Chapter 2 – “Soulless”

Stirring from unconsciousness, Kai opened his eyes to take in a sight that was wholly incomprehensible to his mortal mind, the images that his eyes witnessed failing to take hold in his mind like fading memories.

He couldn't wrap his head around whatever it was he was seeing, but he somehow got the instinctual feeling that this place was both nothing and everything at the same time. Although it didn't make any sense to him, it still did anyway. He reasoned that he should be panicked or at least worried by the outrageousness of the situation, but he for some uncanny reason again, felt completely calm...

Looking around, he discovered that he could neither discern what was up and what was down as he weightless floated in the void of some space. He was wholly intact, and there seemed to be no physical ailments affecting his body so he began to seriously doubt his mental state.

He briefly thought if it was possible that he had hit his head in a fight and now had gone officially cuckoo, but that thought was quickly discarded as for some reason yet again, he simply knew that wasn't true...

"Yeah... this is not disconcerting - at all..." He muttered to himself self-deprecatingly trying to make head or tails of everything. Something was affecting his mind. Kai understood that he would've definitely freaked out in such a situation and that he must've gone batshit crazy, however, it felt like an infallible truth that he hadn't. So that could only be it.

He was suddenly pulled away from his wandering thoughts by a disembodied and reverberating voice, that sounded like the chime of crystals rattling in the soft wind of a breeze ringing throughout the space he now found himself in.

"Hello there, little Kai." The voice said, distinctly feminine.

In front of Kai, a blue translucent woman appeared as if she had always been there. She was quite shapely, donning a similarly translucent and form-fitting gown. With her hair and the ends of her clothing floating like they were flickering shadows in water, it gave a mysterious but mesmerizing air about her.

Although her clothes were the same translucent as her body, it did not reveal the skin beneath. But as the gown hugged tightly to her curves, voluptuous breasts, and wide hips, it was more than obvious that she was wearing nothing underneath. The two outlined protrusions on her generous chest not leaving much to the imagination.

Although Kai was a hot-blooded young man, he wasn't just drawn to the overly ambiguous state of her more enticing parts, but instead, his attention was wholly captured by the angelic-like features of her face. They didn't adhere to the normal super-model facial features that he was accustomed to from magazines but instead brought a completely exotic and unique look, unlike anything that Kai had ever seen.

He didn't immediately speak, but the angelic beauty before him seemed content to wait for a response. Managing to shake himself from the stupor that racked his addled brain, Kai tried to formulate a sentence.

"Uh- hello..." Kai hesitantly said. "Is it... uh, you who's been tinkering with my mind...?"

"Yes, I must apologize," She said, a knowing smirk upon her translucent lips as she noticed how Kai scanned her body up and down even as she spoke. "I took some liberty to ease you into these... peculiar circumstances. But be relieved to know that nothing untoward is being done to you." 

Trying to figure out what exactly she meant about 'circumstances', Kai went through everything that had happened just before arriving here. A sudden wave of distress and sadness hit him once he recalled himself going home after a rough night of work.

"Callum..." He hesitated. "Is he really?"

"I'm sorry." The angelic beauty said with sympathy in her voice, shaking her head sadly at Kai's faltering expression. They simply shared a long silent moment together, the mysterious woman allowing Kai to gather his thoughts and tumultuous emotions.

But with Kai's experience, it wasn't hard to pull himself together and hide the emotions deep down. Tragedy was all too common for someone like him.

"So," Kai asked once he the sting in his eyes lessened, managing to steady his mind to a reasonable state once again. "Is this some kind of afterlife? I'm not really the religious type."

She chuckled mirthfully, the chime of her voice helping his sorrowful mood.

"No, it isn't." She said, floating over and past him all the while holding his gaze. "This plane is the aether."

He tried and failed to track her, not having control over which way his body facing, so he could only crane his neck to catch the woman's salacious gait.

"The aether?" Kai asked curiously.

"Yes, certainly a peculiar plane of existence for mortal beings like you." She answered, seemingly happy to indulge Kai is in his curiosity as she trailed a finger across his jawline. "It is, while it's not - It's now, and it's never."

"It's everything and it's nothing..." Kai finished her sentence with an absentminded mumble.

"Indeed," She said with a genuine smile. "However, you won't be able to comprehend any of its mysteries due to the limitations of your mortal mind, so don't look too hard. You might fry your brain."

"Mortal, huh." He said. "So, you're some kind of god?"

"Well, not exactly." She said, a smile tugging at her lips. "I'm not the same as what your world perceives as a god. But were you to make a comparison, I suppose there would be little difference."

"Why am I here then?" Kai asked, slight apprehension starting to tinge his voice. "What would a being like you want with me, a mere human? I mean no disrespect, but it seems that you've kind of kidnapped me here."

Moving over the hover in the air in front him like she was leisurely laying on solid ground, she propped her hands under her chin and scrutinized Kai for a few seconds before breaking the silence, the expression on her face unreadable.

"Due to some accidental circumstances during a failed demonstration of mine, I've unintentionally ended up pulling you from your world."

"Accidental... huh." He said, his pupils turning into pinpricks as he gazed into the woman's own hardening eyes.

If there was one thing Kai had learned and achieved an uncanny ability for, in his twenty years of life, it was knowing when others spoon-fed him bullshit. After two decades of lies and deceit, he ended up realizing that he somehow could easily see through the words of practically anyone.

However, now that he talking with some kind of extraterrestrial being, an existence way beyond that of his own, why did he feel like whatever she said was utter horseshit? He already knew she had the ability to literally influence his mind, but why did he then know whatever she was saying wasn't true, or at least not the whole story?

The atmosphere grew taut, the woman seemingly realizing that he wasn't buying what she was selling. The moment lasted for only a few moments though, as the woman suddenly continued as if nothing had ever happened. The stern expression in her eyes vanishing, replaced with her previous congeniality.

Getting up from her imaginary mattress, she stretched in the air, more than accentuating her already generous curves.

"Yes, and I was going to send you back without the memories of my accidental slight," She said, letting out a cute grunt of exertion. "But before I managed to do so, I realized the peculiar fact that you in truth have no wish to return. Isn't that right, sweet Kai?"

Looking into those translucent pearls that were her eyes, Kai noticed an unrecognizable glint of something. He wasn't sure, but it felt predatory.

"I suppose. That world had brought me nothing but hardships, and each time I found something to live for, it was stripped from my grasp. So, from your words, I'm guessing there's an alternative?" He was intrigued, to say the least, but no small amount of apprehension towards this mysterious woman stopped him from just jumping headfirst into whatever it was she was offering him.

"That is indeed correct Kai." She said with a smile blossoming on her beautiful face. "Throughout existence, there are countless worlds, planes, and realities. I will simply put you on a suitable world and let you live out your life. That is... if you wish to."

"Do I get to choose between worlds?" He asked, his heart now beating excitedly at the prospects even though it sounded too good to be true.

"Unfortunately no, I'm already straining the threads of fate and karma by simply granting you this opportunity. But do not fret, I have just the place that suits... your needs." Her expression turned sly, but in those beautiful eyes of hers, Kai didn't see any deceit or trickery. She meant what she said.

"Oh..." He muttered disappointedly, but hope still glimmered in his eyes at the implication of her other words.

"Then, Kai. Do you wish to abandon your old life in favor of a new one? Don't get me wrong, your new world will bring you even more hardships than your previous one did, and the chance of your demise is many times greater. However, that is only limited to how much effort you're willing to put in to break any obstacle that dares to place itself in your path."

"What do you mean?" He asked with a frown.

"This world can give you the one thing your old one can't." She said, cupping his chin as a feral grin starting to spread across her face. "True power."

Kai's expression became unreadable upon hearing her dubious promise, and she waited to see if he had anything to say. But as Kai remained silent, it prompted the woman to continue.

"I will grant you three boons if say yes." She said letting go of his gaze and jaw. "Two that will allow you to interact with and exist in that world, and one if you decide to go down the path of cultivation."

"Cultivation?!" Kai suddenly blurted out, finally breaking his silence. Kai wasn't extremely educated, never having gone to school long enough to even complete more than a single semester at a time. But if there was one thing he had learned about, then it was eastern fantasy and mythology.

This was because, Callum, who owned a bookstore, was of Asian descent. As such, the man had filled his shelves with books detailing literature of ancient eastern fantasy and in general, Asian mythology. Having spent the rest of his remaining youth reading such stories, Kai was unlike most other kids who learned about superheroes, knights in shining armor, and the righteous peasant boys who suddenly became world-saving heroes by doing some great act.

No, Kai learned and read about people who cultivated to go against the heavens, gaining immense powers, cutting down anyone that dared stand in their way, and painting the rivers crimson with their blood. Righteous or not, good or evil, those figures of incredible power came in all forms, all of them striding down their own individual paths of carnage or serenity.

But there was one thing these figures and characters all held in common.

The unending search for true freedom, to be unfettered by the meddling strings of fate and destiny; to forge your own path. That meant to gain power and defy the very heavens themselves as its disdainful eyes would never allow a mere mortal to ascend above it. That was why Kai loved Eastern Fantasy so much since it was the only reality that truly resonated with him.

"Mhm, indeed Kai, I did indeed say cultivation." She said, looking as if she had just gotten a bite on her hook. "Harnessing the energies of creation to attain power beyond mortal comprehension. The very same path that I once walked myself."

"You once walked?" Kai asked incredulously, trying to wrap his head around what that truly meant for a being such as her.

"I've transcended that path a long time ago." She said, a listful and nostalgic glint in her eyes as she directed her gaze out into the aether.

"What lays beyond then?" Kai couldn't help but ask, his unending curiosity of cultivation getting the better of his composure once again. But she just chuckled mirthfully upon hearing his question, twirling around him, disappearing from his gaze.

"Oh, sweet child, you're eons too early to begin wondering about such a question." She giggled from... somewhere.

"Is this path of cultivation you speak of the same as my own understanding of it?" Kai asked, glancing cautiously around himself to try and spot the fickle woman.

"More or less." She said, suddenly appearing to his side without him realizing it and giving him an eyeful of her shapely curves as she moved past him. "But the one thing that rings true between your knowledge and what awaits you, is that they're both the one true path to power and freedom." She smiled challengingly.

"Then what are these boons you wish to bestow upon me?" He asked cautiously.

"I will show and give you the first two boons now if you wish to accept a new life," She said, pushing herself against him and whispering in his ear. " but the other third boon will first present itself once you take your first step onto the path." 

"Then, I accept." It didn't take Kai long before he had made his decision, unable to find any faults big enough to dampen the excitement and hope that he was currently feeling.

However dubious, this was an opportunity, an opportunity to finally enact the purpose in life that he so desperately strived for but could never achieve.

And he would not let it elude his grasp any longer.