"I made an orb of light."

"I can see that," Keith groaned. "Nathan, could you please answer the question?"

"But I made an orb of light."

"And it's a very nice one," Keith said. "Nathan, you're eighteen and have spent over an extra year of life in the game. Please start acting a little bit more like it."

"What was the question?"

Keith groaned.

"Oh, right," Nathan said as he dismissed the orb of light. The demigod broke off a piece of chocolate and fed it to Ichtvar. "A wolf boy."

"And that is not what I was expecting," Keith let his head fall forward, slamming into the table. "And Lie Detector said you were being honest."

"What did you expect?"

"A martial arts instructor and hero," Keith looked up at Nathan, who was forcefully shoving the piece of chocolate into the phoenix chick's mouth. "Nathan, he's going to bite you."

"Yeah, right," Nathan got the piece in, then clamped the phoenix chick's beak shut.

"What else would you want to be, if you could pick what you were in future incarnations?"

"A monkey boy."

"You're already a monkey boy," Keith muttered, then felt the blood drain out of his face when he noticed the demigod's appraising look. "Nathan, don't-"

"You'd look nice as a wolf boy," Nathan nodded. "Maybe a fox boy, too. Or a cat boy. Probably not a monkey boy. Too lanky."

"I'm filling out," Keith rolled his eyes. "And my body will be different in every universe, don't forget. Your desire to be a beastkin aside, what else would you like to be, if-"

"Samantha would be nice as a cat girl," Nathan nodded. "Or a wolf girl, too. A fox girl wouldn't be off the table, either."

"Nathan, focus," Keith snorted. "What else would you be, if you got to pick what you reincarnated as in future universes?"

"An exiled prince."

"Why would you want to be an exiled prince?" Keith asked in utter confusion as Ichtvar slipped away and moved to the other end of the table.

"So that I can meet the beautiful princess of an isolationist kingdom, who's actually Samantha, while in my exile, and then we'd marry."

Keith let his head hit the table again.

"And you would be my right-hand wizard," Nathan said. "And you'd help me conquer the world, helping me to become the emperor."

"Anything else?"

"A god-killer."

"And why would you want to be a god-killer?"

"Because Ichtvar says that in some universes, gods are just plain assholes."

"Okay," Keith looked up. "Anything else?"

"An exiled prince."

"We just covered that."

"With you as my right-hand wizard."

"And that."

"And Samantha as my right-hand witch and wife."

"Okay, that's different."

"And then I conquer the world so that I can live in peace."

Keith let his head hit the table again.

"You have weird fantasies."

"Says the guy who likes taking dick up the ass."

"I like putting it up the ass, too," Keith rolled his eyes before looking at Nathan. "What else would you be? And don't say prince this time."

"A powerful wizard who slaughters demon armies and marries the princess."

"Okay," Keith says. "That sounds… actually like a regular fantasy there."

"With you as my right-hand wizard."

"Okay!" Keith exclaimed. "You want me to be your right-hand wizard in every future incarnation, Nathan. I get it. We'll just have that as included by default. I'll be your right-hand wizard and enchanter every life there's magic, okay? I mean, that's probably how it'll end up being, since we're bound to each other due to the Well of Souls forging us that way."

"Yeah," Nathan nodded. "So I don't have to worry about my future self not knowing about Samantha. We'll meet and get married and have babies again. Every time."

Keith snorted.

"What else?" He asked.

"A vampire hunter," Nathan said. "With you as my wingman."

"I don't think you know what 'wingman' means," Keith said.

"You help me pick up ladies."

"Okay, maybe you do," Keith snorted. "And what about Samantha?"

"She's a fellow vampire hunter," Nathan says. "You're the enchanter who makes my gear. I meet her. We fuck. Realize we're meant for each other. Slaughter the vampire lords."

"Aaaand moving on!" Keith decided that one was enough detail already. "What else?"

"A vampire."

"Same incarnation as you hunting vampires?"

"Maybe."

Keith rolled his eyes.

"Anything else?"

"A god of life."

"Not a god of sex?"

"Ichtvar says that most gods of life are also gods of sex," Nathan said. "So being a god of sex will accompany that. Ah, but I'm not a god at first."

"Gods rarely are," Keith reminded him. "Usually, they ascend from mortalhood. Isn't that what Icthvar said?"

The pair of them looked at the phoenix chick, who gave them annoyed looks.

"I'm preening," Icthvar said.

"I have chocolate."

"You always have chocolate," the phoenix rolled its eyes, but walked over to the demigod and took the offered bar of chocolate in its beak, setting it in front of himself. "Yes, gods start off as mortals, in most universes. Very, very rarely, from what I know, are gods simply born as gods."

"Alright," Nathan pat him on the head before looking at Keith. "In that one, we piss off some gods and they curse us because we became immortal and they couldn't kill us. So they curse us instead. And in the end, that results in us becoming gods and destroying the ones who cursed us. Before that, Samantha is a sex slave I rescue and you're my best friend and right-hand warrior."

"Did you just say 'friend'?" Keith asked.

"No."

"Yes, you did," Keith said as the demigod's face reddened. "You do think of me as a friend!"

"…I do not."

"I have Lie Detector active, Nathan," Keith said. "I know you're lying. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone who doesn't already know."

"You better not!"

Keith grinned, causing Nathan's embarrassed blush to deepen.

"What would you want to be?" Nathan decided to turn the question around to take the focus off of him. "If you got to choose what you'd be in future incarnations?"

"What I would be?" Keith began fiddling the cards on the table, avoiding Nathan's gaze. "Honestly? The way I feel? Just being your friend and a magician sounds good to me. Whatever adventures you get up to, I'd probably just enjoy helping you out with them, just as a supporter or creator of equipment. Maybe do more adventurous things in a few incarnations. I'm not sure how I'd feel in future incarnations, though. I know that the three of us will always be drawn to each other as lovers and friends, but what if my next ten lives are adventurous ones? Wouldn't that put an imprint for adventurous desires into my soul, since we're forged? So that's what I want right now. Just to be your friend, supporter, and creator of your gear, with only the occasional adventure. That's how I'm forged to feel."

"Like right now," Nathan said.

"Yeah," Keith nodded. "I just wish there was a way we could retain our memories and everything. Being able to know we're with old friends, and use our old knowledge, would be amazing."

Both teens noticed Icthvar's sudden freeze immediately, and they turned their gaze to the phoenix.

"I don't know of any possible way you could do that," the phoenix chick said in as neutral of a tone as it could, using its poker face.

"How long would it take you to hatch again?" Nathan asked, and the phoenix began to fly away, only to slam into a purple barrier that wrapped around it. "Thank you, Keith."

As Ichtvar began to break through the barrier, Nathan's own barrier of white light enveloped the purple barrier. It still took him a few moments to cast the barrier, but it was overall more powerful than the psychic's.

"Fine," Ichtvar grumbled as he found himself trapped in a stronger barrier that he would need to risk harming the teens to break out of. "I'll tell you, but only if you put me in the kiln for the next three days."

"How about for a pound of chocolate?" Nathan asked.

"No."

"Two pounds?"

"Is one of them a pound of chocolate-covered blueberries?"

"It can be," they had received blueberries in their latest food drop from the game. "What is it, Icthvar?"

The phoenix sighed, then looked at Nathan, who released the barrier. The phoenix chick flew back onto the table and waited until he received a pound of chocolate to begin speaking.

"Every so many universes," he told them. "There is what is known as a 'rest' universe. It consists of a single realm, and the only souls within it are forged souls. Every forged soul to ever exist is reincarnated into that universe… with all of their past lives. Some of the rest universes, they have all of their past lives from the start, though in the majority, their past lives return over time, usually ending around the end of puberty."

"In other words," Keith said. "Every now and then, the three of us will meet up, and we'll remember each other from all of our past lives?"

"Exactly," Ichtvar said. "From all of your past lives, starting with this one, your first. We phoenixes are present as well, from what I know. That likely has to do with our special circumstances."

"I see," Keith said. "And our power?"

"You'll have all of that as well," Ichtvar responded. "The full power and knowledge of all of your past lives, bundled into a single being."

"And since we're the newest," Keith said. "And there have been many before us, when the next one comes around, we'll probably be among the weakest."

"Actually," Ichtvar thought it over for a moment. "The three of you would likely be among the strongest. You see, the Well of Souls is serious about destroying the game. The three of you were forged to be the most powerful souls it ever created. Your souls are designed for bodies with power. Well, yours and Nathan's. Nathan is also only one of three to have ever been a demigod within the first fifty lives, according to one of the phoenixes I know – one of the first phoenixes.

"As the last rest universe was only twelve ago," the phoenix chick continued. "It is unlikely another will happen for several dozen. That is several dozen lives where Nathan will most likely be a demigod and you will most likely be a potent mage on-par with demigods. It is quite possible that by the time the next rest universe comes around, the two of you will be in the upper half of all forged souls in terms of power. As I said – the Well of Souls forged the three of you to be the most powerful souls it ever forged. That should tell you just how seriously it wants this game destroyed."

Keith and Nathan looked at each other, coming to a mutual agreement before they turned their gaze back to the phoenix chick.

"You know why the Well of Souls wants the game destroyed, don't you?" Nathan asked, making sure Lie Detector was on. He usually kept it off when in the game with just those he saw as on his team. "Ichtvar, answer me."

"The Divine Authority doesn't work on me."

"I wasn't trying to," Nathan said, and the phoenix scoffed. "Ichtvar…"

"Alright," the phoenix said. "It's a theory I have. Lately, I've been doing some thinking, and… one of the phoenixes I keep in touch with mentioned something to me, oh… twenty thousand years ago? Recent stuff made me realize he was talking about the game. I noticed something off when the nightmare and the dragon, the only creatures in the Isles of Darkness with souls, died.

"Their souls didn't move on to the afterlife realm, but they also didn't return to the Well of Souls. They were sucked into another dimension."

"Let me get this straight," Keith said as Nathan frowned, obviously confused by that. "The System is pulling the souls somewhere else?"

"Yes," Ichtvar said as Nathan realized what Keith and Ichtvar were talking about.

"Souls that haven't moved on to the Well of Souls," Nathan said. "Haven't had their memories or power stripped yet. The demon Overseer said that the engine that powered the System couldn't be shut off. It's using the power in the souls to power the game."

"Yes," Ichtvar said. "That is my current theory."

"What did the other phoenix say?" Keith asked. "That made you theorize this?"

"That it had once sensed a dimension full of souls in agony," Ichtvar answered. "Yet it was unable to enter it, and when it tried, it was forcibly pushed back with what felt to be the force of billions of souls. Then when he tried to locate the dimension again, it was as if the area he had sensed it in had been sealed over, to prevent it from being sensed or touched again."

The Well of Souls wanted them to destroy the System and the game because it ran off the power of souls. That was why it seemed as if few souls were returning to the Well of Souls to Master Torzin. Because few were, and not because people were living longer – their souls were being stolen and drained.

And with what Icthvar said, it sounded like the souls were in agony over it, too, able to feel all of that.

It was no wonder a force outside of the universe wanted to see the destruction of the System, going so far as creating the three most powerful souls it had ever forged for the purpose of it. Why it created three rather than the usual one.

The Well of Souls was serious about getting things done, and no doubt had fail-safes implemented in case one of them died.

"Enough talking," Nathan stood up quickly enough his chair shot back, slamming into the table behind them. "Let's test out those combat cards, Keith. The sooner we figure out how to destroy this fucking game, the better."