Darius thought if he should install another claw on his back. One claw is usually enough, but there is so much research to be done, he may need an extra hand.

"Darius."

He is already using all three of his hands, but it's not enough. Will his mind support another extra limb?

"Darius, are you listening?"

Maybe he should install a hand capable of forming a fist.

"Darius, this is serious, don't ignore me."

Or maybe a saw.

"Darius," Zed sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Please pay attention."

If you could summarise Zed Nez in two words, it would be scar tissue. He was a tall man, dressed in a green robe and sandals. Not an ounce of hair on him, eyebrows included. His whole body and head were crisscrossed with scar lines that were pulsing a dull yellow.

"Darius," Zed said, exhausted. "We talked about this; you can't just let an entity of unknown power and ability roam the place without any serious supervision. Again."

Darius ignored him.

"Now," Zed continued. "You want to test his powers. On her of all people."

Darius continued to ignore him, shoulders hunched. Zed's scars started to glow a bit brighter.

"Now," he said, his voice sharper. "I understand what you want to do, but you can't just do that." His scars were turning red. "You have no right, not to her."

"I have every right!" Darius snapped, turning around in rage. The only thing keeping him from lunging at his friends was his claw, embedding itself in one of the computers. Again.

"Her brain is toast!!" Zed's scars blazed an angry red, and he took a step forward. "Let. Her. Go!" All of the anger seemed to dissipate from him. "Let her go." He let out a sigh. "Please."

The wind got taken out from Darius too, and he slumped back on his computers, his third hand letting go of the bent metal, gently laying itself on his head.

The far door to the lab smashed open, and a red Hidara entered. Well, redder than usual. When she spotted the two men slumped in despair and one of Darius computers mangled beyond repair, fear flashed in her eyes. She forced herself forward anyway. This was important.

"Curiosity is gone." Hidara said.

Zed gave Darius his best I told you so glare, but the man was too emotionally exhausted to respond.

"How?" Zed said.

"Lost him at the university. I stopped to chat for a second, and when I turned around, he was gone."

She took a step back when she saw the glare professor Zed gave her. Zed was not a man you upset. He taught hand to hand combat, sports, and body manipulation. His glasses were legendary, and coupled with his temper; she was justified in her automatic action. Thankfully, his scars were dull. She was safe for the moment.

"I looked for him." Hidara put her hands up in a placating gesture. "I really did. For an hour."

"Why did you not call?" Darius said, composing himself.

"Umm…" The demoness hid her face behind her arms. "I forgot? Look, phones don't exist in the demonic realms. I'm still getting used to them."

Zed pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a deep breath.

"Give me a hand here, Zed," Darius said, seeing that this computer needed replacing. Again. Maybe giving himself another claw would not be a bad idea.

The bald man just went over to the doctor, bent down, and with one mighty pull, he ripped the station from the floor. Wordlessly, he went outside.

Tiny had dumpsters specially prepared for electronic equipment that he broke down and repurposed for himself for the betterment of the city. It was an unspoken agreement between the citizens and Tiny to give him any technological item they don't need anymore.

He almost dropped the destroyed terminal in his hands when a small tremor shook the large hand he was standing on. He quickly corrected his footing,

Tiny is excited, the bald man thought. When the giant robot found something or someone interesting, his whole body shook. It was always in a small amount, and it was just one of those things you get used to after living on him for a while.

Darius and Hidara, who got roped into it, spent the next hour installing a new terminal for the professor. Zed, meanwhile, went to look for Curiosity, a picture of the man on his tablet.

At the bottom of the fingers, where a stack of the flying disk was located. Zed pressed his tablet to a terminal next to it. One of them detached, gently hovering in front of him. He stepped on it.

After thirty minutes of flying around Tiny's knees and backside, he saw a strange sight. A young man was walking vertically down Tiny's colossal arm. He changed directions.

The bald professor stopped near the young man, who stopped in turn, peering at him with faint puzzlement and awe.

"You must be Curiosity," Zed said, inclining his head.

"Yes." The young man smiled, and with a side twist, jumped on the platform, ignoring universal gravitational laws. "I'm Curiosity."

"Zed Nez." The two shook hands.

"So, Zed," Curiosity began, peering down from the edge of the disk. "Why are your scars glowing?"

"You know," Zed said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "it's considered rude to ask someone a personal question out of the blue."

"Isn't a personal question something like, like personal?" Curiosity brow wrinkled in concentration. "I wouldn't think why you are glowing in the dark as being a personal question. Or is it?"

He just started existing yesterday, Zed told himself, and he has no idea about social custom. No need to grab the back of his head and smash a knee in his nose.

"If you must know," the professor said, letting out a sigh. "I did these scars myself."

"Oh?" Curiosity gave the professor his undivided attention.

Zed sighed again. Might as well.

"I grew up near Asmodeus." Zed's scars pulled for a second. "He was using slave labour to mine power crystals." He took a deep breath. "Ten years I was there, watching as my friends and family died one by one. Each death was different. Exhaustion, starvation, lack of hygiene, of sleep, the crack of the whip, or the most popular reason, trying to escape."

"So how did you escape?" Curiosity's eyes were sparkling. "What did you do?"

"Well…" Zed's eyes got that faraway look that people had when they are reminiscing on the past. "I ground a few of these crystals into dust, picked up a sharp rock, put a rag in my mouth, and cut deep gashes into my skin. Then I poured the dust into the fresh wound." His smile turned vicious. "Nobody could stop me after that."

Curiosity starred in open-mouthed wonder. He wanted to say something, but his instincts were screaming at him to shut up, this is the time to stare in awe. He was in the presence of a legend.

"Awesome," was all that came out.

The rest of the journey was spent in silence, silently gliding towards Darius's lab. Putting the disc back on its rack, they walked up to the laboratory. Darius was behind his screen, new terminal in place, and was furiously typing with all three of his arms. A new item has been bought in the middle of the lab.

It was a pod, grey and sleek, with screens and knobs attached to its side. Mark, messy hair a fiery red, was polishing the translucent dome on top of the pod. Hidara was nowhere in sight.

"Found him," Zed said, walking up to the pod, Curiosity following behind.

They looked down. If there was ever a textbook definition of sleeping beauty, this was it. The girl lying between soft velvet was beautiful. Long blonde hair framed a heart-shaped face, slightly tanned skin, occupying a tall and sinewy frame. She was dressed in a white lab coat, buttoned-up, a pink claw resting inactive next to her head. The only disconcerting thing about her was her dull blue eyes, open, staring into nothingness. There was no life in those orbs.

"I'm amazed that she's so healthy, even after all these years," Zed said, tone softening.

"Are you that surprised?" Darius glanced up from his typing. "Tiny helped us make that. The amount of medical technology at his disposal is ludicrous." The professor shook his head in amazement. "He does not even understand the amount of potential he has."

"Even so." Zed turned, looking his best friend in the eye. "I still don't understand why you did not let her rest Darius. Her mind is gone." His tone turned soft. "What are you doing with her?"

"Honouring her last request." The professor's lips turned up into a smile. "I'm giving her body to science."

The two men lapsed into silence, just in time to see Mark swatting Curiosity hands away from the glass. Seeing the two men staring at him intensely, Curiosity bounded over cheerfully, stopping in front of Darius.

"I'm ready when you are," he said.

"Are you gonna tell us the process?" Darius asked.

"I will be honest; I'm making it up as I go along."

"WHAT?" Zed's voice instantly rose. His scars started pulsing. "What do you mean by that?!"

"It's safe, it's safe," Curiosity put his hands up. "I swear."

"Let's just start," Darius sighed. "If he messes up we are gonna vaporise him," He chuckled darkly.

Curiosity gulped.

Darius stepped out of his terminal and walked in front of the pod. He took a second to compose himself. If this works, maybe, finally, the crushing loneliness and despair in his heart will abate a bit, even if the person waking up is totally different.

"So?" Curiosity began rummaging through his pockets. "Everybody ready?" He pulled out a packet of cigarettes.

"What are you gonna do with that?" Mark asked.

"Relax!" The young man waved one hand in a placating gesture, while with the other; he expertly pulled a cigarette out from the box. "It's part of the procedure."

"Procedure?" Zed narrowed his eyes. "I thought you were making this up as you go along."

The young man shrugged. At the professor's nod, Mark pressed a button on the side, lowering the glass dome. Curiosity, looking directly into Zed eyes, lit the cigarette. Slowly, not making any sudden movements, he dropped the smouldering stick to the blonde woman's lips.

Zed was preparing to protest, but Darius lifted a hand.

"Please," he said. "Let him continue." He nodded towards Curiosity. "Mark, raise her head, please."

Slowly, carefully, the cigarette was inserted between her lips. Thankfully, she was still breathing, the smoke getting shorter with each breath. Curiosity stepped back. Everyone's eyes were on sleeping beauty. Zed was opening his mouth to stop this foolishness when movement caught everybody's attention.

First, her eyes blinked a few times before closing. Then the twitching came; next, muscles not used in ages were waking up. Her claw was next, each metal finger closing and opening. After a few seconds, the claw rose, grabbing the cigarette by the base. The woman inhaled deeply. Chest rising, half the cigarette turned into ash. She blew out a plume of smoke.

"Ahhh…" Her voice was soft, velvety, and pleasant. "Thanks, mate, I needed that." Blue eyes opened, sparkling with intelligence.

Steve was confused. She had no idea what was happening, but there was a cigarette in her mouth, so things could not be that bad. Taking one more drag of the stick, she looked around.

A bald man with scars all over his body was frowning at her in parental disapproval. A vomit green-haired bloke was munching on a chocolate bar and staring at her chest? Why would anyone stare at her breast? Is he gay? Question for later.

The next guy stared at her with such intensity; she took another drag of cigarette for comfort. He looked like a low budget doctor Doom. Was that a claw extending from his back? Oh, and there was another one, standing close by, grinning down at her like a loon. Wait.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Wait! Wait! Wait! She knows that face! It's the one staring at her every day from a mirror, except for the smile. There was a good reason she did not smile. Wait. Why is she thinking of herself as a she and not a he? God, her mind instantly hurt just thinking that. What the fuck.

"What the fuck is happening?" Her voice was different. "Where the fuck am I?"

"Don't you remember?" Herself, no, himself responded. "I've made sure to include all the memories to the point of transfer. You know soul transfer via a cigarette?"

Everything came rushing back at once. Mind inactive for seven years turned on all at once. The twins, the white light, every aspect of her being taken over by some kind of god, not being able to do anything just becomes a memory, and finally, the transfer in a woman's body.

She started to laugh. It started slow, coming from the stomach. It quickly spiralled out of control, however, turning into shaking and sobbing, with the claw still holding a lit cigarette shaking erratically.

"Mark!" Darius snapped. "Diagnosis!"

The professor acted instantly. Claw snapped out, wrapping around the pink one, steadying it. Mark began pressing buttons furiously on the side of the pod. Zed pushed Curiosity out of the way, scars pulsing erratically.

"All vitals in order," Mark said.

There was an audible sigh in the room.

Darius looked at his daughter, alive and laughing, and something twisted in his chest. No, this is not her daughter; he must not lie to himself. Zed just stared, getting worried by the second. The shaking was not stopping.

Curiosity knew what to do. In a smooth motion, he pulled out a cigarette from its box and flicked it with a thumb. Instantly, the pink claw untangled itself, and shot out at lightning speed, plucking the smoke out of the air. With an instinctive application of a laser shot, the blonde was puffing away.

Darius shot the young man a dirty look, but it was working. The shaking was dying down. A few more seconds, and it completely disappeared.

"So it actually happened," the blonde said. "This shit really happened."

"Yep," Curiosity grinned. "I am thankful for your generosity."

"What?" Mark was not keeping up with this. "You know each other? What?"

"Oh!" Curiosity's face lit up. "'Let me introduce Steve," He gestured towards the blonde woman. "My body's original inhabitant."

"What?"

"So, what happened?" Darius shot a sharp look at Curiosity then at the blonde. "Some kind of soul transfer?"

"Close," Curiosity nodded. "Homo sapiens have no soul so to speak, they are just a bunch of memories, biological data and DNA, so it was easy to just copy that and transfer that data to a new body."

"Fascinating." The doctor's metal arm quickly went to take notes. "Via a cigarette no less. Fascinating."

"I'm not Steve," the blonde said suddenly, fire in her eyes. "I'm a woman now, a new person. Can't be called fucking Steve. What kind of name is that for a woman?"

"A strange one," Mark nodded in agreement.

"What would you like to call yourself then?" Darius asked. "Do you have anything in mind?"

"Yes, I do," the woman said, testing her muscles. "Stacy."

Silence.

"Stacy?" Mark said, testing out the word.

"Yes, Stacy!" The blonde snapped. "Is there something wrong with Stacy?"

"It's a perfectly acceptable name," Darius said gently. "It's nice to meet you, Stacy. I'm Darius Dovan."

"Zed Nez," Zed said curtly, staring into space.

"Mark."

"The idea of curiosity itself, incarnated."

"Stacy," said the newly minted Stacy. "Just Stacy. Will figure out a family name later."

A pang flashed across Darius's eyes, but it quickly disappeared. Stacy swung her legs over the pod, and slowly, pushed herself out of it. Darius was beside her in an instant, a gentle hand on her shoulder, typing forgotten.

"Thanks." She took a few steps, steadying herself. "Where is the bathroom?"

"Over there." Mark pointed towards the back, where a door could be seen with a yellow sticker decrypting a toilet.

"Thanks," Stacy said.

"Mark," said Darius. "Go with her, she might need help."

"Excuse me, professor, but are you insane?" Mark said. "I'm a man, and she's a woman."

"I am going alone; thank you very much," Stacy said, already on the move.

"You might need help," the professor insisted. "Your muscles still need time to adapt. Mark, get Hidara."

"Nope." Her third arm waved dismissively. "Anyway, I'm not sure she wants to help me with this."

"With what?"

"Masturbating, of course." Her hands were on the door, and she turned her head around, a grin almost splitting her face in half. "I was always curious about how it feels for a woman."

She slammed the door behind her. Silence descended in the room.

"What have we done?" Zed whispered, staring into nothing.

Darius stiffly walked behind his terminal, not uttering a word. Mark pressed a few buttons on the pod, lifting in the air. Slowly, he began walking out of the laboratory. Before he exited, however, he turned around and asked, "So, should I call Hidara then? I'm pretty sure she would not be bothered by whatever Stacy is doing."

"Just go away," Zed said. "Don't say anything, just go."

Mark left.

"Is there another bathroom?" Curiosity asked, bouncing up and down.

"Upstairs," Darius said monotonously. "Why?"

"I wanna try masturbating too," came the cheerful reply. "I never understood carnal pleasure."

Darius glared. Zed pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh.

"Upstairs," Darius repeated knives in his tone. "There is a bathroom in my flat."

"Cheers!"

After vigorous experimenting, Stacy left the bathroom. Her hair was dishevelled, her clothes rumpled, and her claw just finished adjusting her skirt. With a pleased smile on her face, she looked around. Only Darius was there, typing away.

"My assistant went for lunch," Darius said, not looking up. "And professor Zed went back to classes." His tone was professional, neutral and flat. "Curiosity is upstairs."

Stacy was not sure why she felt that his voice should be warmer, but she let it go. She barely knew the man. Heck, she did not understand a lot of things. Is she a man now in a woman's body? A woman with a man's memories? Transsexual? She had no clue. She was sure a mental breakdown would come eventually, but at the moment, she just wanted a cigarette.

"Hey mate," she began, walking toward Darius. "Do you have a smoke?"

Darius just stared at her, his face turning into a frown. "The tobacco in the product you call a cigarette is not healthy."

"Mate," Stacy huffed. "I asked for a smoke, not a lecture," She crossed her arms under her chest. "If you don't have any just say so."

"It's behind you on the table," he pointed with his claw.

Stacy turned around, her claw automatically extending, picking up the packet, and bringing it back.

"This thing," She pointed towards her claw, taking a cigarette and putting it in her mouth. "It's amazing." To illustrate her point, a small laser shot out and lit her stick.

"Don't call the hand a thing," Darius patted his claw affectionately. "It's a part of you, your third arm; your subconscious given physical form. It's connected directly to your spine and brain."

Stacy patted her claw.

"Some of our people," Darius continued. "Call it our soul given physical form, the true arm, a perfect symbiosis between machine and man."

"Our people?" Stacy let out a puff of smoke.

"Yes," He pointed to himself and then her. "We are from the same race, so to speak."

"We are not humans?"

"If you mean homo sapiens, then no. We are a branch of humans, called homo-machinus."

"Part machine?"

"Kind of." Darius stepped away from his terminal. "The legends are murky."

"Legends?"

Stacy was curious now. Her claw snapped out, grabbing a plastic chair next to the table and dragging it over. She sat down, letting out a relieved sigh. She had no idea that a big chest meant back pain.

"This was more than fifty thousand years ago, so nobody is sure on the exact details," Darius said. "Legends say a group of scientists were searching for enlightenment, and found it, in designing the true arm. Connecting directly to the person's subconscious, it represents their true self, the potential of every person to greatness."

The professor, hesitating, stopped a few feet in front of Stacy. The blonde felt a pang in her chest. The pink claw snapped out, dragging another chair next to her.

"Sit," she stated, patting the chair. "I won't bite."

Darius hesitated for a second, and then sat down to the offered chair, looking up at the ceiling. A cigarette box was thrust in front of him. His first reaction was to push it away, but his traitorous third hand dipped into the open box and plucked a cigarette. With a twirl and a small laser application, the stick was in his mouth, and he was puffing.

It was horrific. Thankfully, his lungs were mechanical, so he should be fine. Stacy beamed, staying silent. Darius took another puff and continued.

"Technology is so ancient and so tied to our DNA that each one of us is born with it."

"How is that possible?" Stacy's eyes were wide. "Isn't it made of metal?"

"Yes." Darius' claw snapped out, grabbing the remote from the table. "We can eat metal." With that, he popped the remote in his mouth, and with a loud crunch, he bit it in half. "And batteries, tablets, and even electricity, up to 2500 volts."

His speech was not impeded one bit by the crunching of metal. With a flick of his wrist, he popped to another half and started chewing it.

"Your children will have the same ability," he said.

"Children?" Stacy whispered, choking on her cigarette, her face pale. Oh my god. No. No. She can birth children now? She quickly finished her cigarette and lit up another one. This is a problem to think for future Stacy. She instantly thought of a topic change.

"So I was your lover or something?" Stacy said.

It was now Darius' turn to choke on a cigarette, it almost went all the way down his throat before he spat it out quickly, his metal claw catching the flying projectile.

"No." The professor quickly composed himself. "My daughter."

"Oh."

An uncomfortable silence descended between the two, the only sound being the inhale and exhale of smoke. Stacy tried to find something desperately to say. She was starting to panic.

"Why her?" Stacy said a mad gleam in her eye. "Why not some bloke you find on the street?"

Darius lifted an arm, slowly inching towards Stacy's shoulder. At the last second, however, he dropped it.

"She tried to upload her brain into a robot," Darius said, staring into the distance. "She wanted to see if she could make an A.I of herself without destroying her brain. She wanted to create an extension to the true hand," He flicked the spent cigarette away. "Her brain got wiped in the process."

"Oh."

"Her memories, personality, everything got wiped out. Only a husk remained."

Stacy said nothing. What can you say to that?

"She knew the risk," The professor continued, smiling sadly. "Her last wish, if the experiment failed, was to use her body in the name of science."

"Oh."

"However, if you ever need help, let me know. You are your own person, of course, different from my daughter, I am aware of that, but it can't be easy, waking up as a new person in a totally different world. I assume you don't know who you are yet, so if you ever need to talk, I am here."

"Thanks."

The two lapsed into silence again, this time, into a comfortable one. Stacy offered Darius another cigarette. Hesitantly, he accepted. At least she did not need to figure this out on her own, even if she had no idea what to make of Darius' eagerness. Maybe he genuinely wanted to help, or he was just using her to fill the void his daughter left.

Who knows? Question for another day.

In a place where silly things like time and space didn't quite exist, slept a man with a newspaper on his face. Dressed in a cheap white t-shirt and blue jeans, with feet on the brown desk in front of him, the man, no entity, was snoozing peacefully.

There is a reason we call this person an entity and not a man, and the reason is simple. He didn't have a head. Where his neck should have begun, it was just black smoke, shapeless, purring outwards into the vague outline of a head.

Now, wait just a second, you might just ask, how can a man with no head have a newspaper on his face? Would it fall through his face? Well, that is a good question that I'm not sure how to answer.

For one, the newspaper on his face was not like any paper in the word, symbols and words kept appearing and repairing every second on it, in all the colours of the rainbow. Second, the entity didn't bother with silly things like physics and the rules of reality, and that's because the entity was Reality.

When you are your own boss, and a successful one at that, you give yourself as much money as you please.

Reality's office, if this place could be called that, looked something like a maze filled with shelves. They stretched upwards into infinity, disappearing into the smoky ceiling. Some of them were bent and twisted, and the ones that occupied more than three dimensions, well, you went insane just looking at them.

It didn't help that each shelf was not filled with a book, but a computer. Most of them were fancy monitors with even fancier cases next to them, but some of them were old, dusty, and there were also some laptops scattered here and there.

It was a miracle Reality could sleep with all the clanking and beeping they made. Not for long, though. A few seconds later, a monitor dropped from the infinite ceiling directly into Reality's desk, making a thud and cracking the desk.

Before the entity had time to react, the computer let out a shrill, high pitched noise that permeated the whole room and vibrated the bones in your body.

"Ah!" Reality sat up instantly. "What is happening?" His oily, powerful and slightly smoky voice reverberated through the room, easily overpowering the computer's alarm.

"It's the alarm, boss," said a young and very, very, tired voice from somewhere far, far above. "You know the code Red? The one you said to notify you as soon as it happens?"

"Not by throwing it on my desk!" Reality snapped weakly.

The entity wanted to say more, but he knew he had no ground to stand. He was never good at precise instructions, and he did say to his assistant to notify him of a code red no matter what.

Pressing the mute button on the fallen computer, Reality let out a sigh of relief. He may not have ears, but it was still uncomfortable to have his whole body vibrate. Cheeking over the computer one more time, he began reading the alarm.

"I just don't understand," Reality began, still reading with his eyes. "On how you can just throw these computers around without any care in the world. You know there are not just any computers, but…"

"Whole universes, dimensions, and realities given form that makes their monitoring and diagnoses easy," came the tired reply. "I know, I know, you told me at least a million times."

"So why do you insist on treating them like toys! The damage you could have done to these worlds! Have you no understanding of scope and perspective?"

"Does it have any scratches or dents?"

"No, but that's not the point! It's the principle of the thing!"

"If any universe gets destroyed by a bit of jostling around, it did not deserve to live in the first place."

Reality wanted to say something in response, but his gaze got trapped by the text scrolling on the computer.

"So?" said the tired voice, now a bit closer. "What is this about?"

Glancing upwards, but not saying anything. Reality glimpsed the form of his descending assistant. The young man was sitting in one of those platforms window cleaners use, floating gently downwards, with no apparent ropes or tether. Stranding around him were screwdrivers, screws, drills, cutters and a myriad of other tools. A few broken computers were scattered about as well, their open case bathing the young man in a blue-greenish colour. In his hand, he was holding a phone, in his other arm a screwdriver.

He looked exactly like he sounded, even taking into consideration his youthful, almost teenage-like appearance. His face was gaunt and droopy, green eyes devoid of life and energy, green hair speckled with white and grey, and his simple workman uniform looked dirty and unkempt.

"So?" the assistant tried again. "What is it this time? A group of scientists messing with the wrong thing? Prophecy went wrong? Eldritch horrors beyond the veil of space of time? Is it Cthulhu? I thought we dealt with that thing."

"No," Reality said, leaning back in his seat. "It's much worse."

"Don't tell me we have another chosen one who went ballistic," the assistant sighted. "I hate those bastards. So hard to get rid of."

"I wish." Reality wondered if smoking would look good on him. "Those ones are easy compared to this." Probably not, seeing as his face was made of smoke and all.

"Come on!" The assistant snapped tiredly. "Stop keeping me in suspense and tell me already!"

"It's one of your kind."

"What?" Instantly, all the tiredness disappeared from the young man, and he sat up a bit straighter. "You don't mean?"

"Yes, Coincidence, another idea grew so massive and powerful, it transcended space and time, it outgrew me." Reality let out a sight. "You have a brother now."

"Oh ohhhhhhhh!" The young man, now identified as the personification of Coincidence itself, intently jumped down from the still descending platform, hitting the floor with a dull thud.

"Which one, which one!" Coincidence said excitedly. "Is it anger? Love? No wait, let me guess, its lust isn't it? I told you E-12 will be trouble, they generate like ninety percent of all the porn in known existence."

"It's not lust." It was Reality's turn to sound tired. "It's something much worse."

"Worse than the personification of every sick thought in the universe?" Coincidence scratched his head in though. "It can't be death and destruction seeing as those things exist, hmmm, wait, wait, don't tell me it's communism or some kind of stupid ideology like that? How do we stop the personification of fascism itself?"

"It's curiosity."

"Curiosity?" Coincidence let out a relieved sigh. "Well then there is nothing to worry about, is it? A little curiosity never hurt anyone right?"

"He just transferred the soul of a man into the body of a woman."

"So? Weirder things are happening around the universe. Like that Nebun guy who thought it would be a good idea to fuse a hellhound with the mother of all cats. Now that's some freaky shit, and we never made a fuss about that."

"It was via a cigarette. He transferred a soul via cigarette."

"Oh," Coincidence was speechless. "So what do we do now?"

"We wait and see my dear assistant, we wait and see." Reality leaned forward. "In the meantime, bring me A-10. The body your brother stole originated from there."

"Really?" Coincidence said, impressed. "How did he do that? I thought we sealed that world from every magic or supernatural thing in existence. Heck, I am sure I put extra duct tape on it just to be safe."

"Just bring it please."

"On it!"