(Jacob, 16)

"Are you okay?" I ask Tasha. "You took more than a few nasty hits."

"I am fine, thank you," she smiles. "I have already healed myself from them."

We look at the ice titan, both of us aware of how lucky we were to face a weaker one. Niko likely knew it was weaker as well, or he would not have done something so risky and stupid against it. Even still, for us to slay it as weak as we are, that was impressive.

"Niko did most of the work," I say. "In the end, it was his curse which killed it."

"In the end," Tasha brushes her hand against mine, and I take her hand into mine. "Niko reminded me of why Benjamin was the second-most terrifying Magus out of us all."

"He did the same for me," I admit.

While Quinn could invade the mind of others and twist them to his own design, turning friend into foe and foe into friend, the powers Benjamin wielded stretched far beyond that level of terror. He could design a curse which killed his opponent if he died or lost consciousness, a curse which could turn an ice titan as resilient as a normal human, a curse which could infect others just by being near them, spreading across the land and claiming everything under its power. He could touch an object and cause it to decay in moments. At least with Quinn, his effects usually left his targets alive and physically whole.

Only Nolan held even more frightening powers than that.

Though it seems the Delvarkari may possess some of those powers, even if not all of them. I look over to Miralandis, then frown.

"Where did Jarenidis and Niko go?" I ask.

Tasha looks over in the direction we saw our friend in, only to find that he is missing, along with the Delvarkari who was healing him.

"I did not see them leave," Tasha tells me. "Perhaps Niko needed to rest after that? He exerted himself more than us, even if we were more active."

I turn my attention to the devastation of his unfinished curse. If what occurred there matches up with my memories from our lives as Magi, then I know what he was casting. He likely would have warned us to evacuate, or would have forcibly evacuated us himself, when he finished it.

"Niko remembers so much more of his powers than any of us remember of ours," I state.

"Except for Jason," Tasha says.

"Except for Jason," I agree. "I believe they both know more about the Magi than they are revealing."

"I know Jason is," she says. "But you think Niko is as well? Do you believe Jason may have told him something?"

"No," I answer. "Just things Niko has said before. He has hinted he knows who the 'Mother of the Magi' is, for example. His absolute confidence Jason survived was strange as well. Looking back on it, Niko commented that it was not possible for Jason to have died. That Jason is immortal."

Tasha thinks over that. Niko seemed absolutely sure that we Magi are immortal. I know that Alex mentioned he spoke with a strange spirit who said the souls of the Magi are immortal, but could there be something more to it?

I look up to the clear blue sky. At night, we would see the constellations of the King Beasts and the air and water beasts, the air beasts nearly gone. Each Magus represents one of the twelve Sacred Beasts, and we may truly be immortal, if Niko is correct. With what happened to Jason, I may be inclined to believe it. One theory is that we were reincarnated by Midlaris from the beasts which are naturally grey in magical power, but that is starting to look different.

Why would we be immortal from that? Could it be just our bodies, or does that mean something else?

Even the gods are not immortal, and-

Jason said that Reaper would not kill a Magus or destroy our souls, but that the Queen of the Gods would be annoyed if it were used on us. That moves past immortal into something… unbelievable. Why would the Queen of the Gods be upset if that happened? Did she have a hand in our creation? If so, that would make her the Mother of the Magi.

If she is the Mother of the Magi, if she would become upset at such a weapon being turned on us, and each of us represents a different Sacred Beast…

Are we the Sacred Beasts?

"You realized something," Tasha says, and I look at her. "Your breath caught in your throat, Jacob."

"Just a new theory," I smile at her. "You are shivering, do you have a fresh cloak or coat? Yours was destroyed in the fight."

"I do," she opens up a spatial storage. "What is this theory?"

"Nothing to think over too heavily," I answer as she pulls out a cloak and pulls it on. "There is no evidence or basis for it."

Miralandis calls everyone over, so Tasha and I make our way to her, still holding hands. While it might not be entirely within etiquette under the current circumstances, I am choosing to ignore that in favor of being able to touch her and be close to her.

Lina looks more than a little confused, so we walk up to her.

"If you are looking for Niko," I tell her. "I believe Jarenidis may have taken him back to the facility."

She sighs, looking relieved.

"Everyone," Miralandis says, and we turn our attention to her. "Congratulations, to the thirty-seven of you still present from the battle. The purpose of this was never for you to defeat the ice titan, but to work as a team, receive guidance from those who knew what they were doing, and to learn on your own. All of you did that, to some degree. For the ice titan to die was a nice surprise, though the claim on the kill goes to Niko sul'Mar. Were it not for him, your attacks would have done nothing at all, and it was his magic which slayed it.

"Before we return to camp," she gestures with one hand, and a white ring for a dimensional space appears, items floating out of them. A table and food. "You will eat here, and we will go over any mistakes made during this fight. Once we finish, we will return to the academy."

The tables set themselves up, and we sit on the benches as the food and drink arranges itself. Sandwiches, cookies, and ale. A standard lunch. Jarenidis returns through a gate as Miralandis discusses with us the mistakes we all made, and he helps her. Part of this includes discussing how we could fix them or improve, but they also compliment us on our strong points. The way any proper instructor would act after a hard training fight.

I notice they do not scold Alex for his Limit Break usage, but they may not have known about that. I have not heard of it in this life, which means it may be something only we Magi know about.

Once we begin the walk back, I take Tasha's hand again. Despite the small rest, we are all exhausted, so the walk is quite silent. I use the time to think about my possible revelation, eventually thinking about Niko.

I was not aware he was powerful enough to cast such curses. No doubt they would have been far more potent were he even stronger. The one and only time I saw the second massive spell he was casting when we were fighting the war, none of us Magi were around for its area of effect. We had all fled miles away as soon as Nolan told us to.

The devastation after made us aware of why. A circle two miles in diameter of pure destruction and chaos. Of death and decay, corruption and stone. Of one of the many reasons to fear Benjamin's wrath.

Back then, he was able to cast it after only a minute of casting while still using other spells and moving around. Now, it takes him a long time. A reminder of how much weaker we are now compared to then. How much less skilled and how much slower we became with our new incarnations.

Back to how we were before we became the Magi, with Jason already there and Niko drawing closer to it.

When we finally arrive at the facility, we are told that we may rest for the rest of the day as soon as Sage Elena checks us over for injuries and issues. Once my turn with the examination finishes, I make my way to Jason's room. Despite being an instructor, he chose to stay with us instead.

His door opens when I raise a fist to knock.

"Come on in," Jason sounds exhausted.

I enter his room and find him sitting on his bed in just a nighshirt, legs folded in front of him as he tinkers with some sort of grey metal orb the size of an orange. Tools, crystals, and other items are scattered around him, his grey gaze fixed on the orb as he etches something into it with a small tool.

"Is that a core for the stuffie golems?" I ask as I enter his room.

"No," he answers as I close the door. "Papa Jared had me doing this a lot when I was little, it's something I do sometimes when I need to relax."

"When I see you attempting to relax," I say. "You often are tinkering with something."

"Yeah," he nods. "Even as Nolan and Lucas, I was always doing something with my hands. Even now, I find myself doing it without realization, but when that happens, it's not a conscious thing, and it's not to relax. It's just that my mind and hands wandered and I didn't realize what I was doing. Now, I'm actively doing this to relax."

"What is it?" I ask.

"A training orb," he answers as he sets down the tool, which is a handle with a slim rod only a few inches long, sharpened only at the tip into a fine point. Jason then picks up a crystal and rubs it against the rune, then gives me an amused look. "You're looking pretty confused."

"What does rubbing it with a magic crystal do?" I ask. "I have not heard of such a technique."

"This isn't a standard magic crystal," he turns his attention back to the orb, rubbing the rune once more. "It's not even one formed naturally – or through what happens when our generators convert elemental essence into them to avoid venting the element into the surroundings. Papa Jared calls it a runic impressor crystal. It's a new thing, not from our time as Magi. According to Papa Jared, it was invented around six hundred years ago. The explanation for its function is rather lengthy, and I know you aren't really into enchanting and stuff."

"Sorry," I smile at him. "I wished to ask you a few things, Jason, but first, how are you doing? After seeing how you really look yesterday, I know you must be-"

"I'm fine," he says. "And I'd really appreciate it if people would stop asking me. I already have to deal with my mamas, papas, grandmama, and brother fussing over me. It would be nice if my friends didn't."

"Sorry," I apologize. "The other reason I came here, Jason, is because I realized something. Things you and Niko have said made me think of something, and while Niko might only be speculating himself or only have some information, if any of us knew, it would be you. Jason, are we the Sacred Beasts?"

"No," he answers.

"But all of the signs-"

"We are the Divine Beasts," he says. "The Sacred Beasts are a separate thing, even if modeled after us."

"For another question related to that," I say. "Why are we weak? If we are the Divine Beasts, the children of the King and Queen of the Gods themselves, why are our powers mortal?"

Jason explains to me about his noticing of the war, and his wrath. He tells me about his approach of the Queen of the Gods, their deal, the rest of the Divine Beasts showing up and offering to journey with him. I sit as he talks, using the chair at his desk. The entire time, he continues tinkering with his device.

He also tells me information I could never have suspected. We will disappear from these forms during the Gathering, our past lives begin to assimilate themselves into our current lives once we reach grey magical power due to the unique nature of our souls, and more.

"In the past," I say. "You have given theories about us-"

"And at the time," he says. "I believed them to be true. I didn't know what we truly were until last week. Beings for whom magic isn't many different things, but one."

He turns the orb over in his hands several times, and I realize its surface is quite smooth, despite his etchings. I cannot see them at all, as if the orb were new.

Jason sighs.

"Even as Divine Beasts, you and Alex had this love-hate relationship going on."

"It seems we are inclined to be this way," I tell him, then a thought comes to me. "The Twelve Days of Honor happen to be in the same order as we were born in this incarnation, yet not in any order that would make sense. Does that have something to do with our true selves?"

"Yes," he answers. "It's the order we were born."

"I meant as the Divine Beasts."

"So did I," he answers. "Our mama transferred me first back then because there was a perfect host needing a soul. Then she incarnated the rest of you as she pleased, over several years. In this incarnation, she took her time, determined when I would have the perfect host, and then incarnated us in the order of our actual births. The Divine Phoenix was the eldest of us, and the Divine Dragon – me – was the youngest."

"So I am among the youngest," I say.

"Yes," he answers. "The fifth-youngest, with Alex as the fifth-eldest."

Jason suddenly frowns, then stumbles off his bed.

"Are you alright?" I ask as he scrambles to his feet.

"Yeah," he says. "I have to go do something, don't bother Niko. Jarenidis put a seal on his door so that he can rest and recover without disturbance, you won't like what happens if you cross it."

Jason hurries out of the room, and when I follow him, he is already gone. As he cannot use spatial magics, I know he put on speed when he left. What was that important that he ran away?

I look at the discarded orb, then decide to leave it be and exit the room. As I close the door to Jason's room, Niko opens his door, just a few down, and gives me a confused look.

"You are not Jason," he says.

"I was just talking to him," I explain. "He ran off, though."

"Probably because of that," he mutters, then pulls his head back into his room and closes the door.

Something they sensed, then? What could they both sense which would cause Jason to run away in such a hurry, yet not be something I would notice? Did someone else notice it?

I return to the cafeteria, where most everyone has gathered to chat, relax, or snack.

"Did Jason come through here?" I ask Jarenidis, who is standing near one of the doors.

"No," he answers. "Someone did just leave in a hurry, though, that might have been him."

I nod, then exit the building and perform a calling to see what has happened recently. A yellow figure of light shaped like Jason appears, and I jump for a moment. I must have gone up in magical power while fighting the ice titan or sometime since, I did not realize I was yellow already.

Now that I think about it, Alex was yellow on the return trip. I did not notice a single orange aura, either.

The figure of light steps forward, gestures wildly with its arms, then vanishes, leaving me confused.

"He probably just put his healing back again," a voice says, and I jump, turning to find Sage Elena standing there with a frown. "What was that spell you just used?"

"Something from when we were Magi," I answer. "I used it to track down the bandits who killed the Meti. It can only look at recent events and replay them, but only because of how weak I am right now. During the war, I possessed the ability to track and replay things that occurred weeks before. I thought Jason could not use spatial magics?"

"Whatever he did," she says. "It was not spatial magic. We have a sensor set up around the property to detect any which is used, even if we are not blocking it outside of the building itself. Jason-"

Jason suddenly reappears, soaked in sweat, pale, and breathing heavily.

"I need Fael Mira," he gasps. "Now."

"You need to get dressed," Sage Elena tells him. "You're wearing a nightshirt. You don't look good, either."

"I need Fael Mira," he says. "Now. The other option is I stop holding myself together to handle this, and that will add on more time to my healing. Now someone go get her while I prepare for another trip."

Sage Elena reenters the building.

"Are you okay?" I ask. "What is the emergency, Jason?"

"Something that would send everyone into a panic," he answers. "If I were to reveal it."

Sage Elena returns with Miralandis.

"You said you need my assistance?" She asks.

"Yes," he answers, turning around. "Touch me, but not in my arms. Keep a small distance and as directly behind me as possible, or I may smack you. There's no time to explain, so you'll just need to do it."

Miralandis listens to Jason, and he performs the same series of gestures my light figure showed him performing. Then, both of them vanish.

"No spatial magic at all," Sage Elena murmurs. "Yet both are gone. What did Jason just do?"

"I am uncertain," I tell her. "But if Jason says it would cause a panic for people to know, then I wish to be with Tasha right now."

I turn around and enter the building, making straight for Tasha, who is relaxing in a lounge, talking with Lina and one of the girls from Jason's training group. I take a seat beside her and give her a smile.

"Jason is doing okay," I tell her. "And Niko seems to be recovering as well."

What did they sense, and why did Jason seem panicked?

(Jason, 16)

"Did you just take me through a pathway?" Fael Mira asks.

"Yes," I answer.

"Didn't you destroy them all at the end of the war?"

"Yes," I answer. "But in secret, I – as Nolan – rebuilt all of the ones on Midlaris which didn't lead off of Midlaris. Can you… deal with that while I recover? It takes a fair bit of mana and energy to use those, and I did it twice, with someone accompanying me the second time."

"I will handle it," she says. "How did you even sense this? Where are we?"

"We're on an island that used to be off a continent that was destroyed thousands of years ago, long before the war," I answer. "It's rather large, around two hundred miles across and almost two-thirds that wide."

And as I did, I keyed them to the power of the Divine Beasts. Only we may use them freely, anyone else would have to pay dearly in terms of power and mana, and it would leave a residue behind which I could trace. I'd also become aware of it, should I be here if someone used them.

"How did you sense this from there?" She asks.

"Niko probably noticed it, too," I tell her. "Would you mind? If I were to unleash Reaper in my current state, it would be pretty bad for me."

Fael Miral turns her attention to the angels, tall humanoids with silvery hair, eyes, and wings, no clothes or armor adorning their flawless bodies. There are ten angels standing there, watching us. We're too far for them to hear what we're saying, but they'll likely come our way as soon as they decide to subjugate us or whatever it is they're doing. Probably scouting to see how things are on Midlaris. Look for any of the gods left behind, begin the repairs from this side, and all that.

"None of the gods who are free can handle them?" Fael Mira asks. "Or sense them?"

"They can probably sense this," I say. "But none of the free gods are actually fighters. Most would prefer to avoid conflicting with these guys. There's a reason the gods used angels and demons as their soldiers and humans as their fodder. Since you have grey magical power, you can handle them."

"And if more comes through?" She asks.

"The damage to the pathway is too great," I shake my head. "They risked their lives to get through it."

I continue to assess the pathway. The fact that even one made it through is a miracle. How many of them made the attempt to pass through if ten managed to? Though looking at the pathway, someone could probably leave through it undamaged. It's doubtful anyone would be able to make it through again, at least, not for along while. Long enough for me to recover well enough and rebuild enough power to screw the pathways up again.

Once I'm back to my true power as the Divine Dragon, I am visiting both realms and issuing an ultimatum, so that even once the pathways restore, something like this will not happen again.

"I thought angels wore armor or robes?" Fael Mira asks.

"Usually," I answer. "They forced humans into nudity as a sign of slavehood. Then again, humans hadn't actually developed clothing yet before the war came, not here on Midlaris, anyway, so it was more of 'they prevented clothes from becoming a thing'. They probably came nude to increase their chances of surviving the pathways. Don't make the mistake of thinking their states have made them weak. I'm sure you can see their mana and magic, can see how potent it is. This is with them having expended a lot of power to make it through the pathways."

Even the one with the lowest amount of mana has more than Fael Mira's full state.

"And you truly believe I can handle them?" She asks.

"Yes," I answer. "Once I give you a sword."

"You aren't to be using your spatial storage!" She snaps.

"I'm not," I snort. "As Nolan, I hid weapons all over Midlaris, including places like here. In places like here, where it was difficult to reach and away from Ikarix, I hid them near the places where we'd step out of the pathways."

The angels are still watching us, though they've begun discussing something, now. I could probably eavesdrop, but I can't enhance myself at the moment. Not until I've recovered more.

I turn and walk a few steps, looking through the sandy shore for the magic that will show the hiding spot. When I find it, I shape my mana into a wind spell and clear the sand from the spot with a light breeze that pushes it all to the sides. With a force spell, I lift the sword up, examining the weapon. A thin layer of grey force magic coats the entire thing, my enchantment from three thousand years ago still holding.

Reaching out, I take the sword. The sheath is a dark blue leather, the hilt made of mithril with a twisted, white ivory grip with gentle grooves carved into it for a better grip than smooth would provide. I turn and walk over to Fael Mira and hand her the weapon.

"It's forged of mithril," I tell her as she takes it. "It's a Sacred Sword, much like the ones I gave to the other Magi. Its name in our current language is Stormbringer, and it's somewhat temperamental. The protective enchantment will fade once you draw the blade."

I turn my attention back to the angels, who are giving us wary looks now. Upon a more critical inspection, I realize they aren't even all from the same faction.

"There are six different factions of angel present," I tell Fael Mira. "Two of the angels belong to a faction I don't know, while the other five were all parts of factions we faced in the war."

"If you are the Divine Dragon," she says. "Should you not know all of the factions of angels?"

"No?" I offer. "I only have some of my memories as my true self, anyway. Far fewer than from Nolan or Lucas. I'll need to be more powerful before those start coming in more. At least upper or greater grey to really pull on the knowledge as well as I pull on the knowledge of Nolan and Lucas. Plus, there are something like fifty thousand factions of gods in the heavens. I was more content to laze around the universe and mess with things than to deal with those troublemakers."

I had the choice of punishing and disciplining gods and making them behave, or laze around the universe, playing with the laws of nature and physics and all that, doing as I pleased and having fun, experimenting and inventing and creating things, sometimes even in the universes of the other Divine Beasts.

It was an obvious choice, and I'll probably go back to it once I punish the gods responsible for my annoyance who did escape. Things will happen again, but it will be a long time, and not as badly as it was with the war on Midlaris.

"The angels are focused on us," I say. "They're likely a scouting party, here to determine what will be needed once the gods return for optimal control. They'll also likely assess the situations of everyone, the terrain, the settlements, and everything. It's best to wipe them out now."

I collapse onto the sand, sitting, exhausted. I adjust my position, then look up at Fael Mira.

"Sorry," I tell her. "But I really do need to sit this one out. You can hurt them with your magic, but you aren't powerful enough to kill them unless you use the sword – they'd tear you apart. Once you grip the hilt of Stormbringer, you'll be able to sense its power and know how to shape it. It's mind magic, and it will ignore any defenses you have up, but not affect them, so don't worry about that. It was forged by a mage far more powerful than you using the technique I explained to the smiths."

She nods, then places her hand on Stormbringer's hilt, before drawing the blade, the grey glow fading. She drops the sheath to the ground, then approaches the angels, who begin casting force magics at us. Fael Mira erects a barrier to block all attacks behind her, and I examine it, impressed.

She cast a long-lasting barrier she doesn't need to actively sustain in an instant. That will make it easier to protect me while she fights, as the barrier will do most of the work.

My grandmama reaches the angels in an instant, having enhanced her speed, which is already great due to her having grey magical power and having trained her body well. I'm barely able to keep up with the fight due to my lack of ability to enhance my speed. The angels use a few spells, but my grandmama deflects them with the sword or her magic. Rather than using her own magic for offense, she devotes it purely to defense, using the sword and its lightning, wind, and water to attack the angels.

While eight of the angels attempt to destroy her, two of them move away, looking at her warily without showing any sign of hostility. The same two I don't know the faction of.

Fael Mira finishes butchering the eight angels who were hostile, while the two who seem to be peaceful watch. One never knows with angels. My grandmama beckons for me to approach as she observes the two, sword pointed at them. She probably wants to know what they're doing here.

I rise and walk through her barrier, approaching them.

One of the angels my grandmama attacked is only feigning death. I pull out Reaper and draw it, Fael Mira giving me a confused and worried look. The pair of angels look terrified. As I pass by the one faking death, who has turned pale and stiff at the sensing of the sword, I stab down, cutting into his arm.

The two angels then turn their gaze to him, eyes wide with horror. They saw what happened. I use water magic to clean the blade of blood and sand, then I sheathe it and hold it at my side as I finish approaching.

"What brings you to Midlaris?" I ask in the universal tongue of the heavens.

"The one we serve," the angel on the right says as both bow to me, dropping to their knees. They have recognized me for who I truly am. "Wished for us to look at Midlaris and see his current state. When he found out a passage might be viable and other gods were sending angels as scouts, he requested we attempt as well."

"Midlaris is off-limits to any conquering, conquests, takeovers, godly dominance, and any other such things," I state. "After the mess of the war, I will not tolerate such things anymore."

"The one we serve desires no such thing," he tells me. "We only came to see how the world had recovered in the years since. He was simply curious as to its state. The one we serve has no interest in the things other gods do, nor any interest in the things which led to the war."

A god who stayed out of it, then.

"It has recovered well," I indicate the place where the passage is with my free hand. "Now leave."

"You are injured," the other angel says. "Is all well?"

"I will recover," I tell him. "This form was not powerful enough to face a god which attacked me. That god became a leviathan's snack. Now leave."

The angels stand, then give me a brief bow at the waist before walking to the passage, stepping into it and disappearing from sight.

"You let them leave," Fael Mira says.

"Angels, demons, and gods cannot lie in my presence," I say. "Even when I'm in mortal form. It's an effect of my soul. Beings of the heavens and underworld must be honest around me. This isn't something which can be avoided."

"I see," she looks at the corpses of the angels. "Do they do anything nasty, like a demon's corpse would?"

"Yeah," I send Reaper back into the tooth, then hobble over to one of the corpses. "I'm going to show you how to properly decay them without that effect. The spell will turn them into sand the same as the sand here, but I'm sure you'll know how to adjust it, should you ever have need of it again."

"Can you handle it?" She asks.

"No," I answer. "So when you take me back to camp, can you pick up any pieces that might fall off, and just stitch them back on? Temporary stitching will work, as long as you set it to last at least ten hours. That should give me enough time to sleep."

"Jason!"

"This is how you do it."

"Jason, don't!"