The world was a void and Dan had somehow fallen to the centre of it. There was no confusion - Dan had not been knocked unconscious, nor was he suddenly dreaming. This place was real in some way or other. One moment he had been tired but exhilarated, freeing Calliope from the mind control of Mania, the next he had been falling.

There was an awful, lurching sense of momentum. It reminded Dan slightly of using Shade’s teleportation technique, except this was unbidden and unending. Uncomfortable as it was, the momentum helped give Dan a sense of positioning amongst the nothingness. Dan spun around in the void, tumbling through the encompassing pitch black trying desperately to get some bearing.

His mana roiled inside of him as though it had a mind of its own. Dan focused on that, closing his eyes to pretend that there was a world beyond them.

Forward and back. Up and down. In and out. Around and around. Forward and back. Up and down. In and out. Around and around.

Dan repeated the mantra over and over again in his head, focusing on the smallest amount of mana within himself as he did. He concentrated on the tiny portion of the whole as his will pushed it through his body. By focusing on his internal flow, Dan stemmed the rising tide of anxious fear that was crawling over his skin.

“Well done,” came an almost purring approval from Kumiho. He did not open his eyes but to Dan, Kumiho sounded like she was impressed. Dan had expected her presence as soon as the boundary between what was real or not became confusing. Her position was fixed in Dan’s sight when he opened his eyes. Dan focused on her and the nauseating feeling of inertia lessened.

“Where am I?” Dan asked, wasting no time. He had none to spare. Although he was fairly certain he had freed Calliope, he did not know for sure. If he hadn’t, Shade and Fa Lian could be in real trouble. Even if he had cut the bonds between her and Mania, that didn’t mean that the battle was over. He needed to get back.

“I don’t think the where is of much relevance. Far more importantly, what are you?” Kumiho probably couldn’t help being cryptic, Dan believed. Appearing as a woman was for ease of conversation. There was always a cunning fox underneath the facade. Though Dan would rather not, he had no choice but to play her game. He sighed and considered an answer to her question. One obvious choice was simply “Guan Ah Dan” but he knew that Kumiho was looking for more than that.

“A fighter?” He posited, not confident that such a half answer would suffice. It was a true enough answer, even something Dan had begun to pride himself on, but it seemed to miss the mark. When Kumiho was quiet and seemingly pensive for a short while, Dan was hopeful. Then, the lack of response seemed more like judgement, so Dan thought again. If Kumiho was asking the question, she was waiting for a specific answer.

“A healer.” Dan’s second answer felt closer to the truth but even in his own mouth, the words felt a little mealy. It was true that Dan could cure wounds but it had never been something he had learned, not really. He wished that he hadn’t said it. Dan simply threw mana at a problem and hoped for the best. He couldn’t cure a disease or treat an illness. At least, he didn’t think he could. Dan did not even look to see if Kumiho was shaking her head.

How did Guan Ah Dan appear to others? It was a question that Dan had never really asked. He had avoided the attention of others for so long, growing up feeling like he was lesser, that their opinion of him never gave Dan much pause. To his allies, he was a fighter, a tactician, a scout and a healer all at once. What did that make him to his enemies?

“I am a threat.” Kumiho’s gasp told Dan that this was definitely one answer. Maybe not the one she had expected but one she could work with.

“Indeed. A threat to who, though? The entrenched, ancient wielders of the soul relics? The pompous pope, his pet emperor and the demon queen? Certainly, though they are too focused on each other to see.” Kumiho spoke quickly, as though time was running short. As she spoke, she started to sound more and more distant. “It is important, Guan Ah Dan. You must know what you are before you can become what you will be.”

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Dan shouted into the void. He threw answers at Kumiho, who could no longer hear them. In truth, if Dan had to give a deep, intrinsic answer to the question of what he was? He would say that he was alone. That fighting, healing and adventuring were all simply ways of stopping himself from being alone.

“I don’t think you’re alone, though, friend.” A new voice spoke from the darkness. As the voice spoke, a light appeared below Dan in the void. A light which approached rapidly. Was Dan really moving that fast, he asked himself in horror. The pitch black began to disappear as Dan fell into the white light. The inertia and momentum stopped suddenly as Dan impacted solid ground or whatever passed for the ground here. All of Dan’s breath was knocked out of him. His plummet reminded him of his nightmares.

He landed hard, back against the surprisingly comfortable ground. Nothing felt broken. Looking up, it seemed as though Dan had fallen through a hole in the sky and landed in a garden. His senses were assaulted with pleasant smells and the soft feeling of grass, disarming him immediately. The shock of still being alive when he landed was nearly as jarring as the surprise when Dan saw who was talking.

Guan Yo Shen stood, handsome, whole and smiling, hand reached down to help Dan up. With more than a little confusion, Dan gave Yo Shen his hand and was pulled to his feet. A smile like the sun breaking crossed his face as Dan drew level with him.

“You’ve grown! It’s a nice day, isn’t it?” Yo Shen’s happy exclamation, his perfect smile creasing his eyes just the right amount and his general presence were all so casual. Dan did not expect for a moment that he would be conversing with the lost brother of Fa Lian and he especially was not prepared for casual chit chat. It was true, though. When Dan had last seen Yo Shen, no more than half a year ago, the Guan heir had towered over him. Now, Dan was within inches.

“What’s going on?” Dan was not confused enough to start talking about the weather or make small talk. “Are you really Guan Yo Shen?”

Smile not faltering for a second, Yo Shen gestured to a small table with two stools which Dan had not noticed before. He seated himself and waited for Dan to join him. A flash of stubbornness kept Dan standing, however, and he repeated his question. “Are you Guan Yo Shen?” The smile stayed on his face but his eyes dropped a little. Dan hesitantly sat down, his body still exhausted from all that he had put it through.

“I… think so.” There was a look of uncertainty on his face but then Shen shrugged and he replaced uncertainty with casual confidence. “You’re here, your body and everything, so I’m probably me, right? I’m not really sure it matters, though. Whether I am Guan Yo Shen or some memory of him created by the Spear, I am who you’re talking to.”

“So you remember the spear?” When Shen said the word, it sounded like a name. Like there were spears and then there was the Spear.

“I found a soul relic. Quite impressive for anyone, really.” Shen sniffed and his face turned, like something had soured his mood. “Wasn’t for me, though, was it? When I picked it up, I really thought I was going to be a hero. Should have taken the bodies all around the room as a warning, really.”

“It’s not over, though. Fa Lian is here, we’re trying to help you.”

“That’s a good point, Guan Ah Dan. We should talk about the future.” Shen steepled his fingers and rested his chin on his hands, elbows on the table. “What is the goal?”

Dan was not sure if he was being tested or if Shen was curious. Either way the answer was the same. “You are. You and the spear, I guess, but mostly you.”

“I’m not your goal. I might be my sister’s but I’m not your’s. Even the Spear, incredible as it is, isn’t your goal. The Spear is important, you need it, but it isn’t the end. Raising the Spear is simply the beginning for you.” If Dan could choose, he would have Shen be wrong. He wanted things to be done with. He wanted some peace. Running around either chasing or being chased was wearing him down bit by bit. That didn’t matter, though. Dan would push on if he needed to. That was his way.

“I asked again. What is your goal, Guan Ah Dan?” He thought back to Kumiho’s question and felt her presence upon him.

What are you, Guan Ah Dan?

He was a fighter. A healer. A friend. A fast learner. All of these things Dan could call himself happily and easily. A fearsome enemy? Perhaps. It was in his ability to help others that Dan felt his victories lay. Bringing Fa Lian or Calliope back from the brink of injury had caused more than a few problems for his adversaries.

“I am a lot of things, Yo Shen. I don’t have an answer for you on my goal because I suppose I don’t see one. I don’t see a finish line. I’ll keep going forward until everyone I know and love are safe.” This time it was Dan who held out his hand. “Including you.” As Shen took Dan’s hand, a confused and quizzical look on his face, Dan flooded him with all the healing energy that he could. Shen would need it. The drain of energy was vast, as Dan expected. He closed his eyes and concentrated on cycling his mana.

Unbeknownst to Ah Dan, this was exactly the answer the Spear was looking for. The Spear happily and hungrily analysed all of the incoming mana from the Seed. Things were all progressing as they were supposed to.

When Guan Ah Dan opened his eyes, he was not holding the hand of Guan Yo Shen. Guan Yo Shen lay at his feet, looking malnourished and weak but alive. He was not in the garden in which they had spoken. They were under the tower of bone. Dan could hear combat above. Dan noticed all of these things before he allowed himself to confirm the most important thing. He looked at his hand, still holding something.

Dan’s hand was clasped around an artefact of pure, divine power.

He had claimed the soul relic.

Now what? He asked himself.

We will answer that question together.