John had been avoiding dealing with his brother, but there were no more real excuses for putting it off. He was a bit anxious about how the reunion would go, and John generally attempted to use avoidance to assuage his anxiety. It wasn’t a healthy reaction to stress and caused John some issues in the past, but this wasn’t something that would go away eventually because John was worried about dealing with it. As John went back into his Soul Space, he saw Gwen sitting at the desk in the study area, reading a book and making some notes. She had continued to read The Fellowship Of The Ring and looked both more comfortable and attentive than she had been before reading on the floor, though slightly less comfortable than using the chairs and bed.

“How’s it going, Gwen?”

“Good, I think I found a couple of other things in the book that may be usable, so I wrote them down as I read them. I’m getting close to finishing the book. Should we watch the next movie before I read it?”

“That would be nice if that’s what you want to do, but I don’t mind if you want to read the book first.”

“No, I’d like to watch the movie first. I know it does affect how I picture some things, but I think I want to do the rest of this series in the same way. Maybe next, you can suggest another book, and I can read that before we watch the movie and see how it is different.”

“Okay. I also have some T.V. shows you might enjoy if you want to try something else. They’re like movies but are more serial and generally shorter for each part called an episode, but longer in total length than a movie.”

“That sounds interesting. Maybe after I finish this, we can watch an episode together?”

“Sounds like a plan,” John said and began to use his Soul Repository ability, before feeling a sense of concern coming from Gwen. He stopped and looked at her, and Gwen looked back up from her book.

“Are you okay, John? I feel an immense sense of anxiety coming off of you.” Gwen said, the concern evident in her voice.

“I’m okay, I’m going to go see my brother, and it’s causing me a bit of anxiety.”

“If you want, I can come with you for support.”

“I didn’t want to bother you; this problem is more something that I have to deal with.”

“Yes, but you don’t have to do it alone. I’m not just helpful around the Dungeon because it’s my job. I want to help as much as possible because you have been kind and open with me, and I like being here with you. I want you to come to me with your problems and not just the Dungeon ones.” Gwen’s voice had a bit of vehemence in it, but John could feel that it came from concern and compassion, rather than any kind of anger.

John was again very thankful to have Gwen as his partner in this new life, and all that she had come to represent. John tended to just stoically accept what had happened to him and try to suppress his emotions until he could healthily deal with them, but if Gwen was going to be his partner, he should let her in more to what he was feeling. John had also done his best to pay attention to what Gwen was feeling but knew there was room to be better in the future. John didn’t want it to seem like he was suppressing his feelings because he was callous to her and that John didn’t value how she felt, it’s just that this whole situation was new to him, and he had been under a lot of stress. John was extremely grateful to Gwen for how she had been there for him already and did feel that she knew that he appreciated her. If John was honest with himself, he thought he didn’t deserve Gwen, and she deserved better than being stuck with him. John knew he was uncharitable to himself, but sometimes he couldn’t help how he felt. What he was surprised by was the feeling of anger that was suddenly coming from Gwen.

“That’s not fair!” Gwen shouted, and John noticed the tears forming in her eyes. “You are so much better than you think you are. I’m glad to be your partner.” John could feel that there was a sense of sadness mixed in with the anger that wasn’t exactly directed at him, but more at what he had been thinking. Her voice was a bit ragged from the emotions coming through it, saying, “You have been kind to me, wanting to show me things, and you have valued what I can do for you. Some Cores just treat us as knowledge repositories, barely thinking about what we do when their attention isn’t on us. You have given me a way to support you, and I know that you trust me. You aren’t just some burden for me to bear.”

John wasn’t sure what he should say to that, so he let his feeling of appreciation come across his connection to Gwen and hugged her. She was still upset, but he could feel her anger and sadness lessening as John was less harsh on himself. John held her until he could feel she was ready to let go and said, “Would you like to come with me, Gwen?”

“Sure, I’ll come for support.”

John activated his Soul Repository ability. He was surprised that this Soul Space appeared to be a blue, glowing vortex surrounded by black rather than the white spaces John had previously experienced. John could see some pure blue Souls travelling towards the center of the vortex, and some Souls closer to black in colour being pulled towards the darkness. There was a sense the almost pure blue Souls were heading into some afterlife. The black Souls were denied entry to an afterlife and were being forcefully brought towards a reincarnation. As John concentrated on a nearly pure blue Soul, he could see that the Soul had lived a life free of any significant sins to atone for. Upon focusing on a black Soul, he saw that they had lived a sinful life, and their only chance at redemption was to be reincarnated and hopefully live a better life.

As the moving Souls had grabbed John’s attention, it had taken him some time to notice the Souls that were more of a mix of blue and black, mostly floating around the vortex. Some were primarily blue with a couple of black and grey spots, while others were almost purely black and drawn towards the darkness and reincarnation. John watched some of these Souls near the edge and was surprised when he felt some presences begin to pluck them out from the vortex. As he watched, some of the Souls returned with fewer spots on them and moved closer to the center. He could feel Gwen tense as she noticed these presences herself, though she seemed to relax after watching the process a couple of times. John was surprised after watching this process a couple of times, one of the Souls returned, and instead of moving closer to the center, appeared to give up and allowed itself to be sent off for resurrection. The Soul must have decided to be reincarnated, rather than looking to move on to an afterlife.

John’s attention was brought to one particular Soul, which had some grey and a couple of black spots. As John focused on it, a notification appeared that asked him if he wanted to bring the Soul back to John’s Soul Space to discuss its options. John was also notified that he would currently only be able to do this with one Soul at a time, though he may be able to do group discussions and negotiations in the future. John could feel that other Souls were currently available to bring to his Soul Space after if he would so choose, but this one was his brother’s, so he confirmed the choice to get it back to his Soul Space.

Jake had been surprised that death was not the end of things. He had long suspected that after people died, it was an eternal void. It was one reason Jake had found it easy to slip into drugs after his parents’ accident. Jake knew others found the lack of an idea of an afterlife a basis to act reasonably in the life they currently had. On the other hand, Jake had interpreted the concept to mean that life was ultimately short and meaningless and used it as an excuse to live hedonistically after his parents had passed away. Jake knew that had become his disposition after his parents had passed, and even if he were religious, he likely would have found some other excuse to live his life how he had lived it. Possibly he would have become some hypocritical street preacher stealing and lying his way through life while claiming to be righteous, which Jake hated even thinking of being.

Jake found the blue vortex he was in to be quite beautiful and relaxing, though he wasn’t quite sure why. He began to sense other presences around him, some of them quite beautiful, some powerful, some mostly unremarkable, some appearing to be tainted in some way like himself, and others black and frightening. Jake had an enjoyable time watching the other presences move through the vortex, some of the bluest entities moving towards the center. Though he was worried when the black entities moved close to him on their way out of the vortex, they seemed to either ignore him or were unable to move near to him. Jake was even more worried when what felt like a much greater being taking one of the vortex presences, though Jake became much less nervous when that presence returned and seemed to be less tainted. As Jake watched the entities around him move towards the center or disappear for a while and come back, he became slightly perturbed when the powerful beings never selected him. Was Jake broken or unworthy in some way, or was it merely not his turn yet. Finally, he felt a being’s focus shift onto him. It appeared to take longer for it to select him than for other presences to be chosen, and Jake was a bit anxious about the reason why it was taking so long. Jake was relieved when he exited the blue vortex and ended up in a white area, and he was shocked to see what appeared to be his brother beside a beautiful woman. It took Jake a couple of seconds to react, but he immediately rushed forward and embraced his brother.

It took John a few seconds to react to the hug his brother was giving him, and whatever emotions had he had previously been experiencing gave way to relief at having his brother back. John quickly returned the hug, and he and Jake just held each other for a little while, each revelling in the feeling of being back together. Eventually, Jake broke off the hug and looked at John with a questioning look. He then said, “Where are we? And where was I?”

“We are in what I believe is part of my Soul Space. And you were in the Soul Repository that I am watching over.”

“So, Souls are real? And how are you here?” Jake said as his voice appeared to become more confused.

“Well, before you died, Jake, I died as well. Although, instead of being murdered, my death was some sort of cosmic accident. Because of it, I was given some opportunities that I decided to take. After a while, you died in an area that I could affect what happened after.”

“So we’re dead? And why do you think I was murdered.”

“Well, the last hot of heroin you took had some bleach in it.”

“Right,” Jake said as embarrassment crept into his face. “I can see how that happened.”

“You aren’t angry about it?” John said as befuddlement made its way onto his face.

“Well… I pawned the T.V. from your house to try and pay down some of my debts to a dealer who found out I had ripped him off. I wasn’t done paying my debts, but I requested a hit because I had paid a significant chunk of it with the cash from selling the T.V. I should have been a bit more suspicious when he forgave the rest of my debt and gave me an already prepared needle. Still, I was more focused on the fact that I had scored when I didn’t fully expect to.”

“I’m still not happy about the fact that you took the T.V. and left without so much as a sorry note.”

“I know, I’ve been a pretty shit brother this past couple of years.”

“Not the first time I’ve heard that speech, I can’t fully trust that you mean it.”

“I’ve always meant it when I say it. It’s just my addiction that has allowed me to forget it and justify mistreating you again. It’s not completely on the addiction, but it isn’t affecting me right now, and I hope I can make some kind of amends.”

“In that vein, you have a decision to make. I know that we glanced over the Soul Repository aspect because other things came up, but it allows me to offer you an opportunity. You can work off some of your sins and transgressions by working for me as a kind of purgatory, before heading to an afterlife. I’m sure you saw some of the other Souls being taken for that, and some of the worst Souls being sent straight for reincarnation. That is another one of your options, and you can opt to be reincarnated, giving you a blank slate, though there is no guarantee that you stay in this world or get to access this life’s memories. You can also opt to remain almost permanently with me and work off your debts until we decide to part ways if you want to move on to the afterlife.”

“I’d like to take that third option. If you’re okay with it.”

“This is a big decision. Are you sure you want to make it so quickly?”

“Yeah. As much as I screwed up, you’re my brother, and I trust you. You were always willing to take me in no matter how much I had previously screwed you over, and I know you aren’t going just to make me suffer for no reason. I might want to move on to the afterlife eventually, but the person I trust most to help get me on the right track to getting there is you.”

“Okay, so you are okay with becoming a Companion? It isn’t going to be easy from what I gather.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

As Jake agreed to be John’s companion, they were brought into John’s Soul Space proper. John could see Jake reading over some notifications, and he brought up his that notified him that Jake was now a Core Companion. Jake looked over at John and Gwen after having a quick look around John’s Soul Space, and said with a teasing tone, “You’ll have to explain where we are and what I’m going to have to do. But first, you should probably introduce this beautiful lady first,” as Jake nodded in Gwen’s direction.

John looked over at Gwen with a bit of shame followed by a blush as he’d forgotten her in his swirl of emotions after seeing his brother. He felt Gwen’s embarrassment at the praise, and her forgiveness for failing to introduce her earlier, as he said, “This is Gwen, my partner.” as Gwen simultaneously said, “I’m Gwen, John’s partner.”

“Ah,” Jake said with a widening smile as the two appeared to become quite flustered and began talking over each other to clear up any misconceptions he may have. Their protestations didn’t seem to sway Jake’s opinions about the situation in the slightest.