I wake up wrapped in a burrito. Not a literal one, but it sure feels like it.

After yesterday's events, Sophia deigned it important to sleep with me. I guess her maternal instincts kicked in, so now she maybe sees me as a daughter? Well, I'm fine with it. She's more caring than my actual mother anyway.

She personally makes me breakfast too. Her food was…average, but it was homemade and cooked with love, and that's all that really counts. She did make me a muffin though that was absolutely heavenly. I mean, she could probably win an award with this stuff.

Anyway, she heads off to the Hero's Guild to do her 'summer job' as she puts it, filling me with worry. Worry over whether or not I have been rash in quitting my old job.

Hindsight aside, I head to the Mariana Trench for my lessons with Thomas. Inside our usual classroom, Thomas sits in a chair, facing my desk with a solemn gaze on his face, staring off into the space beyond my chair.

He doesn't move until I sit down in front of him when he slowly looks up to meet my eyes. "We were going to talk about either skills, or heritage today, but after yesterday's events I think you need closure." He sits back and interlocks his hands. "Today we will be talking about religion."

"Religion is a touchy subject for many. Especially since there are demons and angels running around, one of which I believe you have met." Thomas's casual mention of Alayna makes me ponder. I mean if they do exist then is Christianity the true religion, or some branch of it?

"The demons and angels are not a sign of Heaven and Hell existing, I mean they do, kinda, but they don't confirm just one thing. They are similar to people just that they have a tendency to have a personality align to a deadly sin or heavenly virtue. Also doesn't mean that because they are inherently bad people, though Sophia and my actions suggest otherwise, that's just distaste for the job, but if even if they align with a sin or virtue doesn't make them bad or good people. Take Alayna for example, she may be a lust demon, but she's still a nice person. And succubi don't even need to actually work in the sex industry; there's a succubus that takes all of her lust and puts it into customer service at the supermarket. Alayna just likes the direct relief."

Thomas blinks in realization. "Sorry, went off on a tangent there. Anyway, on the subject of gods, they all exist." What? "I bet you're asking, 'What?' I can explain. So there is a Goddess of the Forest that the elves believe in that allows for the spirits of their fallen brethren to return to the forest. She's real. Dwarves have a Mountain God, a Drinking God, and a Tinkering God. They're real. When a person dies, their soul gets sent to a god that is deemed fit for their personality. Whether they end up tortured or the torturer all depends on a fit, they can also just have their soul recycled and reincarnated instead."

So, Natalie went to wherever was best for her? Or she got recycled. Wait, how does Thomas know they all exist? I ask, "Thomas, have you met these gods?" He gives a chuckle. "Yeah, I've met them. But onto a more important matter, the person responsible for sorting souls. The Ruling Authorities."

"The Ruling Authorities are an interesting sort. Explaining them means a crash course on the multi-verse. Simply put, multiple universes exist with several iterations of Earth with simple or large differences. Now, the gods of each Earth can be duplicated which means two Earths can have the same god. Rulers cannot be duplicated and stand above the gods. So, two Goddesses of Elves are under the authority of the Ruler of Elves. There are even a powerful six Rulers that are basically the like…You know Marvel?" I nod, seeing where he's going with this. "Yeah, basically they're like the Infinity Stones, but their titles explain a lot more and they can use their abilities in more versatile ways too. Hell, the Rulers can be of various species too. Let's take the Ruler of Reality, Wishes, and Matter. She's an eldritch abomination called Dreamer, though that isn't her real name, and I'm pretty sure she stole it, but she is basically the Ruler of tangible and intangible things. Primarily tangible, which is slightly ironic. She can rule over the Ruler of Physics and Ruler of Magic since those two also fall under her purview. Strange thing."

"Other thing about Rulers that I just mentioned is that their power boundaries are very fluid. One, the Ruler of a given authority is very proficient in that authority, but that doesn't mean they can't use the others. Ruler of Reality and Ruler of Time both can manipulate probability as it is a part of both. Two, Rulers can lend authority to others. Rulers can gain authorities from other Rulers and gain proficiency, but not as much as the original Ruler. Three, Rulers can block other Rulers from using an aspect of their authority. Using the previous example, the Ruler of Reality is on the bad side of the Ruler of Time, which means that the Ruler of Reality cannot use any time related skills that don't fall under her authority."

"How do you know all of this?" I squint my eyes in suspicion at how Thomas knows all of this. "I get around if you know what I mean," he casually says. But I don't know what you mean. In fact, I'm more confused than ever. I'll just stare at you in dissatisfaction.

He stands strong against my stare, but I'll win this battle! "Okay, okay, fine. I've met them before after I was testing out some Dimensional Magic and ended up in between dimensions. After existing in a place where existence fails to work, the System told the Ruler's of my predicament. Seems that it doesn't like matter being in a place where matter doesn't exactly likes to work."

"So the System was created by the Rulers, or they run it?" He shrugs his shoulders, "Kinda. From what they told me, the Rulers share power with the System in a give and take. They became Rulers due to the System, but it runs off of their continued existence. Weird feedback loop, you know? Or don't know? Anyway, they created the System, but at the same time, it created them."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Never said it did." I guess that's all that Thomas can explain to me. I don't really understand it, but I know that he taught me this to help me get over Natalie's death. It's getting late, but there's one thing I should do before leaving.

I walk up to Thomas. "Is there anything else you need?" He asks a question, but I don't answer and just wrap my arms around him. "Thank you," I whisper. He hugs me back. "You're welcome. Now, go be the best you I know you can be," he whispers back before I'm teleported back to his penthouse.

I wonder if I can sleep here tonight.