(Alex, 16)

When the door to my cell opens, I don't bother opening my eyes. It's Jacob. It's always Jacob. The guards only open the slot at the bottom to slide in my food tray, take it, or swap out my pot with force magic. Only Jacob actually enters the cell.

Supposedly, I ain't under arrest, but it's Sorday. I've been in here for six days. He says it's so I can 'calm down', but I ain't going to calm down. When Nolan fought against Ekalivar, did we sit back and let him do it alone just because we were too weak to hurt him?

No, we did not. We fought alongside Nolan, battling a god many times our strength and power. There were three of them there, when Jason fought Enamas. Two were just standing around while one was healing people. At least Niko had the excuse of already being engaged in a fight. At least he had the excuse of being ordered not to fight the god by Jason.

But Jacob, Lina, and Tasha received no such order. No, they knew it was going after him, and they let it go without a fight. Cowards. Pathetic trash. I should have known not to trust them. Yeah, the last few months they acted pretty nice and all, but then they turn their back on their friend just because they were scared of a god.

They each have two swords designed specifically for fighting beings from other worlds. Maybe if they had actually tried to help Jason in the fight, things would have been different. Maybe he wouldn't be dead. Sure, he managed to deal with the god – by somehow feeding it to a leviathan – but at what cost? His life?

And His Royal Jerkness has the gall to come in here every day before university, every day after university, and every day before bed to see if I have calmed down. He is so lucky Enaveka knocked me out and they put these expensive shackles on me. So, so lucky.

If they didn't drain my magic anytime I tried to use it, things would be a lot different. A lot different. I saw Prince Bratness's face when we fought on the bridge. He did his best to hide it, but he was scared. We may be equal in power right now, but we were both powerful Magi, and I was Nolan's second. Benjamin might have been more powerful than me, but Ethan was not.

We might have been friends in our last life, but those bonds and connections ceased to exist when we died. Our experiences together have been lost, and only the memories we acquired remain. We aren't friends anymore, and we never were. You're just good at hiding it. If Jason were still around, he'd beat your asses from here to the end for the deceit.

"I see you are still seething," Jacob comments.

If these shackles didn't have a short chain and you weren't out of my range, I would strangle you. Do you understand me?

"We have a practical training session this weekend," the asshole tells me. "After we return on Sunday, Niko is going to search for something called the Shattered Isle. He believes it may be where Jason had gone after he tossed Enamas to the leviathan. Once he find sit, he is going to open a gate for the rest of us to pass through, so that we may search for Jason's body there. Sage Michael will be traveling with us, for an added searcher.

"If you are willing to calm down, cooperate, and behave," he says. "You can come with us."

You want me to calm down after you did nothing to stop Jason from being killed? You want me to cooperate with people who are just as guilty as that god for his death? If you truly believe that, then you are nothing short of a fool.

Why should I even care about any of you, now? You've kept me out of university for a week, so I know I'm out of there, too, once you finally release me. Oh, wait, you ain't actually planning on that. I attacked royalty. Once I 'calm down', I'm going to be officially arrested, because ya ain't nothing more than an asshole who betrays his friends.

Or at least, the people who are supposed to be his friends.

"And you are just getting angrier," Jacob sighs. "Alex, your missed time at university is pardoned as long as you participate in the practical training this weekend. It is a special exercise involving higher-class students training with lower-class students. If you want to waste the opportunity you created for yourself, then stay here for however long it takes you to calm down. If you wish to continue your time at university and pursue your goals, then come with us."

"My goals?" I spit at him, finally opening my eyes. "Ya ain't giving a damn about 'em, Prince Jacob."

He flinches when I use the 'prince', likely at the extra venom in my voice.

"My goals were to be one of this kingdom's top slayers or knights," I say. "But I find out it's going to be run by a traitor like ya. I ain't got interest in serving someone who'd let his own friend die just 'cause he was a coward."

"Alex," Jacob says, his voice firm and full of that princely authority he has. "I have been using my status to protect you so far. Were you not a friend, you would be under arrest."

"If I ain't under arrest," I glare at him. "Why ain't I free? Huh?"

"Because if you are not bound," he says. "You would become violent again. This is to protect you. Had Enaveka not affected the memories of our fight so that no one else remembered it properly, you would have been arrested without my ability to shield you. You would have been tried and executed as a traitor."

"Ironic, coming from ya," I spit.

"However!" He continues, a slight bit of irritation finally entering his voice. "If you continue to speak like this, Alex, the guards will have you arrested. If you think this is where we put traitors, you are mistaken. They are sent into an interrogation cell where they are tortured. You are my friend, Jason was my friend. I had frozen up in fear. I was scared. I could not move. When I did, I went straight to Sage Elena so that she could warn Jason, because I knew he would not respond to my call. Could I have done something different? Maybe. But the past is behind us. I did what I had thought of at the time. Maybe if I were more powerful, I would have been something more than just a snack for the god. I cannot change the past. No one can. Not even Nolan possessed that power. All we can do is regret our actions.

"Are you going to regret yours?" He asks. "If you continue the way you are, Alex, you will be executed as a traitor. I would rather have you as a friend."

"Ain't interested in being friends with someone who abandons his friends."

He flinches.

"Alex," he says. "Accept my offer and behave. The other paths available for you are not that bright. Or have you forgotten that the Leviathan Alex is also a wanted criminal?"

I freeze at the mention of that. It wasn't something I've thought about since leaving Varilar, but the warrant out for me… how hard did he have to dig to find that? I ain't on the warrant with my proper name.

"That's an old warrant."

"Yes," he says. "It is an old warrant, made three years ago. It was brought to my attention while you were in here. Papa said you should be judged based on your actions in this life, ignoring what happened three thousand years ago. He also knows why you are in a cooling-down period. I did not want to bring this up, Alex, but you are being forced into a choice. Had you just accepted my offer, you never would have known about this.

"Calm your ass down," he startles me with that comment. I never imagined Jacob could use such a vulgar word. Prince Proper finally grew up, did he? "And come with us for the practical training. Behave and act appropriately, and do not act out. Do so for at least a month, and the warrant will be dismissed. Entirely. Your attack on the bridge has already been pardoned for the reason of a god preventing anyone but you and I remembering it properly. As far as those around are aware, we were attacked and you helped fight with me. However, continuing to insult me and call me a traitor constitutes as treason. You will also be pardoned for that when the warrant is dismissed under the same conditions, under the statement that you are grieving and acting irrationally.

"Refuse this," he tells me. "And you will be tried both for the acts of treason by your comments since your time to calm began and for the crimes you committed as the Leviathan Alex, both before and after the signing of the warrant. My status is unable to protect you anymore, Alex. This is an order from Papa."

With how powerful Varil is, even if I fled at the first opportunity, other nations would likely hand me over the moment they caught me. I am not happy, especially since he's further proving he ain't ever seen me as a friend.

"Take the opportunity," he has the gall to fake actual concern in his voice! "Because this is your only chance for it, Alex. If you do not, you will be tried as a traitor. Would Jason want you to be tried as a traitor? Or would he want you to continue to pursue your dream?"

Ya ain't got the right to invoke Jason's name. Ya ain't worthy of ever saying he was your friend, either. Ya ain't nothing more than a coward. But someone needs to give him a proper funeral ceremony, and I know it ain't ya who has that right.

I take a few deep breaths and close my eyes, then hear Jacob start to walk away. That stops, however, when there's a slight humming coming from my shackles. I can hear him stop moving. I can feel the shackles draining my mana away, and know that their runes are probably lit up like the sky auras.

"What are you-" he asks, cutting off as the shackles begin to warp and reshape. "How are you doing that?"

The shackles fall off of my wrists, having split open.

"Those are mithril!"

"Not anymore, they ain't," I stand, rubbing my wrists as I glare at him. "Transmutation. They ain't the first shackles I've gotten out of, they just took a bit more mana to overload the drain on. Nice thing 'bout being me, I've got tons of mana to spare."

All of us Magi have plenty of mana to spare, and from what I heard, Niko drained himself twice during the battle. I heard about the true gargoyles sacrificing themselves to restore his mana. Yet ya didn't come anywhere near drained.

Jacob sighs.

"Alright," he says. "Does this mean you are accepting Papa's offer?"

"I'm going on this stupid training thing," I tell him. "But why in Midlaris are we all doing this?"

"Papa ordered it," Jacob answers. "You are in my group, and no, you cannot join another. I am teaching some of the more powerful students in the first-year class, and you were placed with me because of your abilities."

"Ya just want me to-"

"I did not assign the groups," he interrupts me. Ain't royals not supposed to do stuff like that? That just further proves how little ya care about me. "They only put you with me because you are a warrior and not a mage. Otherwise, you would have been in Niko's group. It seems you showing off in a sparring session with a prospective student earned you a spot in my group."

Wonderful.

"I ain't going to be the most cooperative," I tell him. "I'm only going to do what's necessary to get through this. Then, I'm finding out where they put the grave for Jason and going there. He needs a real friend to say goodbye, not some bastard who betrayed him."

"Watch your words," Jacob warns me. "The guards will not be too kind, they hear you speaking like that."

"Ya and I might be the reincarnations of Magi," I say. "But we ain't friends. That ended three thousand years ago, when we died. All we've not is our memories, not our experiences, not our friendships, and we most certainly ain't got our bonds. Your decision to let Jason die alone proves that. Now, do I have time to shower before we leave? Because I've been stuck in this cell for six days and need one. Or does Your Highness not have time for that?"

"Gates are being opened by the Sages to the locations we are traveling to," he tells me. "As there are relatively few monsters in the area due to the recent hunt for any other ogre lords in the area and larger groups are hunting for this mission. You will be able to shower before we leave. Sage Alyssa brought some of your clothes here so that you can change after your shower."

He turns and exits the cell, ordering me to follow him. I do, and he leads me upstairs and into another building of the palace. After a few minutes, we reach a bedroom, which he tells me I can use the shower of, my clothes already in there. I do my best to shower as quickly as possible, because I want to leave this palace as soon as possible.

And never return.

When my shower finishes, I follow Jacob out of the palace, where Sage Alyssa waits for us. She opens a gate so that we can quickly arrive at the Royal Mage University, where I meet my group. There are twenty-four of us, plus Jacob, with half of us being warriors and half being mages. There is a Royal Knight and a Royal Mage here as well, to keep us company and watch over things.

Some rules are run by us, including that Jacob is the lead for this, even if the Royal Guards are the ones grading us. I want to ensure he suffers, though. How much pain was Jason in, before he died? He lost an arm and a leg – quite literally. Even if he hides his pain, he must have been in a lot of it. What other injuries did he have? What suffering did he go through because ya were too cowardly to assist someone ya called a friend?

When Jacob finishes giving the rules to our group, Sage Alyssa opens up a gate for us, and we pass through, finding ourselves on a hilly area full of hills. We're farther north, based on how much colder it is here. We must be at the foothills of the mountains to the northern kingdoms.

"Get camp set up," Jacob instructs. "Those of you who brought the tents, set those up. You four, gather firewood," I'm included in that. "You four, hunt meat for us to eat tonight."

He continues dishing out his commands like the prissy prince he is, but I leave camp, heading off to collect wood for fire. I could grab some branches and logs, but decide to gather up twigs. Lots and lots of twigs, and I use my spatial storage to hold them all.

A lot of the wood is moist from the snow or coated in ice, but with magic, why would that matter for a fire? We can quickly dry them out by keeping a flame on them. After collecting a ton of twigs and small sticks, I return to camp and open up my spatial storage, dumping all of them out into a pile.

"Thanks, Alex," Jacob says, and I realize that none of the other three collected any twigs. "Would you mind organizing those so they're easier to grab?"

"Do it yourself."

The prissy prince stares at me for a few seconds, then holds out both of his hands. The twigs begin moving, and I glare at him as he uses force magic to sort them into a pile. It takes him less than a minute.

"Because that was so hard to do yourself," he says. "While you might be in a mood, Alex, do not allow it to affect our time out here. We are near wyvern territory, and this unit as well as another are here to deal with some.

"Speaking of that!" He raises his voice. "People! If you notice an elderly woman out here who might be covered in dirt, snow, and other things, looking a bit… intensely focused, just ignore her. That's Professor Jaelvra from the Royal Mage University, and she is currently missing."

Ignore a missing woman?

"She may be feral!" He tells us. "Or hungry! Just ignore her if she stares at you hungrily. She is currently studying wyverns… somewhere. We are not entirely sure where, but she might be here. If you do notice her, please inform me promptly and include where you sighted her! Thank you!"

He then returns to doing his bossing around, and I watch as the ones setting up camp finish setting it up. His Royal Bratness continues to lord over us as that happens, then orders someone else to get the fire going, because apparently, someone was supposed to do it. Do it yourself, you betrayer.

I move away from the camp a bit, climbing up a tree, ignoring the biting cold of the snow and ice coating its branches. When I reach as high as I dare, I use a gentle application of fire magics to melt the snow and ice from a branch and dry it off, then I lie on it, staring up at the starry sky.

Soon, the constellations will change again, as we are almost to the winter solstice. Two weeks from tomorrow. The earth beasts will leave and the water beasts will fill the sky, along with the kings. Jason's sign is still up there, still intertwined with my own. With my heart and soul.

Screw Jacob, Lina, and Tasha. They can all go suffer in the hells for eternity for betraying Jason like that. What did he do to deserve that? He even did what he could to improve their nation! And that was how they repaid him. By freezing up and not going after the god that went after him. By not trying to help him fight, even after recovering their wits.

At least Niko had the excuse of Jason actually ordering him not to while Niko was already engaged in fighting. They didn't even know about the order to not engage.

As I stare at the stars, I start to become aware that someone is watching me. At first, I think it's the prissy prince, but then realize that there is a face sticking out of the trunk of the tree, and it takes my entire willpower not to jump back and knife it. Slowly, carefully, I sit up and turn to face the… head that has begun to move out of the trunk. Then a body. A boy around my age, maybe a little older. He sits on the branch, his legs folded up in front of him. A lean, slender build with brown eyes with golden flecks and leaf-green hair, silver and white marks all over his pale body.

"Hi," he says.

"Uh… hi," I say. This is not what I remember dryads look like… and ain't they all female? "Who in Midlaris are ya?"

"Sh," he puts a finger to his lips. "Don't talk too loudly, no one's supposed to know I'm here."

"Uh…" I look around, lowering my voice as I look back at him. "Who are ya?"

"I'm Maslarisas," he answers. "You seem rather down. I don't understand emotions that well, but I know sadness. Humans have it a lot."

"My boyfriend died."

"Ah," he says. "That's unfortunate. Human bodies are quite fragile. How is Nolan doing?"

I narrow my gaze at him. He knows who I am the reincarnation of.

"Who are you?"

"I am Maslarisas," he answers. "You are Quinn. At least, that is the name you used in your first human life here. I don't know your name now."

"We met back then?"

"No," he answers. "I stayed out of the war. I repair this forest whenever humans do too much damage to it. I like this forest. I don't like the wyverns, though. They like to claw up my trees. Not like bears and stuff do, though. They usually avoid the forest because I kill them, but more have been coming here lately. It's annoying."

He seems a bit off in the head. Who is he? I know the silver markings could denote him as a god, but his eyes are brown with golden flecks rather than silver. All gods of the First and Second Orders have silver eyes.

"We came here to hunt wyverns," I tell him. "They've been harassing too many people, so we came out here as a training group to learn how to fight against wyverns with practical experience."

"Oh, okay," he says. "I see Ethan down there, and you. Benjamin is elsewhere in my forest. But where is Nolan? You and him were always together back then."

Niko's unit must be the other one in the forest, then.

"Nolan was my boyfriend," I tell him, and he frowns. "And Ethan's the reason he died."

"That's unfortunate," he reaches forward and puts a hand on my shoulder. "But do not mourn too hard for Nolan. His soul is immortal."

"His soul is immortal?" I ask. "Aren't souls, by nature, immortal?"

"No," he answers. "Souls dissipate into spiritual or cosmic energy when someone dies. If they have strong emotional regrets or sparks at the time of their death, that can linger in another realm, the spirit realm. You Magi are especially sensitive to this."

He looks over to the camp.

"There are two others in the camp who are as well," he says. "One of them is older. I think he would be around twenty? The human aging process is quite difficult for me to get a grasp on, and the slowing of it with magical power makes it more difficult. He wears robes."

I look to the camp, realizing he is talking about the Royal Mage, who looks closer to forty, but I think he's closer to fifty in age.

"He looks around forty," I turn back to the… to Maslarisas. "Though I think he might be around fifty.

Maslarisas shrugs.

"Spiritual energy fades with time," he tells me. "It reconverts back into the ancient cosmic energy it stemmed from. However, there are immortal souls that do not do this. You Magi have such souls."

"And the gods."

"No," he says. "The gods do not have immortal souls. At least, the majority do not. A few of the First Order and Second Order do, though. The Divine Beasts do, and Their Majesties do as well."

"And there are mortals with immortal souls as well?" I ask.

"Yes," he answers. "They are rare enough, and their souls are often generated by the Divine Dragon. He doesn't do that often. The lesser gods with immortal souls were also forged by him. There aren't many, though. He gets bored a lot, but time moves at a difference pace when you're as old as the universe."

"I can imagine," I say. "So souls are just ancient cosmic energy that what, took on sapience?"

"Not necessarily," he says. "Bees have souls, but they don't have sapience. Souls are ancient cosmic energy that converted into a temporary life force, unless it's an immortal soul. Then, it lasts until either the Divine Dragon dispels them or the universe ends. At least, in theory. Since the universe hasn't ended, we've no real way of knowing if immortal souls are actually immortal, or just really resilient."

"Wait," I realize something. "Is that why reincarnates have to be reincarnated by the King or Queen of the Gods themselves? Because their soul would just return to cosmic energy without that?"

"Correct," he answers. "The Divine Beasts could do it sometimes, too. I know the Divine Dragon used to have a habit of reincarnating people randomly. He would catch a soul as he passed by a planet somewhere, then sometime later – often thousands or millions of years later – send the soul into a developing infant on whatever planet he was near at the time. To him, though, not much time passed. It wouldn't, seeing as his birth literally spawned the universe. Time feels different to him. I'm sure he could even slip outside of it, if he wanted."

Okay. I think Maslarisas is just bored and needing to talk. Or he's just always like this. He's definitely a little off, though.

"Okay," I say. "What is this ancient cosmic energy?"

"Hm," he thinks for awhile, then shrugs. "The Divine Dragon emits it when he's in his true form. Or does it only seem that way? I'm not sure. But there is an infinite amount of it, and he can use it to do whatever he wants. It also sometimes congeals into things, like souls."

He finally pulls his hand off my shoulder.

"Do not worry," he says. "I am sure you will meet Nolan again, even if in another life. For now, though, just remember that much like you, he has an immortal soul. Death is not always the end of life, it could simply be the start of another chapter."

Those words sound familiar to me, but before I can ask what he's talking about, he's melded back into the tree. I sigh, then look back at camp. He only reassured me a little bit, but I find myself… strangely calm. I still hate Jacob, Lina, and Tasha, but the rage that has been building in me has subsided a little. It'll probably return in time, though.

Who was that guy? How did he know us, especially since he said we'd never met? Is he a spirit of some sort? The kind of spirit like the great Spirit of the Volcano who apparently gave Jason his bracelet?

My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of flapping wings, and I look in the direction they're coming from to find a wyvern landing on the side of the hill, Prince Betrayer standing near it. The wyvern is easily fifteen feet in height, with greyish-white scales. A bipedal beast, it has claws on the tips of its wings to allow it extra gripping power. The beast screeches as it stabs its front claws into the ground, startling people. Its spike-tipped tail flicks out a bit, sending snow flying.

The asshole begins calling out orders as he draws his sword, telling people to remember their training.

Standing, I pull from my spatial storage Ocean's Bite, my Sacred Sword. Drawing it, I feed the blade my mana, allowing it to charge up as the other students begin attacking the wyvern, spells flying as barriers form and swords clash against it.

Why don't ya use that special sword of yours, Jacob? Or are you going to let people get hurt just because they need to train?

When Ocean's Bite has enough power charged up, I slash upwards, an arc of water forming. Unlike Leviathan's Kiss, it doesn't carve out a river with a pressurized blast. Instead, it's simply an arc of water that grows to forty feet in height and is only around five inches long and quite thin. The attack slices through the ground, barely missing the betrayer before it slices into the wyvern's wing.

But that's not all it does. Our Sacred Swords were designed for battling angels and demons, after all. They ain't just attacks, much like with Leviathan's Kiss. Any creature touched by the bite of Ocean's Bite descends into madness, their vision going dark.

As the wyvern screeches, stumbling around, I charge my sword once more, then release another slash, this one passing by the prince's other side, cutting into the wyvern's head. Would've done that the first time, only Prince Betrayer was in the way, and I'd rather not deal with the charges for killing the Crown Prince.

The second strike kills the wyvern, and the prince, still facing the other way, sheathes his sword. I snort. Bet he's feeling real confident about himself right now.

He suddenly spins, and I realize he's holding a different sword, which he must have pulled from his spatial storage. I'm barely able to turn away and cover my eyes as I tighten them as his sword's attack spreads out, filling the air with a golden light that's amplified by the snow and ice around us. My sudden movement causes me to fall out of the tree, and my rage returns.

So what, if I nearly hit him! I killed the thing, didn't I? Where does he get off attacking me just because my attacks almost struck him! So what if I could've missed by a wider margin! It's his fault for not using his Sacred Sword for the fight!

Thinks he can do whatever he wants just 'cause he's a prince, does he? I ain't gonna let that fly! It's time to teach him a lesson!