In the wake of the Transcendants departure, Merak felt a great Will descend onto the galaxy, unfreezing bodies, fixing space, and generally undoing the effects of the Transcendant's displeasure.

  Death was temporarily dispersed, and the essence of Life was given free rein, joined alongside those of Soul, Creation, and Order, all working under set directions. He watched the tendrils of those essences, more powerful and of more potent influence, snake down into the galaxy like tendrils of giant chains. And everywhere they touched, life that had been subdued was reawakened, rejuvenated back to perfect health. Those who had been unjustly slain were brought back to life, and their souls were placed back into new, perfect bodies, created just as they had been, pre-appearance.

  Many of those souls, unfortunately, were brought back with memories of the events that had transpired, the entity that had brought calamity down upon them, its annihilating gaze, and its apocalyptic voice. And that was where the influence of the Essence of the Mind descended.

  It wormed its way into the minds of a galaxy's worth of population, and Merak felt as it ignored all other things, grabbed hold of the memories wrought from the dreadful event that had just taken place, an event that should not have been, and tore them away.

  He doubted anyone was going to remember what had happened—anyone but him.

  The fabric of space was strengthened as a greater essence of Renewal, more than those held by any Ascendant, snaked through, fixing all the cracks, tears, and holes born from the short appearance of the Transcendants.

  Its work preceded that of Renewal, which enforced its Influence further, fixing its domain, so much so that Merak knew that a more active force would need to be applied to fully damage the membrane.

  A quick scan and Merak's eyebrows rose in surprise; the presence of the Transcendants had caused less damage than he'd expected. Now that he thought of it, it was a miracle the Galaxy hadn't been utterly torn asunder by their mere glance.

  Staring into the distance, gaze unseeing, he ruminated on the implications of what had just happened.

  The Transcendants of Order had known.

  Merak did not doubt that distance was of no issue to beings of their caliber. After all, if the Herald had been able to arrive so early in the battle, what then stopped the Transcendants from descending right as the Hollow had pierced into reality?

  What this implied was that they had known beforehand of the creature's appearance, yet had made no move to curb it at its root.

  He knew this was a blasphemous thought; to accuse the Wardens of Reality of aiding in the intrusion of an enemy of reality. And he would have gladly put that suspicion to rest had they not descended the moment the creature had been vanquished, suspiciously arriving just a few minutes after the Hollow's demise, with visible disregard of the ramifications of what it meant for a creature—partial—of the unreal to come this close into reality, and what had been the cause.

  All they had cared about was his activities in this Galaxy.

  Merak's brows furrowed.

  What did they know?

  Were they already aware of his ward and were just watching him squirm while they plotted and waited for the perfect opportunity to strike?

  And what was that about the Jury's decree? Since when did Order's servants become messengers of Karma?

  Strange, he frowned.

  A sniff. "This place reeks of Karma."

  All earlier contemplations vanished from his mind, and Merak turned sharply, watching a figure stand in a location that was empty all but a few moments ago.

  The man, who looked no more than someone in their mid-thirties, smiled calmly, his silver locks clouding over dimly glowing silver eyes.

  It felt like Merak was staring through a window into a vast star-dotted nebula.

  He was putting on a fine shirt and pants, luxury, if Merak's intuition was correct. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, revealing an intricate tattoo that glittered like the surface of an astral ocean.

  "Nice place you've got here, Merak" The new arrival glanced around, sniffed, and then turned back to Merak with a twinkle in his eyes. "I see you had a party; why wasn't I invited?"

  Merak shrugged, his lips twitching. "Never knew you were one for my kind of parties. You know how... Unruly those can get."

  "Your infamous parties, ahh," the new visitor nodded slowly, making a show of taking a deep breath, even though he likely hadn't needed to for countless years. "I understand. I'm quite surprised half the galaxy is still intact. From what I hear, your guests usually trash half the place in their revelry, trying to win you at the games of hide and seek you're so famous for."

  This time Merak chuckled, an action that elicited no small amount of surprise from him or his visitor. "Well, as you see, these guests weren't my usuals."

  "Ahh, yes. A Hollow, and if that couldn't get any better, you also had a Transcendent guest; two Transcendent guests." He chuckled. "If there was any doubt about your party taking first place, that has been thoroughly washed away, and any competitor crushed. Congratulations, Merak, you've just played host to the greatest party in a thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? Doesn't matter, you're the winner. Cheers."

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  "Cheers."

  "Nice to see you again, Kiz." Merak smiled. "How long has it been since we last saw? Seventy thousand years? A hundred thousand?"

  Kizrahk raised an eyebrow. "Merak, we saw each other a year ago."

  "Yeah, right." Merak coughed.

  After that, they dissolved into comfortable silence, broken only a minute later when his... friend—such an odd word—sighed.

  "You do realize you're being boxed in, right?"

  "We," Merak corrected. "Don't forget we're in this together. And yes, I know that" He sighed, gazing into the distance at a cluster of stars gathering at the border of the Lese Domains. "They know something."

  "Of course they do!" Kiz chuckled. "Why else would they be massing at your territory, and even blatantly trying to shuffle you up for information?"

  Merak frowned. "Wait what?!"

  "You didn't know? Damn, going dark really sucks." His friend shook his head. "Anyway, yes, The cult is massing at your borders. With your Seal unclaimed, they've got no major Ruler holding them back. The only reason they haven't attacked yet is because of us."

  "Destruction?"

  "Also there, but we're keeping them in check."

  "I do not understand you, Kiz. Both Oblivion and Creation have no active Celestials, and we're up against two other cults that do; why haven't we been attacked yet?"

  "Life, Merak. Life is why they haven't attacked."

  Ahh, he understood now. Three cults, even though two had no active Celestials, were still a force powerful enough to give Order and Destruction pause. True, the Watchers could have been called to assist, to make the standoff equal, but without their Celestial backing them up, they were not that much of a threat compared to Oblivion and Creation. So it was a three-on-two stand off—an equal stand off due to the absence of two Celestials.

  "I'm surprised Death hasn't taken up arms with Order. A chance at Life would be an opportunity they wouldn't pass up."

  Kizrahk smiled. "Trust me, you're not the only one with furrowed brows. The Grapevine has it that even the Shards of Life are surprised, which, ironically, has them on edge."

  "Yeah, trust me, I'm also on edge. Nobody likes an inactive Reaper, especially when Life is involved. Smells fishy, and I hate fishes." He shook his head. "What about the others?"

  "Well, as usual, Soul and Karma are taking no sides, and oddly enough, everyone is happy about it."

  Merak breathed out a sigh of relief. He'd seen the powers of both Thrones put to destructive use, and the results were nothing short of completely catastrophic. Thankfully, both Celestials were famous for their policies on non-alignment, a good thing both sides in this conflict would agree on.

  "Light is non-aligned at the moment, but it seems that it's swinging slowly toward Order, and that's not too bad. We all know once they do, Darkness will jump to our aid. The Watcher is obviously 'Sundered'," Kizrahk chuckled, "Space has declared that it will take no sides, which lives Time." He paused.

  "Non-alignment, I take it?" Merak asked.

  "Of course it won't be taking a side! Could you imagine the kind of Destruction that would be wrought from their participation? I bet even Destruction would be scared, hehe."

  Merak shook his head, resigned. He had been hoping his friend would for once act like his station demanded, but it seemed that wish wasn't going to happen any time soon.

  "I imagine the Primals have already picked a side, or have they not?"

  "Nope," Kiz shook his head. "Fire, unsurprisingly, is raging for a fight and so have already jumped on the bandwagon of Order. Shocking? Yeah, I know. Earth, which we'd expected to be on the side of its progenitor, has instead decided to pick no side. Water? Well, nobody trusts water, so they likely won't be accepted even if they moved to pick a side. And then Air," he stopped and chuckled. "Those under the Celestial are pissed at our side for Sundering their Celestial, and so have decided to pick a side with Order." He shook his head sadly, tsking. "Too bad, Air would have made for a great ally."

  Merak smiled. "I think I can help with that."

  "What do you mean?"

  Merak said nothing, instead he glanced briefly at the planets below. Kizrahk wasn't stupid and picked up on it.

  With a mind capable of scanning vast areas of space, he turned down on the planets and, within a second, burst out laughing.

  "Oh, you devious devious man!" he managed with a bellyful of laughter. "How did such windfall come into your hands?"

  Merak shrugged, saying nothing.

  "Has he learned how to tap into it, yet?—No, don't bother. It's not possible. He's just a spirit—"

  "Yes."

  Kizrahk paused, eyes widening with a little bit of disbelief. "Tell me you're joking."

  "I'm not," Merak sighed. "He's a genius at a level even he does not realize; Called on an Ascended Technique at the Mid Spirit lord tier and—"

  "That should not be possible. Calling on an Ascended Technique with a Spirit lord soul would have torn his soul apart."

  "Yes, I agree. And it was a testament to the soul enhancer given to him by Gray that he was able to survive."

  Kizrahk's eyebrows narrowed. "Gray?"

  "The Minder," Merak clarified.

  "And what did you mean by the soul enhancer was given to this... Keilan? Last I remembered, it was meant for the other boy, Damien, was it? Hmm, why can't I find him?"

  Merak stared into the suddenly sharp eyes of his friend, whose demeanor had changed, now sharp and befitting one of his realm.

  "He's gone."

  This time when Kizrahk spoke, there wasn't an ounce of playfulness in his voice. "Gone? Gone where, Merak?"

  "I don't know. Last he was seen was during the battle. He was attacked by a couple of Mind Demons who pulled him into a mental battle. After that... he vanished."

  "I thought these... House was attacked by a Hollow," Kizrahk said and his eyes unfocused a bit. "How did the Mind clan get involved?—The Origin of this place is glitchy. What do you mean you can't find him? I don't imagine he's left the planet in the few seconds it took you to dispatch the creature of the unreal."

  "No, not the clan—at least not them exactly. Apparently, someone contacted a small vassal to broker a deal; invade the planets and cause as much destruction as possible, and in exchange, all the bodies captured are theirs as payment." He sighed. "That was as much as I could glean before everything turned blurry. It was a good plan. They didn't kill any civilians, hence no reason for the Adjudicator to intervene. The cosmic rule of war was not broken."

  "And the boy? Why can't you find him?"

  "The same reason you can't, I reckon. Somehow, without taking the Minder with him, he's managed to tap into its inbuilt shrouding trait."

  Kizrahk frowned. "I still don't get how the technique of an Ascendant-level construct can stop me."

  "That's because he's not wielding his powers. Once he does, we'll find him, wherever he is."

  Kizrahk sighed. "Merak, this is getting too dangerous. One mistake and Order will swarm down all over us like a tidal wave. A war between Celestial factions—Grand Celestials, for that matter—has never occurred before. I have no words to describe how devastating it would be. We're not ready."

  "I'll find him," Merak promised. "It might take a while, but eventually, the boy will have to wield his powers."

  "Mm, I'll trust you then. Find him before Order does or everything will be for naught."

  A new voice interrupted then, one neither Merak nor his friend had any pleasure in hearing.

  "Merak, Lord Kizrahk, what a pleasure meeting you. It seems I was late to the meeting. Would you mind filling me in on what you were talking about?"