“You really are starting to look rough,” Humphrey told Jason.

“Yeah,” Sophie agreed, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “That pretty gold light coming off you is turning into rainbow smoke — including the smell.”

“It’s only going to get worse,” Jason said. “That’s why Neil is last.”

Humphrey and Sophie had come together for Jason’s round of individual farewells, in a room just off the deck where the others were gathered.

Sophie laughed while Humphrey gave a disapproving head shake.

“There’s something we need to talk about,” Jason said. “You told me to not keep things from the team, so I should let you know about something that happened. The great astral beings want me to do something while I’m sorting out my astral king business.”

“Which astral beings?” Humphrey asked.

“Most of them, I think? Most of the ones with names, anyway. The ones without names are all on the other team.”

“There’s another team?” Humphrey asked, his expression darkening. “And that team has great astral beings on it?”

“Yeah,” Jason said. “Look, Humphrey, the details don’t matter. What matters is that it’s important and I’m doing it. I would love if we could all do this together, but that’s just not how this works. It isn’t something the team can help me with, but I didn’t want to go into it without telling you.”

Humphrey let out a low grumble as he ran his hands through his hair in frustration. Sophie placed a hand on his massive bicep.

“When did you find all this out?” she asked Jason.

“Less than an hour ago.”

“You couldn’t have at least talked it through with us?”

“I made my decision fast,” Jason said. “I wasn’t going to change it and time is short enough as it is.”

Humphrey let out a long, growling sigh.

“You need to get a lot better at including us, Jason.”

“He’s working on it,” Sophie consoled. “He’s still terrible at it, but he’s trying. Like a three-legged puppy trying to climb stairs.”

“Thank you?” Jason said. “Look, the good news is, I have a plan.”

Humphrey and Sophie shared a worried look.

“Don’t look like that,” Jason complained. “It’s a good plan. Plus, it will help me keep up with you lot while you’re out there fighting monsters to rank up.”

“What kind of plan?” Humphrey asked.

“Well,” Jason said, “how much do you know about people from Earth punching each other for money?”

***

“I know you and I have that link,” Farrah said, “but I have no interest in becoming your Voice of the Will. I don’t mean to put down Colin or whoever else you rope in, but there’s an obedient-messenger-slave aspect I want no part of.”

“That’s fair,” Jason said.

They were lounging comfortably across from one another in cloud furniture.

“How risky is this Sundered Throne business you’ve got going on?”

“Humphrey didn’t waste any time, then.”

“He did not.”

“Did he tell you about the plan?”

“He said it was completely incomprehensible. You are still terrible at explaining things.”

“That’s not my fault; they changed the name of the country.”

“And that was a relevant detail?”

“Humphrey and Sophie haven’t been to Earth. They needed context.”

“And that context included something about a king with big hair?”

“It did, as it happens.”

Farrah let out a long-suffering sigh.

“How big a risk are you taking here?”

“By my standards? Very little. If my plan works the way it should, I’ve got this in the bag.”

“If you plan works the way it should.”

“I have some unusual advantages.”

“Such as?”

“Such as great astral beings not knowing what happened in the transformation zone.”

“Information gaps aren’t something they would be used to,” Farrah said.

“No,” Jason said. “I don’t think they would be.”

“Just come back alive, yeah?”

“I’d say yes, but it’s kind of complicated.”

“Complicated how?”

“Technically, I’m not going anywhere. I’m leaving a portal open for people to come and go.”

“How does that work exactly? Boris seems convinced that your soul realm and anyone in it will break down entirely.”

“That’s what gave me the idea for my plan.”

***

Rufus entered the room, empty save for himself and Jason. He looked rougher than Jason felt, eyes bloodshot and baggy in a way no silver-ranker should be.

“You want to sit?” Jason asked.

“No,” Rufus said.

They stared at each other in silence until Rufus finally broke it.

“There’s nothing you can do? Really?”

“I did do something, Rufus. I let him choose his own fate.”

“You couldn’t have sold not dying a little harder? It shouldn’t be hard to convince someone to live.”

“I gave him an honest choice.”

“Then you should have given him a dishonest one!”

Jason sighed, not rising to the outburst.

“You don’t believe that,” he said.

Rufus slumped down and a cloud chair rose from the floor to catch him.

“No,” Rufus said, his voice barely a whisper. “No, I don’t.”

The chair grew wider, turning into a couch, and Jason sat next to his friend. Not knowing what to say, he leaned into him a little and stayed silent.

“Farrah thinks I should go off to your world,” Rufus said. “Teach your niece to be an adventurer.”

“I think you should go too,” Jason told him. “As for what you should teach her to be, that’s for her to decide. The last I saw her, she wanted to be anything but an adventurer.”

“You think distraction is what I need?”

“Not distraction. Purpose. I don’t think you want to be an adventurer right now, but maybe you want to be a teacher.”

“But is it my purpose just because my family runs a school?”

“It’s your purpose because you love doing it and you’re good at it. Because it’s building the future instead of holding onto a past that will slip through our fingers, whatever we might do to stop it. You once told me that helping people learn from your mistakes was more fulfilling than the fear of making the next one.”

“I didn’t make a mistake, Jason. Sometimes you do everything right and it still goes wrong.”

“Yeah,” Jason agreed. “But I think we both know you’re a sackful of bad decisions waiting to happen. I think a completely new context would be good for you. Force you to come at things with a clean slate instead of with all the baggage you have now.”

“You aren’t pulling punches.”

“You’ve got your mum to take the sensitive approach. Sometimes being a friend means telling someone what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. More than once, I’ve spent months and years stewing in my own juices when life kicked me in the beans. I’m not saying that you have to perk up and be happy. Our friend is going to die. But this isn’t about you. It’s about Gary, and you owe him a goodbye that lets him know you’re going to be alright, even if it’s not today. I’m not saying that means going off to Earth, but it does mean showing him there’s a future for you beyond laying around being sad. You know, the way he was after losing Farrah and me until you came along and kicked him in the pants.”

“So, this is my kick in the pants?”

“Yep. You don’t have to get better now, but you do have to get better. If that means going back to teaching in Greenstone, then do that. If it means spending time with a mental healer like your mum, then do that. If it means a clean break in a world where you don’t even know the language, you can do that too.”

“Why would you want me anywhere near your niece in this state?”

“Because I trust you. And I trust my family. They weren’t equipped to support me through all the weird cosmic crap I was dealing with, but losing someone you love? That they understand, but they’ll also have the objectivity of not knowing you and all your baggage. Take it from someone who already jumped worlds: sometimes compassionate strangers can be exactly what you need.”

***

“Bro,” you’re not regenerating anymore,” Taika pointed out. “You’re leaking rainbow smoke like a dead monster.”

“Yeah,” Jason said. “I don’t have a lot of time left.”

“I won’t take too much of it, then. Thanks for keeping your promise and finding me a way home.”

“That was Boris, not me. But I’m glad you’ll see your family again. Keep an eye on mine until I get back there myself, yeah?”

“No worries, bro.”

***

“Wow, this rooms smells bad,” Neil said. “Oh, wait; it’s you.”

“Neil.”

“Yeah?”

“I would never say this in front of the team, but you are arguably the most important member in it. I am exceptionally glad that you will be keeping them safe in my absence, just as you do when I’m here. You’re an important friend and you mean the world to me.”

Neil blinked in surprise.

“Thank you for saying that, Jason. It means a lot. It would mean more if you said it in front of everyone else.”

“I know,” Jason said, nodding his head sagely. “I know.”

Neil left the room and reached into the pocket where he’d placed the recording crystal in case Jason said anything heartwarming. The crystal was missing and his fingers found something else instead. He pulled it out to find a picture of himself at the Standish family farm, in a tub full of eels, wearing only a hat ‘with rub-a-dub-dub’ stencilled onto it.

“You have the power to see and change everything here, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Jason said as he emerged from the room to rest a hand on Neil’s shoulder. “Yes, I do.”

***

Jason had one last person, not for a farewell, but for a goodbye.

“You don’t have long,” Gary told him.

“How can you tell?” Jason asked.

He was alone with Jason who now had energy pouring off him like a steamed bun. The golden light had turned to rainbow smoke, complete with the extremely unpleasant smell.

“Give me your sword,” Gary said.

Without questions, Jason plucked the sword Gary had forged for him from his inventory. He held it out for Gary to take.

Gary gestured at the air and a golden blaze appeared. He took the sword, scabbard and all, and shoved it into the flames. He held it there for around a minute as Jason looked on with curiosity. He was connected to the sword through a soul link and he could feel something about it changing. Finally, Gary pulled it back out and the flames vanished.

---

• Items [Hegemon’s Will] and [Hegemon’s Dominion] have been reforged.
• Items have changed from (silver rank [growth] legendary) to (silver rank [growth] relic).
• Relics require transcendent power. Most of their abilities are sealed until their owner, Jason Asano, gains access to transcendent power.
• The owner of a relic always knows its location, regardless of magical or non-magical obfuscation.
• Relics cannot be used without permission of the owner.
• Relics can be summoned to avatars of the owner or designated servants of the owner.
• Relics cannot be destroyed by most forces. A destroyed relic can be manifested again by the owner using transcendent power.

---

Gary held out the sword in its scabbard for Jason to take back.

“Sorry,” Gary told him, “but you won’t be able to use them properly until you’re an astral king. It smells like your about to get onto that, though.”

Jason laughed as he took the weapon and put it away.

“It’s not much of an upgrade on the surface,” Gary explained, “but you’ll never lose it and you don’t need resources and rituals to rank it up, now. It’ll match its power to yours.”

“Thank you,” Jason said. “It’s been six years since you first gave it to me. It feels like forever and no time at all.”

Jason stepped up and hugged Gary tightly, his head only coming up to the huge leonid’s chest.

“You smell so bad,” Gary choked out and Jason laughed through the tears spilling from his eyes.

Jason pulled away from the big man.

“How do we do this?” he asked. “How do we say goodbye? How can it ever be enough?”

Gary put a comforting hand on Jason’s shoulder.

“Jason, you’re going to live a long time. Probably forever. And in that time, you’re going to do a lot of amazing things.”

Gary gestured at Jason, leaking rainbow smoke.

“Starting in about three minutes, from the looks of it,” Gary continued. “We both know you can lose your way at times. You have Shade and all of our friends, but maybe you can do something for me. When you find yourself uncertain of a choice, or wondering if you’re doing the right thing, maybe think back on your old leonid friend, and see if you can’t find a way to choose compassion.”

Jason stared at Gary as tears poured from his eyes. He lunged forward and caught Gary in another hug.

***

Jason stayed with Gary as long as he could. His last sight of the big man was of a wide smile and a casual wave as Jason vanished. He reappeared in a hidden chamber, in the mountain fortress of his otherwise collapsed soul realm.

He hadn’t been able to hold back his tears in front of Gary but now he fell to his knees, wracking sobs shaking his body. He would never see his friend ever again.

Two gentle hands found his shoulders. Shade and Colin were both standing over him while Gordon floated nearby, somehow managing to convey concern in his alien body language.

“I’m sorry, Mr Asano,” Shade said, “but you have left things too long already.”

Jason nodded and started slowly pulling himself together. He got to his feet and looked around. He was on a catwalk around a magma waterfall, with multiple doors leading out. One led upstairs and three led to his astral throne, astral gate and soul forge, respectively. The fifth and last opened onto a void dotted with colourful nebulas, blazing in the dark.

“Goodbye, Gary,” Jason whispered, then stepped out.