(Jason, 16)

"Let's talk about that street boy you're letting live with you," Mama Alyssa says as we examine the area to see if it would work best for the gate.

There's a strong dragon's vein deep beneath, and connecting to them doesn't seem to be all that hard, based on the tombs' connections. I don't actually need to connect to them. The enchantments can draw on the ambient mana in the area with a directed drain aimed downwards, and it will be enough. I just need to sort out the final details for it, then Mama Alyssa and I can start building the gates.

But then she decides to talk about Alex.

"His name is Alex," I say. "And you've met him before, back when I first moved into the house there."

"Yes," she says. "Alex. A boy who also happens to have a godsteel sword."

I choke at her mention of that. Alex already found his dimensional storage with Ocean's Bite? Thank goodness it wasn't Leviathan's Kiss, or she might not be as casual about it.

"Your reaction says you knew about it," she says.

"Ah, yes, I did."

"So you knew that he found it randomly while he was still a street lord?" She asks. "During one of his raids? I find it hard to believe its owner would just let it go like that."

"He never told me how he acquired it," I tell her. "And I never asked."

"Jason," she says. "You are aware that unlike you, I don't need an enchanted object or physical contact to know when someone's lying? You're triggering that mind spell pretty heavily."

I sigh. I'm going to have to say something, then. Pretty sure she's lying, though. I doubt she can actually tell when someone's lying without an enchanted object.

"Is this spot good enough?" I ask. "I think it would work, but from a strategic point?"

"Yes," she answers. "The town isn't too large, so the forces would be able to move around quickly."

She adds it to the list in her hands, then I open a gate to my house in the Wilds and step through. Mama Alyssa follows, and I close the gate.

"I take it you intend on telling me the truth?" She gives me a stern look. "Don't attempt to sneak your way out of this, Jason. I will follow you, and I will hound you until I receive the truth."

"The sword is Ocean's Bite," I tell her. "And it belonged to the Magus of Mind, or who is currently known as the King of Knowledge."

"If that is true," she says. "As you seem to believe, then why does your housemate have possession of such an ancient and powerful artifact?"

"Because it was in a dimensional space he created three thousand years ago."

"So you are saying that he is one of the Magi?" She asks.

"Yes."

"Much like you?"

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Jason," she says. "We know the runes that were on the Crystal Crests for the Magi."

Oh.

"Oh."

"Yes," she smiles. "We've known you were one of the Magi since your coming-of-age ceremony. I take it that is how you knew a method to summoning Midlaris?"

"Yes," I think over it for a few moments, then pull one of the pearls out of my spatial storage and hand it to her. "It's not really a summoning, but that's the simplest term for it."

She examines the pearl with a slight frown, able to sense the potent magics yet unable to sense what is done to summon him.

"Place it on the ground," I say. "Then bleed onto it. If he responds to the summoning, it will lift up into the air, the blood swirling around it as dirt rises up with it and does the same. They'll merge together, and then a body will form. Naturally, it won't have clothes, so if you want him to wear any, you'll need to have a set ready. He's about the size I was a year ago, and if you're planning on lecturing me over summoning him earlier, Papa Samuel already did, and Papa Jared did a bit as well. You guys should probably talk among yourselves, then just lecture me as a group so we can get it all out of the way."

Mama Alyssa laughs, handing the pearl back to me.

"You can be sure that will happen as soon as we are all free to do so," she tells me. "Is there anything else we should know about with your abilities from back then?"

"Yes," I answer. "But first, if the summoning fails, the pearl will simply melt away. Also, his avatar will crumble to dust that fades away when time runs out, and it is exhausting. I can allow him to possess me by eating a special bean."

I send the pearl into my spatial storage, then pull out what looks like a jelly bean from my memories as Lucas. It's grey, much like the pearls, with a slight shin to it. As with the pearl, it's filled with the magic of the world. I hold it out on my palm so Mama Alyssa can examine it.

"This is also exhausting," I tell her. "And he can stay within me for as long as I have mana. In both situations, he has to decide to accept the call. I'm not sure if he'll do it with me as Jason, but when I was a Magus, he always answered my calls – it was the others who had iffy responses. He also had some odd tendencies when possessing me, but I won't get into those."

"I see," she says. "Now, I heard that Niko asked you to summon him? Does this mean your Marran friend is one of the Magi as well?"

"Yes," I decide to answer. "I've confirmed the presences of ten of the Magi, though the other two remain a mystery to me. They are no doubt reincarnated, however, as only ten of us being so would be strange."

"I think having ten of the Magi reincarnated is already strange," she says. "Especially when considering they are originally from this world, and reincarnates are from other worlds, historically."

We're missing Magus Levi and Magus Miranda right now, and they must be students at the universities. All others are or intend on being. Unless as with Adam and Elise, they were prevented from arriving on-time. What would be the odds of two of the Magi couples having that happen to them, though?

So they're probably already students at the universities, ones yet to catch my attention. I'll need to ask Alex something to be sure, though, but there's the chance that he might not know the answer. It wasn't something I thought of until just now.

"So, Jason," Mama Alyssa says. "What other powers should we be aware of that you possess from your life as a Magus?"

I open up my spatial storage and pull out Harbinger. Her eyes widen upon seeing the hilt, and widen further when I draw the blade.

"The ability to forge godsteel and isivinite," I answer. "They were both materials my clan was trained to work with when I was a child as a Magus."

"That sword," her eyes move to the runes, then back to the hilt, before the scabbard. "That sword is Harbinger."

I start when I hear her say that.

"You've heard of it?" I ask.

"Yes," she fixes her gaze on mine. "The records do have some information regarding the Magi, especially their leader, the High Magus and the Magus of Specialty. They also have mention of his isivinite sword, which possessed the power to kill those of the heavens and underworld, despite that not supposed to be possible."

"We shouldn't have been able to do that," I say, and she gives me an intense stare that tells me I better explain how that happened. I hold out the sword, and she accepts it. "Read the magic in it."

She frowns a little, but does. As she does, I can see the realization lighting upon her face.

"The magics woven into this sword," she says. "They're the same magics as dragons and Midlaris. It's grey. You tapped into the world's energy to forge this sword. Midlaris's power can kill those of the heavens and the underworld alike, while those of those two can only kill the opposite, and same with weapons forged by them."

"Not quite," I say. "But there is one consistency: the grey of the magic. The true coming-of-age ceremony makes reference to this, Mama Alyssa. The black represents the underworld, the white represents the heavens, and we are the middle ground. We are Midlaris. And what rests between black and white?"

"Grey," she answers, then full realization hits her. "Grey can kill black and white. That means that dragons could?"

"And the other king beasts?" I nod. "Any creature possessing grey magical power can kill a creature of the heavens or underworld. This sword was forged by tapping into a dragon's vein. It was bathed in Midlaris's energy. It is unique among all of the weapons of the Magi, however, in that it can kill more than just creatures of the heavens and the underworld – it also possesses the ability to kill gods. Permanently. You are holding the most dangerous weapon to ever exist."

She becomes a lot more timid with the weapon, and I can tell she's now uncertain if she should be holding it.

"Don't worry," I take the sword back and sheathe it. "It is bound to me. Only I or my heirs can use it, and I've had no heirs in any life."

"That is still frightening," she says. "The records do not mention the Magi used weapons in every encounter with angels and demons, however. You were known for being warriors and mages, not just warriors."

"Indeed," I nod. "We used magic as well. Six who specialized in magic, and six who specialized in swordplay, though two of us crossed over with that. Four, if you want to get into the technical aspects."

"Technical aspects?"

"Each of the Magi," I explain. "Represents a different sacred beasts. The ones who represent the kings were above the others in both magic and might."

"I see," she says. "So were the Magi capable of killing angels and demons without their weapons, then, or is that only a legend born of time?"

"It was true," I answer. "You have seen my eyes turn grey several times, yes?"

"Yes," she nods.

"What creatures do you know of with grey eyes?" I ask.

She starts to answer, then frowns.

"Every creature with grey magic," she answers. "Which you said is what can kill angels and demons. When your eyes turn grey, your magical power is grey?"

"Yes and no," I answer. "Having magical power at the level of grey makes your eyes grey. Even a dragon or leviathan is that much above violet at birth. Grey is the level above violet. When my eyes have turned grey in every instance you know of, it is because I was directly harnessing Midlaris's energy."

"So there are two methods to killing angels and demons," she says. "One of which involves harnessing the world's energy, such as is done with the weapons of the Magi. The other is to ascend beyond the known limits of human magical ability and reach a grey level of magical power."

"Correct," I nod. "They can also be starved to death or suffocated, same as any other living thing. Well, most other living things."

Elementals are one creature that say 'no' to being starved or suffocated, though they can be starved in a sense, it just takes a really long time.

"I take it that is important to know?" She asks.

"Yes," I decide to reveal something I have hidden for months.

Opening up a very special spatial storage, I pull out a large steel crate brimming with magical power. As soon as it's on the ground, I begin weaving the spell to unlock it. It's a complicated lock that takes several minutes to undo, and when it finishes, I remove the lid.

Mama Alyssa looks inside of the box, then covers her mouth, eyes widening in a mix of shock and horror.

Contained within the box, put into a stasis to preserve it, is a corpse. Crimson skin with several black swirls, humanoid in appearance and fully-naked. A pair of black wings that marble from the red at their base, a pair of black horns, and a slender, crimson tail with a black spike on the tip. Its black eyes are still open, its muscular form damaged only by the massive hole in its chest.

"It's how someone without the other two methods might succeed in killing something like this."

"Is that a demon?" She asks.

"Yes," I answer. "And Azaraval is the one who killed it."

Azaraval is one of the black dragons in the mountains along this coast, and lays claim to one of the old mines in them, abandoned centuries ago.

"I had gone to get some materials," I say. "After giving him an offering, I went and mined. As I exited and waited for him to return so I could thank him, a portal opened. It was weak, and the demon slipped through. It was about to strike when Azaraval showed up and killed it. Ever since, I've been regularly casting spells to try to sense any more portals opening up and to detect demonic or angelic energy, though none have registered so far. The demons had probably barely managed to open that portal."

"I thought you destroyed their ability to?" She asks. "Or is that just part of the legends."

"It's fact," I replace the lid and begin resealing the box. "However, it is like destroying a road – it can be fixed. It would have been repaired faster if there were demons here on Midlaris, no doubt, as then it would have been repaired from both sides."

Which brings up another point – if there were free gods wandering around, then the passages to the heavens would have been repaired by now already.

"I see," she says. "Is it possible for you to-"

"Prevent them from fully repairing them?" I finish for her. "Unfortunately not. As Magus Nolan, it may have been possible, but as I am now, it's not. I'm at upper violet, and my last check put me at 119,473 magical power. In a month or two, I will be lower grey, and even then, it would still be beyond me. I would need, by my estimates, at least three times the magical power required for upper grey in order to do damage to the passages to the heavens and underworlds before they were completed.

"That said…" I trail off for a moment, then look to the northeast a little.

I gesture with my hands, weaving together a spell in the specialty branch mixed with light. It takes me half of a minute to finish the casting, but when I finish weaving my mana together and trigger the spell, a shimmering 'bridge' appears not far beyond the wall to the house.

The bridge is shown by the light, and is broken, repeatedly. It rises from the ground and stretches into the distance, fading from sight if one were to look at it from the sides or back, but looking at it from the front, it remains.

It's built of pure-white something, and stretches fifteen feet in width, contained within a sort of silver-and-gold 'tunnel' that is barely wide enough to fit that. The bridge is broken over and over, as far as the eye can see, with entire chunks missing in places, and just crushed to pieces in others. The part that 'connects' to Midlaris is missing entirely, smashed to dust.

"Is that one of the passages?" She asks.

"Yes," I nod. "You happened to decide to build my home here, though I didn't realize there was a passage here at the time. I actually only noticed it in the spring. That white material is pure heavenly power, and it connects to the main passage. The Magi and I cast a spell that send out a wave of destruction through all connected passages, and made sure we took care of any there weren't connected to it at the same time. The spell was set to go through the ley lines of the universe and seek out anything made of this power, and all ley lines are connected."

"Ley lines of the universe?" She asks.

"Yes," I gesture to the tunnel. "That is a ley line, and one of the universe's. Only beings of powerful enough magical ability can survive within them, can travel within them. They connect all three realms of the universe together – the heavens, the underworld, and the mortal realm. We cast a similar spell for the underworld's passages, only tailored to target things formed of pure underworld power. Even we Magi could travel through the ley lines of the universe, though we never did, as far as my memories go. We all died before doing that, our quest over."

Though something is off about that. All of the Magi died when they were twenty-one.

The only problem with that memory is the fact that we were all different ages. Magus Nolan was the eldest, and Magus William was the youngest, with a seven-year age difference. Yet I was alive for each of their deaths, and the war ended when William was nearly twenty-one.

Did the Queen of the Gods affect our memories to conceal something else regarding our deaths and time on Midlaris? I couldn't have been younger than twenty-eight when I died as Nolan, and the other Magi had to have been older than twenty-one as well.

Something to ponder on at another time.

"What would happen," she says. "If I were try to walk into it now?"

"Nothing," I answer. "This is me granting a visual of its current state, the ley line itself isn't actually tangible like that. Were you to somehow manage to enter it, though, your very existence would be shredded into an infinite amount of pieces and your soul would scatter across the universe, taking quite a lot of time to repair and move on into the afterlife."

She winces.

"Yeah, not pleasant," I say.

"If the gods and angels," she says. "Can move through the passages, then why do they need the bridges?"

"Because," I say. "They can't actually walk through the passages into Midlaris. Midlaris is different from other worlds in that he affects the ley lines entering it. The bridges are needed in order for them to succeed in traveling here."

"Why?" She asks.

"I'm not sure," I shrug. "It has to do with his father."

"His father?" She asks.

"That's… all I really know," I frown. "But Magus Nolan knew more. Sometimes, I wish reincarnation didn't work the way it did and that we had all the knowledge of our past lives. It would answer so many questions that are left open due to the gaps."

It seems like Nolan had a pool of knowledge beyond just his life, as if he were gleaning information from the universe. That makes it hard to know everything he knew, because he has no memories of acquiring that knowledge.

It's frustrating.

"Anyway," I say. "Does this satisfy your curiosity?"

"Yes," she answers, then narrows her gaze. "And no. I know you're aware of the divine revelation that occurred summer of last year."

"Yes," I hold up my bracelet of twelve beads. "I received that same message in another form before hearing about it."

"The bracelet?"

"A sign of the Gathering," I nod.

"Do you know what it means?"

"Yes," I answer. "And it has to do with the demon I'm currently still sealing up, as well as the rest of the underworld and the heavens."

Mama Alyssa looks at the crate, which I really am still sealing up, because of how complex and powerful the lock and seal on it is.

"Why are you keeping its corpse?" She asks. "I doubt you destroyed every-"

"They can decompose like normal," I shake my head. "I need it partly for the checks to make sure demons haven't entered."

Mama Alyssa nods, then we fall silent until I finish sealing the crate back up and return it to its special spatial storage.

"Now that we have things clear," she says. "Your other papas and mamas and I have been wanting to ask you something, due to your past as Nolan."

"That's only natural," I say, and she opens a gate. "Asking as a group?"

"No," she answers. "Beyond that gate is an area that has a powerful guardian. She has guarded the region for longer than recorded history, and we have wanted to know if you can tell us why, as the few records of the place that exist mention that she came to guard it after the Magi disappeared."

I'm about to say mention that I still don't know everything I did as Nolan when I remember the leviathan. I didn't remember him initially, but he recognized me immediately, and was even friendly. Whatever is there, on the other side of the gate, may be like the leviathan.

Not necessarily friendly, but something that triggers memories of my life as Nolan. If not, well, Mama Alyssa and I can probably escape if it's threatening.

I nod, then step through the gate, finding myself in a forest brimming with the natural magics of Midlaris.

Mama Alyssa steps through after me and closes the gate, then leads me towards the center of this strong ambient mana. It takes around ten minutes of walking, during which she tells me that she didn't open the gate directly into the 'sanctuary' because she wasn't sure how the guardian would react.

As we draw closer, the mana begins to be attuned to holy, and it begins to revitalize me, restoring my depleted energy reserves from everything that's happened today.

Then we come across a pedestal five feet tall with a two-foot statue of a phoenix resting upon it, both carved of grey stone. There are multiple of these, spaced out every ten feet.

"They border the sanctuary," Mama Alyssa tells me. "As soon as we pass through them, she will know and approach us."

Much like the leviathan did, or Steven, when it's just me or just me and Niko.

I nod, then the two of us enter the sanctuary. Only a moment passes before I feel an overwhelming aura fill the air. It's so powerful I nearly need to sheathe myself with my own to shield against it, and I can see Mama Alyssa struggling not to do that, herself.

"WHO DARES TO ENTER THIS SANCTUARY?" A woman's voice calls out, filled with rage and hate with enough force and volume to shake the air itself. "HUMANS ARE NOT ALLOWED HERE!"

There is something strange about this aura.

"Nolan?" The voice suddenly asks, much calmer and more serene, and the guardian appears before us.

A tall woman with long, green hair and rich brown eyes, gentle swirls of glittery green and brown on various parts of her perfect, nude body. Or, nearly-perfect body. There is a thin scar on her left breast, nearly on the inner edge, as if someone had stabbed her there. As only the King and Queen of the Gods are truly immortal, she probably only survived such a fatal wound by the magics in the air here, possibly at the very center of it.

"How do you recognize my soul?" I ask, slightly suspicious.

She doesn't bring back any memories to me, yet she knows who I am.

"Right," her aura fades, becoming much more tolerable. "You have been reincarnated again, so you've no doubt yet to recover the memories. It may not even be one that ever returns. Do you remember every ant you've ever squashed, after all?"

She can tell this isn't my first reincarnation?

"Squashed?" I frown, then look at the scar. "I did that?"

"Yes," she steps closer, placing a hand on my shoulder and I meet her gaze once more, seeing it full of sorrow. "Forgive me, for my past actions, Nolan. I have had plenty of time to think, and can understand your rage and fury."

"Are you an angel from the war?" I ask.

"No!" She laughs. "I suppose with my aura suppressed, you would not have noticed."

A moment later, her aura shifts, and an unquestionable knowledge of who she is forms.

A god. This is an honest-to-Midlaris god, and she seems to be friendly. She also apologized. I am so confused right now. What is going on?

"You may call me Triossa," she suppresses her divine aura once more. "I don't believe I ever introduced myself to you when you were Nolan. I am a goddess of nature, and a God of the Second Order."

"I don't know what the latter means," I say. "But as a god, one who nearly died at my hands, why do you not seem hostile?"

This is definitely suspicious.

"Because I realized who you were, Nolan," she says. "And your wrath at our actions upon this world… it makes sense."

So she realized that we were champions of Midlaris himself, that we were his chosen heroes to defend his children?

"Gods don't change that easily," I say, sensing Mama Alyssa's unease. "And you were pretty hostile when we arrived."

"Humans have attempted to burn this sanctuary before," she says. "Were it not for this place, I would likely still be recovering my magical power. I was unable to return to the heavens before you destroyed the passages, the injury you had delivered to me back then had been that great."

"So this life energy isn't your doing?" I ask.

"No," she answers. "It is where a phoenix lay dying, giving its final breath. Its power wove into the land here, filling it with the power of life. It is no doubt why you chose to bury him here."

"Bury him?" I ask, then realize who she's referring to. "Magus William, represented by the phoenix. His tomb is here?"

"Yes," she nods. "I have guarded it as well, to protect it from humans who may have wished to defile it. Same with the sanctuary, as humans have wished to destroy it many times, turn it into a place of luxury and relief rather than leave it the sacred place it is. I erected those statues to show the boundaries of it, so that they know its borders and to stay out if they wish it ill."

So she still hates humans, but not in the way she used to. I suppose she hasn't changed that much from how the gods used to be, it's only directed differently and acted upon differently.

"Do you know of any other gods who are here?"

"Of all those who remain on Midlaris," she says. "All but one other are bound into objects by your power. Much like me, the other wandering free is a God of the Second Order."

"You mentioned that before," I say. "What does that mean?"

"Their Majesties," she explains. "The King and Queen of the Gods, are Gods of the Fourth Order. They are the highest order of gods, and their power is limitless. Her Majesty once visited me here, after the war. I doubt I would still exist had I been the same as I had been then."

So the Queen of the Gods really does harbor no ill feelings towards us, as long as Triossa is honest with that. If she is, then that means the Queen of the Gods actually approved of what we did.

"The Gods of the Third Order," she continues. "Are their only children. Gods of the Second Order are born of the Gods of the Third Order's union, and Gods of the First Order are children of the Gods of the Second Order or of other Gods of the First Order. They are the weakest."

"So the higher the order, the more powerful they are?" I ask.

"Yes," she nods. "And the Gods of the Third Order are the most powerful of all, when exempting Their Majesties, but they are also more aloof than their parents, rarely interacting with others. It came as a surprise to me when-well, a certain thing happened involving all of them."

"Can they, like their parents, enter Midlaris?" I ask.

"Yes," she smiles. "They are capable of entering Midlaris at will. Unlike those of the First or Second Order, those of the Third and Fourth can simply pass through any passage at will, even into Midlaris. They can also create passages at will."

"I see," I say. "Thank you for the knowledge, Triossa. So you will not hunt down any reincarnated Magi and exact vengeance upon us for what we did to you?"

"No," she answers. "I could sense as each of you were born into this world, and the one whom I should harbor the most hate for is you, Nolan. After all, you did try to kill me, and had thought you did. I still remember feeling Harbinger pierce my heart. Had I not been as powerful as I was and in a realm of nature, I surely would have died. The centuries I spent recovering gave me plenty of time to think, and by the time I found this place and began to heal faster, I had realized who you are and the reason for your actions."

What should I say?

"I'm glad to hear that," maybe not the best thing to say to a god.

"The other free god," she tells me. "Is also not one to harbor grudges, and like me, was nearly slain by you. From what he says, the only reason he survived was the intervention of His Majesty himself."

"Enaveka," I say.

"So you have already met with him?" She asks.

"No," I answer. "But I've heard of the Church of Enaveka. He's created a religion around the Magi, only as the Twelve Kings and Queens of Power. It seems that he wants people to know the truth, even when the truth isn't known."

"He is the Oracle," she laughs. "He sides with truth, regardless of which side it is on."

"Indeed," I nod. "Thank you, Triossa. Before we leave, I want to ask you something – were you responsible for giving a message to human leaders summer before last?"

"No," she answers. "I do not leave this sanctuary. If a god did that and was female, then it was no doubt Her Majesty."

As I expected.

"Thank you," I say. "My Mama Alyssa had brought me here to see if there was something dealing with this place that dated to the time of the Magi, as that is what the lore still around stated, and though I lack the memories and did not recover them yet, it seems to be true."

"You're welcome," she dips her head to me. "I hope to see you again sometime, though I would understand if you are too busy to return. Come by any time you wish. Now that I know your new signature, you should receive a much more pleasant greeting."

"Thank you," I say, then open a gate. "Mama Alyssa?"

Mama Alyssa steps through it, then I do, then I close it. I look at Mama Alyssa, who was frozen for nearly the entire encounter, as if in utter shock at what happened. I can't blame her, since she came face-to-face with a god. She was pretty much a statue as a result of that.

"We're home," she looks around.

"Yeah," I say. "We're home. So… about what just happened."

"I'm telling your other papas and mamas," she tells me. "Then I'm going to Varil City and living with you and Alex."

"Why?" I ask.

"Because we need to keep a better eye on you so you don't cause more incidents!"

"That will probably be unavoidable."

She smacks me on the back of the head just as Papa Michael steps into the living room through another gate.

"What did he do this time?" Papa Michael snorts.

"Be himself!" Mama Alyssa whacks me again. "Michael, I found out who the guardian of the sanctuary is."

"Which sanctuary?"

"The one with the guardian who hates humans."

"He knows we know, then?" He asks.

"Yes," she answers. "I told him we knew due to other things, and then took him to the sanctuary. It turns out, the guardian is a god."

"While you two discuss my past," I say. "I'm going to go back to Varil City and give Alex a hug."

I open a gate and step through it before they can stop me, and nearly walk right into Alex.

"Gate-space," I gesture to the area I'm in. "Remember?"

"Sorry," he flashes me a grin, and I realize he had intentionally stepped into it when I opened the gate.

"Come here," I pull him into a hug, just holding him tightly.

"What's this for?" He asks awkwardly as he returns the hug.

"There are two gods still walking free on Midlaris," I tell him. "And I just met one of them."