“You poor thing. You kept your promise, huh? Even without hair,” Wyn murmurs as Cateto licks his tears, his own eyes brimming.

  Despite his small, mostly hairless form, Cateto now bears Wyn’s team’s initials, scrawled all over his body in thick black marker – seemingly permanent. A “W” sits atop his head, while “Y,” “M,” and “L” stretch across his back. At his rear, a “J” runs from the base of his tail all the way down to the tip. The only patch of fur he still has, on his chest, remains untouched, displaying the familiar “C&A.”

  “I’ll ask the nerds to find a cure for your condition,” Wyn says softly.

  “No, this is what makes me, me. I wear your team’s initials with pride,” Cateto replies, his tears falling freely.

  Wyn presses his forehead against Cateto’s and gently rubs it.

  “I take it you’ve heard the news about the rest of the team.” His forehead remains pressed against Cateto’s.

  “Yes. Our Lord informed the nerds, and they told me everything. The Lord wanted me here for your return.”

  “I see.” Wyn glances back at Dark Force, who offers him a knowing smile. Turning back to Cateto, he says, “In that case, I need to trouble you with one more initial – ‘D’ for David.”

  “That will go on my belly. Anything for you and your friends, my new Lord.”

  “Huh?”

  Before Wyn can react, the entire nerd army drops to their knees in unison. Even Pete, standing at the front, bows his head.

  “Hail to our new leader!” they chant.

  The commotion Wyn had overheard earlier now makes sense – it was the nerds discussing him. While not all of them are entirely fond of the idea of Wyn as their new ruler, they respect what he has endured to reach this point. They acknowledge the sacrifices he has made, the losses he has suffered. If David had trusted Wyn, then they could too.

  “How should we address you, my Lord?” Pete asks as he rises from the floor.

  “Just Wyn. Seriously, seeing the nerds being this nice to me is making me feel uneasy.”

  “Duly noted, Just Wyn,” Pete teases.

  The nerd army, unaware of the joke, immediately chants in unison, “Just Wyn!,” prompting Pete to quickly correct them.

  “You can command any of us at will, but if you so choose, you may select one of us to be your personal nerd,” Pete says.

  Wyn scans the army, his gaze lingering on Marcus. But his response catches everyone off guard.

  “I’ll take Cateto, if Dark Force doesn’t mind.”

  Dark Force nods with a smile, and Cateto, unable to contain his excitement, rubs his head against Wyn’s face, purring loudly.

  “But Marcus,” Wyn continues, “I’d like you to be my contact point – the first nerd I relay my messages to.”

  Marcus springs up from the floor, snapping into a military salute. “Of course! It’s an honor to serve you!”

  Pete then informs Wyn that he now has his own private chambers, located not too far from the cat factory, and that Marcus will lead him there.

  “I’ll let you rest for a while,” Dark Force says.

  Wyn nods but soon finds himself wondering about the fates of the non-elite souls in the meantime.

  Dark Force has ordered all elemental-wielding souls on this level to halt their training and fighting, though they aren’t permitted on the second or third floors just yet. The creatures have been portaled into the other void space, while everything else remains unchanged.

  “Speaking of souls, there should be about fifty waiting for you to rescue on the third level of Heaven,” Wyn announces, drawing gasps of surprise from the nerds. Even Dark Force tilts his head at the revelation.

  “Don’t punish them,” Wyn warns, his gaze locked onto Dark Force. “They let my team move forward so we could grow stronger faster.”

  Dark Force only responds with a smile.

  “And for my first command – update all the cats’ speech capabilities, please!”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  With that, the nerd army disperses, and Marcus approaches Wyn, looking nervous. But before he can lead Wyn to his chambers, Dark Force decides to teach him how to open portals to anywhere on Earth or in the afterlife realm.

  The ability proves difficult for Wyn to grasp. He struggles endlessly, failing again and again – until he realizes the process is similar to how he materialized his weapons. By focusing on where he wants the portal to appear – without being restricted to surfaces – and where he wants to travel, he finally succeeds.

  However, there’s a catch. Wyn must have visited and know what the place looks like before he can open a portal to it. Fortunately, this limitation can be overcome by requesting real-time images from the nerds.

  With Cateto perched on his shoulder, they step through the portal with Marcus leading the way, arriving at the cat factory. From there, they continue on foot to the entrance of Wyn’s very own chambers. Like Dark Force’s chambers, no one but Wyn, Dark Force, Pete, Marcus, Cateto, and a select group of nerds can see them. The giant golden doors guard the large black and dark red dome structure pressed against the wall. Wyn places his palm against them, and they vanish.

  “These chambers are identical to Dark Force’s from what I’ve heard, though he barely uses them,” Marcus says.

  Inside, Wyn steps into a spacious central area, where his white throne sits in the middle. Currently bland, it’s accompanied by a note: “You may add or redesign anything! Just let us know! Hail our new Lord! From the Nerd Army.” Behind the throne, there are arched entrances to chambers that currently lead to nothing – merely walled-off spaces, waiting for future development.

  “Your chambers are actually inside another void space that can be modified endlessly – well, to an extent. The structure is only here to remind you of where they are,” Marcus says.

  Wyn thanks Marcus, asking him to leave him and Cateto to themselves. He walks around the throne, his hands gliding over its hard surface as he does. The moment he sits on it, tears burst forth uncontrollably. Cateto joins him, licking the tears that seem to flow endlessly.

  “You’re the only one I have left, Cateto. Please, don’t leave me,” Wyn pleads.

  “You are my master and my friend, I will not leave you unless you tell me too,” Cateto reassures.

  Together, they share their grief. Unaware of the passing days, Wyn remains in his chambers, his sorrow consuming him. Eventually, exhaustion overtakes him, and he falls into a deep, uninterrupted sleep.

  Without a dream, Wyn suddenly wakes, finding Cateto sitting on his chest, keeping watch over him the entire time.

  “I didn’t know I could still sleep,” Wyn murmurs.

  “You’re probably still adjusting. Give it time,” Cateto replies.

  “I see. Somehow, I still feel sad, but...hmmm...something feels different, and I can’t quite...wait! Did you just use a contraction?”

  “I did? I guess the nerds must’ve updated my speech capability!” Cateto exclaims, excited.

  “Guess they had the updates ready but never bothered to implement them.”

  Wyn paces around the throne, mulling over how to make the chambers more suited to his taste. Suddenly, an idea strikes him.

  Though he’s still wearing a band, it doesn’t seem to function anymore. As he presses his palms against his head, a strange connection forms, like a private call to Marcus. Moments later, Marcus knocks at the doors.

  With a smile, Marcus enters, accompanied by a group of nerds.

  Without wasting any time, Marcus directs the nerds to place framed photos of each team member around the throne room. The nerds had taken pictures of all the Hell army souls before they ventured into Heaven, as part of their records of heroes. The shots were taken sneakily, but all of them are surprisingly photogenic. However, Wyn frowns. There are no pictures of the team together.

  The nerds move on to one of the walled-off entrances. Using a strange explosive-like device, they set it off with a soft explosion, causing the wall to fade away, revealing an empty room beyond. Next, they place a larger, different bomb-like device on the floor and instruct everyone to stay in the throne room. The device detonates, and suddenly, the room transforms, decorated in the same way as Wyn’s tent had been before he left for Heaven. The sight overwhelms him, and he falls to his knees, crying.

  Cateto quickly moves to comfort Wyn while the nerds, understanding the depth of his grief, bow in respect and continue working. They create another room, this one filled with stars. Once their work is done, they leave, but not before giving Wyn the bands from his fallen team, as well as from David’s former team. Wyn thanks them profusely, deeply moved by the gesture.

  Wyn then walks into the star-filled room with Cateto. On the floor, there’s a projector. He presses the play button, and the movie he made with his team in Hell’s Ride begins to play across the sky. As the movie unfolds, Wyn lies on the floor with Cateto, watching what is the closest thing he has to having his entire team together in one frame. They laugh and cry together as they watch the wild movie.

  “All of you seemed to have so much fun together,” Cateto says wistfully. “I wish I weren’t bound to a campsite so I could’ve joined you back then.”

  “I wish the same...and I wish David was here in this movie,” Wyn mutters, pulling Cateto close and hugging him as the cat lies flat on his chest.

  The screen, slightly transparent, allows Wyn to glimpse the stars behind. In a rare occurrence, an aurora begins to form, and each time it appears, Wyn pauses the movie, covers the lens, and watches the breathtaking sky in silence.

  “You know,” Wyn says after a long pause, “now that I’m a life force, I bet I could watch my friends’ past lives through some device from Heaven. Dark Force will probably have the nerds retrieve anything useful from there.”

  He sighs. “But I wouldn’t watch any of it. I’d rather watch this movie on repeat.”

  “Why’s that?” Cateto asks.

  Wyn’s voice softens, his eyes glassy. “I don’t care what they did in the past. I got to know them only after I met them. I don’t want anything to change how I see them. Never.”

  Cateto tilts his head. “What about recreating your friends? Making them exactly how they were?”

  Wyn tightens his grip on Cateto, tears streaming down his face. “The ones who went through Hell and Heaven with me are gone. No matter how perfect a replica is, it’ll never be them. I won’t disrespect them like that.”

  The two continue to watch the movie on repeat, tears flowing freely. Days and nights blur as Wyn recounts in detail the adventures he had with his team to Cateto. Eventually, Marcus arrives with a message: Dark Force wants to see Wyn.