"Why can't you save her?"

"My divine power is entering her wound but something is interfering. Most likely she was put under a powerful curse that keeps her wounds from healing. Do you have any idea what she could have been cursed by?" The old priest of Accordia questioned the party that had dragged Alex's nearly lifeless body into the shrine.

"We ran into a doppelganger that took on her appearance at the town gates. Could it have something to do with this?" One of the swordsmen asked.

"It is possible that Alex was cursed by it before it followed after her if it truly is a doppelganger. Apeldo, go with them and bring that demon back so I can examine it. Be quick! She's already on the brink of death!"

"At once your grace."

Alex spasms with a gurgling cough that vomits out a large proportion of what little blood he had left from the gaping hole in his throat before passing away. Alex's party stopped following Apeldo when they heard his last bloody gasp. The priest used his magic power to analyze the fresh corpse.

"What are you waiting for!? If I don't find the source of the curse before the soul departs I won't be able to revive her! Go!" The priest yelled at Alex's party.

Just a moment after they left, the priest gasped in shock.

"The soul is already gone? This is way too fast. Unless... Did that doppelganger already steal it? I need to study this curse so I can warn the head priests."

The old man muted the video playing on the screen and turned to look back at Alex, who is now back in his normal male body.

"So here we are again..." The old man began to slowly walk toward Alex and conjured a black smokey orb in his hand. "It's time I stop being nice about this."

"Nice? When have you been nice?" Alex retorted with more than the usual flush of frustration, mostly due to a missed chance at something immensely fun.

I've been very patient. I've already sent you to more places than any other soul that I've dealt with before. Now, I'm going to send you to the depths of Tartarus."

"Tartarus...?" Alex repeated what he just heard as he tried to recall where he'd heard it from. Before the synapses containing the vague memory could fire the old man raised the orb and chucked it at Alex.

*Whoosh*

Alex dodged to the side and the dark orb passed by him.

The old man froze and his eyes grew wide in shock.

"You dodged it...? How could you dodge it?"

With a sense of accomplishment mixed with relief, Alex had a proud smirk as he answered, "Angel helped me." [Yes! I was finally able to dodge one of the old man's projectile orbs!]

"Angel? That's the system Alicia should have... But a system of a lower realm shouldn't work here."

*Crack* *tinkle* The orb shattered in the background.

The old man's eyes further widen and he grabbed the back of his head. "It shattered!? What!?" He looked at the remains of the orb for a moment before he looked back to Alex.

"There is clearly something different about you. You shouldn't have been able to dodge my orb unless you had the power of a demigod at the least."

Alex only returned the old man's glare with a steady stare of his own waiting to see what would happen next. [I have no clue what I should do now. I feel like finding the nearest save point for some reason.]

["There are no save points here Alex"] Angel responded.

[Where is Tartarus? It sounds really familiar.]

["From your memories of a cartoon, video game and TV miniseries featuring the adventures of Hercules, Tartarus is where Zeus imprisoned the Titans. It seems to be a prison from which even gods can't escape."]

[What? He was going to send me there? I thought that was all make-believe.] A cold chill spread down Alex's back.

["None of this is a hallucination, Alex."]

[..., What should I do?]

["I suggest going on the offensive while the old man is shocked."]

[How?]

["Try touching him."]

[What, like patting him on the back?] Alex contracted his eyes, creasing his glabella. (Space between the eyes.)

["Just try making physical contact. I can't analyze him from this distance."]

[Alright I'll do my best.]

Alex's internal conversation with Angel took place at the same time the old man was having an inner dialogue of his own.

[Only another god should be able to dodge or defend against me in my own space. Yet I don't sense any divine power from the lad. His soul hasn't even started to convalesce... There's no way his soul has already transcended. That system, there's nothing drastically different from any of the other systems I've given to people before. There's no way it should be functioning here without a connection to the source of this realm's rules. Unless...]

The old man's train of thought was interrupted when he noticed Alex scooching closer with a pensive look on his face.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing." Alex stumbled a bit when the old man noticed him moving closer. Then, he quickly gathered his nerve and lunged toward the old man trying to tag him with his hands.

"WHAT THE H*LL ARE YOU ON ABOUT!?" The old man bellowed at Alex as he dodged out of the way.

Undaunted, Alex continued trying to touch him.

"Don't come near me you little creep!" The old man yelled as he continued to dodge.

Alex smirked at how the old man seemed to be panicking, [It's like he thinks I'm going to give him some kind of disease or something... That's rude.] Alex frowned from the thought.

["Dodge it!"] Angel warned during Alex's brief but fatal lapse in attention.

Alex tried to quickly move to the side but his ankle gave out from the effort and he was hit by a powerful bolt of lightning followed by an orb powerfully impacting him in the stomach knocking the proverbial air out of him.

Alex staggered and the orb fell away from his belly button and bounced on the floor with a jarring ringing sound as if a glass ball had landed and bounced on a tile floor. The old man caught the orb as Alex fell backward emitting smoke from being partially charred again.

"This... He's not only dodging the orbs but even resisting them now? Is that system really functioning here?" The old man couldn't believe his eyes. "Only another god should be able to do what Alex just did. At least my lightning bolt still did its job." [This warrants an investigation. Maybe I should take him to see the Oracle. Hmm, I don't really want to call that much attention to all this. I suppose I won't be rid of him without a lot more trouble either. Maybe I can use him to get back at some of those cheapskate fools.] The old man grinned as he came up with a new plan to deal with and utilize Alex.

"Get up, I didn't zap you that badly." The old man came to a decision and prompted Alex to get on his feet.

"I have a proposition for you. Are you listening?" The old man asked as Alex lifted himself off the ground.

"Are you finally done sending me places?" Alex asked.

"Not quite, but before that let me ask you, how did you resist my orb?"

"I resisted it? I did!?" Alex was amazed at how the orb had no effect other than compacting any lunch he still had moving through him.

Alex checked his body for any irregularities before looking back at the old man, "How did I do it?"

"That's my question... You really don't know?" The old man frowned in confusion. "Alright, that aside, your circumstances are worth looking into but before I get into that, I'll give you a chance to return home."

Alex stared at the old man hardly processing what he'd just heard but feeling his heart become lighter with every neuron that successfully fired in his brain.

"Go back home? Can I really return?" Alex was almost out of breath from the notion as well as the collapsed lung.

"Yes, I'll send you back to Earth. But it won't be back to your old life. This is more of a test for you. I want you to collect a few things for me while you're there and if you happen to die and don't return here then that is fine too." The old man smiled at that thought.

"What would happen to me then? If I died I mean."

"I couldn't say. Maybe you'll start bothering someone else. Maybe you'll simply be reincarnated again on Earth. Wouldn't that make you happy?"

Alex thought for a moment, "I have a feeling I couldn't find peace there, besides, what would happen to Angel if I get stuck on Earth?"

"That... is a good question. This is all besides the point." The old man waved his hand in front of his face to banish this unproductive talk. "What do you say? You could see your home planet again or I could keep striking you with lightning until I manage to send you to Tartarus. What would you prefer?"

Alex only took a moment to ascertain that the old man wasn't joking about Tartarus.

"Obviously I'm going to go home. What did you want me to do while I'm there?" Alex crossed his arms.

"Let me explain something to you before we get to that. The body you have right now is just a soul. The way you look is how you subconsciously percieve yourself. This subconscious force of will gives you form. As you just experienced, The soul can be injured. Now, your soul, as far as I can tell, is whole and in one piece. But what if a small fragment of it broke off? What do you think would happen?"

"I'm not sure. Would I die?... Or maybe I'd turn into a wraith and try to eat unicorns or something."

The old man didn't get what Alex was referencing, "I don't think Earth is host to any unicorns at the moment, but you are close about becoming a wraith."

Alex blinked his eyes hearing that unicorns could be real too.

"Surely you have heard of spirits or ghosts before?"

"Yeah." Alex nodded his head.

"When a fragment breaks away from its host soul, there is a good chance that it will become a semi-sentient apparition that inhabits or haunts a place it was familiar with when it was whole. I have my own theory that the place a ghost haunts is determined by what part of the host's life or memory is contained in the soul fragment that broke away."

"This is hard to follow. Can you make it easier to understand what you want me to do?" Alex scratched his head with a vexed look.

"I will give you an item to collect these soul fragments."

"You want me to go ghost hunting for you?" Alex raised both his eyebrows at this.

"This is for your own sake. I can put together an item that uses the souls you collect to make it possible for you to step foot beyond the mortal realms. This way you may also have more choice in where you go or where you end up."

[I'd be very happy if you went somewhere far away from me.] The old man thought to himself.

"So, What will you do? Ah, right, the item to collect the soul fragments will be bonded onto your soul much like the system is, though it is more or less temporarily so. I will also teach Angel how to connect to the source of Earth's rules so she can guide you and find the fragments easier."

Alex felt a bit overwhelmed by all the new info he was learning but he was determined not to let this chance slip through his fingers. "I'm willing to try."

"Good. Let me just put some finishing touches to this. Alright here." The old man fiddled with a new orb before offering it to Alex.

Alex looked at the orb in the old man's hands before he looked him in the eye. "This isn't some trick is it?"

"Hahaha! No, but that would have been a good idea had I thought of it I suppose. Here just take it. Let's see what comes of this."

Alex timidly touched the orb with his fingers before the old man grabbed Alex's wrist and shoved the orb firmly into his hand.

"I suppose I should say good luck. But maybe I won't see you again after this. Wouldn't that be nice?" The old man smiled as he watched Alex be bourn away into that familiar dark swirl.

After Alex was gone, the old man realized he'd touched Alex and looked at the palms of his hands.

"I think I still have that towel around here somewhere."

...

Alex opened his eyes and saw an old ceiling covered in tobacco smoke and spaghetti or greasy pizza stains. He tried sitting up but found it more challenging than it should have been and flattened back out onto the smelly bed. Alex looked toward his feet and patted his bulging stomach.

"This is something new for me." [Hey Angel, are you there?]

["Yes Alex, I'm here. Give me a moment to process some information and establish the connection to the administrative rules of this realm."]

"That sounds pretty deep. What are these rules you guys are talking about?"

["Every realm, or rather every mode of being is governed by overarching rules that determine what is and what isn't possible... I'm sensing some confusion. Let me rephrase the info... The Earth has rules like the laws of physics for example. If you drop an apple, it will normally fall to the ground. This is called gravity."]

"I know what gravity is at least."

["Gravity is an example of one of the rules that apply to Earth's method of existence. There are other dimensions or realms that may follow different rules but we don't need to worry about such things at the moment. Let's just go get breakfast."]

Just then Alex's stomach made a loud gurgling grumbling noise.

"Haha, breakfast. The things I took for granted. Bacon and eggs! Toast! Even cheap orange juice sounds good." His stomach rumbled again.

Alex tried to sit up once more but failed. He had to think for a moment before he rolled onto his side and off the bed catching himself by putting both his feet underneath him before his face made it all the way to the grime-stained carpet.

"This body isn't much fun to move around so far. Is there a mirror?"

Alex walked to the adjoining bathroom and saw an obese stranger staring back at him from the mirror.

"What did the old man say again? Was this someone living before I took over?"

["I believe this body became vacant just recently when the original owner had a heart attack. Don't worry that smell isn't from your body rotting. At least not any new rotting since the owner died."]

"Doesn't smell so bad to me." Alex sniffed around before he smelled his armpits. "Yeah, smells pretty normal."

Alex walked back to the bedroom and stopped to admire the TV on the dresser for a moment.

"Does this body come with a wallet?" Alex felt around his pants before Angel notified him about the wallet back on the nightstand.

With money in hand and an angry but working gastrointestinal system, Alex opened the motel room's door and breathed in the mid-morning smell of drying grass and smog.

"It feels like forever since I last smelled car exhaust. Didn't think it'd make me feel so homesick when I finally smelled it again."

["You should head back into the room and put on a shirt."]

"Ah, good looking out Angel."

Wearing the bare minimum of socially acceptable garb for the Midwest United States, Alex headed over to the modest lobby of the rundown motel for some passably decent bacon and eggs along with some of those mass-produced finger pastries.

After wolfing down his grub and grabbing seconds, Alex slowly ate as he sat and watched the other people around him.

"I'm really back aren't I?" He said as much to himself as to Angel.

["This is the Earth you first came from."]

Alex nodded silently while looking down at his remaining food.

["I've found traces of some nearby soul fragments. They are concentrated along the next 50 miles of highway. Many are within the city limits to just over the bridge at the edge of the suburbs."]

[Do you know the name of this place?] Alex was curious to know how far away he was from his hometown.

["You should know your current body is a rental. I'm filling in for the damaged parts of its brain but it won't last for more than a few days before its biology begins to break down for good."]

Alex sighed, [The old man probably didn't want to give me a chance to cause any lasting trouble huh?] He knew he could always call home and try to convince his family that he was back from the dead but in this day and age, anybody could get access to a person's deepest secrets.

Pretty much everything goes through the internet these days. Bank accounts and shopping habits. Text messages, emails, pictures and blogs. People have been putting so much data about who they are out into the world at large that there are very few real secrets they can keep to themselves. Alex was no exception. There was a good chance some overseas dictator knew all about his tastes from all the porn sites he visited back when he was alive. It would be easier than expected for some random Joe to claim to be Alex and even provide personal details as evidence to convince his family of the authenticity of his claims.

Thinking about all this, Alex realized how much of a burden he was carrying in his former life. With a deep breath and a feeling of freedom, Alex looked out the lobby window at the cars speeding by on the highway and asked Angel, "Where's the closet fragment?"