"So… what are we going to do with him."
The flickering light of the fire cast long shadows over the clearing as Wren threw another log onto the blaze. He'd been here the entire day, watching, waiting for Morgan to wake back up.
His gaze turned to Iskandar – who was looking far healthier – for answers. He hadn't meant to knock Morgan out, it'd just been a spur of the moment decision he'd made in panic. How was he to know they'd suddenly start to freak out and try to maim themselves, they'd seemed fine beforehand.
Though, he knew deep down, he likely would have reacted the same way. The idea of waking up one day, changed without his consent, unsettled him. It wasn't a stretch to believe he would also try and cut off any strange new limbs, if he was to ever grow any.
He gently traced the tattoo running up his arm.
"…we… wait. He'll… wake up soon… and hopefully… he's calmed down… a bit. If... not, you can… restrain him. He… has to get used to it… eventually."
Wren sighed as he poked the fire, he wanted to believe the skeletal person, they seemed wise. But he knew, it wouldn't be easy for Morgan to get used to the change.
Silence fell between the two as the last rays of sunlight dipped below the horizon. The three goblin victims still made occasional noises, but had otherwise fallen asleep after a meal. They would get better in time, but they might never be the same.
"Urgh…"
Wren's eyes snapped to the source of the groan as the blood stained man slowly stirred awake. He sat up, looking around confused as pieces of dried blood flaked off him.
"What happened? The last thing I remember wasss wanting to test my new spell a few more times. My head hurts, did ssssomething hit me?"
"…yes. Wren hit you… because you were acting… irrationally…"
"Why'd you do that Wren?"
Morgan's tongue flickered out again, unnerving the other two slightly. He really didn't seem to notice anything was wrong, not until they'd pointed it out earlier. Wren had a difficult decision to make, tell him about his tongue again, or leave him to figure it out on his own.
There was only one real option though, if he left Morgan alone he would freak out again and likely hurt himself in his panic. He had to tell him.
"Okay. Don't freak out, I need you to remain calm. Look at your tongue."
He could see the moment Morgan acknowledged his tongue, his eyes widening and his face coloured with shock, panic, and… loss? He wasn't too sure about the last emotion.
Again, the blood covered man grabbed at his tongue, but this time, Wren grabbed his hand before he could do anything drastic. He waited as Morgan seemed to process the situation far faster than he ever could, and let go of his grip.
"How… how'd this happen to me? How long have I been like this without knowing?"
His voice was heavy with emotions that the other two could barely comprehend, or understand. But they could tell, he needed to hear something, anything.
"I… I don't know how. I assume something happened when you were changing your class?"
"The purple light…"
Wren felt his ears perk up, it seemed that Morgan at least had some idea what caused this to him. But before he could ask, Iskandar beat him to it, their voice laced with a level of concern he didn't think they were capable of.
"…What is this… purple light…?"
"I'm… not too comfortable talking about it."
"…Does… it have… anything to… do with you… not being… from space…?"
Morgan's eyes widened as he looked to Iskandar in shock, apparently he wasn't aware they knew. Another point to Iskandar, it seems they knew his new companion better.
"Wha- How? I never told anyone about that!"
"…it's on… your status… you idiot. Your… title, 'The Starman' has… a description…"
He looked like he realised something as he muttered under his breath. Wren was able to catch something about an invasion of privacy, and needing better security, but not much else. With a sigh, he seemed to come to a decision as he turned to the two.
************* Pov – Morgan *************
They already knew too much. He was stupid to not realise titles had descriptions when everything else did. He'd need to learn some common sense before he made another massive blunder. First though, it would probably be best if he was to explain himself to them.
His tongue traced awkwardly against the inside of his teeth as he tried to think of the right words to convey how he felt. It was just too complicated, and easy to say the wrong thing.
He felt his tongue itch as he fought the instinctive urge to sample the air, it wasn't normal. Yet it felt entirely natural, almost like blinking. And like blinking, if he forced his tongue to stay in place, it quickly grew uncomfortable, as though he was forcing his eyes to remain open.
It was just too uncomfortable. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and focused on what he wanted to say, maybe it would make it easier to ignore how odd his tongue felt.
"I… I'm not from here, which I take it you know already. What I doubt you know though, isss where I come from. The truth isss, I come from another planet, in what I assume is another universe. On the surface my world was much the same as your own – if far more advanced – and there I lived a pretty normal life.
There, I worked my dream job, building technology never before seen. Eventually, my work coalesced into my magnum opus, a ssship capable of breaking the universal ssspeed limit and travelling faster than light.
I'm not proud to admit it, but… I tricked and bribed my way into the very first test. I dreaded the thought of history remembering the name of the pilot and not mine.
I thought my design perfect, but it wasn't. Something went wrong, the fuel sssystem broke and…"
He trailed off as he recalled the exotic element powering the ship. Through everything that had happened, he'd completely forgotten about it breaking containment. He needed to find it and… what?
What could he do if it had already spread? Every calculation showed it could and would consume an entire planet within a week. Yet he'd already been here for over that amount of time and nothing.
His thoughts rampaged as the pieces slowly clicked together. He'd been at the epicentre of the crash, so how had the Baron's men pulled him from his ship? The ship and him with it should have been consumed long before they could arrive, but the opposite had happened.
That was it! That was where he'd seen the purple light before. It was in the heart of his ship, the fuel that made it fly. So how… how was he now seeing it in the system?
It was the one piece of the puzzle he couldn't get to fit. Without it, nothing else made sense. The only thing he knew for sure, was something must have interfered with the exotic matter, and if it was a person… he dreaded to think what someone could do with it.
"…Mor- …Morgan! Hello?! Are you still in there Morgan?!"
"Huh, what? I wasss thinking."
"About what? You just trailed off in the middle of your explanation."
"It… doesn't matter. Anyway where was I, oh yeah! The fuel-"
He could taste their worry as he recounted the tale of how he ended up here. It was an odd feeling, but also a nice one to know how much the two worried for him. He decided then and there, he would try his best to avoid making them worried again… mostly just because the emotion tasted weird.
"- so that's how I ended up here, alone."
The silence was worse than any questions they could've asked, they simply stared at him in pity. Why pity? He didn't want their pity. All he wanted, was for them to understand his mistakes.
It wasn't the end yet, he would rebuild his ship, and he would return home. He just hoped the people waiting there would still recognise him when the time came.
"Stop your pity, it tastessss off. I don't regret what I did, the past is the past. The point is, I have nothing but the ragsss on my back and my mind. Everything I knew is gone, and I don't even know where to start looking.
I'm just worried, what if the changesss aren't just physical? I could accept losing my appearance, in time. But what of my mind?
I will find a way home, but what if it's not me that makesss it? What if one day I wake up and can't even recognise myself? I can already tell something is different with my mind, it hasss to be, how else would I be able to taste emotionsss on the air?
How do I know my memoriesss are the same? That they haven't been altered? I'm… scared. Scared of losing myself."
He fell silent, he'd said what he wanted to say and if they didn't understand, he wouldn't blame them. His own fear of change was illogical, a fact he could acknowledge, but not one he could change. To lose what made him… him, would be a fate worse than death in his mind.
That fear was often the reasons behind his own stupid actions, and he wanted to fix it, he just couldn't figure out how.
"That's… I never thought about it like that."
"…To live, is to change. No… person… stays the same… forever, people change… as they learn new… things, and adapt to… the world around… them. As long… as you still… hold true to yourself… that is all that… matters. After all, you're… not the same person… physically and mentally… that you were… ten years ago… but, you're still… you…"
Wren didn't say much, merely a small comment, they seemed too tired to muster any extra thought. Iskandar however, seemed to know exactly the words he needed to hear, it wasn't as if it would change anything right away, but it was the thought that mattered.
What they said was true, he'd just been too focused on the sudden changes to think about it as a whole. As long as he stayed true to who he was at his core, that was all that mattered.
At least, that's what he wanted to believe.
"Thanksss… now, do you two want to get ssssome sleep? I'll take the first watch."
He wanted some time to think, alone. It was the only way he could see himself accepting the changes. Already though, he could feel his initial panic fading as scientific curiosity took its place. His body would be a treasure trove of genetic information, if only he had the right tools.
That's what it always came down to in the end, lacking the right tools, or any tools for that matter.
"I think I'll take you up on that offer, I'm exhausted."
As a group, they had no blankets or bedding, so Wren opted to find a grassy patch to sleep on. The moment he shut his eyes, he was out.
'He must have been exhausted after looking after everyone for multiple days.'
Morgan turned his gaze to Iskandar who was motionless on their log, he couldn't tell if they were asleep yet, as they still lacked eyelids. It made him wonder, would they eventually fully recover, or were parts of their body too far gone?
"You should sleep asss well Iskandar, we'll be moving in the morning."
"…call me… Issy… please… I liked that… name…"
He looked at his friend in puzzlement. It had never occurred to him just how little he knew about them, or their likes. Their presence had been enough for him.
"Okay… Issssssy. I just realised I don't actually know too much about you, sssso, let's start ssssimple, what'ssss your favourite colour?"
His tongue flickered out as he waited for their reply, he was fine if they didn't want to share but he was hoping they would. Judging by the sweet taste of joy on the air, it seemed they appreciated his question.
A coarse, raspy laugh echoed quietly through the clearing as the skeletal figure rocked back and forth slightly.
"…that's your first question? My… favourite colour? Not… how did I end up… in that dungeon… or what… I used to look like?... So, favourite… colour? Hmm, I… would have to say… green, like the trees. So… how about… you, what is… your favourite colour…?"
Morgan tapped his chin in thought, he'd never really considered something as simple as a favourite colour. His work was the only thing he enjoyed back on earth, so he was mostly used to the dull greys and whites of a lab. But there had been one colour that stuck in his mind above all others.
He remembered the first time he'd seen it, all those years ago. At the time he'd merely considered astronomy a hobby, but he remembered the night that changed. He'd been dragged along by his friends at university to a camping trip in the middle of nowhere.
There hadn't been a single cloud in the sky that night, and they were too far away from the city for light pollution to matter much. In an act of random chance, he'd forgotten to take his telescope out of his car the night before, so he decided to set it up at the top of a nearby hill.
That was where he'd seen it.
He wasn't sure how, but amidst the vast night sky he'd found a tiny speck unlike any other. It had pulsed slowly, and gently as it traversed the sky. A gentle purple emanating off it, that seemed so perfect it was almost hypnotic. It was the single most pure colour he'd ever seen, and to this day it still had no equal in his heart.
Yet what had he done with it? He'd ripped it from the sky, trapped it in a box and used it to power his dreams.
"…I wish… I could… have seen… it at least… once. It… sounds beautiful…"
"Huh? Did I sssay that aloud, sorry."
Morgan wiped the damp trails from his cheeks and looked up. It just wasn't the same though. The sky here was empty, devoid of the millions of galaxies and planets he could see from home.
Was there a point? He'd always dreamed of the stars, of exploring new and exotic worlds, but there was none of that here. Sure, there were some stars, but nowhere close to as many as home, and if he tried he could probably count them all.
"…what's with that… distant look…? Are you… okay?"
"Yeah… I'm just a little homesick, that'sss all. Sssso, next question, what'sss your favourite animal?"
Switching the topics before he could ruminate too long, he returned to his original questions.
Like that, the night passed uneventfully as they chattered away, slowly getting to know the other better. At some point, Issy had wordlessly drifted off to sleep, casting silence across the clearing like a spell.
With nothing better to do, Morgan spent the night familiarising himself with all the changes to his body. When Wren woke up close to dawn, he took the chance to nap for a bit.