Sensation returned, and with each heartbeat, pain. The return to his body, should he ever choose it, was meant to be slower. More controlled. The sound of his heart and sharp creaking of weakly spasming muscles was soon joined by the hiss of life support systems carefully feeding new blood into his veins, laced with a cocktail to protect his body from the too-soon return of life. He felt it pulse, from his core to the strands of flesh that fed the polished carapace of his skull, and the living weave of his robes. The body that had been the proof of his mastery. It now felt so insufficient.

He wavered, mind flickering as he heard sound, silence, sound returned, but still he had it. He had found the thing, the mind so close. It had sought him. Perhaps in error.

He reached out, the deliberate and calculated lines of his body still serving their purpose: a lens to focus his mind. He would learn this creature. This unknown thing. This first in so many centuries to reach him.

He would reach into its thoughts and understand. This was his greeting.