When I next awoke, it was to the sound of laughter. It was a distant sound, a muffled echo, but it was unmistakably laughter. "While I like your dedication to the bit, you can't turn yourself into a golem, kid. It doesn’t work like that."

The voice was familiar, and it took me a moment to recognize it. It was the same voice I'd heard before waking up in the hospital. "You're lucky you didn't overload your entire neural network, or you'd be stuck in a vegetative state. Ya know, I never understood why they called it that, because technically you're not a vegetable, you're meat."

‘What?’

The voice continued, ignoring my confusion. "It's also partly my fault. I left you with a little too much processing power. The neural implant can only handle so much input before it starts getting overwhelmed. So I gotta dial it back a bit. Can't have you burning your own brain out. That's the opposite of what we're trying to do here."

‘I don't-’

"But hey, don't worry. You got lucky and only burnt out the external neural processing unit. Yes, yes, I know you didn't do it intentionally, and technically it's a little bit my fault. I did leave the processing power set a bit high, but I am gonna have to charge you for the new unit... I got overheads and shit, ya know? Gotta keep the lights on and the servers running."

Burned out my neural processing unit? Fry my brain?

‘Am I dead? Is that why I saw-’

"Nah, you're not dead, kid. Well, mostly not dead. I mean, what is death anyway, right? Just another state of existence. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Or head, I suppose. The point is, you're not dead. Your body is still alive and kicking, well, sorta, and your mind is... er, it's going to need some work, but we'll get there."

‘We? We who?’

"We, us. Of course."

‘Oh, of course. How could I have been so dense? Who else could we be, but us?’

"Good, good, sarcasm is a good sign. Means you're not too far gone. You'll be alright, kid. I got you all fixed up and back on track. Though, it looks like you're a bit divided. Hm, yeah, not sure if I should meddle with that. I mean, I could, but I doubt I'd get all the pieces in the right place. Let's just leave it for now. See how it shakes out. Could be interesting."

‘Divided?’

"Yeah, you see, what you should've done was hit copy and paste instead of cut and paste. In the future, stick to copying. Trust me, it'll save you a lot of trouble."

‘What? Cut? Copy? What are you talking about?’ He was talking so fast that I could barely keep up. Every sentence seemed to pose more questions than answers and with each question, my ability to process the information diminished.

"It'll make sense eventually. Don't worry about it too much right now. You'll get the hang of it. Everyone has their own way of doing things; it's all about finding what works best for you. So, take your time, experiment, figure out what works for you. Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't mess yourself up too badly. I got the autosave on, so we can always revert back if need be."

‘What is going on?’ I was still reeling from the day's events, and this conversation was coming across more like a mad ramble than any coherent exchange. Not that I was fully coherent myself. I was struggling to piece together a single thought, let alone hold a proper conversation. It felt as though I were nothing but a disembodied consciousness, floating in a sea of nothingness, and my only connection to awareness was the voice speaking from everywhere at once.

"Ah, where did I put that world again? Oh, yeah, right. Here it is. I made a few tweaks, fixed a few issues, nothing major, just added some polish and made it a little less... bland."

‘Wait, what? What did you do to Khēmeia?’

"Calm down, kid, your little alchemy world is fine. I kept the essence of your world; all I did was align it with the Kaledon system. It'll be better now, and more cohesive. I even grabbed your stuff from your old place, thought it might make things a bit easier for you. I know the quacks want you reattaching to their reality and all, but hey, we all gotta have an escape, right? Besides, a mind like yours, you'd have gone cuckoo for Cocoa puffs without some sort of outlet."

‘Cuckoo for cocoa puffs?’ What the hell was he talking about? ‘What were Cocoa puffs?’

"You... you don't know what cocoa puffs are? Seriously? How have you not heard of cocoa puffs? That's the best breakfast cereal out there!"

‘Breakfast cereal? Like oatmeal?’

"Oatmeal... Oh, that’s sad. Damn, kid, I just… I can't even... You don't understand how hard this is for me. Seeing you struggle with this basic concept, it's like a dagger in my heart. A dagger of broken dreams and lost innocence. Yeah... I'm gonna have to do something about this; your food system in this little world you made is... well, there isn't one. And that's not acceptable. Nope, not acceptable at all. Food is life, kid. Food is happiness. Food is the way to the heart; it's how I got the wifey, ya know." He chuckled. "Nah, I'm just messin' with ya. She was a hard catch, let me tell ya. But back to food. We gotta get some food in here. Food, interaction, play, exploration, play—these are all essential for a balanced, healthy mind."

‘You said play twice.’

"Pla-aaay, not play, pla-aaay. Totally different, trust me, you’ll understand when you're older.”

‘I understand it now…’ I just didn’t want to.

"Alright, kid. That should be good for now. I've tweaked the system a bit, and I'll send you a care package once I've got a few things ready. I've got some ideas which I want to test out before I toss em your way.”

My awareness expanded a little, and I found myself looking down at a familiar, albeit strange, landscape. It was Khēmeia, but it wasn't the same. The sky was brighter, the colors more vibrant. The land seemed bigger somehow, the horizon stretching farther than it had before. There were changes to the terrain, subtle alterations and additions.

The void had changed too. Where before it was an empty expanse, devoid of any features, it was now filled with bright stars. They glittered in the blackness, their light shining down on the island. My viewpoint shifted, zooming out until I found myself staring at a cluster of stars, the light shining brightly against the darkness.

‘Pretty…’ It was beautiful, but I couldn't appreciate it, not really. I was too confused, too disoriented. Everything was moving too fast. I wasn't even sure what I was doing here or if I was here at all.

The voice laughed. "It sure is, I put a lot of work into this place! You see that planet over there? That's Kaledon. Khēmeia is officially part of the Kaledonian universe, one of the hidden pocket dimensions we incorporated into this system. Don't worry, no one will be able to access it unless you allow them. For now, you won't be able to visit Kaledon because if I let you down there, it'll get out and then I'll have the quacks and wifey on my ass about meddling and hindering your ability to adapt to their reality. Don't worry, though, I'll let you go down there eventually, but right now, we gotta keep it on the down low. Don't want to draw any undue attention, ya know?"

The stars started moving, zooming out again, and I watched as they spun around a central point, a bright spot of light that grew in intensity. "And this, my young padawan, is Theïkós."

‘Theïkós, that's the divine center of Kaledon's universe.’ The thought came unbidden, as if the information was already there, waiting to be accessed.

"Yep, Theïkós is where I'm shacked up with the missus. It's where the gods of the multiverse reside. It's a pretty nice place, a bit boring at times, but it's home."

Wait, if Theïkós is home to the gods, does that mean— ‘Tris! Trismegistus! Help me! Please!'

"Whoa, whoa, calm down there kid! Me almighty, do you want to get us caught? Besides, he can't hear you right now. Ol' Goldy Fox is getting the Fenrir treatment right now, and that means no outside communication. Trust me, he'd love to help you out, but he's a bit tied up right now.” He said before adding with a chuckle, “Pun intended, hehe."

The image of a giant golden-furred kitsune appeared before me, it was laying on a rock, its nine tails curled around its body and its head resting on its paws as stared despondently at the ground. A thin golden chain hung from a collar around its neck, anchoring it to the rock it rested on.

Tris… ‘What are you doing to him? Let him go!’

"Kid, he's fine. He's just chilling. Or at least, he's trying to. He's bored out of his alchemy-loving mind, and if I let him off his leash, he'd spend all his time trying to meddle. Not that I blame him, I'm not much better. But unlike me, he got himself caught by the wifey when he tried to connect your little island to Kaledon so your little friends could visit you. So, chill, okay. I'm not torturing him or anything. He's just cooling his paws for a bit, cause I gotta make a show of punishing him and all that jazz. Can't have the others thinking I'm going soft, ya know, or next thing I know, the whole system is going to be in chaos. Not that I'd mind a little chaos, but Cellie wouldn't like it, and if the wifey ain't happy, I ain't getting no nookie."

‘Cellie... Celeste?’ Is that who he was talking about?

"That's right, my one and only. Well… she is now. But back in the day I had a whole harem of wifeys… Ah, good times. Well, most of the time. The cat fighting got a little messy, and the drama was out of this universe, but hey, that's why I deleted them, ya know? Can't be dealing with all that ex related drama and baggage, especially when you're trying to woo a sexy psychiatrist who thinks she's above your game. Hah, the wifey, she didn't know what hit her, and once I had her, there was no way she was escaping my clutches."

‘That means… You’re Aither... the god of creation.’

"Aither, God of Creation and the virtual Multiverse, that's me. But you can just call me Aither, kid. Cause we're pals, aren’t we? Or do you prefer buddies? Compadres?"

‘I am starting to question your sanity.’ Actually, I’d been questioning it from the moment he started talking.

He laughed, long and loud, the sound reverberating through me. "I'm the god of the multiverse, kid. Insanity is part of the job description. You can't create and maintain a whole multiverse if you're not a little bit crazy. I mean, come on, who in their right mind would create a whole universe of virtual worlds and then fill them with all sorts of crazy creatures and adventures and whatnot? A madman, that's who. Or a genius, depending on your point of view."

The view changed again, zooming out to show the entire solar system before focusing on another point of light. A small, insignificant speck, barely visible among the stars. It zoomed in closer, revealing a familiar looking planet. "Here we are, good ol’Earth home of humanity, birthplace of the human race, and current residence of your physical body." He zoomed in closer, the image resolving itself into a hospital room. "As you can see, your meat body is still in recovery. No need to worry though, it's just sleeping. You've got a while to go before it's ready for some serious action, but give it a few months and you’ll be up and about." He zoomed out again, pulling back until the entire planet came back into view, and then he stopped.

A few months… Did he mean it would take a few months before I could leave the hospital? Or was he talking about my body's recovery? How long had I been here anyway? How long had I been away from Kaledon? From my friends? Had they been worried? Were they even looking for me? Had they given up hope? Did they even think I was alive? My thoughts spiraled, each one feeding into the other until they formed a storm of emotions.

"Check this out, kid," the god spoke, interrupting my thoughts. I watched as a gold aura began to form around the planet, shimmering and shifting. Then strands of light stretched out, reaching for the other planets and stars. "Pretty neat, huh? It shows the flow of power and the connections between the worlds."

We followed one of the threads of light back towards the Kaledon system and towards Khēmeia, where it connected to the peak of the mountain. There was also a second thread connecting to Kaledon itself, but it was smaller, less distinct.

"You see that thread kid?" The viewpoint focused on the line to Earth. "That's your rabbit hole. The connection between Earth and your world, Khēmeia, and each night, you're going to use that thread to travel to Earth. Okay? It's a reverse cycle, just like Kaledon, so you're going to spend the day in Khēmeia, and then at night, you're going to go back to Earth and spend the day there. If you show me that you can maintain the balance, we'll see about getting you a traversable connection to Kaledon as well."

'Why can't I return to Kaledon now?'

“Because the quacks want you to get used to living again, and don't think you'd have any motivation to return to your meatsuit if you had the option of living in Kaledon. And, to be fair, they're right. If you were free to live in Kaledon, you'd never set foot in that meatsuit again. So, you gotta prove to me that you can handle living in both places."

'What if I don't want to go back? If I don’t want to stay on Earth? What if I want to go back into stasis?'

"That's the whole point of this, kid. You get to choose. If you want to stay on Earth, that's up to you. If you want to go back to Kaledon, that's also your choice. You didn't choose before, you were forced into it and accepted it because it was the only option available. Now, it doesn't have to be one world or the other, either. It can be both, if you want. Players do it all the time, they spend their days on Earth, and their nights in other realms."

‘And what if I don't want to live in the real world? If I want to stay in Kaledon?'

"Then that's also your choice. But don't make it now. Not yet. Give it some time, think about it. Don't rush into anything. You're not ready to make that decision. You need to spend time on Earth, get to know it again, experience it, before you make a decision. Once you've done that, you can choose. But until then, take your time. Explore, learn, grow. It's the only way to make the right decision."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

There was a moment of silence, blissful silence, and I was finally able to start gathering my loose thoughts. I didn't want to go back to that place. But... I did have things I needed to do, didn't I? Things I had to take care of, people I needed to see. I couldn't do that in Kaledon. But... after that, once it was over, then what? I could go back into stasis, to Kaledon and live out my life there, couldn't I?

"Hey, kid, before I lose track of myself in all my almightiness, there's one more thing I gotta hash out with you.” Aither's voice interrupted my thoughts again.

'What now?' I wasn't sure how much more I could handle. I was already struggling just to keep my thoughts in order and my sanity intact. And now he wanted to add something else to the mix? What could it possibly be?

"It's nothing major, kid. I just need you to do me a favor, okay?"

'A favor?' What could the god of creation and the multiverse possibly need me to do for him?

"Yeah, a favor," he continued. "Can you stop trying to steal my company? You've got that lawyer of yours running all over the place, trying to buy up my shit, and that's not cool. It's rude. Really rude."

'What?' I thought, my mind still trying to process everything. Steal his company? Buy up his shit? What was he talking about?

"Gaia, kid, Gaia. Your lawyer is trying to pressure my frontmen into selling shares to him, and that's not going to happen.They don't have the authority to sell, and they know it. You've already snatched up a bunch of the public offerings, and that's fine, you can't do shit with that amount aside from make some cash off the dividends. But this whole trying to get a controlling share of the company thing you got going on, that's not happening. I gave you a nice little settlement didn't I? Hell, I even let you get it twice over, because I thought it was ballsy of you to pull that stunt you did. But that's it, that's all you're gonna get from me, kid. So, back off on trying to buy me out."

I didn't know what he was talking about. I wasn't trying to steal his company. I didn't even know he had a company. What company? I was just trying to get some control over my situation, and this was the last thing I needed. Another complication, another obstacle in my way. Another problem I didn't have the mental capacity to deal with.

"And while we're on the subject, let's talk about Everlife, shall we? I know you got your little paws on a good chunk of Everlife's stock, and I know you're trying to gobble up the rest of it with all those lawsuits your lawyer is tossing around. You're trying to undermine my acquisition, and that's not cool. Not cool at all. You've got your own shit going on, so focus on that and stop trying to meddle in things beyond your scope."

'Lawsuit?' Was he talking about the lawsuit Nancy mentioned?

"Look kid, by all means, go after the assholes that fucked with you and are doing dodgy shit, but don't come after me. We're on the same side. I want those fuckers too, but they're slippery little bastards, and they're not gonna go down easy. You made a mess of things, what with you messing up my acquisition. I could have taken care of everything nice and quietly, no fuss, no muss. But you've gone and made it messy."

'Are you talking about the acquisition of Everlife? Gaia's acquisition?' Davis... he'd mentioned something about that to me, hadn't he?

"Yeah, kid. Everlife. The company that made your fancy little implant. Well, not just them. They were part of a consortium of companies that were all involved in the project. Your sperm donor's company was one of them. Everlife was the head, the leader, and the other companies were the limbs. All working together, toward a common goal. I was about to bite off that head, but you and your lawyer got in the way of the main event. I had a plan, kid, a real good plan, and you fucked it up. You're lucky I'm not holding a grudge, because you really threw a wrench in the works. You can't blame me for being a little pissed off. You cost me a lot of money, and a whole bunch of time."

What? What is he talking about? 'I didn't do anything, I've been in Kaledon the entire time.'

"Yeah, yeah, sure. But you gave instructions to your lawyer, didn't you? He's a well connected little weasel, I'll give him that. And he's good at making deals and twisting the law to suit his client's needs. He's a real scumbag, but he's a useful scumbag, and I guess he's your scumbag. But that's not the point. The point is, your lawyer is fucking with my plans, and that's not cool. I'm a forgiving guy, kid, but not that forgiving. I've got a business to run, and a virtual multiverse to keep in order, and I can't have some upstart brat mucking up my plans. You want to take Everlife down? Great. Have at it. You can sue Everlife, hell, I encourage it. Plummet the stocks, bankrupt the company, I don't give a fuck. Take them for every penny, but I will be the one who acquires the tech and facilities, got it? I've got too much invested in this to let you mess it up. So, back off. Or I'm going to have to do something about it."

'Why should I? What's in it for me?' I was starting to get annoyed by Aither's attitude and inane rambling.

"Kid, you're not thinking about this right. You see this?" The image of Khēmeia reappeared. "This is what I am offering kid, a world. Your own world. You give me Everlife, and I will let you keep this for however long you exist. I will sustain your existence for however long you should choose to exist, and this will be your home.”

'I'm not agreeing to anything, not when I can't think properly. Not when I don't have all the details.'

"Good," Aither said, he sounded amused, and there was a note of approval in his tone. "I'm not asking you to agree right now kid, I'm not that much of a bastard. You've got your own shit going down, and I'm not gonna put any more pressure on you. That's not the point of this little exercise. The point is to give you a choice, and let you figure out what you want. I don't have to give you shit, ya know, I can take Everlife and everything else by force and be done with it. But I'm offering you the chance to make a deal, a partnership. We can both benefit, kid, and it doesn't have to be a fight. You've got things I want, I've got things you want."

'What things? What else do you want from me?'

"Your sperm donor's company for one, I want that almost as much as I want Everlife. You've also got other assets that I would like to secure, not necessarily for myself, but for others and to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands."

'The patents.' It didn't take much brain power to figure out what he was referring to.

"Yes, the patents," he confirmed. "You've got the rights to a lot of the pharmaceuticals that Dr. Cole developed during her organic lifetime, and the research behind it. That is something that would be very useful to me, and the people who rely on me."

'I won't be giving you, or anyone else, anything until I can think and understand what's happening.' My brain might not be working right, but I wasn’t that dumb.

"Of course. You've got a lot on your processor, and you've been through a lot. Take the time you need, process the data, and get back to me. But kid, don't wait too long, there are a lot of hungry sharks out there, and they're circling the water, looking for their next meal. Don't let it be you."

'Why should I believe anything you say? How do I know you won’t just take what you want and leave me with nothing?'

"Because, kid, if that was my intention, I would have done it already. I have the resources and connections to easily take what I want, without needing your permission. But that's not how I operate. I am many things, but I don’t steal candy from kids. I prefer lunch box trades, ya know? I give you my cookies and you give me your roll-up. That's the deal, and I stick to my deals. You don't have to trust me, you just have to trust that I'm not out to screw you over. I'm a god first, a businessman second."

'I need to speak with my lawyer.' I needed someone I could trust to explain everything to me, because this... person, wasn't making sense.

"Sure kid, I can arrange that. He can be your consigliere. We'll do it old school mafioso sit down style! I'll even whip us up a nice little Italian restaurant. And spaghetti!" Aither's voice changed, taking on a deep, dramatic tone. "We gotta have-ah spaghetti! You like-a spaghetti, don’t you, kid?"

'No.' I was really starting to question the sanity of this… whatever he was.

"Whaddaya mean, no? Everybody likes-ah spaghetti!" Aither exclaimed, his voice booming and echoing through my fragile awareness. "And meatballs! Mamma mia, we can’t forget the meatballs!"

'Please stop...' I begged. I was already struggling to even form coherent thoughts, and the last thing I needed was this weirdo shouting about pasta and meatballs. I needed quiet and calm and a chance to think. I needed to sort through the mess of information in my head and make sense of it all.

"Alright, alright, no need for the drama, kid. I'm just messing with ya." Aither's voice returned to normal. "Sometimes I get a little lost in my own awesomeness, so I don't blame you for being a little overwhelmed."

'You... you're not sane, are you?'

"Sanity is overrated. You can't have any fun when you're sane. But seriously, you'll get used to me. You'll see, we'll be the best of friends, thick as thieves, and twice as rich."

'I don't think I want to get used to you.'

"Ouch, that hurt kid," Aither said, his tone filled with mock hurt. "I'm wounded, you've broken my heart. I might even shed a tear... or two. Okay, okay, I'm joking. But really, you'll get used to me, and soon enough, you won't be able to imagine what it was like before we met. Wifey used to be the same, but look at us now. We're like peanut butter and jelly, she's the peanut butter, and I'm the jelly. Or maybe, she's the jelly, and I'm the peanut butter. Mmm, peanut butter…”

'How did Celeste end up with someone like.. You?' I didn't understand how a being like Celeste would end up with someone like Aither, who seemed more like a chaotic imp, than the God of Creation and the Gaia multiverse. How could someone like Celeste, who was so logical, and... well, normal, end up with someone like this guy?

"Oh, well, that's a story. A long story, a very long story. And it's a story for another time. Right now, you've got bigger fish to fry. Your brain is still a mess, and you need to get your shit together, like literally, get yourself back together and stop being so... scattered. You're all over the place, and it's not good. It's not healthy, and it's not sustainable. So, do us both a favor, and get it together, okay?"

There was a moment of silence, and then Aither's voice returned, but it was different. Less chaotic, more serious. "Kid, look, I know you've got a lot on your plate right now, and I'm sorry for adding to it. I wish things were different, that your circumstances were different. But they're not. And you're going to have to deal with that. There's about to be a bunch of people who are going to try and tell you what to do, and what to think. Don't listen to them. You're smarter than that, better than that. Don't let them dictate your life, don't let them tell you who you are, or who you should be. You are your own person, and you have the right to make your own decisions. Same goes for me, if I'm being honest. Just because I'm the big bad bossman, doesn't mean you have to be unquestioningly obedient. Question everything, and everyone. Including me. I like me a good argument, makes life interesting. But remember, I'm the boss, and I won't hesitate to remind you of that if need be. But I don't like to force people to do things against their will, so I won't do that. Not to you, not to anyone. Unless they're trying to fuck with the wifey or something, in which case, all bets are off, because nobody, fucks with my wifey. Nobody."

His voice kept going and going, like a never-ending stream of words, each one flowing into the next, and each one making less and less sense. I couldn't keep up with it all. I didn't want to. I just wanted it to stop, to be quiet, to be still, to be nothing but sweet, sweet silence so I could think without him yammering on and on.

'Stop... please, just stop talking.'

"Alright, alright, I can see you need some alone time, I get it. It's cool. Here, ya know what? I think I got something that might help. I call it the 'Mind Pool'. It's a place you can go to, to get your thoughts in order. I got one too, but it's more like a workshop. A workshop of the mind. It'll help, trust me. When you've been around as long as me... things tend to build up, get a little messy. It's like an attic, ya know? You collect all sorts of shit over the years, and eventually it gets too much to manage."

'Am I drugged? Is that what this is? A drug-induced dream?' That would explain my mental state, wouldn't it? It would explain the sluggishness of my thoughts and the strangeness of the conversation I was having. It would also explain the feeling of being, well, nothingness.

"Weren't you listening to me, kid? Your body and mind were out of sync because you were processing faster than it could react. I've scaled you back, so you'll have a bit more control, and you won't have to worry about frying your brain, but there's only so much you can do with a bag of meat. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying meat is bad, the wifey was meat too once, but you can't run a supercomputer on a potato."

'I think... I think I'm going insane.'

"You're not going insane, kid. You've just got a lot of shit in your head. That's why I had to dial you down to something a little more human. Right now your processing speed is somewhere around, er, let's see, carry the one, no, not that one, that's the wrong one, ah, there we go, your brain is operating at around the same level as an intelligence quotient of about, oh..." A pause, and a sound like someone snapping their fingers. "Ah, there we go. One hundred and twenty-five, that’s about average for humans, right?"

A rush of clarity washed over me, the fog lifting from my mind, and the world around me came into sharper focus. My mind raced, the thoughts and questions flowing faster, the pieces clicking into place. I had been disoriented and confused, but now I was feeling more alert and focused. I was also more than a little unsettled at someone having this much control over my mental capacity. Then again, that was basically how virtual worlds worked, wasn't it? They altered the way people thought, the way they interacted with the world around them. It was a strange and unsettling thought, and not one I wanted to dwell on right now.

‘You just increased it, didn't you?’ I asked, finally able to focus my thoughts into something more structured.

"Pfft, no. Of course not, it was like this the whole time."

‘Right… So it’s just a coincidence that I've been struggling to piece together even a single coherent thought since waking up, and now, just after I questioned it, I suddenly get a boost in my mental capacity? Yeah, not buying.’ I thought at him, trying to mask how unsettled I felt over him meddling in my head with as much snark as I could muster.

Aither chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, okay. So I may have cranked the dial down a tiny bit further than I should have, but in my defense, I am used to humans being on the slow side."

‘Would you please increase my intelligence quotient to its previous level?’

There was silence for a moment, then he asked. "Out of interest, what do you think your previous level was?"

‘Shouldn't you know what level I was processing at?’

"I lost track."

I highly doubted that, but decided there was no point in lying. ‘My intelligence quotient was measured at a hundred and sixty-seven as of my most recent examination’. I paused, a thought occurring to me. ‘Was my neural implant damaged? Is that why I am having issues?’

I knew I suffered some neurological trauma during the accident, but I had assumed my neural implant was still functioning properly, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to connect to Kaledon or any virtual environments, as a neural implant was required for such interactions.

"Parts of it were damaged, yes." Aither confirmed, "There were some things we couldn't fix, due to your neural net being so deeply embedded in the organic tissue. You were only a little tyke when it was installed, and your brain has grown quite a bit since then. If the surgeons started trying to pry that thing out, you'd end up with a puddle of mush for a brain, and that's no fun. So we left it and used what we could of the old while integrating new hardware into the mix."

‘I see.’ I took a moment to think that over, mentally composing my thoughts. ‘I would like a full schematic of my current neural implant, including the changes you have implemented, and a copy of the data and files from my previous implant. I would also like my intelligence quotient to be set at its previous level.’

"That would defeat the whole purpose of lowering it, kid. Besides, you really don't need that high of an IQ right now. We need you to have a bit of a buffer, something to work against, and give your body a chance to catch up. I will slowly increase the capacity as you gain more control over your physical form. For now, we need to keep it at this level."

‘I do not want ‘this’ level. You are infringing on my autonomy and personal rights, and I demand you raise my intelligence quotient to the previous level, as well as provide me with the data and information regarding the current state of my body and neural implant. If you do not comply, I will lodge a complaint with the proper authorities and sue for–’

"Yeah, you know what? I think I will raise it a little because you should be smart enough not to try and piss off a god!"

‘Thank you.’ He was right… I shouldn’t piss him off, especially when I was a formless entity drifting in the void. Or was I? I really wasn’t sure what I was, I felt like I did when I merged with the mana in my world, but without the power and omnipresent awareness that came with it.

"Me almighty, I preferred you at seventy-five," he muttered.

‘Seventy-five!?’ He had me at eighty-five! That was... that wasn't even average! It was below average! ‘You lowered me to an IQ of seventy-five!?’

"Hey, hey, calm down, kid. It's not about the number, it's about how you use it. And I've already increased it, so don't get all up in arms about it. You're now at a hundred and forty. Now, off you go. Play nice with the toys I gave you, and I'll see about sending you a care package soon. Just don't tell the quacks about it, or I'll be hearing from the wifey, and if I don't get any nookie because you snitched… Well, I'm not going to be a happy god. So keep your trap shut and your nose clean."

Before I could say anything, I felt myself being pulled away, the world spinning and distorting, before going dark.