On a highway between worlds where everything is, and is not, a lone truck drives within the bubble of reality heading, forming reality all around it, as it headed to its destination. Inside the cabin of the vehicle was a man named Del, and he was rather bored and just a bit tired, nearly swerving off the conjured road a time or two, when he rested his eyes; just for a moment. Thankfully, at least in Del’s opinion, Ge, his little hitchhiker had been thoroughly passed out during those little incidents. They had been running deliveries non-stop for the last few days, and he had been letting Ge do the bulk of the work itself, and when he looked over to see her sleeping against her seat belt. He had to hold in a laugh.

With their container currently empty and no deliveries in the book, they were headed for a much-needed break, one they had been looking forward to for a long time. But when, a tiny white light where no light should be, a constant in a world of variables caught Del’s eye, he knew their little vacation would have to wait. For only a single solitary moment, Del thought of pretending he did not see it, but it was something so small and statistically unlikely that it might as well have been impossible. Instead, he kept his eyes glued to the thing as he brought the rig to a stop, solidifying the bubble of reality, amongst possibilities.

At the sudden deceleration, Ge groggily opened her eyes, to see what was going on, hoping they had reached their destination. The last thing she remembered was dropping off, a man in the middle of a world filled with fairy-like people, in a place the driver kept calling under the hill. She thought it a strange place, even stranger because they all spoke in iambic pentameter. Just trying to talk like that made her head spin. Though when she had asked if they were Fae, Del explained they were a fairy race, not Fae. At this point, she didn’t believe the Fae even existed, at least not the way they did in Earth stories. She pulled the seatbelt off her face and looked out the window only to see the chaos between, and the little highway bubble they created when they drove through. She turned to Del, as she noticed him staring hard outside the window. “Why did we stop?”

Del didn’t answer, his entire attention fully taken by the chaos ahead of him, scanning for what he had just seen, when he did he point out towards it and drove the vehicle towards it. Ge, followed his hand into the chaos, trying to find what he was pointing at. The only thing that seemed different was a little wisp of white light drifting, and somehow looking lost, though she had no idea how light could look lost.

“What is that?” She asked, having never actually seen anything like that in the between.

Del’s gaze never wavered fully focused on the little white light, afraid that if he blinked it would disappear. Without a word, he began to pull the vehicle right alongside the wandering wisp. The truck had barely stopped before he tossed open his door, jumped out, and leaned towards the light.

“I haven't seen this in a long time.” His voice was soft, a sad smile on his lips, as he spoke to the light. “Hello, little soul. I can see you reaching out to your twin.” Cautiously, the man reached down to the soul, only for it to recoil back in fear. Del wasn’t surprised almost expecting, the wisp to be afraid, but that didn’t deter him from attempting to soothe the light, “It's ok. It's ok. Why don't you show me what happened?”

Holding out his hand he waited, letting it respond in its own time. Hesitantly, the wisp drifted closer, afraid yet curious, and hopeful, consistently jumping back with every move forward but inching ever closer. Until, finally touching Del’s hand, sending him a memory.

The world changed, to a place filled with temples and martial arts, a place Del was familiar with having delivered here many times before, a world of cultivation. Knowing the type of world the soul showed him, he could easily guess what he would see. The memory continued as it showed a young boy, no older than ten, being tormented by an older teen, who had all the trappings of the young master. The boy being tormented was named, Wu Haoyu, he was the first son of the sect leader of the Wu clan. All his life, Haoyu was groomed to become the next leader of the clan, receiving expensive elixirs, pills, and herbs to ensure on the day he began to cultivate, he would be one of the most powerful of his generation until the day came, and he failed to awaken.

His father, thinking it was some internal plot to strike at his clan, locked down the sect and sent for one of the foremost healers to find out what was wrong with his son. It was then they learned the awful truth, the boy's meridians, the entire system that gives cultivators strength, were crippled; broken, and had been since birth. Haoyu’s father, at the constant urging of the other elders, was forced to pick a new heir and disown his firstborn. He refused to throw away his son but was forced to relent having to send him into the outer sect, his only way to protect him.

Wu Zi Rui, Haoyu’s cousin had, one day, heard of Haoyu’s deformity, and thought he would be an easy target and a way to gain the elder's favor, despite his less than stellar cultivation. Having been stuck in the second realm for years. Who would protect this trash?

Every day he would “Help” his little cousin by exchanging pointers, but the truth was, he just enjoyed beating him. The extra pills he received confused him at first, until he realized it was for “Helping” Haoyu, even coming with a note from one of the elders thanking him for taking a special interest in his cousin. Thanks to the extra resources Zi Rui broke through to the third realm.

It was after he broke through that he received, special herbs, not for him, but for Haoyu. They were poison, tasteless, deadly, and untraceable. Taking the hint Zi Rui, subtly and slowly, began to poison Haoyu.

The memories ended. “Ah, I see.” It was a tale as old as cultivation in a cruel and cutthroat world. Del sat in silence looking down at the last remnant of Haoyu before he came to a decision. “Would you like a ride?”

Wu Haoyu, spirit bobbed up and down in agreement. With its consent, Del guided the soul into the back of his truck.

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Ge had watched the entire thing completely confused, from her seat. They were going to have the day off and not, do a delivery. There wasn’t even a god that requested it. When Del entered the cabin she asked, “What are you doing?”

“Guiding a soul.” He responded sounding satisfied.

“That was a soul?” Despite all the deliveries, she had done with the man. She had never actually seen a soul, or at least not one like that. Though she wasn’t sure If she had seen one or not. They had taken people in a lot of different forms and this was the first time he referred to anything they took as a soul. Now knowing what was in the container, she found herself looking back towards the trailer, as though she could see what lay inside.

Putting the rig into the gear, Del snorted, “You are new.”

Ge pulled her eyes, away from the back, to glare at him, “Hey, I've seen them, just not like that.”

“Oh.” He exclaimed noticing her stare, he realized that there was a good chance she had never seen this before, so he explained, “That was a twin soul. They died in such a way that he's reaching out to his twin in another world.” He went on to explain the memory, before also clarifying something he was sure she was wondering. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m helping a stray soul.”

That was exactly what she was wondering, so she nodded.

“First, a twin soul isn’t complete, causing problems for both people. Sometimes it’s something small like they have a chronic disease. Others, they’re paralyzed, or in this case, his meridians were crippled. When they reunite, the body that receives the souls becomes fully whole. And when that happens, it’s like their bodies are making up for lost time, quickly becoming strong. In fact, when one of the two dies, their soul is naturally drawn to the other.”

She found the explanation fascinating, never even knowing that there could be a thing like a twin soul like that, but it didn’t sound like there was really anything for them to do, especially if it was going itself, so she asked, “Then, what exactly are you doing?”

“Helping it reunite.” He paused for dramatic effect, “This is a natural transmigration.”

“That's real?” Ge yelled in surprise. She had read hundreds of stories of people transmigrating. One person’s soul traveling to another world, only to take over the body of one who recently died. Those stories were always interesting, but she thought there was no possible way for something like that to occur, at least not without the help of a God. Now that she was not only finding out it was real, and that it can happen naturally, without the intervention of a God or Del, she could only say she was shocked.

“Of course it is. It's just the souls might get lost or not make it in time. I'm just helping it out.” Del commented.

“Why?”

“Why not?” Del asked with a defiant laugh.

——

Somewhere in the multiverse, there's a large rock drifting through space, upon a mountain high above the mortal world lies a martial arts sect, where people would join in the hopes to ascend into immortality. At the far summit of the mountain, far down the body of a boy named Wu Haoyu lies alone and breathless, as he finally succumbed to the poison that had been plaguing him for weeks. One last time, Wu Haoyu closed his eyes, only to immediately open them as someone new.

Flinn Meyer, opened his eyes into a world of bright light and the light seemingly searing his entire body. He forcibly closed his eyes, wishing the world away, only to realize the rest of his body, felt like one big fresh nerve. What kind of hell is this? He could not remember the last time he had felt like this. The closest he could remember was when he volunteered for an experimental procedure that was supposed to give him working legs, only for the treatments to do absolutely nothing, except make his entire body hurt.

Those memories were not ones he liked to dwell, on, and for the life of him, he could not remember what he could have done to cause this. After laying their eyes closed for a while, the migraine slowly, began to subside, Flinn took a risk opening his eyes, ready to close them again, should the light continue its assault.

“Uggh” The light still hurt but it was much more manageable as he realized he wasn’t in his room. Was I kidnapped? He thought wondering how he could have possibly found himself in a rundown little shack, with light leaking through the crude wall panels, and what looked like a dirt floor. Absently Flinn reached down to scratch a rather annoying itch on his leg. When he did he froze, in disbelief, “What?” His voice shook, afraid what he just felt was just his imagination.

Flinn fearfully looked down at his leg, no longer caring about being in a strange place, now all he cared about was his leg. It had been years since he could so much as feel them, so when he could suddenly perceive them he could only stare, afraid that it was just a trick. But he could swear he could touch the rough cloth he was wearing. Hesitantly, he moved his leg, like a damn bursting Flinn broke down in tears, if this was a dream he never wanted to wake, in-fact he was partially convinced he had died, and this was heaven. Where else could he suddenly move his legs, without thinking he began to stand, walking around building up to a jump. More tears flowed down his face, he had completely forgotten he was in a strange place.

“You're quite energetic for someone who almost died.” Flinn jumped at the voice turning turned to see a beautiful woman in the doorway to his room. He didn’t recognize her but immediately knew this was his mother, who would visit him once a month since being moved to the outer sect.

“What do you mean?”, and memories suddenly flooded into the boy's head.

——

On a large planet, filled with martial arts, a gate, that had both never existed and had always been, opened as a truck drove onto a road between worlds. All around the truck the world went from chaos to order, creating a bubble of reality as it moved. Inside the cabin, Ge was talking with Del.

“Why bring the other one to his world? Why not fix the living one?” Ge asked, confused by the entire affair, taking the soul to Earth only to bring it back.

“Doesn't work like that. Whether they realize it or not, they made a bargain.” Del explained.

“How did they make a deal? They never even spoke.” They had just brought the little wisp to the boy Flinn on earth and as soon as they touched, Flinn’s body collapsed, and the soul grew brighter, as a door right to this world opened up, and they drove through, just in time to watch Flinn’s new body wake.

“It's a deal between the two souls. One heals the other, for helping it in their world.”

“Why would they do that?”

Del just shrugged. “Don't really know, but I'm sure it's about balance or something. I just call them hitchhikers.”

Ge laughed, “Kinda like me.”

Del eyed her up and down, “Almost.”