Inside Andar’s body, there was not only a Reflection dwelling in it. Rowan was now awake, so he could directly control this body, and so his senses were sharper even if he did not have all the tools he needed due to Andar’s weak body.
He could feel a presence touching his own, and it was oddly intrusive as if both of them shared a similar origin.
Rowan hated this sensation, it went against his Empyrean nature to have something so alien be allowed to touch his mind so easily. Yet it still intrigued him, for the possibilities it brought could be imagined.
His consciousness zeroed in on the target, and it was not far, it was less than six inches away from the face of the sleeping Andar.
It carried the face of a child that was fused with a door, so it appeared as if it was carved from wood, the two eyes that were swirling with a weird color were a window to another world that allowed Rowan to feel a vast presence that was utterly alien and powerful beyond measure.
Yet, why did it feel so familiar?
That presence covered the sleeping form of Andar, and he felt a cold breath on his face, and something rough touching his lips and heading towards his eyes.
‘Was he licking his face?’
Even though the boy was still deep in sleep, Rowan still controlled the body and opened Andar’s eyes.
The wooden face of a boy was pressed against his own. The head of the boy had extended from the door that was standing at the center of the room, and his neck had been elongated behind him and swayed around like a wooden snake.
“Hello, fellow Traveler of The Blood.” The wooden boy spoke, “It is not every time one of us walks the material plane. I find it oddly comforting, hmm, the Heavens must be changing.”
The voice that came from the boy was old and grave, like a ninety-year-old man who had spent his life abusing his lungs.
In Andar’s memories, Rowan recalled the explanation given to him by the Steward of the Black Tower. This Entity was called a Chaos Door and was an entity that could freely move in between universes. Numerous Civilizations used it as an easy way of transporting inside and outside the universe for a price.
This being had been performing service for an untold amount of years and the resources and power it should have gathered over the years had to be inestimable.
Rowan wondered how such a powerful creature like this would want to communicate with him, and how much danger he was in. He could not afford another enemy of this power at this time…
“Don’t worry your young mind, fellow Traveler of The Blood, I have no allegiance to the Children of Fire.”
Rowan stood up and appraised this creature before him, he had none of his Empyrean senses and capabilities of his Chamber when he was inside this body, but his Reflection could feel the otherness coming from the Chaos Door, like an endless tide of maggots pouring on top of him.
Of course, he did not inquire about the elephant in the room, instead, Rowan’s first question was, “What are the Children of Fire?”
The face of the boy seemed taken back by surprise, “Oh, they call themselves Mages in this universe, because the first of them was born inside the First Fire, hence the name. I believe you have met the Children of Ruin too, I can smell the stench from you, tsk tsk, as a fellow Traveler of The Blood, you are truly young and ignorant, and your death would come easy if you are not careful. Let me do you a favor, as a fellow Traveler to another one.”
The mouth of the boy opened wide and he began to suck. All the air in the room was instantly taken away, and only the powerful physique of Andar allowed his body to be relatively stable inside the vacuum that was left behind, but he began to shake as the pressure increased, and Andar’s eardrums exploded.
‘Ouch, the kid will feel that in the morning.’ Rowan thought, but he became quickly distracted by what was happening inside the consciousness linked to Andar’s body.
From inside his consciousness smoke with various colors began to escape and was drawn into the mouth of the boy. Rowan was shocked by this development, as his mind tried to capture the details of this smoke and discovered that they were similar to Auras, but they were different, plus there was a lot of it.
At first, the face of the boy was normal, the Aura he was collecting was dense but it was normal for a Traveler, even one that was very young, but then a frown began to grow on his face until he was scowling.
‘What sort of unholy shenanigans has this young Traveler placed his grubby little hands into?’ The door sighed, as he grumbled internally, ‘The young ones are truly a handful, it’s no wonder few of us survive to reach adulthood. Yet it is strange that Father has already begun releasing his seeds to the universe, this Era is still young, and he usually releases his seed at the End of every Era. Could he be getting ready to escape? Is he now stronger or are his bindings weaker? Else, how can there be such a young traveler here?’
Rowan staggered when it was done, the process taking close to thirty seconds, he had noticed the changes in the face of the boy and was very curious how the sort of Aura of so many people had unknowingly tainted him.
These were not Auras of mortals, no, they were of all the powerful figures he had come across in his lifetime. Those that were worthy of note were the Children of Ruin, Erohim, Members of the Covenant, and others that he could not even understand, most likely those belonging to his mother, father and someone else.