I do not know how long I stay on the church floor, gently clutching the now lifeless body of Hound. A minute? Two? Ten? I do not care. Aster's devastation is constantly washing over me, and even Mewtwo has joined me. His own tears fall freely to a pokemon he has never known. Or has he? What did the Trio use to make him? If they needed Aster to make me, what if they used dead people as well or even dead pokemons to make him?

After some time, the spell is broken. It is the cleric villager that breaks it. I jump a little when his hand is softly put on my shoulder. I turn toward him and he shakes his head. "I am sorry my child." I nod as I look back at Hound. I am slowly starting to get over Aster's grief. A part of me, the part that is myself, seems to find solace in this grief and has a hard time letting it go. But I can feel a small colder part of myself reminding me of my situation. And slowly, ever so slowly, the grief ebbs away. After maybe an hour, I finally let go of Hound. I gently lay the battered form of the once mighty Mightyena down on the stone floor. A couple of villagers come from behind me and collect him.

"We shall hold a ceremony tonight. We knew how he wished to to honored." The cleric villager declares. He then reaches inside his robes. "He also entrusted us with this." An old book is given to me. The old leather cover is flaky and damaged. The pages are yellowed with age. "It is something that he wanted to pass to you. Welcome back Sir Aster. We... We will tell you when the ceremony is ready."

I say nothing. I do not correct him. I accept the gift and slowly rise. I nod and mutter an almost inaudible thank you before turning around and exiting the church. The pack of mightyenas and poochyenas watch us go and soon we are out once more. the villagers that collected Hound are making their way through the villagers, many of which are crying and praying. Hound had been their guardian for so long after all. This was the village Aster had always returned to first after each of his deaths, and Hound would always return here to wait for him. But now, Hound would no longer be here to protect them. And yet, I know that is not the reason for their cries. I shake my head at my clinical way of thinking. They are crying for the loss of a well respected friend and someone that has been part of their lives for maybe generations, not because they lost his protection. Maybe some fears the consequences, but this is not the most prominent of emotions that course through the majority of the gathered.

I sigh. Everything felt so much simpler yester- no four days ago when I first woke up... No... they were not I realize. They were already massively complicated. And now? It is just more added on top. I sigh again and slowly, Mewtwo and I make our way toward the dormitory I woke up in. the streets are almost all empty as we pass through them. Those we pass by are villagers hurrying toward the procession accompanying Hound. I... I need a moment alone, a moment to discuss things with Mewtwo. He knows it. We would both have liked to join the procession, but right now we need sadly have more pressing matters.

We reach the building, its construction still at odd with the overall style of the village. "Is it empty?"

No, all seven of them are still there.

"Okay." I approach one of the wall and climb it. The metallic talons on my feet easily give me purchase and I quickly reach the flat roof of the dormitory. Once I am up, I look at the weathered book in my hand. My system is already telling me what it is. The Achievement completion notification had already told me what it is. Aster's journal.

Achievement got: On the footsteps of your predecessor.

You know you are different from the others you meet, but you also feel you were once part of them.

Find your first clue to discover you origins.

Reward: 20xp, 1 Exp. candy S

Achievement got: Old Soldier

Find Hound, one of your predecessor most loyal friend.

Reward: 20xp, 1 Exp. candy S

"You got both?"

Indeed. He answers, and it reinforce my theory. Mewtwo is like me, an amalgam from those that passed away. But who? That is the biggest question.

I leave the question for later, like so many others. We have more to do right now. I summon all the candies I have in my inventory and pass them to Mewtwo. He instantly gobble them and his eyes grow wild. He then chuckle a bit. Before leaning back, his expression returning to one between neutrality and sadness. "We know what we are. I know who I was and you have some doubts on who you were."

Correct.

"We have three days left to prepare for the next raid. But more importantly, what do you want to do now? I never asked you in the end."

Mewtwo is silent. He looks up as the sun shines brightly upon us. The distant shadows of floating landscape sometimes eclipses it.

Aster's dream has value. We saw the side of the hunters, and what I heard about the league bodes badly. Neither groups wish for peace. They only want to overthrow the other and try to take over the world for fleeting moments.

"Eziakophael will make sure they are fleeting moments if they ever come to pass." I saw the hunger of the dark god. I know he would immediately consume the victor and return the status quo. He might have already done so for all we know.

If we stop, the league will hunt me as a weapon and that pokedex entry you shared might become a reality. The hunters will track me to make sure I am not a problem for them. In the end, I either become a slave or run for the rest of my existence, until I can no longer. You said you wish to try and continue, to be the first to run from this place. I believe we might as well try. I will follow you Astra. Then again, it should have been obvious right? I did nurse you and helped you survive already. He chuckles and I join him. Indeed, he has been taking care of me already.

"Then we need to get stronger fast."

Let us witness the ceremony for Hound and be on our way then.

"Yes. Let us honor him one final time." Parts of Aster's memories color my last declaration.

With that we settle as comfortably as we can on the roof. It is about the middle of the day, we might as well do some reading. I go to open the book, but Mewtwo stops me. Do you want me to read it?

"Wha? Why?" I ask confused by his question.

I can 'read' the words aloud and you may be able to continue working. As you said, we need to prepare fast.

I had not though of that. That is genius. "That's genius! Yes! Here!" I exclaim and pass him the book.

He smirks at my enthusiasm and gently floats the book away from my hands. While I bring up my windows and start to retrace my steps and taking stock of my inventory, he start reading.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Together we discover Aster's life. And by the first entry we already realize this will only be a part of his entire experience.

'First life? Day 15

It has been a more than couple of weeks since I awoke in this awful place. Yet the events that have taken place clearly disprove it being the first time. A creature I have named Hound was waiting for me. It guided me back to a village where some inhabitants knew of me. I have been staying there since, only leaving on some days by orders of the village chief. On those three days, what I can only describe as maddened fanatics have tried to eliminate me in the name of an unknown god. Hound fought for me the first time, and the second but I managed to get a sword and fight by his side on the third time. From what I can see, this pattern will continue. Each weeks, a new portal will open and fanatics will pour out and attack.

The villagers are, for now, okay with me staying. There seem to be other humans that come and go, most do not pay me attention but a couple tried to coerce me into following them. Hound reaction shut them down real fast.

First life Day 23

Second day since leaving the village. We have reached a forest that is filled with strange floating light and mushroom. Flowers bloom in every corners and strange plants grow along the trunks of tree... What am I a poet? The forest exude a welcoming and charming aura. Which has the inverse effect having both me and hound on edge. Strange creatures fly, rustle and move around. More of the strange and sometime cartoony creatures are around, but few of them are paying us any mind.

The night is falling. I have decided to camp in a well opened clearing, hoping to be able to see those that lurk in the night fast enough to react. Hound, as always, has volunteered to take the first watch. And I agreed. I cannot go against his overly protective side.'

You know, the mention first life is a little strange. Mewtwo mentions after finishing the passage about the forest camping.

"How so?" I ask while I am looking through my crafting menue, trying to find a possible recipe for the supposed part station.

Well... he shows me the book. And I notice it too. There is... a slight difference. Not much, but the penmanship is different, more sure, less shaky than the rest of the entries. At least for the first pages. Then the heading starts to correspond with the penmanship on the rest of the entries.

"Maybe he added the headers later? Did he miss some lives?"

Let me check... Mewtwo quickly skims through the pages, still doing it gently to avoid tearing any of them. Hum... Ah there! We go from life 27 to life 31. hum...

Mewtwo reads the first entry on this life.

'Life 31 Day 3

I have read through my past and feel sick. The four creatures that have greeted me when I have awakened have been protecting me from the moment they met me. I doubted them when they made me go outside of the village at some point, but now that I have read the reason why, I can only thank them. They have been my friends through more than thirty lives. Two of them saw me die at least twenty-seven times, if not more in the case of Hound. They still feel completely alien to me, but the reactions of some villagers and the irrefutable proof of my own journal are enough. I will just need to get myself in order.

Hound and Princess seems to be mostly adapted to my recurrent demise, but I can see a dark light in our latest member, if my journal is correct. The small little flaming knight, that I have unimaginatively nicknamed Knight has not met my gaze since we have reunited. The dancer looking creature, with the twin ponytails and thin legs is looking quite determined though. He has no nicknames yet, he has refused all I have thrown his way. He said he is waiting for his final evolution. What he is talking about I do not know. But our merry band has a lot of work to do.

The supposed last life we had together was spent going far. Farther than ever before. They say it is the reason I have to name that life number 31. According to them, the time it took for them to come back means that I must have dies at least 4 times, if not more depending on how fast I returned.'

"Wow..." Mewtwo nods at my comment. It's... wow... I am starting to see context for the horrors that returned to Aster when he closed on Eziakophael. This is merely a fourth of the book and we are already more than thirty lives in. Mewtwo goes back a bit, looking for something.

Ah... No... Aha! I was curious about the names. Here it is.

'First life Day 25

Today, during our foraging of the forest we found something. Or someone? I am unsure to be honest. It might be a little fairy? It looks like a weird white humanoid creature. It has a big white head with white ponytails on each side, a white body with a green mermaid like lower part. it was clutching at a crushed orange flower when we found it. Something has tried to kill it, but failed. Hound was a bit cautious at first, but he came around. He is sniffing at the resting little one. And little is quite the word, the poor creature fits in my hand.

Our meal for tonight is ready, I will try to feed our new friend.

First life Day 29

Another raid, another close call. Each raids are getting harder to defeat. Hound is hurt, and our new friend is still healing. She tried to do something, but she was too weak to do whatever it was. Her annoyed expression was fun to watch. Right now we are recovering. Our little friend is getting better.

First life Day 32

Today is the day our little friend is back on her feet. Or foot. She only has the one after all. Which she does not use, she is floating. It is weird to watch her defy gravity with such ease. Her flower seems to have healed with her. The small poppy-like orange flower is back to full health as she is. Her attitude really makes me think of royalty sometimes. She huffs whenever we tried to help her and acted all dainty. I am thinking of She shall now by named her royal highness Princess. Hound is absolutely mocking her right now, and her reaction is only encouraging him.

I asked what she wanted to do now and she seems to want to come with us. I do not mind, she saw what we have to deal with and still she says she want to. She s Well I'll be. We have a healer now. Princess just summoned some sort of ball of pollen and forced me to eat it. It healed some of my lingering wounds. It even stopped Hound's teasing. She also huffed and acted like this was nothing to her, but I can tell she is happy that we accept her with us. With that food is ready.'

"OH FOR FUCK SAKE!" I exclaim, startling Mewtwo. "Sorry, I just found out how to make a part station, more exactly a part builder." I show him, and he snickers. A log, and a pattern on top. And that's it. I am, of course, out of logs. All have been converted in planks in my search for new combination and my need for patterns.

"Sorry for the interruption." I say again.

He nods and is about to resume his reading, but an approaching villager stops him. Ah... The sun has ran its course, evening has come and the I presume the ceremony is ready. I jump down from the roof, and Mewtwo floats down next to me. The occupants of the dormitory poke their heads out, wondering what is happening.

"Sir Aster, it is time." The villager says. I nod. The time has come to say goodbye for the final time. Mewtwo passes me Aster's journal and I store it, startling some of the audience.

"Outta the way!" A gruff voice calls from inside and out comes Hans Senah, a crutch beneath his arm. He hobble for a moment. "Which way townsman?"

The villager hesitates, looking at me. I shrug. He nods, annoyed. "This way please."

We traverse the village streets, all of them now empty. After a few minutes of slow walking and the other six humans trying to understand what is happening- Wait I was okay with Hans because he had a connection with Aster but the other six? Not really. But then again, should I really care? I shake my head. They might as well see.

So, after a few minutes of slow walking, we arrive at the edge of the village, where the entire population is gathered. they are all gathered at a respectful distance from a pile of wood, on top of it is Hound, laid down to look like he is asleep under a blue blanket. Some villagers are still crying, other have grim expressions on their faces. I notice a group of humans on the side. The ones following me, save for Hans go to join them. Hans remains at my side. "He was a good friend. Ah knew that much." He offers, his tone is surprisingly heavy.

The group of humans notice me, or more exactly Mewtwo, and he guesses who they are. Representatives of the League. Or at least humans affiliated with them. They have few pokemons with them, mostly small ones. I look at them for a minute before returning my attention to the ceremony at hand.

The cleric villager parts the crowd and Hound's pack follows. The dozens of Mightyenas and Poochyenas gathers in a half circle around the unlit pyre and all sit, waiting. the cleric villager puts itself before us and starts his speech. "For two generations, our guardian has made sure we were safe. He has protected those that came in peace and chased those that sought strife. Today, after a impossibly long wait, he has met back with his master, and finally accepted his own age. Let us not be sad for his passing, let us honor his deeds and his actions. Let us honor his passion and his heart! Let us remember him as our friend and our guardian, ever present and ready to protect or play."

On these last words, two of the mightyenas grab ropes of straw. Their maws suddenly fill with flames and the fire course along the fuses, jumping onto the pyre. "Goodbye oh guardian Hound, you will always be here with us." The cleric finishes.

The pack starts to howl as he flames quickly swell and consume the entire pyre. Bright orange glow light the crowd. Many break, crying once more. Hugs are exchanged, consolation given. Neither Mewtwo nor I stop our tears from falling, even Hans sheds some. We watch as Hound form is engulfed in flames, and within their flickers, we see something.

Three figures appears within the flames, they watch upon the burning form of Hound, until what appears to be Hound himself made of flames rises from his corpse. He looks at the three figures watching, then toward us, toward Mewtwo and me. He nods at us. Then the figures beckons, and they are gone.

Mewtwo blinks, I blink. The pyre still burns, Hound corpse is still atop, slowly being consumed. No one else seems to have reacted. You saw them too right? I simply nods, and keep watching.