The minutes after the return to the server hadn't been quite as chaotic as one might assume. By far the biggest uncertainty was what would happen to the linked Mencur-Besh, but that resolved itself quickly after their emergence on the forest clearing. At first the bodies of the individuals simply stood there like statues, but one by one they opened their eyes and returned to normality. At least that was what it looked like from the outside. Fire of course knew what was really happening, the collective had to decide which minds to put into bodies and which ones would have to be left to die.

Of course, death had a different meaning to a Mencur-Besh than it did to a human. When a Mencur-Besh died, all knowledge and skill amassed over its lifetime would fuse into the collective, making it available to all other Mencur-Besh. On rare occasions a mind would be kept around to be put into a new body, for example if it held a strategically important position in human society. With over two thirds of the Mencur-Besh population dead, body transfers were the norm instead of the exception.

Fire looked around the clearing, he spotted far fewer of the Eye-and-Claws operatives than what they had begun with, but as opposed to the Mencur-Besh, who were limited by their bodies, most Eye-and-Claws were players who could respawn now that Shadow allowed them to return home.

Off near the edges of the clearing Fire could spot Andras and Brad, who had made it out of the entire ordeal alive. They were in the process of organizing what little resources they had managed to retrieve from Nexus.

Right next to Fire were Lucy and Dr. Mercury, who were in the process of regaining their bearings.

Dr. Mercury spoke first: "So, where are we now?"

Fire explained: "This is my 'second' world, the so-called server. It generally operates by rules you are familiar with. Blocks, mobs, things like that. Though I assume this world was not what Shadow had in mind when she offered to take you to our world."

Dr. Mercury simply nodded, then began fiddling with a handheld scanner, most likely curious whether it would still function.

Lucy pointed off into the distance where shimmering, black city walls were visible. "What's that over there?"

"That's Rockhaven, it would be this world's capital, but this world is too sparsely populated for things like that to make sense."

Lucy smiled. "Back in my world, I lived in the capital. Would it be possible for me to find a home here too?"

Fire thought for a moment. "If you want to stay on the server instead of the other world, that can be arranged."

Now it was Lucy's turn to contemplate.

After a minute of thinking she said: "I think for the time being I prefer this world, it plays by familiar rules at least. Do you think I could cross over later if I wanted to?"

Fire shrugged. "Most likely, but we'll know that for certain once Shadow is back. But since you'll be staying here for the time being, mind giving me your hand?"

Lucy's eyes lit up. "Does that mean I'll be an Eye-and-Claws member? Andras told me about the mark they have to identify each other."

"Just hold still, this will sting for a moment."

Fire knelt down and firmly grasped Lucy's hand and pointed his index finger at its back. A faint glow began emitting from Fire's finger, and once it made contact with Lucy's skin there was a flash of red. Lucy flinched but otherwise didn't react. On the back of Lucy's hand was now a stylized red eye with lines like scratch marks behind it. The eye blinked once, then faded into Lucy's skin.

Lucy giggled with excitement. "That's quite a cool symbol."

Dr. Mercury asked: "I assume I don't need a mark?"

Fire nodded: "Correct, it only works in this world."

Just as he finished speaking, the fabric of reality ahead of Fire split apart and from the gap, his sister materialized. He wordlessly hugged her, glad that she was here now too. But something was different about her, though in a good way.

Fire asked: "Entity's dead I assume?"

To Fire's side Dr. Mercury flinched. "I completely forgot about that. We almost dropped the ball on saving the multiverse."

Shadow smirked and said: "Dead is an understatement after what I did to it."

"Glad you made it back, Shadow." Lucy said and promptly joined the hug.

After they separated, Fire informed his sister: "Things seem to be under control, and it looks like Lucy wants to go to Rockhaven."

Shadow nodded. "Good choice, safest place on the server. Unless you go into politics that is, then I can't guarantee for anything."

Lucy laughed. "No plans of doing that." She paused. "So, how do I get into the city? I assume I can't just walk in."

Shadow said: "That's easy, just ask around among the Eye-and-Claws, several of them are from Rockhaven, they can get you into the city. From there, just look around and join a guild if one catches your fancy."

Lucy nodded. "Alright, I'll do that. Don't want to keep Veronica waiting on her own departure. And Fire, Shadow, thanks for everything."

Fire replied: "It was a pleasure having you around, Lucy."

And with that Lucy walked away, going in the direction of Brad and Andras, the two Eye-and-Claws most familiar to her. Fire looked between Shadow and Dr. Mercury.

"Alright, Shadow. How exactly did you want to go about getting Veronica over to our world?"

Shadow replied: "That's easy. I already created a body for her in one of our guest rooms-"

Dr. Mercury interrupted: "You can just do that?"

Shadow smiled. "Apparently, I'm still figuring out the limits myself. There is no other good way of getting you there. If I created a portal for you to go through, you'd end up paralysed or dead due to the crystal you put in your spine. No magic in our world to keep it working."

Dr. Mercury raised a finger to the height of her face. "That's a good point. But how do I get into that other body?"

"Ideally it should be as simple as opening your menu and logging out. You should know how to do that since the server automatically instils that knowledge."

Dr. Mercury replied: "So like thi-"

She disappeared before she could finish speaking. That most likely meant it worked.

Fire said: "So, Shadow. It seems you learned a thing or two in the meantime."

"You could say that. There are somethings we need to talk about, but not here."

Without further words, both Fire and Shadow logged out as well.

Peter opened his eyes, stood up and stretched. The cut on his chin from Kay's home invasion ached slightly, but the pain faded once he acclimatized to his human body.

He stepped out of his room and was immediately met with his sister. Even here in this world, something was visibly different, though it was very possible that he was the only one able to notice the difference.

Shadow said: "I already checked on Veronica. She's asleep in the next room over, seems like the new body needs some rest to properly accept her mind." She added after a small pause: "It also seems like some of my abilities are bleeding over to this world, this body feels far less dull and restrictive than before."

They began walking down the corridor slowly.

Peter mused: "I'll have to dig up some old contacts. I think the guy who helped Peter Miller disappear in favour of Peter Graves should still be around. He'll be able to get her a passport and any other required documents. The doctorate probably won't make it, but I'm sure she'll earn another one in no time. Maybe multiple, who knows?"

The Graves siblings continued walking forward wordlessly, eventually reaching the staircase to the entrance hall. They sat down on the steps.

Shadow said: "So, those things I wanted to talk about. Have you ever felt the same way you felt right when I returned from the lab before?"

Peter had expected something along those lines. That particular feeling had struck him as odd as well, in hindsight.

"No, never. I felt hopeless or helpless before, but never quite like that. Never quite that hollow. Have you felt that too at some point?"

Shadow nodded. "When I found out that Claw took over, I almost lost myself to the Void due to that feeling."

Peter asked: "You think it has something to do with the strings?"

"I feel like that would make sense. You saw them through the Entity's memory. I saw them when… I ascended again. I suppose that would make me double ascended, but we can find a proper word for it later if we need to. As for my strings, I cut them before I killed the Entity."

Peter sighed. "While I still have mine. And I have this feeling that the only one capable of cutting them is myself."

Shadow leaned against his side.

She asked: "Something else. I feel like I want to become better at the whole… people thing. Nexus and the Shelter made me realize just how bad things can get, and if I want to help, I have to be able to understand." She paused. "We should go across the border at some point soon, I need to see the situation with my own eyes."

That seemed like a good idea, in fact he had wanted to go himself for quite some time. He was in a position to help, seeing that he was sitting on the Graves family fortune. He now needed to see how and where to put it to use. But as always, there were many steps between then and now, all needing to be meticulously planned out, but fortunately he was good at that.

After a few minutes of silence, Shadow asked: "What was with Claw by the way? He seemed less antagonistic, judging by how he didn't attack us."

"I got him to realize that he's better off working with me than against me. I do plan on getting him out of my head eventually, and if he stands to benefit from that too then it's all the better."

Shadow said: "Glad that worked."

Peter hesitated, he was about to ask something of his sister that she definitely would not like.

He said: "Shadow, I need you to give me a heart attack."

"What?"

He took a deep breath. "This journey has broadened our horizons significantly, we know about other worlds, and I believe we are beginning to understand our own a bit better. The issue is that we absolutely cannot disclose any of this to my scientist friends, not without seriously stirring something up. During my conversation with Claw, I also realized that he is now developed enough that he could possibly stay in control indefinitely. He probably knows this too, but I don't think he would want that. Claw wants to be his own person, separate from me. Taking my body would not achieve that."

Shadow said: "Yes, but what does that have to do with me giving you a heart attack?"

"Claw is brought out by emotions. The scientists can use their technology to suppress my emotions until I find a way to get Claw out of my head. I cannot tell them about Claw's development without mentioning our trip out of this world. Two thirds of the Mencur-Besh disappearing probably creates enough questions already."

Shadow buried her face in her hands. "A heart attack allegedly induced by emotional stress would be a good reason for them to listen to your request for emotion suppression. I don't like this one bit, but… at least you're not infiltrating the Tower again."

Of course, Peter did not like the plan either, but it seemed like the best way of guaranteeing the outcome.

He said: "So, we go about it like this…"

After explaining the plan to Shadow, they both got into a car and drove out into the night, down the long, winding forest road that connected the Graves Manor to the rest of civilization. Once they had left the mountains behind, they soon reached a larger road, and from there it was just a short drive on the highway until they reached the clinic located in the suburbs. Peter knew this particular clinic to be very reliable. They parked a short distance away in an alley adjacent to the clinic's parking lot.

Peter undid his seatbelt and opened the door, then took a deep breath. "Alright, ready."

Shadow looked at him uneasily, then counted down from three. When Shadow's count hit zero the effects were immediate, a squeezing pain shot through Peter's chest. He began making his way over the parking lot, about halfway he broke out into a cold sweat. Breathing heavily, he pushed open the clinic's doors. The receptionist immediately looked at him with alarm.

Peter squeezed out between two breaths: "I think I'm having a heart attack."

He then did the only bit of acting this plan required and stumbled over his own feet but caught himself before hitting the ground. Through half-closed eyelids watched as he was approached by hastily called nurses before true unconsciousness took him.

When Peter opened his eyes again, he was not in the clinic. He instead sat on the familiar wooden bench in the infinite black room. Next to him sat the Lady of Dreams, as she always did. Since Peter had entered the dream as a human instead of a Mencur-Besh, their usual size difference was no more, leaving them at almost the same height. Though as opposed to her usual calm demeanour, her light-grey eyes were overflowing with happiness when she turned to Peter.

"Peter!" She called out.

He chuckled. "Hello, my Lady. Good to see you again."

The Lady said: "I'm so glad that you're alive, that everything turned out fine. I don't know what I would have done if I lost you."

Peter opened his mind, thoughts flowed freely. He showed the Lady everything he had seen and experienced in the assault on the Tower and what happened afterwards.

The last few memories made the smile fade from the Lady's face.

"Peter, I'm so sorry. I know it must be hard for you, making such decisions, especially at your own cost."

Peter simply smiled. "It's what I've always done. My life has been a long string of hard decisions, starting with deciding to keep going for Shadow's sake after losing all of my friends."

He thought back to his earlier years, before the server, before the scientists even. Then to the recent events, his initial group in Nexus, their bigger group after the jailbreak, and finally the Shelter.

He said: "I am just glad that you were there for me throughout all those years, my Lady. But with what comes next, we won't be able to see each other for a long while. No emotions, no dreams."

The Lady was silent. She knew the implications better than anyone, Peter didn't have to say it out loud, but for some reason he felt like he needed to. As if by an invisible agreement, they each put an arm around the other. They remained this way until Peter felt himself begin to drift away from his dream and back to consciousness.

The Lady said: "This may not be our last meeting before you relinquish your emotions, but if it is… No matter how long it takes, I will wait for you."

Just before he awoke, Peter replied: "So will I."

The serenity of the dream faded, and Peter found himself greeted by a dull pain in his chest. He was in a hospital bed and there were several people standing around him. Two nurses, one doctor, and Anna, one of the scientists. Off to the side he could hear the door swinging closed as another person entered the room.

Peter deferred the question he was asked to the doctor, then turned his focus inwards. He needed to forge a plan, perhaps his riskiest and most uncertain plan yet, a plan that if it succeeded would shake up the foundations of their world.