Jack felt himself return to the white void. He stood in his familiar place, with his workstations and trees surrounding him. Multiple butterflies flitted around, silently doing their duties in administrating the system. Jack observed that some of the trees were fuller than before, clearly the system bugs had been adding the new status screens that appeared.

  He looked around and was surprised to see someone running up to him. He was even more surprised to realize that the person running toward him was Jeler. The animals stopped about ten feet away from Jack, panting and staring at his friend.

  "Are you...Jack?"

  "Yeah, it's me." He took a step toward his friend. "What happened, Jeler? Why are you here?"

  Instead of answering, Jeler rushed in and pulled Jack into a sudden embrace. Jack felt himself gripping his friend tightly, emotions boiling to the surface again as they just stood there. A few butterflies landed on them as they embraced, only to flit away as they both pulled back. They both had tears in their eyes as they beheld each other.

  "How long was I gone?" Jack asked.

  "About six months as far as we can tell. Our only real method of tracking time is by asking new people who come in what day it was when they died." Jeler's expression was grim. "There's a lot of people here, Jack."

  Jack nodded, his own expression serious. "What happened at the compound? Are you all...here?"

  Jeler shook his head. "Most of us. Riniox escaped with the bore-bots and Abac's body. As best as we can tell, the church set up at the compound afterward in case you went back there. I take it that you did go back?"

  "Yeah. They tried to attack me again." Jack wanted to say more, but he could only stare at Jeler. His friend was here, in the place you only came to after you died. Jeler was dead, and soon he would be reborn.

  The human God, beast God, and Alpha appeared next to Jack. The two deities looked around with interest, and Jeler lept back, brandishing daggers as he crouched defensively.

  "Whoa! Jeler, it's okay." Jack held out his hands to forestall any attempts at violence. "These two are Gods from another world. They agreed to help us reincarnate everyone going forward."

  Jeler did not leave his defensive stance, scowling at the two Gods. "And what did they want in return?"

  Jack was surprised when the beast God answered. "We want the power Deis stole from our companion. Besides that, all the souls of this world belong to us anyway." The beast God eyed Jeler curiously. "Though they have become much more...interesting."

  Jeler backed up a step. "Is that why Jack doesn't have his cloak anymore? Plexion told me that he was part God now."

  Jack stepped toward his friend. "Yes. I traded the powers, Deis, and technically the ducol's powers in exchange for our world being fixed." He looked at Jeler, sadness threatening to break out again. "You won't be stuck here anymore, Jeler. You'll all get to be reborn."

  Jeler met Jack's eyes. The relief that Jack saw in his friend hurt a bit, but it was understandable. The white void could drive people mad, but it still hurt to lose his friend.

  Jack turned to the human God. "When will you reincarnate everyone?"

  The human God continued to look around. "After the God of magic comes and claims the power back. It will be a few minutes."

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  A few minutes? Jack despaired, worried that he would never be able to see Plexion or the other mercenaries he had befriended again before they were lost. "Can't you wait a bit longer? So I can say goodbye?"

  The human God looked at him. "Why would we? A great many people are suffering here. Your petty wants are no reason to keep them in this hostile place."

  Jeler reached out and grabbed Jack's hand. "Let's hurry then. I can get you to the camp."

  "But Jeler, there's no way we'll make-" Jack was cut off as a butterfly floated into Jeler's free hand. The animalus gripped it, and the system bug flew with incredible speed, pulling them along. They zoomed away from Jack's workstation so quickly that Jack lost sight of it in seconds. There was no wind in this place, but Jack felt like it should be whipping against him as he held to his friend tightly.

  In less than a minute, the butterfly stopped at what looked like a budding city. Rows of buildings made of screens stood, placed in orderly rows. People walked between them, talking and laughing as new building were going up around them. Several larger structures stood in the center of the camp, tall blockish buildings without any ornamentation. Trees made of screens stood around, and children climbed them playfully. Jack stared at it in wonder as Jeler dragged him through the streets.

  After a short amount of time, Jeler pulled Jack into a building where Plexion was teaching a class. Small tables held people of various ages and sizes, a drawing board of blue stood at the front covered in magical diagrams. The former King of all demons looked over at the sudden intrusion. A wide smile broke out across his face, and he quickly ran over to embrace Jack.

  Plexion's hug was less intense than Jeler's, but Jack could still feel the relief from the demon. "Jack! You had us all worried!" Plexion took a step back, holding Jack's arms and looking him up and down. "What happened to your cloak? And who are they?"

  Jack glanced back and saw that the human and beast Gods had apparently followed them into the town. They were looking around with interest, even as nearly every person in the room stared at them with wide eyes.

  "These are two of the Gods that I am receiving help from. They took my special God powers as payment." Jack gripped Plexion's arms back. "They're going to reincarnate everyone in a few minutes. And even better, they are taking Deis's power away too!"

  Plexion stared at Jack, his expression unreadable for a moment before he smiled wide. "That's amazing! Everything solved? Just like that?"

  This time it was Jack's turn to adopt an unreadable expression. "Well...there's some complications. But they're my problems now. You'll all be able to pass on like you're supposed to."

  "...But what about you, Jack? Are you going to pass on as well?"

  Jack froze. He had been so consumed with the tasks in front of him, the need to fix everything and make it better that he hadn't stopped to consider the implications of every spirit suddenly passing on. He glanced back at the human God.

  "No, Jack. You still have some work to do before you will pass on. Integration of our two worlds is an important task, and you've become rather important to that end. We will have your soul reincarnate after that."

  Jack swallowed, though he didn't need to. He was a spirit, a ghost. He knew that somewhere deep down, but he never felt like he was dead. Everything he had done, all the struggle he had gone through was for survival. Could he really just...be done?

  Plexion seemed to sense his warring emotions and his grip tightened on Jack. "Hey. Look at me. You're a stubborn guy Jack. If you need to survive, you'll find a way. If you need to pass on...well that's fine too."

  Jeler stepped closer, touching Jack as well. "Plexion and I are going on ahead. I won't say I have no regrets, but I'm glad I was able to help you, Jack. What you've done for us, for our world, is a favor that can never be repaid."

  Jack looked at the two of them, sorrow bubbling forth as they both smiled at him. "I don't want to lose you both. You've helped me so much."

  They both smiled sadly, and Plexion released his arm. "We all lose people, Jack. We all go when it's time. I lasted longer than anyone else, and I'm ready to go. I'm ready to let all these people go, heading toward a better existence."

  Jack cried, his body shivering as he choked back painful feelings. Then, without any more warning, every single person in the white void disappeared. Jack cried out, reaching desperately to feel his friends again. There was nothing at all. Just him, an empty town of blue screens, and two Gods who stood imperiously behind him.

  Jack knelt on the white ground and cried. He felt the hurt and pain, but there was no limit like in his bore-bot body. His emotions kept building as he just knelt there for a long time, angry and sad. The Gods did not move or speak; they simply watched until Jack collected himself. He didn't know how much time had passed, but he knew that his work wasn't done.

  With effort, Jack picked himself up off the floor. He turned to face the Gods, his expression hard. "Let's get to work."