Kindred Spirits

The Start

A/N: I'm re-writing basically everything that I've written so far, so even if thing are similar to how this started out, please make sure to reread everything so that you don't get confused on any storylines I changed.

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  I'm still not sure how it happened, the whole event seems like sand slipping through my fingers. One second, I'm fighting off my attackers when one of them comes up behind me and just... kills me? I think he snapped my neck, but the next thing I know, I'm waking up with a lung full of sand and the desert sun beating down my back. Looking down, I can tell that most of my weapons are gone, and from the looks of the dunes around me, I'm far enough away from my camp that no one would ever find me. I crawl out of the half assed grave I was buried in, coughing the sand out of my throat.

  After wasting the day wallowing in self pity, I struggle to my feet as the sun sets below the horizon, finally letting the stars out. Examining the heavens, I try to remember where we set up camp and determine what direction the intruders would have dumped me. Turning to the southwest, I climb the dune behind me as I attempt to go back to my people.

  Climbing the final dune, I come upon the remains of a hastily disassembled campground, only one tent left behind. I curse the gods and hurry towards the tent, hoping to find some food. I stop in my tracks as a woman exits, looking up to the stars before turning hers head towards me. Looking at her face, I see flickers of memories pass through my mind. Her, wearing armor and fighting alongside warriors of the same colors. I see her fall in battle, only to rise, alive once more. The memories fade and I know only one thing.

  She's the same as me.

  I watch as she moves forward and stay still as she comes to a stop a few paces away. We examine one another in silence, her eyes cold until they begin to water.

  "I thought I was alone," she whispers, falling to her knees before me. I moved towards her while she brought a hand to her mouth.

  "I am here," I say, gathering her into my arms and consoling her. The stars continue to move overhead as her tears flow like rivers to the sea.

.........

  Andromache told me that she had been alone for almost two thousand years before she dreamt of me, she knew that I was like her, unable to die. After finding a sickle sword and a few daggers, we wandered the world for a few centuries, fighting battles for just causes, learning hundreds of fighting techniques. It was quiet, peaceful despite the war we indulged in. We became content with only one another.

  Until the dreams began.

  We saw a woman wandering a desert, lost and alone, nothing but the clothes on her back. We knew that she was another one, another immortal. It took us almost a year to find her, but when we did, she had just died again, so we waited for her to wake up. We explained who we were, what we did, and she had nothing to lose, so she joined us.

  Shortly after finding Quynh, we found Lykon, and the four of us became unstoppable. We helped defeat evil, fought injustice, found solace in each other that we couldn't get anywhere else. Lykon and I became inseparable after the first five years, getting married not long after. I thought that we were indestructible.

  But everything has to end, right?

  One battle, Lykon stopped healing. He began to bleed out and there was nothing we could do to save him. I remember screaming out for someone, anyone to help as felt him die in my arms. I saw him look up at me through my tears and smile. Reaching a hand out, he cupped my face in his palm, and as I looked into his eyes for the last time, he told me he loved me before his eyes closed forever.

  I don't remember much of what happened after that. The next thing I remember is waking up chained to the floor, my clothes covered in blood and dirt. Andy told me that I had gone absolutely savage, slaughtering all of the enemies that we had been fighting, leaving none alive. She said that I didn't even sound human while I did it, I had growled and roared and howled as if I was a beast. After it was over, I couldn't be stopped, so they nearly decapitated me so they could chain me up.

  After that, nothing was the same, so I told them I was splitting up and would see them in a few years. I became a ghost after that, moving silently through cities and countries, leaving no trace of myself behind. I would help with local thieves and bandits, corrupt politicians, even the occasional abusive husband. Nothing helped, though. Everywhere I went, I still felt the emptiness left behind after Lykon passed, but it got worse the longer I went without Andromache and Quynh, so I hunted them down, eager to form a connection again.

  When I finally found Andromache, she was being executed for the tenth time according to locals. She was alone, and from the emptiness in her eyes I knew that Quynh had suffered a fate worse than death. She stood atop a pyre, and from the looks of the guards, they expected no resistance since she seemed so broken. A mistake on their part.

  While they set about with her execution, I silently set about recovering her and Quynh's weapons, eliminating any opposition. Heading back outside, I found that the pyre had been lit and the people were celebrating. I sneered in disgust before moving to cover to wait for the pyre to die down, examining every single guard, militia, and official, silently making a list of who to kill first.

  It was close to midnight when the fire finally died down. They had left only 2 guardsmen to watch over her and bring her back to her cell when she inevitably came out alive. Silently, I fired 2 arrows into their skulls before moving towards the charred remains of my only companion. I lifted her body quickly and ran into the forest, hearing the beginnings of alarms ring out as I disappeared into the tree line.

  It took Andromache a day to recover from the burns, and her screams were agonizing to hear. I had to gag her to prevent our capture. When she came to and saw me, she immediately broke down, explaining what had happened to Quynh, saying that she wasn't strong enough to stop them. I consoled her the best I could, but I knew that nothing could ever help with this level of grief.

  After the tears stopped, we hunted down anyone that had a hand in their torture, torturing them for any information about where they had dropped her. After few or no answers, we searched the docks where they cast off for answers. We only stopped when we started having more dreams. They led us to Yosef and Niccolo, two men on the opposite sides of the Crusades. I could tell that Quynh stayed at the forefront of Andromache's mind, the one soldier we would never find again.

  Slowly, things got back to the way they were. We traveled as a group, fighting, dying, and coming back, always. When Yosef and Niccolo got together, it hurt to look at them, and I could tell Andromache felt the same. After we found Booker, I told Andy that I needed some time to travel on my own, and to find me if they ever needed help. I wandered the world for a century before setting up my own base in upstate New York in 1935.