"Contracts are dangerous, etranger. As are names. Assumptions. Promises."

"Because they bind things?"

"Quite so. Things grow in strength, step further from chaos and nothingness, when these fetters are lashed."

"So, you avoid them. But without them, it is hard to invoke change, right?"

Right now, I honestly don't know how I am communicating with Thanatos. I was disintegrated, after all. I can't see or hear him, and I have no means of talking. I guess I must be in some kind of in-between state. Well... it’s best not to think too hard on it. Only madness lies down that road.

"It is very good to have one so quick on the uptake. Such a rarity. Hmm... I see. Your world may be horribly lacking in magical power... but this is what fosters a higher intellectual standard? Interesting. Though all of these rights and democracies sound awfully tiresome. How does anything ever get done?"

My thoughts and memories have been analysed again. I guess I should be horrified, but its old hat by now. Seria's thought spying already horrified me far more. Much to her amusement, no doubt.

"Huhuhu... if only I had known that it would be so close to the worlds demise that one similar to my own master of yore would appear. I would not have wasted so many years attempting to find a replacement."

"Your master was the first sage, right?"

"Yes. I suppose it must have been obvious..."

"So, is it true that he created magic?"

"Huhu... that charlatan could not create anything as complex as that. He was a prodigy at adapting the works of others in unusual ways, and a man of limitless ambition, but limited creativity. A researcher from another world."

"So, he ~was~ another etranger after all..."

"Yes. Though when he arrived, this world was in a primitive state. Its humanity was tribal and barely discovering forging and agriculture."

"Then who summoned him?"

"No one. Like I said, he was excellent at adapting and improving the work of others. He came from a world which studied the magic of transferral, and actually succeeded. To a degree. He could not return."

There is a moment of silence.

"I do not know if Rah'lyah somehow planned everything, or whether it was mere whimsey."

"The first dragon, right?"

"The only dragon, rather. If this world ever truly had a real deity, Rah'lyah would be it. I was young when I beheld her countenance, but nothing else in my life has really ever given me fear, or even pause for thought, in the same way. She. I am sure it was a she. She created magic and spirits. As a random side project."

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As a random side project? I guess that concept is pretty scary.

"So... I understand you likely put together the circle of unravelling. What did it do, in the end? Am I dead?"

"Briefly. As you may have ascertained, this speech of ours is occurring in the briefest of moments. When free from its physical constraints, your mind is briefly able to achieve wonders. But this is only possible because your spirit is acting as a conduit for your life."

"I owe Aeris again, huh?"

"It is quite a bizarre specimen. But then, you are a bizarre individual as well."

"I'll take that as a compliment." I chuckle.

"In any case, we are running out of time." Thanatos' voice goes serious.

"So... what is it you want me to do?"

"Exactly what you were already planning to. Defeat Cultivator. The ideas his spirit has for this world will not be productive. It is ultimately a short-sighted youngster with delusions of grandeur. The corruption it is bringing will devastate everything. I do not believe it fully understands the implications."

"Hmm... I thought it would be more complicated than that."

Thanatos remains silent for a moment, as if pondering. I feel like I hit a nerve. So there probably is something else.

"I will grant you a measure of my own strength. As a vessel, you would be inadequate to contain my essence without at least another thousand years of spiritual training, alas. But your spirits unique feature appears to mimic your own propensity for wide learning. It is able to absorb willing powers from others. I will expand that ability with my own endlessness."

Oh. Oh! That actually explains some things. Did Aeris borrow Michaels power to heal Kali that one time?

I guess he's not going to share anything else, and don't get any further answers, though. Sudden intense pain wracks my mind.

Arrghhh...

Everything warps around me, and I feel like everything is burning, stinging, freezing, crushing, and stabbing all at once.

Assaulted by stimuli, things are not helped by a girl shape glomping me. Fortunately, as everything is still a white haze around me, and it appears that I am partly spiritual, I do not fall on my ass as usual.

"Master-sama! Elijah-sama!"

Aeris is suddenly hugging me, and I am naked. It feels like she has gotten slightly taller as her spiky metal hair is grazing my chest.

I ruffle her head, and she looks up to me with her big mismatching eyes.

"Thankyou Aeris. You kept my soul together, didn't you? Good job."

She grins adorably, but also cocks her head quizzically, as if to say she wasn't aware of this. Perhaps she wasn't.

Whilst she has always had jolts of electricity running through her spiky hair, I suddenly notice there are now occasional spikes of pitch black electricity as well. She has also gained a black streak in her hair. She really is getting all the cliché 'main character' traits, it’s quite funny. But it’s safe to assume this is the buff Thanatos has given her.

"Aeris, do you feel any different?" I ask.

She finally releases her clamp on me, and looks at herself, then sniffs her own arm. Then she suddenly gets tears in her eyes and her lip wobbles.

"I... I smell like a void spirit... eww... noooo!!"

She huffs and puffs, and flaps her arms, sending out streams of lightning and shards of metal.

Then she sniffs herself again and sighs in relief.

I can't help but laugh.

"You sure got strong, huh?"

She blinks repeatedly.

"Eh? Urrrm... oh!"

I can almost see the lightbulb click on above her head as she realises she was casually hosing out power on a whim.

But before anything else can happen, a vortex suddenly opens up in this indistinct chamber, and we are both sucked into it.

Aeris squeals as she suddenly transmutes back into a sword, and I grab her by the sheath as she flies towards me. My clothes rematerialize, and I feel like reality is reasserting itself.

Time to go back then.