For the last half hour, Ne’lix had been living the life of a man that was, frankly, unbelievable. Johnathan had discovered a ring that allowed him to become smart enough to create portal technology and then moved into an alternate universe where he’d learned magic, then been thrown into chaos? That was hard to believe but he guessed it could make sense. Then he’d gone back in time and helped souls come back into existence before he’d been popped into an alternate timeline, or universe, depending on how you looked at it. Then he appeared in this universe. There were definitely holes in the story but there was no doubt that the individual before him was powerful. He was still thinking about all that when he asked, “What now?”

The man sitting across from him smiled and said, “Now you get to help me save everyone that Textrix has enslaved?”

“What do you mean enslaved? If Textrix enslaved us, then am I not enslaved to you?” Ne’lix asked.

“Actually, I hadn’t mentioned that yet. Sorry,” Adam said with a shrug, “I was going to ask if you wanted to withdraw your allegiance from me. See I really don’t like authoritarian figures and with the little bit I’ve learned, it doesn’t seem like allying yourself to one of whatever they are has any real benefits. At least not anything you can’t get from a little hard work.”

“Ahrem, Adamantadine, can I call you Adam? Can you not discuss the afterlife or anything about the counselors or what happened to you between when you died and when you were reborn here?” Ne’lix asked.

“No?”

“Well, I watched most of your life and it seems like you have a couple of special things going on, is there any way for you to copy my ability?

“What ability is that?”

“True Prophet, it allows me to discuss everything that happens between when I die,” Ne’lix said.

“Seriously,” Adam said then looked thoughtful for a moment before he mouthed, “Well I’ll be a son of bitch, I never did choose after I was born and I have three slots,” Adam mumbled as Ne’lix watched on, “Well, shit that was easy, and oh that is useful,” Adam turned his attention back to Ne’lix, “Thanks, you were right I can learn your ability and I have.”

“So how many times have you died?” Ne’lix asked.

“I’ve died a lot. Died and come back in another Cosmos after meeting a Counselor or spending a little time in Eternity, once”

“I’ve died three times so far, what’s an Eternity?” Ne’lix asked.

“As far as I could tell, Eternity is like a junction point for souls after they die. Once you get to a certain level of soul you can interact and make some choices there that affect where you end up the next time?”

“What kind of choices?”

“What kind of universe do you want to live In? You can also wager some of your Karmic Luck to try to earn extra karmic luck.

“What is Karmic Luck good for? Ne’lix asked.

“Well as far as I can tell it is what measures the strength of your soul. The higher the absolute value of your Karmic Luck, the more powerful your soul is. I also saw a couple of messages that seem to indicate that your Karmic Luck and Soul Level determine the number of abilities you can possess..”

“That all sounds very complicated,” Ne’lix said.

“Yeah it does, I guess it’s a good thing we get multiple lifetimes to learn about it.”

“Okay, so now that we can talk more freely and I’m caught up on your life for the most part, what exactly did you do to Trix?” Ne’lix asked.

“Well, when she trapped me with Brux, who is technically still in my soul-space by the way, I kind of forgot about him. Anyway, when she trapped me she trapped me in a region of Hell for this Cosmos that had a time dilation effect going on where 1 second was millions, if not billions, of years.”

“Okay, I can see how that would be bad, still don’t understand how you got back here,” Ne’lix said.

“I did leave some of my tricks, no pun intended, out of that playback. When I moved both of us through that portal I was immune to the temporal distortions that ripped Trix apart. Trix on the other hand was both physically and spiritually spread across at least a million years in time. Her soul was ripped apart and spread across a billion years or more. Because she was an aspect, it wasn’t really her soul. If her actual soul was here she probably would have survived but the aspect you saw would still have been destroyed.”

“How can you be so sure of this?” Ne’lix asked.

“I’m not, but the things I’ve learned from the beings that have taken the time to talk to me seem to follow a couple of basic rules. A soul is merely a spark of will that is strong enough to hold one’s memories together even after death. When that happens that soul can grow and become stronger and does so by taking actions that have cosmic repercussions. As you can probably guess that doesn’t happen all that often?”

“Okay, that makes a little sense,” Ne’lix said then paused in thought for a moment thinking before he continued, “If that’s true though, how do you, someone that has only died once, have more information on this than I do?”

“I’m not really sure, I have theories and guesses but absolute certainty, no, I don’t have that,” Adam paused for a moment as Ne’lix watched him. “I’m not sure if there is fate or destiny or anything like that. Since I found that ring near Clovis New Mexico my life has been one giant roller coaster ride. Which brings us back to the here and now. Ne’lix, you have my nanites inside you. Everything you saw in the memories you watched is now true for you. They will repair damage to your body, even until death. Your physical structure is being monitored and constantly updated so that if your body was disintegrated I could bring you back. That said, we get back to the question, do you want to give your allegiance to me? You are not required to and the nanites will be with your body until you decide you’re done here.”

Ne’lix thought about it. Then thought about how scared he’d been when the offer had been made. This Adam guy seemed to be legit but who could tell? He’d left some stuff out so he could be just like Textrix for all he knew. With that thought he decided, “I would like to be free of my allegiance to you?”

Adam’s eyes glazed, then he said, “That was easier than I thought it would be. Once you made your mind up to be free a prompt popped into my vision and informed me that your allegiance to me had been revoked as it had just been formed. I bet that it would have been a little harder to separate from Textrix since you’d lived two lives devoted to here. Luckily I severed that connection, even if it was an accident.”

“So that’s it?” Ne’lix asked.

“As far as your soul’s Allegiance to me goes, yes. Now we have to try to free the rest of the beings in this cosmos so they can make their own choices as well.”

“Won’t Textrix try to stop you?” Ne’lix asked.

“I’m sure she would if she knew what was going on here. I think by destroying Trix I’ve cut off her information flow into this Cosmos.”

“But if she knows it’s cut off won’t she just send another aspect here?”

“I don’t think she can. One of the things that she hinted at when she was trying to trick me was that I wouldn’t be able to return to my original Universe. I have seen a being come and go to my original Cosmos so I know it’s possible but I think it requires specific abilities or a specific purpose. If that holds true then when I leave here I will never be able to return, nor will Trix. If the Cosmos follow that set of rules then a majority of those that are vying for the allegiance of beings within the various cosmos can only enter those cosmos once. Trix was Textrix once. Since I destroyed her, unless Textrix is one of those select few, she cannot send another aspect here.”

“I know I’m not as smart as you, but what you just said sounds a lot like a theory,” Ne’lix said.

“It is, but my theories have a way of turning out to be right.”

“So what now?” Ne’lix asked.

“Now, I do this,” Adam said as his body morphed into an exact duplicate of Trix’s.” As you can see my technology is good for a couple of things. I don’t use this function for myself that often but physical modification and conversion is something they’ve been able to do from the start,” Adam said in a perfect imitation of Trix’s voice.

“How did you get her voice?” Ne’lix asked.

“Oh that, well I went through your memories and took the samples of her voice from you, the surveillance system here, and the limited interaction I had with her and put it all together.”

“That’s pretty impressive, which begs the question, how much of my life do you have a copy of?” Ne’lix asked.

“Ne’lix, I thought that would have been obvious from the video you watched. Any being that my nanites have infiltrated are copied and cataloged down to the electron. All your memories and I mean ALL of your memories have been recorded. How could I bring you back if that wasn’t true? Because of the quantum links that information is being constantly updated so if something happens to you, when you come back you’ll have all of your memories.”

“Does that include my soul?” Ne’lix asked.

“I’m not sure for you. For me, my soul has become intertwined with my Nanites, we are one entity so as long as one nanite exists somewhere I exist, and I exist in a lot of places. Though I am cut off from myself in my original Cosmos which is one of the reasons I don’t think we can go back. Though I’m pretty sure my nanites have already formed a version of myself there that is even now working to figure out how to get through The Eye, or Aperture without being cut off. I don’t think he’ll be able to. Not without dying and if he does, I would surmise that once he passes through he’ll be reabsorbed by my primary soul which is me. In your case, I think if you were to be destroyed, as long as your soul didn’t flee this Cosmos immediately your soul would be drawn back into the matrix of the new body my nanites would create for you. Again, I’m not sure, and I really don’t want to test that idea. If I’m wrong you will need to deal with Textrix again, and if this is one of the Cosmos she’s subjugated you might not survive that encounter unless you swear allegiance again.”

“Okay, so don’t flee this Cosmos if I die, got it. You’re Trix, understood, what about me?” Ne’lix asked.

Trix walked back around the desk and sat at the terminal which she looked at then looked up and said, “It looks like you were transferred to Vrax to help head the search for Ahrem. I may have to set up a fake Ahrem for everyone to chase while I infiltrate the Empire and figure out all of the political angles. For now, you are going to do exactly what you’ve been assigned. A hint, so that you won’t have to work so hard. When I was blown off the moon I traveled faster than the speed of light out towards Pluto. Have the searchers begin looking for disruptions in space-time and that should get you there. Do NOT travel through any portal to the location I went to from Pluto. That leads to one of the versions of hell where the temporal anomaly the real Trix made. You will be utterly destroyed and the question of what happens to your soul will be moot. When my nanites rebuild you if the will of the new body is strong enough it will house a new soul. Probably shouldn’t let anyone you like go through that portal either.”

“Understood,” Ne’lix said.

“If there’s nothing else I’m going to drop the magical and technological shielding.”

“More questions? I have a ton. Any I can think of to ask right now? No.” Ne’lix said.

Trix smiled, “Then it’s time to get back to work, “ Trix said as she lowered the security shell and dispelled the magic that had protected the room as she hit the intercom button, “Paul!”

The doors to the office opened and Paul stepped through, “Yes Director?” Paul said.

“Paul, please escort Ne’lix to his new office. He wants to get started right away.” Trix said.

Ne’lix stood, “Thank you for the responsibility, I won’t let you down,” Ne’lix said

“I’m sure that you won’t,” Trix said as she turned back to her monitor.

“This way please,” Paul said as he led Ne’lix out of the office to the elevator. Once the doors opened and they’d stepped inside Paul continued speaking, “You’re going to like your new office. You’re in this building about 10 floors down. Also, you have a staff to assist you. There are only six people, their records are available on your monitor in a folder marked Staff. They are split into three two-person shifts so you’ll have coverage every hour of every day,” Paul said as the elevator stopped and Paul stepped out heading down a long hallway to a set of double doors marked ‘Special Investigations.’ “If you need anything Trix has instructed me to make sure that you go directly through her office. You have an intercom on your desk. Buttons 1 and 2 are for your two assistants that happen to be on duty, The various shift share a desk. Button 3 is for me and Button 4 is for security.”

“Sounds pretty straightforward,” Ne’lix said.

“The files you need to look over are already open on your terminal which is through here, “ Paul said as he walked past two desks a man on his left and a woman on his right, to a huge oaken door that opened into an office that looked out over the world below. “This is your office,” Paul said. “If there’s nothing else I’ll let you get to work.”

“Thank you for your assistance Paul,” Ne’lix said.

“You are quite welcome. Good Luck sir,” Paul said as he turned and the door closed behind him.

Ne’lix decided he would have time to explore his office in a bit. He went over to his new desk and opened the file containing his staff information. Right at the top two names were flagged as being on shift; Jerry Brooks and Madison Stoll. Ne’lix activated his intercom by pressing both his number 1 and 2 toggles, “Mr. Brooks, Ms. Stoll, Please come in, we need to get started.”