He stepped out into a lush green field, a forest of trees stretching out in front of him. Several paths led into the trees, dirt tracks worn by countless people walking along them. Seshka was a metre or so ahead, stretching slightly as she stood. He walked up to stand beside her.

  “The Intertwining Paths. Every member of the universe will come here before level ten. Some as soon as they are proven, others wait until they are level nine. It depends on the individual, or who they are aligned with,” Seshka said as she turned to face Tyler.

  “What we face along the path you choose will be specific to your path. I am quite interested in how this will affect mine. But the system is never wrong. Which path do you want to choose?”

  “There aren’t many paths. I can see, what, six leading into the trees? That doesn’t look like many choices if everyone comes here. That seems very limited.”

  Seshka looked puzzled for a moment — then she didn’t, as a realisation swept over her like a wave of clarifying light. She smiled, showing a lot of white teeth.

  “These are just the six foundational paths. I take it you are already walking the path of intellect, as I now walk that as well because of you. But that does not mean we stay on this path throughout our lives. That path is simply what you choose once you become proven with the system.

  “Here, any path is possible. You do not choose it, however — that has already been done. Your path is your own. You just need to discover it through your actions.”

  “And for you?”

  “My actions will decide mine. But do not think you can fool the system — it sees all. Feigning fidelity to a certain path does not work. The system will know.”

  “What if I decide not to enter? What if I refuse to leave?”

  Seshka laughed as Tyler looked at her seriously. She slowly stopped, realising his question was genuine, and answered just as seriously.

  “Then your path ends. There is no other way out but along your path. You will simply die here. There is no food or water. You may last a day, maybe a week, but I doubt much longer.”

  “Okay. What if I get you to choose the path we walk?”

  Seshka took a moment to think. Tyler thought he might have found a flaw in the whole system, now that he’d been given a guide.

  “Then that becomes your path. You chose someone else to decide, and that choice still leads to the outcome. But let me clarify something — it is not a literal path I am talking about. I would dare say we could walk any of these without it affecting the path we walk. It is our actions along the way that matter.”

  Tyler was starting to understand, at least a little. The system wanted to know what kind of person you were. Were you a violent man who walked the path of a criminal? Were you kind and caring? Or something in between?

  “And how long does this path we walk take?” A question he probably should have asked straight away. He still wanted to find people, after all — especially his mother. But she was surrounded by caring people. She’d be alright… surely.

  “It depends on several factors. Whether the system has evaluated enough — though this is very minor, the system is very good at what it does. Then there is your level. You cannot receive your first true class until level ten, where you will complete a class quest to confirm what the system has already given, and whether you can meet the proposed class.

  “I have never heard of anyone failing a class quest at level ten, but plenty fail at higher grades — more so the higher you go. But that is something for later, I think. You do need to earn those levels. I am only level two. I only became proven not long ago, so I will need to gain the required levels.”

  Seshka suddenly looked nervous — not frightened, but concerned. Her hand fidgeted with the bag at her side.

  “May I ask what level you are, Claimbound?”

  “Level four. And for less than a day. So, we act like ourselves and gain a few levels to end this event. Sounds doable. Lead the way.”

  Seshka didn’t respond. She simply gave a single nod, turned toward the nearest path, and headed into the trees, Tyler following close behind her.

  He didn’t know quite how to feel about all of this — but he was, quietly, excited to see what waited in the woods ahead.

  The path Seshka picked seemed to twist and turn through an endless forest. She never spoke, walked sure and steady, not stopping, as Tyler walked a step behind. It was pleasant, with the sun shining, and it gave him time to think about everything over the last day or so.

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  He even tried to get Al’s attention, but the AI was quiet. In fact, he hadn’t heard much from him since his altercation with Rafe. He wondered if it was because of what he had done. If someone had told him a day ago that he would kill someone, he’d have laughed in their face — yet he had. To his surprise and shock, however, it hadn’t affected him much at all.

  He had never been the squeamish type, but he’d never been a cold-blooded killer either. He justified it in his mind that it was either Rafe or him — or worse, others. Looking at Seshka, kitted out for battle, he was getting the feeling that violence and killing were only going to continue.

  After three hours, Tyler reckoned that as they walked along the path, the trees grew wider apart, the light breaking through in soft shafts that painted the ground in gold and green. The path widened too, less worn, as if fewer people chose this direction.

  Tyler sighed. For everything that had happened, for all the questions spinning in his head, he felt… oddly calm. The system, the paths, the woman walking beside him — none of it felt urgent right now. Just strange.

  The trees finally opened into a small clearing, and Seshka held up a hand, indicating for them both to stop.

  “Up ahead I can see a tent. The colours — yeah, it’s the Unending Accord,” Seshka said, her hand still raised. She looked frustrated, as if she’d just swept a room and someone had dragged hay through the house.

  “We should just circle around. Best to keep clear of those whack jobs. Nobody wants that getting on their path.”

  “The Unending Accord — who are they? Are they dangerous?” Tyler asked.

  Seshka laughed, a genuine giggle that, for the first time, made her look a lot younger. Late teens. Long dark hair. Hell, she could be a university student out in fancy dress.

  “Hardly dangerous. Well, unless you join them — and then the danger is to your path. You’d just get stuck, as all of them do, chasing a dream that’s impossible.”

  “What are they chasing?”

  Seshka looked at him inquisitively. “You really don’t know, do you?”

  There was something deeper in her tone now, as if she was only just starting to understand that Tyler wasn’t a god — just a clueless man from a small, simple planet that had never needed a word for multiverse.

  Shaking her head, she continued. “They are chasing mana. That’s what they are — Mana-Chasers. They think a mana construct should last forever and not disperse back into the universe. I mean, where do they think the mana comes from?

  “They spend all their time thinking they’ve just solved the problem, only for it to blow up in their face — or for any normal person to point out where the mana is coming from to sustain it.

  “I mean, imagine if it could actually be done. You could create anything an infinite number of times. You’d put the Arbitrage Conglomerate out of business in less than a day. If it could be done, those guys would’ve done it already, right?”

  Tyler just stood there, a puzzled look on his face.

  “I take it the Arbitrage Conglomerate is a big company?”

  “Think multiverse-big. They have vendors everywhere. I dare say they own two credits to your one.”

  “Okay, so they’re foolhardy people trying to do something that everyone knows is not technically possible. But are they dangerous? I mean, I wouldn’t mind having a look at what all this is about.”

  Seshka’s eyes widened in horror. She mouthed a word, nothing coming out, then walked up to Tyler, grabbed his jacket, and spoke directly into his face.

  “We are on the Intertwining Paths. Every action affects our path. If you think I’m going to tie mine down to some stupid, insane notion — gods or not — you’re on your own.”

  Tyler raised a hand and put it on hers.

  “It’s fine, honest. We have the same people where I’m from. For centuries, people have tried to conceive a device for perpetual motion, always coming up with a new, novel idea they’re sure will work — and just like these Mana-Chasers, they’re always wrong. But that doesn’t mean what they built was bad. Some of it was really impressive.

  “I just want to see the impressive part. I won’t be getting sucked into their crazy. Promise.”

  Seshka stared at him for a long while, tilting her head from one angle to another. With no indication she was going to speak, Tyler came at it from another angle to persuade her.

  “Plus, look at the state of me. I’m covered in dirt and mud — some of which isn’t mine — and that black stuff there, that’s spider guts. Maybe I could get freshened up there.”

  She looked at the stain on Tyler’s trousers as he pointed. The smell was horrific, and she scrunched her nose.

  “Fine. But if you start wearing the blue, green, and gold of the Unending Accord, you’re on your own. Like I said — gods or not — that is the end of any path.”

  She stepped back, inspected herself, and headed off toward the tent in the distance, talking as she went.

  “Whoever is there is most probably mad anyway. I mean, they’re here, aren’t they? They’re never leaving. Their path has ended already.”

  They approached what looked like a small carnival tent made from leather, painted in red, green, and gold stripes. It was about eight metres by eight metres and rose fifteen metres into the air. It bowed halfway up, giving Tyler the illusion that it had multiple floors — well, he thought it was an illusion anyway.

  The tent door was pulled open with some rope, and an old man sat out front, washing something in a small stone bowl with some water. He was so invested in his work that he didn’t hear Tyler and Seshka approach and jumped slightly when Tyler spoke, spilling some of the contents on the floor and hurriedly trying to pick it back up.

  “Hi there. This is Seshka, and I’m Tyler. We were just passing and thought we’d pop by and say hi.”

  The old man mumbled a few words as he picked up what looked like mushrooms from the floor and put them back in his bowl. Seshka walked over, picked up a stray mushroom, and inspected it. She gave it a sniff, then licked it with the tip of her tongue before throwing it away, her whole-body shuddering as she did

  “He’s a Duster too. How can anyone mess their path up more than being a member of the Unending Accord? Oh, I know — they can be hooked on Umbra Dustcap.”

  The old man just looked up at the two of them, smiled, sat back, and then slowly nodded off, the bowl with his mixture sitting perfectly balanced on his knee.