(Jacob, 16)

Tasha sits on my right, our hands touching, while Alex sits on my left. The three of us are watching the bonfire the Sages built from the steps to the building. The other trainees are gathered around the bonfire, feasting, playing games, drinking, and talking about warmth and fires.

The only reason Alex is tolerating sitting beside me is because this is the best spot to sit for if Jason and Miralandis return the way they left. It is clear he is nervous, though, and Barry sits on his left murmuring softly to him.

Niko still rests in his room, recovering from the toll of what he did to the ice titan and the second large spell he had prepared.

We are all worried for both of them, but especially Jason. Why did he flee in such a panic, and why did Niko seem to know what it was about? It was clear Jason was willing to set back his healing for this situation, whatever it was.

Alex drains his twentieth drink, and not even five seconds later, Jeddy runs over with a fresh stein, swapping it for his empty one. This is the first time I have seen Alex drunk where he has not been loud and boisterous. In fact, he looks like he is doing his best to hold back tears.

Were Tasha in the same situation as Jason, I probably would be crying here. I look at her, and she gives me a soft smile that says she knows what I am thinking. I give her hand a reassuring squeeze, then the four of us jump slightly when a grey gate forms in front of us.

Miralandis steps out with Jason slung over her shoulder, then looks at Sage Elena, who was waiting nearby.

"He is as bad as his father!" Miralandis says as her gate fades.

"How did you get a sleeping curse to stick?" Sage Elena asks. "They're purged by his state of healing as soon I strike him with them."

"It wasn't easy," Miralandis says. "I can't breach the wards on his room, so I'm putting him in the staff quarters. The curse should wear off in an hour or two."

"Why did you curse him?" She asks.

"What happened?" Alex asks, and I realize he has reached his feet and is wobbling unsteadily towards her. The fact that he can walk unaided as drunk as he is impresses me. "Why was Jason in such a bad state? What happened? Why did he freak out and panic and leave in a rush? Why ain't ya answering?"

His volume grew with every word, to the point he was nearly yelling.

"Alex," Miralandis turns her attention to him, speaking calmly. "A situation came up with required grey magical power to deal with. Jason, unable to access most of his power without hampering his recovery, took me to deal with it. The method of travel to arrive there was taxing on him. I knocked him out to keep him from overexerting himself further. He is fine, and he will recover soon. If you wish to help me with something, please come with me."

I start to rise.

"Only Alex," Miralandis tells me, then enters the building with Jason still slung over her shoulder, Alex following behind.

"That is not reassuring," I say.

"She likely wants to make sure Alex knows Jason is okay," Tasha tells me.

"I am Jason's cousin," I shake my head. "Something else is going on."

We return our attention to the bonfire as I think over the possibilities for what is going on, for what Jason could have panicked about. Nothing is coming to mind.

Eventually, Alex returns, his eyes red and puffy from tears, and he sits back beside Barry. Miralandis comes out a minute later, then exits through a gate. Jeddy hands Alex another stein, and he drains it in one go, holding it out so Jeddy can take it once more.

"A group of angels arrived on Midlaris," Alex says, his words slurring just a little. "Ten of them. Jason told Miralandis that the passage ain't able to bring more in, those ten passing through used up its ability to, or something. In his weakened state, he couldn't fight them without unleashing Reaper, which he ain't wantin' to do for something so small, so he needed someone else with grey magical power. After, he was going to show her how to properly decay them so they ain't having their taint affecting the surroundings, and she knocked him out so that he ain't setting back his healing from that. She brought back a finger and asked me how to do it properly. Now she's gone to go turn them into sand. Jason told her we ain't got anything to worry about."

"An angel made it through?" I ask in horror.

None of us are powerful enough to really fight against them, even with our Sacred Swords and Magus Swords.

"A demon has before," Sage Elena says, and we all look at her. "Jason keeps its corpse locked up in a box, in a spatial storage just for it. If I remember what he said correctly, a dragon slayed it."

Yet he says we have nothing to worry about. Jason and I have two different definitions of that.

"Shouldn't you be under the effect of a sleeping curse?" Her attention suddenly turns to the front door.

"No?" Jason offers, and I turn to look at him. He is wearing his usual outfit, his vest dark grey this time, and Snow Leopard Alpha is tucked under his right arm, its tail swinging lazily. "Snow Leopard Alpha came in and removed it. They're all designed to remove any curses I'm unable to."

"Your grandmama," Alex slurs. "Said angels came through."

"Yeah," Jason walks over, and Tasha and I move to the side so he can sit between Alex and me. "But Fael Mira took care of it, I just needed to get her there."

"Ya don't look that good," Alex puts a hand to the back of Jason's forehead. "Ya're burning up, Jasa-Josa-Jace… Ya are burning up."

I do my best to not snort. Alex is very drunk, and he looks miserable. Even so, he is checking on Jason.

"I'll be fine," Jason says. "Just need some rest, but I thought I'd participate in the festivities a little bit."

"Should you?" I ask, and he looks at me. "Alex is correct, Jason – you could barely walk your way the few steps here."

"I do need to eat," Jason says. "That will help me recover some of my strength. So. Did you enjoy the fight against the ice titan?"

"No!" Tasha and I exclaim in unison.

"Ya are crazy!" Alex tells Jason, then waves at Jeddy. "Jeddy! Bring Jado-Jasa-Jace… Bring a big plate o' food and a full stein!"

"The stein is for me," Jason tells Alex. "You've had a little too much."

"I've only had about forty drinks."

He has drunk more than I noticed he did, and I am amazed even more by his tolerance, now.

"Exactly," Jason says. "Being the Leviathan of the Magi doesn't mean you're able to drink as much as you want, it just gives you a massive tolerance."

"I'll sober up if I need ta," Alex mumbles, looking like he might pass out any moment now. "I ain't had too much, I can have another twenty or so before I need ta refresh myself."

"Refresh yourself?" I ask. "What does that mean?"

"He can cycle his magic through himself to sober himself up," Jason explains. "It's similar to the instant-sobering we Magi have when there's danger. Alex, I'm a bit worried your tolerance is that high, especially since you aren't needing to pee."

"I have to pee," Alex mutters, then slowly stands up.

Barry helps Alex inside, and I look at Jason.

"He did that because of you," I say. "Because of you doing what you did and looking as bad as you did."

"He's an adult," Jason says. "He can take responsibility for his own actions."

Jason frowns a little.

"Though his situation with his past is strange," he says. "I was talking with Uncle Zach about it earlier. Apparently, the laws regarding it are conflicting and convoluted and make no sense. It could take months to figure out his actual status, now. He may not be relieved of all past crimes, they may not be put on his papa. It seems over the years, several kings have signed paperwork changing it, but all are applicable, which has turned it into a mess."

"What does that mean for Alex?" I ask. "I have had to destroy six copies of the warrant for his execution already."

Exerting my power as Crown Prince to do that might have upset Papa, but I do want an exemption made for Alex. He is a friend, in this life and our old, whether or not he accepts it yet. Friends fight sometimes, and the Leviathan of the Magi is not the Leviathan of the Magi without a nasty temper. It is simply a part of who Alex is. From my recovering memories, I know we went through phases where we might have killed each other, were we not able to heal from nearly anything. We also went through phases were we killed others together, as the friends we really were.

"Your papa wrote the seventh up himself," Jason states, and I find myself freezing at that. One made it past me? I suppose it would be natural for Papa to ensure I could not destroy it. "It's unsigned. He gave it to Alex, though I'm not sure why. We didn't actually discuss that, Connor mentioned he'd found it in Alex's things, and when he showed it to me, I recognized Uncle Zach's handwriting."

Why did Connor go through Alex's things?

"Why would Papa give Alex an unsigned copy of the warrant?" I ask. "He was quite adamant about it."

"I don't know," Jason shrugs, then looks up at the stars above us, before sighing.

The way he sighed… is he remembering something I have yet to remember? An experience I was not around for? Something from our true lives?

"If you could catch a little star," he hums softly in some language I do not know, yet can understand. "Turn it into a wondrous jewel, what is it that you would make? An earring for a lover, a necklace for their fashion? A bracelet to be remembered by until the end of time?"

He continues to hum that song, his voice soft and melodious. Even if their words do not rhyme when translated into Varilan, he rhymes at every pause. His aural sheath seems to intensify for a moment, and a wave of power washes over me, similar to when he became grey magical power.

The other Magi present all react to that, then turn their attention to Jason, whose eyes have closed, his song halted. It takes me a moment to realize he has passed out on his own. When I look at Tasha, her eyes are grey.

"It happened again," she says.

"Jason has advanced to middle grey," I nod. "What do you imagine he is dreaming of right now?"

"Who knows?" She asks.

Only Jason and the King and Queen of the Gods, no doubt.

(Nolan, 748)

"You scratch the back of your neck a lot," Jaklenai comments, and I glance at him.

He looks around nineteen or twenty, the same age I appear, but as with me, looks are deceiving. Jaklenai is a god, and one of the eldest in this universe. He wasn't among the first, but he's among the few left from that era. I've performed a near-total reset of the heavens and underworld twice already, usually because they grew too populous, their denizens too arrogant. Some of the stuff that happened with both past eras of gods made what this era's gods did to Midlaris look like child's play.

That is part of why I did not simply step in and wipe them out of oblivion, even with my rage. Entire worlds were destroyed before I took notice of the events and put an end to them.

Jake isn't a bad guy, and one of the few gods with a way off Mildaris, even with me having destroyed the passages. As my true self, I left him around for many reasons.

In addition to looking around nineteen or twenty, he looks rather human, lacking the markings most gods develop over time. That particular trait comes from this era of gods, though some from it do not develop them. His normally-fair skin is tanned a little from the summers he has spent with me here on Midlaris. His hair is dark blue, his eyes a rich, sea green.

A sea god, when he wishes to be, Jaklenai possesses powers over the seas and oceans beyond what any other being of this universe can. Strangely, he spends most of his time in an underwater cave, sleeping.

He slept through the war.

At the moment, he's naked, but then, so am I, as we're both soaking in a hot spring a little beneath the surface of the land around us. It naturally possesses restorative properties, and to my body so woven with magic, it feels wonderful. Our current state gives me a nice view of his slender, muscled body. When I found him a few years ago, he was the same scrawny guy he usually is, but he took up swordplay after discovering I had learned to use one.

He's noticed a lot of things about me, too.

"The other Divine Beasts noticed that, too," I tell Jaklenai. "It seems to be a habit of mine whenever I'm thinking about something, or hesitant, shy, abashed, embarrassed, and such."

"When you're thinking deeply," he says, then looks up at the stars. "You were looking at the stars when you did it. A fond memory, perhaps?"

"The Gathering will occur soon," I tell him. "When it does, I will ascend out of this mortal form, my soul leaving it to wait until Mother reincarnates me on Earth."

"It will be Earth?" He asks.

"By my estimates, its technological advances will be sufficient at that time," I say. "And it's currently without any real magic in its people. He's a little timid, and so never gave much power to his children, to the humans I caused the development of."

I may have set things in motion for humans to develop on many worlds, but it's always been up to the worlds on how much power the humans have. They always mold them, too, creating differences between the humans of each world.

"Thinking of how it is to drift among the stars?" He asks.

"Yes," I answer, reaching up with my right hand.

I close my right eye and 'pinch' with my thumb and index finger, focusing on a star as I shape my power. I'm nearly at the seventh level of grey magical power, so something like this is nothing to me.

As I perform the 'pinch', I feel something between my fingers. A small gem, perfectly-cut already. Dark as the night, yet with a small light at the center. The star I focused on, missing from the night sky, is captured within this jewel, a void created where it had been. I will mend that, eventually.

I examine the jewel of night with a star at its center, then transmute air into celestial titanium, creating a small earring, a stud, as it is called on some worlds.

"Come," I beckon to Jaklenai, and he moves to sit on my left.

With my left hand, I grab his right ear, and he gives me a curious look. He is not aware of the fashions of most worlds, so this is likely new to him.

"This will pinch a little," I tell him, then push the earring into his lobe, transmuting the air into more celestial titanium behind it, creating the piece which keeps the stud from falling out, slipped on already. "There you go, Jake."

"Did you just steal a star?" He reaches up and feels the earring.

"Yes," I answer as he rotates the piece of jewelry. "Were you mortal, you would worsen the injury. As a god, you've already healed."

"What sort of jewelry is this?" He asks.

"It goes by many names," I say. "Though the simplest is 'earring'."

"Earring?" He frowns. "But it is not a ring."

"It is a stud," I nod, then hold up my left hand, transmuting air into a simple iron earring. "This is an earring as well. You're wearing a variation, one with a star contained within it, in the stud fashion."

"I see," he says, and I transmute the second earring back into air. "Have you seen my father recently?"

"No," I tell him. "Though I will visit each of the others before we ascend from these forms during the Gathering. It has been good, seeing you again, Jaklenai."

"It is strange," he smiles. "Seeing the great Dragon himself in a mortal body."

He gives me an amused look.

"Well, a mortal form," he says, and I laugh. "I know, I know – it was the only way for your bodies to contain your souls. What is it like, not being bound by your normal restrictions?"

"Strange," I admit. "Unlike you, this isn't normal for me. I'm vast, infinite in size and yet always contained within the space I'm in. I can adjust that size, but I'm always infinite. Most mortals would have a hard time wrapping their heads around that. Unlike my true form, this one needs food, sleep, and more. But in this form, I can do things with my body I would ordinarily need magic for. I often need to use my hands for something I could do with but a thought in my true form. I'm glad it took time for my true self to return to me, or I'd have been quite clumsy."

He laughs.

"I would have give anything to see the great Dragon himself clumsy," he says. "Adjusting to a mortal form would have been strange, I'm sure."

"No doubt," I nod. "It's strange enough being in one, and I've been in it for over seven centuries already. What I'd give to stretch my wings and soar through space again, but I've a few thousand years until then."

"But you will dream of it," he says.

"I will," I tell him, then stand and stretch, before floating up to the surface.

Jaklenai follows me up, and I weave ground together over the springs, spelling it so that it will never fall into them. This way, when I return two lives from now, they will still be here, not filled in. At least, so long as nothing external changes it.

"The Gathering begins tomorrow," I say. "What are you going to do once we're gone?"

"Sleep again, probably," he answers. "Awaiting your return."

"And your father's?"

"And his," he looks sheepish.

"I know you haven't been to visit him," I say. "Despite you saying you would."

"Sorry?" His face flushes. "I just feel it would be awkward, approaching him while he's in a mortal's form. Have you told him I'm here?"

"No," I answer. "I'm leaving that to you, Jaklenai. I haven't even seen the others in over a century, so I'd have had to hunt them down in order to do so."

The sense of something interesting entering Midlaris's atmosphere reaches me, and I smile.

"I'm going to go fetch something," I tell Jaklenai. "I'll likely make use of it in my next life, once I remember its existence and the way to it. I suppose this is where we part ways, until next time."

"Until next time," he reaches up and touches the earring. "Before you go, Dragon, what was the purpose of this?"

"Something to remember me by," I pull him to me and give him a brief kiss on the lips. "Sweet dreams, Jaklenai."

I teleport to the location where I'm sensing the item dropping, leaving the god behind.

(Jason, 16)

Opening my eyes, I find myself on the bed my grandmama had put me on earlier. I suppose someone brought me here after I passed out again. It seems I reached middle grey magical power. That was the memory of the evening before the last Gathering began.

The thing I sensed was that material on the Shattered Isle Elise and Adam inquired about. It showed up in a meteor right before the last Gathering, it seems. Either the Queen of the Gods did that on purpose, or it was pure coincidence.

Sitting up, I stretch, then slip on my boots and make my way out of the room. Everyone else seems to be asleep right now, so I make my way to Niko's room as I think about the memory. Jaklenai comes from an older version of the gods.

Being grey magical power, knowledge comes back to me sometimes, though not all that often. At least, so far. It seems that most of what comes back is associated with a memory, like with the gods.

Every now and then, when they grow too numerous or troublesome, I eliminate nearly the entire pantheon and change the dynamic of how gods work, even if the way they form is the same through all iterations. I don't have the power to change that.

Jaklenai is one of Leviathan's children, though I think Kraken and Water Elemental had a small influence in his creation. He's actually powerful enough to completely override the curse of Enamas's intent.

He's powerful enough to obliterate every other god still on Midlaris. He may be a sea god, but the sea is calm and violent at the same time, in an eternal, unpredictable and chaotic state.

While I might not have remembered every sealed god here on Midlaris, I know I wouldn't have remembered his location, anyway. He's somewhere in the ocean, sleeping – if he's still on Midlaris. He doesn't use the pathways to travel.

At least, not entirely. Part of the way his pantheon worked was that they could instantly travel to any shrine or temple to them, a connection via the soul. No pathways needed. From what I know, there are only five total gods with that power – five left from his era of gods.

I don't remember the reason behind changing the gods so they can't do that, but I can make a reasonable guess: to avoid some of the problems that could come from that. If that were still possible, then destroying the pathways wouldn't have mattered, and we'd have needed to erase every last trace of the gods after the war to ensure new shrines and temples weren't built to them.

Clearing the thoughts of Jaklenai from my head, I knock on Niko's door. He answers a moment later, wearing a pair of pants, but no shirt. I've seen him shirtless and naked on more than one occasion, but I've never really looked at him before. Because of that, I never noticed that he's gained some muscle – he used to be this scrawny little thing.

He's definitely still shorter than me, making him the shortest of the male Magi. But he's no longer the scrawny guy he was before, no doubt because of his martial arts and swords training from my training group.

"Just checking to see how you're doing," I say. "Since you-know-what happened."

"I am well, thank you," he says. "How are you feeling and doing right now? I sensed when you reached middle grey magical power."

"I'm alright," I smile. "Luckily, none of my spells unraveled while I was out, so I didn't have to deal with patching myself back up or refreshing the spell which alleviates my pain. Did you give Lina the gift you were working on this morning?"

Niko's face lights up when I ask him that.

"Yes," he answers. "She enjoyed it very much. Thank you for helping me with it, Jason, I could not have finished it then without your assistance."

"I just showed you how to use your magic to help make it," I tell him. "My mamas and papas had me doing stuff like that when I was little. You picked it up easily and made them yourself."

Niko made Lina some scented candles. I convinced Mama Elena to bring some of the candle supplies for him, including a few different oils for the scents. I think he went with sugar cookies, a new scent Mama Elena succeeded in creating an oil for a few years ago, after I mentioned wishing I had candles that smelled like them.

She helped Niko with the candles, too, and told me later she was impressed with how quickly he had picked it up, both making them and using his magic to speed up the process and make them more easily.

"I still appreciate your help," Niko tells me. "And thank you for the scents, I had never imagined we could make candles which smelled of cookies. Lina was delighted when she discovered the scent of the candles, and when I bid her goodnight, she had one lit."

"Alright," I smile. "Don't think you need to gift her something every day, Niko, she knows you're from another culture, and I'm sure she appreciates the gift you've given her just as much as she'd appreciate one every day."

"I know," he says. "I have a gift for her for tomorrow already, too."

"Alright," I chuckle. "You have a good night."

"You as well, Jason," he says. "Oh, but you might want to check on Alex. He was not happy earlier. It seems Snow Leopard Alpha removed the sleeping curse Barry used on him, and Alex… is Alex."

The Ultra Defense Golem Stuffies are designed to do such things to any of the Magi unless the spell was cast by me, one of the Sages, or my grandmama. They will do it for me regardless of who cast it, so long as it is within their power.

"I'll do that," I say. "Sleep well."

"Dream grand," he responds.

A standard response for Marrans, I've learned. In Marran, the two phrases rhyme, too, which is probably part of the reason they say it.

Niko closes his door, and I walk to Alex's room and knock on that door. I can sense him in there, awake. My scanning spell can pass through the walls here, even with their enchantments. My grandmama's and brother's do, too. Right now, he's sharpening one of his knives, and I can sense several others on his bed in front of him.

I knock again. He glances at the door, but ignores it. Chances are, he thinks I'm someone else, so I knock again. I keep knocking until he gets up and walks to the door, knife in hand.

"What do ya wa-" he cuts off as he realizes it's me, then his face reddens and he hides the knife behind his back, looking relieved. "Ya woke up."

"Yeah," I chuckle. "I take it Barry and Sarah weren't leaving you alone?"

"Yeah," he says. "They ain't the sort to leave it be, and they realized the curse wore off. Then they hid, 'cause they ain't wanting to face me when I'm pissed."

"Most wouldn't," I say. "Niko told me you were in a foul mood."

"Of course I was," he points at me accusingly, not realizing he's pointing with his knife until after it's aimed at me. He quickly hides it behind his back. "Ya go off and do crazy stuff, winding up in a bad state, then have to get knocked out by your grandmama so ya don't make your condition worse. We were all worried about ya, just no one else was willing to say it."

"Alex," I say. "I'm fine."

"I know," he sighs. "I just… it's hard, seeing ya like that, Jason. Ya got a clue how ya looked when ya arrived. Jacob says ya didn't look that bad when ya returned the first time. Even now, ya still look pretty bad. Like ya are only a whisper away from falling over, and ya are so pale and shaky and stuff."

I'm shaky? It's not until he says that do I realize that I really am shaking and a bit, and swaying a little, too.

"I'll be fine," I smile. "I promise, Alex. I just need some more sleep, okay?"

"Okay," he says.

"You get some as well," I tell him. "I'm sure your knives are plenty sharp."

"Yeah," he pauses for a moment. "Can ya promise me to stop doing stupid stuff, Jason? It's hard on all of us, not just me. Jacob ain't gonna admit it, but he was probably as worried as I was, the way he was looking here, and waiting for ya, and all that."

"I can't make a promise like that," I tell him. "It's part of my nature, but I can do my best to remember, okay?"

"Thanks," he smiles.

"Good night," I give him a hug. "Sleep well. Oh, and I remembered that as Nolan, I dated one of your sons for a few years."