The Dreaming Prince smiled beatifically. “I am the Dreaming Prince. The most talented son of the Emperor of Dreams. Born with a perfect dream affinity, on a world where both heaven and earth were attuned to dreams. A world much like the ones you saw in my dream.”

  “So why are you here?” Justin pressed. “Surely there is somewhere you would be better located.”

  His smile became pained. “My family sponsored these islands. They placed temples all across the islands for me, and even arranged for the islands to arrive ahead of time.”

  “That’s not an answer,” Tae observed.

  “I am, in every sense of the term, a dream. My soul is a dream, my body is a dream, my very sense of self is a dream. Look around you. There is nothing. There has been nothing since you arrived here.” His volume rose with each consecutive word, until at the end he was almost screaming.

  He gave a defeated sigh.

  “I tend to drift. I search out interesting sights across the multiverse. My father had those temples built, hoping that they would anchor me. Keep me safe. Hoping that the islands would give me something to look at. I agreed. But I can already feel myself beginning to slip away. And who’s to know if the next me is going to want to stick around? You want to know why I have no proper name? It’s because none of them ever stick! The only identity I have is that of the ever-dreaming prince, fated never to wake up.”

  “Well, that’s depressing,” Justin commented.

  “Well get used to it, cupcake,” the Dreaming Prince said, his voice dripping with venom. “Your futures are going to be just as depressing. Even in the best-case scenario, you are looking at being four people who can only ever be known as one. That’s why I’m helping you. I’m helping because we are in the same boat, and it’s at least partially my fault.”

  “While this has been a very informative rant, could I suggest we get to the more present business of not dying?” Elluvian asked. “I’d rather live as a four-in-one than die a second time so soon.”

  “Good idea!” the Dreaming Prince said, doing a complete 180 in his attitude. “First, I assume none of you really want to die?”

  They all nodded.

  “Good! But you’re going to need to put in a lot of work to make this arrangement work. Are all of you willing to commit to that?”

  They nodded again.

  “Okay. How to do this…”

  “Any chance you could just give it to us?” Dev asked.

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

  The Dreaming Prince laughed, saying, “No, not even I can just bypass the empire’s inheritance laws without making you my disciple. And that’s not a good idea for you. We are incompatible in our paths, and it would give you a connection that some future me would exploit.”

  “Instead, I will give you some heavy-handed guidance, and you will try hard to listen. Dev, do you mind if I access your memories? I am only somewhat familiar with eclipse based cultivation.”

  “Go ahead,” Dev answered. “Just don’t go poking around the rest of my life. I’m not sure how much you’ll be able to get out of me anyway, I barely know cultivation either.”

  “This is perfect,” the now old man said.

  A clap rang out, and suddenly, the grey void around them was replaced by the familiar sight of Ms. Tanner’s classroom from three years ago. She was currently standing near the front of the room, teaching from the projector.

  On the screen was an image of the lunar eclipse meridians that she had shown them on the last day. Things skipped forwards, showing first the solar eclipse meridians, then more sets that Dev didn’t even remember learning about.

  “Yes, I think that I can work with this. We can make it a quest.”

  He clapped again, and the meridian maps floated over while the rest of the scene faded.

  “Okay, let’s get started. By the time I’m done, you will have the most refined frame for meridian building that this world has ever seen.”

  “Are you sure you want to go that far?” Tae asked. “Weren’t you limited?”

  “I am limited. But only in what I can give you. You already have this, you just need to realize it.”

  “So, I’m thinking that you build four sets of meridians. Actually, are we all clear on what the purpose of a meridian is?”

  “I’m not,” Justin said.

  “Me neither,” Tae said, adding, “The empire was much more focused on runic magic.”

  “Do either of you care to explain?” the middle-aged man asked, turning to Dev and Elluvian.

  “Sure,” Dev said. “Meridians are pathways for energy to flow along for both cultivation and the use of techniques. Would you like to add anything?” Dev asked, looking to Elluvian.

  “Just that they are only the first step in this process, which requires a great deal of time and money.”

  They turned to the Dreaming prince, who sighed once more. “I can;t do anything about you—” he looked to Elluvian “—but Dev should know better. I’m going to have to speak to your government. Those are decidedly lackluster answers.”

  “Okay, then. Teach us,” Dev said.

  “Fine.” A grand projection appeared around them, showing a windswept sky over a craggy mountain range. At the same time, two diagrams of the same person appeared, one in red, and one in blue. Pointing to it, he spoke, “The soul and the body. Mirrors of the heavens and the earth—” he gestured at the scene around them, “—they are the most fundamental method of cultivation. Soul elevation and body refinement. Neither method is important right now. Instead, we are talking of Meridians. Meridians are an artificial intersection of the body and the soul, empowering both.”

  At this, the landscape disappeared, and the diagrams overlapped with each other, forming a set of purple meridians. “That is what you were missing from your explanation, and also the key genius behind my plan. You see, most only have one soul overlapping with one body. You four will be able to have four souls overlapping. That means you can have four separate, yet interconnected, cultivation bases.”

  “Oh. I suppose that’s powerful?”

  “Well, not necessarily,” he started edging. “It’s very versatile, and you’ll be better than many. But it’s hard to compete with dragons, literally and metaphorically. You will be able to express the powers of several ordinary cultivators, but to make this work, you will be both restructuring and enkindling each other.”