"Tell me more."
James rubbed the bridge of his nose. He tried to open up his tightly sealed "mental fortress" a little further. Once he relaxed his mind, he gradually "saw" Professor Charles Xavier, dressed in an academic-style sweater.
"Sir, you've developed some degree of psychic power?"
On the roof of the old castle, James idly picked at a tuft of grass sprouting from the stone balustrade. The image of Professor Charles before him was a kind of hallucination within his mind.
Charles had grown a bit of a beard over the past few years. He looked like a scholar in his forties, and his bright blue eyes were still as vivid as ever. Though he no longer had the carefree charm of his long-haired days, he carried the mature bearing of a man his age.
"I wouldn't go that far. It's just that my mind is no longer an impenetrable wall like it used to be. I can open a 'small door' when I choose. Go on, tell me about this visitor from beyond the stars."
James and the professor both leaned forward, elbows resting on the stone parapet as they gazed at the sunrise over the distant valleys and plains. They spoke as casually as if they were making small talk.
"The monitoring systems on our orbital satellites detected an unidentified object entering Earth's atmosphere from outer space. It landed near Kansas City, Missouri. As it happens, a child went missing under bizarre circumstances near that location last night."
James listened in silence. Looking down, he spotted a blond young man with enormous wings growing from his back, strolling across the lawn outside the old manor.
Warren seemed to be enjoying a relaxed outing in the countryside, and everything about the old manor fascinated him.
"...'Ego' is a