The presence of avatars made sense immediately to Rufus. Someone as powerful as Velius was a danger to Earth’s fragile dimensional boundary, just as Dawn had been. Avatars allowed him and the others like him to operate on Earth not just with less power but while leaving their true selves free to be elsewhere.

Knowing that their real bodies were off doing more important work put Rufus’ mind at ease. Important cosmic figures spending this much time on Earth suggested an agenda beyond what Velius had told Rufus. Avatars treating Earth as a side job meant it was less likely that some Jason-style cosmic nonsense was about to break out.

That did not stop Rufus from being anxious when a request arrived from Velius for a meeting. Especially when the meeting was in the maternity ward of the clan medical centre in the middle of the night. His arrival left the medical centre receptionist, a typically attractive elf woman, suspicious of him. Her call to Velius had her let Rufus through, but she had a man from security escort him.

Dennis the security guard was visibly uneasy as he escorted Rufus, knowing who he was. Rufus had taken on the role of not just teaching Emi but instituting a top-to-bottom revision of the Asano Clan’s essence user training. Farrah and Jason had done a decent enough job during their time on Earth, but they were ultimately amateurs. Rufus’ family ran a school.

“I’m sorry about this, Mr Remore,” Dennis said. “I’m well aware that if you wanted to get in here, there’s nothing I could do to stop you.”

“Don’t apologise for being diligent in your work,” Rufus assured him. “For all you know, I could be a shape-changer.”

“Are you?” he asked nervously and Rufus just laughed.

***

“Thank you, Dennis,” Velius said. “You can leave us, now.”

“Of course, Dr Velius,” Dennis said, already retreating down the hall.

That left Rufus and Velius standing together in front of a large window. On the other side were newborn babies, although fewer cribs were occupied than left empty. Velius turned to look through the window as the air shimmered around them.

“A privacy screen?” Rufus asked.

“An aura manipulation technique, not a magical device. Hard to learn when you can’t physically manipulate sound waves. I do envy the messengers and your friend Jason having that.”

“And why do we need privacy?”

“You just passed the nurse station. This is not a conversation I can allow to be overheard. Even discussing this with you is probably a mistake.”

“Discussing what?”

“Your friend Gareth was an admirable man.”

Rufus scowled.

“I know that far better than you,” he said, almost growling the words.

“I suppose you do. But I admire the way he chose to end things. He could have clung to his last gasp of life, getting by on borrowed power that weighed him down like an anchor. Instead, he chose to face his fate and accept death, not knowing what it would mean for him.”

“Why are you telling me things I already know?”

“Because I’m also going to tell you something that you don’t. That you probably shouldn’t. When we met, I told you that rules would be bent. Now it’s time to show you.”

“Show me what?”

Velius nodded at the window.

“What do you think of these children?”

“They’re newborns; there’s not much to think about. I’m glad they’re healthy.”

“You see the leonid one? The one that looks like a kitten.”

“I know what a leonid baby looks like.”

“Did you know his parents rather unfortunately named it Gary?”

Rufus turned to Velius.

“Why would they choose that name?” he asked.

“Really?” Velius said. “The man who won’t stop telling people stories about his friend the heroic leonid can’t figure it out? There aren’t a lot of leonid role models on Earth, Mr Remore. They’ve been hearing all about the one you know for months, so is it all that surprising?”

“You said it was an unfortunate name,” Rufus said. “Why?”

“Look at the child’s aura.”

Rufus stared at the baby as he extended his perception.

“That aura,” Rufus said. “It almost feels like Gary. Not the same, but it does feel like him.”

“Of course it doesn’t feel the same. You can’t just shove a soul into a child without taking it through a renewal process. Especially when the soul itself needs to be reformed after dying as a gestalt entity.”

“You’re talking about Reincarnation? Are you saying... are you saying that child really is Gary?”

“If you mean your friend Gary, then no. I am very emphatically saying this child is not your friend. He is a different person who happens to have inherited your friend's soul, which is part of what makes the name so unfortunate.”

“How can he have Gary's soul and not be him?”

Velius let out a groan.

“Conversations like this are why we don't normally let this happen. Yes, that boy has the reincarnated soul of your friend. But reincarnation is not the resurrection or rebirth of the person who came before. It is the arrival of someone new who just happens to have an old soul. They are shaped by that soul, but they are not the people they were in their past lives. Not anymore. This Gary will be his own man, not the one you knew.”

“Then why? What's the point of reincarnation if the person doesn't come back?”

“If you want the why of what happens after death, you’ll have to ask the Reaper. The most he ever gives me is the what, and that's more than most mortals get. I can tell you that reincarnation is only one path of many. When it does happen, the soul is normally reincarnated far off in the cosmos. Somewhere so removed from the origin point that most transcendents couldn’t find it, and no small few of them have tried. But that’s not a rule, strictly speaking. It’s something the Reaper does to avoid problems. Problems like you.”

“How am I a problem?”

“This boy is not the friend you lost, Mr Remore. He never will be. He will never have a memory of you, or of anything from any of his past lives. He will not have the same personality or follow the same life path. You will see echoes of the man he was because yes, that was your friend's soul. Now it is this boy's soul. He will grow up to be his own person. To make his own choices and his own mistakes. This boy is not your friend but your friend's legacy. He is the gift that your friend has left to the cosmos. Gareth Xandier is gone, and he’s never coming back.”

Velius bowed his head.

“I'm sorry to be so blunt about your loss,” he said. “But it's critical that you understand what I am trying to tell you. As I said, there is a reason that reincarnated souls are sent where no one they knew will ever find them.”

“How did this happen? Becoming a demigod made him like Jason and the messengers. He wasn’t meant to be able to come back.”

“He hasn't come back. This is a new person. That's what I'm repeating over and over, and will keep doing so until this sinks in.”

“But his soul wasn’t able to enter a new body.”

“Reincarnation is not simply a matter of grabbing a soul and shoving it in the first available meat sack. The soul absorbs the changes that come from a lifetime of experiences and undergoes a metamorphosis. A renewal. Only then it is ready to be the genesis of a new person.”

“His soul was altered?”

“No. His soul changed by itself; that's what reincarnation is. It was not altered by an external force. Not even the Reaper can do that. Change is a natural part of the reincarnation process. Your friend changed himself. I said this boy was your friend's legacy and I meant it literally. Your friend prepared his soul to gift a new life to the cosmos.”

“He did seem accepting,” Rufus said. “So, that's what happens to people when they die?”

“Some people. There are other possibilities, but we're definitely not talking about that. It's one thing to speculate on the afterlife and another to get confirmation, and you've already learned more than a living person should.”

“You want me to keep quiet, then.”

“I want far more from you than that. Or, perhaps, less. You will teach these children as they grow. Even if you leave this world before they're of an age for you to do so directly, what you leave behind will guide a generation. You can be a mentor to this boy, if that's how it plays out, but if you cross the line, there will be repercussions.”

“What line?”

“There is a reason I have been so emphatic that this boy is not your friend. That they share a name will be an unfortunate and constant reminder, making it harder to stay objective. The line is that you must always treat the boy as who he is, not who he was. And if I ever catch you trying to turn him into your lost friend, then no one can save you from me. I am the first guide of the dead in the cosmos. If you make it necessary, I will start guiding you earlier than expected.”

“Then why tell me at all? Why not just leave me ignorant?”

“Because you would start to suspect, over time. An expression you recognise. A look in his eyes. His aura will not be the same, but the root is the same soul. It’s close enough to recognise.”

“And the damage I could do in my ignorance would be worse than if I know what’s happening.”

“Yes. This is why souls are not normally sent to places where they might be recognised. We are showing you considerable trust in this, Mr Remore. Watching the man who was your friend grow up will require discipline. The temptation to introduce aspects of his past life will be great. It is easy to convince yourself that you see an aptitude he once held and push him in that direction.”

“It sounds like you speak from experience.”

“I was not always as I am now. Once, I was just a man. A man convinced that he found the soul of a lost love in the body of another.”

“Were you right?”

“I was. And the damage I did ruined us both. That was how I first came into the Reaper’s service. To make amends.”

“If there are so many risks, why do this? Why reincarnate him here?”

“Because for all that he is a new person, the man he was is still inside him. And he was an exceptional man indeed.”

“Yes, he was.”

“That legacy I talked about? This is where it plays out. That's what the Reaper is gifting this planet. They say, on this world, that all people are born equal. Even if you disregard reincarnation, that's laughable. This boy has a hero's soul and what I imagine will be a highly motivated mentor. He's born for greatness, in a place where greatness will be sorely needed.”

“And if he doesn’t live up to that greatness?”

“Then guide him to happiness. I suggest that be the priority, in fact, and fit in greatness if you can. A life doesn’t have to be exceptional to be worthwhile.”

“But isn't the whole point of sending him here to be great?”

“Well, sure, but no one asked you about it, so who said you have to follow the plan? The great astral beings are the ones who set in motion the events that sent this world off-kilter. They're helping things along on Earth out of a sense of responsibility. That's what great astral beings are, in the end. Responsibility on a cosmic scale. They tried to change that and messed it up to the point of relying on Jason Asano to fix it. That's bad. This world, and to a lesser extent, yours, have gone wrong because of what they did. That cosmic consequence is what they care about, not the people. To them, the people are just a means to an end.”

“But you care.”

“Yes. That's literally my job, in fact. I'm still mortal enough to care about something as tiny as a person. Did you know that's why the World-Phoenix sent Dawn here? Her perspective was getting too cosmic to be of use to the World-Phoenix and she needed someone to ground her in mortality. I think it underestimated just how grounded Jason Asano is, and Dawn's replacement had to be called up early anyway. That man is a disruptive presence.”

“He is that,” Rufus agreed with a chuckle.

“Look, Mr Remore. I’ve worked for a great astral being for longer than most who end up in my position. Something I’ve learned in that time is that as long as I fulfil the Reaper’s directives to its satisfaction, I get to manage the details however I like. And the Reaper does not care about the living. Happy or sad; great or insignificant. It doesn’t care what they are and it doesn’t care what they do. Not until someone like your friend Jason starts resurrecting over and over, anyway.”

“So, the great astral beings won’t intervene if I end up guiding these people to just live fulfilling lives? No path to greatness?”

“I can’t speak for the others sent here like me, but I can tell you what I was told to do. I was sent here to accelerate the development of non-human medical knowledge and make sure a few reincarnations went smoothly. That’s as far as my orders go.”

He gestured to the window and the newborns on the other side.

“If you want to turn these kids into a gaggle of blissfully content, perfectly ordinary people, Mr Remore, then I am more than happy to help.”

“Is ordinary even possible, given what they’re being born into?”

“I guess the responsibility of making it possible falls to people like you and me.”