"And remember, Cyrus," Nathan spoke to his five-year-old son. "You are definitely more scared of it than it is of you."

"Nathan, stop," Samantha said. "Cyrus, sweetie, it's going to be okay. The wolf is just looking at you."

"It scary," Cyrus said quietly, staring into the golden eyes of the large wolf.

A pair of horns grew from the beast's head, a sign that it suffered a mutation as a result of Earth's mana no longer flowing away along the pathways of the universe, as a world's mana normally did. Because of the seal Nathan and Keith had put in place for when Nathan died, they ensured that no one could enter Earth anymore, but it also ensured nothing left.

For five years, disasters rocked the world, the terrain altered, monsters mutated, and people died. Society began to die out, technology no longer able to function through some unknown magical anomaly. At least, to normal people.

Keith kept quiet about the extra seal he and Nathan placed on Earth, one which shut down any technology made with normal science and any magitech over a certain reading.

The effects of the mutations and disasters reached even the island Nathan had purchased, though with Endariv guarding it, no one dared come too close. Because of that, Keith brought Cyrus to the island to wait out the disasters and the governmental shutdowns.

Though the boy had a habit of wandering away from his uncle, listening to his father's advice rather than anyone else's. That resulted in situations such as the one he currently found himself in: trapped in a cave with a mutated wolf at its entrance, staring at him like Cyrus stared at mangoes.

"Cyrus, sweetie," Samantha spoke to the trembling infant, who had grown used to the talking cuffs around his wrists, the ring around his finger, and the amulet around his neck. "It's going to be okay. All you have to do is wait for Uncle Keith to show up, and he'll save you. Your daddy's going to be a good boy and put a barrier up, like I told him to."

"Nah," Nathan said. "Cyrus, remember the lightning bolt spell? Zap the wolf, buddy! It'll run away!"

"You know Keith is going to realize you taught him that, right?" Samantha asked as Cyrus put his hands forward, palms facing each other, but spaced a few inches apart. "He's already looking for Cyrus, he's going to hear the bolt, and probably see it with his psychic sight the moment Cy drops his shield to cast the spell."

That was exactly Nathan's intention. Cyrus kept a shield up at all times which prevented him from being seen by psychic powers, but always dropped it when casting other spells.

"Aaaaaaaaaaand FIRE!" Nathan exclaimed.

Sparks danced between Cyrus's hands, then a bolt of lightning flashed forth, striking the wolf in the center of its head. The beast stiffened, its muscled locked up, then collapsed to the side.

A moment later, Keith appeared in front of the cave, a look of utter exasperation on his face. The psychic wore a pair of faded skinny jeans stained with something pink and something purple, along with a blue sleeveless which showed no signs of any stains. He also wore a pair of enchanted leather boots, which Cyrus wore a matching pair of.

"Nathan, seriously?" Keith asked as Cyrus babbled and ran to his godfather. "You taught him how to throw lightning bolts? He's five!"

"That's what made it fun!" Nathan laughed. "Good job, Cyrus!"

"Daddy said 'good job'," Cyrus said as Keith picked him up.

"Your daddy needs to go in time-out," Keith told Cyrus. "Good job with the wolf. Come on, it's almost time to raise the island."

"Finally," Nathan said. "It's about damn time we got this thing into the sky."

"You know why we haven't," Keith told Nathan. "It's not my fault I kept running into issues, and I had to take care of Cyrus on top of that. He keeps escaping the golems every time I set them to watching him."

"You do know he's figured out how to use the pathways that are linked here on Earth, right?" Nathan asked, causing his friend to groan.

"Why did you teach him?" Keith asked.

"He didn't," Samantha said. "Cyrus figured it out on his own."

"Me smart," Cyrus commented.

"Yes, you are," Keith tapped the boy on his nose. "Come on, let's get going."

Keith began walking through the island's forest, until he reached a stone shack at the center of it. A flame burned in the stone fire ring, seemingly without any fuel. As they passed it, the flames began swirling, growing and twisting, until Keith waved at the flames and forced them back down.

"Stop that, Nathan!"

"You can't prove that was me."

"I don't need to prove it was you!" Keith exclaimed. "You're the only one who does that!"

Nathan couldn't help it. Stuck inside of his son's right cuff, all he could do was observe the world around himself, talk to anyone within range, and play with magic. Even though he was bound into the cuff, everything was still attached to his soul, meaning he could still build up his magical power and mana reserves, as well as use it.

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So he liked to practice anytime he could, and the enchantment-powered flames in the fire ring set exactly into the center of the island was something he enjoyed practicing on. Enchanted flames were more difficult to control than normal ones.

"Let's go," Nathan said. "I want to get this sucker up in the air already. Did you warn Endariv?"

"Yes," Keith answered. "He's flown off of it to watch the events and not potentially get an upset stomach."

"Where's Ichtvar?" Nathan asked as they entered the shack, a single-room building with two beds, a kitchen, and several chests, drawers, and shelves filled with supplies. "He's normally basking in the fire out front."

The reason Keith created the enchanted fire ring was for the phoenix, who wanted to stay near them even if his contract to Nathan had ended.

"He said something about hunting down a nightmare posing as a unicorn and killing it," Keith said.

"Clarification, please."

"The unicorn," Keith waved a hand, and the illusion concealing the trapdoor in the center of the floor disappeared, the trapdoor itself opening, revealing a set of stairs leading down. "That contracts to every demigod on Earth except for you? Is apparently rather nasty. It's not a nightmare, but it might as well be one. So Ichtvar said he was going to go kill it."

"Ah," Nathan said as Keith began descending the steps, runes lighting up along the walls to illuminate the path. "Did I ever tell you that I figured out what was up with Icthvar's BDSM fantasies? Since he's not here, I can tell you without him denying everything."

"No, you didn't," Keith said. "What was up with those, and why was he so insistent that it was you?"

"Because they were him," Nathan told the psychic. "More specifically, they were his past memories. Remember how I commented about the Icths of the Clans being the first of them, and how his name was Varnol, or Var of the Nols?"

"Yeah," Keith said. "But wouldn't that mean he was a person at one time, not a phoenix?"

"Remember how," Nathan said as they reached a chamber with several enchanted orbs set into the floor, runes linked together around it, forming a magical circle. "Neunar said Ichtvar lied to us about the Guild, the whatever they were called, and everything dealing with stuff outside the universe except for the Well of Souls?"

"Yeah," Keith said. "Something along the lines of that it's impossible for Ichtvar to actually know anything about anything except the Well of Souls when it comes to the out-of-the-universe stuff."

"Icthvar's a big, fat liar," Nathan said as Keith set Cyrus on the steps and told the boy to stay there. "But I eventually saw through it all."

"What's the point?" Keith asked as he walked to the center of the room, where the mana orb set to power the entire enchantment was resting.

"Ichtvar," Nathan said. "Was Ichtvar. The First of the Var. Sometime after he became Varnol, I'm guessing the Nol Clan was destroyed, including Ichtnol. Then, Varnol founded his own clan, the Var Clan, keeping the name his savior gave him."

"That would still mean that Ichtvar," Keith said. "Was once a person. What does that have to do with the stuff outside of the Well of Souls?"

"He can't see outside of it," Nathan said. "Because his own soul is stored within it. He's part of the universe cycle, he mentioned that phoenixes were always born into them. That's why Neunar said he can't know anything actually about stuff outside of the Well of Souls."

"Okay," Keith said. "That does actually make sense, and I figured that out years ago. Probably before you. It was a logical thing. How does that explain your theory that Ichtvar was once Varnol, a person?"

"Because," Nathan said. "Phoenixes have to grow in power, back up to their maximum before they can continue gaining more. They're the most powerful beings to ever exist, and they exist in every universe. What else can exist in every universe, which also happens to have a magical power and mana content stored within their soul's information? Who actually have access to their memories and magic and mana built up over the incarnations in the 'rest' universes where only they and phoenixes exist."

"Forged souls," Keith realized at the same time as Samantha.

"Exactly," Nathan said.

"Wait," Keith said. "So you think that phoenixes are forged souls? Actually, that makes sense, now that I think about it. If we continue building up power, we'd eventually become as powerful as a phoenix. Some of the oldest forged souls would have to be, at least. Yet Neunar and Ichtvar agreed on the fact that phoenixes were the most powerful beings in any universe."

"Because they are," Samantha said. "They're the forged souls who became obscenely powerful."

"Chances are," Keith said. "Once a forged soul has built up so much power, the block the Well of Souls puts on them to prevent them from accessing their memories, magic, and mana from past lives outside of the special universes doesn't work."

"So it turns them into phoenixes," Samantha said. "Which explains their contract conditions, too."

"Yeah," Keith said, then laughed. "For once, Nathan, you actually figured out something like that before I did! I'm impressed."

"How much do you want to be Ichtvar's going to deny that if we try to ask him?" Nathan asked.

"Oh, he'll probably deny is like hell," Keith chuckled. "Alright! Let's get this thing moving!"

Keith placed his hand on the mana orb, then used his magic to guide the mana out of it and into the magic circle. Immediately, the circle began to glow, and they felt the room shake, the enchantment beginning to draw on the mana orb as it begin to raise into the sky, the enchanter having already performed the necessary separations deep below.

He walked over and sat beside Cyrus, who climbed onto his lap, holding on tight as the island rose, his eyes glowing as he watched the events unfold.

A section of the ocean around the island rose with it, the water sparkling and clear. Their ocean purification orbs had already been hard at work, and the island came with its own to ensure the water around it stayed that way. An invisible barrier kept the ocean water in place, preventing it from falling back down as fish swam around within, trapped.

The sandy shores of the island shifted, birds flew away, and animals ran for cover. As the island rose, other enchantments began to turn on, adjusting the air and temperatures of the space around the island to ensure it remained a stable ecosystem unaffected by its altitude.

The entire process took ten minutes, leaving the island float more than a mile higher than even the tallest mountain of the world. There, they would be safe from the rest of the world, where Cyrus could live in peace without any worry of someone coming after him over his father's actions.

Keith's eyes stopped glowing once the island was in place, the enchantments ensuring it remained at a steady altitude.

"It is done," Keith stood.

"Excellent!" Nathan said. "I always wanted a flying island. Too bad I can't tan on it now that I have one. Maybe in a future incarnation?"

"Perhaps," Keith snorted. "I wonder what our next lives will be like."

Nathan was silent for several long moments, before finally responding.

"Whatever it is," Nathan said. "It doesn't matter, as long as you two are there to help me reshape the world."