JackabyRyan sat in the blackened, withered grove. Mostly ashes and dust it had become he and Oircer's purgatory. The Grove had no influence, no power, no souls all were sent to the afterlife or recycled to be reborn in distant worlds.

"This is all Fifer o'clock's fault. Sure, we can leave now start our lives over, Oircer. But without power, what good will it do us," he said with a scorned look on his face.

"I belong here among the ruins, JackabyRyan for betraying Fifer o'clock. But you have a chance to redeem yourself. Become a new and better person."

"No, my second chance won't be wasted being a powerless has-been like you, Oircer," he said with a scowl and a grimace glaring over his shoulder at Oircer.

"Suit yourself, JackabyRyan. You always have. Look where that's gotten you."

"Yeah, maybe I'll do better when I get rid of the dead weight," he said with a groaning growl toward Oircer.

"Oh -hh, that was the problem. Me, not your greed. Excuse me for stating the obvious," Oircer said with a chuckle then angry frown settling at the corners of his mouth. "Leave and don't come back. I don't need to feel any lower than I am. You just make everything worse by being here. Go. Get the hell out of here! And don't come back, JackabyRyan. I don't know why you stayed here long enough for us to have a conversation. It's meaningless. You've learned nothing."

"Fine. Good riddance, Oircer. You're right. I should've been gone already," JackabyRyan said over his shoulder storming off leaving Oircer alone.

"Good. Finally, some peace and quiet," Oircer murmured. But in the solemness of the peace and quiet there was a hollowness and the hallowed sound of the Grove summoning Oircer back. Or was this all in his mind? He shook his head trying to keep it all at bay.

The remnants of the Grove slowly dissipated as if absorbed by the suffocating heaviness of shadows among the rest of the unmarred natural landscape. JackabyRyan stopped in mid-stride. He looked over his shoulder and glanced upward. Slowly a smirk curved across his lips. A guttural whisper escaped his mouth, "I sense the soul of a freak of nature." He shouted into the ether. "I'll make a deal with you. Let me borrow your soul...!"

"I only came here to take back what belongs to nature. What you misused," the ether spoke back.

"The Grove wasn't misused. I was born from the Grove. I used it for what it was made for," JackabyRyan said with a dastardly grin on his face.

"No, what you thought it was made for," the ether fired back.

"Being born from the Grove, you should've known better. You are its progeny. It was impressionable, easily manipulated."

"It had no soul. It needed souls to survive. It used me as much as I used it."

"Just because it had no soul. Doesn't mean it isn't part of nature? Predators of nature are still a part of nature. Having a soul or not doesn't make it less so. And no, I won't let you borrow my soul."

"You got what you wanted. Go, then," JackabyRyan sneered with a clench of his jaw, folding his arms.

"And you? You're not interested in any deal-making schemes?"

"No. That's JackabyRyan's schtick. Not mine," Oircer replied.

"He's just wallowing in his self-pity."

"It's not self-pity. I don't feel sorry for myself. I did what I did and there's no excuse for it."

"It's atonement. He's atoning. You have my honor and my respect. Traveling Salesman."

"Oircer."