When Van opened his eyes, he was in his soul realm, floating above his domain. He watched as a new island seemed to form from the edges of his realm and drift slowly towards the center of his being.

The Island was a tropical one, with a large volcano at its center, along with hot springs, surrounded by forests.

Van was pretty sure that Agnès had nothing to do with volcanoes or hot springs. But couldn’t deny what he saw for himself. It seemed that Agnès’s past life had a great deal in shaping what her soul realm would look like. Even if she never remembered it or knew about it. Though that still begged the question as to what kind of past life she lived, hopefully, he would find out a bit more when he went down.

Descending downward, he floated towards his castle where Ren and Kassandra would no doubt be waiting for him. Once there, he was greeted by both of them, Ren waiting on the balcony and Kassandra being surrounded by holographic panels that seemed to have information on the new island and its progress towards his own island.

“Wellcome Van, I suspect you're no doubt here for some explanation on what’s going on with Agnès’s soul realm, correct?” Ren asked as Van landed on the balcony. “Well… I have some good news for you…” smiling mischievously, as if he had a great big secret he couldn’t wait to share.

“Oh? And what’s that?” Van asked, being somewhat taken off guard by Ren’s good attitude despite the sudden changes that the volcanic island was having on his soul realm.

“Well for one…” Ren began, looking strangely pleased about something. “You just married a dragon… and a very powerful one at that… I suspect its island would fully become a part of your soul realm within three months' time.” he then chuckled, “I can’t wait to see what kind of benefits you will get from that.”

Making Van’s eyes widen a bit. He had a suspicion that it could be something like that, but it was too unbelievable to outright believe, which was why he came down to confirm with Ren. “And the other?” Van asked, catching on to the ‘well for one’ part of what Ren said, which sounded like there was something more.

“Well… for the other…” Ren grinned as if he could hardly contain his joy.

Which really unnerved Van since he rarely if ever seen Ren in such a good mood unless it was to tease someone.

“The other is…” Ren continued, drawing things out for dramatic effect. “Is that, this isn’t the first time you’ve married her before!”

Van blinked, “what the hells is he talking about?” he thought, confused as to what Ren could be saying or if it wasn’t another tease of some sort.

“What do you mean this isn’t the first time I've married her before?” Van asked, eyes furrowed in confusion. “How could I have married someone before I’ve met them?”

“Do you know that oath they say? Right before they marry you? Now and forever and in every life? Well… it’s a lot more literal than you think it is, especially when it comes to oaths between dragons…” Ren said with a smirk.

Van was suddenly reminded of a dream he had a long time ago when he met a bunch of past lives of his and in the distance, one of them was a black dragon with gold and blue lines. “Wait… you don’t mean…” as Van finally picked up what Ren was putting down.

Ren nodded, smiling wider now that Van finally caught on. “That’s right, Agnès was someone you married in a previous life, someone who also shared a soul bond with you. Ever heard of finding your soul mate? This is it in action. Someone you loved and or shared an intimate bond within your past life, coming to meet you in this one.”

Van had a hard time wrapping his mind around this, sure he could get behind past lives, he lived it. But spouses from his past lives coming to meet him in this one? Actual soul mates? It felt a little too much like things that were long and buried coming out of their graves to haunt him. And he should know, he was a necromancer!

“But… wait!” Van said as if to discount what Ren had said. “I’m pretty sure Agnès loves Luna a little more than she does me! So why is it that she fell in love and married Luna and married me only by proxy? I mean I know she also loves me, but not the same way she does with Luna!”

Ren looked like he just bit into something sour, giving Van a slight glare before controlling his expression. Then with some hesitation tried to explain why that might be the case.

“Well… it isn’t just Agnès who you had a relationship with in the past…” Ren said, being careful with his words. “In fact… it could very well be that Lyn and Anna were also someone you had shared relationships with as well, a long time ago… but! Sometimes people change after a few lifetimes apart, they can mix with others or develop new perspectives or more, changing their personalities and even what their soul realm could look like. So it could just be that, while it is true she genuinely loved you and married you in a past life, something could have changed before you met up again to… change how that love is portrayed… or even shown… Do you get what I’m trying to say?” Ren asked.

Van thought about it for a bit. And now that he did, he remembered that Agnès suffered from nightmares from being almost raped and then eaten by a monster. It could very well be that because of that, she now preferred women now over men. Even if he was the exception to that rule… or it even could be… he was the exception because they were soul mates beforehand or in a past life, or however you would explain it... If it weren't for that… they probably wouldn’t have made it this far in their relationship… but… there was something else he had to know… something that Ren left out…

“And Luna? What about her?” Van asked. “Was she also someone important to me from before this life? And why is it that I don’t remember anything like this? Shouldn’t this be so important, that out of all the past memories that I have, I would remember them? Why is it only the mundane memories that I've kept?”

Ren really didn’t look happy when Van mentioned Luna, and what he said next was like pulling teeth. It was clear that for some reason, or at least from Van’s perceptive, Ren didn't like Luna very much.

“Yes… well… It could very well be true that Luna was someone you married and loved in a past life. It could also be true that perhaps the reason why Agnès also loves Luna so much is because they very well could have been a part of the same harem with you.” Ren said, “as for why you mostly remember only mundane things… that's the same problem for everyone… it’s a bit too complicated to get into, and for the most part, it is what it is, so there's no point in complaining about it.” he said with a shrug as if even he couldn’t help it, “no one has true control over how their souls would transfer after death, or how their memories would be preserved. Unless of course, they were lucky enough to learn the knowledge, but even that could be accidentally washed away in the next reincarnation cycle.”

Then as if to change the subject. “Why don’t we talk about something more important,” moving over to Kassandra and motioning for Van to follow him. “For example, how are we going to integrate this new soul into our soul realm? Any ideas? I have a few suggestions.”

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Van frowned a little. He didn’t know why Ren was being so evasive, but this wasn’t the first time he showed some form of dislike for Luna. He also didn’t like how Ren said ‘our soul realm’ as if it was something that was both of theirs instead of Van’s. But for all of Ren’s faults and secrets, he did help manage this massive place, and without him, he probably would have been dead multiple times. So for now he will drop the matter and pretend everything was fine… for now…

Moving over to get a good view as to what Ren wanted to show him, the two began talking about what they could do about Agnès’s island and what it could mean for the soul realm as a whole.

“Do you see this here?” Ren asked, pointing at a map of Van’s entire soul realm, zooming in on Agnès’s island. “Despite being so dense with vegetation, hot springs, and a freaking volcano. It’s actually barely two to three miles across, making it a very cramped island for everything on display.”

He then pointed to the edges of the island. “You can see here that her soul realm still hasn’t chosen a proper form, due to the fact that it’s still shifting and morphing, it could very well be that her soul realm didn’t have a chance to properly form before your soul bonded her, and is now being forced to. If we don’t take control of things now, it could have detrimental effects on her mind and body later. Not to mention what it could do for our soul realm as well. But at the same time, we can use this to better merge it with our island, as it still hasn’t chosen a proper form yet.”

He then looked at Van. “Do you have any suggestions on how you would like Agnès’s island to take shape before we merge it? You won’t have another chance then right now if you do.”

Van looked back at Ren. “shouldn’t Agnès be the one to make this decision? It is her soul realm after all.” feeling a little uncomfortable about changing something so important without the person's permission who it affected most. He had no idea what could happen if someone like him messed around with another’s soul realm.

Ren shook his head. “While that may be true, if you don’t do something to make sure it’s compatible or mixes in well with everything else, it could come back to bite you later. It might be her island, but this is your soul realm, and you have the right to make sure everything goes in smoothly. Anything else can be left to Agnès later when she arrives, but for now, we want to make sure things move smoothly before anything else.”

“Not to mention, Agnès probably wouldn’t be able to do anything at the moment anyway, she has never been able to access her soul realm before, so asking a complete novice to fix the problems of her soul realm without aid is probably not the best idea out there. Which is why you should do something about it, as the ruler of this soul realm who is responsible for everything and everyone here, including how this would affect the other soul realms of Anna, Luna, and Lyn. You have the most responsibility for what does and doesn’t happen here, this is just another price of rulership you have to deal with.” Ren finished.

Van gave it some thought, and he had to agree that Ren had a point. It wasn’t like Agnès could do anything now about it. And by the looks of the constantly shifting forms of her island, it very well could be she would need help getting things under control. So with that in mind, he started to play around with the screen in front of him and change the shape of the island, if only by a little.

First, he moved the small volcano off to the side a bit, then set the hot springs on the small slope that led from the top of the volcano to the bottom. He then came upon a problem, a small mountain that didn’t want to go down, so he set it aside next to the volcano, joining the slope. After that, he put the rest of the vegetation and woods near the bottom of the island with some leading up. He also noticed that there was a small cave of sorts under the mountain that already was forming resources that could be mined.

After a few more minutes, he set up a few little houses so as to allow visitors to come to use the hot springs. And after that, he started to look for the core of Agnès’s island.

But no matter where he looked, he couldn’t find it. In the end, he had to ask Ren for help, wondering if he was missing something.

“Hmm…” Ren said thoughtfully as he looked at the screen. “No, you're right… it does seem that the core of her island is missing… it very well could be that it hasn’t formed just yet and that it still needs time to do so.”

He then messed with a few buttons, bringing up another screen that showed fluctuations in energy and soul density. “It says here that the two most likely places are under the mountain or under the volcano… with some tertiary places showing up in the village you made around the hot springs and the forest with all the herbs and greenery… hmm…”

He then messed with a few more buttons until an idea came to him and he looked over back at Van. “why don’t you play around a bit more with shaping the island. It seems that the main places of soul density and concentration are under the volcano, under the mountain, and somewhere in the village or woods. Try moving things around and see if you can’t help her core form quicker.” moving out of the way of the screen to let Van get a better look again.

Van frowned, not wanting so much responsibility thrown on him, but moved to get a better view of the screen anyway. After some thought, he moved the small mountain and volcano and combined them together, then formed a small hilly mountain chain on the edges of the island connected to it. He kept the slope where it was and decided to create a flatter area for the village and added a larger home-like mansion for Agnès. Then created a tunnel that led from the mansion to right under the volcano, creating a nice open space. He then created a proper mining tunnel near the village and somewhat away from the mansion and its own personal cave.

After he was done, he had the mansion and volcano on top. The village and the hot springs are in the middle, ending with the forest at the bottom. With a few trees here and there on the mountain and village to give it some life followed by a small river that fell from near the top of the mountain to the bottom.

Ren nodded happily after seeing the fluctuations of the energy shifted to the cave that Van made for Agnès. “Very good! With this, the island should be able to form properly and merge successfully with ours with no problem. I just need to make sure everything else goes well as I oversee the process.” Ren said, making a few notes and changes to the screen in front of him that he made himself. Then addressed Van for the last time.

“Why don’t you go around and explore the soul realm a bit, you don’t visit as often as you should, I think. There have been a few more changes since the last time you were here. Why don’t you let Kassandra take you around for another tour?” Ren said, not even looking at Van anymore, too absorbed in his stats and statistics.

“Wait, before I go, what possible benefits can Agnès’s island provide me? Is there anything special that can be mined or grown there?” asking because he noticed how the mountain seemed like it was made for the accumulation of rare minerals.

“Hmm…” Ren then pressed a few buttons and took an overview of the island. “It does seem like the island will be abundant in rare minerals… thought that might require some work on our end… honestly… The most attractive part of the island is its lava and hot springs,” he said with a shrug.

“The Lava?” Van asked.

Ren went back to his own thing that he was doing but still answered Van anyway. “Believe it or not, lava is a great source of heat for the construction of forges and the development of rare minerals. This is a world of magic, after all, it’s not impossible to be able to harness the heat of lava to help craft tools and weaponry. Or even forge the lava itself into useful items that could be used.”

“And the hot springs probably have actual healing properties that could be used to help people recover from wounds or disease. Another aspect of this magical world. Finally, the forest seems to be very fertile, no doubt it is aching to have proper plants of the medicinal variety to grow. Reflecting the will of the owner. The cave is also not looking too bad, it could be due to her past life being that of a dragon, but I suspect she has hidden greediness that will help in the formation of rare minerals that would be used to fill that cave you made for her. A reflection of her past life desires…” he finished.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I have a busy schedule ahead of me. Please take the rest of the day off while I get to work making sure everything fits together properly. I can’t afford to be distracted.” and with that, Ren focused on the screen in front of him. Making it clear that he was going to pay more attention to it than to whatever else Van was going to say.

Van frowned, he wanted to ask a few more questions about Agnès’s soul realm, but probably wouldn’t get anywhere with how focused Ren looked. So with that, he decided to take the offer and allow Kassandra to take him on a tour of his own soul realm. Somewhat excited to see what else has changed since he was last here.

Kassandra smiled gently and took his hand, while there was no need to, she wanted to anyway. She then spread her large white wings and the two took off into the air to get a better view of the world below. Van always wanted to ask her how it felt, changing from a ghost into an angel that was part of the system of his soul realm. But saved it for later.

For now, he decided to just enjoy the new and amazing sights of his soul realm and everything it had to offer...