The Phantom Menace

A few months prior to this day, very little of this world made any sense to him. Why there were birds in the sky, why there were worms in the ground, or even why humans built cities to dwell in. There were so many things on this sphere of existence that felt alien to him, even though he himself was technically the one being alien to it. Through experiencing things firsthand, what little he understood was gradually growing to more decent levels, though some of the lessons he took from it might have been misguided or wrong at one point or another. In his case, back where he came from, there was no need to build any houses as there were no real materials to build them with, nor were there any enemies one needed to keep outside of their personal space.

Not being from a four-dimensional place, a case could be made as to him having been in this particular dimension before the actual universe had been formed in it. At the time of formation, he had been fighting hard against those that were doing the forming and shaping of it all, not knowing that his kind arguably had the same kind of creative capabilities as their enemies. The main difference was, Thagirion and his people like the infinite dark where they could simply exist in whatever manner or form they chose. With the incursion of the light in their realm, that much had suddenly been stripped from them and they had to fight just to hold on to whatever shreds of their reality remained. And now here he was, appearing to be no less human than the next person to stand near him.

These days, he found himself traveling from place to place to learn more of what this world had to offer, as well as one thing he had found out was quite interesting: Food. As an extraplanar being, he had never truly needed to eat a single thing in his entire life, aside from the time when his kind had all been lumped together and sealed away for millennia. At the time, he had to cannibalize his brethren just to stay alive, clinging to what power he had left and staving off insanity over a drastic loss of freedom and quality of life. Here on earthland, material beings needed to eat material things in order to basically not die. Though that concept did not apply to him very much, the fact that people really knew what they were doing when preparing the carcasses of other living beings for consumption was what had taken his interest.

Frequently traveling from one place to the next so that he could sample the local cuisine, coming to Shirotsume had been no different. What made the place stand out from other cities such as Crocus was that they had a different style of leadership here. But as was the case with most forms of authority here on the planet, he did not feel like laws really applied to him as much. That said, he had come to understand the uses for currency quite well, thus becoming somewhat of a collector of coins and even going as far as “paying” for his food and drinks. After eating an ungodly amount of food from one of the local chefs, Thagirion left the crowded portion of the city in search for somewhere where he could lay down in the darkness and just digest. Reaching the outskirts of the place, he noticed a worn-down building.

From the looks of it, it had only recently caught fire, but had been put it by whoever it was that had felt responsible for doing so. However, due to the extensive damage to the building, no one seemed to be living in it, leading him to believe that he would be able to venture into the place without any issues. Walking up the barely intact staircase, he made his way to one of the windows. From there, he looked out through the broken glass for a couple of minutes. Only seeing a few people when he did, it seemed that those that saw him were either startled or simply wondered why he was there. As he did not possess a magical power signature one might sense or use to remember him by, it made sense that some people were startled. After a few minutes of pondering, he wandered away from the window and sat down against the wall to get a bit of rest.


755

When a cat randomly strolled in and started speaking to him about why he had decided to pick this place, out of every other place he could have picked, Thagirion just looked over at it as he would any other human. To him, whatever kind of living thing here on Earthland decided to up and speak to him was worthy of the same response. As an inhuman being, he did not hold humans in the same high regard as other humans did. The way he saw it, they all lived the same short and mostly empty lives before they all died and got put into the ground, as this was just about the only certainty these fleshy mortals had to guide them.

“A wise man once said that there is beauty in all things, some just can’t see it. I didn’t know him myself, but a part of me did at some point exchange words with him. He had a rather funny manner of viewing life, almost as if he were grateful that he got to live in the knowledge that he would one day die. But to answer your questions, Feline, most humans don’t venture into burned down buildings as they are unsafe and don’t contain anything they can steal, making them nice and quiet.”

Providing an answer that was perhaps bigger than what he had originally intended to share, there were times where one of the others souls that dwelled inside of him had some manner of input. In this case, it was the shinobi that went by the name Hanzo that felt the appeal to respond, as all those inside of Thagirion were able to hear what went on in the outside world if they were so obliged. While they could not actually speak to anyone on their own, they could however say a thing or two that Thagirion himself might pick up and work into a sentence of his own, which was how these things worked these days. Ever since he had come to Earthland and had been put into hostile situations, the souls of those that perished before him became a part of him until eternity itself would come to an end. For most of them, existing this way instead of going to some form of afterlife was torture. For others, this was just about as close to an actual afterlife as it was going to get.

Not really bothering to get up, he turned his gaze away from the cat and back towards the open window that had most likely cracked and shattered while the building had been on fire. Outside, he could see a bunch of clouds just drifting by, just like he could hear and feel people passing by along the road into town. Judging by their magical signatures, they were most likely just traders taking their goods in to see if they could fetch a decent price for them. Drifting away for a bit like the clouds he stared at, his eyes returned to the cat when it asked him what he was doing here. While the question itself was not that out there, as they were inside of a rickety old and burnt building, the fact that this feline knew his name was quite out of the ordinary. What with being called Solmar by most of the humans he met, he sometimes forgot that it was not his actual name. So when something called him by the name he had held since millennia ago, things quickly took a turn to become more intriguing.

“Tell me feline, how did you come to know of that name?”


1360

“While unlikely, I don’t doubt that you might know more about me than I do. I often wonder whether the things I know are true, or if I know anything at all. I am, as you said, quite far from home, though at the same time, I am always there.”

Another somewhat cryptic answer had he given, though it was still quite true. The primordial void which encompassed the entire universe before it was created was still there, though it had been pushed apart and was filled with all sorts of stars, planets and other space debris. But when speaking in regards to location, these planets now filled the void, meaning that they filled Thagirion’s former home. And as such, by being in this universe, he was and always would be home, though it would never truly feel like it again. Coincidentally, him existing the way he did now was not even the same as it had been before, as a four dimensional being now forced to live as a three dimensional one was quite something to get used to. As such, many of the things he knew to be true were things he now had to re-learn or otherwise adjust just to get by. This in itself made it so pleasing to his mind that he could just go to a run-down old building, sit himself down there and not be disturbed.

“If I knew what I was doing here, you’d be the first to hear about it. Though the matter of the fact is that I am entirely unaware of the events that got me out of that wretched place, and into this form. Though that begs the question, why do you know of those things, or of what I am.”

If this cat turned out to be something more than an actual cat, which it clearly was, there was a chance that it knew much more than it was showing. Up until now, he had come to learn that there were still a few of his kind left to rot in the prison world he had come from, as well as some of the lightborn creatures that locked him away in the first place. As it turned out, when the war had been waged and won, there was no longer a need for soldiers, so they too were betrayed by their overlord. They were sealed away in key locations, aware but unable to truly move, keeping an eye on Thagirion’s prison among other things. So if this cat was one of those beings sent to check up on him or take him back, he would need to resort to killing yet another being for the sake of his own survival.


1813

“The why of it should be quite obvious to you, should it not? After all, if you are capable of seeing my memories the same way I can, that means you know what happened to my kind. We did not choose to imprison ourselves or give our realm away, just like I did not choose to return in this.. fleshy fashion.”

While on the subject of fleshy forms, the reason as to why this other being had chosen to appear as a talking cat instead of as a talking.. human, was something he did not entirely understand. At the same time, he also did not really care enough to ask, believing how people wished to appear was entirely up to them, and that he was not one to judge. There were plenty of other things he wished to judge, though these were based more around actions having consequences, a thing the souls inside of him had been made quite aware of when their bodies had been vaporized and they found themselves put into a sort of purgatory. Just as that was something he could now apparently do, the fact that he possessed these odd magical powers now was also something he had never had when he was still in his cosmic form. Whether that was one of the side effects of him being put into a human body, or if this was done by whomever had released him, would remain a mystery.

“If there is something out there that is powerful enough to snatch me from a hungry, living jail planet meant for cosmic beings and stick me into a human body, I would very much like to know why, as well as how.”

As he spoke those words, a faint violet aura appeared around his right hand as he just waved it through the air for a bit. When he was done, he traced his hand along the burned wood, only for the portions he touched to just disappear. This was not a manner of destroying, but rather a manner of unmaking, removing something from existence entirely as opposed to merely damaging or breaking it. And that was but a small portion of what he was capable of now, and the fact that he had all of the powers that he had now was well and truly beyond him. Before, he just drifted through the stars without really doing much of anything, which was pretty much what he tried to do these days too. That was, when he was not actively out seeking new types of food that he had never tried before. So while there was little to no reasoning behind why he was here, he had at least found some modicum of purpose in being entirely without purpose. Which raised the question, what was the cat doing here.

“However there is something to the idea of being free again that works quite well for me, even if it means having to live with these humans and their shenanigans. Though while on the subject of shenanigans, what is it that brings you to this particular run-down and burned old building?”


2335

“So I take it that, if you are some goddess that knows these kinds of things that other people know, doesn’t that mean you would know it if someone else knew it? Meaning no one out there knows what happened as the one who pulled it off is now dead, or there is a limit to what you’re capable of and they are shielding their thoughts from you…”

Pondering out loud as he often did, the souls that were dwelling inside of him inside of his purgatory were also thinking out loud. While they had no horse in the race, most of them knew that it was better if they were to at least try and help out their jailer than to do nothing and make it openly clear that they would rather be difficult about it. When they did, they were in for some punishment further down the line, that much was to be sure. That said, those that were down there without starting any trouble and just went about their dealings as well as they could, they got treated kindly and were often rewarded for their efforts, or simply for their lack of difficulty. But that was how things worked within the entity that was Thagirion, which was quite simple for him now that he had gotten more used to this being his role now.

When the cat continued talking with regards to what it was doing here, it brought up how the people here were nice enough to give her stuff and feed her. As soon as she had brought that up however, she said something that made no sense to him, claiming how the men and women here were smoking hot. From that point on, the conversation just started spiraling towards something Thagirion himself did not understand at all. Talk of Thagirion of the primordial void and Mnemosyne the goddess of thought, which made sense to him as it was clear enough that she wanted to work together with him. That was in and of itself not even all that unheard of, as it often happened that outsiders banded together to work towards a specific goal, though that meant having an actual goal they shared, which was currently not the case whatsoever.

Before he could really provide that question with an answer, the talkative feline brought up something that made about as much sense to him as men and women being smoking hot. Stating that it would help him out with his lack of sex appeal, he frowned a bit as he had no idea what it meant, though he did not enjoy the thought of him lacking anything. When finally something was brought up in regards to the finest achievement of Earthland being sex, it was just the final nail in the coffin of misunderstandings. Feeling that he had to say something, he just pondered on it while having a quick internal conversation with the serial killing doctor that had taken up permanent residence inside of the dark entity in relation to the topics brought up by the feline. When he had provided with answers of some significance, he spoke in response.

“Actually, the average human body temperature is found somewhere between 36.1 and 37.2 degrees celsius, or between 97 and 99 degrees fahrenheit. Clearly that means they are not hot enough to be smoking, as that would be detrimental to their health. Also, sex is the act of reproduction, which is slowly killing this planet, so calling it their greatest achievement makes me feel you don’t have the best interest of this world at heart…”


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