"What happened to him anyway?" Calypso asked as they walked.

"None of us were there, how would we know? But, Xiara wasn't there either and she seemed to have a grasp on it... but she's gone and exhausted herself unconscious." admonished Winter.

"She just needs to rest, but about Xopil... he's so pale." Beda added.

Felicyta was the only one of them walking in silence. Just what could cause the soul to leave the body though? Xiara called it his core though... what is that?

"If what they've been saying is true, the fate of this world is tied to him." Lexi stated. They all looked warily at him.

"Then he'll wake up." Calypso declared.

"..." They all fell silent. None of them wanted to refute that.

"We should thank Xiara later. She's cleared a wide path for us." Lexi spoke up, changing the subject.

They continued walking while chatting idly. Calypso developed a bounce in her step, irritating the other three who were helping her carry Xopil.

"You're awfully cheerful... but then you always were." Felicyta laughed dryly when she saw the other three matching her step.

"How about singing us something?" Calypso asked, "It's been forever."

"...Why not?" Winter added, "It'll probably help."

Felicyta just shrugged when she saw their pleading eyes. "All right."

Her lovely soprano voice blanketed the forest area as she put her all into into singing:

I am the wind whimsical and carefree

Beneath the sun where I roam

A gentle touch to all I meet

A simple reminder you're not alone

So tragically I go unnoticed

Far and wide I do travel

Looking to greet all that I can

I carry a message to one and all

But no voice have I to call my own

Listen to the leaves

For it is there I say

Hello and farewell till we meet again

Felicyta's voice hung on the final verse, echoing on the wind.

"Did you just make that up, that was awful." Lexi shook her head.

"Everybody is a critic," Felicyta shrugged. "and no. I didn't, it's more like I felt it. Though, I've heard your songs, they're not great either."

"They're mostly about drinking ale, which you'd have to be drunk to appreciate most of the words." Winter added. "Besides, I'll bet you missed the hidden message in her song."

"...No one asked you," retorted Lexi. "And there wasn't anything hidden." they bickered and laughed, teased and retorted as they continued their return to the inn. They also took turns singing and exchanging banter.

"Finally," Felicyta heaved a sigh of relief as they reached the inn, "No more drinking ballads from Lexi."

Beda, Winter and Calypso murmered agreement.

"Oh hush, you just can't appreciate true talent." Lexi snapped as she held the door open.

"That's rich, you do know you couldn't carry a tune properly if your life depended on it... fortunately, it doesn't." Winter replied flatly, "Maybe you actually sing better after you've had a few?"

"That's enough," Felicyta intervened as she gently set down Xiara on a couch in the lobby, "Lexi, take him upstairs."

Lexi took Xopil upstairs, her eyes like daggers when she looked at Winter.

"And what's gotten into you?" Felicyta turned to Winter.

"Who knows?" shrugged Winter.

Felicyta rubbed her temples massaging the headache that was forming, "Just... we're all hungry, that's not helping. Go fetch us something for dinner."

"Fetch?" Winter turned on Felicyta who sighed inwardly at her word choice, "I'm not a dog."

"Stop acting like a bitch if you're not," Calypso said lightheartedly, getting a chuckle out of Beda. Felicyta was still trying to find a way to defuse the situation.

Winter left without another word. The remaining three women exchanged a glance. Felicyta sat down to calm her head.

"Feli?!" Lexi came bolting down the stairs, "It's Xopil... something's wrong!"

"What?" Felicyta rose abruptly, chasing after Lexi as they headed upstairs. Beda and Calypso followed close behind.

The four of them were stopped as they were about to enter Xopil's room. The door was open, but there was a dangerous looking spacial barrier in the way.

"Where am I?" a voice intoned.

"You're in a room at an inn in a rundown village." Felicyta spoke slowly.

"Enter. I sense several hundred beings in the vicinity... six of which are intelligent, and one unconscious." the barrier blocking the door seperated. Felicyta, Beda, Calypso and Lexi silently entered the room, behind them the barrier was restored. Inside the room they encountered a cloud hovering over Xopil's body. Upon looking carefully, Felicyta noticed a gaseous link between Xopil's body and the cloud.

"Xopil?" She asked tentatively.

"Is that the name of this body?" the voice asked, looking down, "No matter, that name will suffice for you to address me."

"Do you have a name?" Calypso asked.

"...Irrelevent." the cloud replied, "What happened to the body?"

"His soul was separated from his body and scattered to the wind, but Xiara managed to pull a lot of it back together and she forced it back inside." Felicyta answered, "The who, how and why, we don't know."

"Xiara, you say? She's here too?" the voice sounded surprised.

"She fell unconscious afterward... she looks a lot like you do though, she's also a cloud at the moment."

"At the moment?" the voice seemed to sound disappointed, "So it's not her true form?"

"...Not that we know, it's the first time we've seen it... same for you." Felicyta responded carefully.

"Who... or what are you?" Calypso's curiosity finally got the better of her as she asked, "You look similar to the magical goop Xiara pushed into Xopil's body."

"...'Magical goop' you say? How unrefined. Are you country bumpkins? It's not mere 'magical goop', nor is it a soul; it's far beyond that. That was the simplest and purest form of existence, at least, before all life was modified. You all have something of a lesser version inside of you that you call a 'soul'... nothing but a fire giving you life; it will eventually go out and everything you've learned, experienced, how you've developed, will be lost and returned to a blank slate. But in my case, my accumulated memories, experiences, and everything that makes up my personality are stored inside, permanently. For simplicity, let's call it the core of my existence." the cloud replied.

"...Seems unfair," Calypso stated flatly.

"For you or me?" the cloud laughed, "Do you know how difficult it is to experience new things after you've lived billions of years while retaining all of that memory? How hard it is to keep yourself interested in living with an immortal life?"

"Just what are you?" Calypso gasped. The cloud fell silent for a moment.

"...Let me know when I lose you, I'll try to simplify it so you can understand." the cloud intoned, "I'm close enough to be a god, but not quite there."

"So you have the power, the duty, and little to no authority?" Felicyta asked after scratching her chin.

"A pawn of the gods?" Calypso asked while scratching her head, "Or a janitor?"

"If you're a pawn... what does that make us?" Lexi asked.

"That's enough of that." the cloud responded, "I want to know how I got here."

"We carried you," Beda replied.

The cloud seemed to frown, "On a grander level... I suppose lowly beings as yourselves wouldn't know... much less understand."

"Are you really Xopil?" Felicyta asked.

"Yes and no." the cloud replied.

"You are but aren't? How does that work?" Calypso asked.

"We are currently separate entities, but we'll eventually merge together." the cloud replied. "I separated part of myself to create the 'Xopil' you know. I withheld much of my memory, giving him only a basic understanding of life. As for my personality... I withheld certain parts of that as well.

"Merge like you were before?" Calypso asked.

"...No, he will cease to exist entirely becoming a part of me. Everything he has done, will become a part of my memories."

"We've heard Xopil and Xiara talking about solving a puzzle of this world, failure would result in..."

"Annihilation." the cloud cut her off, "Success or failure means little to me."

"Xopil is doing his best to save the world though," Felicyta countered.

"Lucky for you then," the cloud replied indifferently, "that I am currently a separate entity from 'Xopil'."

The cloud flickered between every color of the rainbow before stopping on violet. "So it's a puzzle of time and space on this world... wait, multiple parallel worlds? Something's very wrong here..." the cloud flickered through an unknown color spectrum, the women stared in awe. "...Tell Xopil his true self said 'Good luck with this one.' He's going to need it... I've also extended the timer a bit."

"You know how to solve it?" Calypso asked.

"I wouldn't be much of a 'near god' entity if I didn't. And that spoils the trials, the errors, ultimately that means: the fun." the cloud replied indifferently, then with a bit of amusement added, "Bring Xiara here."

"Poor thing... she's completely knackered." the cloud looked over Xiara's colorless cloud. The cloud extended itself, wrapping Xiara in a light layer. Slowly, color returned to Xiara, a bright pink haze emitted from her.

"Xopil?" she spoke groggily then she opened her eyes wide, "...Mas!"

"Shhh... not in front of company," the cloud responded jovially, "You really worked hard for my sake."

"How could I not... I hope I didn't miss too much," Xiara replied.

"I only have a little haze in my memory, so I'd say you caught the vast majority... unfortunately for me," the cloud replied then laughed self-deprecatingly.

"You scattered yourself on purpose then? I thought it was because you had nothing binding you together." Felicyta stated.

"There's hope for you." the cloud responded, "It was a bit of both, I accelerated the process though."

"I didn't want to lose you," Xiara blushed causing her cloud to go reddish, the two clouds mingled together.

"I'm sorry to inform you, but you're quite stuck with me," the cloud soothed her, and as though proving it, the two clouds combined into one for several minutes before separating.

"Did... that just happen? I could swear I heard something in there, particularly from Xiara, but it was really muffled."

"Now I don't have to worry about you exhausting yourself, just... do take it easy on him now, as you'll never tire anymore."

"I'll... do... my... best..." despite no longer feeling fatigue, Xiara was still left breathless from his intensity.

"How much time did you add?" Lexi asked, killing the moment, "And how about a hint?"

"Well, I'm curious about the journey to the solution more than the solution itself, so I might have thrown a few thousand years at the clock. I hope he's not a procrastinator, he might just need all the time. No hints...but I will give him a gift for working so hard."

The cloud went lifeless as the color turned to pitch black. Finally, the cloud disappeared into Xopil's unconscious body.