"Why aren't you laughing?" Kayden asked, "Did you hit your head against a rock or something?".
"Laugh Thane, don't look at me like nonsense I just said was true" Kayden pushed further but Thane looked at him with a calm expression.
"We can't both be mad, that's your thing, not mine" Kayden paused in his footsteps.
"Thane, laugh!" Kayden said as he clenched his fists, he didn't like being made fun of, especially in situations where he couldn't remember what had happened, it made him feel he had been taken advantage of.
"Indra" Thane whispered, so quiet that Kayden barely missed it.
"Indra? The thunder god? What does he have to do with anything here?" Kayden said in a reproachful manner but Thane just shrugged.
"He was beautiful Kayden, you were beautiful" Thane's eyes finally met with Kayden's, , he looked into Kayden's eyes so much that it made him uncomfortable.
"What's wrong with you man? Did the Blood Vine get into you or something? I need answers" Kayden said as he calmed himself down, he knew forcing answers was completely wasted on Thane, you had to beguile him into telling you.
"Why?" Thane whispered.
"What what?" Kayden looked at his friend and was sure something drastic had happened to him, he wasn't behaving anything like himself.
"Why not me? Why you?" His voice was even lighter, as if said with the intention of not wanting Kayden to hear, but Kayden heard it and dismissed it, to him it was just the ramblings of a madman or one almost there.
After a few breaths, Thane calmed himself down and looked towards Kayden, then he slapped himself across the face with both hands on both cheeks, "Calm yourself" he muttered.
Kayden saw all this and decided that ever since he left the clan, he had witnessed more madness than he had ever hoped to wish for but this was something he couldn't process properly.
"Do you feel any different?" Thane asked suddenly as if he had just woken from a lucid dream.
"No... I mean a little bit, yes" Kayden stammered, he hadn't expected the question along with the quick change in attitude from Thane.
"How so? Tell me everything" Thane said as they both walked to the side of the mountain, its ridges were high enough to provide cover for the both of them.
"Okay? Well, I feel a lot better, for once my dual sphere..." Kayden caught himself, he realized he had almost told Thane about his secret, it was something he couldn't tell anyone not because he was bothered by being judged but because he was scared that he had committed a taboo, broken an oath of some kind, he felt it in his soul but he couldn't explain why.
"What did you say?" Thane asked a bit distracted.
"Oohh I said, I feel dual... Handed" he blurted out without thinking.
"Weird" Thane looked at him for a moment then sighed again, "Take off your clothes Kayden, we need to know the changes that may have occurred in your body.
"My clothes? In this cold?" Kayden asked incredulously but Then simply rolled his eyes, "You're a second-rate martial artist, you aren't really affected by the natural elements now hurry up" he rushed Kayden.
Without knowing what Thane was thinking, he decided to trust him, he took off his blade and his clothes that were frozen with blood, dirt, and sweat, and he tried not to think about the blood part till he was naked from the waist up, when he looked at his body, he understood why Thane had been bothered.
"What are those markings on your spine?" Thane asked a bit surprised, Kayden just realized that he hadn't shown Thane the markings that Grand Zenin had made on him, giving him his current prowess.
"Oohh that's the work of Grand Zenin, forget that, what are these blue lines all over my body?" Kayden asked and he was truly surprised.
"They look all jagged, none of them are going in a straight line, they look like the cracks you get when you punch a wall you know," Kayden said trying to make light of the situation but Thane's expression had darkened once more.
"Or like a lightning bolt," Thane said, he said those words as though he knew them like he was sure, it made Kayden wonder just what had happened while he was asleep. He observed the strange markings that were littered across his skin, they reached all the way to his neck before stopping and all for his hands, they barely stopped at his wrists, a few of the lines reached forward to the tips of his fingers, but he most certainly did not want to check beneath his waist.
"Draw out your essence," Thane said in a cold tone.
"Why though?"
"Do it now!" Thane raised his voice surprising himself, he breathed in once more to calm himself, "Please?" He added.
Kayden looked at him a little bothered and drew forth his essence from his dual but singular core, it felt much easier, flowed much better, and there was no obstruction but what shocked him the most was the stability of his cores, they weren't violent or clashing against each other, they simply just flowed into each other as a limbo loop would, it made him smile as he visualized the power flowing through his veins.
Kayden slowly opened his eyes and noticed a blue hue of light flowing out from his body, the light shown from the cracks of lightning in his skin, they lit up as his essence flowered as though the energy he felt flowed into and out of himself, at least that was how it felt to him.
"Put your clothes back on, we're leaving," Thane said after a moment of observing, but Kayden wasn't having it, he held Thane by the arm before he could pass him.
"I've dealt with your shit long enough Thane, what the fuck happened to me, I deserve to know," Kayden said trying to control his upsurge of emotions.
"You were possessed by a god Kayden, not just any god but Indra himself, the god we all worship," Thane said without a tinge of humor in your voice, Kayden didn't want to believe it but he didn't have a choice, there was no other way to explain what had happened to him.
"What happened to you must be a blessing from Indra, there's nothing else to explain so let's go," Thane said pushing past a shaken Kayden, the only words that could escape his lips were.
"Where?"
"To the Water Clan, our fate awaits us there" Thane responded without looking back.