Once the feeling of passing through what Wren recognized as the boundary of a sub-dimension, he surveyed the area around him. A serene grassy plain stretched out for miles around with nothing to break the illusion of endlessness except for a menhir like the one above. As he approached it, Wren's evolved dimensional vision detected the same kind of dizzying array of layered time-space he had seen once before. Unlike Usuway's, however, these layers were firmly separated with the menhir being the only constant between them all.

It's like the menhir is an old school obelisk that acts as a needle threading through all the different layers. If a ley-line was reduced to a single point, with all the potential destinations cross-sectioned into layers, it would look the same.

Wren carded through the layers, skipping sections a few hundred-thousand at a time. Sometimes he'd encounter ones where life was not sustainable or places where odd gaps existed in the otherwise uniform layers. Using his 3.5 mind, sometimes like a microscope and sometimes as binoculars, he focused more clearly on a layer that caught his attention. Following a trail of one particular set of 'bread crumbs' he encountered something that made his scalp tingle.

A note, written in his own handwriting, read, “Ask the cup. She will remember what you do not.”

On that layer, like many before it, laid three gathering tools. Wren could see that they responded to the three unique resources that existed by each: The cup was obviously for the water that lay in a spring fed pool, a hand sickle for the wheat-like plants with multiple colored seeds and a fine tipped chisel for collecting the prismatic crystals that grew out of a stone platform behind the tools pedestal. Wren desired to speak to BZ and get his take on all this but the AI was oddly silent.

Wren didn't know if it would work from where he was but said, “Cup, can you hear me?”

A little girl's voice, that seemed to come from all the layers at once, said, “Oh, it's you again, uncle Wren! You visited me a lot faster this time. You forgot again. You always forget!” The little girl's voice took on a sobbing tone as she continued, “How can you help me wake up mommy if you always forget?”

Sensing that the entity he was speaking with was likely unstable, Wren pushed down his own jangled nerves and spoke soothingly, “I know I've probably asked you the same thing many times before but can you tell me what you remember of our other meetings?”

In a sad and exasperated tone, the cup's awakened spirit recounted Wren's life and death on Earth, as Orison. She went on to explain how Wren had promised her that if he could find a way, he would bring Satyra back from the dead. After getting some more details on things his past self had managed to try, Wren got the impression that the best he could ever accomplish was a facsimile of Satyra that used the original woman's remains as an item to inhabit. The complex enchantment that linked the memories and residual spirit to the menhir could awaken.

Taking a risk, Wren unburdened all that he could about himself and the abilities that he possessed, something he'd apparently done many times before, before he discovered that his bizarre manifestation was new. Teasing apart clues from the cup's broken recollection and child-like understanding, Wren realized that his intuition and even the strength of his inner self had developed exponentially from the first time they had met. He even figured out that most of the girl's own growth might have been due to their interactions and occasional 'presents' that he had brought her.

After a few inquiries, Wren discovered that the strange natural laws and enchantments that permeated this unique sub-dimension only allowed for one entry and exit per entity, per iteration. What he was seeing with his special vision, were the countless different echoes of each iteration. Under normal circumstances, his special vision would not allow him to see iterations but since this existence was a singularity, it was missing many obscuring dimensions.

With the cup spirit's help, Wren followed his own notes to discover a chilling secret. From the outer edges of the entirety of this reality, it was being eaten away by outsiders at an alarming pace. After that blow, came the realization that this reality was coming to the end of it's lifespan and was rotting from the inside as well. It seemed that all his previous visits here had lead him into trying to find the 'best' reality to be safe from both for the longest period of time.

It was daunting to realize that he had lived so many other lives that all lead to the same destination. With that insight came a terrifying thought. His ever strengthening intuition, this alien yet strangely intimate feeling manifestation and BZ were all leading Wren to some sort of monumental end goal. After finishing that thought, he was hit with the strongest sense of wrongness that he could recall. He felt a strong urge to rethink his use of this place, that he should be looking for something else.

Hour upon hour he sat, letting his thoughts run loose. Not immediately getting anything useful, he started chatting with the cup. Mostly she just talked about how much she missed her mom. Cup rambled on about how her mom was the best at one thing or another.

I need answers and, for whatever reason, Buzz isn't able to converse with me. Not that it matters. If what cup says is true, I've had Buzz here with me before.

For the briefest of moments, Wren's intuition began nudging in a direction before dropping it. After trying hard to find the dropped thread of thought and failing, he drew into himself and borrowed the power of his manifestation. Wreathed in fluttering scroll ribbons and whipping barbed chains, he tried again.

Once again, Wren picked up on a faint thread of thought that immediately shut down again but this time barbed chains shot deep into himself. Wren panicked as the chains ripped a hole into his astral body and with every small movement, a little more damage was done. Wren's already seriously depleted SE nearly bottomed out by the time his manifestation's chains had found their quarry. Concerned his soul might disperse if this situation continued even a moment longer, Wren kicked all but two sin-eater eggs into his void. With the added resources filtering into his SE, Wren was still barely hanging on as the chain writhed like a wounded snake.

A day later, Wren laid in the grass, soaked in sweat. With his power so dangerously unstable, he chose not to exercise any abilities and decided to endure. In his mind, the only positive that he could find was the sudden clarity of thought he possessed. Whatever it was the demon side of his throne took, it had been an actual part of himself. Wren marveled that something so ugly and malignant could be within his very being and not realize it was there.

After having excised whatever the spiritual tumor represented within him, Wren suddenly found himself questioning some of his decisions and realized that he hadn't been properly in control for quite some time. Trying to jump in the sack with Troy, subtle selfish impulses over Rohn and Imani, even how quickly he pursued a bond with Jaden before he'd resolved his issues with Glaucous all had a hint of pushes outside of normal thought. The way that he let his anger lead him by the nose during the Aaron episode and the small moment of wanting to devour Assassin were just icing on the cake as far as he was concerned.

Is it any wonder I threw away something as precious as that liquid spirit? I was so desperate to assert what I believed my true nature to be that I'd have done much crazier things I'm sure. Luckily, no girl scouts were trying to sell me cookies!

Not sure how he was going to approach this situation yet, he asked the question he should have asked lifetimes ago, “Cup, Where's your mom's real body?”

The little girl's voice said, “It's where I'm wiggling.”

Scanning through the layers, Wren saw where all the cups were pointing till he found the one where the faded and chipped vessel was trembling. The layer was close enough to the crumbling inner layers that he was able to estimate that it was less than a hundred years from falling to the void and joining the rest of the origin side realities that had been lost to decrepitude. With a 10% drop in LE to the tithing circle on the menhir, Wren juked past the enchantment's grab and slipped down the line to his target layer before exiting.

Upon arriving, many strong illusion based enchantments released their blocks on Wren's senses, allowing him to see the truth of this layer. A simple but elegant shrine surrounded the menhir and on a crystal encased dais lay a woman. As Wren approached, he was struck with a strong sense of familiarity with the woman who looked like she was only sleeping.

Cup said excitedly, “Hurry and harvest the gifts and get better and then wake up mommy.”

Wren sighed, “Cup, I don't even see them. How can I get them?”

Exasperated, Cup said, “The crystals are in mommy's hand and the seeds are in the other one. Mommy's tears are under her pillow...”

Wren walked over to the clear casket and opened the lid. As he did so, he felt the energy of many different types of enchantments wash over him. Although he was worried, Cup reassured him that nothing bad would happen to him as long as he was a 'good uncle'. He reached down and took three seeds from one of the woman's hands and three crystals from the other. Using Cup, he scooped up three portions of the water that pooled in a basin under Satyra's porcelain pillow.

Cup spoke out, “Now remember, you can only use one portion of each, uncle Wren. If you use more than that they do bad things instead of good things.”

As Wren contemplated whether it would be better to eat the grain fruit directly or through his void space, the ground began shuddering and bucking under him. Under his spacial vision, the layers began crunching and condensing until the only one that remained was the one he stood upon. The woman who laid upon the dais opened her eyes and looked at Wren as her body radiated with the vitality provided by countless iterations of her world. The implications of what he just witnessed, darkened his mind and broke his heart.

The woman rose from her stone and crystal bed and said, “Originally I only had the realm grain and timeless shards in my keeping. The tears were inspired from me by you, little brother. I had hoped that it would be anyone but you who awakened me.

“Watching your struggles erased old hates in my heart towards you. Seeing you vainly struggle and fail against forces greater and beyond you so many times moved me to give you ease in your suffering but it wasn't the boon I'd hoped it would be. When I made this place and prepared for my path of advancement, I placed an enchantment that would not allow you to find me but I knew the mutable nature of souls and existence so I tied it to something that I believed you'd never be able to remove from yourself.

“I know you do not remember your first life. Perhaps it is best to remain forgotten but I will share some. When you where born, mother had delayed her ascension to Tier VI and she was injured during her pregnancy in a way that had delayed her ascension for quite some time. By the time she had ascended, father was imminently near Tier VII. Mother and father practiced very different paths and unbeknownst to mother, father had shared the beginning secrets to his path with you.

“When mother thought you were ready, she began preparing you to follow her path since father had to leave us. I will not explain what is better left forgotten save that she wronged you greatly without understanding and upon the Eternal Circle, you vowed to never forgive her. In the end she sacrificed herself to save you from your self-destructive behavior. Thinking back now, I don't blame that all on you. Mother was father's first bond and both of them had become overwhelmed with incompatibilities.”

As she spoke, Satyra moved closer to Wren. Once she was within arms reach, in a move too fast for Wren to follow, she poured a cup of her tears into Wren's mouth as she pushed her energy through him. The more things she saw the more grim and sorrowful her face became. She watched as Wren's astral body healed, the tears' secondary effect dissolving his memories.

Taking a crystal from his slackening grip, she pushed it into his mental realm to rest upon the angel's brow. She watched it shrink as a twin appeared on the demon's brow as well. The calm acceptance of her actions rippled out from the demon, even as the angel radiated a nameless desire for her ending. She bade the powerful and self-aware manifestation to aid Wren in obtaining the useful memories of all that they had witnessed in their vigil over him. She knew their true nature and what they represented. It made her lament bitterly.

Taking one of the seeds from his hand, with a mysterious movement, Satyra threw the seed into Wren's void. As the hard shell began disintegrating, she moved some of her power and baptized his body and soul with it. Surveying her effort she took the remaining two shares of the resources he had collected and started preparing a circle. With a flourish she finished her efforts as a man covered in darkness and a confused, darkly tanned boy appeared.

Satyra took a deep breath before she said, “Only one of you will understand what I am about to say fully but both of you need to hear it. Your father has fallen victim to forces beyond his control. Soon he will be reborn into a life that will lead him to see this one as little more than someone else's recollections but I've seen my brother's soul yearn for connection and shoulder burdens too large for him to bear many times. Upon discovering your existences, he will worry for you. If he knew what he had gained from me, he would want you to have the other shares though he would struggle hard before reaching that choice. This would only end with yet another burden upon him. I will take it upon myself to grant them to you on his behalf.”

Thetus spoke, “It would be wrong of me to take what has not been offered freely from my father's hand.”

Satyra plastered a domineering face on as she said, “This is not a request and all you will accomplish by denying these gifts is see them wasted. It is your father's place to resent me for my actions if he desires but I do not believe he will. These two gifts are from the first reality of our origin, perhaps the only ones of their kind to still exist and will be beneficial to you both in what is to come. Perhaps you will not need them but I will not allow you the risk of refusing.”

The boy looked on the verge of frightful tears but shored himself up to say, “It won't hurt right?”

Satyra dropped the austere visage to adopt a compassionate one as she said, “No, they will only benefit you.”

After getting Thetus to release his void, Satyra placed a crystal between the brow of the man and child. She placed a seed within Thetus' devouring void and then turned to the boy. She was perplexed how she should dispense the seed to him until she gazed into the boy's inner space and discovered something that shocked her. After placing the seed within, she closed her eyes for a moment before turning to Thetus.

Satyra said, “Soon your brother will awaken to his gifts. He will need help alleviating the pressure to grow that exists within him and if any discover his unique advantages they will seek to exploit him if not... Look after your brother well as I had not for mine.”

Thetus looked at Satyra blankly for a moment before replying, “I will do what is within my ability.”

After contemplating for a moment, she poured the other two cups into the mostly energy form of Wren then turned to the two offspring of Wren. After sharing some words and advice with Thetus, she bade them say whatever they wished to their father after assuring them that the memory would exist for him in a fashion. To give them some privacy, she excused herself with her remaining six seeds and crystals, empowering Ves the cup to collect her remaining tears.

Thetus walked over to Wren and said, “I know not what to say to you that I have not already said. Thank you for giving me life and acknowledging me as your son. Now that I know my brother may need me, I will do what I can.... What is your name, brother?”

The confused boy, currently seeming around the age of six, said, “Trauart... but dad and Silas just call me Artie. Since you're my brother you can call me Artie too, I guess.”

Thetus smiled and said, “Well Artie, my name's Thetus but my wife calls me Theo. You can too, I guess... Why don't you say something to our father while you can. I know he can't talk back right now but I'd be willing to wager that it would mean a lot to him.”

With a serious look that gave lie to his age, Trauart approached Wren and said, “I didn't like you because you made dad really sad, a lot. It don't look like it was on purpose and dad doesn't get mad at me for making messes and stuff when it was an accident so I guess I won't hate you or anything. Dad doesn't want me to hate you anyway. Just because it wasn't on purpose doesn't mean you don't have to apologize though... Dad has a new person now and I really like Silas so you can't be mean to them. When you apologize to dad for making him sad, you should bring green olives and tiny can fishes cause he's the only one who likes those. Sorry that bad stuff happened to you. Hope you get better soon... Is that good Theo?”

Thetus nodded at Trauart before turning to Wren and said, “My hopes go with you, father. I hope this life brings you the happiness that your previous ones did not. What I feel for you is hard to find words for but I believe it truth to say I love you father. Be well.”

Deep within Wren's fading self-awareness, the still grieving king of birds sensed his progeny was near and felt that they were speaking to him. A strong desire bubbled up to reach out to them. He searched for some dredge of connection with his fading form to project all his wishes for them. He formed a mental picture of their health and happiness and in his sending, he spread his wings lovingly and protectively over them as he had never been able to in the outer world.

The boy and man stood stunned at the pure and honest feelings that washed over them. Not sure what to name the strangely sad-happy that welled inside him, Trauart rushed towards his fading father and threw himself into Wren's ethereal form. For the briefest of moments, there was resistance and Trauart could feel barely tangible arms close around him before he fell to the floor and started crying.

Thetus quickly walked over to Trauart and pulled the boy up into his own arms as he said, “Come, little brother. Let's find our aunt to take you home before your dad worries. Father's feelings have reached us. Be strong for your father's sake, so that he won't have to worry until he can see you again.”

Trauart slowly nodded once at no one in particular before turning to Wren's nearly dissipated form to give his father one last watery smile and waved until the particles of light were finally gone.

***

Wren stared blankly within the weightless darkness. A rusty voice was trying to explain things to him in a rushed manner but he wasn't able to focus on it as boundless amounts of information coalesced into understandable forms within his nearly overtaxed mind. He felt a small but important part of himself fall into and sublimate with something stronger and more bolstering. Finding a better receptacle, the flood of information began draining into a much larger and more ordered mental space within.

“Do you understand?” The rusty voice said.

Wren replied, “No but I will, fath- Hiidan.”

Before Wren was swallowed in light, Hiidan finished with, “Then that will have to suffice.”

All right. This space is like the ones from the crazy slideshow in my head. If the red-head is named Lilly and the guy on the floor is Troy then I'll take it at face value.

Wren walked over to the two he recognized from the fractures of recollection and introduced himself. Unsurprisingly the the two were, in fact, named Troy and Lilly. What did surprise him was their reactions to him. Lilly stammered and blushed as she looked at the floor as Troy's jaw hung open for a moment before clicking shut and acting normally.

Using a trick that just popped into his head, Wren smoothly accessed his void space without alerting the giant floating snake. After handing Troy a couple pain pills and water, he flitted off to hand a small pack of jerky and dried fruit to a painfully thin African lady before offering another pair of pain pills and water to a one legged man next to a small Asian monk before heading back to Troy and Lilly. His actions had garnered some attention from a few shady folks but Wren surprised himself at how well he reflexively avoided their grasping hands as he sent them a glare that contained something within it strong enough to deter them.

Wren kept a relaxed and carefree attitude through the spy mission as it didn't even seem as important to him as shuffling through the slowly organizing packs of information. Predictably, being calm and indifferent made him just as much a target as before but unlike many other of the fractures of recollection, Troy actually sided with him. Wren just chalked it up to already being physically changed as he arrived here, which took him a few moments to realize because he felt so comfortable in his own skin despite the radical changes.

It's a damn shame I didn't realized my radical makeover earlier or I could have saved Hiidan his baby making mojo. No matter. Now that potency will just speed along my mini evolution to Tier IV that much faster.

Wren was lost in his private memory reels when the boar showed up but with a little acting and a lot of faith in his increased reflexes, Wren managed to repeat the version where Lilly finished the poor wild pig with a makeup pencil, managing to not get himself gored. Wren finished the anti-climatic episode by ripping out the boar's heart and offering it to Quetz which earned him a little favor he cashed in to help out Jampa's one legged new friend and Imani's group.

During the points tutorial, Wren ignored Hiidan's prompts to get the layout that BZ had suggested. Since most of what the class and profession represented was knowledge, he was far more interested in getting the continuation of the ones he only possessed for a couple of weeks. After advising Troy not to buy fast heal, which ended up being a harder sell than he thought it would be, Wren finished his own purchases. After giving a few encouraging words to Lilly and Troy and receiving a few words of gratitude from Jampa and his one legged friend, as well as Imani and her group, Wren was once again wrapped up in light followed by darkness.

Interrupting Hiidan, Wren said, “A lot of past me went through hell and high water to reach here, Pops. Hold on to your knickers and I'll swing by your house in a few days if you'll give me a spacial lock mark.”

Thankfully I got the simple and clean versions of all those memories or I'd be a broken minded shrimp by now. Still, it's good to have a nice little road map on who I need to ruthlessly murder as soon as possible and those who aren't who they seem to be. It's a damn shame every single version of me is, at base nature, a turtle. I could know so much more...Cross my fingers and maybe, just maybe, I can come out the other side of this shit show as something other than a mangled corpse or an emotional and spiritual cripple...

Strange though... Why could my past selves not be more in agreement on who was the apple of their eye? I'm open minded enough to realize that the ship on my sexuality has pretty much sailed into waters I'm personally not used to swimming in but... Whatever, It's not like I have to be bound by my many past self choices.

As an eerie chill passed through him, Wren amended bound to limited which seemed to sit better with the terrifyingly vivid duality throne in his mindscape. Pulling his thoughts to his present, Hiidan started asking Wren about past recollections. When Wren reached a point where he shared about his supposed sister Satyra's breakthrough that turned Satyrus into a singularity, Hiidan went silent for a minute before Wren started complaining about getting faint headed which earned him an immediate ejection from the space between places.

Upon arriving in the safe-zone, Wren sat and processed the memories he had of interactions with the lock-box while waiting for Troy and Lilly to arrive and made a few incredibly helpful discoveries. As soon as they arrived, Wren shook Troy awake and gave him the last pain pill out of a newly emptied bottle.

Wren said, “Enjoy the buzz because it's the last one. I'll be back in a bit with something that'll help you a hell of a lot more than some ridiculous waste of possible potential that fast healing represents. In the future, you need to be very careful and selective on what kinds of perks you buy. The AP store isn't a candy shop, it's a booby trapped temple full of treasures and pitfalls. What's worse, no one's really supposed to let you know. Luckily Lilly only focused on knowledge but pass on the message to her when she wakes up in a minute.”

Troy called out to Wren who was striding out, “How do you know all this?”

Wren replied before continuing on his way, “That's something I can't tell you but you'll understand really soon.”

Rushing up to the lock-box, eyes glittering like a child on Christmas morning, Wren began collecting on recent purchases and a select handful of different forgotten legacies. He could have snatched up much more but he was afraid of attracting the attention of the SYSTEM Registrar. He had once and didn't want to bring that kind of attention drawing disaster on himself again.

After storing away his ill gotten gains, Wren turned and nearly wet himself at the fright he received. In front of him was a devilishly sinister looking man with four other shadowy figures closing in from the nighttime darkness.

“So we meet in the flesh. Lucky you,” said the danger exuding, sharp faced man.