Chapter 57: The Retirement Question
“Have you ever thought about retiring?” Sol asked over lunch. The dining hall was between rushes—quiet enough for conversation, loud enough that no one would overhear.
“I’m thirty-five.”
“You’re thirty-five with infinite mana, the weight of thirteen dimensions’ gratitude, and gray hair. In cosmic-hero years, that’s basically ancient.”
Jake considered the question. Retirement. The word felt foreign. What would he even do? He couldn’t stop being the infinite one—the mana didn’t have an off switch. He couldn’t stop teaching—the students needed him. He couldn’t stop visiting the Architect on Thursdays or his mother on Sundays or the Spire whenever Null left a message.
“I don’t think people like me retire,” he said. “We just… evolve. Find new ways to be useful.”
“That’s very wise. Also very avoidant.”
“I prefer ‘strategically vague.'”
But the question stayed with him. That evening, on the Spire, he asked Null.
“Retire?” Null’s response shimmered in the dimensional fabric. “To what? You don’t have hobbies. You can’t cook. Your rice is a war crime against grain.”
“I have hobbies.”
“Name one.”
“I… visit you.”
“That’s not a hobby. That’s a pilgrimage.”
“Then what should I do?”
Null was quiet for a moment. When she spoke again, the tone was different—softer, more serious.
“Jake. You’ve spent ten years teaching others to be heroes. Maybe it’s time to teach yourself to be happy.”
“I am happy.”
“You’re fulfilled. There’s a difference. Fulfillment comes from purpose. Happiness comes from letting go of purpose and just… being.”
“Since when did you become a philosopher?”
“Since I became the literal fabric of reality. You’d be amazed what you learn when you’re everything.”
Jake sat on the Spire, infinite mana humming through him like a heartbeat, and tried to imagine what “just being” would look like for someone who had spent his entire adult life fighting, teaching, and saving.
He couldn’t. Not yet. But the question was planted, and questions—as he’d learned from a lifetime of teaching—were the beginning of everything.