Walking in the brisk morning air usually isn't my idea of a good time, but hey, it seems to do wonders for my hangovers. Or maybe I just like torturing myself sometimes, sue me.

The air here certainly is clear and chilly though, I'll have to remember to thank the missus later for suggesting this particular corner of dimension DXI-2037A. The lack of sentient beings at this hour is nice as well. They really can be such a drag. I mean, who in their right mind wants to deal with the average pan-dimensional mouse of Beta 7, let alone have to yammer it up with the "life forms" here.

Ugh, I'd just as soon turn them into statues and fling them into space, not a single one is worth a damn of my time.

I sigh, letting the air clear a bit of my foggy mind and my headache. My wife really is right, it's better to be kind than to make whole civilizations think they're dogs while tossing their planet into the sun for a laugh. At the very least it's hard to explain to the Governors.

I shiver just thinking about them, and take in the beautiful fall leaves floating to the ground around me. This dimension really isn't that bad, and I have met a soul or two in similar worlds that I've had some small kinship with. It's good to be giving when you care.

A shiver worms its way up my spine yet again, but this time it's pleasurable. Wow does that make me hot and bothered, even knowing it's the kind of control I used to dabble in. Maybe that's what makes it hot, I don't know. It at least helps with the... urges. Staves off the whole need to change souls around for a quick fix. Thank god for the wife.

With one last chilly shake of my head, I prepare to make the jump back home. Someone in the distance, though, catches my eye. Well, not in the distance for me, of course, but to the reader I'm sure the scene would be too far to have seen without binoculars.

In a split second I'm there, looking at the being that happened to catch my attention. There's something familiar about this one. Not much, but enough that I think I could be... kind.