Samantha and Katie digested what Nathan and Keith had revealed, neither quite sure what to make of it. The psychic and demigod had to emphasize multiple times that they were completely sure, and had even pulled Ichtvar our to confirm it as well.

The two didn't blame them for needing to process what they found out, the pair of them had realized just how sever things were after the knowledge had fully processed in them. Nathan, Keith, and Samantha were designed to be the most powerful souls ever to exist, the Well of Souls violating its norm in order to ensure the destruction of the System.

"Any idea what the fail-safe is?" Samantha finally asked. "That you two said might exist?"

"No," Nathan answered, looking out the window. They had moved up stairs to talk, and his cousins were out back, Luke swimming in the pool. "I'm going swimming."

Nathan left the room, pulling Katie with him, and Samantha stared at Keith.

"You have a suspicion?" She asked.

"No," Keith answered, then frowned. "Ichtvar, why did you just create a sound barrier?"

"Because," Ichtvar said. "It is going to eat at you two until you know."

"So there is a fail-safe?" Keith asked. "You told us there wasn't! And you didn't have that usual-"

"I had to try very hard," Ichtvar sighed, floating over to the window and looking out it. "Because Nathan might go ballistic if he found out what it was."

"What is it?" Samantha asked.

"It's the two of you."

"What does that mean?" She asked, and Ichtvar turned around to face them.

"The reason the Well of Souls created three souls," Ichtvar said. "Each more powerful than any other created in the past, each one tied to the others to guarantee friendship? That was part of the fail-safe, not just to ensure it happened. Not just to give Nathan powerful allies to help him."

"What's the fail-safe?" Samantha asked.

"Death," Keith realized.

"Correct," Ichtvar said. "Nathan is protected by a force outside this universe. He himself cannot die until the goal is complete. That is a guarantee. The two of you, however? You're fair game."

"What force outside of the universe?" Samantha asked, and Ichtvar hesitated. "Ichtvar, answer me. Why is Nathan protected, but us going to be killed so that-"

"You won't be killed," Ichtvar shook his head. "Not by the force outside. The Guild wouldn't do that."

"The Guild?" Keith asked.

"It goes by many names," Ichtvar flew over to the bed and landed on it, stretching out his wings. "Its current name is the Guild. The previous was the Soul Order. It changes every universe or two. Or two or three times a universe. It's random.

"Anyway," the phoenix said. "They will guarantee Nathan survives. The Well of Souls marked him for survival until his goal is achieved, and the mark is a guarantee. Any of you three can destroy the System, but he is the main one for it."

"That still doesn't explain what the fail-safe is," Samantha said.

"Nathan's protectiveness," Keith realized. "If one of us dies, he will go ballistic to an absurd level."

"Exactly," Ichtvar said. "The Well of Souls put you two in as a fail-safe in addition to his allies. If one of you two were to die inside of the game, Nathan will spiral downwards in his attempt to destroy it. He will seek out every possible avenue, going to extremes he ordinarily wouldn't. The surviving one of you two would be necessary to keep him balanced. To keep him from destroying everything else in the process. You two are his allies – and his balance."

The pair of teens processed their destinies. Icthvar made it clear they wouldn't be killed, but their very lives were tied to Nathan's sanity. Should the game kill them, he would turn insane. More insane than he already was.

"Okay," Keith said after several minutes of silence. "What is the Guild? You said it's a force outside the universe?"

"Yes," Ichtvar nodded. "It's… akin to a permanent universe, one that persists through all. See, the universes are only one aspect of existence. The Well of Souls is another aspect of existence, and the Guild is yet another. There are also the Chroniclers, a fourth aspect of existence, which records all events to ever occur within the universes. Even this conversation is recorded."

"If that's true," Samantha said. "Couldn't the Guild or something destroy the System to save those souls?"

"No," Ichtvar answered. "Interactions with a universe is very, very limited to the point that only the Well of Souls can truly authorize it."

"Such as with the mark on Nathan's soul," Keith said.

"Exactly," Ichtvar said. "Without that mark, they wouldn't be able to interfere to ensure his survival."

"Is that why he survived against the siren and the wolf?" Keith asked. "Because they interfered?"

"No," Ichtvar answered. "Their power wasn't involved in that, those were truly as those events seemed. A forged soul isn't an easy thing to kill, especially not one forged as powerful as the three of yours. It would take a lot more than something that weak to kill one of you three."

"That weak?" Keith asked. "But Nathan genuinely almost died!"

"And yet he didn't," Ichtvar said. "Without the Guild's interference. Forged souls already have other inherent traits to make them stronger and more resilient. You've been told this before. Anyway, the Well of Souls is essentially the link between the outside aspects and the universe, and it is the only force which can authorize interactions into the universe from outside."

"So the Guild can't destroy the System," Keith said. "What prevents it from doing that?"

"The Codex," Ichtvar answered. "And don't ask me for more than that. All I know of the Codex is that it's an ancient set of codes and laws that predate all parts of existence I know of outside of itself. What created it and how it enforces its rules is unknown to me. However, I do know that the Guild could destroy the System. Under the condition that the Well of Souls has already sent a champion or champions to do it and failed."

"And we're those champions," Keith said.

"Yes," Ichtvar said. "But the Well of Souls could send more, if the three of you fail. In order for the Guild to act, the Well of Souls must consider itself unable to create a champion who will succeed. Only then can the Guild take action. And it isn't as simple as destroying the System."

"Why not?" Keith asked.

"Because what the Guild would be able to do," Ichtvar said. "Is destroy the universe. They wouldn't be destroying the System so much as destroying this universe, causing the next one to form. That is why they must wait for the Well of Souls."

The two of them thought over the phoenix's words. In order for a force outside the universe to truly interfere, they would have to destroy the universe, causing the next to begin prematurely. It was no wonder the Well of Souls was trying to solve things without that.

Especially if the damaged, twisted souls needed recovery time.

"Does the Guild determine when the rest universes happen?" Keith asked as he thought about the souls needing to rest.

"I don't know," Ichtvar shrugged. "All of the information I'm giving you, I have second-hand. This is all stuff I heard from another phoenix. I, myself, have never actually sensed or interacted with the Guild. Only exceptionally old phoenixes can."

Samantha looked at the window as she thought about Ichtvar's words. She rubbed her stomach a little, feeling very, very small at the moment. Knowing that the Well of Souls wasn't the only source outside the universe put things into perspective to her. There was an entire society, it seemed.

"Why does everything exist?" She looked at Ichtvar. "The various aspects to existence? The universes, the Guild, the Codex, the Chroniclers? Why does it exist?"

"Who knows?" The phoenix shrugged. "Maybe one day, we'll discover the answer to this. Hm. Strange."

"What?" The pair of teens asked.

"Katie went outside and is playing in the pool," he answered. "But Nathan is still inside."

"I'll go check on him," Keith left the room.

"I've been wondering," Samantha told Ichtvar. "But how did you die? Nothing you three said mentioned you getting into danger, even if you did talk about fighting a nightmare and a dragon."

Ichtvar wasn't yet back to his full height, which would take him another few months to reach, so it had been obvious to Samantha something had happened, yet none of them had mentioned it, which made her want the story behind his death.

"Oh, that was Nathan," Ichtvar told her. "He held me in a pot of water until I drowned."

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I let him," Ichtvar answered. "I did feel he had some justification for it."

"What was his reason?" She asked.

"I didn't tell him," Ichtvar explained. "That as the son of a sex god, he could control whether or not the person he slept with got pregnant. Honestly? You getting pregnant was probably the subconscious desire he held for having a child with you. But the main reason he'd been putting off having sex with Katie was because he didn't want to use condoms anymore, since it felt better without, but he didn't to risk getting her pregnant. So finding out that I knew all along he could prevent that on his own-what's that look for?"

"Nathan's the son of a sex god?" Samantha did her best not to laugh.

"Yes," Ichtvar said. "Right, I said that in the game, not here."

"That explains a lot!" Samantha laughed. "Is Nathan upstairs or downstairs? I want to tease him a bit."

"He's in his room," Ichtvar answered.

"Alright," she said, then left the room, the phoenix flying behind her.

When Samantha entered Nathan's room, she found Keith sitting on his bed, looking exasperated with Nathan's board shorts on his lap, and Nathan sitting on the floor, butt-naked, as he worked on assembling the crib for their coming son. Samantha gave Keith a curious look.

"He was changing into his swim trunks," Keith held up the shorts. "But then decided to work on the crib instead, so that it was ready when Cyrus was born, just in case he came early. And so he's naked while building his crib."

"I'm a nudist when I'm alone," Nathan said. "And I didn't realize I'd not put my shorts on. Where are they?"

"Right here," Keith tossed them to him, and Nathan quickly pulled them on, then returned to building the crib. "I thought you were going outside to play with your cousin?"

"I can do that in a bit," Nathan answered as Samantha's gaze moved to his side. "I want to get this built first."

"Is that familiar mark," Samantha said. "The one for the wind elemental you've had 'secretly' helping me?"

"You knew?" Nathan gave her a horrified look.

"Yes," Samantha laughed, moving to sit beside Keith. "It's not that hard to notice when a light wind keeps fixing your balance, Nathan. I suspected you somehow found a wind elemental while we were in the game to progress my pregnancies, but never could see it."

"His name is Breezy," Nathan said as the marks on his side pulled off, turning into a slightly-visible ripple in the air. "And you weren't supposed to know."

"I'm not mad," she told him. "I understand why you did it, Nathan. You were just concerned I'd fall or bump into something and hurt our son."

"Yeah," Nathan muttered, his cheeks flushing a little.

"So Cyrus is sleeping in here?" Samantha asked.

"Of course," Nathan answered. "Where else would he sleep?"

"With his mama."

"She can sleep in here, too," Nathan turned his attention back to the crib. "After I finish this, Keith, we're enchanting a couple of orbs. Our power orb, plus a viewing orb. I also want to get more cards made – we can do the improved versions for some of them, as they'll be more useful."

"Make sure to play with Luke, too," Samantha told him. "Not just video games this evening. I'm sure he'd love to play Marco Polo or something with you."

"Fine, fine," Nathan muttered. "I'll go out there for a couple of hours. But we need to get our arsenal built up. Crib first, though."