Awkward silence had fallen after Reed's stomach so rudely interrupted the woman's tearful thanks. Catching his breath, Reed straightened, tossing his hair over his shoulder with a grin. "Ain't nothin, sweetheart. I was just passing through. Someone oughta check on that kid down the road, tho." He jerked his thumb back the way he'd come.

Other villagers had come out from hiding. One of the houses was on fire; there were multiple corpses littered around the area. Reed counted the houses, coming up with probably around a couple hundred people; not more than a hollar, really. They'd lost about ten that he could see.

The woman came closer, treading cautiously, and he realized she was looking at his chest. "Astralitar?" she whispered.

"Yeah. I guess," Reed said, finding no reason to deny it.

"How... how can we thank you?" she sobbed.

"Breakfast," Reed said confidently. "But let's get that fire put out before it spreads, yeah? Bella, there a stream nearby?"

"You're running low on energy," Bella said, turning into her fairy form and floating into view.

"I know," Reed assured, "But I got it in me to do this."

"At the south side of the village," Bella pointed.

Reed nodded and started walking. The villager woman followed, shocked and curious. Two men joined her. Everyone else was preoccupied with their own concerns.

Reaching the stream, Reed considered the form his core needed to be. It seemed like he didn't need to fully understand what he wanted, since his core took form at his word. "Alright, boys, drag this hose that way," Reed pointed toward the fire and grabbed the end of the fire hose he'd created, snaking it between two buildings. It got a bit easier to carry as the men and woman helped. "Bella, can you hit the switch on the top and turn it on?" Reed asked his pixie companion.

"Okay..." Bella said and flew off.

Reed held the end, bracing himself.

In a sudden rush, the hose spewed water. Adjusting his aim, Reed hosed the flames from across the street. The people who had been throwing buckets at it backed away in shock. The pressure wasn't as much as Reed would've liked, but then again, the building probably wouldn't have withstood full firehose pressure.

Occasionally, a fish flew out of the hose and slapped against the burning building, but eventually, the flames flickered and went out.

Reed was quickly learning that running a water pump had a cost. He held to his feet by sheer tenacity until he was certain the fire was put out.

Instead of turning the pump off, Reed transformed the core back to its bracelet form. The water splashed to the ground in a line behind him, startling the people who had been standing nearby.

He wasn't surprised when the ground took a swing at his face and landed the hit.

 ***

Bella had been fond of every Astralitar she'd overseen.

Even if some had been mildly annoying, she'd still enjoyed their antics. They were always young people with bright eyes and a sense of justice that never failed to make them easy to direct. She and the twin gods, Freya and Freyr, had always chosen young people between the ages of fifteen and eighteen. They'd felt that the young would have minds more willing to accept that they'd died in their world. Even if they had lost everything, they had a certain immaturity to accept that and put everything they had into building new lives in the world of Oria.

Sitting on Reed's chest, she watched his face as he slept.

Everything about his body had changed. His new body was incredibly handsome. Bella had gone a bit overboard sculpting it. His previous body had been completely destroyed in the journey from Earth. Normally, she would've had plenty of time to study his face and recreate it during the transmigration.

Is he mad about that? Bella wondered, touching the Affinity Mark on his chest. The magic in it hummed beneath her hand.

The villagers had carried him to one of their undamaged houses and put him to bed once Bella had explained that he needed rest and food. The people had then busied themselves putting their lives back together.

He was nothing like who they normally picked for this duty. He was older; a shadow of a person with nothing worth living for.

Freyr had said with confidence that this would be perfect. Let the princesses deal with a bitter old man who likely wouldn't understand what was happening and wouldn't cooperate.

Freya had been the one to suggest making him handsome. She'd already known what the princesses would find attractive. He would be everything they wanted physically.

So Bella had been sent out to collect.

It was only in that last second that Bella had seen fire in his eyes. He'd been angry that his life was ending like that. Bella had felt bad for him in that moment. Even though she was the reason he was about to die, even though his life was absolutely miserable, he still had the energy to be mad about how he was leaving the world.

Watching his peaceful, handsome face, Bella drew her fingers along the lines of his Affinity Mark. There had only been three Lotus out of the hundreds of Astralitars. Their colors had been Green, Blue, and Pink.

Green had been useful after the fight with the Demon Lord. He'd made the lands abundant with ideas on how to improve farming and agriculture. His time had been an age of prosperity, and the population had recovered so quickly that it was briefly worried that there would be a famine.

Blue had also been useful after the fight. He'd advanced art and science, encouraged learning, and lifted everyone.

Pink... had been hilarious. He'd created unity through love. He'd still had to choose a Di'alletta, but he bestowed his attention equally among the princesses. All the royal families were related now through him.

Red... Bella had only seen Red in Swords. Reds were passionate and violent.

Reed had certainly been violent today, but it wasn't the wild abandon of prior Red Swords. His violence had been precise, and after, he'd tried to help clean up. He probably would've done more if he weren't already on the verge of collapse.

"Peace by any means," Bella whispered.

His lashes fluttered.

They'd used the sacred tree for his body, the milk for his blood, the swords for his bones, and rubies for his hair. His eyes, the color of those sacred leaves, opened and he stared up at the ceiling.

"You should sleep some more," Bella suggested. "You woke up screaming last night."

"Gotta piss," Reed said and propped himself on an elbow. "Is that what happens when you run out of gas?"

Bella laughed. "Yes. You should be more careful."

His stomach growled again. Reed ignored it and rubbed his eyes.

"Your stamina will get better if you absorb more sacred objects," Bella added. "But for now, you'll recover faster with food." She floated away as he sat up fully and put his feet on the floor.

His fond smile as he rubbed his knees reassured Bella. Even if he'd been angry about his death, he was grateful for his new body. Even if it looked nothing like what he used to.

***

Only an hour and a half had passed, but the people in town had picked up quite a lot of the mess. Reed smiled a bit as he admired the spread on the table he'd been sat at. This was how a community was supposed to be. Everyone had come together to cook and rebuild and bury the dead. A child sat beside Reed, staring up at him, kicking her feet as she gripped a stuffed rabbit.

Reed smiled at her. "What's your name?"

"A'shia," she said. She was missing her front teeth. She lifted her bunny. "Miku."

He grinned, taking the bunny when she pushed it toward him again. "Nice to meet you both! I'm Reed."

"Hi Reed," she said with another toothless grin.

"A'shia," the woman on the other side of the little girl scolded. "Don't bother the Astralitar."

"She's no bother," Reed assured. The rabbit tingled in his hands.

"Mister saved me," A'shia insisted, looking at her mother or elder sister.

Reed couldn't tell. The young woman looked barely out of her teens, but considering they were all elves, that didn't really mean anything. Someone put a plate in front of Reed, overfilled with a bit of everything on the table. Reed politely gave Miku back to her owner and waited to see if there was some kind of prayer situation.

"What brought you to us, Astralitar?" the old man to Reed's right asked. "Is the army in this area?"

Chuckling, Reed said, "I'm exploring on my own."

"Is the food not to your liking?" someone across the table asked.

Reed looked over. "I'm waitin for everyone else to have their plate. Where I'm from that was polite, but if you don't mind..."

"Oh! Don't wait for us!" the woman across from him hurried to say.

"Thank you!" Reed was surprised to find that there was no fork. Only a spoon and knife. Thankfully, there was a stew served, so Reed started with that to watch how others used their utensils. The stew was made with wild game and vegetables. It tasted amazing, but beyond that, it had a quality like drinking a soda, except the popping bubble feeling wasn't physical. He filed that away to ask Bella later.

In fact, it had felt similar to how holding Miku had felt.

"Thank you so much for putting out Lu'min's house," someone down the table said.

Reed swallowed hastily to reply, "Would'a been bad if the fire spread."

The old man beside Reed nodded. "Terisip's house is next door. We'd have been sorely hurt if that had burned down. Lu'min's house can be rebuilt, but Teri's our healer."

Nodding, since his mouth was full, Reed listened. Apparently, it was alright to stab things with your knife and eat off it like that, he'd noticed.

Bella landed on the table in front of Reed's plate. She pulled a piece of bread off with her hands and dipped it into the gravy. Reed glanced down at her in amusement. The way she'd stared up at him as she did it seemed like she was challenging him to be mad about it. He had plenty.

Everything on his plate had that effervescent bubble to it. Was it some spice they used?

"I hope this is to your liking," the young woman beside A'shia said. "I know it's not what they offer at the palace..."

Reed laughed. "Sweetheart, this is the best meal I've had in years." He wasn't lying, either. After years of living out of garbage cans and soup kitchens, Reed was actually having a hard time not sobbing into his plate.

Bella was giving him a hard stare that he couldn't decipher. She suddenly glided over to his shoulder and turned into an earcuff again. "Be careful, you're using your power on them."

Knowing that he couldn't really speak out loud, Reed focused on eating again. He wasn't sure if that was fixing the issue, since Bella didn't come back out. She did, however, say, "You should finish up. Meg'ante is nearby with soldiers."

He ducked his head and asked, "How far?"

"Twenty miles. But they're riding cores. You have a few hours."

Reed grumbled.

"Is something wrong?" the old man asked.

"I wish I could stick around and help a bit more, but I gotta get moving. Something has come up," Reed said.

"You've already helped us so much," the woman to his left said, petting the child's hair, tears in her eyes. "My little girl is all I have left. If I'd lost her too..." She shook her head and wiped her eyes. "Is there anything else we could do for you?"

Bella reappeared, floating up to stand on Reed's head. "A bag with some supplies for the road would be appreciated."

The woman nodded. "We can do that."

"I ain't gotta leave just yet, tho. We got time to finish eatin," Reed assured. He knew he would easily outpace Meg'ante if she was twenty miles away, and it would take her hours to get to his current location.