The Asano clan held two astral spaces, consisting of cities cut off from the surrounding wilderness by massive defensive walls. The cities were mostly empty, as they could hold far more people than the population living there. To avoid them feeling like ghost towns, specific sections were regulated by the Asano Clan, with shops, residences and other facilities all assigned to the occupants and proprietors, free of cost.

That was especially important when the residents were all transplanted from elsewhere. The Asano Clan was mostly Jason’s extended family, brought over from Australia. Their association with him not only disrupted their lives but put them in danger from those who would exploit them. Most of the residents were refugees from transformation zones around the world. Magically removed from the human race, they had to deal with not just a new place, but new selves.

There were a few residents who didn't fit into those groups, with a few other families brought into the Asano Clan. Like Jason's family, their connection to him made them targets for exploitation and harm. This included the families of those who had fallen into Jason’s orbit, such as Greg and Asya. Jason’s dead friend and lover were both examples of the dangers that came with being involved with Jason.

There was also Chloe Baudrillard, the epidemiologist Jason befriended, along with her family. As they were French, they had been displaced by the vampire occupation. Most of the European civilians had been evacuated to other continents, but some had been taken in by the Asano Clan, mostly people close to the two spirit domains in Nitra and Saint-Étienne.

Jason had a habit of triggering internal strife in ancient Japanese families, and ousted leadership and their loyalists had joined the clan. This included members of the Japanese Asano Clan and the Tiwari Clan. The old leaders of both had helped Jason, and both had paid for it by being forced out of their own families. Yumi Asano had been sure to repay that aid as best she could, offering homes and safety.

One of the advantages of only opening parts of the city was that space was not at a premium. There was no need for dense housing and they had chosen open, highly walkable parts of the city. The least congested residential section was the Park District, which was a combination of low-density housing and botanical garden. Within that district was a secluded grove, ringed by flowering hedges and bisected by a stream running through it.

In that grove was a very small cottage belonging to a very large woman. Raina Williams was very far from her native New Zealand. Five months after Rufus arrived on Earth, he was one of several people seated at the picnic table outside of Raina’s house.

“You eat up now,” Raina said as she spooned another heap of tartiflette onto Rufus’ plate.

“Mrs Williams, I couldn’t,” Rufus said.

“That’s what your mouth says,” she told him. “The way you’re eyeing that plate says something different.”

“Maybe just a little more,” he said.

“Boy, don’t come here telling me ‘a little.’ I do not know what they’re feeding you in that other universe, but my Taika got skinny as a rake over there and you’re even worse.”

“Skinny?” Hiro Asano said. “I know magic turned a lot of fat into muscle, but he’s still as wide and brown as a station wagon from the eighties.”

Hiro reached for the dish of garlic bread and got a rap on the knuckles for his trouble.

“Garlic bread is for polite young men,” Mrs Williams scolded.

“I’m fifty-eight,” Hiro complained. “I can’t be a young man.”

“Then you’re old enough to know better,” Mrs Williams said, earning a helpless look from Hiro that made Emi giggle.

“You shouldn’t talk back, Boss,” Taika warned Hiro. “Not if you want to keep eating.”

It had been several years since Taika had worked for Hiro in their criminal days, but some things just stuck.

“I really should go,” Rufus said, but made no move to do so as he continued demolishing the food on his plate.

“You’ve done really good work with the refugees, Rufus,” Hiro said. “We were having a lot of trouble with all these traumatised people who suddenly found themselves not human anymore. As someone who grew up in and around people who weren’t human, you’ve been a settling presence.”

“I haven’t done anything special,” Rufus said. “It’s just joining in group therapy sessions and telling people about home.”

“Well, it’s very nice,” Raina said. “It’s starting to feel like a real community around here. I scooter into the community centre a few times a week.”

“You have a mobility scooter?” Hiro asked. “Does it do alright without a sealed road?”

“Mobility scooter nothing,” Taika said. “She has a stand-up scooter. Some carbon-fibre monstrosity that reaches highway speeds. It isn’t safe.”

“Oh, you know I don’t run it that fast,” Raina said. “I just need something with the power to transport a full-figured lady. And I always wear my safety gear.”

“We’re inside a magic realm,” Taika said, “in a continent occupied by vampires. Where did you even find motorcycle pants in your size?”

“Good news, everyone,” Raina said. “It looks like there’s extra dessert to go around because my son doesn’t want any.”

“What? Mum, no…”

***

Hiro took Emi home after lunch while Rufus and Taika headed for the sprawling community centre complex. It included the medical and food distribution centres along with other key facilities. The heart of the place was a large recreational lounge that served as a gathering place and central hub for the rest of the complex. It offered easy access to everything from the medical centre to child-friendly play areas and a large bar.

There was a cheerful mood when Rufus and Taika arrived in the central lounge. A gathering of people was celebrating the first child conceived amongst the transformed. Rufus smiled and laughed alongside everyone else until he heard the happy couple mention the name of their doctor. Not being the centre of attention, it was easy enough to slip away.

Moments later, he was storming through the nearby medical centre. He found the office door marked ‘Dr Velius’ and barged in without knocking. The doctor looked up from the laptop on his desk.

“Something I can help you with, Mr Remore?”

“It is you,” Rufus said. “Why are you here? How are you here?”

"I'm the prime vessel of the Reaper, Mr Remore; I'm very well-resourced."

Velius brought out what looked like a car fob and pressed the button on it. The door swung closed and a brief shimmer indicated a privacy screen settling around them.

“What are your intentions?” Rufus asked.

“Benign, I can assure you,” Velius said. “While I could fend off the defences of Jason Asano’s territory if I were hostile, doing so long-term would be quite the chore. Especially in this astral space where his power is stronger.”

“What are you doing here?” Rufus demanded.

“Helping, Mr Remore.”

“Why?”

“You are aware that what has befallen this world stems from how the original Builder created this world and yours?”

“I am.”

“I won’t go into the full context, but that was an unfortunate consequence of a decision the great astral beings made long ago. One that your friend Jason is currently fighting to undo. As for you and I, we find ourselves surrounded by people who’ve had their lives, and even their very bodies, transformed in to something they no longer recognise.”

“Why do you care?”

“That, Mr Remore, is rather offensive. I may be immortal and my position rather lofty, but I’m still a person. The concept of compassion is not alien to me.”

Rufus frowned. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. His body lost its tenseness, the anger in his expression falling away.

“You’re right,” he said. “That was offensive and I apologise. Let me ask the question I should have: Why would the Reaper have someone as important as you here, doing this?”

“Normally, a disaster like this is where the local gods start earning all that prayer and devotion, working to rectify things. Unfortunately, it will be centuries before this world has enough magic for gods to start manifesting.”

Velius smiled.

“You presumably dashed in here after recognising my name,” he said. “Presumably, Asano told you about my recruiting him to his current task.”

“Yes. And one look at that aura told me I was right. You tailored your aura mask so the locals wouldn't see through it, but someone like me would.”

"Yes. There are things that need to be done here, but the people of this world aren't ready for some of the higher truths behind them. Like the first servant of the Grim Reaper being their obstetrician. So, hopefully, you and I are going to quietly help certain things along."

“You still haven’t told me why. You might be at the very boundary of mortality, but you’re still one of us. I can understand you wanting to act out of sympathy for these people. Why is the Reaper letting you?”

“You’re aware, obviously, that I recruited Jason Asano for his current task. Do you know what he asked for in return?”

“That’s why you’re here? Jason asked you to help these people?”

“No,” Velius said. “Your friend didn’t ask for anything at all. It never even occurred to him. Once he understood that it needed to be done, he just decided to do it. In light of this, it was decided that a reward was warranted, asked for or not. The great astral beings decided to step in where the gods normally would.”

“And they sent you? To do what?”

“Not just me. We’re here to discreetly help things along. I know from personal experience that if you fail to effectively set things in place in your homeworld, things can get messy. Being forced into extreme choices early can have severe repercussions in just a few centuries, let alone millennia. We’re here to smooth out the process of Asano’s family establishing themselves as a power on this world.”

“By being a fertility healer?”

“By bending a few rules before your friend stops that from being possible anymore. That’s what he’s doing, ultimately: putting the old rules back in place that stops the great astral beings from getting creative in their roles.”

“What kind of rules are you looking to bend?”

“Nothing overt. Not unless you know what you’re looking at, anyway. But the people here will find a lot of luck coming their way for a few years.”

“Alright,” Rufus said. “Assuming I believe all that, why you? What can the Reaper do for these people?”

“As you’ve noted, I’ve taken on the role of a fertility doctor,” Velius said. “The Asano Clan matriarch went to some lengths to recruit an expert medical team. The changes people go through as they rank up are one thing, but the bulk of the population here has non-human physiology. I arranged credentials for my assumed identity so that I would be accepted.”

“How are made-up credentials going to help anyone? And what does that have to do with the Reaper?”

“Through the Reaper, Mr Remore, I have access to the medical expertise of everyone who has ever died in any universe. Ever. My credentials are so profoundly understated that I’ll probably advance this planet’s medical knowledge a century or more by accident.”

“That’s why you’re here? Because you have that knowledge?”

“That’s part of it. The more specific reason is that the first generation born to the transformed people here will have an incredible impact on them and this planet as a whole. They and their children will face profound challenges if they ever seek to be anything more than a strange little collective, hiding in an astral space. If they are going to do anything other than die out within a few generations they need to be remarkable.”

“And you intend to make them remarkable?”

“I’m rather hoping you will, Mr Remore. My part is to give them the potential you will help them live up to.”

“And how are you going to give them this potential?”

“By providing something that this new generation could desperately use: old souls.”

***

When Gary became a demigod, he was a vision of physical might, wreathed in divine power. Almost a year later, the divine power was wrapped around a haggard, skeletal figure that hobbled about when not carried in a floating cloud chair. The golden light of Hero’s power danced around and through him, his body barely able to contain it.

“It’s time,” he told his parents, his once-booming voice a thin echo.

His parents nodded, accepting. They had watched their son wither away, knowing that although he said it was time, it was well past time. Jason had set his realm such that neither pain nor death could affect Gary’s body. But there was no stopping pain that went soul deep. It had gotten too hard for him to hide some time ago, but he had held on. Only when his parents were eager to see him released from it, rather than continue their time with him, did he finally make the choice to let go.

Gary had made the rest of his goodbyes long ago, and several times over. His friends had come by time and again, chain-portalling across the world to see him. One such visit had come from Gwydion Remore, bringing bittersweet news.

“Hero has decided to sanction himself,” Gwydion told Gary. “It’s something that he has been considering for longer than any of us have been alive, but he’s finally going to do it.”

“Isn’t sanctioning dangerous?” Gary asked.

“Yeah,” Gwydion said. “But he’s not going to be as drastic as Purity. He wants to give himself another miracle option. Something less powerful than the Cup of Heroes, with less of a price. For millennia, our church has been collecting the relics of heroes who have drunk from the cup. The relics can only be used by the demigods to whom they belonged and they are all dead. That makes the relics nothing but a remembrance, despite their power. But Hero wants to make them usable again, if only for a short time. To let the stories of heroes past live on in heroes of the future.”

“That’s a nice sentiment,” Gary said. “It would have been nice if he’d come up with that a year ago.”

"You inspired him, in part. It's not a decision made for any one reason, but you are one of them. He tried to give you a path to survival but, right or wrong, you chose not to take it. And the cup will still be there when needed. It would have taken more than a relic for you to accomplish what had to be done."

Gary thought of that visit and every other he’d had over the last several months. He smiled through the now constant and severe pain; all worth it for the memories. With his parents beside him, he floated in his chair along the walkways and rope bridges of the tree city. It had been a fine place to spend his final days, but now those days were over. It was time to give the god back his power and find out what came next.

The portal leading out of the soul realm was in a central area at ground level, close to the facilities being used by Carlos and Clive. Clive was off somewhere with the team, and Gary didn’t disturb Carlos. He was an acquaintance and an ally, but not a friend. He did call in on Sophie’s mother and Callum Morse. He was a friend and she had become one, albeit with a ‘cool aunt’ feel to the relationship. They both understood what Gary was about at a glance and did not keep him long.

Finally, Gary descended on an elevating platform made of wood and rope. At the bottom was a wide open area, a grassy space between distant trees. The portal leading out of Jason’s realm stood in the middle of it.

One of Jason’s avatars was waiting where the rope elevator reached the ground. Most of the soul realm’s avatars looked like Jason but were blank-faced automatons. They spoke in a monotone and had only the knowledge, skills and influence over the realm required for their assigned tasks. The avatar waiting for Gary was the only exception.

This avatar was the one with almost no knowledge or skills, to the point of being a little clumsy. What it did have was a subdued but recognisable facsimile of Jason’s personality. It was still a little uncanny valley, but only unnerving instead of outright creepy. This made it much easier for the residents and visitors of the tree city to interact with. As this was its primary task, it had taken to calling itself ‘the Concierge.’

“Is it time?” the Concierge asked.

“It is,” Gary said.

At Gary’s words, mist started rising from the ground. The space between them and the portal was soon engulfed in fog, obscuring their view.

“I thought you couldn’t change things like this,” Gary said to the Concierge.

“Yep,” the Concierge said. “The boss set this up to trigger on the day you… he set it up for today.”

The fog created a long, wide tunnel of cloud substance. It ended at a wall, around where Gary judged the portal to be, but it wasn’t in sight. The walls became smooth, shifting from blank white to a swirl of colours. The colours swiftly resolved into moving images, each one a different scene featuring Gary.

“My true self can do many things in this place,” the Concierge said. “Even some that are normally impossible, such as reading a mind. But if others let him, he can do that here. This hall is comprised entirely of memories from your friends and your family.”

“Mum?” Gary asked. “Dad? You knew about this?”

“We didn’t spend a lot of time with your friend Jason,” Gary’s mother said, “but he seemed like a sweet young man. We liked this idea very much.”

"I'm not the person I look like," the Concierge said, "so I will not offer you an empty farewell in his stead. The best I can do is leave you be. This place belongs to you, for as long as you want to stay.”

The Concierge stepped through the wall, briefly disturbing the image of Gary as a child, watching his father make soup. Gary looked around from his chair, his parents beside him. He saw himself hammering on steel, the orange glow of the forge casting his grin in a sinister light. There were dozens of little moments scattered across the walls of the long hallway.

He started telling the stories of each memory to his parents, or talking about memories they shared. The closest images mostly came from his parents, featuring Gary as a young and often difficult child.

As they slowly made their way forward, it moved onto Gary becoming an adventurer. Meeting Farrah and Rufus in the wild panic of a burning zombie town. The three of them running across a field as a flour silo exploded behind them. Making his way through a cultist blood chamber with a skinny, wild-eyed man.

“Gods,” Gary said with a laugh. “I forgot how big his chin was back then.”

All the way to the end, there were no images of Gary as a demigod or battling Undeath’s avatar. Only a handful of the scenes showed combat or action at all. The hall was dominated by moments of friendship and camaraderie. Handing Jason the sword he had made for him. Grilling meat while surrounded by friends. Stealing food as a cub. He noticed, looking around, that a lot of them seemed to involve food.

The tunnel formed a rough timeline, but not a strict one, and the occasional memory would pop up way out of sequence. Gary and his parents watched little boy Gary’s ill-fated attempt to pilfer his uncle’s hammer, the tool larger than Gary at the time.

“Such a rascal,” his mother said, almost managing to not have her voice break.

They made an extremely slow passage down the hall, barely moving forward before stopping again. They didn’t count the hours as they watched memory after memory play out. Gary told the stories of friends made and good times shared. His parents pointed out that his recollections of childhood were never quite the way he remembered them.

 By the time they finally reached the end, it felt like they had laughed and cried so much that there was no more of either left inside them. On the wall at the end of a hall was an image of Gary, Rufus and Farrah, lazing in the shade of a tree. There was no telling what they were chatting about from the silent image. Gary couldn’t place the memory; it could have been any of a thousand days and he realised that was the point. There were too many good times to remember them all.

Gary sat and stared at the image for a long time. He watched himself and his friends talking, neither knowing nor caring what they were saying in the silent projection. What mattered was the happiness. The laughter. Just being together.

“I’m ready,” he said.

“Good,” Farrah’s voice came through the wall. “I had to use ritual magic to keep all this warm without it going bad.”

The image vanished and the cloud wall it was on dispersed, revealing Farrah waiting by a table full of food.

“Your timing is awful, by the way,” she said. “I had an important test scheduled today, but instead I had to come here and cook a last meal for…”

Farrah’s voice broke, unable to maintain the jovial fiction. She rushed around the table and hugged Gary in his chair.

“I love you so much, you big hairy bastard.”

***

Gary emerged from the portal in his cloud seat, Farrah and his parents right behind. His parents each took one of his hands as the golden light around him drifted up and away. Rainbow smoke drifted up with it, leaving three people standing around an empty chair.