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  I laughed as I rode through the metallic grass of the hunting grounds. For the first time since I came to this world, I felt like myself again. I had my spear tied to my back, I had my pistol strapped to my leg, I had my steed beneath me, and my hair unbound, trailing behind me.

  The siblings had never heard of something like this happening before, and to my surprise, neither had Diaochan. My A.I assistant was now searching the publicly available portions of the citynet for any sort of information on someone carrying another being’s soul inside them into Abeyance City.

  I didn’t care that much about the hows and whys of it. I was simply pleased to have my closest friend and most loyal ally back again. That was perhaps the most shocking part of what had been a very surreal experience. I could tell almost immediately that the Chrome Prophet had truly been altered and then inhabited by my former horse. It responded to things the way Red Hare would have, it made choices and moved on its own. It snickered and roared from its engine, and I swear I could understand roughly what it meant when it ‘spoke’ just like I could when we were both still alive.

  Ji-Ho and Ha-Rin had looked the transformed bike over, and according to them, it was both larger and more powerful than the howler had been when they had finished their repairs. I will admit all that power and speed took some getting used to, and I almost crashed several times as I made my way through the road-sized hallways of the block, not to mention up and down the staircases that were intact enough for me to traverse on Red Hare.

  Neither I nor my mount were really used to his new form, so I didn’t push him too hard. As a horse, he was able to run across water like it was an open plane, and scale mountainsides like they were little foothills. Part of this had been due to his overwhelming speed and endurance, but mostly it was a result of my horse’s talent with its Qi. The fact that he had wheels now actually meant he was even faster than he had been in life, but he may have lost some or all of his ability to traverse difficult terrain. We simply didn’t know, and even if he could do it, we would need time to relearn how in these new bodies.

  In spite of all that, my joy remained untainted and I knew I would be devoting a lot of time to bringing my skill and our teamwork back up to the level it should be at. Besides, it was not only nostalgic, but fun in the extreme, and I couldn’t wait till I was confident enough to take the bike onto the streets and highways I had witnessed when I was getting my hair cut.

  “Well, boy,” I said after a little over two hours of riding the unique howler up and down my hunting grounds. “ I don’t think there are any enemies for us to practice against that are still active today. It was a whole thing where some rich young masters stole my prey.” The bike let out an irritated rumble in response.

  “I know, I know, but trust me, this place isn’t like what we are used to. There will be foes aplenty by tomorrow morning, I promise. Besides, I told Ha-Rin I would let him and his sister get a more in-depth look at you today, and we have already made them wait a long time.”

  The whine that came from Red’s engine at that statement was extremely dubious, and I knew he didn’t like the sound of that.

  “Trust me, this is like when I would take you to those special grooms who knew all about horse medicine and whatnot. These two won’t just clean you or check you over, they will give you elixirs and the like to make you stronger and keep you that way.”

  The bike that was once a horse remained a willful being who wouldn’t allow himself to be ordered around or bullied. However, Red Hare was like my brother; he trusted me just as I trusted him, and I could tell there would be no further argument from the steed on the matter unless the siblings did something he didn’t like during their inspection.

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  Leaning in close to make myself as maneuverable as possible, the bike and I forced ourselves into a skidding spin that completely reversed our direction about ten feet before we would have hit the end of the hallway we were in on the twenty-third floor when we had that conversation. I couldn’t help it, I let out another laugh of pure excited joy, and for a few seconds, even regretted cutting my hair as short as I had. While I could still feel it training me in the wind of my passage, it just wasn’t quite the same.

  Red Hare’s wheels screeched as they spun on the spot for a few seconds before we launched back the way we came with a sudden jump of acceleration. Like a bullet fired from my pistol, we flew through the hallways and down the stairs between us and my hideout. It was the second time that day that I had made my way to Vaestro’s Restorations at high speed, but ironically, this second time was both not nearly as urgent and much faster.

  Of course, I knew that I had missed my horse since awakening in this surreal afterlife, but this little excursion had truly reminded me what it meant to truly be myself, and an itch inside my mind that I hadn’t even known existed had finally been scratched.

  Vaestro’s Restorations had two doors at its front entrance. One was a normal human-sized door that slid to the side when I activated it. The second, however, was a large metal affair that rolled up into the wall above and was wide enough to allow two cars to pass in at once. Leaving with Red to go for my leisurely ride had been the first time I’d needed to actually make use of the larger metal door. Fortunately, it had still functioned, and I activated it via my HUD again as I and Red came to an idling stop in front of the vehicle repair store.

  Ji-Ho and Ha-Rin were waiting impatiently inside Vaesro’s. I was pretty sure they had been playing some competitive game through their HUDs to pass the time, but it was still obvious they hadn’t been pleased with how long I was gone. Seeing as they had given me a gun and helped me bring my steed back to life, I was in a fairly understanding mood, and even apologized for making them wait. I think both of the engineers were a little surprised by my use of manners, as they didn’t even complain.

  Ridiculous for them to feel that way, of course, Lu Bu is many things, but a poor host, I am never. Riding my bike back slowly over to the stand where it had been repaired, I attached Red to it and dismounted. Without a road empowered by the city system, or my own energy pouring into the Howler, it should have switched off, but of course, that isn’t what happened. Inhabited as it was by the spirit of my greatest ally, my HUD informed me the bike was still bursting with power and could easily continue all day and over great distances without need of a new source of energy.

  “This might get a little weird for you,” I said to the bike as I placed a comforting hand at the center of the handlebars. “But these two are my allies, and to be trusted for both their character and their skill, alright?”

  The bike let out a little rumble, and I am all but certain I saw the siblings share a bewildered look out of the corner of my eye. It didn’t matter; Red had agreed not to fight them even if he found what they did uncomfortable or intrusive. While I wasn’t sure of my steed’s abilities in this new world and form, I did know that securing such a promise would be important if he was even a quarter as powerful as he had once been.

  More than once, Red Hare had gone on a rampage in my stables and those of my second adopted father. He had delivered lethal kicks and launched red lightning from his eyes and nostrils that burned buildings and slaughtered grooms. If he did something similar now, I doubted I would be able to calm him down before both siblings were dead, and that would be a very poor reward for their loyalty towards me.

  Well, the former horse had promised me it would behave, and while he didn’t always keep such promises, Red could usually be relied upon if he had given his word. I nodded to the pair of siblings, and they approached, Ha-Rin pulling a cord that somehow popped out from beneath her jaw, so that she could ‘interface’ with the bike's operating systems.

  I didn’t really understand the details of what that meant, but I had been around the pair long enough that I knew it was essentially some sort of soul communion, where the Forgefiend connected to and came to understand a machine better than what would otherwise be possible. Somehow, I had a feeling she was going to have a rather unique version of such a communion today.