"Blast from the past?" Kane looked at him like he was a madman.
"Yes. Don't you recognize me? Come on...you helped me escape the day you broke out of the lab." He smiled a familiar smile. Kane recognized it from long ago, back when he was just a kid. He remembered befriending a kid in the cage next door with those eyes. He remembered him being quite the comedian, making fun of the scientists when they were out of earshot.
"D…Darius?" He asked, looking at him closely. He could remember those eyes. They had always been full of rebellion or wet from small tears of laughter that usually hid pain.
"Bingo!" Darius's grin widened but then settled into a flat line. His eyes grew serious. "But I didn't come here to catch up with you. In fact, I've come to offer my help."
"Your help? What help do I need?" Kane asked, crossing his arms across his chest. What did he know about his situation?
"Your very sanity is in danger of slipping. Kane, some people are meant to die early. Others are not. Most of the cases, they are planned accidents or killings seen by Fate. Basically, they were meant to die that young. Others, Fate did not foresee. The police, for instance, back in 1916. They weren't supposed to shoot your friend. You all could have escaped but Jake, who would have run, finally made a stand. And your wife. That bullet was to have hit you in the shoulder and you still would have killed them all." Darius replied matter-of-factly. Kane's eyes widened a great deal.
"How do you know so much Darius? I have neither seen, heard nor even smelled you even within the past 17 years! And just now, you know my senses. They are very enhanced. How could I have not sensed you?"
"Because I too was tested on and supposedly botched. Instead of a chimera, one of the scientists tried to make me something greater. It didn't work and I became what is known as a catalyst." He said, avoiding the question.
"Catalyst...you speed up certain processes?"
"Correct Kane. When I got out, I didn't know where to go. I had no home, no money and no one to stick with. I had followed you but had gotten lost in the dark. But, a kind man took me in. He said I looked like a promising boy. He taught me Alchemy."
"Alchemy? Why alchemy?" They had been in an Alchemist's Lab! Why alchemy?
"Because he was an alchemist of course! I couldn't let him down. Not after his kindness." He smiled a devil's grin. "Of course, having been made into what I am, I succeeded greatly, able to carry out the processes of alchemy with much less time. It was almost instant. Soon, I became engrossed in the art. I found out about the Philosopher's Stone and made it my goal to seek it out and use it to help the people who actually needed it because I knew about people who did things for their own purposes. I didn't want to end up like them if I found such a great power."
Darius stopped talking and he led Kane back over to the bench where both of the men sat down. He breathed and then began once more. "I searched years for it until I came upon how to make it." He stopped again and looked Kane straight in the eye. "Do you know what the Philosopher's Stone's main ingredient is?"
Kane gazed right back with a raised eyebrow. "I don't know a thing about alchemy except for what I overheard in the lab Darius. What is it?"
Darius leaned in close to Kane's ear. "Human beings."
Kane drew away and looked at him with disgust. "Human beings? Why?"
"The Philosopher's Stone uses the souls of the living to bring the dead back to life. Haven't you heard of that use? It can overcome the law of Equivalent Exchange. In order to gain something, something of equal value must be lost. That is the whole reason behind the Philosopher's Stone! And Kane, well, I made one."
Kane stared at him as if he were the worst serial rapist/killer in the world. The word 'Why' was all he could muster out of his already dry throat.
"Because I knew I had to. Eventually, it would come in handy. Especially with what my research came up with." Darius sat back against the back of the bench and closed his eyes. "It is rather an experiment than hard truth. I asked myself, 'what if I could use the Philosopher's Stone to overcome time itself?' By combining the symbols of time, space and transportation along with several years of work and research, I came up with a theory and a plan. I etched my circle, my new one, into the basement of my workplace in the year of 1916. Kane, I need to test this theory. You seem like the perfect candidate. You have nothing to lose anymore than your own life and that won't happen. I built it with a fail-safe. If it works, I may have stumbled upon the greatest and most feared discovery of our time. Will you help me?" Darius finished and opened his eyes, glancing at Kane with a look of pleading.
"You're telling me that you can send me back in time? To what year?"
"The same year I etched that circle. 1916." He replied, sitting up. "Just think about it Kane. You can go back and fix past mistakes."
Kane sure did think. He had been thinking ever since Nyemah died. 'Can I go back in time and fix what I have done?' 'Is there a way?' He had now found one in the form of an old friend. Darius sounded like he could do it. And, as he said, what did he have to lose? Nothing. Kane had nothing to lose.
"Why not?" He finally answered. Darius smiled.
"I knew I could count on you. Now, tell me, where do you wish to end up?"
Kane looked at Darius quizzically. Darius laughed. "Right. After we transport you, you have to go somewhere. Where do you wish to be?"
Kane thought for a moment. "Right here." He said.
"Alright. Pick up everything you need. We do this tonight."