Cindrac - Mikayla Lane Page 0,5

Loquan’s mind wasn’t as open or naturally gifted as yours. There are also anomalies in her brain,” the voice replied.

“What should I call you?” Cindrac asked the being.

Cindrac saw a map flash in his mind and immediately knew where they needed to go. He headed up the once paved driveway that went up the mountain.

“Call me whatever makes you more comfortable, but I am a friend. We need one another now to survive,” the voice answered.

“I don’t want to survive,” Cindrac said on a groan. “I want this nightmare to end.”

“You are free of the nightmare. The universe is ours. You can do anything once we’ve fully integrated.” The voice sounded so sincere, but Cin didn’t trust anyone or anything.

Only a half-hour passed before Cindrac found himself standing on the composite wood deck of a stunning log cabin built into the side of a mountain. The vegetation was beginning to take over and needed trimming, but the place appeared to be perfect.

“Who lives here?” Cin moved carefully to the front door.

“We do for now,” the voice gently assured him. “Once we integrate, you can choose our home anywhere in the universe.”

Cindrac hesitated only a moment before turning the old-fashioned doorknob and pushing the door open. Dust and cobwebs nearly choked him before it settled back down again, and he stepped inside. The vaulted log ceilings and dozens of windows gave it a sense of openness, and Cin loved it immediately.

“Where are the real owners?” Cin looked around at the covered furniture, dusty knickknacks, and books on the shelves.

“They were David and Maggie Chastain,” the voice replied. “They were the last of the human resistance leaders and were apprehended from this very cabin 192 years ago.”

Tired of holding the woman's dead weight in his arms, Cindrac followed the map that suddenly appeared in his head and went into the first bedroom on the left. He yanked the dusty cover off the bed and laid Loquan down on the top sheet.

Following the map in his head that looked like building plans, Cindrac toured the rest of the house, daring to pick which bedroom would be his. He pulled the dusty sheet off the top of the bed and laid down on the softest mattress he’d ever felt.

Irrational dreams of living out his days in this cabin flitted through Cindrac’s mind for several minutes as his body relaxed, and he began drifting off to sleep.

“Now we integrate,” warned the voice before another violent seizure overtook Cin.

Chapter Two

Bright light shining in his eyes caused Cindrac to roll over, trying to avoid the distraction of the best dream he’d ever had. In it, he was learning the secrets of the universe, time and space itself, and traveling to different worlds.

In the dream, Cin was free — more than any other physical being in the universe. Nothing was out of the realm of possibility to him any longer, and he could not only stop the elite overlords but prevent them from ever gaining power.

It was that particular thought that had Cindrac sitting up and looking around the strange room. Memories of the night before crashed through his mind, and he slid from the bed. Once inside the master bathroom, Cin stopped in horror at the mirror above the sink.

The man looking back at him was almost a stranger. Cindrac’s once dark hair was now pure white, and even his brown eyes had turned an eerie opaque color. His muscles had doubled in size, and when Cin clenched his fist, he could feel the massive increase in his strength. The changes were awe-inspiring and terrifying at the same time.

Cin quickly finished his business in the bathroom, unsurprised when the toilet flushed. Somehow he knew that the home had been built specifically to be off-grid and used geothermal and solar energy to power it.

Cin was amazed when he moved through the home like he’d lived there all his life, going through the kitchen to the pantry. He quickly found what he was looking for and checked the expiration dates on the long-life food pouches. There were dozens of different choices, but Cin never heard of the flavors and had no idea if they were good or not.

Randomly choosing one of the bags called ‘beef stew,’ Cindrac searched the cabinets for a pot and dumped the contents inside with the correct water amount. Quickly lighting the stove burner, Cin’s mind whirled with questions of how he knew all of this. He even considered the possibility that he was dead,