Luka and Leo found Annie sitting on a bench near the pirate dock themed Stormcorsair Harbor, sandwiched between Ren and Nicole. Following her had been easy enough, a majority of the crowd was waiting in line for Cosmic Rebirth, not Whirlpool Plunge or Rogue Wave.

Ren animatedly talked to Annie, pantomiming, flipping a burger or pancake while stirring an invisible pot with his other hand. Nicole sketched in her journal, glancing at Annie’s side profile occasionally. Luka stepped close enough to hear.

“They’re called smashburgers!” Ren exclaimed. “And you have to whisk the egg yolks with oil to make mayonnaise! And you slop the mayo—short for mayonnaise—on a toasted bun—”

“Ren,” Luka said with a sigh, “please leave her alone. She knows what mayonnaise is.”

Annie eyed him suspiciously, her chin tucked in and head low. “Sorry for running,” she muttered.

Ren looked between the father and daughter. “Wait, you two know each other? Is that a human thing? Do you know every human?”

“She’s my daughter.” He shook his head. “If you didn’t know that, why are you bothering her? Don’t tell me you two just bother random guests with mayonnaise facts.”

Ren and Nicole’s eyes went wide. “We don’t annoy people!” the former declared.

“I just wanted to draw her,” the latter said, turning her journal around for Luka to see. “I even asked first!”

Whatever ire Luka had fell away. “Alright, alright. I’m sorry for assuming. That’s a very good sketch, Nicole.” And it was. It highlighted Annie’s slender—now youthful—facial features, tracing her defined chin and cleanly casting her in dynamic shadow.

Nicole beamed. “I have those—what’d you call them again? Stuffed animal concepts? I have them ready.”

Annie quirked an eyebrow. “Concepts?”

Luka tried not to look guilty. Child labor was a no-no in most places, including this world. “The park needs a new toy line.”

“Mmmhmm!” Nicole sang. “And I’m getting paid one-hundred gold pieces!”

His palm was on his face. “She’s delivering a vastly overpriced set of concepts.”

“And he owes me a dozen Earth recipes, too!” Ren declared, looking proud.

“I do?”

“Yeah! Because—” Ren glanced at Nicole.

“Because that was part of the stuffed animal deal as well,” the little dryad expertly said, her complete and utter lie shrouded in sheer hubris.

“I don’t remember that,” Luka said.

“Well it’s true!” Ren tried.

The World Walker stared at the orc for a long moment before sighing and saying, “Fine. But only if you and Nicole beat it.”

“Beat what?”

Luka blinked. “It’s a saying. It means to scram.”

“Oh.” Ren thought for a moment, ultimately deferring to Nicole. She shrugged, collected her things, and hopped off the bench.

“Let’s go get a churro,” she said, strolling off with Ren in tow.

Luka and Annie watched them go. “Cute kids,” she said before asking, “They’re not yours, right?”

He took a second to look over, and when he did, his eyes fell to the ground. “No—I’ve only been here for a few weeks.” He scratched the back of his head. “But I guess I’m a father figure to those two. They’ve taken a particular liking to me.”

“They’re orphans, right?”

“They all are. There was a mine collapse.”

“Tragic.” Annie gnawed her lip.

Luka noticed and asked, “Can I sit?” She gave a limp shrug, and he sat before she could change her mind.

They sat beside each other for a long moment. They were right on the cusp of the illusionary docks. Another step or two, and magic would fill the air, producing dark rain clouds and a howling wind. A few more steps and there’d be rain, a few more and the salty brine of the ocean would attack their noses and tickle their skin.

But where they sat, the illusions were hidden. The pendulum swinging pirate ship crested over the nearby trees, drawing both their eyes. The ship was mostly empty, only a few die-hard fans for the ride dared skip Cosmic Rebirth’s grand opening.

“You built that?” Annie eventually asked.

“With the help of Eve and her aunt, Sol.”

“Her aunt’s name is Sol?”

Luka nodded, a soft smile crossing his lips. “You should meet Goddess Tippy. She’s got a funny name.”

“I have.”

He looked at her. “She’s nice. Helped me out a few times.”

Leo barked, adding his two cents. The wolf was back in Luka’s hood, his chin resting lazily on Luka’s shoulder.

“Leo says, ‘I agree,’” Luka said.

Annie’s eyes went from her father to the wolf. “You can understand him?”

“Not entirely. But Leo can understand us. I was thinking of buying an enchanted tattoo that allows you to understand animals, but I heard they’re expensive.”

Annie grunted as if the absurdity of the statement was completely normal.

Luka then took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For being absent. For ignoring you growing up. For abandoning you and Mom. For,” he sighed. “For everything. I… I don’t have any excuses to make, nor do I wish to. I failed you and so many others.”

With bitterness, Annie muttered, “But you don’t fail people here. On this world.”

“I try not to.” Luka’s voice was small. “But I know I will.”

“But not on purpose.”

“Never on purpose.” He held his head back and stared at the sky. Leo shifted in his hood and gave an annoyed whine. “I look back at my life on Earth and ask myself how it could ever have gotten that bad. My gut reaction was to make excuses: the money, the power, the renown. I lived with those excuses for years until the guilt, remorse, and self-loathing got to me.”

“You died alone in the cold,” Annie said flatly. “Eve told me.”

“You didn’t already know?”

“I always assumed you died, but no one ever called us to confirm.”

Luka stayed silent for a few moments. “Are you okay? That thing was in you—”

Annie held a hand. “I don’t want to talk about it. I remember everything it said or did while in control of me.”

He gritted his teeth. “Annie, I have to ask, how long?”

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“Not long. An hour? Maybe a bit more.” A pained look crossed her face. “I was dead. Then I wasn’t. Before I could figure out what was happening, this thing was asking me questions about you. Demanding them, even. I kept saying ‘I don’t know,” and I think it got pissed and decided to come ask you directly. What’d you even do to it?”

“Nothing, as far as I know. Neb told me I had a hand in waking it, but I don’t know what that means, nor do I care. It’s gone. Hopefully, for good.”

Luka and Annie didn’t notice the shadows darken.

Annie’s eyes turned glazed. “Did you mean it?”

“Mean what?”

“That you’d forgive everyone. That you’d give them all a second chance.”

Luka didn’t answer right away. To him, the answer was obvious. Everything he’d experienced in both lives, everything he’d learned to come to terms with his previous. It all made perfect sense to him, and yet, simply answering “yes” felt hollow.

So, he didn’t simply answer.

“I killed tens of thousands of people—maybe more—and displaced ten times that. They died because of my creations, because of the weapons I was proud of. I only know a handful of their names—the important ones, the generals and leaders. And that acknowledgment makes me sick to my stomach. It… it took me a long time to understand the pain in my gut and longer to accept it was completely my fault. And yet, I was given a second chance.”

“The goddess said she only reincarnated you because your family hates you.”

Luka felt the anger in Annie’s words. They were supposed to get a rise out of him, and yet, the pain in his stomach only tightened. “Yeah, I believe it.” He pulled his arms in close. “I think Tippy’s reasoning for reincarnating me was noble. She explained it to me recently, and if my memories had remained sealed, I think I would have done exactly as she wanted without question.”

“Do you regret it then?” Annie asked. “Unsealing your memories—whatever that means.”

“I do not. I needed to remember. I don’t know their faces or names, but I can remember them.”

She scoffed, tears welling in her eyes. “That’s rich. Because there were two victims you did know the names and faces of! Me and mom!” Annie opened her mouth to scream something, but Luka’s question knocked the wind out of her.

“Did she go easy?”

And that was it, Annie’s tears fell, dropping like anvils. Snot ran through her nose, and her chest heaved and culled. She shuddered, wrapping herself in her arms.

“Let it all out,” Luka tenderly said. “Just you and me here, no one can see us.”

With a flicker of magic, a nearby leaf was etched with an illusion glyph, one producing an empty bench right where they sat. Unless someone knew how to dispel the illusion, they were as good as invisible.

“I assume it was the cancer,” he asked. Somewhere in Annie’s throes, she made a gesture, reminiscent of a nod. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.”

“Y-y-y-you bastard!” she slobbered out, her face devolved into mucus and tears.

“Yeah,” was all he could say.

She wiped her face and, as clear as day, said, “Mom died the way I wish you would have!”

Luka’s eyes opened wide at that, then shot to the ground sorrowfully. “Me too. If I could swap places with her today, I would.” He mechanically rubbed his artifact ring.

His words rekindled Annie’s sobbing. Yet two words echoed out. “I know.” They were quiet and muted behind terrible gasps for air, but they were genuine. They were the words of an estranged daughter meeting her father after a lifetime and realizing he’s a changed man.

Eventually, Annie’s tears dried, and she muttered, “Look at me, an old woman crying like a kid with a bruised knee.”

“You’re not old,” Luka quietly said. “Not anymore. And don’t be embarrassed. Tippy, Leo, and I sat in a time-accelerated domain for nine years while I cried like the world was ending.”

“Nine years?”

“Yeah. I don’t think Tippy realizes I know that, so don’t tell her.”

Annie frowned. “Nine actual years?”

“I think it was in our heads or something. I dunno. Divine magic is weird.”

“Magic,” she said, the word alien. “Is it real? I keep seeing these strange things, and I feel some of them might be tricks.”

Luka picked up a leaf with his magic, hovering it around the bench like a remote-controlled airplane. “It’s real.” He let the leaf fall.

“And you’re building an amusement park with it?”

“Yeah. I built a carousel for the kids, and it kind of took off.”

Annie then flatly asked, “Is there a way to go back to Earth, then? With magic, there’s surely—”

“I don’t know.” Luka thought about asking his ring to show him a recipe for a galaxy-spanning potion of teleportation but didn’t. He didn’t want to. Or maybe he couldn’t. His life was here now. He didn’t want to go back.

Then for her? The question rang in his mind. He should ask the ring for the recipe for her. If she didn’t want to stay, she should be allowed to go home.

“I don’t know,” Luka repeated, rolling his ring. “But I know how to find out.”

Annie eyed him. “You wouldn’t stop me? I have family on Earth, I—”

He held up both his hands. “I’d do anything for you. If I have to beg the gods, I will.” A beat passed. “With that said, I’m staying. I have people that rely on me.” Another beat passed. “And I want you to stay.”

She shook her head. “Even if I want to go?”

“Annie. I ruined your previous life—at least a large part of it. If I can make it up in any way, I will.”

“Except go back to Earth with me?”

He hesitated but knew the answer. “Right.”

He expected the answer to rekindle the flame of hatred, and yet, Annie mutely nodded along. “How’s life here?” she asked.

“I-It’s slower,” Luka said, stumbling on the first word. “No internet and telecommunications. But there’s no war, poverty, hunger, or homelessness. The children are taken care of by the gods, if not their families, and everyone smiles at you in the mornings. People live tough lives, and yet still find ways to give their children an amazing birthday gift. We’ve gotten only a handful of reports about line cutters. The general consensus is that the park is too overpriced, and we need to do something about it…”

Luka continued to ramble about things in this world for several minutes. Annie just listened.

In the end, Annie simply said, “This place sounds great. But my family. I had a husband and kids. I don’t even know if Vladdy is dead or not.”

“Vladdy?” Luka asked.

“Vladimir, my husband. He out-lived me.”

“Annie,” Luka said her name hoarsely like it weighed a ton. “I have a secret.” He held up his ringed finger. “This is a divine artifact. It holds an immeasurable worth.”

She slowly looked at the ring, then at her father. “What’s it do?”

“In short, it tells me recipes for stuff—for everything, really. It’s essentially a money-printing ring and a resource perfect for amusement park creation.”

“Okay? So, the park’s restaurants are going to have good food. I’m not seeing where the—”

He held up his hand. “It tells me recipes for everything. Bricks, aluminum, what’s needed to build a log flume or potions that transmute grass into gold.”

She stared at him.

“I know the recipe for a potion of reincarnation.”

Her eyes went wide. “Are you saying you could reincarnate Vlad here?”

“Him, your kids, their kids—I think. So far the gods haven’t corrected me, even if they read my mind asking about it.”

“Read your mind asking—what?”

Luka sighed. “Some questions are better left in your head when a god is around. Trust me on that.”

“Okay—” Annie didn’t know what to say to that.

“There’s one issue with the potion.”

“It’s expensive.”

He nodded. “I don’t even know where to get the resources needed. I was planning on asking Barns if any of his underworld connections might know. He was a street gang leader.”

Annie made a face. “Am I supposed to know who that is?”

“New security for the park. He’s a good man.”

“You just said he was a criminal.”

Luka shrugged. “Life was hard after the mine collapsed. And remember, second chances.”

She sighed. “Fine. I guess.”

“I do have one other avenue of sourcing materials. But I need to know if you’re serious about reincarnating him first.”

“I am.”

Luka shook his head. “Let me ask in a different way. I’ve done a lot of thinking about this. Life for me was terrible once I realized what I did. And when Tippy reincarnated me, I begged to go back to the void. I don’t know Vlad—and I want to, mind you—but I don’t think it’ll be fair to him, or you, if you reincarnate him and he didn’t want you to.”

“Of course, he wouldn’t mind! I can’t believe you’d say—”

“Would mom want to be reincarnated?”

For the second time in the last few minutes, a single question about her mother knocked the air from Annie’s lungs. “No—” she admitted with a choked grunt. “She fought through the cancer, but in the end, was done with the pain and life.”

Luka nodded, expecting as much. “I’ll believe you if you say Vlad wouldn’t mind. But you need to think about it first.”

Annie did. And her answer remained firm. “He would. He’d love it here. Magic? Elves? Whatever that little girl was.”

“Nicole’s a dryad,” he said with a smile. “She’s a character all herself. She was the only one of all the orphans to approach me on my first day here. She asked if I could fix her doll.”

“Brave.”

“I’ll say.” Luka gave Leo a scratch on the head. “Okay—no promises this will work. If it doesn’t, well, we’ll figure it out.”

Before Annie could stop him, Luka looked to the sky and said, “Alright, all you gods, I saved the world or whatever and am calling in your debt! I demand the materials needed to reincarnate Vlad.”

Annie’s eyes were open, then without thinking, she flicked her head toward the sky and said, “And the knowledge of where to procure extra materials for future reference!”

Luka lowered his head and looked at her. He reached out and gently rubbed her shoulder. When she didn’t instantly shove him away, he smiled. “And, gods, I think it’s time we talk about whatever magic Annie was supposed to get for being reincarnated as a World Walker.”

Annie gave him a questioning look.

“World Walkers all have unique magic,” he explained. “And you are a World Walker. You just had a different arrival than most.”

“Oh. Cool.”

When no god appeared before them, Luka began to speak to the heavens again. A voice cut him off.

“Hold your dire-wolves,” Goddess Tippy said, appearing as a mortal woman. “We’re working on it.”