As she swam to the center of the lake, she floated, allowing her body to drift about. Language shift, abrupt death, childbirth, and betrayal are all terrifying to any normal person or beast. In defeat, she huffed. She wanted to keep feeling stress-free and thinking only happy thoughts, but there was another abrupt change from her previous existence. She grumbled some more and placed her hands on her face, knowing she'd have to accept her fate sooner or later.

“Yeah. No. Anyone would be stressed out about the predicament you're in, Wolfe. You should have seen how I looked. I was a fucking mess. It took me approximately two weeks to realize I needed to acknowledge my death completely.”

Splashing in the water, she turned and saw a familiar face. “Jack?” She couldn't believe who she was seeing. “Why are you here—why are you here, of all places!” She swam out more towards the center of the lake, frantic. “Are you dead?” She asked, uncertain whether he was indeed actually dead. She recalled that the men who were attempting to drown her, in her cell, had no idea who he was.

Jayne thought, after escaping her cell, that she simply imagined Jack during the days she was imprisoned, mainly attributed to the guards' mistreatment of her. She felt she'd gone somewhat insane, but now he's swimming with her in the lake. “Have I honestly turned insane?” She sank deeper into the water, ready to succumb to another level of death.

“No! Wait, come back up here and listen to what I'm saying.” Jack, who had materialized out of nowhere after the catastrophe, was now rescuing Jayne from the water. “Ok. Wow. First and primarily, when wet, your fur makes you 100 times heavier. I'm not calling you fat. It's just you’re hefty.” Jayne didn't move, instead stared at Jack, who was now making comments about her weight.

“Wolfe. I didn't-” He was taking his time to find the appropriate words to possibly explain the issue, but nothing came out for a whole minute. It was becoming more frustrating to watch Jack gaze around and make strange faces. Agitated, she grasped his collar, pushing her head back just far enough to strike his frontal bone. “You'll never talk again if you don't start talking now.”

Jack's eyes widened as he fought back tears. He was astounded by how she didn't even flinch. That touched his heart a little. He began describing the problem as best he could, despite his sudden nervousness. “I had truly been dead for quite some time. Dimitri was initially supposed to keep a watch on you before your death date, but he couldn't since he was busy with Miyana's death date at the time. She was beginning to accept her death.” Jack continued scratching and pointed at Dimitri as an idiot.

“Did Miyana die before I did?” Jayne had just realized that she didn't die peacefully and had wondered how Miyana died. “Because I don't have Dimitri's magical abilities, he sent me to prevent an early death before the twins came, and at that moment you slowly began to notice me, a dead-scaled beast.” He continued pointing to his chest with all his elongated fingers as if Jayne hadn't seen he was a scaled beast before.

“Your body and soul were deteriorating, and the only way I could assist you was to pretend I was alive and urge you to eat and keep your spirit alive. That's when Dimitri informed me about Miyana's death, and I realized I needed to make sure you lived a bit longer. So when I vanished that day, I literally went inside you.” He narrowed his eyes and dropped his head to his shoulders, nervously smiling, bringing the corners of his mouth closer together.

Went inside me? “What?” Jayne was perplexed by what he meant. She didn't scream the way Jack expected her to. She needed to understand what he meant by it. He went on to describe how the deceased, who lived among deities, go on to absorb some of their energy. So, after three hundred years as a dead entity, Jack had absorbed quite a bit and was able to offer almost every drop to compel Jayne to stay alive. He utilized the remaining energy on the bear beast to aid her escape to a “Safer” area in the fiery dungeon, but he didn't think that employing too much-spared energy would cause the beast's heart to immediately stop.

“I think it makes sense why you vanished and why the guards never addressed you or let you out of the cell.”

The old man, who was drinking the final sip of his drink, greeted the two dead beasts as they swam back to the wooden table. “You should have just said you were hungry. I wouldn't want a hangry, stressed-out wolf swimming for fish.”

Not given a chance to respond. The old man waved his hand, he assured the wolf how much enjoyment things would be to have her remain here. Concerned about what he was conjuring, they both looked around and noticed the lake's center was beginning to bubble fiercely. Jack and Jayne exchanged concerned expressions as a massive eight-foot red fish soared out of the water and onto the land near Jack's feet. Nearly knocking him away with its tail.

They both gazed at the redfish, who was attempting to leap back into the lake, while a blue fish splashed around on the surface of the water. Jack was so preoccupied with gazing over the fish that he didn't spot a man approaching the redfish with a blade in his hand. The wolf felt a shudder run up her spine; she didn't want to kill the fish after seeing the blue fish urgently scream for its companion to return home.

“Jeffery. She changed her mind; you may return the fish to the water.” She felt relieved when Dimitri said this, but Jack complained and began yanking and crying on Dimitri's clothing before plunging back into the water to get the fish. “Oh! Please bring some munchies and another pint of Frosty butterscotch green plum peach tea!”

Jayne took a peek at Dimitri's tea he was drinking earlier and is now quite concerned about where the heck that green plum wound up in that purple goop he calls tea.

Dimitri waved his hands as he took another sip, and another towel materialized on top of Jayne, once again covering her. “Don't criticize my tea until you've tried it.”

“Where did the green go, Dimitri? Hmm?” The Frosty butterscotch green plum peach tea he was drinking sickened the wolf. “Usually, they're supposed to look nearly greenish yellow… How the hell did it become a purple goop?”

Dimitri was unable to take another sip from his transparent mug. He swirled his palm, and Jayne was hovering over the water in an instant. If she didn't stop assaulting his drink, he threatened to feed her to the fish. After the settlement was finalized and everyone had received what they want, the matter of the mirror was brought up again.

“Good. It is now time for you all to view the soul's history, more specifically Miyana's prior life till her final moment. Miya and I didn't have time to converse, since I needed to zap the poor soul into your previous altered body because someone opted to die within the belly of a flaming building. While she was supposed to be stabbed with a poisoned sword just nearly outside the entryway, away from the hostile area.” Dimitri gazed at Jack, wondering what was going through his mind at the time.

“What?” Jayne wasn’t sure if she preferred that over smoke suffocation. Dimitri took a deep taste of his tea. Giving Jayne a lethal smile, then taking another, a sip of the green-less tea.

Dimitri poured Jack a cup of tea. Jack seemed queasy from delight, “It's time for another lengthy adventure told through the eyes of our soon-to-be main protagonist. The main show will begin when that story is complete.”

As Dimitri finished chatting to himself in one of the mirrors, Jayne sat next to the sobbing Jack, now forced to drink the tea. Jayne wondered if Miyana would be anything like her, while she was alive, or if she would be entirely different.