Torrin nodded his assent. He wanted to understand.

"But first, Grams... Do you think that the kids those people took are going to be okay? Is there a way you can save them?" Torrin asked, worried about the orphans.

Grams shook her head sadly, "If they weren't killed, boy, then they should be safe for now, but I'm not sure where exactly they are going to be taken."

The words didn't make Torrin feel any better, but he nodded once.

"Let me start from the beginning, then," Grams' gaze fell away from the boy, she seemed as if she were staring far into the distance, as if the back wall she stared at held every secret ever told.

"Long ago, far longer than you could fathom, the worlds were created. No one knows exactly who created them or why they were even created. But from these worlds, people were birthed. A myriad of races began to thrive on these worlds, however, these worlds did not know of each other--they believed themselves to be the only people."

Torrin sat transfixed on Grams, her gaze remaining fixed on the back wall. Torrin spared a single moment to check the back wall, wondering if maybe he could find these secrets if he looked hard enough.

"The people started out simple, only using pure instinct to survive. The fauna in these worlds were not yet tainted by the energy that ran through the very air of these worlds. The races were able to advance themselves, slowly learning how to thrive. The races spread out, villages began popping up like wildflowers in Spring. This was happening on any number of the worlds. But the beasts were not idle..." She paused, taking a long slow breathe as if to steady herself for what came next.

"The beasts were slowly gathering in the energy of these worlds--it was natural to them, the same as breathing the air. As they gathered this energy some of the beasts retaliated on the races. Of course during this time people had learned how to make weapons, advancing in technology, even. But the power of these beasts was beyond anything they could imagine."

Her gaze turned to Torrin and she seemed almost surprised to see him, so lost was she in her memories.

'How does she even know this,' Torrin thought skeptically, eyes narrowing slightly.

"But people definitely know how to bounce back... Though the beasts brought many worlds to the brink of annihilation, people also began to understand the energy of the worlds. Mana, Ki, Chi, Essence, Aether, Ether, there are countless types of energies throughout existence, and some are easier to use than others--some more powerful and some weaker.

"Over thousands of years, the races began to reach the limits of power. Each generation would become just a little bit stronger, understand a little more. One thing that held people back for the longest time was greed. Though some would get ahead due to their greed, those they took from would eventually get back at them, wars were fought between people of the same race and worlds were even destroyed.

"But some people at the height of power were finally able to ascend, able to break through the very thing that ties reality together, and what they found... We don't know. The person did not return; they broke through to another plane or maybe another world. Maybe they died? But when that reality's tethers were torn apart, they didn't fully repair. It caused a ripple." She paused once more, looking to Torrin to make sure he was paying attention.

He couldn't hold back a question, "What do you mean a ripple? How do you know any of this?"

"We'll get there, boy... The ripple caused by that ascension was a ripple through space and time itself, it reached other worlds. And soon after, a pathway between the worlds was opened. Maybe it always existed and just needed a catalyst. Through this pathway, races began to meet. Demons, people who seemed to be part beast, Elves, Dwarves, Humans as well. These races met each other for the first time."

Torrin stared wide-eyed at the old lady. She seemed more worn, almost frail, as she continued her tale.

"It would take an entire day straight for me to name all of them... These races began to interact with one another, both friendly and hostile. Some wanted alliances, some to conquer the others, wars were fought, entire worlds destroyed even. Some of the pathways began to be damaged over time and people began to seal themselves from the other worlds, closing their pathways.

"People were still getting stronger as well, some calling themselves gods and ruling over multiple worlds, some even ascending. But eventually these forces began to clash against each other, the War of the Gods it was called... The damage from that war severed almost every pathway from existence, most worlds lost any connection to another and many were completely destroyed..."

Grams seemed to have aged 10 years just going this far. Torrin didn't even know what to say, the scope of this story was so far outside of what he could imagine, it may as well have been a bed time tale. He didn't understand the importance of the story, really. He wanted to know what it had to do with him and Perria dying, along with his subsequent reincarnation. He sent her a barrage of questions as soon as she paused.

"But what does this have to do with me? Why am I in this world instead of some Heaven or empty abyss? How does this relate to Perria's death?" Torrin's high-pitched voice whined into the silence, pleading for answers. If this world and his were related... Could he actually find his murderer? Could he actually avenge Perria?

"Almost all the worlds..." She replied with a manic gleam in her eyes. Seeing her looking at him so intensely, he thought better of asking anything else before she continued. He could feel a faint pressure exuding from her, he felt as if he had boulders on his shoulders.

"Your old world is low-tier, as such the so called gods didn't have specific importance attached to it. The fighting was mainly over high-tier worlds, as the energy there is even more powerful than mana, so that is where most of the gods lived.

"This world and your own world are faintly connected. The pathway was only re-discovered around 200 years ago by a group of people. Since then, they've been trying to find a way to restore the path so they can take over your world." The pressure had been building on him so much that his shoulders began to ache fiercely, he began to worry that he might actually be hurt if the pressure intensified. He faintly pushed back with his own will, trying to ease some of the pressure.

Grams stopped her story and her eyes popped wide. She immediately got her will under control and Torrin sighed in relief.

"Sorry, boy, I lost myself for a moment there." Her grin stretched from ear to ear, showing no shame.

'She's bat shit crazy...' He lamented his luck. How could he have gotten saved by the craziest lady in both the worlds he knew. Seeing her reaction to almost accidentally crushing him to death with her will, he worried about the validity of her story--he didn't even want to think of her mental state.

"Anyways, boy, this group of very strong people in your current world--Zon--want to control Sole, your old world. But the pathway is not whole. It is still fractured, and Mana is not enough to repair it. Neither is Chi, as it's weaker. Energy slowly spreads to connected worlds, so there is some high-tier energy in this world, but it is minimal compared to the amount necessary to fix the pathway.

"There is one type of energy that would be able to fix the pathways, though. The reason they've begun to kill people of your world is not only to sow chaos so it will be easier to take over once they can send their armies through... The energy they have begun using is Soul Energy.

"They are absorbing the souls of sentient beings with an ancient artifact they discovered in a ruin that was left by beings of a high-tier world. They have connected weapons to this artifact and by killing these sentient beings, souls are sent towards our world to be absorbed by the artifact.

"You must be one of the ones they killed with it, since they're targeting strong souls to get more Soul Energy. I've lived a very long time and trained my will extensively; by using my will I can sense your Soul Energy." She paused a moment as if deciding whether or not to tell him something. Squinting her eyes and furrowing her brow, she paused for long moments tapping on her chin thinking.

'Well, I did feel her bearing down on me, so no doubt she's strong,' Torrin scrunched his own brow, going through his thoughts, 'but how did she know my name, and how did she just so happen to save me?'

"Grams, how did you know where I'd be? Did you know? Or am I just lucky? How do you know any of this?" Torrin still didn't know if any of this was true, but he felt a nagging sense that she was telling the truth. Why would she make any of this up?

"Like I said I'm very old, so I knew the one who made the group a long time ago. They have existed for hundreds of years, and they wanted me to join them. At that time we were just adventurers..." She trailed off and looked at that back wall once again, pain was evident on her face.

"We found a pocket dimension that had been made here by a Nelk thousands of years ago. We discovered a library with history dating back to the time of the War of the Gods, and even some that were almost fantastical with their accounts of time before even that.

"That's the history I've been telling so far. Once we found that pocket dimension, we learned information that brought us to the peak of power. We found information on ancient techniques and recipes, information that hadn't been known in over 20,000 years."

His mind was spinning. 'The peak of power? I knew she was strong, but I didn't expect that... And she knows this shadow group personally?' He'd wanted revenge, but now he understood just how idiotic and childish his ambitions were. If he wanted revenge he'd have to surpass the peak of power.

"What is this ancient artifact though? Why does it need souls? Who would make such a thing?" Torrin was disturbed from this information the most.

"The artifact doesn't necessarily need souls. It can absorb almost any type of energy, but it takes time for it to absorb. They estimate with only Mana, even if they used the available high-tier energy they have amassed, it would take another 100 years to fully charge the artifact."

"Soul Energy can be absorbed quickly as it's a very pure form of energy and depending on how strong a soul is, it can even be equal to a High-Tier energy itself. That is why they want strong souls, to charge the artifact faster."

Torrin felt a cold chill run down his spine thinking that instead of Heaven, or some reincarnation cycle, he was almost headed to the bowels of some artifact, to be digested and used as energy.

"But why was I not absorbed by the artifact if I was killed by a weapon connected to it?" Torrin definitely wasn't ungrateful, but he was still curious as to why he was alive in all honesty.

Grams looked at him and actually blushed, "I don't actually know, hehe."

This brought Torrin up short. If she didn't know, how did she know to save him?

"Then why did you save me from those Mana Beasts? Why are you even out here in these woods?" Torrin was getting answers, but only growing more confused, if he didn't get clarity soon, he felt like his brow may remain stuck in a scrunched position forever.

A grin flickered across her face once more as she replied, "Like I said, I used to be in that group, but once I learned about the plan to take souls, I left. They've hunted me for years, but I have my own tricks. They're not only killing people in your world, they're also murdering villages on the outskirts of what they consider small kingdoms."

Her face looked weary once more as she continued to explain, "This kingdom is more than likely about to be completely destroyed by them. Maybe even this entire continent." She shrugged as if this were just how things were.

"Okay... But why save me? Did you track them here? Was I really just lucky?" Torrin asked, frustrated at the lack of answers.

She cackled madly, "Haha! Yes, boy, you were just lucky I was around! No, you dolt. I caught up to them at your village, and was planning on stopping their attack, trying to get more information on future plans, you get the gist."

Torrin almost squirmed when the manic glint returned to her eyes.

"Lo and behold as I wait for their attack, a young boy with shaggy hair is trouncing through the forest making a young girl cry. This didn't take up too much of my attention, of course. However, this young boy is leaking mana like a fountain. This did catch my attention."

'Wait a second, did I get the entire village killed just by existing?' Torrin suddenly felt ill, his complexion slightly turning green.

Seeing Torrin's reaction, she rolled her eyes, "Boy, I didn't expect them to instantly start incinerating the entire village, they have only been using direct kills with the weapons, so that they can get as much Soul Energy as possible. I'm unsure if they are using a new way to absorb souls that doesn't require the weapons directly killing people, or if they're just killing for fun."

"Just to be clear, I didn't cause an entire village to get massacred... Right?" He asked in a small voice.

"No, boy, they attacked before they were supposed to, it could have even been one person going rogue. I tried capturing one of them, but had to kill him as he was going to escape. If there's one thing you should know from this whole story, it's that I'm old.

"To be honest, I wasn't able to leave that group unscathed, when I heard about their plan to use souls I immediately tried destroying the entire group. I was one of the strongest and a member of the council. I got outvoted and knew that I couldn't allow them to go through with the plan."

She had a cheeky grin on her face, "I killed two of the other four members. I had three allies with me, but they were slain... I killed a lot more of the regular members and elites before leaving. But the other two members that were left are about as strong as me, and I wasn't able to kill them. I was mortally wounded and only a safety artifact saved my life and let me escape."

She waved away Torrin's wide-eyed expression.

"I was able to heal, but my core is almost completely shattered. I'm not nearly as strong as I once was. I still have a few tricks up my sleeves, but I won't be able to stop them by myself. That's where you come in, boy."

Torrin had turned to look at the back wall, trying to picture her story. As he heard the last of her words he thought, 'Where I come in? Finally, let's see why she told me all of this.'

If she was fighting this shadowy group, he wanted to know what he could do to help. He wanted revenge, but he needed to get stronger. She was once at the peak of power, she must have tons of secrets that he could learn.

He turned back to face her, eager to learn his role in her plans. The devilish expression on her face stopped his wandering thoughts instantly. It made Torrin break out in a cold sweat.