Mara was lying next to Amer, watching him sleep. The bench had been converted to their bed and they lay under the light of 3 moons. She wasn’t sleeping, she couldn’t and she wouldn’t till this was over. She lay there running through possibilities, working out counters and fine tuning her plans. Amer didn’t know everything, no one did.

Amer had discovered the Sages’ plot through a plant he had managed to get into their sanctum. That was over five decades ago. This was a plot thousands of years in play with the endgame a few thousand years away. She had decided then itself to end it.

Fifty years. She had sent numerous expeditions into the remains of various ancient civilisations across the galaxy. Even participated in them herself. Twenty years in she had herself found the answers she needed. Not in a compilation of sutras, but the journal of a father looking to save a soul damaged daughter. The language was obscure, but there were drawings that told her the answers were there. Thirty years, of pretending to keep looking while surreptitiously using other translations to translate the journal herself, of initiating unrelated projects to collect materials and tech then scrapping them and personally removing what she needed. Items that once put together would let her heal souls and direct soul-rebirth. She had everything ready fifteen years ago. She waited. Then set the ball rolling.

She had never had a father, never been a daughter. She had been the Empress-in-training to an Emperor. She had lived believing her father loved her but had nothing to show for it. Her Emperor had taught her to have three faces, one for the public, one for those closest to her and one her own, not to be shown even to a mirror. And then taught her to show only her public face to the Emperor. She understood the reason, but could never accept it. When young she had vowed it would be different for her children. A vow that got trod into the mud of her heart as she grew to wield and seek power for her empire, her family and herself.

The child in her womb was not an accident. The Sages’ were chipping away at her family’s power. She would take a sledgehammer to theirs even at the cost of her first born.

She had not been ready for the boy. For him to cause her old vow to burst forth, taking root in the very mud it was buried in.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Suma was having difficulty concentrating. The task Empress Mara had given her scared her. She had been noticed by the Empress when she was a princess and on a learning expedition. She had always been interested in bio-adjustments of living organisms from an young age. The Empress had noted the enthusiasm and passion of this girl from a small clan in a remote world and offered to help her pursue her dreams. She had witnessed who this not-yet-an-Empress had finessed Zee into agreeing to apprentice Suma. Zee had already attained renown as a Bio-Artisan and was attached to the royal family. None of her fellow apprentices had been below level 25 or 50 years in age. Suma had been level 16 and under 20 years. What astonished her more was how well the Empress had treated. She had been friendly, empathic, helpful and encouraging. Suma knew she was not a friend to Empress Mara, but she still saw the Empress as one.

Over the years Zee had acknowledged her talent and her passion. She had always been more loyal to the Empress than to her Master and had known that one day she’d need to throw her counters in to the cup. At the start of the current project she had been excited when the Empress had called her and confided in her that she would need to help the Empress realise a side-project known only to the two of them. She was the Empress’ confidant. And then she got her secret assignment.

Soul marks. Soul rebirth. Secretly copying and developing extra embryos from the Empress-Amer twins was easy. Zee had been the lead on that and she was the primary assistant. The Empress had given enough resources to set up a secret lab. But then she was handed the crystals with advanced soul-bio techniques. No not advanced, these techniques went way beyond the state of the art. No one even dreamed that one could have a specific soul be reborn through a specific embryo, and here was a technique for doing just that. It had a less than quarter percent chance of success and she had been given less than two month to get everything ready for it.

It was not something she couldn’t do. What made her nervous was she couldn’t be sure of success. Initially it hadn’t been an issue. The Empress had planned to use the project to identify a powerful soul, mark it, provide her with the soul’s chakra’s circuits so she could make the embryo fully compatible and then apply the soul rebirth technique. The Empress had made it clear that failure was an option, she was just trying to see if they could get a leap in the talent of her family’s future generations. In the last month she was not so sure. The soul Sun-Alpha had stirred something in the Empress.

The Empress had over 3 different plots running as part of this project, that Suma knew of. She expected there were 3-4 more. Yet, she could see the Empress giving more importance to this side-project. Her budget and available resources had been increased. The Empress was personally checking some of the preparations. And then there was Sun-Alpha. There was a just a few days left and she had heard the latest rumors. The Empress had smiled when Suma asked her and then shown her the vis-recon, of Sun Alpha battling a level 7 entropic beast. That recon and more so the gleam in the Empress’ eye, the pride, had made her wonder if failure was still an option.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

In a location far away from the Golden Sun Empire, within a dark space, on a floating square the vis-recon of a fight between a mammoth and young boy had just finished.

“What do you think Jamo? Will you be able to handle the boy?”

“The boy is interesting and I can see he has mastered some soul manifestation sutras. As for whether he will prevail, or not, I don’t care. Not like you do.”

“I don’t really. This burn project had run its course once they started experimenting with soul sutras. We delayed on ending it when we should have and will now pay for it.”

“We?”

“Yes. We. Of course, this means this will be your last joyride. Nothing I’ve seen suggests that this boy can free you, and you are not going to do it anyways.”

Jamo’s eye’s flashed with annoyance and a hint of anger. “Aren’t you presuming too much, August?”

“Ah, Jamo. We wouldn’t have trained and followed the path of the Sage if we weren’t cowards and selfish. Beings like us don’t willing embrace death.”

Jamo didn’t say anything. Just tried to calm himself and clear his eyes of the building resentment.

“And so our dance will continue. We really want your soul sutras and your knowledge of the soul and soul sea. You won’t give it to us since you don’t trust us and we will not relent because we at best know 20% of what you’ve amassed. Its a pity, you were so committed to our cause.”

“Its a pity, you were once a friend.”

August, clicked his tongue a few times and replied, “Did you forget so quickly, that bit about fear and greed. I was never a friend and neither were you.”

Then August cocked his head and said, “It seems we will reach the Empire in two days. I’ll return to the ship to prepare. We will talk once we are back at the Center.”

He vanished, leaving Jamo in a contemplative mood. He watched as his childhood friend left, think over his life and pursuit of power and knowledge, till neither was indistinguishable. He had researched heavily into the soul and the soul sea, never imagining that it would turn the Council against him. Including his best friend. Overtly the Sages pretended that all sutras, yantras, mantras and tantras one learnt on their path was for them to know and share at will. In face of a rumored chance to reach into infinity, none of the Sages held to it. He fumed as he remembered the betrayal first by the Sages, that left him a ghost and then by his friend who trapped him using his own sutras and yantras he had shared unwittingly. He had still agreed to help them because he needed to vent and so convinced himself that the pursuers of the new path and their leveling were to blame. That they had made the Sages more desperate and fearful of the rise of the upstarts, causing them to themselves abandon their own ways. He was so hurt and full of hate that he couldn’t face the truth that he knew even then, that the Sages had acted true to their ways, their real ways.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

“What do you want?”

“To chill and have a nice chat. I left in haste last time.”

The boy had his back to him. He had not been alone last time and his friend would not keep too many secrets. But he would not give the boy the satisfaction of an apology. The boy had not dismissed him, so he continued,

“Things are not going to go as you think they will.”

“They never do. That’s reality.”

“I am not talking of your battle, I am talking of what comes after.”

The boy turned around, frustration and anger clear in his eyes. He kept going,

“You will be reborn, not reincarnated.”

“And the difference is?”

“You will keep your memories. When souls transit, the soul sea works to clear all past memories, the mind while unconscious works to distill as many memories it can through the true soul and the true soul uses the memories to learn and build instincts and advance on its path. The mind also heals from any damage it may have taken while incarnated. After all this you reincarnate - a fresh soul for a fresh life.”

“And?”

“When you are reborn you keep your memories. When a soul wakes up in transit it starts forming new memories, These memories will not get erased in the transition process, as the process is only designed to deal with memories acquired through a life lived.

“So? I will forget all about my past life and remember all of the things I’ve been through in this dome.”

The boy was knocking at door but was still faraway. He didn’t answer, waiting to see if it would sink in. After a few minutes of a staring contest, the boy’s eyes widened. He sputtered, but managed to ask,

“Why? Why give me this? What do you want?”

“I want too many things and you won’t be able to give me any.”

The boy waited. So he added, “You don’t owe me anything, just don’t squander my gift. For now I am planting a seed. I don’t know where it will take root, what it will become and how it will develop. If you live freely and live well, that will be enough to get me what I want.”

The boys eyes narrowed, as he mulled over his words.

This time he didn’t leave. He spent the remainder of the hour exchanging ideas and providing pointers to the boy. The boy still had his guard up, but he listened.