"Patrick!" Tessa cried, rushing towards them as they rushed back into the ship, a healer running after her. Greg had told her what had happened, making sure she had a healer ready when they arrived. "Quickly, help him!" She ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am!" The healer saluted, kneeling over Patrick and pumping their healing magic into him.

Tessa waited nervously as Greg stepped next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "It's going to be okay." He assured her.

"I know, it's just- that was too close!" She choked. "I-I almost lost him!"

Greg let out a breath. "Yeah… if not for-" Greg paused, glancing at the soldier. "I actually never got your name."

The soldier smiled. "You can call me Narita."

"Right, if not for Narita, Patrick wouldn't be here… they had us dead to rights." Greg sighed.

Tessa blinked at Narita, before turning to Greg, her eyes narrowing. "Greg, this is the soldier who saved you?"

"Yeah?" Greg replied hesitantly, noticing a dangerous edge to her tone.

Tessa glared at him for a moment, before snorting and refocusing on Narita. "Miss Narita, I must insist that you come with me. We need to detain you for questioning. You've been very helpful and cooperative, but you must understand that we can't simply let you wander around."

Narita nodded. "I understand. I would not expect your complete trust and acceptance, particularly since I just proved that I am more than willing to kill and betray those who are supposedly my allies. I only ask that you trust in my helpless dependence on your mercy, as I have no way to hurt anyone in my current state."

Tessa's eyes narrowed again. "Right…" She turned to Victor and Dillon. "Make sure Patrick is taken care of." She ordered, before turning back to Narita. "Follow me. Greg, you too."

Tessa led them to one of the small offices, having Narita take a seat while she sat across from her, leaving Greg standing off to the side. "Now tell me, why did you betray the Technocracy? You've killed your companions, given up your armor, your power, thrown yourself at our mercy… why? For what reason?" Tessa asked with a frown.

Narita cocked her head, before pointing at Greg. "Because of him, of course."

Tessa blinked. "Him?" Her eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Because he is unique." Narita replied with a smile. "I've never seen anything like him, and believe me, I've seen a lot. You see, I'm a… traveler of sorts, journeying between different Worlds, experiencing the culture, learning what I can, before moving on to the next. The Technocracy was interesting for a time, but they no longer hold my interest. Now, I wish to study him. So here I am."

"Wait, you're not from the Technocracy?" Greg asked, surprised.

Narita chuckled. "What does it mean to be from somewhere? Have I always lived among them? No, but many people move to new places and become from that place. It isn't about the time spent there, but how well you've internalized the culture. Do you think like the people there? Act like the people there? Hold the same values as the people there? Then you're from there. So I would say I'm from many places, the Technocracy included. It is now a part of who I am, just as much as the World that gave me birth."

"Yet you would betray them so easily? Just to follow something you find more interesting?" Tessa asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Narita shrugged. "Just because you're from somewhere doesn't mean you have to stay there. Once a place no longer holds any value for you, it's natural to move on to the next. A farmer wouldn't remain on land that could no longer be used for farming, simply because that's where he's from, right?"

"Yeah, sure, but you didn't just leave, you killed people." Greg pointed out.

Narita cocked her head. "Does that bother you? I would have thought you would be more concerned with the safety of the man you were protecting."

"Well, yeah, of course, but that's because he's my friend and the rest are literally my enemies." Greg replied. "He wasn't your friend though, and they were your allies."

"They were yes." Narita nodded. "And now they aren't. I'm no longer a part of the Technocracy."

"But you were when you killed them." Greg retorted.

"The moment I decided to leave, I was no longer a part of the Technocracy." Narita shook her head.

"You can't just randomly decide to not be a part of something!" Tessa protested.

Narita raised an eyebrow at her. "Of course you can. That's the glory of free will! Anyone can decide anything they want, whenever they want! They simply have to deal with the consequences. For me, the consequences of leaving the Technocracy the way I have are that I'll never be able to rejoin the Technocracy and may even be hunted down by them. I also have to put myself at the mercy of those who are disinclined to actually trust me, which involves giving up my only form of defense. Overall a poor decision, one I normally wouldn't make, yet the uniqueness of this man here makes it worth it."

"She has a point." Greg shrugged, glancing at Tessa.

"She does but what's to stop her from turning on us the next time she finds something more interesting?!?" Tessa snapped.

Greg shrugged. "Nothing? But I think you're missing the point here. We don't need to trust her. All she wants to do is study me, and since I'm me, that means we can keep her under constant observation. In the meantime, we can ask her questions. She says she's a traveler, right? Maybe she knows about people who aren't a part of this whole magic/technology war, people who might be able to actually help us, or at least give us an idea of how to help ourselves. She might be able to help us figure a way out of this whole mess!"

Narita frowned. "What mess is this?"

"The war." Greg explained. "We don't want any part of it. The Technocracy wants us dead because of magic, and the Republic killed half our species. So we're kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place. Admittedly, both sides have their reasons… magic turns people into monsters, but without magic, technology will drain all the resources in the universe. Ostensibly. Unless there's some way to reverse entropy, which… well, that'd be a magic unto itself, now wouldn't it?"

Narita shrugged. "Depends on the World, but yes, inevitably there is some 'magic' to it. Whenever you create something from nothing, magic is undoubtedly involved."

Greg nodded. "So yeah, if we want the universe to continue indefinitely, then obviously we need magic. The question is just whether that justifies the death of everyone who can't use magic and I don't think there's any one right answer to that question, which means, inevitably, people aren't going to like what the Republic did and if the truth gets out, the Republic may have a civil war on their hands, which would pretty much kill any chance they had of winning this war. So, naturally, since we know what they did, they aren't going to want to just let us go." Greg paused. "Yeah, pretty much both sides would rather see us dead, and the only reason we aren't is because someone needs to protect that shield tower there, or we all die."

Narita nodded slowly. "That is a tough situation… Unfortunately, I don't think there's anything I can do to help. Some problems are simply unsolvable. Without a bargaining chip, this Republic has no reason to risk keeping you around." She paused. "Unless… How far does your smoke extend?"

Greg frowned. "What do you mean?"

"How far away can it get before you lose control of it?" Narita elaborated.

"Uh… as far away as I like?" Greg replied, raising an eyebrow at her. "I don't think it has a range. I mean, I have a piece of smoke sitting about two years that way, at whatever speed the ship was going, and I can still control it." He mentally shifted the small piece of smoke around a bit, confirming it.

Narita blinked. "Fascinating… I wonder, does your main body feel any strain from controlling it at such a distance?"

Greg frowned. "Main body?"

"Yes, the body your primary consciousness resides in. The seat of your soul." Narita nodded.

"I… don't have one?" Greg answered, sounding confused. What did souls have to do with this? "Or maybe it is my smoke? My smoke is me, and I am my smoke."

Narita froze. "That's- you mean there isn't any part of you that's… significant? More than the rest? Some sort of anchor or center of self?"

Greg shook his head. "Nope. Just smoke. All I am is smoke. Well, unless I freeze it."

"Freeze it?" Narita asked, incredulity building in her tone.

"Yeah." Greg nodded. "Normally my smoke just appears real, but it's more of an illusion. Like this body. It looks real, acts real, does real things, but it's still smoke. It doesn't need any of the processes which normally support life, like breathing, or a heartbeat. Well, I need to breathe to talk, but not to live. However, when I freeze my smoke, I make it 'real' and suddenly all that stuff is necessary again. Technically it's still smoke, it's just… well, frozen."

"And this… frozen self… it becomes your prime self? Do you need to have a frozen self at all times? To anchor you?" Narita asked tentatively, almost hopefully.

Greg frowned. "No? I didn't even learn I could do it until about a year ago."

Narita sat back, staring at Greg in consternation. "How strange. Such a decentralized existence… Does your core move?"

"My core?" Greg asked.

"Yes, your core." Narita nodded. "Everything has a core, in one way or another. Everything alive that is. From the smallest organisms to the Worlds themselves."

"Planets are alive?" Tessa asked, frowning.

Narita smiled, shaking her head. "No, not planets, Worlds. Planets are hunks of rock and gas, which while they do have a sort of core, it is not the core I am referring to. Worlds are the very reality within which we live, the space and the rules that determine how everything interacts. Their core is what determines how all this is supposed to work, just like our core determines how we work. Which is why it is so strange that you have no 'prime' self, no center for your core." She frowned at Greg. "Your core must be somewhere, but it is strange that it isn't apparent." She seemed to consider something for a moment, before leaning forward. "For all your selves… how are they connected? What do they share?"

"Everything?" Greg replied. "What one me knows, they all know. Though, with the exception of the one who personally experienced it, it's more like a memory."

Narita's frown deepened. "And this is automatic? They don't need to touch or merge to activate the ability?"

Greg shook his head. "No, it just happens. Which is why I'm pretty sure my true self is probably the smoke, and my bodies are just avatars. Disconnected clouds of smoke are all still one. It's only when I make a brain that I gain extra nodes of control."

"Wait." Narita held up a hand. "Can you exist solely as smoke? No physical form at all?"

"Yeah." Greg nodded. "Well, not anymore… turns out there's a limit to how much smoke I can have unfrozen, and since I have more than that limit a part of me is always frozen, which means I can't be completely smoke anymore."

"So there is a limit to how much smoke you can control!" Tessa exclaimed.

"Well, kinda… it doesn't really feel like a limit to my control, so much as something else forcing my smoke to freeze. Like, if I turned all of it into copies of myself, I don't think there'd be an issue controlling them, though I probably have to test that…" Greg explained.

"Wait, something forced your smoke to freeze and you still have control over it?" Narita asked.

"Well, it is my smoke." Greg shrugged. "That doesn't change just because it's frozen."

"Interesting…" Narita muttered. "How do you gain this smoke?"

"I can use my smoke to dissolve things and make more smoke. It seems to be mass dependent, though… well, with the energy sources, it may be energy dependent as well. Or it's just energy dependent, since mass sort of is energy…" Greg answered, trailing off with a frown. Could he turn into energy? Obviously, since that's what he'd done when the cannon exploded, though not by choice… he'd need to test that. He briefly imagined himself turning into a beam of light or a bolt of lightning, grinning slightly.

"And you can dissolve anything?" Narita asked.

"So far. As long as my smoke can get to it, at least. Mana and force fields keep my smoke out." Greg replied.

"I see…" Narita nodded, before letting out a sigh. "Well, I can see I'm going to need to do a lot more work than I'd thought in order to figure out this ability of yours. I'll need to actually cultivate. What a pain."

"Hold on, didn't you have an idea to help us?" Tessa interjected.

"Hm? Oh yes! Thank you." She turned to Greg. "If your smoke has the range you say it has, then as long as you can keep yourself safe, you can use it to spread the news of what the Republic has done. Just tell them they can either let you all live, in which case you all promise not to tell anyone what you know, and they'll simply have to trust you, or they can try to kill you all, in which case you will do everything you can to spread the information before they get to you. And with everything you've told me so far, I doubt they'll be able to get to you before you get the word out. So their choice becomes either take a chance that people will tell, or ensure that people will definitely tell. You can imagine which one they'd pick."

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"What do you mean when you say 'get to me'?" Greg asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Narita gave him a weird look. "Well, when they kill you, obviously."

Greg shook his head. "Yeah, see, this is where things get weird. I don't think they can kill me. Even when they got me into the transmutation chamber, they couldn't destroy my smoke. They just moved it. And as long as the smoke exists, I exist."

Narita chuckled. "Ah the hubris of the young. What you're talking about is physical destruction. You may be immune to it, but can you say the same about spiritual destruction? Can you ensure their magic can't attack your core? No matter how indestructible your physical body is, once your core is destroyed, you're done. And you don't even know where your core is! Any random bit of smoke could be the key to your doom! We'll need to find your core, figure out how it moves… then we'll know how to keep you safe."

"And I suppose you have a method to do that?" Tessa asked, narrowing her eyes at her.

Narita nodded. "I'll need your help awakening, or whatever you call it here, but yes. I have abilities that will help me find his core, or at least give me an idea of where it might be."

"Okay, that does it!" Tessa exclaimed. "You know your ability, but you aren't awakened?!? What are you?!? What are Worlds!?! How do you know all this if you've never even touched mana!?!"

"Who says I've never touched mana?" Narita asked, raising an eyebrow at her, before snickering lightly as Tessa's expression darkened. "I kid, I kid! You're right, I've never touched mana, at least not this mana, but I have used mana, or at least the equivalent of it, in different Worlds." She paused, as if considering something for a moment, before shrugging. "Well, I might as well start from the beginning, since you're just going to be more confused if I don't."

She leaned forward and began to explain. "The first thing you need to know is that there is a Multiverse, and I am from a different World. You see, each World has its own rules, its own way of doing things and travel between them is normally impossible, because even if a World seems similar to another, the foundation is completely different. Something from one World simply cannot exist in another. However, when a person connects to the Core of a World, the Core can send that person's core to another World, and that other World will create a body for them. The new body has none of the old one's power, meaning the person has to grow again, but since it's the person's core which determines their ability, not the World, they will still have the same abilities they had before. Which is why I know what I can do, even though I'm not awakened yet, see?"

Tessa nodded slowly. "I guess that makes sense…"

Narita blinked. "Really? Usually I have to prove it to people by dying and coming back."

"My boyfriend is made of smoke, aliens kidnapped half my race and killed the other half, and magic is real." Tessa stated blandly. "At this point, you could tell me the universe was created yesterday and I'd believe you."

Narita chuckled. "Fair."

"So, you said die and come back? How does that work?" Greg asked, frowning.

Narita nodded. "My connection with the Core of my World means that whenever I die my core gets snapped back to it, where I can either return to the World I just left, in a fresh body of course, or go to a new one."

"Oh, so this connection with the Core is permanent." Greg nodded in understanding. "I thought you'd just need to connect to it for a moment to travel between Worlds… does your World have a lot of travelers like you?"

"Ha! No. A Core can only ever connect to one person." Narita explained. "There are other travelers out there, but they're all from different Worlds, each connected to their own Core."

"Oh… that's kinda disappointing." Greg sighed.

Narita cocked her head at him. "Why? Did you have plans to try for the Core with your little girlfriend here?" She asked, grinning. "How bold of you! Do you know how hard it is to connect with a Core? You essentially have to become the main character of the entire World! Get to the point where everything revolves around you! Do you think you can do that? Do you think you both could do that, if two people connecting to a Core was even possible? No, one of you would always be slightly less influential than the other, slightly less special, and the Core would choose the other."

"The Core would choose? Like it's intelligent?" Greg asked skeptically.

Narita paused. "Yes… ish. They're more like really, really, really advanced AI… or maybe a learning algorithm that's been going on way too long. It's all inputs and outputs, making sure things fit however they think they should."

Greg raised an eyebrow at her. "That just sounds like intelligence to me."

Narita sighed, shaking her head. "It's different. There's no will behind it! No want or desire! No life! They just do. Why else would shit like this keep happening?"

Greg and Tessa shared a look. "What do you mean?" Tessa asked.

Narita rolled her eyes. "Do you think it's normal for magic to drive half the people exposed to it insane? Fuck no! In most Worlds, magic simply exists. Or it doesn't. It doesn't become some fucking cancer that consumes everything in its path! But does the Core care how awful that is? How much it hurts people? Absolutely fucking not! And it happens everywhere, all because Cores can't tell the difference between a good idea and a bad one!"

Greg shook his head. "Okay, I'm lost."

Narita sighed. "Look, here's how it works. Every person has a mind, a Soul, and when they imagine, when they consider, when they question, when they want, those thoughts have power. Those thoughts create a Core, and that Core uses those thoughts to create a World. Cores naturally attract similar thoughts, using them to refine the rules of the World, growing sturdier and sturdier as the new thoughts bring them more and more power. But Cores don't discriminate. They take in all thoughts, learning from all of them. There's no sense of this thought is good or this thought is bad. Which means… Well, what runs through your mind when you read a book? When you think of politics or historical events? Don't even get me started on some of the messed up ideas guys have about how women work, particularly in fantasy."

Greg looked back at the way he'd thought about some of his favorite books where he was younger, particularly during his teen years… "Yeesh… but our World isn't that messed up, is it? I mean, the magic thing, sure, but people still act like people, right? We aren't all sex crazed, women throwing themselves at people left and right all the time, murder for giving someone the stink eye…" Greg trailed off. Oh shit.

"Worlds don't control people's decisions, though they can influence them, so in general, most Worlds look pretty similar. People are left to be people, and whatever differences there are are simply normal in that World, so people don't make that big a deal of them." Narita explained. "The problem is when you're unique. Most Worlds, particularly Worlds based on stories, like to make the lives of anyone unique more… eventful." Greg let out a groan. "In any given scenario, if something can happen, it will happen. People are always more likely to notice you, and their emotions become a bit more… extreme. Instead of simply disliking you, someone will hate you. Instead of liking you, they love you. They aren't scared of you, they're terrified of you. You don't hurt them, you devastate them. As if everything about you is just… more significant. And the more unique you get, the worse it becomes."

"Fuuuck!" Greg groaned as Tessa eyed him weirdly. Examples started running through Greg's mind, from his first meeting with Tessa, to the shark man, to the run in with Mark's squad, to all the women who seemed to throw themselves at him, to Emily's abject horror at his very existence… admittedly, ever since the alien thing, things seemed to have calmed down, but with everyone being mages now, he wasn't that unique anymore… though the fact he was literally talking to someone from another World at the moment did seem to indicate otherwise. "Okay, yeah, I'm on board. Fuck Cores."

"Well, to be fair, isn't their fault. They don't make people think about anything. That's on people. They simply don't have the capacity to judge good or evil. Which is why I say they're intelligent-ish. They're smart, you can talk to them, you can even like them, but they don't have a will of their own. They're puppets of their own programming, and their programmer is a coked up schizophrenic who hasn't left their basement in over a decade." Narita commented.

"I guess, but it's still a problem." Greg pointed out. "Just because it isn't their fault doesn't mean it's okay for them to keep doing it."

"Oh, I agree, but how do you plan to stop it?" Narita asked, cocking an eyebrow at him. "The only way to influence a World is to connect with its Core. You may be able to become significant in this World. You may be able to become significant in many Worlds! But you're only one man! The Multiverse is vast, made up of every thought ever conceived! No one could even hope to explore it all, let alone become significant enough to connect with the Core in each one!"

"So I'll help others connect to the Core, and then they'll help even more people connect to the Core." Greg replied. "You don't have to do it alone."

Narita shook her head. "How do you help someone become significant? How do you help them become unique? You can't just help them gain power. Everyone wants to be powerful! You can't be their uniqueness, because the very fact you exist in their World is more unique than anything you could do for them! You could find someone who's already unique and protect them through the crap Worlds throw at unique people, but that requires someone unique to actually exist. And whatever you do do, you'll have to do it while avoiding all the crap the World throws your way, because even with a unique power, it doesn't necessarily make you any stronger than anyone else in that world! Your only advantage is that you can't die, and you can keep trying over and over!"

"So what, you just give up? You don't try because it's hard?" Greg asked incredulously.

"It isn't hard, it's impossible!" Narita growled. "You can't fight the World. It makes the rules. We just play by them."

"Then maybe it's time someone flipped the table." Greg retorted.

Narita snorted. "Yeah, good luck with that. The last person to try only made things worse. Not that they'd ever try to make things better. Selfish git." Narita shook her head with a sigh. "Look, don't worry about the Multiverse. Don't even worry about your World! Just worry about the people around you. Do what you can with the problems you can actually deal with, and honestly fuck the rest. You can barely save yourselves at the moment, what makes you think you could save anything else?"

"That's a pretty cynical way to look at things." Greg muttered.

"It isn't cynical, it's practical!" Narita hissed. "Trying to fight against something you have literally no control over will just leave you miserable. So why bother? Protect what you do care about and fuck the rest."

"If you really believe that, why are you even here?" Tessa asked quietly. "Why are you even telling us all this?"

Narita shrugged. "Why not? I'm bored, you're interesting, and as long as you continue to survive, you'll keep being interesting, because that's how Worlds work. I'll either get to watch you die facing insurmountable odds, or I'll be a witness to the rise of a new Immortal, as unlikely as that may be. Maybe I'll even be able to help you through a few rough patches, giving you a better chance, or at least a more exciting end. Either way, it's a fun ride for me. The Multiverse may be broken, but at least it's entertaining."

"So what, this is all a game to you?" Tessa asked, frowning at her.

Narita snickered. "You could say that, sure. Nothing in this World matters to me. No matter what happens, even if I'm killed, I can either restart, or stop playing. Yes, I understand that to you, this is your life. These are your friends, your family. But for me… it's just another World full of people who don't really matter, who will eventually die, who will never be anything more than a footnote in my story. It's nothing personal, really. It's just the truth."

Tessa shook her head. "How can you be so jaded?"

"Because I've lived long enough to know there's never a magical savior, no 'chosen one' to save the day. There are just unique people who got lucky and survived by the skin of their teeth, and their reward is they get to watch others fail time after time after time. I know I can't make enough of a difference, because I've tried, and I've failed, over and over again. I'd rather be happy and jaded than hopeful and miserable. Life is too long to put yourself through something like that, and my life is longer than you can imagine." Narita replied in a bitter tone.