"Hey, you bastard, you better not still be sleeping," Langa shouted, banging on the door to Liv's room, the following day. He needed to make sure Liv arrived at Merreddyd's Tower Address on time. It would be taking place later that day but Langa needed to finish the High Commissioner's quest so he wouldn't have time to check on Liv later. "If you lose us the opportunity for Merreddyd's endorsement after the pain I endured sparring her for it, I will rip you a new arsehole!"

  "Oh my." Langa stopped short when the door opened. Coraloa stood, leaning against the door frame, wearing only a seashell bra and a towel on her waist. She was brushing her hair, her eyebrows raised. "Rip him a new asshole? I didn't realise you two were the same kind of friends Liv and I are," she said with a grin.

  Langa wanted to crawl into a hole in embarrassment. He wouldn't have been so crude if he'd known she was here. Liv's deliberate misinterpretation of innocent phrases must be rubbing off on her.

  Liv's deep voice came from the bathroom. "Even if that were the case, there is no way in the Duat I would be the one getting his asshole-"

  "Okay, thanks both of you for putting that image in my head. Yikes," Langa said, cutting Liv off with a shudder. "Sorry to disturb you, Coraloa. I just wanted to make sure Liv was ready for the meeting with Merreddyd."

  "We're going together to the Address, so don't worry, I'll make sure he's on time," she said.

  "Okay," Langa said. "Liv! Make us look good so that people become interested in joining our guild. But if you don’t want to give Synn a stroke, don't say anything too crazy during the Address."

  "When have I ever said anything crazy? What are you doing after the Address? I have to show you something," Liv called from the bathroom.

  "I have to go complete a quest at Tishiba's Peak now," Langa said. "The High Commissioner's a busy man so I'm not sure how long I'll take."

  "When you're done, I'll come pick you and SynnForessa up so we can go and view our new roving guild territory," Liv said.

  "Sure," Langa said. He wondered what it looked like since every guild had to have a separate dimension as a territory. It was a place any guild member would be able to access through a teleportation wheel from any Floor, player or NPC. "Bye Coraloa, I'll see you later."

  "Actually," she said, holding him back. Langa frowned. If she asked him to join her and Liv in their activities, he was really going to run away. "Holy Zodiacs, Langa, don't look so scared; I'm not going to jump you. I know I'm not your type... although I suppose I'm not Liv's either, so that won't reassure you, will it?" She laughed.

  "What is it?" he asked.

  "I just wanted to say goodbye, because after the Address I'm getting my new assignment from GM Merreddyd," she said. "I might be off the grid for a while. Thanks for your help in the Gate. Let's do it again some time. It was nice working with you."

  "You too," Langa smiled. "I'd hug you, but you're half-naked right now, and I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

  "Who's uncomfortable?" She asked with a laugh. She held out her arms. Well, if she didn't mind, he certainly didn't. After saying goodbye to Coraloa and exchanging mana signatures with her, he left.

  *

  Langa waited outside the High Commissioner of The Anukirtam Federation's office for over an hour before he was free to meet him. He almost left out of sheer annoyance, but remembered the only reason he was even able to get this meeting at such short notice was thanks to the High Commissioner's son, his friend Undkese, going out of his way to arrange it. He also really wanted to get his reward for completing the Floor Leader's quest.

  Inside his office, the owlkin was as intimidating as always; however, his aura no longer felt unreachable.

  “Good afternoon, High Commissioner,” Langa said.

  "Hello, and congratulations on forming a guild." Randika Anukirtam looked up and surveyed Langa. Surprise registered in his eyes. "Wow. It's only been four or five days since I saw you. Was the incident with King Maetrolugy so bad that you earned four levels in such a short period?"

  Seeing as Randika was the leader of this Floor, it made sense that he knew what had happened with the Floor Overlord. Langa did wonder who the new Overlord of the 1st Floor was now that Adtonifulmin had killed King Maetrolugy.

  "That whole ordeal was terrifying," Langa said. This meeting helped him realise how much danger he was in. At level 15, he could now be attacked by level 25 mortals like Randika without them receiving backlash. Level 25 was the maximum level of the Ground Storey and any high-level players who came down here were locked at Level 25.

  He needed to be careful the next time he ran into C-Rank voidents like Perinda. "That's why it took me so long to return here. So, where's my gift?" he asked.

  "Straight to the point, huh?" The High Commissioner shook his head. "Very well. It will probably feel underwhelming after everything you've no doubt earned in the Special Gate."

  [You have completed the MAIN TOWER QUEST #1

  Quest Objectives: Win the exhibition match of the Celestial Clash.

  Quest Completion Grade: B

  Rewards:

  You have access to Floor by Floor Leadership Quests

  +The High Commissioner’s gift

  +350 EXP

  +174 karma

  +1% Renown

  + Floor Leader Recommendation Letter

  +1 Book of your choice from The Floor Leader's private library]

  His quest completion Grade was B? Langa frowned. Was it because he’d died at the end of the Celestial Clash, because he tied with Vos for first place, or because he didn’t get chosen as the Celestial? Actually, there were a lot of reasons why he wouldn’t have gotten an A. Those rewards were awful, and he could only hope the book he received would have the answers he was looking for.

  Randika stood up and led Langa towards one wall of his office. He waved his hand and a massive transparent lucent tile that lined the wall appeared, showing Langa a section of the Floor Leaders' library. Already he could see the numerous scrolls and books floating around inside, and he itched to get his hands on the information he needed.

  "As promised." Randika pulled out a small golden lucent tile shaped like a crown from his inventory. “This tile doesn't just allow you to enter the roving library. It is also a recommendation letter from me. Any Floor Leader will recognise it," he said, "and only they can read what I wrote about you on it. Bind this lucent tile to yourself with your mana signature."

  Langa took the lucent tile and infused his mana into it. The tile lit up, showing a hundred different lines. The only thing written on it was the number one on the first line and next to it was the symbol of the logo of the Anukirtam Federation, containing a recommendation letter he couldn't read.

  "How does this work?" Langa asked. When Langa first started this chain quest, The High Commissioner had stated that he was choosing him to be the link between the Floor leaders. This lucent crown tile had to be tied to that.

  "On the 1st Floor, I am the world leader recognised by the system; however, other Floors are different. The 2nd Floor, for instance, has seven recognised leaders, the dwarven War Chiefs and the 8th Floor has over 20 recognised Floor Leaders, the Alphas of each wolfkin pack. You need to get at least one Floor Leader on every Floor to place their Royal Seal on your lucent tile in order to continue with the chain quest."

  So this was what Pranav needed to get into the Pharaoh's Palace on the 3rd Floor. If Langa could get a recommendation from one of the War Chiefs on the 2nd Floor, he wouldn't need to work with Pranav to steal the Nimaredo. Once he got the soul vessel, he would use it to negotiate with Pranav to release Khaya.

  "Thank you," Langa said. scanning the lucent crown tile against the library entrance. It felt like he was stepping into a teleportation wheel.

  The library was on the 1st Floor but in a different dimension. He walked around for a while, looking at the floating scrolls and books, occasionally reading the summaries outside. It was not very well organised, and he couldn't find what he was looking for.

  Finally, Randika was fed up with following him around. "What knowledge do you seek?" he asked. "There is a limit to which books you can see given your level and the Floors you've cleared."

  Langa thought about it for a moment. Knowledge generally wasn't hard to obtain in the Tower as long as you had money; however, there were some topics blocked by The Quartenity. "I'm looking for information on the Infinite Challenge, those who are Branded by corruption and the use of Void Gems," he said.

  "Wow," Randika said. "You want the very things The Unrivalled restricts the most, don't you? You won't find reliable information on the Infinite Challenge anywhere. I don't know much about it myself except that any player who hopes to one day become a deity must go through it. As for the other two," he said and waved his hand around. Seven books suspended themselves in the air in front of Langa. "At Tier 1, these are the only books available to you that mention those topics."

  There was honestly not much to choose from, so he read the system's summaries of the books' contents. There were only three books that had a fraction of what he needed.

  One was a thin leather-bound book with less than 50 pages called 'Void Gems and How to Use Them: A Brief Overview by The Greenwitch Academy of Dark Magic'. He was doubtful if it would have all the information he needed to properly use the Void Star, but it was better than nothing, especially considering how unlikely he was to find anything even mentioning how to use Void Gems inside the Tower. He knew it was for good reason, as restricting information was one of the only few ways The Unrivalled could prevent people from turning into voidents.

  Another was a book named 'Gatekeeping Deityhood: A Deconstruction of the Limitations of NPCs by Reisha - The Untethered'. It had a small section that briefly covered the Infinite Challenge. Nothing else in this library seemed to even mention it.

  The final one was a series of articles written on scrolls talking about what he presumed to be the Brand or his curse. It was called 'The Danger Posed By Those Who Bear The Mark of The Nameless by Unknown Author.'

  Looking at them, Langa decided to discard the one about the Infinite Challenge. It didn't seem to have any answers for him. Even though she couldn't tell him everything, he could ask Synn for pointers on that since she had already completed it.

  He hesitated. His choices were finding out about the Brand, the curse that had plagued his father's entire family and made him an outcast his mother rejected, or finding out how to use his Void Star to trap Fi Kindaro III inside his void territory so he could kill him over and over again until all his respawns were used up and free Makoto's soul.

  The answer was surprisingly easy. Learning how to control the Void Star was the main priority. He'd waited 27 years to learn about the curse; he could wait a little more.

  "Was my performance in the Celestial Clash satisfactory?" Langa asked once they returned to The High Commissioner's office. He was trying to steer the conversation towards the real reward, the continuation of his First Main Tower chain quest.

  “It was. Although your recklessness with your life worries me," High Commissioner Randika said. "I told you before that the leaders of the first ten Floors used to have a way to communicate with each other privately across the Floors, right? That was how we kept tabs on the voident gangs and red players. Well, that line is linked to how you players get from one Floor to the next. Do you know how that happens?"

  Langa was interested in any means of private communication that did not require the exchange of mana signatures. “We can use any teleportation wheel once we clear a Floor to go to our Floor Overlord’s office," he said. "They give us the pass we need to enter the Divine Lucent Lift and get to the next Floor."

  “Yes, but that’s not what I am asking. Let me rephrase. Do you know how the Floors are connected?” Randika asked. When Langa shook his head, the High Commissioner continued. “The pathways connecting the Floors are called the 13 Lucent Steplines. When you travelled from the tutorial into the Tower you must’ve seen these pathways.”

  Langa blinked, remembering the strange lines he'd seen right after the system integration when he entered the Floor Overlord’s office. He'd seen them again the first time he died and right after the tutorial.

  “Yeah, I remember them. But weren't there fourteen of them?" he asked.

  The High Commissioner stood up abruptly, and then, in a single stride, he was in front of Langa and grabbed his face. He turned it left and right then said, “Lift your head and show me your neck!”

  “What?” Langa said, perplexed.

  “Show me!” The High Commissioner lifted his head and then muttered an incantation. Langa felt a wave of magic wash over him and felt his Brand rage uncomfortably, then nothing else.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Randika took a deep, relieved breath and said, “Thank Lord Anitari.”

  “What the hell was that?” Langa demanded, touching his face.

  “I apologise,” Randika said. “I had to make sure you’re not one of them.”

  “One of what?” Langa asked, his Brand still feeling heavy and his chest hurting as if he had severe heartburn.

  “You must’ve seen wrong,” the High Commissioner said, ignoring the question. “There are only 13 pathways corresponding to the 13 Affinities, or, as they’re commonly called, the 13 Mana Disciplines. Those Lucent Steplines connect every Floor within the Tower to each other using The Unrivalled's divine-”

  “Yeah, great, awesome, but don't dance around the subject," Langa interrupted. "What the hell did you just do? What do you mean, one of them?”

  The High Commissioner sighed. “We do not speak of them. I don’t know what kind of a world you’re from, but you’ll find that most worlds in the Infinite Multiverse have no love for those who possess the 14th Affinity. Thankfully, you are not one of them.”

  “Wait, you thought I was one of the Lost Race? Aren't they extinct?” he asked, intrigued. He had an item that led to the Blood Clone Legacy of The Lost Race, but he only met 40% of the requirements, so he hadn't been able to obtain the Legacy.

  “They still exist, but they live in hiding. Do you want to waste time talking about ghosts? I have a meeting after this, so let’s finish this up. Shall I continue?” Randika asked.

  “Fine.” Clearly, the topic made him uncomfortable. Langa was eager to learn more about the quest, and this guy didn't seem interested in sharing information on the Lost Race. Should Langa have searched the library for information on them instead? Well, he would do that when he completed his next quest. "Go ahead."

  "The 3rd Floor was our biggest trade partner when it came to textiles and enchantable paper for magic scrolls. We used to get them at a discount, but now we have to buy through The Hallow Reaper Merchant Group, which has a monopoly on all InterFloor Trade, and they bleed us dry. Unless we can re-establish our own trade routes, we are going to keep increasing the wealth gap between players and NPCs on this Floor and our children will continue to choose voidentism because it is more lucrative for them," Randika said.

  That was not the kind of quest Langa wanted. He wasn't a merchant or a trader! "Hold on, are you asking me to take on the millions of Hallow Reapers with my newly established guild that has only 5 members?" he asked. "Because I can mess with The Accari Crows since the Hallow Reapers will deny any affiliation with them because they are voidents, but disrupting their trade routes will get the entire guild obliterated."

  “I know; now please let me explain what I need from you. I'm sure you already know that most worlds are integrated into a Tower to prevent a Void Eruption. and inside the Tower, the void seals corrupted areas into dungeons and red monster zones," Randika said, standing up and pacing around the office. "What do you think happens to the erratic void energy after The Unrivalled separates safe zones from corruptible areas?”

  Langa thought back, trying to remember the time he spent reading up about the Tower. “Rifts. They are like breaks in space, right, connecting the Tower directly into the void, right? They can appear in red or yellow zones unexpectedly...but not safe zones.”

  “Precisely. Some of those rifts can be right on top of the Lucent Steplines. Certain dark, chaotic rituals can allow players to Undercrawl and cross over between Floors that way. Obviously, this isn't the right way to climb the Tower, and it's incredibly dangerous because you can get lost in the void. The Unrivalled not only discourages it, but she actively punishes it,” he said.

  “Okay, what does that have to do with my quest?” Langa asked, remembering the controversy of Batch 3 players who permanently died when they tried Undercrawling from the 5th Floor to the 7th Floor.

  “Someone reopened the rift between the 2nd and 3rd Floors, so we are unable to use the mana within the Lucent Steplines to contact the Pharaoh Djet of the 3rd Floor. The reports from the players coming from the 3rd Floor are unbelievable. Pharaoh Djet is keeping his daughter prisoner. It's worrying because he always wanted to leave the crown to her," Randika said. “There are rumours of him working with red, negatively aligned players from Batch 3, and hiring voidents as his guards. It makes no sense to me, he wasn't that kind of person.”

  “What do you need me to do?” Langa asked.

  The High Commissioner took a deep breath and sat back down. “I need you to close the rift between the 2nd and 3rd Floor, then restore our communication with the Pharaoh. I don't know how you will do it, but please, I'm counting on you, Langa. Show me that Undkese's faith in you is not misplaced. If you can find out if someone is forcing Djet to act against his will, that would be ideal," Randika said.

  "I'll take care of it; don't worry," Langa said. The 1st Floor had been good to him, the least he could do was pay them back by improving their living conditions, even a little.

  Once he accepted the quest, Langa returned to Sorrento Inn. He was eager to start reading, but first, there was a call he needed to make.

  *

  "Are you ready?" Synn asked later that day when Langa went to her room. Ever since he found out that Synn and Khaya knew each other, he'd been desperate to speak to her. Since Synn had her mana signature, she was Langa's only link to Khaya.

  "As ready as I'll ever be," he said. He wasn't going to shout at Khaya. He would calmly ask her to explain what happened.

  "I know you're upset she didn’t come to you, but she has a reason... It's best you hear it from her," Synn said, placing a hand in his. There was a sad, sympathetic look in her eyes that Langa didn't understand. What did Synn know? "Don't say anything until I tell you to, okay?"

  She made the call. "Hello? Synn?" came Khaya's voice. She sounded like she had just woken up. Langa clenched his fists and closed his eyes to calm himself down.

  "Hey, are you alone?" Synn asked. "I need to talk to you about something private."

  "Private? Is everything okay? I saw all those announcements yesterday. A lot of people were talking about how you must have earned a good reward and what they’d do to get it from you. Are you in trouble?" Khaya asked, concern in her voice.

  Gods, she hadn't changed one bit. Always worrying about others. "I'm fine, I promise," Synn assured her.

  "Okay, that's a relief. Hold on, let me go to my room," she said. There was the sound of movement for a bit, and then she spoke again. "What's up?"

  "I have someone who really wants to talk to you," Synn said. "I didn't tell him what you told me, so don't freak out, okay?"

  "What are you talking about, Sy-"

  "Hi, Khaya," Langa said quietly, and Synn gave him an exasperated look.

  There was silence at the other end of the line. "Langa?" she asked.

  "Yeah, it's me," he said. He forced down the millions of reprimands and questions of why she would trust Pranav over him. "How are you? Are you safe? Are you eating well? Are you not hurt? The 1st Floor is cold, so make sure you're wearing warm things, okay?"

  A sob broke through from the other side. "You're so..." she sniffled. "I'm doing fine, malume. I'm in a neutral zone, so there are no monsters here. Pranav assigned me a bodyguard who protects me everywhere I go, so I'm safe. The food here is different from home, but it's good, so I'm eating well."

  Khaya's voice cracked with another sob. "I did get hurt in the tutorial, and the first few days on this Floor were rough, but I had my friends, and Synn protected me. Everything was fine once I found Neo. He took good care of me and my friends, so no, I'm not hurt, and I'm dressing warmly," she said. "I miss you, Langa."

  His heart hurt, but knowing she was doing well alleviated some of his worry. "Then come to me, Khaya. You saw the announcements, right? I have created a guild. My friends are in it too, and we will protect you. Just please come to me," he said.

  Khaya took a deep breath. "I can't. Neo needs me. I have to help bring him back."

  That was the answer he expected. "Tell me what happened to him," Langa said.

  "Pranav didn't tell you? After Synn saved me and my friends, I went to Neo. He and his... crew had taken over a small village in the Kirtisn Valley and he and Pranav were doing some secret trial for The Hallow Reaper Cult. They seemed to be having fun, and me and my friends had a place to sleep and rest after days on the run. So everything was great. I even got a Sponsorship Challenge from one of The Lackadaisical Herald's constellations, Lady Dinitius," she said.

  Langa muttered a silent word of thanks to Adtonifulmin for keeping his promise. "So The Hallow Reapers did the race change ritual for Neo?"

  "No. Neo just thought vampires were cool, like amazimu from your dad's stories, you know? He found a Deiwos Clan god willing to offer him a Sponsorship Challenge if the ritual was successful," she said. "Pranav had just finished doing his Sponsorship Challenge at the time, and since his patron deity is a demon god, Neo thought it would be a good idea to obtain some divine artefact that Pranav needed by doing a sacrificial ritual. You know as well as I do that besides breaking the law, there's really only one thing Pranav loves the most."

  "Neo," Langa said through gritted teeth.

  "Yeah, so Neo offered to do the sacrificial ritual and died. But when Neo respawned, his soul was just gone. His body is there, not decaying, but soulless," she said, her voice full of sorrow.

  "Hold on. Sorry to interrupt, but what deity was this?" Synn asked.

  "Neo's deity is Lord En Dohhasieda, The Faceless King of The Hidden Mask," she said. "But if you're asking about Pranav, it's Lord Raktabīja, The Demonic Blood Seed."

  "You're telling me your brother and his boyfriend sacrificed him to an Asura, and were surprised they didn't get the soul back right away?" Synn asked. "How are you planning to bring him back, because I have never known an Asura to relinquish a soul?"

  "I'm not too sure about the details, but apparently one of the Insurgents of Anarchy stepped in and collected fragments of Neo's soul. I think The Faceless King made a deal with The Asura through The Demon Reaper," she said. "Anyway, the point is, Neo's soul is in an egg that needs his lifeblood... my lifeblood to survive until we can bring him back. Pranav said you agreed to help him get the item he needs to do it, Langa."

  "He's using your lifeblood and planning to do a full resurrection ritual?" Synn said with a frown.

  "Listen to me very carefully, Khaya. I asked around about that. I have... an acquaintance who told me that in order to bring Neo back, another soul must be sacrificed. To ensure the ritual works 100%, the best sacrifice is someone he is directly related to. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Langa said, reiterating what he'd learnt from Vos Kindaro II.

  There was silence from Khaya's side. "You think Pranav will use me as the sacrifice."

  "I know he will. That's why he's keeping you with him," Langa snapped. "Tell me where you are, and I'll come get you. Now."

  "No. Even if what you say is true, if Neo doesn't get my fresh blood every 26 hours, his soul will become untethered to the living world, and he will truly die," she said. "I can't leave him."

  Dammit. The whole situation was fucked up. "What if we steal Neo's soul?" Langa asked.

  "That's going to be hard, Langa, because Pranav keeps it next to his heart, always, and he's got Hallow Reapers all over him. You won't be able to get close," she said. "It doesn't have to be me, right? The sacrifice? Pranav knows Neo wouldn't agree to that."

  "There is nothing equivalent to a mortal's soul, except another," Synn said. "Unfortunately some gods, and by that I mean demon gods like mine, weigh mortal souls against each other. The Asura might demand 100 specific types of souls in exchange for your brother's, or he may request a million. It depends on his whim and whether Death accepts the price. Would you both be willing to sacrifice however many souls it takes to do that?"

  For a moment, Langa wanted to say that there was nothing he wouldn't do to bring Neo back, no matter how many people had to die. But then he thought about what if the deity asked for the souls of a hundred children? No, the soul of one child... and he knew in his heart he wouldn't be able to do that and live with himself.

  "We'll cross that bridge when we get there," he said, and Synn gave him a sympathetic look.

  "Is there anything you need me to do? I left my bodyguard downstairs, but he’s going to come up here in a second since I told him I was going to the bathroom,” Khaya said.

  “Here’s the plan, well it’s not really a plan but for now, I’m going to do as Pranav asked. I’m going to get the soul vessel on the 3rd Floor," he said. "Once I have it, I'll let you know through Synn, so begin making plans to leave that place, or else I’m going to come myself and tear it to the ground to save you. Once I know you're safe, I will use the soul vessel to negotiate with Pranav for Neo’s soul.”

  “Okay, but I… wait, Langa,” Khaya said as if she just thought of something. “I don’t think Pranav was planning on using me to bring Neo back at all.”

  “Khaya, don’t be na?ve,” Langa said, exasperated.

  “No, I’m not being na?ve; it’s just that Ayanda and I accidentally found out something that we thought was strange. Pranav was searching for my dad and I think he had a lead on him,” she said.

  “He was looking for Kgosi?” Langa asked in surprise.

  “Yeah. Apparently, he's alive on the 1st Floor somewhere. I was surprised why Pranav would be looking for him, considering that Dad hates his guts, but after what you just told me... I think he wants to use him to bring Neo back," Khaya said, then her voice shuddered in panic. "Oh, gods. We’ve got to save him. I don’t even know where Mum is either! What if he tries to use Mum-“

  “It’s okay,” Langa said. Everything was finally coming together. It made more sense that Pranav would use Kgosi rather than Khaya. But that was only if he could find him.

  ‘Two are dead, two are in mortal peril and one is Shrouded’.' That was what the Seer had said when Langa asked her about his family back in Risa's Plateau. According to Adtonifulmin, one of his family members was an NPC, so by the process of elimination that meant…

  “Your mother isn’t here, Khaya. Don't worry about her. Pranav won't find her because she is an NPC on the 36th Floor,” he said.

  “What? Are you sure?” Khaya asked.

  “Yeah. I’m sure.” Adtonifulmin wouldn't lie to him.

  “Okay, that means she's fine, right?”

  Langa didn’t want to lie to her. Considering there was a demon on the 36th Floor, he wasn't sure of his sister's safety. “I don’t know, honestly. But we aren't sure of Pranav’s plans, so let’s follow the plan I told you earlier.”

  “Okay. My bodyguard is outside the door," Khaya whispered. "I gotta go.”

  “Khaya,” Langa said quietly. “You can come to me anytime, okay? I love you.”

  He could hear the smile in her voice when she said, “I know. I love you too, Langa.”

  Once he ended the call, Synn gave Langa a questioning look. “You didn’t promise to save her father,” she said.

  Langa shrugged. “I don't make promises I can't keep. If I’m asked to choose between saving Neo or Kgosi, I don't even have to think about it,” he said.

  If his shaky plan to get Khaya away from Pranav didn't work, Kgosi would have to be his Plan B. He had to find Kgosi and exchange him for Khaya in case something went wrong. That way, Pranav would be able to use Kgosi for the ritual to bring Neo back.

  Langa was grateful to Kgosi for raising him after his own mother threw him away. Sure, Kgosi had been awful to him and was responsible for a lot of his childhood trauma but Langa didn't hate him, not really. He didn’t want to allow the people who hurt him to occupy space in his heart anymore, so Kgosi meant nothing to him. Neo, however, was someone very dear to his heart, the first friend he ever had, someone he grew up with, and someone he would always choose.