RANDOM ISLAND, NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA

The plane landed at a small, private airport built and maintained by August Vasilias on a large island off the coast of Newfoundland named Random Island. The island had a few small communities, but it was mostly a wilderness of heavily forested hilly terrain and August had purchased a large chunk of land in the middle of the island that he had turned into a ‘nature preserve’. This nature preserve was the surface disguise for his airfield and the lab facilities where he had been constructing the Gate he had planned to use to get back to Nolm.

August sent a signal to his facility from the plane’s cockpit, alerting it to his presence and awakening the automated systems deep in the lab to get certain processes started. Tonight would be the night he would find out if his years of preparation would be enough. He had thought he had prepared himself sufficiently, that his conscience would be clear, but seeing Griffin and Sarah…

August waited as the half-dozen drones pulled Griffin and Sarah from their seats on the plane. He was too weak now to assist, not without cycling his tensa and that would just make things worse. It grated on his nerves to rely on robots to do this work, but his investment in AI, robotics, and drone technology had finally paid off in a way he had not anticipated.

The two humans were limp and unresisting, like ragdolls, as the drones carried them out of the plane and into a waiting black SUV, also automated. The facility on Random Island, able to run like clockwork without a human hand for weeks, had given him the privacy he needed to funnel all the research he could into the Gate project. He’d always thought he’d be going through the portal the Gate created, but he realized now that wasn’t his destiny.

The drones positioned Sarah and Griffin in the back of the SUV, ensuring they were safe, if not comfortable. Climbing into the driver’s seat, August let out a rare sigh that hinted at his true exhaustion. Cerise had been right about the Bleakness. It was eating him alive from the inside out, stripping away all his strength and power. Once Griffin and Sarah had undergone the procedure and were safely on Nolm, he could meet his fate.

It was a short drive through the empty airfield. The SUV didn’t use headlights since the automatic driving systems didn’t need visible light to navigate, relying instead on a constantly updated map provided by the control tower and other signal repeaters August had built all over the island. The control tower poked up over the trees that surrounded the property, standing like a silent sentinel, though August paid it no mind tonight. He slipped into a meditative trance, readying himself for the next steps. Chrysopotheosis, with its esoteric and complex nature, required more than the surgical robot's precision - it needed August's expertise. Now, with The Herald breaking free from its prison and already tearing the Earth apart, he faced the additional challenge of rushing through this usually meticulous procedure.

The SUV followed the dark road down into an underground parking garage for the surgical theatre where Griffin and Sarah would undergo chrysopotheosis and be Reborn. It backed into a space near an unremarkable beige metal door, lights in the parking garage flicking on when sensors hidden in the ceiling detected the presence of a human in the SUV. August laboriously climbed out of his seat, not bothering to wait and watch as the drones re-activated and moved Sarah and Griffin out as well. He made his way to the door and walked through, the security lock having already identified him as soon as the SUV had gotten within range.

August’s footsteps echoed down the tiled hall as cold, bright fluorescent lights buzzed and turned on ahead of him. The drones flew in behind him, steadily supporting Griffin and Sarah as they moved in perfect tandem. He directed the drones to put Griffin in one operating theater and Sarah in another. August had directed this facility to be built decades ago, long before he’d had his revelation about the location of Nolm. He’d originally planned on using it to pick his own heir to follow in his footsteps, but he’d never found anyone suitable. Griffin and Sarah were not up to August Vasilias’s standards for those who were worthy of Rebirth, but he’d made a promise. That promise meant more to him now than it ever had before; it was a new feeling for him and he wasn’t sure he liked it.

He decided to prep Sarah first. Griffin at least had Tekara blood in his veins, diluted as it may be so he expected Griffin to survive the process. Sarah was the risk, and with the Bleakness eating away at him from the inside out and getting worse with every passing second, August didn’t want to make any costly mistakes; he wouldn’t have time to correct them. Once he had prepared them for the operation, he would have a chance to speak with them again before he had to put them under once more. It would be his last chance to impress upon them the importance of what he was doing for them, to pass along any wisdom he had.

Griffin’s head felt like it was stuffed with bees. He snorted out through his nose, trying to dislodge the crawling insects. At the same time, he screamed and coughed and tried to puke at the same time. They were in his throat! Suddenly his eyes popped open and he stared around in wide-eyed panic. He couldn’t move.

He saw fluorescent lights overhead, but when he tried to look around, he found he couldn’t. His head was strapped down, his wrists and arms above the elbows were restrained. He tried to move his feet. They were restrained, too. He looked around as much as he could, discovering that he was strapped into a hospital bed. The head restraints didn’t allow him to move his head at all, but he could see that he was completely naked.

Griffin opened his mouth to call out to Sarah, to see where she was or if she was even alive, but couldn’t speak through several cotton pads stuffed into his cheeks. The attempt resulted in a weak, dry, croak that sent him into a coughing fit.

Griffin couldn’t concentrate on anything. When he tried, his head started to ache and feel like it was crawling from the inside out again. He heard a door open and close and the panic receded briefly before coming back in full force. Who the hell is it?! He thought. He tried to move again, pulling against the restraints, and making a faint rattling sound. Footsteps approached him.

A second later, August’s face was looming over his. Griffin’s eyes widened in surprise and then a second later, anger. He pulled at his restraints again. It was still futile.

“You’re very confused right now,” August said.

The big man was no longer dressed in his custom suit. Now he was in some kind of elaborate robe. He was dressed from head to foot in a weird kind of cream-colored robe that had so many pleats and folds, that there was probably a circus tent’s worth of fabric. August picked up something from the side of the table—a tablet of some kind. He stabbed at it with a finger and frowned.

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Griffin waited for him to continue, but he just remained silent, poking at the tablet, entirely focused on whatever was on the screen. Griffin worked his mouth, trying to get it wet enough to talk, but it was so stuffed with cotton that he couldn’t. August noticed what he was doing and put the tablet down, placing it next to Griffin’s naked torso.

“In just about two hours, everything is going to change,” August said quietly. “You are about to receive…a gift. It’s not something that I had ever thought to give to…someone like you. I had assumed this gift would be for my son.”

Griffin pulled at his restraints, glaring at August. “I know it seems fairly barbaric, but you are restrained for your own good. The procedure you are about to endure is intense. You may not survive it.”

August fiddled with the controls on the hospital bed and the entire thing raised until he was vertical, the restraints tightening automatically to hold him to the bed. He saw that he was in a small operating room. It was sterile white and brightly lit. There were no windows. He looked to be in the center of the room and there was a complex-looking robotic armature hanging from the ceiling.

The device was fully articulated and had a dozen small arm attachments protruding from it. Arranged directly beneath it was a metal tray, on which was one of the black lacquered boxes he had nearly died to retrieve. August came from his left around the now-vertical bed. He had his hands clasped behind him, the tablet he had been using was nowhere to be seen. In his fancy white robe, he looked like some kind of monk or wizard. His grey eyes were cold and he inspected Griffin from head to toe.

“I have very little time left so I will keep this brief,” he said. “There is a great deal of history between myself and your mother. A great deal. I made her a promise and, against my better judgment, I am fulfilling that promise.”

August walked over to the box and pressed the blue gem near the latch on the box. With a click, the lid opened, revealing an anatomically correct human heart crafted in silver and gold, and nestled in black velvet. Glittering around the metallic heart were dozens of identically shaped slivers of crystal or glass. They were arranged in little bundles with tiny golden charms on each sliver with odd-looking writing Griffin was completely unfamiliar with.

August picked up the box and carried it over to Griffin. He held the box up so that Griffin could inspect the contents. “This is your new heart, Griffin. It’s your mother’s last gift to you, and it is the most precious gift any mother could give to her child: the opportunity for immortality. Isn’t it beautiful?” He gently picked up the heart and rotated it in front of Griffin’s face so that he could see the detail. “It is known as an etherheart. Rather a prosaic name for what it truly is, but we don’t have time for philosophy. Practically speaking, it is through the process of chrysopotheosis that you will become Reborn. You will be fulfilling a destiny for humanity that no Earth human has ever had the chance to realize.”

The heart, gleaming in the bright light, displayed remarkable detail. It looked just like a human heart had been electroplated in gold and then polished to a mirror shine. Tiny imperfections on the outside of it turned out to be arcane symbols that had been etched into the heart, covering the entire surface. It deviated from an exact replica of a heart because there were several slots or holes positioned around it, suggesting a purpose for additional components.

August worked the heart device with his hands, tapping and pushing at specific points. Suddenly, the heart...opened, unfolding like a steampunk Transformer. With each whirr and click of gears and springs, it transformed, revealing at its core a piercingly bright point of white light held suspended in a tiny crystalline vial. The light was blinding to gaze upon directly, stinging Griffin’s eyes, yet oddly, it cast no illumination around the room.

“This is the true etherheart,” August said softly, his grey eyes suddenly otherworldly in the eldritch light. “The device around it is just meant to integrate with living flesh and allow for ethershard absorption. The etherheart is the essence of an exceedingly powerful entity, without which Reborn would not have an anima and would not be able to use tensa energy to perform feats that you would consider miraculous or magic. that has been distilled, manipulated, and engineered into this miracle of arcano-technology.” He manipulated the heart again and it closed once more.

He set it down and picked up one of the slivers. It was colored a silvery grey color and shimmered in the bright operating room. Griffin couldn’t see what the golden charm on the end of the sliver had on it.

“These are ethershards,” he said as he rotated it in the light. “They’re similar to etherhearts but engineered for a slightly different purpose. With these, you can wield incredible abilities through your anima. This particular example is an ethershard of Force of Legendary rarity. I tore it out of a creature called Ahameranth over eight thousand years ago in a battle that…well, it’s not important. I was going to gift it to my son, but I’m dying and there is no more time.”

He paused for a long time, a considering look on his face. Eventually, he continued, “Any progeny I had was unworthy of this gift, or so I thought. Now, I’m not so sure. I was looking for the perfect heir but I dithered too long. You are no better than they were, but as I said, I made a promise. Within this box and the one I gave to Sarah, there are enough ethershards of incredible rarity and power to make you into anything you want to be.”

He put the sliver back and put his hands in his sleeves in front of him, taking a couple of steps back and looking at Griffin critically. “You don’t inspire confidence. I think you’ll likely die within the first day, but like I said, I did promise. And I truly have nothing left to lose. I can feel my death arriving with every passing minute.”

What a saint¸ Griffin thought sarcastically. He struggled against his bonds again.

August took brief note. “You fight against your fate. It’s an encouraging sign. You’re going to need to have that kind of spirit to survive what’s coming. This is what’s going to happen in the next couple of hours.” He withdrew his hands from his sleeves and Griffin saw he had a black marker in one hand. He uncapped the marker and started drawing on Griffin’s chest. “In about five minutes, you’re going to fall unconscious. Then, you’re going to undergo surgery. During that surgery, your flesh heart will be removed and replaced with the etherheart. At the same time, the woman you arrived with will undergo the same operation.”

Griffin couldn’t see what August was drawing on his chest, but whatever it was, it was complicated. He was still working at it. Why am I so calm? Why am I not trying to escape? He thought.

August continued talking. “If you live—and it’s not a guarantee that either of you will live—you’ll awaken in a different world. I will have left you a package nearby. When you awaken, look for the package because it will contain some necessary context that you’ll need in order to survive in that world. It will include the box of ethershards and a Systablo, a device you would think to be very similar to an iPad, as well as a few other sundry items.

“I don’t have the time or inclination to answer whatever inane questions you might have. You’re too ignorant to be properly grateful for the gift your mother has given you.” He stopped drawing and capped the marker.

August reached up and pried Griffin’s left eye wide open, then his right. “The drugs have already taken effect. Good. I have one last thing to tell you.”

He sighed and closed his sharp grey eyes. To Griffin’s rapidly blurring vision, August’s outline shimmered and he felt a wave of nausea. “For what it’s worth,” his deep voice sounded oddly echoing to Griffin, “I apologize for your world’s end. Earth, despite its many flaws, does not deserve this. Your people don’t deserve this.”

Griffin blinked again, his mind going fuzzy. Before he lost consciousness, he heard August say, “Goodbye, Griffin Vasilias.”

His last thought was, My last name isn’t Vasilias… it’s Tucker.