Outside of a small café and next to an open road of concrete, five people were enjoying the afternoon. The group consisted of four young adults and a child. They sat around a wooden table, with simple delectables lying around on it. Around them were the bustling sounds of midday lunch.

As the child was asleep in her father’s arms, the adults were distracted by their electronic devices. Their full attention was on the visuals produced by the screen. Tapping buttons in response to what the saw. Because of the hour-long quest, they were conducting, in the game, the atmosphere was tense. One small mistake would cause the past hour to become unfruitful.

When the quick but rhythmic sounds of tapping came to a stop, the sighs of relief soon followed. Placing the devices down, the four held smiles of fulfillment as they perfectly cleared the quest.

“Damn that was close,” spoke Sors, “Why didn’t you go for the guard break?”

“I told you I went with a glass cannon build,” Igno replied.

“Still, you should at least do it to allow us a second of recovery time.”

“You believe the wireless connection would have synced, I was slapped around by phantom range.”

“At least he didn’t blame lag,” Desyra shrugged.

“Easy for you non-supports to say,” Said Menor.

It had been a week since they had come to this world. They were slowly enjoying their time, in hopes the other world’s situation would calm. Buying a fairly popular local game and the required devices to play them, they wasted quite a bit of time. Such games are the only things that had laws and could not be easily manipulated by outside forces. As electronics were delicate in the first place.

“Ah, we never figured out if that person was female or male yet,” Sors remembered.

“Male,” Spoke Memora, who was in a child’s form.

“So you were awake,” Menor said.

“No, sleepy,” She said falling back to sleep.

“That brat…” Sors snickered. “Here’s your item. Does she even know who we’re talking about?”

“5%? Why not 1%?” asked Menor.

“Not going to spend the extra effort on RNG manipulation.”

Finishing up their lunch they left the café to find something else to do. Visiting tourist attractions, watching the latest blockbuster movies, and bankrupting casinos were some of the daily activities they did. When they finished “playing” in one city they would quickly travel to the next. After which, they would continue the cycle till who knows when.

As they were exploring a city known for its technological advancements, they came across the world’s most renowned hospital. At that point, Menor told his companions that he had to do something real quick. Walking into the hospital his figure disappeared from sight.

“I keep forgetting he does that,” Said Sors.

“Do what?” Igno asked.

“He’s visiting the past.”

“Past?” Desyra asked.

“Time is irrelevant, it’s just progression,” Sors answered, “Let’s go. He’ll catch up with us later.”

Not understanding Sors’ words the continued with their trip from a trip. As Menor went off doing his own thing, they walked around the city. Most of the time they chased after Memora, who held no restraint on troublemaking. Even if they could find her, catching her was another story. Being a child of the past, her cleverness knows no bounds.

The former mature attitude of the green-tinted hair queen had completely disappeared being replaced by a rascal who had no restraint. The three dared not the let her get hurt. They knew that Menor would probably use it as an excuse to extort favors from them. It did not help them that Memora had planned to do such a thing. A daunting parent is scary, even more so when they could throw away their emotions and morals.

“This brat!” Desyra yelled, chasing Memora over the rooftops.

“Got her- nevermind,” said Igno, ending up hugging a log.

“Now she’s flying!” Sors complained, “Wait, that’s an illusion!”

“Over there!” Igno pointed at Memora who was quite a distance away.

“This is why I don’t have children,” Desyra complained.

“She does this when her father isn’t around,” Sors pointed out.

Jumping from one roof to another, they quickly caught up to Memora. Follow as her down to the streets below, they watched as she bounced on every cloth overhang until she reached the ground. Promptly jumping onto the top of the truck and waving the three bye-bye.

Running after the truck the three made sure to hide their presence and conceal their forms, to avoid onlookers. Igno circled around planning to cut the brat off. Desyra and Sors could only jump from one car the next while following their target.

“Can’t we just use our abilities? You know she’s going to mock us later,” Asked Desyra.

“Fine,” Sors replied,” Be like that, it’s rare for us to have a reason to run around like this.”

“But we don’t need reasons- and she’s jumping into the forest.”

Watching Memora jump into a nearby woods, Desyra could not help but sigh. She knew exactly what would happen if the brat had entered the thicket. Because the brat was the offspring of a race closely related to plants, her detection abilities would become ineffective. It is not because of any external interference, but instead, she could not find someone if they were everywhere.

Not wanting to go through the hassle of an endless chase, she put strength into her legs and lunged forward. She catching Memora midair, but before she could have a thought of joy the brat exploded into leaves and sticks.

“Shateal!” Desyra shouted as she crashed into the floor.

“Great, phase two,” Said Igno.

“Oh look at that. Why don’t you use your high-level hunting abilities and catch her?” Sors teased.

“Shut up,” Desyra replied.

In front of them, within the forest, they saw around a dozen Memoras holding hands while dancing in a circle. They sang a tuneless melody that charmed all the flora in the region. After the short performance, all of them ran off in different directions. The sound of childish laughter was the only thing they left behind.

“Even if her form resembles a kid, she should at least be mature,” Desyra complained.

“Mature, RIIIIIIIIGHT,” Igno agreed.

“Shush or I’ll eat all your food,”

“You’ll become bloated before you can even finish a single dish.”

“Both of you,” said Sors, “Let’s go.”

“I never liked nymphs,” Desyra complained before running into the forest.

Within a few hours, they somehow caught the brat. There were definitely no instances where they were tempted to blow up the forest. Dealing with roots and branches that attempted to ensnare them was bothersome. More annoyingly, multitudes of leaves and pinecones flew at them non-stop. Even if they took no damage, the constant bombardment was ridiculous.

“Tight! Too tight!” Memora cried.

“I’m not hugging that hard,” Smiled Sors.

“You are! I’m telling father!”

“I’ll tell your mother.”

Hearing the threat, Memora suddenly became obedient. Even if her father was all-powerful, he wouldn’t do anything to stop his wife. Meaning she would be in trouble if Sors snitched.

“You know because you came with us wouldn’t your new kingdom be in trouble,” Desyra asked.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re going to harvest the world. Well, I had it set up the kingdom in a way it should be able to run on its own for quite a while,” Memora rolled her eyes.

“Believable. Oi, Igno! Don’t bankrupt the restaurant.”

“If there’s good food then it must be eaten,” Igno said, “Off to get MORE!”

“We’re pushing the bill on him right?” Desyra asked.

“This is a buffet, we already paid to eat for an hour,” Sors replied. “At worse, we’ll get banned.”

Casually eating their food they listened to the commotion behind them. With a bit of small talk, they avoided a full-blown argument of silly things due to Memora’s presence. Since there were civilians around them, they spoke in a foreign language.

“You know, didn’t you guys say you’ll stay in incognito? From the looks of things you guys haven’t tried,” Memora asked.

“What? We are trying to stay hidden. You’re the one who turned an entire land mass into a fiery pit,” Desyra replied.

“The afterlife incident.”

“There’s no way to link that to us.”

“What about the rigged ‘holy sword’?”

“Who would rig a sword?”

“The chaos at the hidden village of the mist?”

“Ninjas?”

“How you killed the last king?”

“Ok, since when did you know we were in that world?”

“When I heard about the religion of the four masters: stealth, hunting, prediction, and wisdom.”

“…”

“No, I learned it when you blew up the hero’s limbs and killed one of his followers.”

Hearing how her one mistake was the thing that revealed them, Sors was a bit bitter. Fortunately, she held less of a responsibility, as the other “problems” were mainly caused by Igno and Desyra. Remembering her small spar with the divine dragon, she probably had alerted the divine domain in the world.

“I mean, what’s the use for all of you to stay hidden now?” Memora asked, “You have frantic extremists chasing after you all. You also caused an ascended to fall, messed with a clan protected by a sealed god, beat up a few divine beasts, blew up the moon, and sent the ‘hero’ to his early grave before reviving him. You think you can stay hidden without memory manipulation on a worldly scale?”

“Fine, I admit. I used the pretext of staying hidden as an excuse to extend the trip,” Desyra admitted. “You have to ask, your father, Sors, and It about their reasons.”

“What about me?” Igno asked balancing mountains of food on his arms and head.

“Not staying hidden,” Said Memora.

“Ah that,” Igno replied, “I can hide, but not the effects of my actions. Well, because the cat’s out of the bag, I approached the shrine maiden giving her pride and an ounce of freedom. It’s fun to watch someone discover the world. It’s like raising a child without the hassle of actually raising them. It’s great that you all caught on to my plan. I’m not dumb enough to forget to conduct research on this world before entering it? Sors is probably planning to cause the holy war to happen; she did let a divine dragon go after beating it to a pulp. “

“Why does this feel like an attempt to cover plot holes?” Sors muttered. “Also- what? Did you act? We just laughed at the scene in front of us? You’re renowned for escape and stealth, so you being caught, even if it’s false, was still hilarious.”

“Now I feel like an idiot thinking you guys played along.”

Hearing the truth of everyone’s actions, Memora began to sweat. She knew that in their current mood they held no respect or care for that world. Sors had created the spark to cause a holy war. Not only that every single one of them and her father had done something that could catch the attention of the divine realm: Igno messing with the hero’s sword and killing divine beasts, Desyra causing an ascended to fall, Sors beating up a divine reptilian, and her father briefly killing the hero.

Even if they were hidden to the world, that world’s divinity would have noticed the oddities. It is to be expected that they were watching the church of the four masters closely. The events that had transpired in the giant rat rampage had the believers go into a frenzy. Notifying the upper world.

“Why do you guys cause so much trouble where ever you go?” Memora complained.

“Blame Sors and Desyra, with their abilities combined, we’re basically a walking trouble magnet. Do you know how annoying it is to negate those effects?” Igno replied.

“We’re only in that world because It invited us. We never expected a holy war to happen. When I spoke of the possibility Sors nearly fainted from joy.” Desyra said.

“A war is fun. It’s difficult to find a chance to go on a rampage against such prideful beings,” Sors shrugged.

“Who thought it was a good idea to give robots sentients,” Memora asked.

“Who was the one, who watched over you while you made floral robots?” Sors smiled.

Letting out a deep moan, Memora asked if there was any chance to avoid a war on such a large scale. Only to be replied with notions to the fiery pit she made. Even if the four had chosen a different world, the holy war would have happened due to Memora’s failed plan.

“Fine, you all can go off and have fun, but let me prepare a few things first. Who knows what the world would become after you lot finish fighting,” Memora said, trying to escape Sors’ embrace.

“Sure, one month in that world’s time, based on my calculations,” Sors replied. “I’m going to use the belief energy that has piled up, from our absence, to blow up the boundary between heaven and earth.”

“Couldn’t you do a war similar to the one of Desired Memories?”

“You do know how tragic that war was, right?” Desyra asked.

“Neither casualties nor any wounded civilians? Doesn’t sound that bad,” Memora replied.

“No, death in that was a blessing,” Desyra explained, slamming the table. “But losing everything you build up over lifetimes was not. The entire war was full of mind games. You could not trust a single person, not even yourself. To disable a kingdom you disable their workers. Using tactics to wipe armies’ experience, knowledge and wisdom was the mainstay of that war. Both sides went as far as to avoid hostages placing burden onto the opponent. Brat, that war does not follow any mortal war that requires killing. Worlds were destroyed with scorched earth and isolation tactics. Do you know how many worlds were forcibly regressed and cut off? That very war put every participant on the no-touch list of every dimensional community. Even the insane became sane. No one could commit suicide as every single person had surpassed the memory dilapidation barrier. A war to disable was what the war of Desired Memories was.”

Feeling Desyra’s rage, Memora shrunk in Sors arms, “S-sorry.”

“Could we not bring up that subject? No one wants to remember those times,” Sors said.

“Agreed,” Igno said, “Even if I wasn’t a participant. The aftereffects were huge and haven’t faded even till this day.

Forcing the topic to another subject, they continued to dine. By the time Igno was kicked out and banned, he had gone ate all of the served food.

“Tch. What’s with these divinities? Don’t they know ‘curiosity killed the cat’?” Desyra said looking up.

“Ignore them; we won’t be staying here for too long,” Sors replied.

Within a white room, a dying senior was waiting for his final moments with his family around him. All of his wealth had been distributed to his descendants. During his youth and much of his life, he was a renounced physician, known throughout the world. He had made many discoveries and breakthroughs that had saved millions. Living until the ripe age of 120, it was a miracle that he was able to see his great-grandchildren.

Due to his wisdom, not only was he leaving a legacy he had created a starting point for the next generation to take up his mantle. With the hard, but a joyous and fulfilling life he had the only thing he regretted was not witnessing how humanity would develop. He had outlived his wife, friends, siblings, and even some of his own children. Yet as a mortal he had a limit he could not surpass.

Unfortunately, just recently the old man had realized something he should had long ago. His father, who he thought was a person who wasted his life. When his last days passed, he had time to think. As he was not preoccupied, by his work, his successors, or children, a rare moment he never had. During those days, he realized, after accumulating years of wisdom while reflecting on the past, his father had given him everything. His father planted a seed, knowing that he would never be recognized by the world. Being the father of the three, who changed the world. Despite how brilliant he was his legacy was of a person who never stood out.

As a child, his father made many a multitude of things, be it with wood, stone, glass, or metal he used them. Ash was the material that he used the most. Each of the siblings pursued different paths while having the same inspiration. They alone changed their world and brought it into a new age.

The greatest moment in their legacy was when they saved millions from an undetectable volcanic eruption. The many solutions they had created, to fight the disaster, were due to the credit of remembering those silly inventions from all those years ago. It could be said their father had predicted the catastrophe. This moment of realization made the siblings knew the small house filled with contraptions was ahead of its time. Unfortunately, it was lost under the flow of molten earth, leaving only them three the power to shape the future.

Even after all this time the old man never did realize the truth until it was too late. He silently promised to apologize to his father in the afterlife, even if he did not believe in it. With a sad smile, he signaled for the doctor to allow him to join his family on the other side. As the rhythmic sound of beating began slow to a stop, the old man took one last look at his living family before closing his eyes. Under the darkness, he listened as the world around him became silent…

There was nothing else. He could still ponder. He still felt his body, and his small and short breaths still existed. Daring to open his eyes, he saw the same scene as when he closed them. Yet on careful inspection, everything was still as if time was frozen. Letting off a sad laugh, the old man sat up. He pondered if this was the truth. It was a bit sad. Yet in the silent and frozen world, the room’s door opened and…

“No, this isn’t the afterlife,” Said a man in a suit of clothes all too familiar, and hair recognizable from any crowd.

His father, who died over fifty years ago, Menor Arron.

“Nor is it a moment of redemption. This is a final goodbye, till fate lets us meet again.”

With tears rolling down his eyes, the old man said, “Father…”

“It’s been a while, Travis,” Said Menor.

“Yes, yes it has.”

While Menor walked up to Travis, he looked at the children in the room. Commenting that it was a shame that his genetics did not get passed down. With a brief hug, Menor told his son to ask anything. He would surely answer them to the best of his abilities.

“We never were on good terms haven’t we?” Said Menor.

Wiping away his tears, Travis asked, “Yes… So, um, why- no, how are you here?”

“Let’s see,” Menor pondered how to explain, “My body that was used to exist in the world can be considered dead, but the real me still exists. So if I wanted to I could have appeared right after my funeral, alive and kicking. Fortunately, I’m not that type of trickster.”

“Then…”

“I’m not a so-called god, even if they exist. God is just another term to define fairly strong beings that ‘watch’ over a world. For me, I’m just a human who unluckily gained too much power too fast.”

“I see, does this mean you had also visited Tulip and Gerald?”

“Indeed, I had visited them in the same situation, also your mother. I only visit the ones with family ties and had developed a few years of relations with me. I can’t appear at someone’s deathbed and claim to be their great-grandfather.”

“When you said worlds, does that mean other planets or do you mean parallel worlds.”

“We can call it parallel worlds, but it’s just different worlds. Be it what we deemed fantasy, galactic empires, magic-filled worlds, or of those cultivation worlds from the repetitive stories. They exist, but not everyone can easily travel to and fro between them.”

“Then the afterlife?”

“Depends on the world. Reincarnation, on the other hand, is just your mind traveling to another world or body.”

“Just how old are you really?”

“My age is greater than any number you can think of, based on the number of memories I have. The people of my level use lifetimes as a base measurement. A lifetime can last between a few years to over a million, so it’s a rough estimate of a few… no that’s too little.”

“You live that long… you still have hyperthymesia, correct?”

“Always had and always will. This sadly makes my mind one of the most treasured things in all of existence. Don’t look at me like that, I loved your mother and you all, but for people who lived too long, such as I, time erodes and we are forced to move on. It’s a sad life I can’t escape. This means you have many step-mothers and siblings. ”

“…Then can you take me with you?” Travis asked.

Shaking his head, Menor replied, “Sadly not, your mental fortitude is too weak and stiff. Like all of your step-siblings, they need to grow in many different worlds. If not they would only suffer.”

“Why didn’t you spread the knowledge you have to the world?”

“What happens when you destroy a damn with one explosion?”

“Then the water would flood out and destroy everything in… I see. That’s why you planted a seed. It would be better to lead with hints than shown the solution.”

After a few more rounds of questions, Travis became satisfied. He understood that his father could only help him give closure. What happened to him next after closing his eyes would be left to luck. If he would remember this life or not, was something he could not control. Understanding why his siblings and mother held smiles as they moved on, Travis bid farewell to his father one last time.

Seeing his father’s back fading, Travis remembered, “Thank you, thank you for everything… dad.”

With a single glance back before disappearing, Menor replied smiling, “Till we meet again, in another world.”

With a single line that held pain and hope, Travis closed his eyes as the world resumed. With the sounds of the world entering his ears, his life flashed before his eyes. From the moment of his birth until the last recent conversation, he relived his life. As his consensus disappeared into the void of the unknown, he moved on with a smile.

Rejoining his companions, Menor gave off a sad laugh before picking up Memora. Holding her in his arm, he smiled before humming her to sleep. Igno and the rest were exhausted trying to take care of a brat who was out for blood.

“Let’s return tomorrow,” Menor Said, “Enough time should have passed.”

“What’s with the solemn- Hm?” Desyra asked.

Being nudged by Sors and seeing her shaking her head, Desyra stopped her words. She did not understand what Menor had gone off to do, but she figured it wasn’t best to ask about it. Even Igno was staying silent.