The air felt cold on Taka's skin. The sky was dark, almost crimson, but the land felt... familiar. Like he had been there, wherever he was, before. Taka focused his senses on the mana in the ground and could tell he was in Spirit Kingdom territory, but it was different, much more Magia coursed through the veins of the earth. Taka felt unusually strong, but his mind was foggy. He had the overwhelming urge to run away, or towards something, but he couldn't remember what. Where am I...?

  From above, a bolt of lightning descended from the heavens and split the land in two, the crack dividing creating a crevice that seemed to stretch downward to the center of the world. From the bottom of the pit, something let out a roar that shook the ground around Taka.

  Taka felt deja vu as his head began to pound. The distant sound of clawing drew nearer--

  "Now what were you doing there, Mister Taka?" A familiar voice cooed.

  The world went white. He was back in the nowhere, the Empty Space. The pounding in his head ceased, but the fog clouding his mind didn't fully dissipate.

  "What was that?" Taka called out.

  Taka felt Beja's presence all around him. Each time he was brought to the Empty Space, it felt like he had been entirely removed from reality, transcended, or maybe descended, into another realm, some inaccessible space to mortal creatures.

  "Something you weren't supposed to see," Beja curtly replied.

  "That felt like the dream I had when I was first brought here," Taka said as the thought finished forming in his head.

  The place felt familiar because it was similar to a dream he had had before. The dream, with the splitting planet, the robed figures, and Syla... but it wasn't the same as last time. The lightning and the crack, yes, but the timing was different, and he felt different. But now he had an excuse to ask, and was conversing with one of the few beings who might actually have a clue what it was.

  "Was that a premonition?" Taka asked.

  Beja laughed, a hearty, full sound, "Well, not exactly."

  Taka waited for the god to continue, but they didn't.

  "Why did you bring me here?" Taka asked.

  "You and your questions," Beja said. "But I'm feeling charitable today. You shouldn't be able to see what you just saw. It's bad, for everyone, for you to see that because... it's, well, how do I put it... you remember the first ability you received, yes?"

  "Eyes of the Worm Mother?" Taka confirmed.

  A window appeared in front of Taka.

  EYES OF THE WORM MOTHER: Unique racial ability of chosen High Worms. The Worm Mother smiles down upon you. You have been blessed with the gift of true sight.

  Taka backed away into more nothingness, but the window followed.

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  "Yes," Beja said. "That was a... an unexpected development."

  Taka's eyes went wide in surprise, "that wasn't you?"

  "Your subclass was, and a few other things along the way, but..." Beja trailed off. "All you need to know is that there are greater forces at play than you are aware of, and you need to proceed with the utmost caution."

  "Was that a vision, though?" Taka pressed.

  "It isn't that simple," Beja said. "Be careful, Taka. Do not tell anyone of what you saw. Your new device for speech was already pushing it, so consider this the last warning you will get."

  Taka was about to snap back, annoyed at the non-answers Beja had been spewing, but caught his tongue. Just do what I can for now, he told himself. This is about more than me.

  "Fine," Taka agreed reluctantly.

  "And now I have a task for you, as promised," Beja said. "One that you must complete with haste."

  Taka's body stiffened as he braced himself.

  "Make me a shrine," Beja commanded. "This is very important."

  Taka wasn't sure how to respond. Refusing the god's request would almost certainly spell instant demise, but he had never been a religious person in his past life, and he couldn't remember hearing much about religion when he was in Kronkswell."

  "Out of what?" Taka asked, "And where? And, what are you actually the god of?"

  Beja chuckled at his questions, "it matters not of what nor where. And for your final question, I am the god of what you may call 'the natural,' preserver of both the natural order and the sanctity of life."

  Taka's eyes shot open before he could fully process Beja's words. He was back in the guest quarters that he and his companions occupied in the municipal building. What is 'the natural?' And the vision, dream, or premonition -- whatever it actually may be, if Beja wasn't behind it, then who is? Is it the same presence that allowed Beja to let me go last time, the 'it' that gave me the Eyes of the Worm Mother ability? What does it want with me?

  Taka looked around the room and saw Zirko asleep in his cot near the door to the room where Syla and Maeve were staying. The rest of their night had been uneventful. Zirko and Maeve had combed through everything they saw at each of the residences of the missing creatures, but they were unable to make a definitive step forward in the investigation. The only new leads were revealed by Hyark and her family's connection to Dr. Quinoth through a magic-related ailment that plagued her brother, as well as her sighting of fae that looked similar to the ones that had attacked Syla's village before she came under Vanz'goran's protection. Zirko had put two and two together, but Maeve, who was unfamiliar with Syla's past, was able to pick up on the tension and knew well enough not to ask aloud in case anyone was listening. Maeve asked Taka through his TELEPATHY skill yet either, and he'd made sure she'd had the chance.

  Taka squirmed around in the soil of his potted bed. Squirming in dirt soothed him, something he felt embarrassed to admit to himself, but did when he needed to calm down and had the time. One of the side effects of being reincarnated as a worm... he wondered if there was anyone else out there like him. Variants, the 'blessed' version of a species, but a strange species... are there any other reincarnations out there? Taka asked himself. If Valish could bring me here, what's to say he couldn't have done the same with a handful of other people from my Earth, and what if they agreed to go along with his plans?

  Taka was frustrated at himself for only questioning the prospect of other reincarnations until that moment, but he knew that remaining frustrated at himself for things far beyond his control wasn't healthy or helpful... just focus on what I can do now.

  Zirko shifted in his cot, stretching his limbs as he let out a grunt. "Sleep now, Sir..." Zirko said groggily. "You will need the rest for the coming days."

  Zirko curled up and began to snore lightly. The lizard man seemed to have barely slept on their journey up until this point, but he at least seemed comfortable enough now to get a night's rest. Or deemed it detrimental to fight the unrelenting weight of fatigue any longer.

  Taka settled back into his dirt as he continued to comb through all of the information he had. His summoning by Valish, the aeries, the mind control of Zirko, the attack on Kronkswell, the missing otherkin, the magic-related illness and Dr. Quinoth, the traitor on Ambassador Reika's staff, the creationist pricks, the Holy Tree and Syla's body, the dream/vision/premonition... how do they all connect? No, not how, it's Valish's creationist church and the Spirit Kingdom, but why? What are they trying to do? Taka thought to himself as he faded back into sleep.