I awoke for the second time since the change. I was alone. Instantly panic swept through me.

"Shhhhh. You are not alone Theo."

As my breathing slowed down, I saw Trellen dipping the bowl into the stream. Without a word, he placed it beside me and ran off to climb a tree. Higher in the branches fruit was hanging, presumably the same that we had eaten yesterday. For a moment I worried about the child, but even as I did he scampered onto a branch, seized a fruit, and flipped over, eating it upside down. I snorted. The rascal must have grown up in these trees, eating this fruit. Putting him out of my mind for a moment, I pressed a mental tendril back into that bubble.

Thank you Stephanos. Can I call you Steph?

A chuckle. I chose to interpret that as a yes.

Can we talk some more? I am still... unsure as to what happened.

"Certainly Theo. Just know that I may cease answering questions again at some point. Your mind and heart need much more rest before you are ready to fully understand past events."

I shivered slightly. Ominous though Steph's words were, I couldn't help but continue to wonder.

What happened?

Although sorrow was floating in that part of me that was somehow not me, I also sensed some amusement.

"Would you like to ask any other general questions while you are at it Theo? About the nature of existence? Or the meaning of life?"

I scratched my head. Fine, if he wanted to be snarky I would be more specific.

How long has it been since... that day.

Steph's silence worried me.

"Theo... it's hard to measure. You have not been... well. I chose the lesser of two evils when I bound myself to you. It never should have been. It never should have happened to you. I am a world seed. Not only do I contain great power, but I contain knowledge of all magic available to the world of which I was the guardian and steward. As you know, Zeraxes was a world of magic. What you don't know is that the cabal had been actively restricting it for quite some time. There were 251 members of the cabal. United together they had the power both to put me into a comatose state, and to cease their own aging process. They found ways to bind the whole of them as a power group to certain principles, and even in their madness and arrogance those principles held. Only children with power in one of their branches would be publicly acknowledged. They could not prevent other powers from existing, but by locking the power of each magician, they could ensure that only those they trained themselves had the ability to unlock their potential. Even then, the potential was sharply limited, to ensure that no magician ever grew in power to be greater than a member of the cabal. This is why Sanguine acted in such desperation; a mere political revolution would never have succeeded against their power. As to how she learned of my existence, much less my location, I can not say. Indeed, her presence in my chamber was astonishing. Only one other has ever achieved such a thing, the Earth element warlock of the cabal.

But I have gotten distracted. What is important is that magic was richer and more powerful in that world than any other I had seen. In the moment you were bound to me, it all flooded your mind. As your rational thoughts were overpowered by the raw knowledge, your emotions and desires took full control of your soul, and after the childhood you had endured, followed by the agony and hatred from Sanguine's torture, you were very nearly beyond my reach."

What... what did I do?

"I found you beauty, as you asked, Theo. You burned it. In your madness you destroyed world after world. I sought to show you some of the greatest sights in the galaxy, but you could not see them at all."

How many did... I kill?

"Worlds? None. Well, in the sense you many mean, many. But I seized each world seed and bound them to you. It seemed... right. They would have perished, or at least have diminished to near nothingness with the destruction of their charges. I am afraid, however, that my actions only made your madness deeper. Some of those worlds had life die out a very long time ago, but the memory of their magic remained. Each one was different, unique, and they all burdened you even more. If you mean how many people did you kill, you killed many. But I was careful - you were never placed in a location where those who would find you were innocents. Many of them surely did not deserve the deaths they received, but they were wicked one and all. Every world you were placed on was a world where evil that is as deep as a person can find had conquered. On some of them the world seeds were coerced, on others they were subdued as I was, and on a dark couple, they were world seeds that had turned against the Creator, and willfully served evil. In the end, however, your hands struck down thousands."

Horror rose up along with my bile. I could retch, but the horror caught in my throat. My sight dimmed. All I wanted was to crawl away, undo it. Could I not at least pretend it was not so? I am not being hyperbolic when I say that my desire to live fled, and I did not pursue it. I knew that I did not even need to act, all I needed was to keep my eyes shut, and never move, and one day silence would truly come.

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"But then you would not have me my friend."

Something else rippled from the bubble, then exploded out. Love. Care. Concern.

My heart unthawed enough to sense that Stephanos legitimately cared for me. He chose to protect me. While his choices meant pain for me, they also protected me from destroying more. I caught a thought from Steph in that moment. I don't know if he meant me to comprehend it or not, but I understood that he could have ended me, ended us, at any moment. Indeed, bringing me to this place was a final effort. Above all though, what shook my heart was the knowledge, straight from his mind, that the decision to not end us was not self preservation on his part. Sanguine had misjudged him; had Sanguine completed the bond, Stephanos would have simply removed them both. He chose to save me. The destruction, although tragic, that I had blazed across a galaxy, was worth my life in his eyes. Although Stephanos cared for all, he accepted the end of some as tragic, those who dwelt deeply within evil. He had turned my destruction outward from myself into a lonely corner of existence, and then into a place that was condemned to judgement by the one he served, and then, in a last moment of hope for me, he moved me to this place. And then I understood.

This place, it is close to the end, isn't it?

In the midst of all his riot of emotions in this moment, a pleasure at my understanding percolated through.

"Exactly Theo. There are few innocents on this world. The seed of this place called me, and accepted the risk of destruction in hopes that you could be saved, but also that you could act as his weapon in this world. I brought you to Trellen, as he needed you most in that moment."

But what happened? What changed?

Stephanos paused before he answered.

"That is a complicated answer my friend. Part of it may have been my words and emotions directed to you over that entire dark time, and certainly the Creator smiled on you. Your own choice in the end, however, caused the change. What made you decide as you did is hard to see. By tempering your judgement, and drawing the power back within yourself, you built walls. You acted instinctively, and it saved you from the backlash of the rage and anger induced power you had launched, but it also locked away all the chaos that had been swirling in your mind. You are again yourself."

You said that there are other on this world that need help?

A strong wave of pride floated up like currents of warmth from the Stephanos bubble.

"Indeed! The challenge will be to unlock powers within you without allowing an overload, as happened previously. The seed of this world and a friend of his helped me devise a mechanism to do so."

I swear I could see a happy, slightly ridiculous emotion spreading out from Steph.

What is it?

"Well, this friend of ours is a world seed named Earth - there is none but simple life and technology magic on that world. He told us of a development the more light hearted on the planet have created called video games. It just so happens that we think some of the mechanism could be nicely adapted to your situation."

What are these... video games?

With an almost childish glee Steph started blurting out facts. As near as I could tell, video games were an attempt to craft an alternate reality that these people had devised with technology magic. In building their alternate reality they created systems of rules, and one of the most common systems allowed the alternate reality avatar to grow in power as they gained 'experience' through various actions. After untangling this much, I caught the end of Steph's excited spiel - "And that's why this is perfect! We'll allocate experience representative of your mind's growing control over new skills, from whatever seed's realm of magic that you've consumed that you choose to practice with. As your mind has greater control and understanding, we can release even more knowledge for you to grow into! The coincidences are too great! One of the aspects of bonding to a world seed that you haven't realized yet is that it is virtually impossible for you to be truly killed. You are bound to me as much as I am bound to you, and if your body is near death, I can simply teleport it to safety, and heal you again! Remember that I told you shards of me are embedded in your blood and body now? Well, those can be used to increase your physical abilities - we'll simply define a growth rate for that based off of your 'experience growth' as well! What do you think?"

Well Steph, outside of feeling slightly like a puppet for some odd vehicle of amusement for you and these other world seeds, it sounds surprisingly effective. It will allow me to grow into my skills, and I trust you to keep me sane this time.

"Exactly! All you have to do is consciously transfer the mental shields you constructed to me! Well, we have one more recommendation, as regards Trellen. We suggest you..."

And then I fell unconscious.