The heavy, now rusty anchor fell into the disturbing void as the sailors stepped onto the cold shore of the unexplored hex.
Zan immediately began scouting all the area, the almost unsettling and scaring tranquility of the wind passing through his short hair. Reya kept her distance, almost afraid of what could lie in the unexplored territory, while Vano and Pluto investigated every single element: the ground, the light, even the quality of the air.
But, something was wrong.
The impact was nearly immediate: a flash of bright, infinite light pierced through Zan's head. At that exact moment, he quickly tore out one of his own eyes and threw it straight into the mouth of a passing, calm A-soul, before emerging from its mouth in a horrifying, wet and restless motion, still alive.
That was when Pluto realized: Zan was a possessor of the Avi of Transmutation!
If a part of his body that does not contain too much iron mineral is inside a body of an other being, he can be reborn from that body without any consequences.
The possessors of this Avi have been hiding since the Infinite War in the 1800s, where they often used their power in the incorrect way, even on innocent people.
He had no time to process this further before other souls full of anger, the B-souls, lunged at the rest of the crew, sweeping them away into chaos and rubble. They didn't take long to fall in the dark, well, even the luckiest die. Even Zan couldn't survive one more time. His reflexes weren't fast enough.
Pluto lay in pain on the ground, and with what little remained of him, he watched what he could have had if everything didn't go wrong, when a figure, that was so immense that even the souls fled, emerged from the shadows and walked before him.
Pluto looked up weakly.
"You, who carry so much love in the air, put an end to what I was and make me forget the mistakes I have done. I have nothing left to fight for anymore in this horrible place."
The figure sighed, yet it looked so patient.
"But you still have so much to endure for, fisherman. You, who can love so deeply, speak with me and love for me, and I will give you 7 more chances to show love."
The light in the air went out slowly, and seven bright flashes of immeasurable power entered Pluto's body.
"Tell me all of your problems, and I will tell you how to learn to love them infinitely, empty human."
Pluto's eyes widened in shock as the pain of the wounds suddenly stopped, and glanced at him, speaking through the surprise.
"You, who give me this eternal presence without even knowing my person, what is your name?"
"My name is the same as the one who loves everything that keeps fighting. Plato.
Now, sit with me."
They sat down and spoke calmly for about two years, in our time. They really were in no hurry: time around them had stopped since Pluto gained his seven chances, so technically it wasn't passing for others anyway. It took a while for Pluto to understand, but then he did.
"Well, I think I've done all this, just to chase something like... perfection."
Plato sighed for what felt the one hundredth time.
"Perfection is not something that you need to search and obtain.
Objectively, it is a state.
It is a state that gets given to someone who already managed to upgrade all his other capabilities, all his other characteristics, to the maximum.
You can't reach something like that, human.
If everything goes forward and you keep focusing on the bases to get better, how are you gonna manage to keep up?"
The fisherman, who was now slouching in tranquility, nodded in agreement.
"Then, I'll go searching for a subjective type of perfection, something that everyone else will recognize as actual perfection."
"But then, would not an action like that be considered the most delusional of all?"
"Perhaps it will, but then, if I know that perfection is something that I can't reach, how can I manage to be recognized as perfect?"
"That doesn't depend on you, that depends on ther persons, and if they recognize you in a good way."
"How do I make other people recognize me as perfect, then?"
For the first time in the conversation, Plato stayed silent. It is a question that even he can't quite answer, yet.
"I'm ready," Pluto whispered, breaking the silence.
And it all ended immediately.
At first, there was the dark, a pitch black that could scare even the strongest, but not who had nothing to lose. After a few seconds, he found himself before the hungry B-souls, which had since returned after Plato the lover disappeared in a few particles. In anger, he suddenly took one of Zanone's eyes and put it in his mouth, swallowing it.
"Let's do it. Let's start loving everything. Let's start being perfect."