“Aaron, so glad you could make it. I'm also glad you're so damn predictable,” Wren said as he pushed out of Aaron's frozen grasp.

Wren detached a couple of the silent mind and still body needles sticking out of his battle suit and pulled out a dark shard of material that looked vaguely like something between glass and metal. After shoving it into Aaron's chest he activated the principles of contagion and sympathy embedded within it's containment enchantment.

“Pity you're only an avatar and not the main body or this would go a lot faster,” Wren muttered then said in a clearer voice, “You've been stabbed with a piece of ancient history. It's one of the last remaining shards of the dimensional prison the Hollow Host employed.”

As Wren talked to the avatar who couldn't process what it was hearing, two more avatars only showed up to get sucked into the shard along with the one that was stabbed.

Wren continued, “It was one of the only containment facilities in all of this arm of Origin, that half existed outside of reality, making it a singularity by default. It's unique natural property is that once a being is trapped within, any extensions of itself will eventually be drawn in to it as well. I boosted it a little with Infernal Engineer know-how. Who wants to wait for a year or two for all of your bits to get drawn inside.”

Wren could feel the gloaming eating away at his battle suit. Sending a trickle of bolstering EE into it, he started looking around until he finally spotted a dim figure surrounded by a sphere of dull yellow energy. He smiled towards the figure who was desperately condensing gloaming power around him only for the controlling energy to get sucked into the shard.

Wren said, “What an interesting barrier. Is it that color because you pissed yourself?”

Aaron replied, “If you release me, I'll share a secret about yourself my associate has shared with me and we can return to our own activities.”

Wren countered, “If you share that secret with me, I'll oath to release you with your main body's life in tact and capable of recovery in a short period of time along with a few beneficial gifts for your cooperation in my endeavors. In fact, they'd almost be done if collecting all of your scattered contingency bodies wasn't such an arduous process.”

Aaron said, “I don't have the luxury of time to negotiate. Either release me or die.”

Wren activated a modified recall stone set to Hiidan's coordinates. In an implosion of void, Wren arrived in a place he had only visited once before in all of his iterations.

Walking to where his father's emaciated body sat pinned to the wall, Wren said, “Which one needs to be removed first?”

“Touching them would destroy you. A Tier VI might be able-” Hiidan managed before Wren cut him off.

“Don't have time for the lecture, Pops. Which one first?”

“Right Shoulder... My right!” Hiidan said as Wren donned the gauntlets and reached for an impaling artifact.

Wren muttered an apology as he latched on to the chained spike as he pulled. The prison shard slotted into the left gauntlet acted as a buffer, the energy his gauntlets were eating from the curse filled in the rest. With these advantages, it still took an exhausting ten minutes to remove Still Body from his father. With a quick check to make sure that there were a couple of avatars left, Wren moved the shard to the other gauntlet and began removing the formation of razors that sealed Hiidan's Void power.

“You need to stop, son. I'm getting the flavor of your power mixed in with the rest,” Hiidan warned anxiously.

Wren stopped to catch a breather before downing a few philters then kept extracting. By the time he was finished, there was only one very weakened avatar left and over half of his own condensed SE had been exhausted. Wren dropped the crumbling gauntlets on the floor and turned to his father.

After taking out a chest filled with terrifyingly scary cursed objects and putting the shard in his father's hand, Wren said, “Here's some stuff to chew on. Make sure to only lower Aaron to Tier V. As much as I despise the shit, he's a victim of poor path choice. Once he's been knocked out of ascension, he's still a shit but a much more agreeable one.”

Hiidan chuckled and said, “Do I hear a hint of affection inside all that vitriol?”

Wren's face screwed up as he shuddered and said, “Gawd, I hope not. The iterations I've had that ended up with this asshole must have been brain damaged... While I'm on the subject, Your end half is making his way towards you and he's got a hell of a head start. The chest full of Nightmare Productions greatest hits should be a fair compensation for the dagger, chain spike and formation razors. If there isn't any objection, I kinda promised them to Sister's assassin guy. I feel a little edgy giving that unstable dude access to void sealing but we do have a slew of Balance keepers who need their asses collectively murdered so... your call.”

“After their degradation, they'd only be fully effective against Tier VI or lower. It's not a concern from my end.” Hiidan drawled.

Wren let out a tension relieving breath and said, “Then, if you'd give me a lift back to Undercity, I'd appreciate it. Just drop off Aaron when you're done with him and feel free to keep the shard since you would anyway. I know you need it more than I do. Wish I could keep it though, it's practically a deus ex machina.”

That, and I just stole it first. Wouldn't even have known about it if the back end of you marching this way didn't tell me about it.

In a concerned voice, Hiidan said, “And what of your own expenditures? Do you have the resources necessary to replenish yourself safely?”

Wren replied, “The hard part is condensing the first bit of liquid SE, after that, I don't have to worry about stuffing myself with junk food as much since the impurities will dissolve more easily now.”

Hiidan lectured, “Be careful about adopting cultivator knowledge to our reality's core concepts. They don't transfer as smoothly as you'd think.”

Wren said, “Since you're in a talkative mood, Pop's, why don't you tell me a little about my first life.”

Hiidan replied, “I- what?”

Wren sighed and said, “I'm pretty sure Satyra didn't call me bro because of your slight of hand with my physical form. Of course, all of this is meaningless if Satyra isn't your daughter. Can't imagine the brick road laying that fate has screwed me with time and again would make that leap of logic the one that makes me look dumb.”

Hiidan's voice shook a little as he said, “Satyra's finished her insane Path of Myriad Worlds elevation? Considering the state of our reality, I thought she had doomed herself to death for using such a time consuming and risky method.”

Wren said, “She was about a hundred years from fatal falure but let's not linger on that... Tell me about myself.”

Hiidan launched into his narrative, “I'm not recovered enough to verify. Wouldn't have thought to even try since I'm certain that one of the clumps of dust you have shifted belonged to my son. If what you say is true then that means you were the parts that crazy woman dug out and scattered across the iterations to spite me for releasing our bond. That heartens me more than you can know. It means that my son, your, soul core gathered you and reincarnated. It seems our fates with each other are strong.”

Wren shook his head.

I'd put more faith in grand manipulation. I suppose it's a matter of perspective. That same 'fate' placed you in a position to discover how to communicate directly with Origin and grant me BZ. If anything should be placed into the hands of personified chance then it would be that we were chosen to begin with. Everything that's happened after that smacks of careful planning.

Wren said, “I don't suppose you'd know what parts were discarded? Know thyself and all that.”

Hiidan lapsed into silence for a time before he said, “You were a sensitive and timid child. You were my little shadow all the way up till the day I was forced to leave. It hurt leaving you to her but I put too much faith in your mother's love for you. Had I known what she would do in her anger and grief, I would have made other arrangements for you... To answer your question, I first have to explain that we are from the first iteration and set the pattern for the rest. We were capable of more things then, of exploring paths of elevation not available to other iterations.

“My path was of beginnings and endings, one of many duality paths within the pursuit of Origin. Your mother's was an outsider inheritance that sought to turn the imaginary into reality and vice-versa. Due to having had more time with your sister, when we were in harmony, Your sister began following a path that was a combination of ours. I noticed early that you had discovered some odd and difficult to understand path of balances and fulcrums. I have often mused it was probably due to the deteriorating relationship between your mother and I, added with the stressed relationship with your sister that had inspired it.

“Upon our parting and eventual parting of ways, I can only say that your mother and I had become too different in goals and ideology to remain together. Pure outsider paths have strong and often times strange effects on emotions and morality as outsiders, by nature, are not the same as those who have a place within reality. I can only guess what she was thinking when she exercised her power over turning the real to illusionary on you. Obviously, the Great Pattern didn't allow her action to go as planned or you would not be here. Never the less, it destroyed your path and left you following a much more mundane one, perfection through equilibrium I believe.

“Through much difficulty you made your way to my side and I hid you among my subordinates. When we fell to the hands of invading forces, you hid well. You had always been good at hiding. To this day, I don't know how but when the Hosts left me in the state you see now, You had gathered the last few people of the post and had them give the last bit of their lives to remove Silent Mind from me, ending with your sacrifice to remove the artifact that blocked my sight... I had begged whatever force would listen that the last wisp of essence I saw moving to the astral plane wasn't my imagination.

“Whatever it was your mother had done to you had changed you into a cold person who tended to be suicidally reckless . I don't say that she made you bad but the compassion, empathy and caution you possessed was all but gone. That's as far as I understand.”

Wren said confusedly, “You don't know the hows and whys of what mother did when she supposedly killed herself to 'save' me? It was what Satyra told me. Seems like no one really knows the whole story.”

Hiidan said, “Considering how unlikely it would be to get where we are now, there's no real telling but a Tier VII existence can accomplish miraculous and terrible things if they are prepared to sacrifice themselves to do it.”

BZ interjected, “I may have a piece of relevant information. Something happened that correlates time-wise with the death of your mother. It was the moment that your father connected with Origin's learning program. How that relates to you, Wren, is still unknown. What I can share with certainty is that it is not possible for an iteration to absorb the remaining astral body of another iteration without aid. It is not a natural event. Your current manifestation is an aberration that defies natural law.”

Wren shook himself and said, “Okay, enough bombshells for me to digest. I'd like to get back to Undercity please.”

“By a short guess, I'll send a call mark in a couple days. Collect the reward you promised my daughter's subordinate and I'll send you on your way. If I recover anymore with you here it would put you in danger,” Hiidan said.

Wren quickly wrapped up the cursed objects carefully as he took a secret glance at the mostly restored, handsome and powerful man who was his father of two lifetimes. Despite the remaining damage, Wren believed that he could see the shape of his mother's desire and had to admit, the woman had good taste. Relatively short, black hair with a lazy wave to it, hung around a deeply tanned and mature face bordered by defined, strong jaw and cheek bones. He had to admit though, the dark, smoky eyes and thin eyebrows did give his father a gentleman villain vibe. He wasn't sure if the five o' clock shadow added or took away from that but it did look good on the man. Any further observations were interrupted by swallowing darkness.

As Wren's vision cleared he stood in a newly cleaned and organized pavilion. The serene atmosphere gave lie to the violent events that transpired less than two hours prior. Moments after arrival, his temporary band of seven made their way to him, followed by Ephyra. Wren took a fortifying breath and addressed the barrage of questions about what happened to him.

Wren summed it up with, “I had a nice chat with Aaron followed by a visit to Pops. Here's your toys, by the way, Assassin... Careful, still got live curses on them. Figured Healer might want them like that... Pops said he'll be sending me a call mark in a couple of days. After that, we'll be getting a newly demoted Aaron. I'll think you'll find him a much easier person to reason with. Speaking of which, here's the coordinates of your three clutches with him, Ephyra.”

As soon as the paper was in her hands she disappeared leaving Wren a little put out but he could understand her impatience.

After finishing the debrief, Wren opened his mind to contact Glaucous, “Hey, uh, Riverson. Do you think you could come with your son and Rohn. Now that Aaron has been dealt with, I have some business with the three of you.”

Glaucous replied, “Do I have your oath to mean no harm to them or myself.”

Wren assured, “I swear to the eternal circle that not only do I mean no harm, I come bearing a great gift to the three of you.”

Assassin asked, “Mind if I try these razors out on you, Wren?”

Wren replied all smiles, “If you promise to hold still after I bribe Mage to permanently fuse the dagger into your skull.”

A Jet of water revealed three figures that had Wren's demon/angel door vibrating. His attachments to Glaucous were not light but the various oaths and deep connections his past iterations had with Jaden and Rohn were by and far the strongest. For a moment he was lost in endless echoes of love and emotional pain before those discordant memories and his manifestation reigned themselves in.

With a slightly dry mouth, Wren said, “I carry a burden of gifts that I relinquish to the three of you but I must proceed individually. I leave it to you, who goes first.”

Wren thought inward, “I know these will test your resolve on remaining unattached. Are you still all in?”

His manifestation responded, “We are in compliance.” The demon side continued, “Only for my faith in you may I concede.”

Predictably, Glaucous threw out Rohn as the guinea pig. Wren mused on how many times his memories held this particular face of Rohn's. Tragic hero did looked appealing but it was sad how often Wren was looked upon in such a way when all he was doing had nothing but benefits involved.

Wren said compassionately as he could, “Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to get your nerves under control. I promise you'll be pleasantly surprised when it's done, Eldest Rohn.”

Doing as instructed, Rohn replied, “Just get it over with.” Under his breath he whispered, “I love you Rohna and Jackoby.”

Oh, for the love of Bob!

Wren wrapped up Rohn with ethereal Scroll ribbons and chains. He could feel a mass of energy pass through his manifestation into Rohn that left him a little nervous.

Wren thought at his manifestation, “Can he safely handle all that?”

The dual voice responded, “We give no more nor less than the limit of his endurance. Much we must retain along with the burden that should have been the due of this gift.”

Wren sat and meditated, pushing a massive pile of random, only mildly useful things into his devouring void as he waited. Nearly half an hour later, Wren felt the chains and ribbons begin loosening and opened his eyes. The Rohn standing before everyone was nearly equal to Glaucous in raw power. Covered in black and silver whirls he sat mounted on a ghostly giant direwolf made of black and silver flames. As Rohn dismounted the wolf dispersed. Walking up to Wren, Rohn knelt down.

Before Rohn could speak Wren said, “Guard and protect what you love. Most importantly to me, keep yourself safe and untangled from other people's problems.”

Rohn looked at Wren confusedly as he stood and said, “For such a thing you wish nothing of me?”

“I already told you what I wanted. That aside, I believe you have a daughter you now have the tools to aid.” Wren replied.

A complex expression passed over Rohn's face as he stood and excused himself. Wren turned to Glaucous next and after receiving a nod from Glaucous, Wren wrapped him up. Though the amount of energy that passed through the line was larger, it was much less complex. Within ten minutes, the chains and ribbons began to disperse. What stood before them was merely a darker version of the same Glaucous but newly risen to Tier VI.

Mage asked Wren, “What makes such a strange thing possible?”

The deep and unfathomable look Wren gave her made her involuntarily shudder as he said, “A throne built of suffering no single being could endure.”

Wren closed his eyes and took another fortifying breath to subdue the cry of longing that burst out from within as he turned to face Jaden. He could feel a slight sense of restlessness emanate from the demon side of his manifestation. He knew this time would be different, harder, for many reasons.

Wren said, “This one may take some time, Glaucous. Despite that, don't worry. Your son and I merely have a much larger debt between us.”

The demon side spoke within Wren, “It is not too late to relent. Bring him to your side and it will be enough for us.”

Wren thought back, “What have we given him for his devotion? Pain, suffering and a quick death, that's what. He doesn't have the inner strength to endure us and we do not have the ability to protect him. No, we will free him.”

Turning to Glaucous, Wren said, “Perhaps it is best for us to move this to the beach of Seaside? It could be... disruptive to a closed space.”

Glaucous nodded, “If you think it best. Would you like to bring your... friends as well?”

Wren nodded and said, “If it's not too much trouble. Maybe they could stay at the city though. Mage has the ability to summon them accommodations.”

Without preamble, Glaucous moved them. Unlike other times this transfer had occurred, it was so sudden the world was simply lost in a swirl of lapis colored water and reorganized itself into the shape of their new environment.

Feeling that his companions were near and safe if a little disoriented, Wren said, “Let me check on something real quick and then after I've started, register your ascension at the Tethyr Guardian Alliance building. Ask for Danica by name and use what means you have to bring her here for however long it takes me to finish, Glaucous. Outside of that, do as you will. It wasn't my intention to treat you so roughly but time is limited and I've much to accomplish before my actions bring their consequences to myself.”

Wren disappeared into his void and said to the rattled and shaken father and son, “I'm about to be busy for the next bit. Could be a few hours or a couple of days. I'll leave a- I see you've found my stores... No it's fine. No need to act like you've done something wrong. Stay away from the pile on the far left. There's some dangerous stuff in that one. Sable, here's a bag of goodies for you to supplement your meals with. Directions are inside. Do not share them with your son... 11-14, I know you as Grimalkin. Is that acceptable to you?”

Grimalkin replied, “This one would like to know what the name means, master.”

Wren replied, “It means gray cat. It's a mythological beast from my home world.”

Grimalkin let out a tentative smile, as if seeing how it felt on his face, before he said, “It is a good name, master.”

Wren could see that Sable had many questions but was practiced at waiting for right moments to ask them as Wren continued, “You have two paths you may walk. A solitary one where I give you supplies, some rare knowledge and you strike out with your father or you can become a vessel for power and merge with yourself from another version of reality. One that is a parent to my only conceived son. The choice is yours and you have time to decide.”

After conjuring the father and son some food supplies so they didn't have to scrounge for edibles from around the forming oasis and it's amenity stuffed cabin, he returned world side. After giving the nervous Jaden a quick pep talk and getting the go-ahead, Wren wrapped him up and let his manifestation do it's thing as he slipped into deep meditation to avoid the terrifyingly strong emotional fluctuations seeping into his mind from the demon side of the door.

Wren lost track of time as he studied the diagram and it's dizzying growth within his structure. In deep study, Wren realized that as the demon side was releasing a steady stream of essence, power and knowledge to the cocooned Jaden, the angel was releasing a smaller stream of incredibly condensed spirit into his structure and domain.

Wren asked the angel side, “Why do you only do this now?”

The angel answered, “It is reward for resolving oaths and honoring past sacrifices. We contain much but are restricted by the very things that make us. As we have said before, we use you but only seek to serve.”

“What happens when I have resolved all oaths and honored all sacrifices?” Wren asked.

With crushing resolve, the angel answered, “It is as inconceivable as abolishing suffering while maintaining free will but the more you accomplish for us, the more we are freed to merge with your domain and become independent of our creation. We will become succor and guardian to you with time. Should your domain grow to be a plane, we shall be the forces that govern it's laws, demarcate its limitations and what is required to overcome them. There is more but it is beyond our understanding.”

When Wren had reached the end of his ability to distract himself with meditation, he began sifting through the plethora of unexplored knowledge of his lifetimes, consolidating it and seeking new understandings. As he teased out a particularly interesting combination of enchantment, alchemy and engineering that would allow him to expand the capabilities of his spectral transport to equivocate what a Tier VI conjuring could accomplish with the capabilities of a strong Tier IV, he finally felt the loosening of his manifestation's hold on Jaden. Checking the passage of time with BZ, he realized nearly three days had gone by, a stunning blow to his timetable.

Wren opened his eyes to a singeing blast as a huge black and silver bird made of purifying flame soared into the air and released a clarion of aching loneliness. Wren immediately collapsed as a force within himself nearly sundered him trying to answer that call. Before the force within him could rally another attempt to break free, a sweet and clear note peeled across the sky in answer. A bird of scintillating light and icy vapor rose to circle the first. As the two birds wheeled around each other singing notes of challenge that turned amorous, Wren felt a wave of bleakness wash through him. Over and over again, Wren reminded himself that the pain he was experiencing didn't belong to himself but only to another that had become a part of him, that the black and silver bird in the sky wasn't even that part's bird. It didn't help much but it gave him just enough strength to make it past the worst of it.

Wren stood up and rushed into the sea water, doing a few minutes worth of stress relief before returning to the shore and cleaning up. The stretching and light exercise did it's part to improve his mood enough to face the next few minutes and with every second spent another came to replace it. With time, Wren knew he'd be fine and not the fake equanimity that he was portraying.

Glaucous approached and said, “I see your gifts have cost you much. Is there aught I can do to alleviate that?”

For a few seconds of insanity, Wren was tempted to take the offer made in gratitude and subtle interest but reason re-inserted itself before he had a chance to say or do something he would have regretted. He took the offer in another direction, however, as he used it as an opening to the next step of his planned actions.

Wren said, “It is difficult to let go of someone that claws their way into the very center of your heart.”

A shadow of deep empathetic grief showed on Glaucous' face as he said, “I couldn't agree more.”

Wren urged, “So you have someone like this? I can do nothing about my grief without spreading it to others. Perhaps I could find relief in helping you with yours.”

Glaucous snorted in derision before he turned apologetic then said sadly, “Unless you could bring back someone long returned to dust, then no.”

Wren said, “I may not personally but with Healer's help and an item I possess, it's not impossible. You would need their true name, though.”

Glaucous eyes that were becoming crazed with hope, died at the last requirement until Wren added, “You may not know it but Ephyra has some knowledge on the subject of true names, perhaps she might know of a way to acquire it.”

In an azure flash, Wren found himself standing outside of Mage's summoned manor, joined by a dazed Ephyra and erratic Glaucous moments later. After an intense Q&A between Glaucous and Ephyra, it was discovered that she had uncovered Malkanthor's true name a few years after his death but was unable to employ it in an effort to save him. She never mentioned it out of respect and to not raise false hope.

Wren reigned in Glaucous' growing intensity with his next words, “If I do this, drawing Healer into the repercussions with me, I need something from you.”

Glaucous replied, “Anything within my power to grant is yours for the asking, even my life and freedom.”

Wren nodded and said, “One open favor only. Oath it.”

Glaucous did so as Ephyra looked anxiously at Wren. Wren gave her a saucy wink before stepping to the head and seeking out Healer. As it was a talk with Healer over the alchemy table that gave birth to the idea, Healer wasn't overly surprised when Wren showed up wan and slightly sickly looking from his nearly three days of neglect. After fussing over Wren for a bit they listened to the proposal again before readily agreeing.

Ephyra started the ritual by placing the true name upon the bed moved to Healer's workroom. She intoned the highest command possible by sacrificing her knowledge of the true name and bid all remnants of Malkanthor to gather upon his name. Wren handed Healer a chest of nine sealed Tier V souls kept from reincarnation for over a thousand years as punishment for their wanton slaughter and consumption of mortals. Healer silently called upon the power of their secret, even as Wren joined them in sharing the burden. They both poured copious amounts of EE into a containment circle drawn around the bed on the floor as Wren drew over a hundred years worth of LE out of his pool to join it. Locking on to the sealed and unprotected souls, Wren activated Abyssal Alchemist secrets to liquefy the astral shells of the bloody souls. Healer bolstered Wren's expenditure till they both saw that the souls would finish the process on their own to escape their imprisonment.

Both Healer and Wren had a flash vision of a middle aged military officer dying from a sudden heart attack in the back of an armored truck. As their vision focused back in front of them, a body started taking form. Wren prompted Ephyra who commanded Malkanthor to remember his life here and to forget the one he came from to sever karmic ties. Healer and Wren shared a look, both recognizing that what they did here was far from a 'good' deed and was against the Great Pattern but had taken measures against the backlash. To say that there would be no repercussions was not true, however, Healer gained insight into their path through this endeavor and Wren was far from overstepping tolerance as of yet.

As soon as the newly risen man had drawn his first breath, Healer went to work adjusting Malkanthor's body and smoothing out the spiritual damage. It was easy to see why this man had captured the hearts of eight women and his own brother. He was elven masculinity cast in purest ebony with hypnotic amber eyes. It surprised Wren to see that the man wasn't much taller than himself but there was a cast to his features that gave no doubts to the man's regal character. It probably helped that even though he was a bit on the short side for his descendant's average he certainly measured up where it mattered.

Wren, Healer and Ephyra stepped out of the room when Malkathor's mind fully clicked on and caused him to call out in reflex, bringing Glaucous rushing to his bedside. As Healer wandered off to other pursuits after checking Wren's state, Ephyra begged off to return to her children after giving Wren prolific gratitude. Hours passed as Malkanthor was caught up to some semblance of events, fed a few bolstering philters and finally given some clothes. As the two brothers left the room, they found Wren lightly napping on the floor by the door. The sight made Malkanthor laugh lightheartedly as Glaucous launched into a profusion of thanksgiving once Wren opened his eyes.

Both the laughter and the thanks stopped cold as Wren intoned, “Glaucous, I call upon your favor. Leave no detail unsaid as you share your true and hidden feelings for your brother.”

Wren walked away with feigned indifference to Glaucous' appeals and Malkanthor's harsh invective against Wren's request that was bringing his beloved little brother so much distress. Left with no choices but to accede or become an oath breaker, Glaucous revealed his darkest secret as Wren moved to his void realm.