His father, siblings, and Clever were not nearly as quiet as his mother; she’d clearly gone ahead to scout the space out, perhaps because she heard Fendrascora’s flowing translation Skill. When they came into sight, his dad did the same thing as his mom, except he picked both of them up in a hug, letting out a relieved, joyful laugh.

  Clever ran up to the three hugging, and paused. “I can’t lift that much,” he said, looking at their group. Dei laughed through his tears and found that he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

  * * *

  After they parted, his mom spent a long moment studying him, while his dad did something he’d forgotten about- give him a kind of handshake using his Presence.

  Dei was tempted to give the simplified version Justin taught him, just about being a Slaughterer and what kind of person he was, but decided against it. He cut out any of the extra/useless concepts, such as his tactic of using karmic links to rocks to mask his presence, and sent everything else forward.

  A Motherslayer, Dragonslayer, Champion’s Devil, Reaper, and Supreme inquisitor were the loudest of the bunch, and his father only nodded approvingly.

  ‘Bit of a tame reaction but it’s good he isn’t freaking out I suppose.’

  His mom continued to scrutinize his face for a few seconds, before seemingly arriving at a conclusion and brightening.

  Hoisting him off his feet, she held him- an eight foot tall giant- like a baby, rocking him and humming a tune.

  Dei didn’t fight it, not really understanding why but seeing this was important to her, but he did blush furiously. Most of the others in the clearing found it a funny sight, but Fendrascora apparently understood and Perumah looked like she was taking notes in her head, trying to figure out why.

  He tried, desperately, to let his mother get whatever it was out of her system, when he realized that he actually recognized the tune. It was one she sang to him when he would cry back in his crib, holding him, patting him until he went to sleep.

  It didn’t exactly work anymore, but he found it endearing nonetheless.

  When she got her moment out of her system, she placed him down and tried shooting him a serious expression, one that lost its bite when she couldn’t suppress her smile.

  “You’ve been a strange boy since the day you were born. I’d like an explanation, if you have one, and the entire story of what you’ve gone through.”

  He felt another burst of emotions well up, but he knew he was being unreasonable. His parents didn’t care that he’d grown into an adult in two years, something told him they wouldn’t care if he came with a few memories.

  * * *

  Everyone got comfortable on the rocks around the pond: Rena and Ben sat between his parents, Dei and Perumah across from them with Clever on his lap, Fendrascora in the pond, along with Thadria and Jacob next to the water; the group positioned itself so Thadria was in the center, the most well-protected, though she didn’t realize she was receiving the same treatment as the kids in the group.

  She was a Titanslayer and reality warper, but out of the group, she was third lowest in survivability and caution, a funny conclusion to arrive at.

  He shook off the distracting thought and stopped fidgeting, finally resolving to speak as all the others watched him. He had a more complete image of what happened during the transition between his death and rebirth, but it would be the first time putting it into words.

  He started with the simple.

  “The story starts a bit less than three decades ago with the birth of a child named Leven Hardie. He was born in another universe, one outside of the quarantine, with strange laws of reality and no System to govern them…”

  He went on, describing Leven’s affinities and how he kept the rage contained over the course of his whole life. During this, most of the group didn’t react, but the longer Leven went without releasing his Wrath, the more stressed his parents looked, understanding the weight of a three-decade-long charged spell.

  He described the battle between his two affinities, up until the final reveal of his wife cheating on him, which caused his mom to become enraged, though she didn’t interrupt.

  “...The guard cast some kind of kinetic spell, exploding his heart as they believed he’d broken into a random person’s house to kill them.”

  The kids were the two most enraptured with the tale, though the others had a varying interest. An unintended though welcome side effect was the shifting of their attention. When they first met him, they looked at him with suspicion, then incredulity when they found out that he was their supposed “Baby brother.” He had to admit, he wanted to spend time with them and be part of the family, but he knew he couldn’t force the issue.

  An unintended side effect of telling such a riveting story was that they looked at him now with wonder, which helped him relax.

  “What happened to him? And the mana?” Ben asked, leaning forward.

  “Well… he died. His soul passed on into the afterlife before the spell manifested.” Shock and disappointment marred their faces until he said “But, that doesn’t mean he disappeared. The first thing his now-dead soul did was try to claw its way back into life as an undead, but the laws of the planet at the time didn’t allow for such a thing. Still, his soul managed to rip itself in two, forcing a remnant back into reality that haunted his best friend and lover at the time, slowly driving them mad and doing everything it could to kill them. The remnant piece was around… fifteen percent of his soul, and entirely composed of his Wrath.”

  His mom’s satisfied expression made him want to laugh, but he was too engrossed in telling the story now.

  “The larger part, the now-imbalanced piece with the burgeoning spell, had to move on, and here he encountered something called the True Void: a place between all things, something that supposedly doesn’t really exist, but holds life in it anyway. It’s where things go after death if they don’t resurrect as an undead or worship a God, where they get cleansed.”

  He was going to completely skip the whole thing about Void Beasts, having learned from Edward.

  “Except, he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to die in an unsatisfying way or be erased yet, so when the spell went off, it was directed at the Void itself. I don’t know how the result would be described, but I imagine it would be akin to a flash of light making the shadows recede for just a moment, but that was enough for Leven’s soul to make it through the Void partially unscathed. It still erased his Identity, removing who he was as a person, but his affinities, spells, most of his memories, and even his grudges remained after death while his soul entered its new life, reincarnating into a new body, namely mine.”

  His parents had already put two-and-two together a few minutes after he’d started and, like he thought, did not mind.

  Rena and Ben though? Shellshocked. Ben leapt out of his seat and almost shouted, when his dad put a hand over his mouth and quietly said “Shh.”

  They were, after all, still in the forest, with predators around.

  Ben quietly said “But we aren’t even being silent! He’s been talking the whole time.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  ‘True.’

  “Yes,” Gor said, “But he isn’t shouting and, more importantly, that’s not the point of entering the forest. You and Rena must always keep the practice up, no exceptions.” That sounded important, and relevant to why they took Dei into the forest in the first place back when he was a baby; he’d ask later.

  Ben harrumphed but closed his mouth, Rena whispered “You’re Leven?”

  Dei shook his head, speaking just loud enough for everyone to hear. “No, not quite. I’m the person who he reincarnated into, a major difference. While he didn’t have an Interface for most of his life, he did manage to check it before entering his new one, and it said something like ‘Name: None, Race: Human, Wandering Soul Variant. I don’t know how much you know about names, but they’re important. Having no name listed at the time meant he was well and truly dead, his conscious mind either erased or permanently damaged. I think the Human Wandering Soul part came from how he still had memories other things attached to the core of his soul, rather than just being perfectly pure. If I had to guess, I think the “Racial bonuses” for a Human Wandering Soul would be that they can keep their memories into the next life, so while I’m not Leven, he kind of… wrote my instincts so to speak. Similar to how your heart knows to beat from the very first moment, my body knew all of what Leven was.”

  Rena appeared thoughtful, but his mother finally spoke up for the first time. “Thank the System for that. I imagine this is also why you were much smarter as a baby?”

  He nodded, relieved she was grateful for his past, “Yes, Leven’s memories were too much for my body, so the mind was forced to mature significantly faster than normal, quickly bringing me into consciousness.”

  “That was for the best. More prepared for the wilds.”

  He smiled bitterly, “Yes, but that was the source of the issues, no? If I hadn’t been smart enough as a child, I would’ve never acted on that Nightstalking Devourer, and never been targeted by Iora. At the time, I didn’t know a lot about the world, and thought we would’ve all died… now I see only a few would’ve been picked off, and that everyone was supposed to watch for themselves. If any of us were targeted, dad would’ve simply activated the ability he used to hold off Iora. I’ve learned more about the Sloth affinity and how it charges, so I understand why he didn’t, but I thought it was life or death at the time. If I hadn’t inherited Leven’s memories, I never would’ve been separated in the first place.”

  “Mm,” his father hummed in agreement, “But you never would’ve been great either. If I knew what you were planning, I would’ve activated my ability to end the fight sooner, but if I knew what I do now? I would have let things run its course. You did not have a childhood, but so few do nowadays. Strength is required to love anything, because without it, you simply cannot protect what is yours. You’ve endured your crucible, and come out steel, that is nothing to be ashamed of. More than this, I do not believe issues would’ve been avoided entirely if you didn’t have Leven’s memories.

  “True, Iora may not have targeted us, but everything she did was only a sign of the true issue below. Iora is controlling and too paranoid, willing to turn on her fellow Gem-Dwellers at the drop of a hat before consulting others. There were many other, better things she could have done. But she didn’t. If it hadn’t been you, she would have eventually snapped on another innocent, perhaps one less prepared. Maybe she already has, and we simply never realized it. I wish you were not chosen to be the subject of her ire, but if it were anyone, I am glad it could be someone capable of withstanding it, and that you are better for it in the end.

  “Iora has lost the right to be a Shaman. She’s not just imperfect, she is deranged, and should be slain.”

  “We need only wait, dear,” his mom said, reaching over and placing a hand on his father’s shoulder.

  “Oh yea,” Dei said, remembering he hadn’t told them yet. “Justin actually said I can kill her whenever I want,” then specifically activated Justin’s mark that said Dei had his express backing.

  His mother practically leapt to her feet, “Let’s go.”

  “No,” his father said amusedly, “We aren’t having her ruin another family moment. Let’s hear Dei’s story first.”

  “It might take a few days to get the entire thing,” he told them.

  “The shortened version then.” he conceded, “Just until the part where you reach Fendrascora, because we have it from Clever’s perspective already. I want it from yours.”

  * * *

  POV: The demon-kin

  The army it was supposed to head soon slunk through the tunnels. It had taken months for its master to choose the perfect moment for their departure, and it was now here.

  Its target was simple: the rising Gem-Dweller Slaughterer, smothered in the cradle.

  As the army drew closer to where the target was supposed to be, it was baffled at the lack of resonance. Did it perhaps move upwards? Join its people once more? That would be perfect, it could ambush the Slaughterer from shadows.

  It began to scout ahead, its powerful stealth Skills letting it slip through the detection of the monsters around it, all of which would attack if they knew of its presence. Demon-kin, similar to their master, were affronts to all existence, and anything living knew it.

  Abruptly, it felt the resonance appear again, and began making its way forwards. Had its target left the area, then just returned? That would be.

  * * *

  What it found was…

  Not a feasible target.

  Too strong. Much too strong. It would watch for a vulnerable moment, but it could sense the presence of a subtle detection Skill, searching for hostile intent.

  It had none, it slipped under the mana’s sight and continued to watch, not even slightly setting its mind upon attack.

  * * *

  The target moved, disappearing, though not outside its range. It caught up quickly, and found it still protecting its weakest members. A pity. Kindness affinity targets tended to be vulnerable to having their companions held hostage, a potential angle of victory.

  * * *

  The target met up with five more entities, and it would be salivating if it felt anything at all.

  Any of them would be viable, except for perhaps the Embodiment of the Flow, far too agile for even its attacks.

  All it needed was for them to part ways from its target and the root-born one. They could challenge its current path, the others could not.

  As soon as they separated, victory was assured. If nothing else, they would undoubtedly lose track of one another in the chaos to come, then it would be time.

  * * *

  POV: Dei Grrata

  Dei spoke for the next hour of his story, feeling more integrated, more whole as he went. He’d never told anyone about the absolute dissonance created in his soul by Leven’s memories, nor the panic attacks he remembered them giving him. He faced an identity crisis, not truly understanding who or what he was.

  To share it all felt… lightening.

  His parents didn’t look at him with pity, but understanding. They’d no doubt suffered difficult lives in their own ways, and knew that the heaviest weights were borne not of mass, but of the mind.

  He’d only just reached the part where he began his upward spiral of the blue cave intersecting with the Great River when Clever’s lounging figure suddenly snapped to attention.

  “TIME SHIFT! DANGER!” he screamed in their heads, and they all jumped into action- Dei going as far as to quickly poke a hole in his own skin, wherein Fendrascora entered his bloodstream to hide once more.

  Rena, Ben, Thadria, and Jacob were forced in between Dei, Perumah, and his parents, with Clever sitting on Dei’s shoulder.

  In less than a second, everyone was battle-ready, and the danger finally presented itself.

  With a flash of light and a shattering explosion, a mass of white tendrils pushed its way through the ceiling of the cavern.

  High above Dei saw, he felt what it was. Something deep within him roared, and he knew that he glimpsed a mass of pure kinetic mana, with Iora at the center.

  It floated down, a twisting star, before coming to a stop a distance above them. The light faded, and the wrinkled figure of his long-hated Shaman glowered at him.

  “Grrata’s,” she growled out, “I’ve-”

  She paused, eyes locking onto a random piece of the terrain nearby, and her focus changed so quick as to give him whiplash.

  He saw it in her body language, he was now her second priority.

  “DEMON RAID!” she screamed so loud, imbued with such intent, Dei knew the world was now aware.

  From the center of the forest, a vibration powerful enough to rattle the bones in his body slowly rose into something resembling a roar, its demand clearly broadcasting the intent.

  Dei became aware of not only the location of a demon-kin lurking just behind a tree, but thousands, tens of thousands of demon-kin, crawling up from the earth as though clawing their way out of hell.

  A catastrophe of unimaginable proportions.

  With a flicker of understanding to his former captor and torturer, they called for an alliance in the face of a greater threat.

  Cycle of Sealing locked down the scream of rage within him, and he pushed the issue further down into his soul then activating [Overmind] to forcibly forget about it.