Lucien froze.
Deadman pushed the Reincarnation Disc toward him with two fingers as if touching it too long disgusted him.
"I am tired of this artifact."
Lucien looked at him.
Deadman’s smile was hollow again.
He leaned back.
"Just do not show it to again. Seeing it makes want to vomit."
Lucien did not move imdiately.
The room was too quiet.
Deadman gave a faint laugh.
"I know. Many people would slaughter nations for a thing like that."
"Many people have not lived through what you have." Lucien said.
Deadman looked at him.
Lucien continued, "You are allowed to hate a gift that kept hurting you."
For a mont, Deadman’s expression changed.
Sothing in his eyes trembled.
Then he looked away.
"Say things like that too often and people may start believing you are kind."
Seran smiled faintly.
"He has been trying to hide it for years."
"Fuck you!" Lucien roared.
Seran and Deadman laughed together.
Lucien stared at them.
He then looked at the Origin Core fragnt. Then at the Reincarnation Disc.
"About your request."
Deadman’s fingers stilled.
Lucien looked at him directly.
"You and your people may live in Lootwell territory."
Deadman said nothing.
Lucien continued, "You can settle in Grand Confluence first while we evaluate what kind of district your people need. If you prefer privacy, you can let this small world float around the territory. If your people want to integrate gradually, we will do that. If so wish to work, study, trade, or join the systems, they can apply like everyone else."
Deadman stared at him.
Lucien added, "There will be rules."
Deadman’s lips twitched.
"Of course."
"Your small world will need to pass safety inspection."
"Expected."
"The Reincarnation Disc will be sealed until I understand it."
"Please."
"If your cheat continues activating randomly, we will study ways to stabilize or suppress the unwanted activations."
Deadman’s face went still.
Lucien looked at him.
"I cannot promise success. But I can promise we will try."
Deadman lowered his gaze.
For a long mont, he did not speak.
Then he laughed once.
"Good then."
Deadman rubbed one hand over his face.
Then he exhaled.
"I am so tired."
The words were simple. That made them worse.
Lucien sat there, listening.
Deadman’s shoulders lowered.
For the first ti since Lucien had entered, he looked less like a man holding himself together through sarcasm and more like soone finally allowed to put down a weight.
Only a little.
But enough.
"Then rest," Lucien said.
Lucien smiled faintly.
"Lootwell has many unreasonable facilities. One of them should eventually be useful for that."
Deadman stared. Then laughed.
This ti, the sound was warr.
•••
The arrangents began that sa day.
Grand Confluence received the floating small world.
Deadman’s people entered the residence process with caution at first.
Then surprise.
Then visible relief.
Lootwell did not ask them to abandon their hos. The small world would remain intact for now, floating within a protected sphere above Grand Confluence. Its people could apply for tokens, access controlled facilities, trade through approved markets, receive dical evaluation, and decide slowly how much they wished to connect.
Deadman watched from one of the upper balconies as his people looked around Grand Confluence with nervous wonder.
Below, Virel and Aniel t so of Deadman’s people personally. The reunion was warm.
Deadman watched it all quietly.
For once, the hollowness in him did not vanish.
But it loosened.
Just a little.
That was enough for the first day.
•••
When Deadman’s people finally settled properly, Lucien turned his attention to the Reincarnation Disc.
Lucien intended to take it to a private chamber.
But, he did not even reach the door yet when Alanthuriel appeared along the corridor.
Lucien stopped.
Then his eyes brightened slightly.
’Perfect timing.’
If anyone knew anything about impossibilities, Alanthuriel was near the top of the list.
Lucien cupped his hands lightly.
"Senior Alan."
Alanthuriel nodded.
"So you have the Reincarnation Disc with you now."
Lucien’s eyes sharpened.
He studied him for a mont.
Then decided not to waste the opportunity.
"Senior, do you know what this artifact really is?"
Alanthuriel did not answer imdiately.
Finally, Alanthuriel spoke.
"It belonged to the Abyss... But it was not created by the Abyss."
Lucien frowned.
That was not the answer he expected.
Alanthuriel turned and began walking.
"Co."
Lucien followed.
They entered a quiet chamber.
Lucien placed the sealed Reincarnation Disc on the table.
Even through the containnt, the disc carried a strange weight.
Alanthuriel looked at it for a while.
Then said, "More precisely, it was created by a Primordial who perished long ago."
Alanthuriel continued, "The Primordial of Eternity."
Lucien froze.
The na struck mory at once.
The Primordial Sli had ntioned that being before.
A Primordial betrayed by the others. And its torn essence was later salvaged by the Primordial Sli and used to give rise to the Life and Death Slis.
Lucien stared at the sealed disc.
"This belonged to the Primordial of Eternity?"
"It was born from it," Alanthuriel said.
Lucien fell silent.
Alanthuriel continued, "There were only a few Primordials who could enter the Abyss. The Primordial of Eternity was one of them."
Lucien looked up.
Alanthuriel’s gaze remained on the disc.
"The Primordial of Eternity entered for one purpose. It desired sothing impossible. It wanted every living thing to experience eternity."
Lucien’s gaze moved back to the disc.
"Immortality?"
"No. Eternity."
Alanthuriel looked toward the window.
"Immortality preserves one life. Eternity ant continuation beyond death. Another chance. Another road. Another beginning after an ending."
Lucien’s expression slowly changed.
"Reincarnation."
Alanthuriel nodded faintly.
"The concept of reincarnation was introduced in "this" universe through that deal. The Reincarnation Disc was born using its own essence as the foundation. It beca a turning point between death, mory, judgnt, continuation, and return."
Lucien’s fingers curled slightly.
The Primordial of Eternity had wanted every living thing to continue.
That sounded beautiful.
And horrifying.
Lucien’s gaze sharpened.
"The Abyss oversees reincarnation?"
"Not in the way mortals would imagine. The Abyss does not personally guide every soul like a clerk sorting papers."
Alanthuriel paused.
"It is more like an underlying chanism. Every death leaves a record. Every soul passes through a process. Every life contributes weight. The Reincarnation Disc helped establish the cycle that allowed souls to be reincarnated according to the shape, burden, rit, distortion, and consequence of their previous lives."
Lucien listened intently.
Then Alanthuriel’s eyes darkened slightly.
"But then it was stolen."
Lucien already knew who it was before Alanthuriel said the na.
"By the Primordial of Creation, the Primordial Sli."
Lucien closed his eyes.
Of course.
"That damned sli again," Lucien muttered.
Lucien opened his eyes. "It stole an artifact born from the Primordial of Eternity’s essence connected to the Abyssal system?"
Alanthuriel nodded.
"The Reincarnation Disc was sothing the Abyss used, but never fully controlled. That distinction matters."
"It belonged to the Abyss, but the Abyss did not own its essence."
"Correct."
Lucien looked at the sealed disc.
"And the Primordial Sli could control it?"
"Apparently."
Lucien asked the question that mattered.
"What does the Abyss want with it now?"
Alanthuriel’s gaze deepened.
"The Abyss may not interfere with you holding it."
Lucien frowned.
"Why not?"
"Because they may believe it benefits them."
That answer chilled the room.
Alanthuriel looked at the disc.
"The Reincarnation Disc does more than guide souls. When used in certain ways, it can produce divergence. Tiline divergence."
Lucien’s expression beca colder.
Alanthuriel continued, "The Abyss used those divergences to search for better outcos."
Alanthuriel looked at him.
"The so-called best tiline I told you about before was possible because of many such divergences. The Reincarnation Disc helped produce the conditions for those searches."
Lucien stared at the disc.
Suddenly, it no longer looked like only a tragic artifact.
It looked like a lever that could move history until history cracked into options.
Lucien’s expression tightened.
Now he understood why the disc mattered.
And why it was dangerous.
"If using it creates divergences, then holding it is already risky."
"Holding it, no. Using it recklessly, yes."
Lucien’s mind moved quickly.
For the first ti, he wondered if destroying the artifact might be wiser.
The thought did not last comfortably.
The Reincarnation Disc was too significant.
When Lucien had used Inspect, its grade had been the sa as his Divine Grade Covenant Discs.
Destroying it blindly would be foolish.
Keeping it blindly would be worse.
Alanthuriel seed to read his conflict.
"You are wondering whether you should destroy it."
Lucien did not deny it.
"Yes, senior."
Alanthuriel’s gaze remained steady.
"You do not have to fear the consequences as much as you think."
Lucien looked at him.
"As I said before, there will not easily be a better tiline than this one now."
Alanthuriel’s voice was quiet, but absolute.
"Even if the Abyss finds another possibility, I will act and lock the Pri Continuum again."
That answer settled into Lucien like a heavy shield.
For a mont, the room beca strangely still.
Then Alanthuriel’s mouth moved by the smallest fraction.
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