An immortal life can bring you to endless places on a road that never stops winding... you would think that most people would be aware of life’s permanence, with not a single person left being mortal, but they often forgot. They would walk their paths, living their lives, never understanding how truly endless it all was... never understanding how many opportunities an endless life gave them... though he understood better than most. He’d been walking a very long path as well, though unlike the others, his road kept ending. Where everyone else was stuck in permanence, he was stuck in a cycle of death. To him, nothing was permanent, which was why it was easier for him to appreciate the beauty of the endless.

“Why’d that dragon already come back?! It’s still early spring! It still snows sometimes!”

“Hey, it ain’t no dragon! It’s different, it’s got three heads, I tell ya!”

“Three heads?! What’s that thing doing over here?!”

His steps paused on a whim as he looked to the boys who were chatting amongst themselves at the front of a small tavern, too engrossed in their conversation to pay any attention to a stranger. People like this came along his path very often. People in danger, people who were scared. But he only saw them as often as he did because those were the types of people he sought out on this endlessly impermanent path of his. Besides, they mentioned a three-headed dragon? It made him a little curious, so he backed himself up to lean against an iron lamppost, shiny blue eyes turning to stare at the ground while two other pairs of feet stopped beside him.

“It’s been living here for a while, it just sleeps for a few years between its bursts! That’s what my father told me!”

“Haha, your father? You talk about him like he's this legend all the time. Is your father even real?”

“Shut up! If yer fathers didn’t tell you tales of that beast, I don’t know what t’ tell ya!”

“No, no, you’re right… that thing’s been here for a while…”

Hm. Their voices were annoying. Reaching into the inner pocket of his long white cloak, he dug around for a sweet treat before pulling out some wrapped candy, the best solidified honey if he’d ever tasted it. He’d bought some from another town on a different planet, though it was in the same universe... over there, he'd heard a rumor of a lot of people dying in some backwater village. However, he really just wanted these annoying brats to hurry up and get to the point of their conversation, and popped the honey into his mouth to keep himself occupied.

“Why doesn’t anybody come and take care of it for us?! It’s been decades and we haven’t received any support! Those cocky adventurers just keep getting themselves killed!”

“Haha, that one with the lightning concept made a pretty good show though, I hear! Before he got his head bitten off…”

“What? Did you see it? And don’t make fun of stuff like that, you bastard.”

“Ahah, my bad… and no, I just saw it off a memory shard. Someone was showing it off!”

Ahhh, the candy was so sweet and sugary, he loved it... sucking on the honey flavor was absolutely enough to kill his boredom, as he was a simple man, fingers tapping against the metal post while he and his two companions continued to stand there and listen in silence. Neither of them seemed to like the conversation they were listening to, but that didn’t matter.

“Woah, showing off a memory shard?! Are you serious?! Were they a noble?!”

“Looked like it! They were that lightning guy’s companion, and showed us so that we’d leave the dragon alone and not approach it…”

“And let it kill all our livestock?!”

“Well, would you rather die?”

“We’ll starve!”

“Oh shut it, the dragon only shows its face a few times a decade! We’ll be fine if we don’t go near it and wait for it to pass.”

“I heard it killed all of old man Gom’s sheep a few years ago, and that our village really did almost starve, though.”

“What, did your father tell you that again?”

“You were there! Why do you think our mothers stopped cooking for us?!”

“I thought they were all just being lazy…”

Ahah. Well, wasn’t that hilarious to listen to. Truly, he wasn’t able to stop himself from grinning ear to ear as he kicked his lean frame off the lamppost, taking a moment to swallow the rest of his candy whole before he approached the three dumb boys with a devilish smile. It really hadn't been necessary for him to walk up, since he'd heard everything that was important, but he honestly just kinda felt like it. And obviously, if he felt like doing something, he would do it, no matter what it was. So he gracefully stepped up close with his eyes smiling down, his nice, white clothing and platinum blond curls suddenly making the boys feel as if they were going blind, as his kind of features weren't common in this smaller universe of the Udimeia. But, well, he was in a good mood.

“Oh? You thought your mothers stopped cooking and feeding even themselves because they were lazy?” he provoked with a laugh, the boys freezing at the rudeness in his tone. They stared at him, dumbstruck, before looking between each other like they didn't know what to make of it.

“Uh, well, they’re supposed to cook for us! It’s like their only job!” one of the boys huffed, standing his ground, though the tall blond in front of them only gave an amused hum before he leaned himself back and started snickering.

“Uh huh. Right. So just forget everything else women do to clean up after your smelly bums, is that it?” he waved a hand over his nose, the three boys gaping at him while they watched him turn to his two companions in horror. “Hey, these little scraps said the dragon had three heads. It looks like we’re dealing with a hydra. Should I lure it here to teach these boys a fun little lesson?”

“That hardly sounds fun, boss,” another chipper voice replied, a shorter and brawnier man with bright ginger hair that was soft and fluffy around his neck and which shone like burning flames against caramel skin, his fiery orange eyes looking at his master with earnestness. “If your lesson includes killing three kids and a town, I don’t see why not. It won’t be fun for them, but maybe we could make it fun for you.”

“Like how?” chimed in a third, his second companion being a tall woman with long black hair so sleek it could be mistaken for the finest of silks, the length of it tied behind her at the base of her neck with a pale face and eyes the color of blood. Her arms were crossed, and she was raising a thin, pointed brow at them, both of the men turning to her to listen. “Baseless murder is never fun.”

The three boys almost let out a sound of relief at her words, still not too certain what was going on except for the fact these strangers were talking about killing them somehow. But their relief could not last for long, because soon enough the woman had moved her hands to her hips and was raising her head high, declaring boldly with a deadpan expression, “Which just means we need to give it a proper base. Let’s make it into a battle royale, boss. We take all these boys who aren’t thankful for their mothers and see how long they can last with a hydra. If any survive, we let their mothers kill them instead.”

“Uh, what mother would want to do that?” the ginger man snorted, their leader openly laughing like a psycho as he patted both their backs, his feet already moving along the dirt road once again as he began to lead them elsewhere.

“All good ideas, I love them!” he smiled, curly platinum blond hair bouncing around his face and framing his fair cheeks, walking away from the kids with his hands splayed out at his sides. His eyes were a bright blue, the same as the clear skies above, and they were so vibrant that they felt unnatural and almost misplaced on this dull planet, garnering a lot of attention at times for their uniqueness. Though what had to have gained the most attention above his unique and beautiful appearance was that awful and insane personality of his. “I’ll consider your idea, Kya. And Leo, you’re right, most mothers wouldn’t want to do that. We should do all the dirty work ourselves!”

They all laughed together at his closing remark, their loud laughter catching them weird looks as passersby caught wind of their odd conversation, the three befuddled boys looking after them in astonishment.

“Are… are they crazy?”

“Well, our town is out in the middle of nowhere, so of course some weirdos would come through… but uh, they weren’t being serious, you think?”

“No way. All kinds of adventurers have tried to kill that monster, and none of them have succeeded.”

“Uh, yeah, but…” one of them paused, eyes wide as they watched the tall, blond, and blue-eyed man confidently walk forward on his aimless path, a path that had many ends and no end, and whose beginning was so far gone it no longer held any importance. “Didn’t that middle guy look kind of weird? I’ve never seen hair that blond before. And his eyes were so vivid.”

“Huh? Really? I guess you do have a point… is he a world hopper, then?”

“What would a world hopper be doing out here?!”

“Oh, well, I’m not sure, but my father likes to tell me about them sometimes…”

And that very world hopper’s ears were still honed intently on the boys’ leftover words before Feather finally let go of their conversation, laughing boldly as he strode forward and did as he pleased. “Wow! They think I’m a world hopper! That’s cute!”

“Well, you are one,” Kya pointed out coolly, and Feather smiled a bit wider as he reached back into his pocket for more candy, grinning and humming happily all the while as he unwrapped the sweet delicacies.

“Yeah, you’re right, but most people assume I’m pretty weak, so I’m surprised those brats caught onto it.”

“Don’t worry, boss! There are still a lot of weak world hoppers out there, so they could’ve easily thought you were one of those!” Leocadies announced boldly, Feather giving another loud laugh as he slapped the shorter man on the shoulder.

“In no world is that comforting, Leo, keep up the good insults!”

“Thank you, boss!”

“Hah!” Feather smiled at his companions, ones he’d been traveling with for centuries, before he gathered his concept around himself and took flight to a place they couldn’t reach. He’d rejoin them soon enough, but he wanted to get a look at that hydra. And his concept allowed him to blur his face and features to anyone who may be looking, to the point that even if they somehow noticed his presence, they’d soon forget almost immediately after. It gave him a lot of freedom, you could say, so he ran through pools of air without a worry while he used his concept to lead him directly to the beast’s secluded lair.

Ah, his concept really was magnificent. In all of the many universes and dimensions that were tied together to make up the larger plane of existence, which was known altogether as the Udimeia, everyone had the ability to develop something special known as concepts that people could hone and develop as they aged. Which, a concept was essentially magic developed through ideals or repetition. For example, if someone had always had an affinity for fire and was around it often, they could work hard to create a fire concept for themselves, which would give them the ability to control and tame those burning flames. It could be as simple as that, though of course, there were also concepts that could get rather convoluted… a good example of that was the concept of divination. If someone often took part in practices of spirituality and other such things, they could master anything from tarot cards to palm readings to using a pendulum with pristine accuracy… anything was possible so long as you made it a key essential to your identity.

Although not everyone had the strength to make a concept for themselves, and many went their whole lives without ever developing one. It took immense willpower, fixation, and repetition, and not everyone was capable of fusing something so vague into their identity. But those who did were immensely powerful. And if you were especially diligent, you could even use more than one concept. For example, Leocadies had three, and Kya had two. In fact, he was certain Leocadies would be about to use one of his concepts very soon…

BOSS!!! came the loud mental scream into his mind just like clockwork, and Feather didn’t even wince as he kept walking on air.

“Yes, Leo?”

Boss, don’t forget to kill yourself! It’s already been three months since you last died, so you won’t be at full power, and that hydra sounds strong!

“Right, right… I don’t need that reminder,” Feather dismissed with a laugh, his feet coming to a halt when he sensed the hydra’s presence in a cave down below him, his sky blue eyes glowing like dazzling little lights. “Heh, I guess it is a shame I can’t have Kya kill me right now. She’s good at making it painless.”

Well, sorry to say it boss, but that’s your own fault! You should’ve brought us with you, maybe we could’ve been of service!

“My apologies… guess I’ll just have to kill myself the old-fashioned way.”

Are you referring to the first time you died? Wasn’t that from fall damage? Oh jeez, boss, that’s gonna hurt…

“I’m actually talking about a materialized knife to my throat.”

Oh! That’s much better! Good luck out there boss, I hope the fight is fun for ya.

“Mmhm, thanks,” Feather grinned, already summoning a random dagger into his hand, ready to charge it with immense power to give him an instant death. And of course, this was all made possible because he could do anything. His concept let him do whatever he wanted so long as he believed in his power. He could fly, he could heal, he could attack with any element, he could track, he could read minds, he could always have perfect accuracy, he could excel in hand-to-hand combat, he could even sing a beautiful song. But… how could one concept allow a single person to do so much? Most would call that cheating.  And, well, it was. This certain concept usually killed anyone who tried to use it, which was why it was considered taboo.

The concept of anything. The concept of anything gave you the power to do anything. No matter what it was, if it fit under the category of anything, it could be done, and that was the concept Feather had chosen for himself. Because of it, he had died countless times, more than he could ever hope of counting. Sometimes it hurt like hell, sometimes he couldn’t control when he died, but there were other times, like this very moment now, where he could make it quick and painless for himself, and it ceased to bother him or feel like a genuine death at all. He’d probably wake up in about an hour or two, and with lazy thoughts that had normalized what no one ever should, Feather calmly closed his eyes and casually slit his throat with a mana-infused dagger like it was just another Tuesday. And all he bothered to think while doing such a thing was that, hopefully… Leocadies and Kya could have some fun shopping around while he was gone… and he couldn’t wait to see… if they had bought him… any souvenirs…