500th Time Reborn, A World Only Known By Women: The Karma System

"This is just more of a reason why I have to do this. Father will create a new son in my stead, I am sure of it," I said, pulling back from Virgo\'s warm embrace that I did truly enjoy.

"I know that you do not think highly of Kaedon, but he thinks very highly of you. Do not dismiss his love just because you are angry and confused. This choice that you are about to make, and I know that you will, might not be what you think it is. Fate is not something any of us can run from, Ophiuchus. It will find you, and it will take what it is owed. Think about this before you take your final steps," Virgo said and gestured, making a portal appear that she walked through, closing behind her.

That left me standing alone on an island that I had once called my home. That was before I truly understood what the word meant to me. The home wasn\'t one place, it was a feeling, and I didn\'t understand that until I had met Tallia.

I opened my own portal to the gates of Yaggisdral and walked through to stand on a golden platform, but there was someone waiting. Scorpio, my best friend, was standing beside the massive golden gate that led to the land of the Gods.

"So, you were just going to leave without saying goodbye?" Scorpio asked, crossing his arms over his brown plated chest.

"Something like that, but I knew that you would be here. Are you here to try and talk me out of this?" I asked, and Scorpio burst out laughing.

"Yeah, sure. I will get right on telling stupid how stupid he is. I am sure that is going to help!" Scorpio laughed, and that made me smile.

"I am only doing what I think is right," I said, but Scorpio waggled a finger at me.

"Don\'t bullshit a bullshitter. You know it isn\'t right, or you would have left already. If you knew that this was right, you wouldn\'t even let me talk. That is just who you are, Ophi," Scorpio said with a sigh. "No, what you are doing is what you want because the path that was given is not what you want. Stupid is a stupid does," Scorpio said, crossing his arms again.

"Just like the others. I really thought you, of all people, would understand," I said, shaking my head.

"Why? Because Cancer is a heartless bitch that likes to eternally play hard to get? Sure, I understand wanting something that seems just out of your reach, but you down see me stringing myself up over it!" Scorpio growled.

"It\'s just like Virgo said, I am different! You don\'t have to forget anything!" I snapped, and Scorpio spun his finger in the air.

"Whoopty do. If that is the case, then do as you are told, and not what you feel like for once! Damnit, you are the only one of us that sees rules and reads suggestions!" Scorpio complained, tossing his hands in the air.

"That is because I am the only one that can read between the lines! You all only look at what is before you, but that is only because that is all you have ever known! I know that there is more than just these islands, and there is someone out there waiting for me!" I snapped and tried to push past Scorpio, but he stopped me.

"Ophiuchus, just think about it for a bit longer. This isn\'t you. This girl has you wrapped up, and you aren\'t thinking straight! I can\'t force you to stay, none of us can, but I really think you need to think about this more! Why is one lifetime better than all of them?" Scorpio asked, and I turned to him, fire in my eyes.

"Because I can\'t stop thinking about it. Time means nothing to us here; it is irrelevant. A day, a minute, hour, eon, eternity? They all mean the same here. Five hundred lives in the Mortal Realms is not the same! What happens if I do finally forget her along the way?! Will the Guides make sure to give her to me in the end?! Will you even be able to remember that I loved someone?!" I demanded, and Scorpio let go of me, looking away.

​ This was a sore subject for all of us, but that was why I brought it up. Out of everything that we had in the astral Islands, knowledge about the Guides was always sealed. Not even Kaedon would speak of them, and that had always bothered many of us, but not the same way it did me.

"Ophiuchus, I get it, and like I said, no one is going to be able to stop you from doing what you want. You were made the strongest for a reason, but no one knows why. I just hope that this doesn\'t bring our world crashing down with you," Scorpio explained, and I sighed.

"Like I said at the beginning, I am only doing what I think is right," I said, and he gave me a serious look.

"Did you ever think that you might not be right?" Scorpio asked me and then opened a portal, leaving through it to his sandy home.

This was not how I wanted to leave things, but there didn\'t seem to be many ways around it.

That is what I thought.

Now, standing in front of Kaedon, I could see my errors and the warning, but... but I was about to use my classic excuse of how was I supposed to know? I wanted to shrug off my responsibility in all of this, but now I knew that I couldn\'t.

"Why are the Guides such a mystery?" I finally asked, and Kaedon nodded.

"That is better than I had hoped. Seems that you did learn something in those five hundred lives," Kaedon said, and I assumed he was talking about me not flying off the handle. From what I knew, this was only recent.