Kane felt heat rise to his face. He'd made his creator feel good? Wasn't that the goal of all creations, to make their masters, their gods, feel good? Revere them, adore them? Surely it was. He had the distinct recollection of looking up to a massive shrine, the benevolent god's face regarding him and others that had made the trek up the mountain, laden with bags and packs and mules that carried their camping gear, and cases full of money and incense and candles, things to offer the shrine as they prayed. They camped there that night, under the watchful gaze of that god, a god of light, of daylight and everything good. The original creator god, the one that had made everything...

He was given a robe and soft shoes, both of which he pulled on quickly, shivering in the warmth they provided as they swallowed up his form. "Oh, thank you." He said quickly, finding his hands in the sleeves and pulling them up. "I feel so much better already!" He grinned, shaking away the images of the first creator-god. Kane couldn't recall his name... "What shall I learn first? I'm sure I can walk..." To be positive, Kane took a few steps, feeling his legs strong under him.

Eledure couldn't help the pride bubbling up within him at the sight of Kane taking such steady steps. He had wrought well; all the hours of preparation had been worth it. "First I would like to teach you what is edible, the things in the wild which are poisonous, and which can be used to heal. Then, if you are ever lost in the forest, at least you'll be able to fend somewhat for yourself." As he spoke, the mage motioned for Kane to follow him.

Soon they left the cavern and were walking through a naturally formed tunnel, this led in turn to another cave. Light swept across the entrance of the cavern, soft and warm. That was when Eledure stopped, reaching out quickly to stop Kane from going any further. "There are many dangers in the world and just as many wonderful things. The sun's light warms the skin, but to eyes used to the dark it can do harm, and looking directly at the fiery orb in its place in the sky could blind." Such a simple thing, and yet he did need to tell Kane, for he knew not what knowledge those memories he'd chosen gave the young being.

Kane kicked up a tiny cloud of dust as he hurried to follow Eledure, walking a little behind the man as he was led through a tunnel. Nice and soft on the feet, he was sure, but the soft cloth boots protected his feet. Maybe it was warm outside? Outside... He wanted to know if it was really as his pilfered memories showed. The glow that poured in from the narrow entrance before them made Kane’s feet move automatically, but his chest met a slight barrier. His creator’s arm. Dejectedly, he forced himself to stop.

“I recall the sun.” He said, as if promising and reassuring Eledure. “I know... I remember waking up one morning on a fur bedroll... And the sun was high above me, and hit me in the eyes. I... couldn’t see for a while after that, everything was white...” He blinked hard. Was that really him? Or was it just the secondhand life of some bandit or hunter on an overnight run tracking an elusive beast? Kane sighed. He might never be sure, but it didn’t matter. They were his memories now, weren’t they? He regarded Eledure kindly, and took one of his pale hands. “We should go outside. You need the sun... You’ll get a little color again, feel better, I’m sure. And get stronger... I just hate seeing my creator so weak...” It put a heavy weight in his chest. As if he were stronger than the one that gave him his very existence. A soul.

He didn’t like that feeling.

So the memories he'd used, they were still quite present. Eledure's mind filled with worried thoughts. The thoughts and feelings he'd used had come from many people, which meant that in all likelihood there were contradictions within his creation, things that would always clash in him no matter how he tried to change them.

He had done wrong... A warm hand wrapped around his own snapped the mage from his thoughts. He offered up a little smile, tinged with sorrow upon hearing that his creation worried so for his ruined health. "I will never be as strong as I once was. Those days are long past, I've overextended myself one too many times." The last straw had been Kane's creation, something which Eledure would never regret.

"Magic always demands a price, and I have used often and often have I gone past what I should have been able to do. I'm lucky to still be alive." He was even more blessed to even be able to use his arcane skills at all, after what he had done.

As they stepped out into the warm sun, and green grass, the scent of evergreens, Eledure couldn't help but be glad of the fact that he had lived the life he had.

Kane had to shield his eyes when they got out into the sunlight. It was warm on his skin and so bright he had to squint a little until he could get to a shadow with Eledure, and look out on the sun. But he still couldn't stop thinking about his creator's words. He paid a high price...? Why would one need to give so much of themselves to create life for someone else? Perhaps he had taken some of Eledure's life? Was Kane a parasite? Was he some blight on his benevolent creator, his god? But a god was supposed to be immortal... It didn't make sense! He couldn't be alone! No...

He bit his lip, nervously, so hard it sharply cut through his lip and Kane tasted blood, warm and coppery on his tongue. "You... can't die..." He muttered, and grasped Eledure's hands as if he would drop to the ground at that instant. "You aren't supposed to die." He was so disgusted! Disgusted at the concept of magic! What did it do? It gave life but took another away? It harmed, and lied, and did its best to create discord. What use was it? Kane stepped back, stumbling over a tree root that had crept out of the ground and created a twist in the grass, and after a moment of struggling, fell onto his knees.

"Nooo..." His low voice moaned, as Kane doubled over and pressed his palms to his eyes. No, not his eyes. Not his hair that fell in front of the hands that weren't his. "You can't... can't. I hate magic! It... it hurts..." He put a hand to his chest, then to his stomach. "It h-hurts... I..." It felt so bad. Like a hot iron was being thrust through his stomach and up, like a sword, or a long dagger. Was this what heartbreak felt like? He didn't like it.

The warm breeze, scented with flowers and pine, calmed him as much as Kane's nearness. Such peace never lasted long, and panic filled eyes soon took all of Eledure's attention. His mind raced. How could he reassure the being he'd created? There was so much fear and hatred within Kane's voice, so much confusion...

It sent the mage's mind and heart reeling for words he simply couldn't find. Eledure fell to his knees and reached out with his frail arms to tuck Kane tight against him. Warmth and sorrow mingled together in the pale man's heart. What had he done? "Kane, please ... I will take better care of myself. There's no need to worry so much. I'll be there for you as long as I'm able, and a mage can live for far longer then it seems."

But now Kane hated magic, and what that entailed ... "What hurts?" Worry filled his voice now. The chirping of birds could do nothing to lighten the mood with their sing song voices. No, all the mage could think of was the horrible idea that he had done something wrong, that he had failed Kane. "I'm so sorry, did I do something wrong when I created you? Did I hurt you?" Had he cursed the young man to a life full of pain?

The words sounded so kind and reassuring, but reassuring might be all they were. Was Eledure telling the truth? What evidence did Kane have to go against it? Eledure always told the truth, so far as Kane was concerned. If he would live a long time... If he wouldn't leave Kane behind... If he would take better care of himself... And if Kane would help him, get him in the sun, make him feel better and not worry so much... He might look a little younger, like he should. Not so sullen and pale and... ill...

He finally managed to look up, but the pain was still there. "I... I don't kn-know..." The sting grew worse, red-hot, and he cried, hearing something. Clashing, metal, voices screaming out and fire burning somewhere. But the sense of urgency... He couldn't fight it, he had to go... somewhere... Kane felt himself struggle up, feel himself shed a great weight, a clank of metal and hide armor, and then a horrible pain run through his stomach, wrench up, slice through his bones, into his heart. He gasped hard, falling backward. "I was a soldier!" He yelled. "S-soldier! War, was a war. A... a-a war and I felt fire. The barracks w-were on f-f-fire..." Kane breathed in deeply, but got a lungful of heated smoke in his last breath and coughed raggedly. "Oh Gods, Gods no, no, not like this, I have..." The world blackened, heat exploding from somewhere to his right...

His eyes snapped open again, staring up at the sky so bright it made his eyes water. he was on his back now. "I... was a soldier." He gasped. "H-he was in a war... the enemy attacked and he was trapped in the blaze, and run through to make sure he couldn't escape..." He could still feel the heat on his skin, singing the light hair on his arms.

Dread filled Eledure, a fear that he had indeed cursed the young man into eternal torment, unless those many souls within him, those fragments, were gentled. All he could do for now was smooth back Kane's hair and use what healing powers housed within his heart to try and reason with the memories he'd placed within the youth's body. The soldier's was most important, and to the remnants of the man's mind he whispered words of another chance at life, a chance within another body with another soul, so long as they worked together to live instead of fighting.

"Shh, my dear one. That life is past now, you're here with me lying in the sunshine, listening to the birds singing and the breeze making the trees dance, and the leaves sound like waves." Soothing sounds all, and together a joyful cacophony of life that Eledure had always wanted to live within. They were close, too close, to the border between the people, but it was only here where no one roamed, that Eledure and his creation would be able to live in peace.

Kane grasped Eledure's hand hard, snapping his eyes open and around, looking at the amethyst eyes above him. Caring eyes. Sweet, kind eyes. His creator's eyes. If Kane kept this up, he would cause Eledure such worry... Breathing in sharply, he sat up, dizzy only for a moment before it ebbed away and he was able to turn to face Eledure fully. "I'm okay." He promised, bringing up the thin hand up and clasping it carefully. "That was just... a mistake, I couldn't see reality and fantasy... I promise I'll control it."

What if Eledure became reluctant? Reluctant to teach him because of these flashbacks that weren't even his? Kane would make sure to keep them as in control as he could, but... but he felt weak. There were moments he felt as if he were falling into a hole and wouldn't be able to get out alone. But Eledure created him! Kane wouldn't disappoint.

He squeezed Kane's hand with a small shake of his head. "If there is any mistake, it was mine in being so thoughtless in choosing the memories, the shards of soul, which I used to create the whole that you are. Forgive me." The mage couldn't help but feel that he had failed now. And yet, he had succeeded in creating a life.

There was both joy and sorrow in the thought. If others found out about Kane, they would think him an aberration.. That was something he needed to teach the new soul. Eledure opened his lips, about to speak of such things, but thought better of it. Not now, after such an episode. It was better to dwell on kinder things. "Are any of those memories useful ones?"

Kane returned the reassuring squeeze of the hand, glad for the touch. He couldn’t imagine the nightmarish sequence had been because of his creator’s misinformation, couldn’t begin to believe it. Eledure had done so much for him, spent... so long just perfecting Kane. But the creation felt so... inadequate. Like he wasn’t living up to Eledure. He sat back and tried to think.

What memories could be useful? What memories from those multitudes of pasts could help him, help Eledure, so he didn’t have to learn about things he already knew of? The god whose shrine he had prayed at, the painful and unavoidable death he suffered in some possibly long-forgotten war... But now no memories at all would come to him. He knew of the world, of grass, trees, the sun and moon and stars, of animals and how much he despised magic’s rules and laws. Breathing in shakily, Kane shook his head.

“No...” He sighed . “I-I can’t... think... I mean, I can’t... remember... anything...!” Kane looked at Eledure with a pained expression. “I’m sorry...” He curled up, feeling even more inadequate than before. “Eledure... I think you made a mistake... I’m useless...” He didn’t want to be useless! The thought brought stinging tears to his eyes. Useless to his creator, who gave up so much pursuing this hope of his.

He shook his head vehemently and reached out to wrap his arms tightly around the newly born being. "No! You aren't useless. Everyone has trouble finding what they're good at , and I shouldn't have expected any differently from you." The pale mage shifted to tuck the other man's head beneath his chin. He started to croon a lullaby in an attempt to comfort and to ease away the feelings of inadequacy he knew Kane's heart roiled with, among so many others.

Eledure couldn't begin to imagine how confusing coming into the world must have been for his creation. All he could do was try to make it easier on Kane then it had ever been for himself.

Kane sniffed, curling himself under Eledure's protective hug. The quiet, wordless lullaby was reassuring to the point of sleep, but he didn't sleep here. It had to be too dangerous... Sleeping in the middle of the forest, where anything could get them... He startled when he thought something was coming for them. A big cat, its paws probably as large as Kane's head. His hand was feeling around... he had a sword somewhere... it was right there a minute ago... It fell on him but he felt nothing before he curled himself against Eledure tightly. "S...sorry... I... thought I saw something..." That was just a memory, it didn't exist. He must have pushed it away before the feeling of the cat's claws and teeth could come ripping through his flesh---or his recalled flesh, anyway.

"Can we go back?" He asked quietly. "I'm so tired..." The world was a big place. He had to remember that. A big place, and he had to try to remember it all while sorting memories, trying to find the right ones. Trying to discern imagined from real. Past to present. And it was so tiring.

Eledure tightened his hold upon the young being and crooned softly for a few moments more. "Yes, of course we can go back. Come on." He made no comment about how the other man had reacted so suddenly to things Eledure simply couldn't see. That was what his unthinking creation had wrought. Dreams, visions of past lives which mingled together unscrupulously with the present at every turn. Instead, the mage helped Kane to stand and guided him gently towards the caverns once more.

It must have made the world into an unnecessarily frightening place. The confusion, Eledure couldn't imagine what it must be like to be faced with a thousand thoughts not your own, and then the inability to truly know who you were. For certainly that had also been a result of his unthinking stitching together of memories and shards of souls.