"Astounding, simply astounding. I've heard of mind over matter, but this is insanity," Doctor Sullivan said as machines monitored Tyler's body. "There's no medical explanation," he said.

Eight hours. Four PM to Twelve in the morning. As soon as the clock struck twelve, Ren-Shai's body rapidly recovered - back to its prime state. With no food in him. In fact, the boy looked slightly livelier than when he had been in the day before for his check-up. After the recovery, Ren-Shai's hand flexed and he sat up, looking around at Tyler's sleeping family. That and one astonished doctor. Sullivan motioned for Ren-Shai to follow him out of the room so they wouldn't wake Thomas, Mary, or Sasha. Ren-Shai obliged and stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind himself.

"Kid. You could tell me you were the second coming of Christ and I'd believe you at this point," Doctor Sullivan said, dropping all pretense of professionalism.

"Not that I don't know who that is, but whoever he is that is who he is. I am Ren-Shai," he replied. "It is an insult to compare me to anyone else. I am sure you would dislike being known as someone else as well," Ren-Shai replied.

"That was a compliment, though," Sullivan replied.

"Oh, I wouldn't have guessed," Ren-Shai said, seeming a bit confused. "One of those human customs I've never understood. Where you aren't content to find yourselves, you copy others and compare yourselves to others," he commented, looking at the ceiling. "That is why I am making no attempt to copy any of you. I will find what it means to be a human by walking its path. Not the path of anyone else."

"... You're five, though," Sullivan said.

"You're thirty-seven years, one hundred sixty-seven days, twenty hours, nineteen minutes, and as of when I finish this sentence, forty-five seconds old," Ren-Shai replied. "But if we're pointing out the obvious, I can just tell a wall it is a wall," he added.

"It really is like us trying to talk to a dog and expecting us to understand it, isn't it?" Sullivan asked.

"Infinitesimally smaller," Ren-Shai said. "I'm sure you must know the theory of how to present the third dimension to the second by unfolding a cube, so they can understand it, yes?" he asked.

"Vaguely," Sullivan replied, recalling something like that in high school.

"It would be similar to me having to unfold a hyperdrive to your dimension. Your kind haven't even developed them, yet. I do know of your holy books. There is a reason things were spoken in parables or just plainly. Human minds can't comprehend such things without allegories or relations," Ren-Shai explained.

"Then why are you wasting time talking to us or interacting with us? Assuming any of this is real?" Sullivan asked, baffled. "Couldn't you have just stayed where you were if you know, basically, everything?"

"To be fair, I wanted to experience what drove your kind to try and deny me. Fate. Time. Luck. I still know everything prior to when I inhabited this boy's body. If I care to think about something, I still know everything," he explained. "So far, my experiences have been enlightening. Sometimes you're grateful to someone for providing you with something, then you do something in return. Almost like bartering," he commented. "But instead of goods, it's something to do with feelings or pain," Ren-Shai said.

"Kid, listen. I'm starting to believe your story more and more. What you're saying makes a whole lot of sense, but you're talking like you've never felt anything before," Sullivan said.

"Why would I? What I see are merely actions. I have never done anything for another until I helped that girl with a mangled leg for the sake of this body's father not being injured. Only to find out humans can't die from that kind of hurt," Ren-Shai answered back. "While many of your kind are worrying about whether something is right or wrong, I'm just thinking of the most efficient way to solve a problem."

"The tripped girl in the lobby?" Sullivan asked.

"It made her stop assaulting my senses, did it not?" Ren-Shai asked. "I would rather deal with a hundred angry, yet competently speaking people like her grandmother than high-pitched shrill screaming in these things you call ears," he added.

"I'd say that makes you a sociopath or psychopath in any other scenario other than the one you're presenting to me, Ty-Ren," Sullivan said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I don't blame dust for getting in my eyes when the wind blows, nor do I blame the wind. I just remove the dust," Ren-Shai commented.

"Ah, I see," Sullivan said. "You need to understand that sometimes, the most direct route is not the best one."

"I would disagree with that. When you're something like myself, nothing really stands in the way of your will. You desire it and it happens. The direct route is common sense. Rather, that's how it was before this body and how it limits my power," Ren-Shai admitted.

"Limits what? And, Ren-Shai? What are you, if you don't mind my asking? What power are you speaking of?" Sullivan asked.

"I am Fate. I am Time. I am Luck. I am the Thread that binds my brothers together. The bind of Life, Creation, and Spirit to Death, Destruction, and Void. I am Ren-Shai the Thread-Three," he answered. "No mortal has heard my name before this day. While this boy's family should be honored - they insist on calling me Tyler."

Doctor Sullivan stared in absolute shock. The fact someone could comment on something so casually, much less something that appeared to be five years old was something straight out of Lovecraft's worst fairy tales. "You need to understand. People don't just come back from the dead. As far as they know, a genuine miracle just happened and they have their son back. Now, about that power thing," Sullivan said.

"I don't do second chances. When you die, you're under Lan-Shai's domain. That boy's soul is where it is supposed to go. I could extend your thread as thin as possible, but it runs out. All things end. If you were talking about that girl, let me tell you something I've never told even the lesser gods I've made," Ren-Shai said, setting his chin in his palm. "The natural order is simple. You begin to exist, you exist for a certain amount of time, and you end. That is the natural order. The ultimate Fate is death. Just because I've intervened and stopped someone dying today doesn't mean they aren't going to die, it just means they haven't died yet," he explained. "None of the lessers comprehend this. It's not how you die, it's simply a matter of when."

"You're saying you're a walkway between life and death, but whatever happens, the road still ends, yes?" Sullivan asked.

"Glad I explained it satisfactorily," Ren-Shai said with a nod of approval. "Now, before you get frustrated, I will explain what I mean about my power," he commented. "Right now, my powers are extremely limited. I can only manipulate five minutes per week. I always see at least three seconds into the future. I can see everyone's Thread of Fate - no, I cannot tell you how or where it ends as my power has not been restored to that peak, yet. I can watch and see if it is starting to fray and guess when it's about to break - as I did with the girl. Finally, because of such a powerful essence within this body, every new day it regenerates and restores itself to the peak of what it should be for its age," Ren-Shai said, exhaling. He hadn't conversed this much even with his brothers. Being with other beings who simply knew didn't leave much for conversation.

"Can you do that right now? The time thing?" Sullivan asked.

"Used it up saving those three and the girl," Ren-Shai said.

"Speaking of which… how did you set those bones? You shouldn't be strong enough to do that," Sullivan said.

"Simple. I wanted to. My will is stronger than any restrictions an organ would try to place on what I wanted a body to do," Ren-Shai answered. "I used what the brain locked away. It wasn't like anyone else was going to do anything, but stare."

"Yes, generally people are shocked at the sight of blood and mangled bodies," Sullivan said. "But someone like you would have seen…" he began.

"Billions. Species. Not numbers. Of them all, humans are the most interesting, if that helps. You're the only ones who try to defy my brothers and I. So, I do congratulate the lot of you for being a unique species," Ren-Shai said, looking at the ceiling. "Earnestly. You are survivors."

"Listen, I've had about as much as I think my brain can handle. Can you… at least try to help Tyler's family feel like they have a son again? Don't make them hurt anymore than you need to, alright, Ren-Shai?" Sullivan asked.

"Tormenting beings would be a waste of Time," Ren-Shai replied.

"I meant making them think their dead son forgot them. You obviously know them. Both from his memories and your's, right?" Sullivan asked.

"I fail to see how telling the truth would be hurting them," Ren answered back.

"They're being kind to you and providing you with something, are they not?" Sullivan asked.

"Correct. Shelter, parental protections - though useless, and their resources of which they have little," Ren said.

"Then in return for them being kind to you, why not repay them with kindness?" Sullivan asked.

"Yes, an even reciprocation seems like it would be fair between us. Balanced as my brothers and I would prefer," Ren answered back. "I can accept those terms. I will attempt to lessen their worries and refrain from saying that their son has died."

"Thanks, Ren," Sullivan said.

"Thank you for believing in something greater than your own little world for the past few minutes and allowing me to speak without thinking I've gone insane. Because, yes, I know that is how Tyler's parents view me," Ren said. "Now, if you excuse me, I will go in there and lay on my back in the recovery position and wait for them to wake up. Apparently, I am attending school in six days," Ren muttered with a shrug.

"Don't do anything that would dishonor their kindness," Sullivan said, feeling like he had some kind of read on how Ren operated.

"Alright," Ren-Shai said, stepping back into his room and closing the door quietly.