Finally. Caeden, it's about time you and I had a talk.

The voice had a force and presence that Caeden had never experienced. It was like he wasn't hearing it but instead had the words, the meaning injected directly into his consciousness. But he could barely focus on it, as he was so disoriented. Everything was out of focus and murky like he had been submerged in dark waters. Even his aura senses were distorted.

Ahh, apologies. This must be difficult for your soul to understand. You are still weaker than I hoped.

The voice spoke again. This time, Caeden actually internalized the words instead of them passing through him unnoticed. But he had no idea how to respond. His body felt…wrong. Disconnected. He couldn't move or speak. All he could do was listen and observe, both not nearly as well as before.

Hold on. I will try to rectify this.

Despite the insane and incomprehensible circumstances, Caeden wanted to roll his eyes. What else was he going to do? He was frozen stiff and could barely see! What did the voice expect him to do? Wander off? He wasn't even sure where he was right now!

ALRIGHTY! THAT SHOULDA WORKED! CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?!

Caeden mentally cringed. The voice rang his mind like a bell, vibrating every aspect of his thoughts. And it might be his imagination, but the previously dignified voice was sounding decidedly…less so.

SHIT, SORRY! THAT'S PROBABLY SUPER LOUD, ISN'T IT?

Why the fuck are you talking if you know that?! Caeden wanted to yell. But again, his mouth didn't work, and nothing came out.

Hey, no need to be so rude. I said sorry, didn't I? And see, I fixed it. All good!

…

…

Can…Can you hear me? Hear my thoughts?

Yeah, duh. How else would we communicate like this? It's not like I'm in the room with you. Telepathy is kinda the only option, dude. Oh, but before you worry about it, I'm not, like, reading your mind or anything. I can hear the thoughts you project out to me. Basically, I'll only hear what you try to make me hear.

I…Ok, whatever. Where are we, and why did you bring me here? Did you bring me here? What's going on? Instead of interrogating the specific details of how this conversation was happening, Caeden decided to focus on the more salient points. Like, what the fuck was going on.

Yeah, man. Of course, I brought you here. I actually wanted to have a talk last time, but your tiny little baby soul was too weak to withstand this space. You would have imploded like a balloon in a black hole. Not a nice way to go.

Last time?

Yeah, the last time you went to one of my work facilities! You and that friend of yours almost blew up a CMS, which was a real dipshit move, by the way. You have no idea how important those are. Then again, it's not like it was all your fault. Those unadapted assholes were turning my baby into a fucking laser cannon, which is like taking a grandfather clock and using it as a club. Fucking uncultured shits. Wouldn't know class if it smacked them upside the head. The voice sounded genuinely pissed.

But Caeden was more focused on the little tidbit that started that rant.

YOU created these places?

Yeah! Well, not by myself, obviously. I started things up, but once actual people started happening, I got them on board. Better to let locals manage things, I always say. Shame that that whole civilization collapsed. They were good people.

I…This is a bit overwhelming. Who are you?

Oh, that's a fun question! Depends on who you ask. I think some of the things you all call gods that live at the edge of the Starry Sea called me some weird names. He Who Walks Over, or something like that. A bit ostentatious, but they didn't ask me.

Caeden's view was slowly clearing. He could only use his shroud, as his eyes didn't seem to be getting any better. But as his aura senses became clearer, he started to catch some detail about where he was. And who was here with him. He was in a void, surrounded by utter black emptiness with distant points of light off in every direction. A few were close by, but Caeden couldn't see any exact details yet.

That void encompassed everything except off in one direction, where there was a blazing, brilliant light that subsumed the dark. Somewhere in the back of Caeden's mind, he recognized that light. The Pillar. It was here, so they must still be on the Starry Sea somewhere.

More than that, Caeden could finally see a bit of the person or entity talking to him. Not much, but a little. His senses revealed a vague grey outline of a humanoid. Caeden thought it looked more masculine than feminine, but he was working with so little detail that he could be wrong. The voice certainly sounded like a man's.

Ok, so you made this place. A long, long time ago. Like, before any of my people's recorded history. Are you shrouded? And why are you talking to me? The voice seemed…easily distracted.

Ah, starting with a tough one. Am I shrouded? Kinda, yeah. I mean, I have shrouds, but I didn't come by them naturally like you did. Mine are kinda…add-ons. Sorta accidental. But the second one is easy, and I'm glad you brought that up! I wanted to talk to you because you don't make any damn sense. It's really frustrating for me. The last sentence sounded almost like an accusation. Like the voice wanted Caeden to apologize.

He was also apparently older than any shrouded Caeden had ever heard of and said he had shrouds, as in plural. So Caeden went with caution.

Um, sorry? I was born this way? After all, he had no idea what this person was talking about.

Well, that's the thing, Caeden. You weren't born that way. At least, not really.

Excuse me?

In case you have forgotten, you didn't have two shrouds when you were born. You only had Sharp. But that's not the real problem here.

Caeden was momentarily stunned. It was strange, but he had simply glossed over the fact that his second shroud had come to him less than a year ago. Why had he never thought about that more? Why had no one at the Academy or in the CA military ever mentioned it? He had spontaneously gained a second shroud! That was insane! What was going on?

Yeah, I'm sure you're freaking out now. This is what I'm talking about. No one from the Starry Sea seems to recognize what happened. The second you mention it, their minds gloss over the whole idea. Your own mind refuses to contemplate the fact. You're only doing it now because I brought you here. Someone obviously placed a high-level geas on you, one that can transfer to others. But again, that's not the point.

I-I don't understand. A geas?

Yeah, a sort of binding command. Not that strange. I've seen a geas that bound an entire universe into eternal slavery. Yours is pretty minor, only occluding a single fact about yourself. Stopping anyone from acknowledging how your second shroud happened isn't that big a deal.

Stolen novel; please report.

You said other universes. So this is like Cat's Necromancy? Someone came from somewhere else and did this? An Outworlder?

I can see how you would think that, but no. No, the Starry Sea is strictly quarantined. Only specific souls get in for reincarnation purposes. The only other way in is through summoning, like what your friend does. Basically, you have to be invited. And I have specific, exact ledgers of every Outworlder that's ever visited this universe in any capacity. None of them had that kind of power. No, your problems are strictly local, kiddo. Don't go worrying about the wider cosmos. We're around, but we're not around around, if you get me.

So…What? If you aren't here about the geas, why talk to me? What do you want?

Caeden, there is no Physical Enhancement shroud.

What do you mean? I have it.

Yes, and you shouldn't. It falls outside the parameters. There is no Physical Enhancement shroud.

Parameter? You make it sound like you control shrouds.

Not exactly. Look, I've been stalling long enough. You should be able to see it. Look up.

Caeden looked up. Chains of brilliant light spanned through the void overhead, coming from all around him and ascending up far, far into the distance. They reached further and further beyond Caeden's perception. He could tell that there were thousands, tens of thousands of chains coming from all over. Far away in the distance. And all of them reach one point. The Pillar.

Far above the Pillar, all the chains headed toward a single point in the distance. Looking closer toward the chains also made Caeden look around himself. He started to notice where exactly he was. There were eight lights close by, floating in the void with him. One was a veiled lady dressed in grey, covering black bones. Another was a floating lily formed of perfect icicles surrounded by a shifting cloudy lotus. Another was a beating heart constantly being sewn together by a small spider. There was a draconic woman that kept shifting from a child to an adult to an old lady. A bird, a bear, a dragon, and a ghostly corpse.

He was standing where he had always been. In the CMS room. He hadn't moved physically, his mind was just seeing another plane of existence. Caeden would put a strong bet on this being the soul plane. Which led back to the chains. There were hundreds all around. Caeden could tell now that his vision was becoming clearer, but the locations of the chains seemed almost a perfect match for every one of the stone pillars in the desert of the dragon continent.

And they were attached to the Pillar.

Are you…Did you make this world? Did you make the Starry Sea? Caeden reeled. The idea that he was seeing the soul plane was strange but slightly familiar. He had always been vaguely aware of his soul because he could feel his shrouds. More alarming was the idea that was talking to an entity that made his world. After all, he claimed to have made this ancient place, and it seemed to be holding the Pillar.

Not exactly. The land and waters of this universe existed before I came. But this universe formed oddly. The physics were skewed and misarranged to support life. Caeden could see the figure more clearly, though he still looked like a grey silhouette of a human. He gestured toward the chains around them. I needed a place to work that wouldn't draw in visitors from all over existence, so I picked this palace. But it needed a little help getting some life going, so I brought some help. The only thing that was here before I showed up was the things you call gods. They aren't really alive so much as barely conscious pieces of fundamental existence.

…Why? Why make life here?

You asked me earlier if I was shrouded, and I said kinda. Well, shrouds are a unique power in the wider scope of existence. I can't even begin to describe to you how rare it is to find something genuinely unique. So when I got ahold of them, I wanted to run some tests. But to run tests, I needed data. And for data, I needed more shrouds. So I made more. Then I needed people to use them. So I got some life going and waited.

So, you didn't make this world or make the shrouds?

Nope! Just think of me as a curious observer. I never did anything other than kickstart the life here and get shrouds forming. That's it. I didn't invent them or anything. And life has existed in the wider cosmos long before I came along. Just a little friendly help along the way. But that's why we need to talk, see. You, Caeden, are an anomaly. I set certain parameters for the shrouds that get generated here. Basically, I blocked out a few things that could cause irreparable damage to this universe. For example, there is no Time shroud. Your dragon lady friend is as close as anyone could ever get, and all she can do is alter an object's age. No moving through time, speeding it up, or slowing it down. No alternate timelines.

But you! Physical Enhancement is one of the two fundamental principles of shroud infusion. One of the four basic abilities every shroud holds. The idea of that itself being a shroud leads to the possibility of an infinite feedback loop that could detonate and collapse this entire reality. Which is why I needed to have a talk with you before you got strong. It's why I gave you Forged Infinity.

I should be surprised, but honestly, that makes sense. I always wondered why the CMS overloading gave me a shrouded weapon more advanced than anything ever seen on the Starry Sea. That had always been an open question to Caeden that he had previously chalked up to 'ancient ethertech,' but knowing someone actively interfered made more sense.

Yup. I may have gone a little overboard with that one. But I was excited! You're the first time that a true anomaly has formed. Your second shroud's existence contradicts all the previous recordings I have for the internal logic of how shrouds operate! It's such a fascinating subject, considering the near-sentient status of shrouds themselves, and the obvious ability they have to parse reality on a fundamental level has so many wider implications. Seriously, studying shrouds has advanced my understanding of the fundamental underpinnings of existence by eons!

Caeden could feel the passion bleeding through every word. Whoever or whatever he was talking to, they seemed truly, deeply invested in their research. This being might be more powerful than anything he had ever heard of, but right now, he was talking to a nerd about their favorite hobby. It was…nice.

So, what do you want from me?

It's not so much that I want anything from you. I wanted to more closely observe you in particular, but Forged Infinity is fulfilling that purpose just fine. No, the reason why I called you here is a warning.

Called me here? I came because-

Yes, Forged Infinity said it was damaged after an encounter with a Null sword. Don't be ridiculous. Of course, that message was false. As if something I designed would be damaged by such shoddy craftsmanship. I mean, you would have disintegrated from touching Null, but Forged Infinity would have been fine. No, I called you here at the first opportunity to warn you. Take a good look at yourself.

Now Caeden wanted to punch the guy. He and his friends had nearly died on this trip! Then again, that was because of Kevin and his Creator. So it wasn't exactly this researcher's fault. But still! Grumbling a little, Caeden listened to what the grey figure said and looked at himself. Something that was inherently easier than observing this strange plane.

He was a small white ball. Absolutely tiny, only the size of an apple. Circling his ball was two more. One was a tight-knit mesh of oscillating crimson strands all bundled together like a violent, living ball of yarn. The other was a liquid mass of gold and purple that swirled and shifted.

Notice how you're different from your friends? Their souls have integrated and fused with their shrouds, becoming one with them. Their shrouds are an integral part of their souls. You are very different. Your shrouds, both of them, are completely separate from you. This in itself is anomalous. All shrouded have souls like your friends. And this is why we need to talk.

With your shrouds like this, you're uniquely vulnerable to soul damage. More than that, you're incapable of maximizing your shroud's potential. I'm sure you noticed when you gained your Sharp Incarnation. It was underwhelming, to say the least. Honestly, the fact that your growth has been as fast as it has is down to raw talent. Most people in your situation would still have trouble using the basics.

That being said, you hold a shroud with potentially disastrous consequences for my testing ground. I try to stick to a strict non-interference policy so as to not taint any data, but this is a situation that requires some oversight. So, I'm adding a function to Forged Infinity. It will track the damage your soul accumulates from your shrouds, as well as your integration rate. Both are on a scale of one to one hundred. Try to keep the damage number low and raise the integration rate.

Now, besides not dying and taking a universe with you, I think complying deserves some incentive. The higher your integration, the more Forged Infinity will unlock some new features. Sound fair?

Yeah, thanks. Caeden had no idea that he was hurting himself. Likely, this was why he'd nearly died earlier. His soul was weaker than others. Having a way to monitor that would be immensely helpful. It also explained why he always felt his Incarnation was just wrong. Toolset was fine, but it didn't embody Sharp in the way he thought it should. It was just…off.

Great! Last couple things to note before we wrap up. First, that thing you're doing to evolve shrouds? Major red flag. Like, that's way, way outside what any shroud should be able to do, and likely contributed to your soul's weakness and recent injury. On that same note, you're still heavily injured. That friend of yours did some fixing, but she's a novice. I'm going to try and help you. Please relax, this is going to hurt a lot. The grey figure reached out a hand to rest a fingertip on Caeden's soul.

Did you mean not hur-AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! Caeden's mind collapsed.