A soft shaking and low mumbling woke me up. My first reaction was to freeze, hoping nobody had seen me below the bed as my fear rose. I scanned my body but didn't feel any pain. Then it hit me. I didn't feel anything, period.

My mind snapped awake, and I realized my eyes were already open. I put a clamp on my emotions immediately, almost strangling them away. It was hard, especially the fear and shock. I had hoped never to experience one of these terrible dreams again. After a second, I managed to calm down and began examining my surroundings.

I was staring at a massively wide metallic corridor, with dozens of people, armed, human people. Everyone was speaking in the language of the Guidar, and I couldn't move. Not that I tried.

Being here could mean only one thing; Rathica's protection didn't work while in another realm. Well, it could mean more things, but none made more sense.

If the Guidar controlling my body realized I was back, he would wipe me out. Trying not to be afraid and keeping my instincts to move my own body in check, I waited, trying to find out where I was.

"- you hear? Another dozen minds disappeared before they could be wiped-"

I caught a fragment of a conversation and felt slightly shocked. I could understand the language, even though it sounded foreign. I tried to catch more snippets and realized they were discussing the host bodies' minds disappearing. So, more humans in Kernstalion are finding deities to follow, I thought, hoping that was the case. The alternative would be that the evil deities were grabbing them.

My body moved towards a door, and I resisted the urge to want to open it. As the guidar controlled my arm, I noticed an odd ring on my thumb. Big and metallic, it was a metal band with an angular skull on it. Something about it seemed familiar, but before I could examine it, the arm dropped as the Guidar took us both inside of a massive room with holographic images on walls.

There were images of broken-down cities and humans fighting against monsters and mostly dying. A dozen people sat in the middle of the room, holding small metallic objects that reminded me of Rubix cubes. They were pressing the squares rapidly, like typing on a keyboard, and every time the squares would light up.

"You are late!" A sharp, creaking voice came from one of the people. It was an older man, the only one in the group, and he stared angrily at me.

"It's not like anything has happened," my own voice said in the same foreign language.

"Another fifty soul tetherings were lost, meaning another fifty of us were yanked back to that deity-infested reality. You call that nothing, Desero?" The voice snapped back.

So that's his name, I thought, quickly shelving it for later. I'd ask Rathica if she knew him.

Desero snorted as he moved us to an empty seat and sat down while taking one of the Rubix-cube-like things from the table in the middle. "There are thousands of us here. Losing a few will be fine."

The other Guidar looked up from their cubes and glared at my Guidar.

"You say that, but your own soul tethering has gone beyond your reach," a woman said calmly before she continued tapping the cubic device.

"I have nothing to fear, latecomer. The Allmind has already made me another body- even if it's not ready yet, I have made a temporary tethering. If that punk finds a way to snap the connection, I will be fine."

Desero's voice was smug as he replied, and for a moment, I saw the woman's face warp into one of anger and hate. Then she returned to her work as if uninterested in what Desero had to say.

"Just because you are fine doesn't mean the rest of us are. Every time we have to bring someone back into another vessel, we risk alerting those Deities!" the old Guidar snapped.

"You worry too much. Those three old fools are too busy keeping their dominion, stamping out new Deities that are trying to form," Desero replied, raising his hand to stave off another remark of the old man. "Any change on the forming of the Allmind?"

A young woman, barely out of her teens, spoke in a flat voice. "Almost the same as when you came yesterday. The formation is still accelerating. If the current acceleration holds, the new Allmind will be ready within a month."

A soft laugh came from the old man. "Who imagined these humans would prove to have such great synergy with us?"

Behind me, the door swung open, and I heard someone move inside.

"I did. That's why I increased the pace of the transition," a sultry feminine voice spoke.

It took all my effort not to alert Desero when I recognized the voice. That's not possible! I thought, but I knew it was when Desero turned to look at the newcomer. A beautiful blonde woman with a curvaceous body tightly wrapped in a black dress moved towards another empty seat.

Annika Popov, I thought as I stared at the famous face. Better known under her pseudonym Lekkah, she was one of the youngest billionaires in the world and the owner of many famous companies. Amongst those, the company that made Kernstallion. How long have they been here? I tried remembering what I knew about her, but all that came up was that she was a scion in the matriarchal Popov family that had become famous during the initial virtual reality boom back in the late 2020s.

"-many are still alive from the initial ten billion?" the old man asked, and I realized I had missed something.

Focusing on the Guidar, I realized they had all stopped toying with their cubes and were sitting straight and looking at Annika.

"At least four billion are still alive, and at the current speed, we will have over a billion left when the Allmind finishes," Annika replied.

"It's actually impressive how many are already pushing the boundaries of the temporary system," the old man said as he smiled a fake smile at Annika.

"Yes, back in the old days, this would have been one of the golden worlds," Annika said, smiling back.

"So, how is the little present we will leave behind coming along?" she asked.

"It will be ready ahead of time, do-" the old man began speaking when Desero got up.

"Where are you going?" Annika hissed, her voice suddenly low and dangerous. It was the same thing I was wondering.

"I have no interest in this part. Any distraction from our main goal is dangerous!" Desero said, sounding unimpressed by the danger pointed his way. He turned around, moving to the door.

"Careful, Desero. Just because you had some power in realm zero doesn't mean things will be the same here!" the old man almost shouted.

His hand on the door, Desero turned and smirked. "You all need to get back into a normal body. These soft vessels have infected your minds with emotions and feelings. But don't worry…"

Desero's voice turned threatening and low suddenly, almost like an animal's snarl. "I'll clean those up for you after you're back in your true forms!" The threat emanating from his words appeared to stun the others, and none of them said anything.

Desero grinned as he turned and left the room, taking us both back to the wide hallway.

Like the show, little mortal?

The sudden cool voice directed at me made me shiver, and I felt my body respond.

Did you seriously think you could hide your presence from me?

I didn't respond, hoping he was just guessing.

I'm not sure how you managed to get out from under the thumb of a deity, but good for you!

Desero's voice held some genuine wonder this time, and when he continued, I could sense the desire in it, the desire to know.

Why don't you tell me how you broke your connection? In return, I'll tell you a little secret about them!

As if you would tell me the truth, I snapped before I could hold myself back.

Now, now! I've never yet lied to you, and I'm sure the same can't be said of those deities! Desero mocked.

Let's play a game. I'll tell you half of the truth, and you tell me how you broke the Deity's hold on your mind. After that, I'll tell you the other half of the truth.

A half-truth, or half of the truth? I responded, no longer caring. Just walking with this guy was bringing back memories of the first time we spoke.

Sharp, aren't we? Desero said before a soft chuckle vibrated through the mind-space we somehow shared. The first part of a truth you will need if you are to survive in Kernstalion. Better?

Dammit, what was I doing? This sounded like making a deal with a devil! Besides, what could I even offer in return? I hadn't truly broken my connection with Rathica and didn't want to either. Why would he think so, though, because I was back here? It had to be. So the reason was that I was inside that old Deity's domain?

I tried to think of a way to tell him something and get the whole answer when I felt a pull in my mind. Focusing on it, I felt a massive distance that seemed short at the same time. At the end lay my grablon body. It was almost as if something was trying to draw me back to Kernstalion. For a split second, I felt like I was in two places, locked in my body without the ability to move it and lying below a bed. Something was shaking me softly. I could feel the ability to decide where I wanted to be, and with some effort, stayed with Desero, keeping the other connection open. I knew I was presented with the possibility to get half the truth without paying for it.

Alright, tell me half of this truth, I said, forcing my mental voice to sound annoyed and uncertain. I held tightly to the sensation of my Grablon body, readying myself.

I knew you wouldn't be able to resist! Desero laughed, humming something as he continued down the long, wide corridor. I will tell you enough to pique your interest, and then you will explain in detail how you managed to free yourself!

I could feel the Guidar's tightly suppressed interest leak out slightly. Why was this such a big deal?

You must have realized by now that becoming a follower doesn't just give you advantages, Desero said, in such a way that it sounded like I would be a fool if I hadn't. What you might have realized is that you are less afraid, more capable of handling the troubles of Kernstalion?

Are you going to tell me something I don't know? I grumbled, hiding the fact that I was getting interested.

Sure, little mortal. How about the fact that the Deity you worship changes how you think, act, live, and love in such a fundamental way that you can barely be called yourself anymore?

An image of Eliandra, pushing me away when I tried to get close, flitted through my mind. What are you saying? I said, unable to keep a shiver from my voice.

Isn't it obvious? To follow a deity means to connect to their set of morals, desires, and whims!

…

When I didn't answer immediately, Desero sniffed. Still too complicated? Fine, try and comprehend this. If your Deity hates cows, you will hate cows. If a deity believes her followers should have only one child, you will have only one child, and if a deity feels anybody over the age of fifty is too old to contribute and needs to die… you will kill them.

I shivered at the finality of the Guidars words. He was lying, right? Thinking back to what had happened, what I had seen of the different followers, I mentally shook my head. Somehow I doubted it, and I realized how lucky I was that Rathica was formed by me and not the other way around. Wait… was that even true?

So, that is my side of the deal. Now tell me. A connection is normally permanent, and only a deity itself can choose to release a follower. As you might imagine, they are loath to do so. How did you manage to get rid of yours?

I felt the poorly hidden desire behind Desero's words. He was almost chomping at the bit to find out. Why? I almost asked but held back. I had no idea if he could hold me here against my will. So far, he hadn't been able to, but I didn't want to risk it. Focusing on my Grablon body, I faked, starting to speak while pulling myself away as fast as I could.

That's easy, all I had to-

My mind shot away through a seemingly endless void of freezing nothingness, and then I stared at the bottom of the wooden bed and blinked. Slowly a smile crawled on my face.

That was a lot easier than I had imagined, I thought.

Something touched my shoulder, and I almost had a heart attack. Turning my head to the side, I saw a finger hovering in front of my face. It was attached to the dismembered arm.