Kai wished he was dreaming right now.
His head swam in utter confusion, and pain pulsed from his ghost core. His insides continued to cramp. Even within the extremities of the alleyway, everything felt… out of place. The air smelled clean, not thick and dry, and choked with ash. Overhead, a clear blue sky with the midday sun shining. The warm rays were foreign on Kai's pale skin, and he instinctively shied away from the streaks that cut into the alley.
Silhouettes flowed endlessly past the alley. They were indistinguishable, but there were so many of them—so many… humans—far more than Kai had seen in the last couple of decades. His eye flickered back and forth in an attempt to observe the masses of humans going about their day without a care in the world—no fear weighing them down, no gaunt faces scrutinizing every shadow.
The scars on Kai's face itched, and his hand impulsively rubbed them. The tips of his claws carefully trailed down rough, hardened skin. He blinked as if expecting to see the world around him with full vision. A dullness colored his view, his blind eye somewhat numb. None of this felt right. This didn't feel like… home.
Exhaling shakily, Kai's core pulsed and pulsed, his body warming with an overflow of ectoblood. The pain dulled to a degree, but it still flared from within. It was not necessarily physical pain. It cut in a way that wasn't even remotely comparable. With the lack of Dan's presence, Kai carried an emptiness with him that may as well have hollowed him out.
His body jolted, and a cold shiver of realization crept down his back. The edges of his vision darkened, and a buzz filled his head. The damning thoughts flowed into his mind, just as loud, if not louder, than the voice of the entity he encountered back in that strange space. Kai tensed up, his claws curled into his palms, and he held his breath. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them.
Out. Away… from his thoughts. Kai wavered, his body nearly drained of all ectoplasm.
The alleyway wasn't sufficient, and Kai refused to lower himself by digging through the trash. He shuffled to the side when he heard squeaking and the rapid scurrying of mice flying past his boots. Of course, pests. Kai was sure if they irritated him too much, he'd eliminate them, that'd… leave a questionable mess should someone find it. His gaze swept over the streets once more.
Shadows of the alley twisted and coiled around him. Kai stood calmly in its center, one of his more… unusual capabilities. Sharp claws flexed and expertly weaved tendrils of shadow between them. Kai's eyes glowed in concentration.
He needed somewhere to observe this world from a high place. One step forward, the darkness enshrouded him like a cloak, and just like that, he was gone.
Traveling through the dark couldn't be adequately described. It was like walking through water. The world around him slowed to a crawl, the uncertainty of pitch blackness and his only instinct to keep moving forward muffled sounds droned in the background. It all came rushing back to Kai when he emerged from the shadow of a high-rise building.
Kai raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun, brighter than he remembered. Or he was too used to living in the dark for the last twenty years. Above him was a small-domed granite ceiling with arches circling him. They displayed a view of the city. He noted four smaller structures attached to the primary building, facing all points of the compass.
Kai moved to stand under one of the arches. A colorful, bustling, and sprawling city stretched miles along two lakes on either side. Lively and… so noisy, he hastily shook his head as that buzz cropped up. A pounding bore into his brain, and every little reverberation exacerbated it.
Squinting at the smaller buildings, Kai saw nothing of note. They appeared to be run-of-the-mill tourist destinations: something more eye-catching… there, blaring billboard signs propped up on some structures. Looking closely at the nearest one, Kai read out a name in particular.
Madison…
"Wisconsin?"
Of all the places he could've ended up. Kai sighed heavily and massaged his forehead.
Wisconsin. Vlad.
If he had inadvertently traversed the multiverse, he would likely be in another reality resembling the one he used to be in. Chances are, a few things wouldn't have changed.
His thoughts paused. Would it be the same Vlad he knew of? Or something else entirely? Now that Kai thought about it, the boy he encountered the night before. A ghost just randomly in the human world. Something nagged at Kai about the kid's identity. He bore a vague resemblance to… he shook it away.
He couldn't stay in the human world for much longer, regardless of whether ghosts' existence was debated. Kai needed to get to the Ghost Zone, and it was unlikely he could use a portal device. He'd have to hunt down a natural one, which was even less ideal due to its spontaneous nature. That said, natural portals popped up anywhere in the world. Kai could detect its ecto-signature before it formed.
With a threadbare plan in mind, Kai looked directly below him. He wobbled slightly as vertigo hit him. Kai stumbled back and leaned against the stone wall. His head pounded, and his ghost core clenched with a sickly sensation bubbling. With a deep breath, Kai closed his eyes.
Once it cleared, Kai peered down again. He stepped off the ledge in one swift swoop, and his body became weightless. He confidently zipped nearly down before swerving into the nearest tree line to hide in their shadows. Silently as the wind, Kai flew past unsuspecting humans, getting very glances at what their days were like.
Down the street and into the downtown area, a portal wouldn't just appear in the open—perhaps one of the local parks. Luckily, Kai was coming upon one right now, a sprawling meadow by the sparkling water with clusters of trees huddled together here and there. Few humans were out and about, so he could slip by without notice.
Kai stopped under one such cluster of dark and imposing trees with huge, thick canopies of leaves. Not even the sun's rays could cut through it. Remnants of his shadowy cloak shimmered around him, rendering him almost entirely invisible.
Later that day, the park would be on the local news for a bit when it was reported that the area seemed to be… radiating much more energy than usual. People recounted feeling like there was something amongst them, unseen and unsettling but ultimately harmless. It was chalked up to the calm weather and perhaps the energies of the summer solstice permeating, as it was only a few months away.
No one ever reported seeing a peculiar green flash and a dark figure jumping into it before it vanished.
An unusual swell of energy buzzed and glowed as if something had awoken from a slumber.
The Nexus was impressive, existing in its pocket of space. It was an enormous pantheon with a domed overhead and elegantly decorated with spectral hieroglyphics and iconography. It shone ominously with the radioactive power of ectoplasm.
In the largest room, the Council Room, a circle of high-rise seats with silk banners representing each of its ten members imposed itself—a lone ghost hovered by the stone pedestal, its bejeweled table reflecting off her deep purple robes. The fine fabric shimmered with a flow of magic coursing through her.
Enchantra had a look of concentration on her ordinarily stern face. Her brows knitted together as she spoke quietly, her form perfectly still. Words flew past her lips in a tongue not even her fellow Ancients understood. A magical aura formed around her, coiling itself to Enchantra's robes while she waved her wand in an intricate pattern.
She was so deep in concentration that she never sensed several other ghosts entering the hallowed chamber. Enchantra was broken out of her spell when someone gently held her shoulder. She whirled around, admittedly caught off guard. Eight other ghosts floated before her. While all dressed in nearly identical garments, they had their own quirks to differentiate them.
"Enchantra, you summoned us?" One of them asked, clearly confused.
"Yes, I believe we have a situation that must be rectified as soon as possible," Enchantra said without a hitch, her voice firm.
"I know what you speak of," Clockwork said, moving to join Enchantra at the forefront. "I sensed a disturbance last night, and this morning confirmed it. My fellow Ancients, we have an anomaly—a visitor, if you will—who has come upon our reality from a different one."
Immediately, hushed murmurings erupted amongst them. Varying degrees of worry and slight hostility toward a potential threat were present. They all had worked hard to maintain the balance of this reality, so much so that the slightest disturbances could disrupt it.
"My wife went to her weekly coffee date with her friends this morning," Clockwork explained, "Magdalene had quite the peculiar inquiry – Cronos?"
One ghost, who had a precarious doom-and-gloom demeanor, perked up at the sound of his name.
"Yes, Dreama told me about it," Cronos said in a low voice, "Missus Masters asked my wife if our son somehow ended up in her swimming pool last night. To which I say with confidence that Kai was home all night."
Cronos stopped to gather his thoughts. His expression shifted to a slight frown.
"Then Dreama mentioned her dream mirror. She said she felt something peculiar, and someone called for help upon investigating." He paused to take a breath before he continued. "Naturally, in her nature, she did assist, but whoever it was never coming through, as they were accidentally redirected somewhere else."
Once Cronos finished, there was a deep, silent pause. The more he thought about it, with all the events corroborated, the more he realized this wasn't a coincidence. Not to mention that Magdalene said her son mistook their mysterious visitor for Kai.
"Mirrors…" Enchantra murmured, "Certain mirrors have been enchanted to allow travel through the multiverse. Perhaps this 'anomaly' didn't come out of your wife's mirror because it wasn't designed for such extraneous travel."
"Is this visitor still out in the human world?" another one, Harmony, asked.
"As far as we're aware, yes," Enchantra replied with annoyance. Before I was interrupted, I worked on conjuring up a seeker spell and seeing if we could track it down before something drastic happened."
Without another word, she turned away lest she get distracted and mess up the conjuration. Inhaling deeply to calm and center herself, a faint purple aura rose around her, twisting and coiling around her form. Wand ready, Enchantra waved it around in the same intricate pattern with the words of the enchantment occupying it.
For several minutes, there was nothing but the light crackle of magic. Then, a droning hum of energy began to rise, sending goosebumps down everyone's bodies. Magic is a powerful and chaotic energy that demands immense control; otherwise, it'd go wild without discrimination. With a loud crack, a magically conjured window popped into existence.
Enchantra put her wand down and inspected the magical construct. Whatever she was seeing on, it wasn't visible to the others. Her face went from inquiring to surprise, uncommon to see on a stern ghost like her.
"Enchantra?" Clockwork pressed in concern.
"Just not long ago, our anomaly found a way into the Ghost Zone," she said, "and it's moving quite fast."
"Do we have a physical description of this anomaly?" Cronos interjected.
"We don't," Enchantra responded, her brows creased together, "but I can try to get an image based on the anomaly's position."
Turning back to the magical construct, Enchantra motioned her wand and uttered some words inaudible to the others. The window cracked and popped uncomfortably loudly, similar to an old CRT television. Several seconds they were passed before a blurry image took shape.
Like an artist taking to the canvas, the lines and shapes crossed and weaved together precisely. It made little sense at first, but shapes were an influential language in art, and lines connected them to entwine the details and sent them flying off the canvas.
The blurred shape began to clear up, and little bits of color splashed here and there—Blue with some green, some dark, and a silvery color intertwined. The color scheme gave off a cold and standoffish feeling, and a sad undertone hung over it.
Cronos, in particular, flew to the front for a closer look. He watched the small details that seemed to jump at him as if he saw them daily. His ghost core pulsed with an uncomfortable familiarity as the image formed in its entirety.
All the Ancients stared. And they stared.
An unsettling and near identical look-alike of Cronos' son, Kai, was displayed. The doppelgänger's face wasn't turned towards them; however, the features were unquestionably alike enough to be taken for the same ghost. There were differences, namely that the doppelgänger appeared much older, with scarring and a blind eye.
The Ancients turned to Cronos. He stared at the frozen image of his son's face far longer than he'd like to admit.
"I… cannot deny that doesn't look like my son," Cronos said flatly, "but I assure you, Kai is very much at home and safe."
He backed away and settled himself at the back, deathly silent. His head dipped down, and his hood was over his face. Cronos' hands held his scythe in a tight grip, shaking slightly.
"We need to find our doppelgänger as soon as possible. It'll be a problem to have two of Kai going around," Clockwork said, breaking the silence with a grave tone. Enchantra, do you still have a lock on his location?"
"Yes," Enchantra replied, "and I just sent a summons for help tracking him down."
"Who would that be?" a voice asked.
"Who else but the self-proclaimed best hunter in the Ghost Zone?"
Clockwork let his fellows talk amongst themselves while he went to the side. His time staff vibrated gently in his hands as if it sensed something was off. It could be a coincidence, but the thought nagged at him. A similar incident occurred a few months ago. He still had yet to tell the others.
The multiverse had to come from somewhere—a universe "Prime," so to speak, the original that existed before it split off.
Tranquility hummed softly in the Ghost Zone, a calmness unlike Kai ever experienced in his entire existence. He didn't feel the need to be as guarded as he usually would be; his core came to a lull, and the pain lessened significantly.
It wasn't chaotic. The dimension swirled around in a manner that caught his eye rather than disorienting. The atmosphere was light and lively, in sheer contrast to the dark heaviness of his Ghost Zone. Kai kept to himself in the darkest corners; he didn't want to risk being seen.
He noticed immense structures that seemed to be a hub… a functioning city. He had never seen anything like this. All he knew about how 'society' operated was that the islands were disjointed and most ghosts were highly territorial.
Changing course, Kai swerved to the nearest building to observe his strange surroundings. Settled atop a shop, on his stomach with his arms folded up, ghost tail anxiously twitching, he stared downwards. Ghosts of all kinds came and went.
The vitality of this place was… alive. The very space breathed it, and ectoplasmic energy radiated brightly. Kai held a hand to his head. Pressure in the back was equivalent to a jackhammer pounding it.
Vigor came down on him like a heavy blanket, tingling his skin. A rush of adrenaline accelerated his core, and scorching pain surged down his muscles from the tension.
Fortunately, a nearby conversation was loud enough to distract him from discomfort. Kai inched himself over the roof's edge to listen in on it. A pair of ghosts sat at a table in front of the shop, their forms partially obscured by an umbrella.
"…I don't believe it. Please tell me how we will achieve the space opera level of technology in the next several years."
"Hello? Ghost Zone? We're far more advanced than humans, and that's saying something."
Advanced? Science fiction technology? Kai thought back to the city, Madison. It seemed fitting for a human settlement, though he didn't know what year it was. He turned his head to get a broader view of this 'city.' It stood far more impressively.
It was chock-full of advanced structures and embedded with technology beyond what humans could. The tech, ingrained with the natural settings without disrupting them, gave off solar punk vibes, and it was always well-known that ectoplasm was a clean, renewable energy source.
A gaggle of laughter tore Kai from his thoughts. He hastily whipped his head back down to keep eavesdropping.
"Thank the Ancients. Humans are such simple-minded critters; could you imagine what they'd do if they got their hands on this stuff?"
The Ancients? A faint memory niggled in Kai's mind. He didn't know them, per se, but he heard of them.
"Careful there, don't let the CEO of Vladco hear you calling him 'simple-minded.'"
Vladco? Kai rolled his eyes. It sounded like Vlad was as narcissistic as ever.
Before he could hear more, his insides exploded in pain. A white-hot surge coursed down his slack body, his core violently pounded. A sheen of sticky sweat appeared on Kai's face, which had turned into a grimace—an incredibly uncharacteristic whine emitted from his throat.
Silently but clumsily, Kai floated into the air and away. He wavered dangerously and dropped several times, taking more energy than he should've had to stay upright. Snaking between the tall, ecto-crystalline structures, Kai's form weakly flickered in an attempt to shadow travel.
Somehow, despite dropping lower and lower to the ground, Kai made it out of the bustling hub and to the outskirts. He was finally forced to fall onto his knees when the exhaustion weighed him down too much to keep flying.
Kai dry heaved, his throat constricted and his insides cramping so much it made him bend over in a fetal position with his arms around him.
What is wrong with me? Kai thought, his eyes half shuttered. Sweat trickled down the sides of his face and dripped off his chin.
He strained just enough to climb on top of a large rock and laid his body across it, exhausted and possibly sick. Kai rolled over to his side, his arms splayed before him, and his claws dug into the rugged surface. A long-winded wheeze blew past his dry lips, and his chest rapidly rose and fell. Maybe… he could rest here for a moment, just a moment…
Those few moments he seemingly stretched into hours. The next thing Kai knew, he heard the telltale sound of a rope snapping. Dazed, he looked up as the net whizzed over his head and landed beside him, buzzing with electricity. Kai's ears tilted in wariness, his brows furrowed together, and his eyes narrowed.
"Missed the target." A jeering voice sounded from high above. A hulking, robotic ghost kneeled on a tall ledge. "No matter, you look far too weak, whelp."
God damn it. Kai scrambled away, his claws scraped on the rock, leaving little impressions that he was ever there. His ghostly tail flailed around as he attempted to take off in flight; instead, his body was too drained, and Kai tumbled over the edge. He would've been sent free-falling if not for some more rocks down below.
The roar of a jetpack made Kai's muscles scream in protest as he once again scrambled. He panted heavily, his core hammered with an overflow of ectoplasm. Tiny rocks clattered, and dust clouds kicked into the air with every thud of his boots. Kai stole one glance behind him.
"Ha, looks like the whelp's still got some fight after all!" Skulker, the Ghost Zone's self-proclaimed best hunter, jeered. He eased forward, and his jets rapidly bore him down on his target's position.
Kai pushed himself more than he ever had today. His surroundings began tying around him, and darkness crept on the edge of his vision. His entire body ached, set ablaze by near-constant pain. Heavy breaths huffed out of him, and Kai's lips slowly curled back into a silent snarl.
In a snap of a second, Kai turned to the left… and vanished.
A confused Skulker landed where said the ghost was just moments ago. He craned his head around, and his robotic body creaked with the motions. Anger took over his face; it wouldn't be the first time his prey got away. Skulker held his arm up. A port opened up to reveal a small computer. It blipped to life and began to scan the area for ecto-signatures.
Skulker watched with a bated breath. His spectral green flames crackled with intensity. A long, beeping hum… nothing.
"That can't be right," he muttered, fiddling with it.
Unfortunately for Skulker, had he not been so distracted by his little computer and used his resources instead of being dependent on his tech, he would've seen the threat looming a few feet away. He never noticed the heaviness that suddenly set down on him or that little voice screaming in the back of his head.
A muffled boom struck the silence, quickly followed by a loud crunch of metal. Skulker fell back with a crash, a huge dent planted in his chest plate while wires, loosened from the impact, sparked dangerously. He began cursing out loudly when he realized whatever punched him had hit him hard enough to turn off his suit.
Just several feet away, a dark silhouette stared back at Skulker with disdain. It turned on its heel, head help up high, and disappeared in a green flash. The human world, it decided, was a better hiding place than whatever the Ghost Zone was supposed to be.