar sense of fear creeped up his neck like a strangle hold.
color drained from his surroundings. the gras, the road, the mail box, all grayed around him. all except for the crimson of his bag which only got brighter and brighter blinding him as he felt himself lose grip on his consciousness. A sharp pain drilled through his head, then all he could see was darkness...
***
Air rushed back into his lungs but it burned. He was on his knees, holding someone tightly in his arms, a woman in a light blue nightgown. she was beautiful, especially as the moonlight from the window behind him shone on her skin. her silky black hair fell neatly over her shoulders and her soft pale skin glimmered as if her skin was made out of diamonds. but, something was wrong.
He pulled his hand from her back to look at it and his stomach lurched at the sight of it. thick red blood coated his hand and it dripped down onto the woman's gown. He looked back at the woman. pale in the moonlight, lifeless. his vision became blurry as tears welled up. He remembered it all, this scene, this place... "mom-" he uttered before he was thrust into another scene.
Still on his knees, the woman was gone. his hands were bloody and his body ached as if trampled by a horse. He felt a warm liquid splash on his face along with a gust of air and he looked up. thick vines, curled into a sharp spike were right in front of him, their tip pointing directly at him. blood dripped from the green vines.
He suddenly realized they were protruding from the back of a man's torso. As they slowly retreated, he could see right through the hole on the man's back and he suddenly realized what the splash on his face was. blood dripped down his face, his eyes wide as his mind tried comprehending the scene. The man was still standing tall with his imposing stature even though a hole was in his torso. The sword he carried fell to the floor as his grip loosened.
He suddenly turned to look at lucian. The man gazed down at him, his warm red eyes and tousled black hair catching the moonlight. His royal face grew paler by the second, but still a slight smile appeared on his face.
"Lucian." he said, his voice washing over him with a comforting embrace. "you'll be fine...I promise."
Then Lucian felt himself lifting off the ground as a beam of light erupted from the floor. He reached for the man, extending his arm to grasp a hold of him.
"Dad!-" but his dad was suddenly not there as he was thrust into another scene.
Still in the beam of light he quickly retracted his arm, but a vine took a hold of it. his heart pounded in his chest as another vine attached to his leg and snaked up like a hungry python. more vines piled on constricting his legs together, then his torso, pinning his arms to his sides. His gaze piercing forward, he could see the man doing this.
The man had a pained expression that he carried, his red eyes similar to his father's beg Lucian for forgiveness. He clenched his fists and the vine constricted tighter around Lucian, choking the life out of him. Lucian felt rage bubble up inside of him, he couldn't stand the sight of that man.
'How dare he ask for sympathy! I'm gonna ki-'
Suddenly Lucian was floating. He was in another scene. With the beam of light still enveloping him, everything around him slowed, he was calm, he looked at his hands and they were smoky, not quite solid. Below was his body, strangled in a bundle of vines from the man whose crimson eyes begged for sympathy. and—
an arm shot up reaching for Lucian with blinding speed even as everything else was slowed around him. His calm suddenly turned to dread as all he saw before he disappeared was the creature's face, an empty face, maybe made of wood, with three cracks running down its face, seemingly carved into it, one in the middle and two on either side. He didn't know what this thing was but he could tell it was evil. Then darkness fell.
***
When he opened his eyes he realized he was lying in the dirty street. He quickly jumped to his feet and grabbed the red backpack and immediately ran, he didn't wanna look at the old lady or be near that house ever again. but it was too tempting. He turned back a little and he saw the old lady. her chair slowly rocking and her—slumped over. He couldn't tell if she was sleeping or dead.
He ran, as fast as this body could allow, he still wasn't used to it. His eyes were blurry, he was crying and the tears were not stopping. He stopped at another intersection and caught his breath, trying to wipe the tears. everything he had seen. everything he felt at the moment all streamed down his face. no matter what he did, he couldn't stop the tears. He didn't know how or why, but he remembered everything. the sadness, the misery. He was angry, he wanted revenge. but fear had a cold grasp on his heart.
What could he even hope to accomplish? He was in a strange land, which he now knew was a completely different world. He had left his body back there in his world, wrapped in those damned vines. It was probably dead... he was probably dead. His friends, his people, what were they going through right now…
After a while the tears stopped. He looked at his hands. well cut nails...
'At least I have this body.'
All he had to do was find that cult and that altar and maybe he could get home, then he'd figure this out from there. He looked at his palm, and he concentrated. He felt his energy flow from deep within his core. Almost as if it was pumped by his heart, a chill ran through his body as it rushed through his veins, from his chest to his shoulder, then the arms, then the hands. It was only a small part of his mana. He looked at his palm expectantly.
A small flame sparked to life in the palm of his hand. it flickered as it swayed. He smiled a little, he felt a little hope. At least now with a body, he could do magic. He made a fist extinguishing the flame and got to his feet. deciding where to go from here.
'Left,' he decided. and as he took a step towards his new destiny. no longer lost and confused, his lost memories were solidifying in his mind and his sense of self was firmly set. Nothing was gonna get in his way, Hed find the cult, kill them if he'd have to, then he'd go back home and kill his freakin' uncle—
Then, out of nowhere, a voice rang in his head. As casual as could be, it said.
"Hey there mr. body snatcher sir… I uh-I don't mean to interrupt but, the way to my house is to the right."