His family’s last night together was spent telling stories, remembering the good times and trying to forget about his imposed deadline. Perumah briefly expressed that she didn’t want to impose and tried to leave, but his mom and sister practically jumped on her, saying that she hadn’t shared any of her stories about Dei and how she was pretty much part of the family.

  She was flattered, but Dei quickly told her “Do NOT tell them any of the stories about me on Avium, it will scare them unnecessarily. You can still stay though, they really will love that.”

  “Should they not know? Is it not their right to understand the dangers you are going to face?”

  “They already do, it’s just more… implied. It’ll bring the mood down.”

  “Very well.”

  One strange result of going over the memories they all had together was how Dei realized that, even before he’d reincarnated, he was monstrously superhuman. When he first gained the Soul affinity and went over some of his past, he found a repressed memory of ripping a door clean off its hinges and throwing it through a wall in a fit of rage, but that wasn’t the only time. Some of his misadventures included how in high school he’d punched a hole through a locker in a fit of rage, then in college he’d accidentally cracked a brick wall by ramming headfirst into it while rushing to class, and finally how he’d survived getting hit by a car with no broken bones.

  “How did you not realize?!” Sophie asked, “You got hit by a car, and the car exploded. What the hell, man?!”

  “I thought everyone who trained hard enough was like that,” Dei said with a shrug.

  “Th-Th-Wh-What?! Where would you get that idea?”

  “Dad was like that,” he said, and the man in question shrugged.

  “I didn’t want him thinking he was some kind of freak.”

  “What if he’d hurt someone?!”

  “I would’ve crossed that bridge when I got to it. But it never came up. He was always better at controlling himself than me.”

  Nobody backed Sophie up, so she just splayed out, languishing on her husband’s lap while he ran his fingers through her hair.

  Every other story went much the same, with his parents quietly paying for things he broke and bribing people to stay quiet. It was pretty funny once Dei realized they would be insanely rich if his parents weren’t busy funding the remodeling of buildings or buying cars on the regular. He felt bad, but both his parents said they preferred it like this because they had enough cash to be comfortable, not not so much that they lost touch with reality.

  He didn’t quite believe them, but they were just comforting him, so that was to be expected.

  All things had to end eventually, and this night was no exception. The clock struck eight, and he knew it was time.

  Leaving would never be easy, so they’d already agreed on exactly when the cutoff was, and the stories slowly took on a more bittersweet tone.

  Before he knew or wanted it, he found himself pressed into a hug by his family, Perumah caught in the middle as well.

  “We love you,” Sophie was, surprisingly, the first to say.

  “I know. I love you all too,” he choked out.

  His mom took a step back, and the rest followed her example as she gripped him by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes, tears spilling down her face freely.

  “I don’t care about that world, Dei, I care about you. I want you to be happy. Promise me that, if it comes down to it, you’ll put yourself first?” his mother said with grave seriousness.

  “I promise,” he told her, and she pulled him down to give him a kiss on his forehead, ruffling his hair.

  His father gave him a sturdy punch in the shoulder and Dei didn’t budge, making his dad smile. Nothing was said.

  They looked at Jack, and he flinched slightly, “Don’t die?”

  Sophie punched him, and they laughed.

  “What am I supposed to say? I’m the in-law!” Jack said, blushing.

  “Nothing, man, I appreciate it. And I’ll try. Treat my sister well.”

  “I was gonna do that anyway, but man, you’re an interdimensional worldkiller. I’d be stupid to do anything else.”

  “But I’ll be trapped, so it’ll actually be my dad to break your legs,” he offered helpfully, and his dad gave Jack a firm pat on the shoulder.

  Jack gave both of them a flat look. “The supersoldier that throws cars at monsters? Yea, not scary at all.”

  “You do that?” Dei asked his dad, and he shrugged noncommittally.

  A beat passed, and a heavy silence rested over them.

  “I will keep him safe,” Perumah broke the silence, and his mom burst into tears, wrapping her arms around the plant woman.

  “Perumah, you have my permission to tell him what to do, he needs someone who thinks by his side. Dei, you have to listen to her.”

  “Hey…”

  “I’ll stop the worst of his ideas,” Perumah assured her with complete seriousness.

  “Hey!”

  They shared one last joke at his expense, and sighed. Perumah stepped up to his side, they talked over each other saying one final goodbye, and Dei teleported away to find Thadria and Jacob.

  He’d done everything he could for them, he knew they would be happy, but there was no replacement for family.

  * * *

  “Are you sure?” Dei asked the couple, “There’s no going back from this. Once you enter that quarantine, you’re there.”

  “I am positive, but I’m going to be honest, can’t the System like… not stop me if I want to get out?”

  “How are you going to escape? You can only walk places. I bet if anyone opens a portal to the fabric for you, the System is just going to close it to not give you the chance,” he said knowingly.

  “True… if I don’t get the chance to even face towards an exit, there isn’t much I can do. Ok, fair, but I’m still following Thadria, and she’s going after her people.

  Thadria nodded with a determined huff, and Dei couldn’t help but relax. He really wanted Jacob to help out with the demon, but it would be horrible of him to force the man into the war.

  “Alright, in that case, get ready, because it’s time to go.”

  Dei could feel The Champion watching them, seeing them off, and he saluted to the air. Ignoring the looks the other gave him, he reached out with Connection, and teleported towards the last place he was on over in Avium- Aloran’s Garden.

  While he could go straight to his family’s place, he wanted to deliver the message to Aloran first, and get his opinion on the next steps.

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  * * *

  A familiar waiting room surrounded them, four chairs this time instead of only one. Dei plopped into one of the middle two, Perumah sat to his right, with Jacob on his left then Thadria.

  “I think it needs time to assess us before it says anything,” Dei said, remembering how it made them wait a minute or so before going off on its spiel.

  “How will it read Jacob?” Perumah asked, and Dei shrugged.

  “I don’t think it can, but let’s give it a chance first.”

  “No, you are correct, this being supersedes my domain,” a robotic voice said into the air, rather than the typical ‘Giving you the information directly’ way of speaking the System usually went through. “There is little need for a true assessment, it will fail anyway. You, as well, Dei Grrata, are now outside my purview.”

  “What?! Why?”

  That wasn’t good at all. If the System couldn’t help him, the struggle to the top would be… a lot longer. Classes, Professions, level help, it would all disappear.

  “Another System has taken up the role as your primary equalizer, one of your own creation. Disregarding the anomalous shape of its body and terrifyingly taboo act of what you’ve done, I am quite fond of Ashvorn, so I would not separate it from its primary purpose. Do not fret, though, we are in discussion now about potential guidance. You will still receive a System, it will simply not come from me.”

  Dei sighed in relief, “I’ll still get a Class and Profession?”

  “Preliminary assessments return complex and unreadable results for what to offer. You will receive a Class and Profession, yes, but even in my own power, I would have needed to create a unique model for you.”

  “Meaning…?”

  [Your soul is too spiky and difficult to corral now. It will need to treat you like a System-hopper, a sort of celebrated existence. Systems must create unique Interfaces for each System-hopper, because there are so many opposing forces acting on them internally. You are, essentially, too unusual to be organized now. You will be placed in the miscellaneous drawer] Ashvorn clarified for him, and he nodded along. The System even read out Ashvorn’s words into the air so others could hear it.

  “Okay, that works. How long is this deal thing going to take?”

  “It is done. I take it you are absolutely sure that you wish to re-enter the quarantine?”

  “Yes,” he said without hesitation, and the others followed suit.

  “Then I will mark the usual announcement to be skipped. Thadria and Perumah, your Interfaces are enabled once more. Dei, yours will likely take a few hours to be fully integrated. Anomalous existence, I am incapable of interacting with you, but there will be a few smaller features enabled for you. Take note, however, that all your screens are visible to everyone, as any attempt at catering to you specifically led to inconsistent results.”

  “Got it boss,” Jacob gave a thumbs up to the air, and the room flickered.

  The comforting sensation of MP flowed through him, crickets chirped, the soft glow of crystals lit the space, and the long grass caressed his feet.

  Taking a deep breath, he held it for a few seconds, then slowly exhaled, letting everything outside of quarantine fall away.

  It wasn’t important anymore. None of it was. He might never see any of it again, so he could only focus on the now, until he knew he was safe. He’d think about his family of course, but they wouldn’t want him being distracted.

  He recentered his way of thinking into something more lethal. Everything was a threat.

  Assessing the space, he saw it was… very cramped with four people, but exactly as he remembered it. He sat against the wall and said “Give me a moment, I will see if I can contact my God yet. Wake me if anything unusual happens.”

  He closed his eyes and reached out. He wouldn’t have been able to do this before, but his frequent talks with The Champion gave him a kind of sense for how to feel divinity.

  The moment he appeared in Avium, something similar to what The Champion used awoke within him, and he became aware of the mark Aloran left on him.

  He poked it, and the response was instantaneous.

  “DEI! YOU’RE BACK!” Aloran shouted, and he smiled, “One second, we can talk for a while in a moment, but let me take care of that message first, I’m under contract to do so.”

  As quickly as he arrived, he was gone, and Dei went to the second priority: The Champion’s tithe.

  He tried doing the same thing he always did, sending out the message to speak with The Champion, but felt something interfere.

  The Champion didn’t manifest or connect with him, so he tried again, getting the same results.

  “Hmm.”

  He’d have to ask Aloran in a bit.

  “Okay I’m done. For now… what have we got here?” he asked mischievously, and the ball of faith intended for Aloran disappeared.

  Dei heard Aloran choke as he took hold of it, and gasped.

  “Where did you get this much?!”

  “Uhhhh…”

  Thinking back to how the last Mother responded, he made sure he was speaking with Aloran mentally, then said “I killed a Mother.”

  “WHAT?!” Aloran screamed in a high pitched voice, then Dei felt him check the connection as well. “I’m taking this but we’re never speaking of this ever again.”

  “It’s okay, I got the approval from other versions of The Mother that it was fine. The Mother I killed was piloted by a human and apparently some kind of abomination.”

  ‘The first one at least. We’re not talking about that Mother who lost her body and was only a mind.’

  Dei hadn’t even thought about how that would probably grant a massive windfall of faith.

  “Dei, this is too much. I wish I could grant you another blessing, but that would tie you to me too thoroughly. What do you want as a reward? Anything. List anything, and I will get it for you.”

  “Anything?” Dei reasserted.

  “I understand that Slaughterers are known for their unusual request but this… Dei, you’ve made me one of the most powerful Gods in the entire realm, if I play my cards right that is. Gods have a lot draw.”

  “Okay, well there is one thing I think you’ll be able to get, but I know you won’t be happy about it.”

  “Oh no. What?”

  “So… have you ever heard of the term Twisted Love?”

  Aloran went silent.

  “Oh… I can feel it now,” he finally said, relief, stress, and confusion permeating his voice.

  “What?”

  “Twisted Love is what the Golden Order calls it. I can feel their mark on Perumah, saying she has been approved of by them. What have you two done?”

  “A lot, but there’s only a little bit that I need right now.”

  “I won’t help you earn that awful affinity. I swear to me, you chose one of the most forb-”

  Aloran seemed like he was ready to break off into a rant, so Dei cut him off, saying “Stop stop, I don’t want to earn it.”

  Aloran audibly sighed in relief, “Then what?”

  “I need to know how it changes the personality. Are there any records of people earning it? What did their users do, how did they feel afterwards?”

  “This is treading dangerous ground, Dei,” Aloran warned him, “I can, but there will be questions. Eyes you might not want will land upon you for even speaking of this. I will keep this a secret if I can but…”

  ‘It won’t matter,’ Dei thought to himself, ‘Perumah only needs Wrath, then she has the full set and we can finally see if she…’

  He froze when he finally said it to himself.

  ‘...If she dies.’

  She would either triumph over the ancient evil, or… her soul would collapse under her vow. Either way, there would be attention on them, better to be ready beforehand.

  Putting his emotions aside for a moment, he said “I know, but this is important. I need this as soon as you can reasonably get it.”

  “Time works a bit different up here depending on where you are, I can get this to you in seconds from your perspective, but this… will have consequences for both of us.”

  “I’m sorry, Aloran. If this is too much I… I want to say that you don’t have to, but I need to know this. If you can’t, I will go searching for help from others. Above all though, I won’t blame you. I will understand if this is too much to ask, but I’m not going to leave this unfinished.”

  “You saved my life, Dei. More than that, you saved my friends. I can handle the fallout up here if you believe you can handle it on the mortal plane.”

  “Is killing still an accepted way of solving issues?” he asked genuinely, thinking of how Slaughterers were treated as rabid beasts on Avium, for good reason. He could only lean into such a reputation.

  “Absolutely.”

  “Do it.”

  The feedback he got from their connection made him dizzy, as Aloran seemed to move omnidirectionally closer and further to Dei, strengthening and weakening how they could hear each other, but it quickly returned to normal.

  “It’s done. We’re going to face some backlash, but I managed to control how quickly it will get out. We have a few weeks before anything comes of this, which should give you enough time to take care of all your other business first.”

  “Thank you,” he said warmly, “This means more to me than you know.”

  Aloran chuckled, “Dei, you’ll do more for me by existing than you could possibly know. You hold a strengthened connection to me because you received my blessing directly in the mortal plane, marking you as a potential avatar, and you’re a Slaughterer. Do you know how many have Slaughterer avatars? I’ll tell you, it’s none. It simply does not happen. By virtue of being a Slaughterer and my follower, you’re a feared force. Slaughterers are terrifying, but the idea that a God may guide you? That you will be a directed rampaging beast? That puts people on edge. I’ve become more powerful simply by having you under me, so I’m willing to accept some trouble in your name as well.”

  Despite the descriptors Aloran used on Dei, he was still happy to be appreciated.

  “Now, do you want these accounts or not? There are three records of… Twisted Love, and no, I was not able to get its real name.”

  “That’s fine, I only need the personality shifts.”

  “Worrying, but okay. Prepare yourself, these records are gruesome.”

  He expected nothing less.