284 – Epilogue 2, George gets a System

(AN: George is the guy who Erick was friends with back in college, in 1997, who died of AIDS, along with his boyfriend.)

– – – –

 

George lay on his back, propped up by one uncomfortable pillow, staring at the hospital ceiling.

Dying.

Two days ago an opportunistic infection of the skin had led to sepsis which resulted in a trip to the hospital. George hadn’t been taking care of himself. Everyone had abandoned him and so, he had abandoned himself. And now he was here. His skin hurt. His bones hurt. Breathing hurt. He had shed his tears already, and now he was numb, unable to do anything except stare—

The nurse poked her head into the room and then walked away.

“The fairy ain’t dead yet,” she said, though she used harsher words than that.

Just his luck, he thought, dying fast enough to know he was dying, and yet lucid enough to see the hatred all around him. He couldn’t even get out of bed to piss anymore, so he had pissed himself already. The catheter was out, and no one cared.

He was pretty sure the doctors had skimped on his antibacterials, too.

George had come home to Tennessee when Larry’s family had taken him away, so that Larry could ‘die in dignity’ with his family in North Carolina. They had told George to fuck off. That had been unkind, George thought, for them to do that to both of them.

Ahh.

He was crying again.

He had thought he was done with tears. But nope. The saline drip in his arm was giving him more water to waste on what this world had done to him. On what this world had done to Larry.

If there was an afterlife, he hoped…

He hoped…

He hoped for too much.

And then he died.

– – – –

There was softness, and then there was light.

George was in a hallway. He was standing, or maybe floating. His feet were above the ground, and his legs were kinda wispy. So were his arms and fingers. This did not seem to bother him overmuch, and he wasn’t quite sure why. But he did realize that he was dead. That much was obvious. This fact didn’t bother him much, either.

Behind him was a wall.

In front of him was the hallway.

Beyond the hallway lay light and stone and running water, like a stone garden. People floated through that space, walking this way and that, or rather, floating. They stared at the sky. They stared at the cloudy land beyond. Mostly, they stared at something outside of George’s sight. Something above. Something too big to see all at once.

George found himself floating forward, drawn by the pressure of his own curiosity.

George exited the hallway.

He looked up.

It was too big.

That was George’s first thought.

He wasn’t sure what he was seeing, at first, but he knew it was too big. ‘Big’ in a way that was larger than largeness, or physicality, or anything real at all. This thing— this being was too big.

It was a dragon.

Wings spread wide, larger than a world.

Larger than the entire sky.

The sky was filled with silent, soft lightning, and this thing was the center of it all. It floated, beneficent and caring, and it wasn’t any sort of god that George had ever imagined. But it was clearly a god. It was not looking directly at George, but George got the impression that it did not need to directly see anyone in order to see them. It still saw him clearly.

George wasn’t sure if the dragon was white, like the sky, or black, also like the sky.

He stared for a while. There were people around George, and they stared alongside him.

An eternal moment passed, without passing at all.

And then a flicker of lightning fell down from the sky, like a worming thing, winding its way across the heavens, down, down, down to the platform where George floated, alongside a hundred other staring people. The lightning resolved into a person with limbs and feet that were not airy at all. She was a woman whom George did not know, but some guy, made of ethereal light right over there, knew the woman.

Everyone on the platform watched as the ethereal man turned real in the sight of the real woman.

They saw each other, and love bloomed, the world turning more colorful, reality making more sense.

The man choked out, “Jean?”

Tears fell down the woman’s face. “Dick!”

George couldn’t help himself. He snorted. The guy’s name was Dick? Or had the woman just cursed at him?

But the woman broke down crying to see the sight of the man and the man suddenly sobbed to see the woman, and George knew that the guy’s name was just his name; not a cursing. The woman had been an older woman. The man had been an older man. But in that meeting, in that loving, they knew each other as they had when they were younger. When they first met. They hugged, sobbing on each other, grasping each other, kissing and saying small things only to each other. The world did not matter; only they mattered to each other.

George told himself that sometimes people simply had odd names—

Soft lightning rained down, each bolt resolving into a person when it touched down onto the stone. The people on the stone met people who came in on lightning bolts, and—

And then Larry was there.

George felt his heart ache and his arms open up and suddenly Larry was there, holding against his chest, his own arms around George’s back, holding them tight together. They said nothing for a long while. There was too much to say. Where would they even start? From Larry’s family tearing them apart, to all the time they lost, to how George died in a negligent hospital? Too much. So they just held each other.

And then Larry chuckled once, through the tears.

George laughed, too, hugging tighter.

Larry looked up at George, saying, “Surprised to see you here at the end of it all, Love.”

George held Larry tight, saying, “This can’t be the end.” He glanced outward. “This is the start of something else.”

The platform in the clouds had been full of people. But they were turning to lightning and vanishing, just as the others had arrived. It was not a fast process.

“The start of something, eh? Reincarnation? Weren’t you Christian, though?” Larry asked, tears clouding his sight. He let go, and George let go a bit, too. They still held each other’s arms. Larry said, “I thought you’d be off to the Pearly Gates.”

“Didn’t you expect there to be nothing at all?”

“Maybe there is nothing at all, and I’m having a fever dream at the end.” Larry looked up at the dragon. “A weird dream.”

“Not as I imagined heaven, either,” George admitted. “Where’s the old guy with the beard and halo?”

Larry grinned. “Maybe god is a dragon— Oh! A dragon woman.”

George scoffed. “That’s clearly a dude!”

“How can you tell? There’s nothing down there but scales!”

“… Well I can’t actually tell, now that I’m looking for it.” George added, “But there’s no tits! So not a woman.”

“Bah! Why would a reptile have mammalian characteristics? That’s just silly.”

Both of them studied the big dragon, hanging out at something of a stellar-distance, surrounded by stars in the night sky.

… When had the sky turned to night?

Suddenly, George realized that he and Larry were alone on a platform in space, looking up at a big iridescent/black/white dragon of many colors.

And then Erick stepped out of the sky, and onto the platform.

A moment passed in a quiet attempt to understand what was happening.

And then George felt a spike of utter guilt. If Erick was here, then he was dead, and that meant that he had died from… Oh no.

Larry got there just as fast as George, but he was the first to speak, exclaiming, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, Erick! We tried to contain it when we found out but… We…” He fell silent.

George couldn’t have done any better. How do you apologize for giving someone HIV? He decided to just say, “I’m sorry, Erick.”

Erick smiled wonderfully. “Nothing like that happened at all. I’m just here as a friend. Time is wonky here in the afterlife, with many, many years having passed since last I saw you, and yet no time at all. You left a big impression on me back before you died. I always carried your memories with me. I just came by to see you once more and wish you luck in your next lives.”

George instantly asked, “Next lives?”

George was ecstatic! A new life! What could it—

Larry shook his head. “I don’t want that. I want to opt out. I’m done with life. People are terrible.”

George gasped and shuddered, and he wasn’t sure which one happened first, or in which order. He squeezed Larry’s hands, and Larry gave a sad sort of smile, not looking at George at all.

Larry said, “Sorry, George.”

Erick spoke up, “Well sure. That’s an option. But a pretty bad one if you ask me. You don’t have to be humans for your second go around. You don’t even have to live on Earth!” Erick waved an arm up at the sky, where the dragon had been, but all there was were stars in an infinite expanse. “There’s an entire universe to explore, and more besides. Imagine a life! Any life at all! I can set you on that path. You still gotta walk it yourself, though.”

Larry instantly said, “Well in that case I change my mind.”

George laughed. His heart bloomed with warmth and he felt Larry hold him tighter.

Good.

Also! Good on Erick for being an angel. Obviously he became one of those. He was always too good to everyone… George almost wanted to ask him about the deal with Margaret, but George decided not to do that. He had probably moved on pretty far from that old pain, since he was talking about time being wonky.

Erick smiled. And then he turned to them, and said, “I usually hand people off to a caseworker, but I’m going to help you two personally. Do you want something specific in your next life? Most specifics aren’t available, like exact heights or weights or family members, but general ideas are available.

“As an example, you two could wish to be soulmates in your next lives.

“Also, magic is available in all of the flavors you can think about, and more besides. Want a world where everything is almost the same as Earth? That’s out there. How about a world where everyone is an octopus person? That’s out there, too. Weird things, easy things, space travel, immortality, etcetera. It’s all out there, but you’ll have to strive for it and you might not reach it the first go around.”

Larry breathed deep, his eyes going to the stars.

George asked, “The first go around?”

Erick said, “Yup! You can live for as long as you want. If you don’t want to go around again, you don’t have to go again. There are other afterlives out there. Other gods. But you died on Earth, and Earth is under the wings of the Dragon of Many Colors, and so you get a reincarnation in a new life, on a new world.

“In your next life, you might even find some gods out there with some afterlives that you want to be a part of, and you won’t want to do this new-life-thing ever again. If you opt out of new lives under the Dragon of Many Colors, then that is an option, too. Life is tough, and the Dark is always Welcoming to those who wish for an End.”

Holy shit that was big.

Silence stretched.

George didn’t know how to feel, but he did feel hope. A whole lot of hope.

Larry said to George, “I’m gonna be a bastard and say that I want to be with you, but I want us to figure it out on our own, and if we should miss each other, then we can miss each other. No destined soulmates.” He said to Erick, “I want love for everyone. No hate. No diseases. No killing. Just… just love.” He looked to George… Larry said nothing.

Well. George wasn’t too surprised about that, really. He did always love Larry for his independent streak. George kinda smiled at that. He asked Larry, “How about a little bit of predestiny?”

Larry blushed. “Well…”

George waited.

Larry said, “I’m worried, Love. Life isn’t easy, and…” He trailed off.

He was worried about a lot.

George was worried, too.

Erick softly said, “This is your life, so it’s okay to be wary about it. These are your lives. Individually, too. Death is the great separator. You two do not need to pick the same new life, new world, new existence. You can go separate ways. You will likely never see each other ever again if you choose to separate, but if you rise high enough anything is possible.”

Larry breathed tightly.

George knew Larry, but only in the way that anyone can know anyone else after 7 years of dating and not being allowed to legally marry or join finances or anything, and both of them choosing to actively abandon the heterosexual style in defiance of that sort of shit, too. But here, at the transition, did they want to abandon that sort of perfect union, that they both grew up reading about and wanting, and which they had never been able to have?

Larry looked to George.

George looked to Larry.

George said, “I want the story of us together forever.”

Larry breathed deep. He said, “I’m gonna be honest… I want to be able to love you like you love me, but I don’t think I was ever capable of it. I had too much baggage. I hated the world. But I do want to love you how you love me. I want that kind of love. I don’t know how.”

George’s chest tightened. Tears threatened. “I want that, too.”

Erick’s soft voice wrapped around them, “I’ll set up some dominoes. Make it easier. You two won’t be soulmates until you commit. How does that sound?”

Larry sobbed once, “Yeah.”

George smiled. “Yes.”

Erick asked, “Do you want to remember Earth?”

“No,” Larry said.

“Yes,” George said, at the same time.

The two of them looked at each other.

George asked, “I want to remember it all?”

Larry said, “Give me what I need to succeed, and to know George, and that’s it.”

George said, “If it works out then it works out.”

Larry said, “Yeah.”

“In waking dreams, you shall know each other and your previous life, though only one of you will be good at it,” Erick said.

George only had eyes for Larry, and Larry only saw George. Both of them said, “Sure.”

“Girl, boy?” Erick asked, “Or different options?”

“Boy,” said George, solidly.

Larry laughed once. “Can I be both?”

George raised an eyebrow at Larry, and Larry grinned mischievously.

“Done and done,” Erick said.

Larry and George whipped to look at Erick.

Larry asked, “I can be both?”

“That works?” George asked.

Erick just smiled. “One final thing: How do you feel about fighting a Demon King?”

“… What?” Larry and George asked.

Erick smiled, and it was as though the entire sky grinned, like the Darkness in the depths of the universe found mirth in George and Larry’s question.

Erick said, “The point of this reincarnation system is to help out other worlds out there, and to help out the reincarnators, as well. It’s about growth. Prosperity. Benevolence spreading wide. You, George, were in the army for a while, until you got kicked out for homosexual conduct. But I know you wanted to stay. You, Larry, wanted to be an automobile engineer, just like your father, but then events conspired and you were kicked out of the union. But I know you wanted to remain.

“This reincarnation is the renewal of all of your dreams you ever had, and more besides.”

George felt his skin prickle with anticipation. Larry breathed deep.

Erick offered, “Or, if you don’t like the Demon King option, there’s a world with a corporate overlord who needs overthrowing? That’s a good option, too.

“Either way, I don’t expect either of you to start on those paths in life until around 15 or 16 years old. That’s when your Personal Script will awaken and you’ll be able to grow. Other events might influence your Personal Scripts to unlock earlier, or later.” Erick continued, “Or! Maybe you won’t have to fight anyone at all. I could send you somewhere else and you could just have some peaceful lives. But if you want real power, and the power to help others, then you’re going into an eventual warzone.

“That’s the deal. Real power is granted when you do real work, for the good of others far beyond yourself. Otherwise you can just have a nice life.”

Larry was lost, but he was rapidly finding himself.

George already knew what he wanted. The very moment that Erick spoke of the army, George knew what he wanted.

George said, “The Demon King one. That seems simpler than corporate stuff.”

Larry said, “I guess I could fight alongside George? … Yeah. Okay. Yes. Demon King.”

“It’s not nearly as simple as you might think, but you’ll figure that out.” Erick lovingly said, “It was good to see you both again. Good luck—”

“Wait,” George said, as something finally clicked for him. “What are you doing here, Erick? In this weirdness? In this… afterlife? I thought you were an angel, but… You’re not an angel at all, are you?”

Erick chuckled. “Nah. I’m not an angel.”

The world turned to soft light.

George and Larry were floating again.

Ah?

That was all the time they got in this weird place, eh? They were moving on already?

Larry’s voice was a frantic, distant thing, as he caught up to the moment, rapidly saying, “I have more questions!”

Larry’s voice was lost to the rush of reality, falling away below them.

George chuckled as he flew into the sky with Larry, both of them becoming lightning that shot off into the heavens, twinning around each other, the two of them wrapping around each other ever so briefly, and then they separated.

Earth appeared out of the black, only to rapidly vanish behind a wash of light and color. The colors vanished, all was black once again.

And then there were stars.

George fell toward one of those stars.

Over there, Larry fell as well.

The star revealed itself as a sun, surrounded by planets both large and small. George’s lightning path skimmed the sun’s surface as he rocketed past the heat of it all, flowing through the dark. A world lay in the distance. George instantly knew it was his new home.

His new world.

The planet was blue, white, and dusty green, with small red dots that littered a continent in the north. The red parts were almost like craters—

– – – –

A baby screamed.

A soul was reborn.

– –

A seer on the other side of the world felt the touch of the True Divine upon their brow, upon the mana of the world, and they knew that everything was going to change. Benevolence had touched their world, and it would spread. They grabbed their bags, told their people that they were leaving for a while, and then they set down the mountain, walking fast, their apprentices trailing them, pleading for answers. If any of the apprentices managed to keep up then maybe they would get those answers, right alongside the seer.

– –

A distant baron, cousin to a king in an empire of many kings, died to a Demon King assassin’s blade. The assassin died to knights. Local policies regarding the Demon Kingdom changed due to righteous anger and rage. But mostly, the Empire plodded on, exactly as it had for a long time before the latest change in politics.

– –

In the far south, on an island that people called the Cursed Land, where monsters prowled the deep forests and horrors preyed on the monsters, a white tree grew on the shore of a wide, dark lake. Green fire, like many leaves, spread among the branches of that white tree. A rainbow came soon after.

– – – –

George was born on a world where he was named Gerd, to a family of nomads, in the lands of the Demon King.

Born of a woman and a xen, Gerd was a boy who wanted for nothing, for his mother was the tribe healer and his xenny was a warrior teacher. Gerd learned how to hunt when he was 6, and how to skin a deer that same year. He learned how to read the sky, and words and letters. He had never been good with mana, so he didn’t learn that, but that was fine; most people were bad with mana. He learned the ancient histories of his people, and he learned how to make friends from the other tribes, and how the people of Redriver would always have his back against anyone and everyone else, if they should be his enemies. He learned how to fight in childhood fights. He learned how to hunt and kill in small warbands that went on animal hunts, or demon kills, bringing home dinner for the tribe or saving the tribe from demons. His xenny gave him his first bow and his first antler knife, and his mom healed his wounds, making him all better.

The Demon King came when Gerd was 10.

The tribe could not get away fast enough.

It had happened because their tribe lord didn’t pay tribute to the Demon King, and the Demon King was getting crazy in his old age. Or at least that is what people told Gerd. Gerd wasn’t sure what the truth was. No one really knew the truth. All Gerd knew was that half of his tribe was dead and their fishing spots were littered with poisonrocks in order to kill everything that killfire didn’t kill directly.

Xenny died in that killfire. That same fire almost got Gerd. It left him with scars, instead of dead.

The tribe raced to escape the demon lands.

The march to the ‘soft lands’ was a horror.

They lost another half of their tribe, running from the demons that were under the Demon King’s command. The Empire’s people found them running and saved them. Gerd barely remembered what happened next, for he was too tired to do anything but go with his mom, wherever she went.

And soon, they were beyond the Demon Wall that separated the Empire from the demon lands.

They were safe.

They had to make more sacrifices to stay safe.

They had to erase their tattoos that marked them as Demon King supplicants and they had to learn the language. That was fine, in Gerd’s mind, but the tribe got split and sent everywhere so that they would never see each other again, or at least so they couldn’t see each other easily. Gerd and his mom were allowed to stay together. Or at least that’s what Mom told him all the time.

Gerd ended up in merchant noble’s house running errands, while Mom was in that same house, now living as the merchant man’s third spouse. That merchant had been married to two men, but he had wanted a wife for a while now, and Mom was a healer, so the merchant paid the refugee price and bought her and Gerd at auction.

They were not slaves, but it was tough.

Gerd hated his new ‘Dad’ at first, but the man never struck him, and he always provided Gerd with food, and he never locked Gerd in his room or in chains. Gerd had heard that is what happened to all refugees, but when he told his new ‘Dad’ that, his new Dad decided that he wasn’t doing nearly enough for Gerd and Gerd’s mom, so he bought them all new clothes, even more new than the clothes he had already bought them, and they had a party with cake and more things than Gerd knew what to do with. Gerd discovered he loved cake.

He eventually discovered he loved his Dad.

Dad was a fine enough guy, and yet, he was not Xenny. Xenny was gone, and never coming back. They were dead, and the scars of that death lingered on Gerd’s skin, on his right shoulder and much of his back, where Mom hadn’t been able to heal the flames of the killfire well enough. Killfire was hard to heal. Almost impossible. Gerd was lucky to be alive at all.

Life was hard.

Dad was a good man, but Gerd was still expected to do things he did not know how to do. They made Gerd wear clothes all the time. Stuffy shirts and hard shoes and so many pants. They made him stand tall and learn new languages. They made him learn which fork went where, and how to cook in the style of the people of the Empire.

And life was difficult.

The people in the city didn’t like all the new nomads coming out of the demon lands, with their sun-bared chests and harsh words and lack of fancy etiquette. Some girls down the road caught Gerd one day on a delivery for his father and they beat him with socks stuffed with rocks. It was not a bad injury, in Gerd’s opinion. Life on the plains was rougher and the kids out there were a lot meaner, but Dad still fussed over Gerd’s wounds just like Mom did, and that made Gerd feel loved again.

He almost wanted to go get beaten up just so that he could get fussed over again.

– – – –

The dreams started.

Of another world.

Of another life.

Of a place called Earth, in a land called Michigan.

– – –

Gerd slept and he dreamed his name was George.

He lived a life in a world where pictures moved on screens, rockets put men into space, and war was the least of everyone’s concerns, and yet, George felt sad about the wars that did exist because he didn’t get to be a part of those wars. For two weeks, George lived a normal life, working out at the gym, beating up bigots, and trying to make sense of his life after his discharge from the army—

Gerd woke up.

The dreams faded a little, but not much at all.

Gerd lay in bed for a while, thinking about his dream. The morning sun had yet to crest the city beyond his windows, and all the world was soft, dark blue.

He thought for a while.

It hadn’t been a dream, had it?

It seemed more like… a memory?

Gerd remembered signing… signing some sort of paperwork, while hornless men —weird things, hornless men. Men had 2 horns!— went around with badges on their chests, telling him what a useless fairy he was. It was a strange dream. It felt too real.

Gerd, who called himself George in the dream, signed some papers with… with some sort of hard, solid writing thing in his hand. It was like a quill, but different. It was better than a quill.

By a lot, actually.

Gerd had written on paper with ‘pens’ back on ‘Earth’, but in this world, they used quills. Sometimes some rich people had quills that refilled with magic, but most people used quills from the lepdif bird, who shed its quills every winter and regrew them every spring.

‘Dad’ hated quills. They always broke and they were always more expensive toward the end of fall, when everyone was doing end of year paperwork and harvests and taxes, and quills broke all the damned time.

Eventually, Gerd got up out of bed.

After classes were done for the day and Gerd came home from the academy, Gerd walked into Dad’s office in the afternoon. All day long, Gerd had thought about that dream. That memory. And about the pens he wrote with.

Dad was scratching on paper with one of those very same quills that Gerd had been thinking he hated, once he knew about pens. They used wooden-wrapped charcoal at school and those things were terrible, too.

Gerd waited a moment for Dad to acknowledge him.

Dad grunted, though he continued to write on his papers.

Gerd asked, “Dad? Have you ever heard of a pen?”

Dad hummed a little, not looking up from his paperwork as he checked over shipment manifests. He wrote down something, and then he looked up at Gerd. His face transformed from uncaring work, to loving father, though most people would never be able to tell the difference. He asked, “Nope? What’s that?”

“It’s like a quill, but made of metal…” Gerd paused. He organized his thoughts and continued, “Well. You start with a tube of metal, and then you put a little marble of metal in the end of it, in such a way that the metal ball can spin freely and not leave its socket. And then you fill the metal tube with ink.” Gerd mimed writing in the air, saying, “And then you use it like a quill, but without the need for constantly refilling the quill with ink, and without the need to worry about controlling your strength cultivation too much. Since the pen is made of metal. It should be usable even by those who heavily fortify their strength, like you.”

Dad furrowed his brow a little as he thought. He held up his quill. He was using a holder for the quill, obviously, since he had fortified his body with mana for a long time. That holder was metal. But still, if he pressed the pen too hard then he could easily break it and ink would get everywhere. He had a few small enchantments on his writing desk that stopped that from happening, but it still happened elsewhere he used quills.

Dad looked to Gerd. “Can’t say I ever heard of that.” He went back to writing, saying, “I have some messages I need delivered to some golem crafters who are staying in the grand hotel. Draw a picture of your ‘pen’ idea then you can ask them about it. They like pictures of ideas of new inventions.” He looked up at Gerd, saying, “But if they show disinterest and interest at the same time, then you will know you have a good idea. Let me know if they do that. You can broker deals for things like fish prices, but invention prices are beyond you. Let me handle those if they should happen.”

Gerd smiled a little, “Yes, Dad.”

“Good. I’ll have the messages ready in an hour.”

Gerd went and drew some pictures. They were… passable, to get his idea across.

Soon, Gerd was on the road, jogging into the depths of the city.

An hour further along, and Gerd entered the Grand Hotel and made his way to where the golem crafters were staying. They were expecting him but they were busy right now, so they could not deal with his messages at the moment, and so they received him inside their suite, in a little side room. A servant walked into the room, carrying tea—

Oh my gods, they were beautiful. Long brown hair, a button nose, a thin body. They were 14, too. Or something like that. A beautiful single horn. Amazing eyes.

Gerd was in love. Love at first sight. This was a real thing that could happen? Apparently so.

The servant looked at Gerd.

Gerd looked at the servant.

They’re beautiful.

That was the only thought in Gerd’s head. And then he realized he was staring. They were staring, too, but… Too much staring?

Gerd’s voice cracked, “H— Hello.”

The xen jerked, as if breaking a spell of meeting. They had been stuck at the entrance of the room, and now they had regained themselves. They walked into the room with the tray, saying, “If gratitude m’lord, providing you repast while be waiting.”

… What?

Oh!

They couldn’t speak the language yet?

Gerd smiled at their clunky language. “I had trouble learning the new language, too.” He switched to plainsfolk, “We can talk like this if you want, though.”

The xen gushed joy, speaking in plainsfolk, “Oh my waters! You can understand me!” They happily cursed, “Holy gods of light and dark, damn the Demon King.” They took the seat across from Gerd, happily asking, “Where are you from? I’m Lario, from Laketribe. What’s your name?”

Gerd gasped. “Laketribe! I’m Gerd! From Redriver!”

“Redriver!” Lario laughed, rocking back in their chair.

Gerd said, “We were decimated 4 years ago when the tribe lord failed to pay taxes or something. We never found out what happened. Laketribe was strong, though! What happened?”

Lario shook his head. “No one is strong in the face of the Demon King. I don’t know what happened, exactly. I think someone high up was murdered at some meeting in the Demon King’s palace. Something else happened, no doubt. The leaders made the choice to move before we were moved upon. We heard about Redriver, though. Everyone heard about Redriver.”

Everyone had heard?

Oh…

Was the entire Greater Tribe… scattered?

Gerd shook his head. He didn’t want to think about pain anymore. He was ashamed he even brought it up, since he was forbidden to speak of plainsfolk matters, but Lario was one of them. One of his people. Maybe even…

Gerd said, “Laketribe then… Hmm. We might have played together as kids at the commonground festivals?”

Lario gasped. “Wait a switch! Gerd Lifetaker?”

Gerd smiled wide. “We’re not allowed to use our demon names.”

Lario laughed delightfully. “I think your mom healed my brother’s broken wrist when he fell in the mud at commonground. I think I might have seen you before, too.”

Gerd felt his face heat as Lario grinned wider—

Someone was in the hallway, walking this way, their footsteps echoing loudly, almost on purpose—

Lario realized someone was coming down the hall, too. They leapt out of their chair and stood to the side, demure and head bowed. Gerd stood up, and awaited whoever was coming.

An older xen walked into the room, speaking Empire, “I’m sure I didn’t hear demonspeak, and you both are fine kids.” She glared at both of them.

Lario whispered an apology.

Gerd did nothing, because to apologize was to admit guilt in the first place.

The older xen nodded anyway, satisfied. They held out Gerd’s little drawing of a rolling pen, saying, “Your master’s slow on the deal, boy. I already got this idea from little Lario here, about 3 months ago, and our prototypes were to be displayed to the King and Xing. I would like to know where you came across this idea, because I’ve certainly never heard of it before Lario spoke of it. It’s a simple enough design, though.”

Gerd froze.

Lario looked at Gerd, questioning.

Gerd wasn’t sure what to do, so he answered honestly, “It came to me in a dream?”

Lario’s eyes went fractionally wider.

The old xen hummed. “… Well then. Isn’t that interesting…” Then they said, “Run along back home, boy. Tell your master what happened, if you wish. If he presses us for compensation regarding something he had no hand in making, then I will make his life hell. You may leave.”

Gerd… Gerd walked away.

His eyes lingered on Lario.

Lario mouthed in the demontongue, “Nice to meet you.”

Gerd merely nodded, careful not to let the old xen see him do so.

They probably saw him anyway, considering they huffed.

– – – –

Gerd and Lario met again, later.

And then later still.

They spoke of their dreams sometimes, neither one knowing what to make of the vivid, shared hallucinations both of them had of a world called ‘Earth’. Lario’s master told them it was a nuance of fate and that they shouldn’t speak of it overmuch. They tried to stop Lario and Gerd from speaking to each other anymore, but Gerd and Lario were teenagers, and the stories of their shared dreams of different perspectives had already wormed into the ears of the royal court.

Gerd never got to see the King or Xing in this part of the Empire, but Lario did. Somehow, the story of Lario and Gerd’s shared dreaming became a big story, a curiosity, a declaration of fates, some even said. Dad and Mom found out, and they were merely perplexed, but when Gerd said that he wanted to see Lario more, Dad worked hard to try and get the golem makers to let that happen.

“Oh! Let the two kids mingle!” the Xing eventually declared, enamored with the story of young love.

And so, they were allowed to mingle.

Supervised.

It was okay, Gerd supposed. Lario seemed less and less thrilled about their get togethers with every passing one, but only because of the spies in their midst.

Mostly, though, Gerd and Lario had duties to their dad, in Gerd’s case, and their master, in Lario’s case, so they didn’t get to meet all that often. They still tried to meet, though. For a talk about the politics of Earth. For working on one of Lario’s new inventions taken from this or that place on Earth. For discussing a television show that both of them had seen, but which neither of them remembered in full.

Gerd had no idea what to make of everything happening, but he knew he loved Lario long before Lario felt the same.

Gerd was content to wait.

– – – –

Eventually, the Demon King grew too bold.

The northern wall fell to demon hordes. The hordes were pushed back, but there had been deaths. Hundreds of warriors perished to fight off the horde. Three villages were lost before the army could mobilize.

The Empire called for all young people to be tested for magic, and anyone found capable of actual magic was to be conscripted. Personal enhancements did not count. Anyone who wanted to fight in the army was also welcome, and they would be trained in body refinement, but what the Empire truly needed was mages capable of handling real magic.

Gerd’s mom was almost conscripted for her healing magic, but she was already working at a local hospital and that hospital spoke up; they could not afford to lose her.

Gerd almost signed up for the war, but his mother held him back, crying on him, telling him he could not go.

He decided not to go.

He had no capability with magic and he had no true capability with a sword, anyway, no matter if he could win any street brawl he found himself in, in the increasingly hostile land of the Empire. Gerd was fine with fighting bullies, and he often won, but he wanted to fight demons. He wanted vengeance.

That need to fight was a common sentiment among many plainsfolk. Lario seemed to be the only one who truly understood Gerd’s need for vengeance though.

That brought them closer, but the watchers were always there.

A year passed.

– – – –

Gerd went to bed on an otherwise boring day of schoolwork and war training.

He woke up in a land of glowing white mist, with the ground made of stone and—

There was a man.

A different kind of man.

Gerd knew the man.

The man was him.

Like looking into a mirror that was not a mirror at all, Gerd saw George standing there, looking like an illusion in the light.

George spoke with surety in his hornless-male, human voice, in English, “Welcome to your Personal Script. I will be helping you to make your life and your world better. Here is your starting Status. It’s large, but only because this is the normal size for your Status. We can carve it down to an understandable size soon enough.”

Gerd Lifetaker, [16] [Current Location: Layer 9,201] [Year 879 Demon Era] [World: Ondak]

Mana split; Soul, Body, Mind: 32%, 32%, 32% [N/A; not enough resources to matter]

Reson allocation rate: 4% [N/A; not enough resources to matter]

Darkness Level: Child [1 mana per day]

Fractal Level: Blind [0 resons per day]

Benevolence Level: Unoccupied [1 mana per day]

Soul: 1 ; 2 mana per day

Body: 2

Mind: 1

Overall Stability: ↑ [+.00002, -0]

Mp: 4/1,000, ↑ [+0, -0]

Hp: 5/2,000, ↑ [+0, -0]

Pp: 4/1,000, ↑ [+0, -0]

Resons: 1/10, [+0 = +0, -0] [Converts 9 mana to 1 reson]

The human made of light said, “That’s a lot of information there, all of which you know nothing about. For the most part, though, mana is mana. If you want to learn about mana on your own, you should speak to your mother. You failed the previous mana tests, but you won’t fail them this time. It will be a while before you approach anything near your true possible strength, but your growth will not plateau like all the other people of this world.

“They will call you a natural magus, but that is not what you are.

“You are more than that, by far.”

“Be careful.

“The truth is that your world has no name for what you are. You’re more than an archmage. You’re more than a Power. Or at least your eventual capability is around there. Maybe even higher. This is because of the basic function of the Personal Script, which no one else possesses.

“You can hold your mana. Thousands of mana! And the mana you hold will come back to you if you spend it wisely.

“Most people can’t hold mana inside themselves all that well, but you can, and easily. When you can throw out a thousand mana for a spell and then have 95% of that mana come back to you, they will call you Blessed. When you can cast magics in instants when other people take days, they will call you Chosen.

“They will also call you Grand Demon. They will call you Angel.

“They will call you worse, and better.

“Some will think you a god.

“You are none of these.

“You are utterly normal, except for this Personal Script, which will organize your mana and powers for you.”

Gerd had no idea what to say.

George smiled, adding, “You will attract attention. You’ve already attracted attention with your dream visions, but that’s just one talent that people can have, and you share the same talent with Lario. That talent was overlooked as a foible of weirdness; a trifle of normality. If you could see the future, or the past, then you would have been taken in for training. But all you saw was a shared fantasy. Only you and Lario will know that the fantasy was a shared reality.

“All this, and more, is but the barest level of power you’re going to need.

“Because I have a quest for you.”

Words appeared.

Quest!

End the threat of the Demon King of the world of Ondak!

Rewards: A lot!

“Here’s a smaller Quest, though. To start.”

Quest!

Learn mana cultivation.

Reward: More resource production.

George, the floating image of Gerd’s previous life, smiled, as he said, “It’s all pretty simple. The second Quest is easier than the first, and you’ll get more small Quests as you go along, but the first Quest is the big one. The one you came here to this world to accomplish, George. This is your life’s path. You were put here on this world to rid this world of its worst members.

“The Dragon of Many Colors put you here to save this world.

“I don’t know why he’s getting aggressive like this. Our xenny and Redriver were not the first to fall to his predations, and they won’t be the last. He needs to be stopped—”

– – – –

It had all been too much.

And so, Gerd woke, and yet he was not really Gerd anymore.

In the breaking of a dream, George woke up with memories of both lives lived so far.

George didn’t want to be George, though. That life was over and done. And yet…

Gerd blinked, awake, in his bed, staring at the dark ceiling. Whatever had just happened was fine. Whatever would happen, was yet to be written. Gerd knew what he had to do, though.

Gerd whispered to the dark, “I’m going to end the Demon King.”

For a moment, Gerd just lay there, staring at the ceiling.

He ended up laying there for a while.

But then his bladder bade him get up and get on with his day, and that is what he did—

For a moment, Gerd remembered laying in a hospital bed on Earth, sitting in his own filth, dying of some disease that he never wanted to think about again. He thought about all his old life, though, as he went through his morning ritual.

He shaved his beard, which was growing in way too strong for a 16-year-old human, but it was coming in just fine for a 16-year-old person of the people. He was young, strong, and very much a man, and though he had a typical human shape, consisting of two arms, two legs, and one head, he wasn’t human at all.

He had pale white skin, absolutely black hair and eyes, and short black horns on both sides of his forehead.

Pretty normal.

All men had 2 horns, though sometimes they got broken and they never grew back. All women had none. All xen had one horn in the middle of their forehead.

Those were the three sexes of the people of this world, and the disconnection between having 3 sexes and 2 sexes was truly weird for a moment…

And yet, George came back to himself, to Gerd, and knew that 3 sexes was normal for him, and that if he had children with a xen, those kids would mostly be girls, and yet if he had kids with a woman, those kids would mostly be xen. If he had relations with a man, then he probably wouldn’t have kids at all. Adoption was always good, though.

Gerd stared at the sink in front of him for a while, watching the water swirl down the drain—

He shut off the water as quickly as he could. He had left it running for a while and that was bad, because water wasn’t endless here, in this world. It came from the cistern, which came from the aqueducts, which were not endless.

Gerd looked up. He looked at himself again.

He wasn’t sure what to make of anything, and yet, he knew if he looked to the side in a specific way—

Words hung in the air.

Words normally did not hang in the air.

Quest!

End the threat of the Demon King of the world of Ondak!

Rewards: A lot!

Gerd dismissed those words.

Gerd stared at Gerd in the mirror, knowing that this was his face, and that he was also George, from Earth, from so very far away and a long time ago.

Lario was obviously Larry, too.

Gerd hadn’t realized that, but… Yeah. Gerd’s memories overlapped and he was now both 30 years old, and also just 16. He had been 16 twice now. The first time had sucked, but…

But this world was a lot different.

This world needed him.

Gerd saw his face in the mirror set itself solid, as he made up his mind.

Ondak was home now, and Gerd was going to save his home from the Demon King.

– – – –

Over breakfast, Gerd sat next to his Ondak Mom, who was so much better than his first mother, and he smiled a little at that. He still loved his original mom, but… not really. Not all family was worth holding on to. But this mom?

This was Mom, and Gerd loved her. He also loved his ‘Dad’, sitting at the other end of the table, where both of Dad’s husbands flanked him in their normal seats.

This world was weird and different, and Gerd was going to save it.

The people were wonderful. The world was full of love. Gerd’s new Dad hadn’t needed to be as kind to him as he had been, for Gerd and his mother were refugees from a hostile nation beyond the demon wall, but Dad had been great. Dad’s First and Second husbands had been wonderful, too, but they were a bit standoffish for rather normal Ondak-culture reasons, and also for personal reasons.

Just like on Earth, it was not expected for people to save each other from the horrors of the world, and yet, here on Ondak, people saved refugees all the time. Sure, Gerd and his mother had been bought and paid for, and both Gerd and Mom technically worked for Dad, but that was because the army had saved Gerd and Mom from the demons and taken them into the Empire, and the Empire needed money, and money still made worlds go round, even here in some other part of the universe. Gerd couldn’t imagine something ever working out on Earth as well as it had here on Ondak. Everything was so much different. It was nice. It was wonderful, really.

The Demon King marred that wonderfulness.

Aside from the horrors that Gerd had seen in his own life here, on this new world, Second Husband’s eldest had died in the new-yet-old war against the demons. That man had been the scion of the household, set to take over Dad’s merchant everything, but he had been conscripted into the logistic supply lines of the war and the demons had killed him 3 years ago, just before Gerd and his mother had been taken into the house. They had had no other children, so when Gerd and his mother came along, and Mom had healing magic, they had taken in Gerd and his mother in as a package deal.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Gerd loved his new home and his many parents… though Xenny was gone…

Gerd’s good mood faltered.

He had wanted to join the army a while ago, but the army was not his destination, not if his dream of the Personal Script was any indication. His destiny was magic. And yet…

He had tried taking the magic tests a while ago, but he had failed them…

Hmm.

Gerd thought.

Dad had been talking about the schedule for the day, including things he needed Gerd to do after classes at the academy. He finished with, as he usually did, “But if you have other plans, Gerd, then let me know them and I can make adjustments.”

Gerd smiled at that. Dad always said something like that. ‘If you have other plans, let me work around them’. He was easy to love as a father…

For a moment, Gerd was struck by the notion that he should just tell them all about who he really was. He wasn’t just a 16 year old boy…

And yet.

No.

Maybe he was just having strong dreams again.

… However, looking up into the air, Gerd easily called forth floating numbers. He looked at the air, and saw his Status. No one else saw the numbers, or else they surely would have exclaimed ‘By the Gods of the Mountain, what is that!’

Gerd’s ‘dreams’ hadn’t really been ‘dreams’ at all, and they never had been.

… Maybe he should start somewhere simpler. Some place easier to understand, before he started telling everyone that he was a reincarnation. A way he could test to make sure he wasn’t being crazy, or mana-touched.

Gerd said, “Dad? I want to get tested for magic again. And not just body strengthening magics. I want to learn real magics.”

All eating stopped.

Mom was instantly thrilled as she said, “Yes! You—” She cut herself off, looking to her husband, grinning a little bit as she did so.

Dad scoffed at both of them, though it was with a smile. “Magic is too difficult. You’d have a better life learning your numbers and languages and doing a body tempering meditation in the mornings. You can join me in the mornings for that, if you wish.”

Dad’s First Husband countered Dad, saying, “Magic is a valuable tool and the simple things are easy to learn, but if he sticks to body tempering that is all he will be able to do.” He said to Gerd, “I have often thought that you gave up too easily the first time, for most children do. I think you should try again, now that you’ve studied under the Empire and you’re older. Most people start learning around your age.”

Mom nodded along with that wisdom.

Gerd and Mom were third in line in the household, so Gerd nodded along, too.

There was a lot of love in this new life of his, but there was a strict system of honor in the Empire, and one must never step outside of the bounds of honor. The whole thing reminded Gerd of the stories he had heard of Imperial China.

Dad was a little exasperated by First Husband’s declaration, though. He had wanted Gerd to learn body tempering, just like him.

First Husband made a flicking hand motion at Dad of ‘get on with accepting it, honey’.

Dad scoffed, then said, “I guess you can learn ‘real magic’. Bah!” He asked mom, “He needs to do remedials first, and then you can teach him, yes?”

“Absolutely,” Mom declared. She looked to Gerd, saying, “It’s a difficult journey to learn magic, but now that you’re older maybe you can meditate properly this time.”

Gerd recalled his last attempt at trying magic. He only really remembered fidgeting on a pillow for several hours. He had wanted to go play with the other kids. Not ‘concentrate on the mountain’ for hours.

Gerd said, “I will strive for perfection, Mother.”

Mom smiled wonderfully, saying, “Even if you can’t do healing magic, all magic is useful, Son.”

Gerd loved his mother more than he knew how to tell her. He softly said, “Thank you, Mother.”

Second Husband chuckled. “It’s good for parlor tricks.”

Mom joked with him, “Good for bedroom tricks, too.”

… What?

Had Gerd heard her right?

Second Husband suddenly laughed as First shook his head and Dad smiled wide and lovingly. Maybe there was something else glinting in those eyes, too, as he looked at Mom, but Gerd didn’t want to think about that.

Mom looked triumphant at that interaction. Second Husband and Mom had a better relationship than First Husband and Mom, but to joke about sex with Second Husband was too casual. And yet, it had been a good joke for them.

But it was quite embarrassing for Gerd. Gerd felt his face heat up.

Dad laughed louder as he saw that, and soon everyone was chuckling, except Gerd.

Gerd got up, trying to excuse himself—

“Oh! Fine, you can go,” Dad said, and Gerd realized he shouldn’t have gotten up to leave breakfast so fast. Gerd rapidly sat back down. Dad continued, “But I want to know if you’ve had relations with anyone yet. You’re at that age. Someone will be preying on you to get to me. Maybe many someones.”

Gerd felt the weight of the world on him, in the stares that First Husband gave him. Dad and everyone else was less direct. Gerd was embarrassed yet again, as he said, “I like… Lario, so… They are it… I think.”

Dad nodded, as if receiving confirmation of something they already knew. Everyone around the table had a similar reaction, and Gerd felt his face heat up yet again.

Dad said, “They are acceptable, and the history is there. I’ll set up a proper date for both of you in a month.”

Gerd felt his face heat up a lot as he flubbed his words—

Dad shook his head, smiling softly. “Go on now. You should get to your studies because you’re going to double them with magical tutoring soon enough. You’re already 3 years behind Empire standard, Gerd, and you’ve yet to pass remedial weaponry. If you succeed at magic like your mother then you’ll probably have to drop everything and focus on the arcane, but that would be bad for your future development. A well-rounded man is a good man.” Dad flicked his hand at Gerd. It was a dismissal.

Gerd rapidly got back up from the table. He bowed perpendicular to the ground, saying, “Thank you, Dad.”

And then Gerd got out of there.

Back in the dining room, Gerd heard Mom and Second Husband start talking seriously about what they knew of Lario, while First Husband wanted to talk of magic. Gerd almost wanted to listen in but he had to get ready for classes.

– – – –

As Gerd strode down the road, to the academy, the sun shone across the city and Gerd felt weirdly happy.

Joyous.

He smiled.

This was a good life.

The Demon King stuff was concerning, and Gerd hated him for what he did to Redriver and Xenny, but this was a good life. Diseases didn’t exist here on Ondak, for the most part, thanks to magics. Everyone got food if they needed it. Housing was abundant and free in the Empire unless you wanted something special, and then you had to work for it, but that was not hard. The future was exceedingly bright for almost every child of the Empire. Gerd, who was the son of a wealthy merchant, was expected to move out of his house at 20 and live in public housing for at least 5 years, in order to broaden his horizons in another part of the Empire. Somewhere far away from home, too. Everyone with kids that didn’t need the help always sent their kids away, even if the kids and parents didn’t want to separate at all. Usually the time was spent at university, where learning was free, or they got a job and an apprenticeship.

The Demon King threatened everything, with his rampaging hordes and how he had broken the Demon Wall twice now. The break near this kingdom had been bad, but two other breaks further east in the Empire were a lot worse. The Empire pushed back the Demon King, but whereas plainsfolk refugees had been a common sight years ago, Empire refugees were a common sight these days, standing in line at the common kitchens for stew, and wearing roughspun common clothes.

Last Gerd had heard that it was official; every single plainsfolk living beyond the Demon Wall had been ousted from their home territories.

The Demon King had desecrated the land.

There had been food forests, filled with cultivated, half-wild places, where anyone could walk through and pick fruit from trees, berries from bushes, and mushrooms from deadfall. Good meals were a simple walk through the woods, and as long as no one took more than they needed then those places remained filled with food. Those forests, visited a few times a year, had been cared for by Gerd’s former tribe for longer than any of them remembered.

And now those forests were ash.

There had been rivers crafted with diversions here and there along the length of them all, where fish grew fat on snails and bugs that congregated in those separated pools. The fish were so fat! All Gerd had needed to do was reach down in one of the narrow spaces and grab one that was stuck and could not get out. That was when you knew they were ripe for eating.

And now those rivers were dead, thanks to poisonrocks scattered at the headwaters and all down their lengths.

… George imagined that what Gerd called ‘posionrocks’ were actually some sort of nuclear material, but he really didn’t know enough to say. Magic was real, and everything ran on magic; not technology.

There had been a lot of stuff in the news about what had happened beyond the Wall. All of it was bad.

The Empire had the printing press and rather rudimentary technological analogs to the tech that George remembered on Earth. They had lightakers, which were kind of like cameras. They had sheetwings, which were like personal aircraft that a real mage could use to fly with small spells. With those two things, the Empire knew everything that was happening beyond the Demon Wall.

Gerd wondered if Lario —if Larry— was inventing more stuff from Earth.

Gerd smiled.

They probably were. They were golem crafters, now, just like their adoptive masters.

– – – –

Lario stood in the dreaming dark.

The floor glowed white underneath, while a person stood before Lario.

That person was not one of the people.

He was a human that called himself Larry, and everything he said was impossible.

Lario disbelieved all of this shit.

They scoffed. “Nope! I’m out! Take all these numbers and shove them up your ass— And take all these Earth memories, too! Lock them away… Except for the ones about George— Gerd. His name is ‘Gerd’. I’m fine with…” Lario was quiet as he said, “I’m fine with remembering him.”

Larry paused.

And then Larry said, “Yeah. I get that. I will keep most of the memories to myself, and the numbers to a minimum.”

The dream ended.

Lario woke up as Larry and Lario, both at the same time.

He remembered everything…

And then his memories narrowed, like a dream cast away, light as air. He remembered what he wanted to, from radio waves to proper steelmaking to the manufacture and engineering of cars and other mechanical devices. Most of it was incompatible with modern golem creation, but there was enough there to change everything about how he would approach… ‘He’?

Dammit.

They started cursing.

They had too many concerns to care about that other world. Lario had planes to make, designs to iterate upon, to take master of the skies and thus the war against the Demon King! Not to worry about Earth!

Fuck Earth!

Ohhh, Lario did not give a shit about Earth, or ‘Larry’, or any of that other life, but they certainly hated the Demon King, and Lario was going to change the very nature of the war. And when that was done, he was going to make ships to sail the Cursed Ocean. Guns to kill monsters.

And Airships to reach the Flying Mountains, where the Gods of Ondak had their palaces.

Lario was going to find the Dragon of Many Colors and punch him in the face.

They laid on their cot, in the small room that their master afforded him. Thanks to their memories from Earth, this room seemed less than adequate.

And yet…

Lario sighed. It was a decent enough room, they supposed.

Was it better than that oblivion of death?

Lario thought of Gerd, of George, and their heart fluttered.

They grinned despite themselves.

Yeah.