Until Death?
Author: Andur
Date: 2015-01-02 05:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Romance; Fiction
Description: Ever been a god? Well I was! Until I died…. and got judged by the other gods! Apparently they didn’t like the whole “My Faith is the only true one!” idea. Oh and for the record: The Apocalypse wasn’t intentional ok? Well yeah… seems like for punishment I got sent onto a vacation! ….or so I hope?
Publisher: royalroadl.com

1 - Kicked by a Goddess!

So here I lie, coughing up blood and with a broken body. I don't think that I will make it much longer as my vision is already blurry.

Strange ….. somehow I thought dying like this would hurt more, but it feels more like slowly drifting away. And this happening to ME! A God!

Nonono, don't think of me as a maniac. I am really one of those supposed all powerful omnipotent beings.

Though like you see...... even gods can be wounded or killed by other gods, half-gods or other extremely powerful mythical beings.

And that's what happened to me! I had a big argument with another god in this realm. The two of us are like fire and water.

I stood for magic and change. His divinity is rooted in order and everlasting continuity. So I am like pure Chaos or the Devil himself to him.

So by his orders, his followers continued to kill or enslave my worshippers, negating my divinity and other stuff that's pretty offensive to a god like myself.

At first we interfered with the world just though our divine rules, given out to the people who believe in us.

Then he started to give out powers to his champions. I retaliated by doing the same and taking some actions by myself.

Just smiting some of his followers, who desecrated one of my temples. Those guys had the best faces ever when I came upon them.

Ever had an angry god coming for you?

Well .... to make a long story short. My sworn enemy did the same and so on. It was a slowly developing process over several hundreds of years.

It all resulted in a big ugly holy war around the whole world. Our followers got really into it and did some things even we were horrified by.

People can be real monsters!

In the end we both took matters into our own hands personally.

The bastard had it coming, I tell ya! We had a good fight with each other. To the mortals of this realm it must have felt like Armageddon, Ragnarok or the Apocalypse.

We rearranged some mountain ranges, flattened others or threw up some new continents. A part of this one is now open ocean.

Hahaha *cough* shit I hate the taste of blood.

I never liked the bastard. The best thing that would happen with both of us in the same room is screaming and insults from the first moment on.

Oh, its so dark. I think I will sleep for a while.

…. “up!”....

-PAIN-

“Wake up! Or I will kick u again ASSHAT!”

I open my eyes, “Oh Seria!”, *cough*

“You here? If that does mean that the other gods have decided to take action then you guys are way toooo late. We are done already.” *cough**cough*

“Kyaaa! Look what you have done to my dress! Stop spitting around blood while talking!”

*cough*, “I am sorry, but I think that's not within my control, I will wipe it off from you.”, I raise a bloody hand and get kicked again! It HURTS!

“Ugh, and there I wanted to use my last bit of magic to cast a cleaning spell on you.....”

Seria seems to be pissed. I guess its justified. After all she is some sort of goddess of life and death in this realm.

We sure just gave her a great headache by creating something on the scale of a mass extinction event.

“Keep your magic to yourself! You have to live long enough for me to tell you guys the divine judgement of the gods for what you pulled down here Ascathon!

Where have you left Myrm by the way, I have to judge him too!”

Yeah.... Seria sure is pissed. And when I tell her about Myrm she will be raging......

“I think over at that mountain range are so*cough* ...some of his guts. And somewhere above the Serkment Sea he lost his left arm.

And when I last saw him I got him point blank with my best offensive Magic. Blew him to bits..... can search for his parts in that direction.”,

I point somewhere to my left.

Well Seria sure has an ugly job before her, if she has to reassemble Myrm. Not that its possible to do so, I made sure of that.

“I am not talking about his body! The parts can rot where they lie for all I care.

I am talking about his Soul! What did you do with it?! I can't sense it any more.”

-Seria

“Sliced it to pieces and tossed it outside our realm. Will take an eternity to heal unless someone finds the pieces and puts them back together. Hrhrhr” *cough*

Fucking blood! Why can I cough so much blood, I am sure there can't be much more.

Well so you guys understand too. Here some facts:

You can't really kill anyone! Souls are immortal. The most you can do is damaging them, so it takes longer for them to reincarnate into the next life.

The River of Souls is the great Void between Worlds or Dimensions. Call it what you want.

Its filled with the Souls of people who aren't currently alive. They just float there, dormant and sleeping.

Some maybe forever, while they forget more and more of the time, in which, they were alive.

And maybe if they are lucky, they drift near one of those countless worlds and get sucked in, being reborn into a new life.

The faster you are reborn, the more you can remember of your previous life.

So either you are reborn fast, or you have a very strong soul, so you can endure the eternity of drifting without forgetting anything.

I am the second kind, just you know! Wasn't always a god. Everyone has to climb the ladder of power, but that's a story for another time.

“Great! So you really tried to dispose him for good. It will take some time to bring him to judgement.” -Seria

“What? Didn't you hear? I minced him and tossed his pieces into -”

“Oh shut up! Didn't YOU hear? The Council of Gods has judged your case and will give you guys divine punishment.

If necessary all the gods in the whole multiverse will act to piece Myrm together,
if only to tell him that he gets his soul cut to pieces and tossed into the River of Souls.

Thats how Divine Judgements work. HEY! Don't slumber off!”

Urgh, I got kicked again. Damn I begin to hate that goddess. Almost managed to drift of. Why does it take this fucking body so long to die.

I don't even have the power for an answer. Why did the fucking Council even give a shit to what we were doing.

They shouldn't care what happens to a single world in the multiverse normally.....

“Whatever. I'll just get it over with you first. Ascathon, God of the Realm of Nashok, Divine Being of Magic, Divine ….ah and so on and so forth, you know the rest.

The Council has found you guilty for bringing great unnecessary suffering over the lesser beings you were put in charge of.

So you get stripped of all of your divinity and will be reborn into a place where you can learn from your mistakes and reflect on what you have done.

So I cast you out into River of Souls to a proper place of punishment.

Puh! What a uselessly long speech, don't you think so too? Hey? Are you ...........”

Oh, by all the gods let me die already before this barbaric woman kicks me again!

I will not reflect in the least, even if they send me through a million of the worst reincarnations they can come up with!

2 - I see the light!

I see! I see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Hmpf! Hrm. Yeah that's what some people tell you, when they are close to death.

But its not really anything dramatic or religious inspiring if you think about it. It's a memory to make it short.

A deja vu! Of what, you ask?

Well think about it! Its really not that hard.

What's the one thing, that happens to you in almost every incarnation? And should be always the same?

So you are almost sure to have some sort of collective phantom memory of it?

Well yeah. Being born of course! You get pushed out of the warm and dark place inside your mothers womb into the light!

And that's it! Really messy and dangerous stuff. There are some beings in the multiverse which I like way better in that regard.

Like laying eggs, or being built, or just growing!

Ents are surely superior beings in that regard, they are those smart talking trees in case you don't know.

Unfortunately almost all forms of life, which are able to hold a soul, are mammals!

Don't ask why, when I was a god I wasn't all knowing just almost all mighty hehe.

Back topic, it seems I am just being born again. Oh how I hate this.

Its nothing pleasant in case you don't remember your own birth. Uhh!

“Press harder your Majesty!” -unknown person. “Its almost out.”

Oh I can understand them, that's convenient! One thing less to worry about.

“Its a son! My King and Queen! Like we all prayed for!” -unkown person.

Ugh, that was exhausting! But worth it! Seems like Seria messed the whole punishment thing up!

YES! It seems like I am the son of a King. Obviously not a bad starting point in life.

If I would punish someone in their next life, I would obviously do a better job!

First of all giving him a world with a new language, he doesn't understand.

Second making him born into slavery or something like that.

Swapping his gender just for the fun of it! There is a lot of shit out there in the Multiverse.

“hi hihi hi hi” - my baby voice. Damn that mad laugh didn't come across like I wanted!

“What a healthy child! Laughing first thing he does in the world! Strange almost all others cry at first.....”

-unknown person.

“Wahaha! Come here my son! You can't believe how happy I am!” -other bearded person.

The bearded guy scoops me out of the unknown persons hands. I will call her Maid for now, going by her dress.

Bearded guy seems to be the king – or dad, I will judge later if he is worth ….. uuuugghh

The king just held me into the air and turned three circles with me!

I get that you are happy, but you can't do that to a newborn mad king.

Be happy that I didn't have anything in my stomach!

I would have barfed all over you!

“Give me my child! You can't do that with a baby!” - Queen.

“Oh, sorry, sorry. Here you go.” -King.

That didn't sound sincere in the least! Oh, at least my mother sounds like a sane person.

Ugh, I still feel like I just got out of a roller-coaster.

Ow, mother presses me to her face. Haah, I am not a pet you know.

Well for know I guess its better than being in the clutches of the mad King.

Seria seems to have messed up big time with my punishment.

This reincarnation isn't all that bad? Of course, the mad king could go with more sanity.

But until now it seems really good!?

Oh, mother holds me in front of her and all three of them look at me with sparkling eyes.

Am I out of gold guys? What's with those stares?

“MY HERO!” - “OUR SALVATION!” - “THE KEY TO PEACE!” - all three of them.

WHAT! Nonono, I get a bad feeling about this! This cannot be one of those annoying realities with a prophesied hero?

HEY, Seria? What's up with this?

Mother pets me again. Aw! Damn this baby body can't speak. Only baby gurgles come out, when I try to speak.

GIVE ME A GODDAMN EXPLANATION!

“Oh, he is so cute!”, Mother has some strange fire in her eyes.

“I will be sure to teach him properly, so he doesn't come up like his father!

There is a lot of education to do.”

I don't like that look of yours Mother? What are you planning? Don't tell me you are one of THOSE parents?

“I am not all that bad, dear? By the way....”, Mad King.

Oh now they start talking about matters of state? What busy people they are.

Seems like I can't get an explanation out of them for now.

Sigh, well. It will take a while to make some sense out of this, so let me tell a bit more about my divine self.

On the other hand I am not so divine any more. Damn! So cut the divine.

I already told you about the River of Souls and the whole reincarnation thing right?

Well I have come a loooong way in that regard.

In the first incarnation, that I can remember I was a monk on your world. That's right! I come from earth!

But don't think that gets you any bonus points with me. There isn't much to say about that time.

I lived a live of seclusion and training my mind in a Tibetan monastery. Lived in peace, died in peace at the proud age of 102!

Oh how often did I wish I hadn't done that by now. I could still be one of those blessed Souls, who can start every time with a whole new lookout on the world.

It is true that not knowing some things lets you live a happier life.

By training your mind through meditation and study, you obviously strengthen your Soul.

And like I told you, strong Souls can take the time inside of the River of Souls better than weak ones.

So when I reincarnated the next time, my memories came slowly back to me.

Inspired by my memories I lived my second life in a similar manner. Becoming scholar, learning magic studying mystic arts and science.

There wasn't any religion in my second world, so I went for the job that was most similar to my previous life.

Like you can tell, my second life was in a world with a strange mix of science and magic.

Like my first life, it was a peaceful place too.

Well that went on and on, sometimes good and sometimes bad. I found out that every time I end one of those lives you get weakened.

The time inside the river of Souls eats at your essence. And your essence are your memories.

So if you live a long live and have lots of knowledge and memories its easier to carry some of it into the next one.

So if you are doing a good job you get stronger and better at remembering, through every cycle.

And the stronger your soul gets, the higher you climb the ladder.

Obviously there is also some kind of Karma, you carry on to your next life.

The better you did in your previous one, the better your starting point gets in the next.

From being born as a peasant, to some type normal citizen, to being a noble or celebrity.

But it doesn't end there. If you get strong enough you can be reborn as some kind mythical being like Dragons, Angels, Demons and so on.

It doesn't have anything to do with being good and nice! Just you know.

Being an asshole or mass murderer is perfectly fine.

The only thing that gets you is if you are unlucky and get on the bad side of a being, that is able to fiddle with your soul. Weakening it or worse, somehow killing you off while you are still young. Dying young gives your soul a real headache for the next life.

I went through a BIG number of those cycles. Sometimes you meet others who remember their past lifes.

But its not all that common. Meeting one is like winning the Jackpot in the national lottery twice in a row.

I doubt that there are more than ten people like that on a whole world at a time.

Most of them gods, so that makes it less likely that they would concern themselves with you.

If you aren't a god yourself.

When you get to a certain level of power you have to join the ranks of gods.

The Council of Gods is something like a collection of the real bad asses throughout the whole multiverse.

If a normal small god like me can easily smash his own world to pieces, they smash a universe instead.

So you get that there is no way you can tell them no, if they want something from you?

And they are control freaks! They swoop up everyone who gets powerful enough and restrain them in their big society.

Giving them a world to play god for, and having them look out for other potential Gods.

If you do a good job and have a lot of followers you can even make your way up into the council.

But I never managed that. Having that fight over power with Myrm surely made a big fat red spot on my file.

Laying waste to a world surely didn't look good either uuh. I mean, I met them only once, when they enslave... erm were so nice to give a proper occupation to a being like me.

Sure I killed a lot of innocent bystanders in that fight. But shit happens!

Don't expect that nothing bad will happen, when two divine beings trade blows with each other.

We cultivated our hate for each other over several hundreds of years.

Better for it to happen sooner than later. Bwhahaha, and I will never forget his face, when he got that last fireball to the chest.

Stood there like he could take it without problems. Never underestimate a God.

It was more like a nuke, that blew him to tiny pieces.

Self-righteous bastard underestimated me.

Unfortunately he had already made a bag, with all too many holes, out of me by that time.

But I really get tired by now. Hey, mother! Stop that swaying thing you are doing with me, I still have to tell about......*zzzzzz*

3 - All my relatives?

“Oh, my. And this is Nicosar the 8th little one. Its your grandfather! He is currently inspecting the borders to Stricc.”, the Queen is carrying me along a hallway with many portraits of my relatives and shows them to me.

Isn't that nice? Obviously I will have to know them all by full name later! All 47 of them, that includes also all cousins and uncles and so on.

Family seems to be important around here. What a pain! I hope I don't have to remember all the dead ones too.

Sigh, and just to inform you.

Mother really is one of THOSE parents. I am stuck to her from morning till night. No chance of being left alone, to think for a second.

It's been a month since I was born. Lets say that I find the way, mother is treating me a little strange.

Normally I would expect someone to treat a baby like.... well like a baby you know?

But she started teaching me right off the start. Not treating me like a baby and instead like I would understand every word.

Hell, the way she talks to me feels like she expects me to start asking questions every second now.

Well, sorry for not fulfilling your expectations. Forming a word that doesn't sound like baby talk, with this body its just a no go.

She also doesn't like to let go of me. When there is an important meeting, Head Maid has to be in my room all the time.

You can leave small children alone for an hour or two, if someone is close enough to hear them screaming.

Taking care of them twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week will just spoil them.

Once another Maid had to take care of me, because head maid wasn't available.

She was a nice girl and read books to me, but something came up and she had to go out for a short while.

Fate had it, that mother came back just that moment and found me alone in the room.

From her aura I almost expected, that the poor maid would be a head shorter the next day. But I got her to calm down by playing the happy child. Wow, I hope I manage to never arise her ire like that.

The Maid is still working here but she didn't get to take care of me any more. It's a pity, she was my type.

I wont complain, but it still creeps me out! Let us hope that she isn't delusional.

There are many diseases of the mind, that can catch you on the wrong foot.

At least I learned this worlds circumstances this way.

Being around the country’s leader all day, gives you all opportunities you need to pick up the most important stuff.

It seems that this world has just one single great continent. It is divided into two great Empires.

The East is occupied by the Stricc-Nation and West belongs to the Tirna Kingdom, which I am currently in.

There are various races all over the place, like our head maid, who is an Elf.

There are so many different types of chimeras here I am starting to believe, that this world is currently mixing all types of races together into one. Strangely enough there seems to be no discrimination against races.

That caught me off guard.

Almost every world, with that kind of setting, that I can think of has at least some kind of mistreatment for people who look different.

But here its zero, nada! At least I didn't come across it until now.

Mothers name is Ireth of Tirna the first, 24 years old. I didn't realize it at first, but mother seems to be some sort of demon!

At first I thought those dragon like horns beside her head were some sort of royal tiara. Sure looks that way.

They are black and polished to the point, that they are sparkling.

If you don't look out for it, you think of them as some sort of semi-precious stones.

In combination with her black hair, almost white skin and those red eyes, she can look really frightening when she is angry.

But she didn't change or take it off, for a whole month now, so I guess they are really horns. Though they look cool in way?

What made me sure of my deduction in any case, was that she scooped me up with her tail one day,
when she was in a hurry and had her hands full with documents. Made my heart almost stop, because I didn't expect that.

She always wears long dresses, so no chance I could see it before. And if you ask why I didn't see it while she was changing.

First I have at least some decency and ogling for my own mother is the last thing I would do! Breastfeeding time is bad enough in my opinion.

Second is that if you get put down on your back somewhere with a newborn body, the most you can do is to count the dots on the ceiling.

Head maid followed us with tears in her eyes, while complaining that this wasn't the proper way to show up at the throne room.

I was with her on that one and started to cry. Letting other people see you carrying your baby UPSIDE DOWN doesn't make you look like a good,
loving parent.

Have some sense mother, please don't go down the path of the mad king!

Fathers name is Nicol of Tirna the 5th,, 26 years old. He is mostly human. I think at least? I have seen him pat one of the guards on the back once.

The guard flew 5 meters, before a wall stopped him. He is still on a sick leave by the way. So I am not all that sure about dad.

Gulp, I am happy he didn't crush me on accident, by now.

I am now called Angrod of Tirna the first, by the way.

Head maid seems to be an elf. Her name is Rose. Nothing out of the ordinary for an elf as far as I can see.

And as for other persons: there are some, but no really important ones as far as I can tell.

I wasn't really introduced to society yet and most of the people I have seen so far were one time faces.

But this world isn't perfect.

Tirna and Stricc were fighting a bitter war over resources and ideology.

There are some rare minerals and crystals directly at the border in the center of the continent.

There is much volcanic activity there. So the whole continent is divided by a mountainrange of volcanoes.

I guess the tectonic plates are colliding there and that leads to much volcanic activity. Like a natural border.

No wonder the nations developed like that.

Tirna needs those minerals for our magic devices, while Stricc uses them for their magic ceremonies to control the weather.

It seems, that without them Stricc would be mostly a desert.

So at some point they started fighting over mining rights and borders.

That was over a hundred years ago and no one remembers or knows who fired the first shot that started the war.

However, it got really messy and they went at each others throats like mad.

Hmmm, I feel for them, seems similar to the circumstances which brought me here.

But in their case, they managed to make peace again, just a month before my birth. By now they are dividing the resources half for each.

But its still dangerous, the cold blood of such a long war doesn't go away over night.

There are also many parties who are very unhappy with the treaty.

By now I am pretty sure, that Seria must have fucked up. Come on, there are places out there which would really be punishment. This here is a joke.

Maybe the last time she checked this realm, they were fighting their war and she didn't bother to check again before tossing my soul to this realm?

A nice life as a prince. Yeah, wouldn't that be nice?

Mother is almost at the end of the hall by now and we are before a big picture with her and father.

Each of them holds a little child in their arms. By the look of it, they are four or five years old. Hey I have siblings?

Why didn't I meet them by now?

“And those are your big sister and brother. They would have been 6 and 7 by now. If they weren't assassinated by some bastard.

But I will never let that happen again little one. If I get my hands on them, they will wish they were never born!” - Mother

“Here. Your Majesty wipe your tears.” - Head Maid

Ow......

I guess I will be quiet for now and not protest for being almost crushed at her chest. I guess that's a good reason for being an overly caring parent.

It would be a good time to stop my inner monologue. I will never complain to mother about her not letting go of me.

Good thing I couldn't talk yet, I would have surely said something that would hurt her.

4 - A visit at the temple!

I am a year old by now. Sorry, but I wont go into the details here. That's mainly because nothing worthwhile happened.

When I started to speak, mother and father were overjoyed of course.

But I try to hide that I could probably govern the country by now. If they would let me give the orders of course.

I keep my conversations down single words and very short sentences.

My mother probably has an idea that I am not a normal baby by now .

That's because I made the words “Mom, Book!” my speciality. Mom still sticks to me like chewing gum.

So there is no way to hide that I am really reading those books. When I turn the pages in an orderly manner she has to get an idea of what's going on.

I have learned my fair amount of common knowledge by now. Mostly history, geography and other basic stuff.

Its not like this world could teach me much terms of math, physics and magic.

Well, “Father, stop!” is second on the list. It's my only form of self defence against roller-coaster dad!

Other children may like being thrown up into the air until they almost hit the ceiling.

I any case, I have a huge dislike to being suddenly moved in unexpected directions. And I have confirmed that my magic works. Though I am nowhere as powerful as I have been.

When you get granted divinity as a god it comes with huge boost to your mental resources and capabilities. You get access to a lot of free mana in other words. My power is down to that of an average mage I guess.

I will have to do a lot of training again in that regard. The perk is that you can't train your mana without casting the spells for real.

And I have a permanent observer glued to me, so its not easy to play the normal baby. Well, not that I am really dependent on having a huge mana pool by myself.

I know a lot of ways to steal mana, or to use mana that's lingering around in the environment. Before I became a god I specialized in mind and soul magic.

That's a given if you try to understand the whole incarnation process. Mom would get a huge shock if I were to pull a magical baby stunt. Fly baby! Fly! Evade the roller-coaster dad and cast some candy creation magic.

Now that I imagine it, it freaks even me out?

I am inside Mothers office and she is managing her letters. First thing I do in this world will be to invent a computer! Stupid handwriting.

You should never underestimate the stupidity of most realities with access to magic!

They have the most easiest way to get everything you could want, to have a good life, but the most basic items don't get thought of.

Well at least there is something like cars here and less smelly horses. All in all it feels like a world at the beginning of the industrialisation process.

There are magic devices for many things, but most of the work is still done by manual labour.

“Its here! The letter from the temple came! Oh I am so excited little one.” - Mother

She now waves a letter into my face. Hold still, who can read like that!? Hah, let's try another way.

“Tample?”

“Its temple little one! It's the place where we pray to the great goddess Seria who governs life and death.” Mother smiles at me while I go stiff. That name....

“Haha. No need to be frightened. Everyone gets taken there when they are one year old. As soon as you have visited it, you get recognized as a proper member of society.

You will also be given a proper judgement of your potential by the gods in a ceremony!”

She pauses.

“And if you get lucky, the goddess herself will give you a prophecy of your future! When I was there I got told by the goddess herself, that my third child will have a great destiny.

Your father got the same prophecy, so I am almost sure that something good will happen!”

Mother gives me big hug and the gears in my head slowly begin to turn again. I tried my best to put up a smiling face to her.

But I think I have gotten a lot paler in the process of that explanation.

So that's what the whole “hero and saviour shit” was about at my birth.

“Come up! We will get father. The sooner we are at the temple the better.” - Mother

I get picked up again and mother carries me to the throne room where father should be. Oi, give me some time here!

I have to think about this. This could have a huge impact on my life you know? Should I start speaking and complain?

AW! That could lead to more negative outcomes! I can't make up my mind here! This develops too fast.

“Darling! We got the invitation from the temple! Send the ministers away, you can have them do their work by themselves for a day.”,

Mother grabs dad by the hand and pulls him out of the chair.

“Yes. Yes, Darling you don't have to pull. My dignity!”, the king stumbles after her.

I learned that mother also has some freakish strength. She doesn't really have to hide behind the mad king. But she is much better at controlling it. I got born into a family of monsters.

Minutes later we are in a car and on our way to the temple. In front and behind us drive two cars which are stuffed with guards.

Not bad, its the first time I get a close up look at this world. Before, I had to be happy with a view out of a palace window.

The streets are clean and the buildings are well maintained.

Unless there is some kind of slum hidden somewhere, I would say this is a prosperous country.

Almost impossible to believe that there was a brutal war just over a year ago. The destructions must have never come close to the capital city.

Or the people got really good at construction during the war, that's far more likely. I read that both country's have some serious long range bombardment capabilities.

Man, what am I thinking about? There far more pressing matters than pondering the circumstances of this state!

I guess, I will go with the flow now. Keep your options open if you don't know the correct path.

After a few minutes the car stopped at a huge dome like building. The guards got off and cleared a safety zone to the temple.

“Here we go!”, this time its dad who carries me.

There is a huge doorway into the temple.

Everything is interlayed with precious materials. Very nice craftsmanship, I have to admit it. Not even the palace has this kind of art.

An old man in long white robes awaits us.

“My King! My Queen! Everything is taken care of. Please feel free to proceed to the great hall. I take it that you know the procedure already.”

The guy bows to us and leads us into the temple.

We enter the dome and there is a big statue of Seria in the centre of it. Some priestesses are singing a nice song which gets amplified by the dome.

This has a very nice holy atmosphere I must say. Seria has a strong cult going. Before the statue is an altar out of stone with a very important looking priestess behind it.

There is a row of parents with children of my age. They are lining up to the priestess. My parents join the line, seems like there is no different treatment for royalty here.

In front of us the children are made to touch a metal plate after some words by the priestess. Haah, seems to be some sort of divination magic device which judges you based on your aura.

Not much I can do about that in my current form. Damn! Fiddling with its settings should take me too long.

It's now the turn of the pair before us.

“Duke Garber Rosenquarz and Dutchess Hertia Rosenquarz. We bestow upon you the blessings of the goddess Seria. May your child be judged by the gods, so we can choose the best path for it's future. May your future be happy and prosperous.” The priestess holds out a metal plate and the child is made to touch it.

A light flashes across it, tracing some runes and text into the plate. I can't read it from my position, but the pair seems happy and makes place for us.

“King Nicol of Tirna and Queen Ireth of Tirna. We bestow upon you the blessings of the goddess Seria. May your child be judged by the gods, so we can choose the best path for it's future. May your future be happy and prosperous.” Again the priestess holds out a metal plate and mother takes my hand to make me touch the thing. Uuuum, looks like I wont get around this.

Again a light traces words into the plate. Great! There we have it.

Name:
Angrod of Tirna
Titles bestowed by the gods:
First Prince of Tirna, Fallen God, Little One, Saviour, Doomsbringer, Great Soul, Blessed by Seria

Potentials:
-Divine rank Archmage
-Saviour of the world
-Destroyer of the world
-God

My parents and the priestess are staring at the plate in grave silence. Great! The thrice damned thing blurted out practically everything.

In worst case I will be treated as some kind of monster now.

And if there is enough time to think, they will surely piece something together out of that. Worse! It could be close enough to the truth too!

Sorry mom, dad you are nice people from what I could see. Seria surely made a bad job here! This will hurt you too for sure.

I don't know how it could get any worse.

*RRRUUMMBLEE!!!! CRACK!*

Oh, blinding light above us! What the FUUCK is going on! I blink and try to look up. I feel a heavy presence on me, someone very powerful is here. I look up.

“hiiii” I can't help but cry out at whom I see!

Shining and sparkling Goddess Seria is hovering above us with angel wings........... GOOD ENTRANCE! But...but....put some clothes on!

Everyone stares at the Goddess agape. Most of the priests throw themselves to the floor. Wow, that goes too far, I never expected that from her followers, have at least some self respect!

You could all become gods if you would work hard at it.

Seria smiles a most charming smile. Wrong Snake! You are perfectly fine with kicking dying people who lie on the ground. Don't smile like that!

She lets go of a sheet of paper, which slowly flutters towards us while she fades away.

Now THAT can't be good! I have to get rid of that! Fireball! Huh? Nothing happened? Fireball! Damn! Zap! Hocus Pocus! AARGH! My mana is gone! Did she suck all the mana out of the environment and the surrounding people for that entrance?

It flutters towards us! I will grab it and eat it if necessary! Almost! Almost! Come closer!

*SNATCH*

Wa! Mother picked it out of the air just before I could get my hands on it. I want to cry! She holds the paper out, so dad can read it too.

Hi, your most beloved and worshipped goddess here!

I have watched this world for some time now. And I am not happy with its current state!

So I have blessed your child with a great soul. Don't dare not to be grateful!

But I don't think it's good to intervene too much by my holy self.

So I give you this prophecy for the two paths this child can take:

-Leave the stupid guy to himself and he will conquer the world, most likely destroying it in the process.

-Get him to marry the first princess of Stricc and the both of them will lead the world to a better future.

I am sure you both parents will be able to educate him properly. ♥

Sincerely yours,

Goddess of life and death

“But there is no first princess of Stricc” The priestess breaks the silence.

I break out a cold sweat while mother, father and the priestess stare at me. There is still a heavy silence inside the whole dome.

I guess someone has to break the silence.

“I choose option one then!”

*Smack!*

Eh?! Mother hit me?! That was the first time! I am seriously mentally injured here.

“Well, I guess I can count this as the worst day in my life so far.” I state my opinion to them.

5 - Matchmaking and Assassins!

Eight months later. Four people are sitting around a table. They are the rulers of Stricc and Tirna. A letter is on the table between them.

“You don't think we will believe this bullshit!?”, Arthur Stricc states.

“We don't need Stricc to believe anything. The question is why should THE goddess lie?

You have evaded our questions long enough by now!”, Nicol Tirna didn't mind to accuse Arthur of blasphemy.

“We ...”

“I think its out of the bag anyway, dear.”, his wife Katrine Stricc states and throws a second similar letter onto the table.

“But ...”, Arthur gets glared down by his wife.

“The Goddess gave us a similar prophecy. We have a daughter, but we hid her from the public. There are all too many people, who don't like to see the royal line to continue.

And how should I say this. You should know that she is not a normal child.”

“So when will the marriage be?”, Ireth of Tirna asks cheerful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One year and eight months by today! And I am freeee! Well, as free as I can be. Mother and Father are off for a matchmaking meeting with someone who doesn't exist.

They stayed with the rulers of Stricc at the embassy. I don't know what they are up to. Maybe they will try to convince the Stricc rulers to make a princess? Hmm, now that would be A meeting of state!

Please, hurry up to the bed, we need a little princess from you for world peace! So no danger from that point. By now I am taking a tour through Midhold together with head maid.

Midhold is a fortress city at the border between Stricc and Tirna. Actually the border goes right through the city.

During the war, it was practically ground to dust. But it is being rebuild bigger and better than ever now. The plan for it is to become the central trade point for the continent.

There are schools and universities on mass here. In future many people from both nations will come here to study.

The idea is to have cultural exchange and understanding for the younger generations here. So they can then go back home with a bigger view on things.

Its a nice idea, that my mother has organized with the rulers of Stricc.

“So I can study here when I get bigger?”, I ask head maid.

“I think so, yes.” - head maid.

“Whoho! I would like to plan the city layout! I have plans for the future and those need enough space.”, in my head I am already restructuring the roads.

“Erm, I think you will need to become the King first.”, head maid is good at bringing me down to the floor again.

“So, what can we see next? I want to see the place, where the magical communication array for the city is managed next!”, that's what every boy my age should be interested in right?

“Eh? Prince don't you want to do something more normal, like taking a look a the zoo?”, head maid asks puzzled.

Ups.

“I guess biology is fine too once in a while.”, I am generous! If Rose wants to show me the zoo, we will go for the zoo.

Rose instructs the driver to bring us to the zoo.

“I am sorry for being bad at adjusting to your differences from other children my prince. But the whole thing with the appearance of the goddess herself really shook us up.”, Rose apologizes.

“Its fine, just treat me like you would any other person.”, yeah. That would be less awkward I think.

“Oooh? Then let me ask about an explanation of the “fallen God” title on your graduation plate? Which God where you before? And why did you fall? I never really believed in gods before that incident.”, Rose sends me a sharp look.

“Ahaha! I am no god, no idea what you are talking about. The Goddess must have made a mistake there.”, my smile freezes again. I had this stupid conversation already with mother and father.

“You are a bad liar. Don't smile while telling lies my prince. You can be seen right through when you do that.”, Rose doesn't let me go.

“Haah... Well you see. Gods aren't any other than normal people to each other, so its good that you don't cultivate any special faith in them. I had a big argument with another god.

We went for each others throats and smashed a lot of stuff while killing each other. Including people.

The other gods decided to punish us. And so I am here and a normal mortal boy again it seems.”, Rose has a complicated expression now? What?

“A normal mortal boy, I see. And being the prince of this country is obviously a great punishment from the standpoint of a god?

I will be sure to observe you from now on. I think your torment hasn't begun yet.”, Rose has a devilish look on her face.

“Rose, you are frightening me! If I would be a normal child, I would cry from seeing that face of yours!” - Me

“Anyway. It seems we are at our destination.”, Rose gets out of the car and helps me out.

Of course we are followed by ten guards at all times. I must admit that this life will get really annoying, if I need protection around the clock.

If I am assisted, I can walk by myself now. It's not fast, but at least I haven't to be carried all the time any more. But I have to admit that Rose has a point. This whole reincarnation and prophecy thing by Seria is still fishy.

I drove a world to ruins, so now I have to save another one in exchange? Is this whole story that simple? We are having a stroll through the zoo now. Apparently there was no charge at the entrance.

“Is everyone allowed to enter as they please?”, I ask.

“Yes. In this City, every educational facility is free of charge and paid for by the crown. In exchange you have to pass the entrance exam as a student in this city.” -Rose.

Oh, how liberal. This world seems to be on the way up even without intervention. Rose starts to explain the various animals here. They all have well managed pens.

There are various animals and plants you would recognize from earth here. But there are also some not so usual things in this world.

Wahaha! Whats this? They have a Hippogriffin here! Its like a mixture between a hippo and an eagle.

I take a look at an explanatory sign.

Hippogriffin:

The Hippogriffin may look funny, but its an efficient hunter. While not being very fast on all fours, it can fly and is very robust.

It hunts by flying as high as possible, while searching for proper prey. As soon, as it has found something appropriate it takes careful aim and lets itself fall.

Smashing the prey from above with its whole bodyweight.

Being caught unprepared to evade, there is not much chance of putting up any resistance.

There were whole partys of adventurers reported falling prey to a single hippogriffin.

If travelling by foot in hippogriffin territory it is advised to always having someone watch the skies.

…....

Okay!? That's one nasty method of hunting.

“What do you think my prince? It's a cool animal right!”, Rose doesn't find it strange.

“This world is crazy! Let's go for the next one.”, I hope this will be more normal.

At the next stop, there is just a lot of sand in the pen at a lowered level of about five meters. There seems to be nothing inside.

Razorclaw:

A dangerous predator of the east. It lies in wait under the sand and attacks everything that moves, as soon as its close enough.

Its natural habitat …..

“Fireball!” - “Windblade!”

I felt the spells a second before their casters could shout out their incantations. Just by reflex, I put up some defence.

“Area Shield!”

*BOOM!*

Ow! The world is spinning as I fly through the air! My shield couldn't completely stop both spells.

“Iron Skin!”

OUf! I hit the ground again. That was softer than expected! I sit up, hmmm that is sand between my hands?

I shudder, as something gives me a hot breath into the neck and I turn around.

Hmmm, those are really many teeth and sharp claws. The thing doesn't seem to consist out of anything else.

“Hi?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Roses point of view:

No! The prince saved us with his spell, but he was thrown into the closed off area of the razorclaws. I have to get him out immediately! I draw a knife from my thigh.

But we are being rushed by assassins and I am being pinned down by two of them.

The guards have their hands full too. There are more of them than us! They have at least seventeen people.

“Everyone who doesn't need to hold down the guards, go for the prince!”, one of them screams.

Bastards! One of my opponents turns around and jumps together with others over the fence into the pen of the razorclaws.

I use the opportunity to go on the offensive. I hack at his face and simultaneously kick his groin as he lets his guard down. No time for fairness!

As he goes down I slice his throat and throw my knife into the back of a second assassin. They are badly trained and pose no threat without their superior numbers.

Within the next seconds I and four guards are the only ones left standing. “PRINCE!”, I run for the pen and take a look over the fence.

Down there is a scene of carnage! Bodyparts and blood everywhere! I want to sink to my knees, as I fear the worst.

But then I see the prince, who is sitting beside a razorclaw, which is gnawing on a dead assassin.

“Get me OUT! The things in here are fucking scary!”, he screams with tears in his eyes and blood all over him.

“D.. Don't move! They only attack moving things! We will get you out as soon as possible!”, I shout. Oh by the goddess thank you, he is alive!

Maybe the Queen will not rip off my head today!

“I know! I read the sign! That doesn't change the fact that I will have nightmares for weeks!” - Prince.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Me again:

I am back at the embassy and alive! By the river of souls! I thought I was a goner when I looked down the throat of that thing!

But then all those brave assassins jumped over the fence and distracted the thing with their bodies. As they came at me, the thing mowed them down like grass.

I will be sure to give them a memorial for saving me. They are true heroes! When we came back, mother had already heard what happened and was furious.

I am sorry Rose, but looking like that - if I wouldn't have run off to clean myself and put on new clothes, she would have shredded you right then and there.

At least I was fast enough, so she couldn't see me in that state and father was there to hold her back. Rose and I are waiting for mother and father to come back. They rushed off to get the rulers of Stricc and a present?

“Do you know what they meant by present Rose?”, I ask.

“no.. hic, *sniff*”, Rose miserably answers.

I pat her back. Mother can be really scary sometimes. Rose didn't get beheaded physically, but mentally she sure was chopped to pieces.

“It will be okay. As soon, as I get the opportunity, I will tell her the heroic story of how you saved me from those things!”, I can't see Rose like that.

She is something like family to me by now. Rose smiles thankfully at me.

The doors open and my parents enter the room. They are followed by the rulers of Stricc, whom I already saw once. I was present, when they greeted each other a few days earlier.

A little girl is with them, led by the hand by the Queen of Stricc. Huh?

“Let me reintroduce you again. This is my son, the first Prince of Tirna. By the name Angrod of Tirna. And these are the rulers of Stricc. Arthur Stricc and Katrine Stricc.” Mother pulls me in front of the girl, so we have to confront each other.

That aura is so familiar? I know those eyes, but from where?

“And this is the first princess of Stricc. Celes of Stricc, your fiancee!”

A heavy silence falls on the room.

- “Myrm!” -”Ascathon!”-

Silence again.

“Bwahahah. HAHA AHAHAHA!”, I can't hold it anymore. I start laughing as I point at a now female Myrm in a pink princess-doll-dress.

Seria really pulled a stunt here.

“AAARRRRRGGH!!!”, Myrm screams in pure rage, as he/she? Tackles me with her whole body.

We both go the ground, with her on top.

I see something shiny in her hand, as she raises it. H...HA...HAIRPIN!?

*STAB**STAB**STAB*

“OWWWW!”, I howl as both pairs of parents separate us. But not before I got a fist of her red hair ripped out.

I will get you back for that! Myrm did more damage in five seconds than twenty assassins which couldn't even scratch me!

Ow! It hurts! I am bloody all over again, but this time its my blood.

What a day!

“I think your torment has begun now.”, Rose whispers.

6 - Tied up conversation?

I am sitting across Myrm and we are both constrained to our chairs. After the disaster of our introduction, it was decided for us to have a long discussion to make our peace together.

Because our parents feared for our lives if left alone, they bound us up like in a bad bondage movie. On top of that, they casted spells on the room to stop every magic used inside.

Then we got told, that there will be no leaving until there was some kind of improvement in our behaviour. That was seven hours ago and I have some serious problems by now!

But I will not humiliate myself by pissing into my pants! Never! I will die before I do that. Myrm will have the same problems by now. I just have to be the one to endure longer.

We haven't spoken a single word since the beginning of this. The first two hours we just stared at each other until Myrm broke eye contact to look out of the window. Heh, I feel like I won that one.

I then started to count stuff inside the room, just to kill time. There are 2334 spots on the ornamented ceiling. 789 small timber pilings used for the wooden floor. 543 books on the shelf behind Myrm. 13 birds flew by the window during that time.

I am out of stuff to count. Oh, our parents are devils! Will they let us starve here if we don't talk? They wouldn't, or would they? No, we will die of thirst first! How can I get out of this?

I take another look at Myrm. Katrine Stricc healed the ripped out hair back onto his/her head while my Mother patched me up.

Then they had a long talk with us, but weren't really interested in our circumstances. We are their successors and destined by the goddess to continue their work.

By their decree, they made Midhold the Capital of their country's and set up permanent residence here out of a whim.

Mother had argued, that there would be obviously a lot of education to do. She really formulated it like that! They did all this, so we can be together as much as possible.

“If they have that much power, they should just have unified the continent and left me out of it....”, I talked to myself.

“The rule of this world's nobility is absolute obedience to the leading house by bloodline. And holding up the traditions and governing system. If they told them to follow another country, there is a high chance that it would end up in rebellion.

By having us marry, they can fulfil the prophecy and declare their houses as one. Using this loophole to unite both states.”, Myrm declares with empty eyes.

Did Myrm just talk to me?

“Oh, and I am sorry, I overreacted. If I had managed to keep a cool head and get rid of you in a clean manner, we wouldn't have to endure this. Too bad that those assassins didn't manage to do their job.”, she now smiles at me innocently.

TCH! I almost forgot that this is Myrm! This is no cute little girl sitting there. Think! Its A GUY! I want to smack my head into something.

“Keep that dirty look to yourself! Just tell me why you laughed like mad at me! Is that dress really looking that bad?”, Myrm asked.

The gears in my head stop. Could Myrm really swing that way? “I laughed because you reincarnated as a girl! You have to be very unlucky for that, but it happens sometimes. I guess Seria had a hand in it.”, I muse to myself.

Myrm looks at me agape. Then she closes her mouth, opens it again, closes it again. Did I say something silly? Why do I get that reaction?

“I WAS ALWAYS A GIRL YOU MINDLESS BASTARD! Oh Hell! We were at it for over eighthundred years and all the time you thought I am a man!?”

“What are you talking about? You were a perfect man before! Always in full body armour and fighting some stupid battle for justice and order! And all your followers advertised you as a male god!”, she surely doesn't want to tell me that I got her gender wrong all this time.

„They were idiots who got my gender wrong when i took over the position! All the other gods knew i was female, what's wrong with you?“, she starts crying.

Oh!, hey stop that! You make me the sole bad guy here?

“You are an enemy of all womankind! Not every female has to be a big breasted nudist like Seria, who wear at most half transparent dresses!”, she is now in full bickering mode!

“What are you thinking of me!? We are not even two years old yet! First I don't really believe that story yet, and second I am not into children!”, I can't let it stand like that!

“I have no expectations of an old, perverted, idiotic, anti-feministic geezer inside the body of a child! I am sure you have the best time getting off on your mother, every time you reincarnate!”, she shoots back.

“Hold it! If I am a geezer, you are a granny! How old are you really!? Maybe you are some hag even twice my age! You have no right to accuse me of being a geezer of all!”, I can do nothing but complain here.

“I have seen you look at Serias ass often enough! You are surely one of those guys, who have perverted fantasies around the clock!” - Myrm

“Every unbound guy who has a normal brain would turn his head at her! Well, be happy that I killed you then! I did you a favour! Best thing that could happen to you. When I look at your mother, you should have the best genes for the future now.” - Me

Her eyes go wide, “Oh my god! You will even go for your fiancees mother. You will even try to bed us at the same time?”

NO, nono that's not the way I wanted it interpreted, ”What do you take me for? Have you ever seen me behave like that!? You, as my dearest enemy, should know me at least enough to acknowledge that I am not like this!”

She silently thinks for a moment, “I surely have never seen or heard of you being with anyone in all that time. Even a god should have at least some form of relationship. You have some sort of mental problems? God's should have minds like everyone else.”

Uuuum.......

She squints her eyes at me and starts to grin, “I don't think its because you are something like an epic hermit, who has forsaken all worldly desire. Does it have something to do with that title of yours? Little One? Kekeke! I wondered about that.”

“NOOOO!”, I scream with all my might at this. “Its surely not like that. It seems I got that title because my mother here used it as my pet name. You have no right to use it!”

“Oh you are a mothers child, I understand. So after my mother and me you will go for yours too? Or have you already achieved that. I must admit I am a little worried now.” -Myrm

I inhale sharply! “Myrm! Stop making me do things like that in your mind! I am just a guy, who doesn't like to boast about his relationships. I am actually quite decent for a guy in my opinion! I am not someone who likes to bed every girl that crosses his path.

I like my relationships to be mutual. It's just that its hard for me to find someone, with whom I can have a normal conversation.”

I am exhausted now. This bickering wears me out.

“Stop calling me Myrm! Myrm was a god! I am Celes of Stricc now.”, she says it like she lost something dear.

I can kind of understand this, as I lost the same thing.

“Then you have to call me Angrod of Tirna from now on. Can we call a truce in this?”

“Don't misunderstand I still hate you down to the bones!”, she is still glaring at me. I have no complains on that, “Believe me. Your feelings are mutual.”

We fall silent again and wait for our parents.

After an eternity the door opens and Katrine enters the room. Ireth follows after her.

“Have you two made any progress?”, Katrine inquires with a raised eyebrow.

“We promise not to kill each other!”, I call out and Celes nods.

“No wounding, maiming or other forms of violence?”, we both nod again and Katrine looks at Ireth. My Mother sighs and waves her hand. At that our ropes get cut and fall to the floor.

I jump up and dash out of the room and down the corridor to the bathroom. As I reach for the doorknob I get shoved by something from behind and fall over. Outsch!

“Girls first! Have you learned nothing at your lessons in manners!” *Crash* *Klick*

The door is closed and locked! I start to cry. I want to kill something! Anything is fine as long as it dies slowly and in pain!

7 - Headaches and a new educator?

Right now, I am very busy. Squashing Ants, or feeding caterpillars to them. Eventually even disturbing their hive and watching the enfolding chaos, as they try to repair it.

Well they aren't real ants. I just call them that way, because they behave like ants. They seem more like little crabs. I really should start to investigate the biology of this sick world seriously.

It's always good to know if something that looks cute is deadly in reality.

Feels like what a normal boy, at age of five, should do right? Playing with bugs.... it feels like a great step backwards. Eventually my parents should stop and scold me for hurting a living thing.

But mother doesn't really care about my actions in this. The problem is, that in my mind, I am not five years old, but much much older.

Now it sounds just creepy, am I right? I know this, but it feels nostalgic. Playing with the life of lesser beings, having them move on your whim. It's like in my old times as a god once more hrhr.....

It also distracts me from those headaches, I have had them for some time now. Celes is also here in the palace garden and is sitting on a chair about three meters away from me.

Ireth and Rose are present too. Ireth is reading a book, while Rose does some gardening.

“You know, that you are the worst scum ever, for doing that? The look on your face is creepy!”, Celes looks at me like I am some kind of dirt on her shoe. “Why do you do that anyway? You get some kind of kick from that?”

“Not really, but I have had those headaches for a while now. They wont go away, despite casting all kinds of healing spells on myself. So I am in a reaallllyyy foul mood right now.”

“It's a real blessing for the people of the multiverse that you are not a god any more! After hearing this, I am convinced, that you never deserved the job. I am sure you relieved your pent up emotions like that as a god too. Only in that case, real people had to suffer for it!”, She makes a grimace.

“But I feel those headaches too. Maybe we have caught some kind of disease? It sickens me to think, that I should have something in common with you.”

I can't argue with that. Admittedly, she hit the mark.

“Oh my, children sure grow fast.”, Ireth closes the book and walks over to Celes. Before Celes can react she gets snatched out of the chair by mothers tail and has her head inspected. Mother is like that. Everyone, who is weaker than her, is treated like a puppet.

“Kyaa! I just have to hug my cute little daughter in law! Having your horns come out. It won't be long, before you two can be introduced to the public.”, she declares. “Ho.. Ho.. Horns?”, Celes is flabbergasted.

“YES! Everyone undergoes a transformation at the age of around five years. Some get Horns, some tails, some just go through minor changes like pointy ears. Rose is a case for that. There are all sorts of things!

They show your latent ability. People with the horns and tails of the royal families, are known to possess extraordinary strength and mana reserves. Rose as another example has superior hand-eye coordination and speed.

You seem to have inherited the royal bloodline very strongly like my Angrod. My husbands royal blood isn't that strong. So if you don't shave his head, you can't see his horns.

Males of the royal lines have horns and slit pupils, if they have inherited our blood strong. Females have horns and grow a tail if their blood is strong.

The fact, that you both start to change before your fifth birthday, surely means that you will both go through the full change. Kya, I can't wait! Celes will surely look cute with a little tail!”

Mother hugs Celes even tighter. Yes! That's it! Crush her with your stupid strength! Wahaha, I can almost see her eyes pop out already.

“Ta... Tail?”, Celes has a complicated expression. It seems she doesn't exactly like the idea of a tail. I can understand that, if you reincarnate with a hugely different body from your first, you always have an uneasy feeling about it.

But its just a tail. There is worse stuff out there. I resume my bug-torturing, as I notice that my vision is a little blurry. Hmmm, slit pupils mother said? Shit!

Now my eyes start hurting too, this world is crazy. Is there nothing like normal biology here? Hippogriffins and crap-ants! Not only the animals are fucked up, but the people too!!

Living with Celes sure wasn't fun in all that time. There is always something we are able to fight about. Not a day goes by, without having a hard time to endure her existence.

At least something got better: Mothers attention is now partly diverted to her. I think she got adopted, hehe.

One of the guards enters the garden. “My Queen! Your father has arrived and will be here shortly! He expressed, that he wishes to see you as soon as possible.”

Celes gets dropped and crawls away from mother with sweat on her forehead. Whoho, looks creepy, did she break some of her bones? With that style you would get employed to most horror movies instantly!

“Sure. Children, you can meet your grandfather for the first time! It sure takes long to inspect the whole border!”, mother rushes off.

“Heal meee...! Angroood!”, Celes has tears in her eyes!

“Nope! You should learn some healing magic for yourself. That shoulder sure looks dislocated.”, I won't help her. I still hold grudges against her. If she is in pain a little longer, this will surely make my day!

“You know that I was never good at healing! It's just not my forte. If you don't heal me, I will do something you won't like for sure! It was your mothers doing after all! How did you even survive the time as a baby?”, she is wriggling on the floor in pain by now.

I sigh.

“Fine, but you owe me one!”, I stand up to grab her arm, while standing on her shoulder blade and start pulling.

“WHAT?” -Celes

“Never said I would heal you in a manner that won't hurt!” -Me

*SNAP*

“MMGGNGNMMMN!”, Celes bites her teeth together and hits the ground with her free hand. She refuses to scream. Very brave, but pointless in my opinion. “Heal!”, I patch her shoulder up with basic magic. Something, she could have done by herself, if she had the courage to set her shoulder by herself.

“Hmm. Mothers hugs sure are equal to the love, she feels. Maybe its because, with both of us, it feels like she would have both my older brother and sister, who got killed, back. Ah, don't mention that to her! She still has strong feelings about that.

It sure felt good to step on you, by the way! I could make a habit out of this.”, I muse to myself and nod. I get another glare that tells me, that my worth just dropped another step downwards.

“Why have you never met your grandfather anyway? We are almost five by now! Most of my relatives made a visit to the main family already.”, Celes asks.

“Well. As far as I now my fathers parents are dead. And my grandmother, from my mothers side, is dead too. They all died together with my siblings in the same attack. Some kind of bombing,  I heard.

My grandfather, Nicosar of Tirna, went for a complete inspection of all fortresses and border crossings at that time. It looked like the guys responsible for it came from Stricc. So he tried to find out how they got through the border control.

There are about 4000 minor checkpoints, fortresses and towns along the border. If you take a day of your time for everyone of them, you have your hands full for quite some time.”

Celes nods at that, “It still feels pointless with the current changes in policy, he could have stopped and returned any time.”

Just at that moment, mother came back. A geezer with grey hair is with her. He has the same horns as her, though one of them is broken. Behind him a racoons tail is slowly waving left and right, he has a walking stick, which he puts down at our sight.

“Hahaha! My grandson! How much I wanted to see you!”, he grins as he walks over and picks me up to hold me in front. That grip! I have a bad feeling about this.

“Grandfather! I greeEEE eee EEE eee EEE eee EEE.........”, he threw me up! I turn at least five summersaults, before I get caught by a foot again. Oh no. Now I have a roller-coaster grandfather too.

He drops me to the ground, where I start retching. I am not well, not well at all! This is my weak point!

“Hahaha! You will have a special training from tomorrow on, grandson. I will make a real Tirna noble out of you! And who have we here?”, he starts over to Celes, who takes a step back and looks at him with a wary expression.

Suddenly he kneels down and massages her hips, pinching them a little at the end and stands up again. Celes is frozen solid at that and doesn't move a muscle.

“Hmm, yes yes. That's good! The potential is there. You will be able to have many heirs. We need many of those.”, he nods earnestly.

-PUNCH-

“Ugh!”

-STAB-

-POP-

“aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAA!”

-drop-

-STOMB-

-KICK - KICK - KICK -

It was so fast, I almost didn't get it. As soon, as he stood again, she punched him in the groin. He went to his knees at that. At the same time she pulled a hairpin from her stuck up hairdo and stabbed it into his left eye, which was now in reach.

With the other hand, she popped out his right eyeball. While he went down completely, she dropped it and then crushed it with her right foot. That done, she started kicking him with her left foot. There was no hesitation at all!

Phew! I am so glad, that our parents negotiated a no violence contract between us. But I am sure you have done it now Celes! This could become a real diplomatic issue. I see the headlines for tomorrow! Stricc princess permanently blinds valued military leader of Tirna!

“AAAAhahAhahAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”, Nicosars scream transforms into a mad laugh, as he and all the blood dissolves into white mist. Reforming behind a wide eyes Celes, completely unharmed, he throws her over his shoulder like a kidnapper. She struggles, but can't resist his strength.

This guy is not good news! I try to run, but get grabbed by the collar. “Blergh!”, comes out while I am pulled back abruptly.

-

“This is good material my daughter! I will be sure to make real nobles out of them, before they are introduced to the other houses!”

8 - Training!

We are back to being bound to a chair and facing each other. “Now we know, where your mother got that from!”, Celes accuses me. The old pervert waves a chalkboard with some scribblings in front of her.

“Come On! Say it with LOVE! -Angrod is my ONE and only ONE!-”, he says in a creepy voice. “Say at least: I love you! For starters!”

“I l..l.. lov...e  y  ou. I guess...”, she gets out with a cramped face. “Okay. We will work on the stutter. The expression comes second.”, Nicosar states grinning.

“Now you Angrod! Say: I love you! I would lay the world to your feet, if you asked me of it!”, Nicosars eyes gleam feverish and he wriggles his body in a creepy way.

“I shove you! I would slay the world and throw it before your feet, so you trip over it!”

*SMACK!*

Ow! I got hit with the board. My head hurts so much, I think it is splitting apart! Nicosar looks at the broken board and sighs. He drops it onto the pile of broken boards to my feet, which almost reaches my knees.

He takes a new board out of a chest and scribbles something onto it. “Okay. Let's try that again.”, he steps behind Celes and nods to me, while waving the board.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

♥-“I LOVE YOU CELES!”-♥

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Tears are dripping from my eyes. They have started to shed tears and my vision is blurry, since the transformation started. Nothing I can do about it. “I love you Celes.”, I whisper while giving up.

I don't want to get another board smashed on my head. It hurts so much! Imagine someone taking two screwdrivers and slowly pushing them into your eyes, while a mixer is mashing up your brain!

That's how I feel right now!

“YES! That emotion! You got that across just right!”, the pervert wipes the board and steps behind me, scribbling something. Celes blushes and looks down at her legs, which are almost completely covered by another pile of broken boards.

“M...My dearest one! Take me now and here!”

Omg, that was....nono I wont waver here! Its those headaches and the stress. Yes! That's it!

“Oh! You are starting to get good at this! Hmhmhmm... maybe we should start working a little on the physical part too?”, he muses to himself.

What do you want to make little children do, you sicko?

“What's the point of this anyway old pervert!? I thought you wanted to train us!”, Celes asks with empty eyes.

“Aren't I training you? On your graduation party you two have to convince the guests, that you two are one body and one soul. No one is allowed to have the slightest doubt about it, or chaos could be the consequence!”, Nicosar states.

“If the other houses would get the idea, that this bond won't work out, they will try to seize power. Civil war for both Tirna and Stricc would surely follow shortly after that. You have to be the perfect pair to the public!”

“But what's about physical training?” - Celes

“Pfff! No need for that! Both of you have royal blood. That means your bodies are the strongest you can get in this world and you are always at top condition.

But the strongest bodies in the world won't help us, if we are poisoned or bombed by some asshole. Also with everyone running amok, we can't be everywhere.

So you two will be here until you can convince everyone, that you were made for each other.”, Nicosar stops his tirade.

„I will train my magic like mad! And then this pervert will burn!“, I mutter to myself. I am really mad right now! Nicosar went a step too far in this!

„Hahaha, you are a hundred years too early for that!“, Nicosar grins again.

Celes forces a smile on her face, “We will see, I would gladly give you a hand against the pervert!”

“YES! A mutual goal! The first step on your path to love and pleasure!”, Nicosar seems not to notice, that he is the one in question.

----------------------------------------------------------------

The next weeks were a nightmare! It wasn't just the board-treatment. We had dancing lessons, smiling lessons, lap sleeping lessons oh and not to forget the BIG HUG lesson.

Celes tried to crush me with brutish strength every time. I am really afraid, that she will become strong enough for it in the end.

Sometimes even Nicol and Arthur join the fray. At least they are better than Nicosar, but its still far from fun. Though they are both usually busy with matters of state, eyeing each others actions like watchdogs.

At the dancing lessons, Celes tried to step on my feet, or trip me. I myself didn't even have to try it consciously. I am a bad dancer. Tripping my partner isn't something I have to aim for.

Celes and me tried to kill Nicosar multiple times, but we never succeeded. He has some kind of high level illusion or cloning technique. It's not magic, but some kind of innate ability he got from his raccoon heritage.

You may think, that you got him sometimes, but he just dissolves into white mist and is suddenly unharmed before you.

One time, I blew up an entire room, with him inside. We thought we got him, just to be hit from behind with his walking stick. Its a deadly weapon in his hands! Believe me!

By now, I have realized that we won't get him, until we have grown up bodies. He is several levels above us, at the moment.

Like that, the time went by. I lost track of it. He is drilling us from morning till night, with four hours of sleep a day! It is worse than military training. Our bodies will break, if this gets out of hand!

----------------------------------------------------------------

After a particularly bad day, Celes sits at our evening meal, while sharpening a hairpin and mutters something incomprehensible to herself.

Suddenly she turns to me, “Angrod, I can't take it any more!”, tears are in her eyes. I am really not sure if it is real, or if she is testing her acting on me.

“Hoh? And what do you want to tell me with that?”, I sip at my drink.

“!Let us run away together!”

“PFFT”, I spit everything on my food and need a second to gather myself. “I don't get... , why do I have to join you for that!”

“Because, if you stay here, it will fulfil the second prophecy and you will destroy the world? If you are with me I can have an eye on you!”, she looks at me.

“You know, Seria probably just made that up? She is a strong god, but even the council has problems with such detailed predictions?”, I don't buy it. “And who judged us? Despite having better things to do?”, Celes reminds me.

I think shortly, “Anyway, I wont run! Where do you want to go? We are children, and everyone can recognize us from afar as royalty! I don't think you will manage to hide those things on your head for long. Think it through!”

The two black horns on her head did a real growth spurt, starting at her temple and then going back close to her head, while splitting up in an admittedly cool pattern looking like some sort of adornment. No way to hide that!

She wore her red hair stuck up with hairpins, which I recognize as her most fearsome weapons.

Her black tail, at the length of about one and a half meter, completed her new demon look.

My horns were a little boring, compared to hers. Starting at my temples like hers, they just went straight back, stopping a little after my head.

If I wanted to, I could probably wear a hat to hide them. No chance with hers, though.

My hair was black like my mothers, but I cut it short. I don't like to take care of my hairstyle.

The eyes had changed to a golden snake-style.

*WHIP*

“Ow! Stop that!”, the witch just hit me with her tail!

“Hmpf, can't help it! It tends to do that when I am frustrated.”, she declares high and mighty.

*Whip**Whip**Whip*

I jump out of the way and sat down again with my ruined food. This time farther away. Hell will freeze over, before I believe her that. It was one hundred percent on purpose.

That's when something hit me!

“Come to think of it.... why do you know Serias prophecy for me in such detail!”, I ask. “My parents told me.”, she answers without hesitation.

“And why did you know my title back then? Little one?” - Me

She hesitates, “I heard it from your mother.”

“LIAR!” -Me

“Okay! Okay! I investigated your room before our first meeting and found your plate.” -Celes

“What!” -Me

“I have no bad conscience about it. There wasn't anything interesting anyway, you are a hermit after all. Just books about magic and science. Do you know that it's not normal for a guy to hide an encyclopedia under his bed?”, Celes looks at me with pitiful eyes.

“There I wanted to try the -girls search through the guys room- and what do I get?”, she shakes her head, “Apart from that stupid title, Not.... A….. Thing!”

I am down now!

“Why am I treated like I have to be some kind of pervert. I have never done anything to deserve this! For all the time I can remember, I have been a nice guy! Fuck it! In my first life I was even a monk!”

I shouldn't have said that!

“A … MONK!? Nooow eeeeverything is clear to me!”, Celes grins from ear to ear!

“Don't dare to say something about it! It was a good, nice life!”, I hold at a new thought, “…..but living like that doesn't get you anything? It all leads back to where I am now!

Those who live their lives as pure perverts are right! They end up in bad situations at the end too, but at least they got something out of it!”, I nod at myself.

*Whip**Whip**Whip**Whip**Whip*

“OW!” -Me

“Don't dare to go down that path! As a sadistic idiot, you would have lost the last decent point about you!”, Celes glares at me with hateful eyes. But my thoughts derail completely.

“Hoho, maybe I should start right here and now? We are stuck with each other anyway! No loss there, so why haven't I jumped at the opportunity! You are not really usable yet, but for a test-run it should suffice, as my body isn't at the height either!”, I take a step and have a nice feel.

-Whack!-

She slapped me and we go down while wrestling with each other. Something shatters and we roll over the floor. At that moment, the door opens and we freeze.

Ireth, Katrin and Nicosar step in.

I am trying to choke Celes with one hand, while she has both legs around me in a suggestive position. With the other hand I hold her left, which is armed with a hairpin.

With the other, she is trying to free herself from my hold. Her tail is entangled around my upper body and neck, trying to choke me in turn.

“HoHO!”, Nicosar puts on a stupid grin while opening one eye wide.

“The training didn't progress like planned....”, Katrin states.

Mother just looks at me accusingly.

Celes drops the hairpin and pulls me closer, hugging me! “Wahaha! What are you talking about! My darling and I where just exploring new ways of communication, isn't that right my love? So older and wiser people shouldn't interrupt the young!”

A shudder runs down my spine! Okay! This! Is! Creepy! “Play along idiot!”, she whispers. I hug her too and set us back up in a straight position.

“Yes, we just found out about each others good points! This is really a big misunderstanding! No need for more training!” -Me

Celes nods at my chest!

“We will see how long you two can keep that act up! Then there will BE punishment. One way, or the other! Both are wrong! You forget, you're still children!” -Ireth

We both start to cry!

9 - A formal dance between the two?

We are both about seven by now. Yes! We survived! Nicosar has given his approval to our acting, thus our parents organized a great celebration. They invited members from all noble houses of both countries.

It is meant as our introduction to the public. But.....

Right now, we are both in the families private rooms and are waiting for the festivities to start. Nicol, Arthur and Nicosar are here too. They preached for more than a hour, how important it is to show a good face.

"I have a really bad feeling about this.", Celes states. She is sharpening a hairpin again. Sometime along the way, it became habit of hers. Whenever she is ancious, nervous or bored, she starts doing that. The hairpins are more like little knives, or daggers by now!

"I don't get how you can stick those into your hair, without cutting it", i muse to myself. "That you would like to know!", she shows a superior grin.

I shrug my shoulders, "If you don't feel like telling, then don't tell. Why do you have a bad feeling anyway? Will you tell me that at least?"

"It is because my third grade cousins and their family will be here. They are pestering my father, to have one of them marry me, since my birth. But i am not into incest and they are brutish idiots on your scale, from what i have heard."

Her face distorts in disgust, while talking.

"Their names are Sarda Meltheim and Senda Meltheim. They should be about 9 years old. Their parents are Marta and Odlef of Meltheim. They are sure to cause a ruckus.", Arthur informs me.

Father Nicol shakes his head, "Unfortunately there are people like that from our side too. You should be wary of the Tuhelm family. Marta Tulhelm and Vaida Tulhelm are the leaders, Iris Tulhelm is a 7 year old daughter of theirs. They are controlling a great area in the north of Stricc.

It is hard to keep their advances in check. I almost would have gotten them for treason several times, but somehow they always come out clean, after the investigations. It's mortifying. In case of rebellion, they would stand in the first line. If I could I would execute the whole bunch on suspicion alone!"

Wow, that's the first time we heard so much about politics from our parents. Is the end of the world near?

"Yes, there is also a high possibility that someone will challenge you to a duel, if they get the chance. As long as there isn't a five year difference in age, they can do it. It's an easy possibility to kill you in a legal way! So don't give them an opening by insulting someone.

And if they challenge you anyway...... refuse! It will hurt our reputation, but so be it.", Arthur has a complicated expression.

"That's Barbaric!" I call out.

"It's an old tradition and hardly used anymore. If they play this card, they surely won't get any credit for it from the other houses. It's not allowed to deal killing blows to a defeated opponent in a duel, but accidents can happen.", Athur warns us.

I grumble to myself, while looking out of the window. This will be even less fun, than i thought.

"Fufufu, if they are so stupid, they will be used as pincushions. I wonder where should i stab first?", Celes has a scary expression.

Arthur sighs, "Please! Just refuse! They will surely have some nasty trick and send someone older than you. That will be a big difference in natural ability!"

Arthur would be right, but i don't believe it. They may have the better bodies, but i don't think that they are that adept in using magic like me and Celes.

We have hardly showed anything, by now.

"Talk of the evil, and it is bound to appear. Don't scare the children, they can look out for themselves. Let's make our entrance. The guests surely are waiting quite a while by now.", Nicosar ends the discussion. He is has at least some idea of our abilities, so he doesn't fear for us that much.

We get up and make our way to the palaces festival hall. It is surely impressive. They build the new palace in Midhold within two months, from the moment the joining of the house of Tirna and Stricc was announced.

Hordes of workers worked day an night. You could watch the thing growing by the day. Like i assumed a while ago, the art of building something is really on another level in this world.

Oh, that remembers me: I haven't told you the name of the world! Well. That's because everyone calls it simply "the world". The people here are surely on the same level of creativity, as the people of earth. Nothing against you guys....

Arriving there, a huge amount of people bow to us. Rose is there, waiting for our arrival. The hall is nicely decorated and huge rows of tables with finest food are arranged through the hall. In the middle is an open area for dancing.

Distributed through the hall are many Tables with chairs. Nicely done, i admit.

"Guests! The rulers of Tirna and Stricc welcome you to the festivities! Let us celebrate the joining of the ruling houses and thank them for holding up the peace.

As of today they introduce to you their heirs. Prince Angrod of Tirna and Princess Celes of Stricc!", Rose declares in a clear voice.

I force a smile on my face and wave in a kingly way to the masses. Celes smiles and does a curtsy. The masses begin to clap. Stupid events like this are the worst. I already hate this.

"Then let the festival begin!", Nicol announces.

The masses start to disperse and an orchestra starts to play music. Some couples start to dance. We start to mingle with the crowd. Well, as far as it is possible. Everyone gives us at least three meters of space.

Our fathers spot Ireth and Katrine, so they rush off. Both of them were entertaining some important persons, it seems.

"I will be off too then, haha there are many skirts to be chased!", the pervert rushes off too and leaves us standing alone in the rain.

"Humm!", Celes grabs my hand and leads me to the dancing area. "We will dance, as long as we do that, no idiot can come up to us to cause problems!"

She is right in that regard. You would have to be a extremely rude person to disturb a dancing couple.

And so we start a silent dance, while smiling at each other. "We will get wrinkles at a very young age, as much as we have to smile." -Me

"That seems to be our fate my love!" She grins. "You don't have to play now, we can't be heard at this distance anyway." I answer. We are whispering and have at least a distance of five meters from the other dancers.

"It is good to keep it up under people, just in case." Again that heartwarming smile. I wish someone else would smile at me like that.

I shrug and we continue dancing.

We are at it for quite a while, when the music stops and the musicians walk off to take a break. At that the people stop dancing and join one or the other group of talking people.

Celes and i wander off to a more quiet place in the hall. There are some children here, but most of them stick to their parents.

Celes sighs. "It is boring, as expected. Nobody even cares about us, it surely doesn't feel like this is meant for us."

"What do you expect? To them we may be the heirs, but on the other hand we -are- children after all?" -Me

Thats when Celes spots a group of girls and boys around our age and pulls me off. She sure likes to do that. "May i have a word in this? I am not a pet!" I complain.

"Hush! Everytime you shut me off with children this, children that! Like you say, we are children. So wouldn't it be strange if we aren't interested in other children?" -Celes

I understand, but talking to children while being mentally an adult is just a pain in the ass. I make a grimace, but set up my perfect smile again when she looks at me.

"Hi, i am Celes and this is Angrod. Can we join you?" Celes opens the conversation, as we reach them.

"S... Sure. I am Margerie Cygnus! This is my big brother Stephen Cygnus. We are from Tirna." A little girl of around seven introduces herself and taps the boys back beside her and he bows to us. He is around nine.

Both of them have fox ears and tails. Right now i want to know their abilities. Would it be rude to ask?

"I ....am Sven Hjavars. ......from Stricc." Another boy of seven introduces himself shyly. He has elven ears.

The next girl with a cat tail jumps at Celes and grabs her hands!

"Tanja Morden here! I am nine and from Stricc! Oh i wanted to talk to you. I have heard so much rumors about you two. Which ones are true? Have you two already kissed? How is it to live with a boy? Have you already been in his room? Is it true that the goddess herself ........"

I get a devilish grin on my face. Celes surely found the right one there! She isn't even able to answer, as she is bombarded with a never ending stream of questions.

"Whoa! The prince surely has a nasty side to him!" Margerie observes. "What do you think about the party? Boring is it not?"

I nod, "Yeah reading a book would be more interesting."

"You like reading books at your age? I like reading the "Science And Magic" journal here from Midhold! They have published a book every year since the founding of the university."

"I...Isn't that quite the heavy stuff for someone our age?" -Me

"Oh, no problem, we from Cygnus are all very smart from birth! I have to show you my laboratory if we ever have the chance! I am researching a way to levitate stuff without magic devices! It would lessen the strain on recources and conflict potential between our countries........"

Anyone, help me! What are these children!? I notice that i have a prickling feeling in my hand. Celes still has it in her grip, while she smiles at Morden, which is still talking. She hasn't said a word yet and her grip on my hand turned tighter and tighter like a vice!

I look down and notice that my fingers turned blue!

"Celes?" -Me

"Yes, Angrod?" -Celes

"I really like you, but any further and my fingers fall off! Control your strentgh!" -Me

Celes looks down, "Oh, sorry!", she abpruptly lets go of my hand..... that was exactly the wrong thing to do!

IT BURRRNNNNNNSS!!!

"H.... H.. Heal!", thank the multiverse for this spell!

"Honey, i am so sorry!"

Why are you grinning then? Witch!

"Hahaha, you two are funny", Morden is unfaced.

"Wow! You can use healing magic without a full incantation!?", both Cygnus siblings look at me like they found a new labrat. Better they not find out, that i don't need to recite spells and just do it half assed to lessen the burden!

"Hahaha! Yeah, my only good point! I will excuse myself for a moment to get some cold water over it!", with that i run off to leave Celes to her doom.

I slowly walk to the toilets, no haste here. As i do so, i take another look at the party. Our parents are still talking to the same people. They don't look very happy. As i think about it, i reach the toilets.

A few minutes later i am back at the party. I walk to where i left Celes. She is still there with the other kids, but two new faces are with them.

They are two boys, who look almost identical. With those Horns, they surely are royalty and Celes looks really pissed. Everybody else would think she is happy and perfectly fine from her face and body language.

But i can see, that she is playing around with one of her hairpins...... and when she does that.... you are about to be stabbed!

The other kids look entirely not happy. While the two boys really break the etiquette by being entirely too close to Celes.

"Come on we just want to take you to a small date! Nothing harmful in it.", one of the older boys says. "I am sorry, but i am already here with someone.", Celes answers.

"Hi, i am back! Where you lonely without me?", i ask as i walk up to Celes.

"Oh! You two have to get to know my fiance Angrod! I don't know what i would do without him.", she grabs me and places me between herself and the two boys. They don't look happy. "Hi! I am Angrod."

"I am Sarda Meltheim.”, the one with snake eyes introduces himself.

“Senda Meltheim.”, the one with normal eyes says.

To break the following silence I ask, “So what did you want from my most beloved fiancee?”

“It has nothing to do with you, we just wanted to take her on a little date and a dance, that's all.”, Sarda explains.

Oh that's all I get it...... Its unfortunate that I have to play the nice guy here. Otherwise you could take her and be gone for all I care.

“I am really sorry, but I can't allow that. She is my fiancee after all. It would look bad, if she were around other guys alone. Nothing you can do.”, I explain smiling.

“You want to order us around?”, Senda asks.

“If I have no other choice and you continue to be persistent, I will have to order you in my function as prince I fear. The party must go on after all and having someone around who spoils the atmosphere is no good.”, I want to set things clear here.

Celes tugs at me from behind and whispers, “You can't order nobels from other countries! Don't you remember Nicosars lesson! They can make a duel out of that!”

Oh!

“HAHAHA! NOONE FROM TIRNA CAN ORDER ME AROUND! I DEMAND A HONOR DUEL!”

Sarda screams and the whole hall goes silent..... he has a confident look on his face.

The kids go pale.

“Oh, Okay! But I refuse to take responsibility for any damages.”, I accepted.

Nicosar is running up to us with two bunny girls in toe. I have absolutely no idea how he managed that.

“What do you kids think, you are doing?”, he asks red-faced. “Accepting a honor duel?”, I ask and look him straight in the eyes.

Our parents come up to us with fearsome faces. The people, who were with them are coming too, they seem to be the parents of the idiot twins. They look like they have expected the situation and are grinning.

I think we can assume, that this was really planned. I am really mad at this.

If I hate something, then it is politics. If I hate something more, then it is false games like this one.

Nicosar shakes his head, “The honour duel has been announced and accepted. Clear the dance floor! Bring some training weapons!”, Nicosar probably chose them because they are dull.

“I demand real swords! It is my honour”, Sarda states.

“I want two!”, I follow happily immediately, which flabbergasts everyone.

Nicosar just nods and the area is cleared. Swords in our size are brought, and we take place in front of each other.

The geezer is taking place between us and looks at everyone. Sarda is taking a fighting stance, but I just stab my two swords into the dance floor and put my hands into my pockets.

Some people laugh. I don't know what they expect. I am a mage, I never even touched close combat weapons. I only did some hand to hand combat as a monk.

“Are both of you ready?”, Nicosar asks.

“I am ready!”, Sarda calls. Then Nicosar looks at me.

I concentrate and both swords lift into the air and slowly start to rotate, growing ever faster until nothing more than two shining circles can be seen and a humming sound fills the hall.

Telekinesis of that level doesn't take that much magic power.

I never understood why some mages just use it to throw huge rocks at the enemy or try to move a heavy person itself, collapsing completely exhausted afterwards.

It's just plain stupid if you could just drive a light, sharp object at high speeds through the enemy. I wait until the humming sound fills the hall nicely.

*zzZZZzzZZZzzZZZzzz*

“Ready to slice and dice, grandfather!”

Nicosar needs a second to snap out of it, but jumps out of the way, “Go!”

One of my weapons shoots out at Sarda, but misses him as he dodges and dices one of the tables instead. The idiot at least has some survival instincts.

He grins as he advances on me, as I had just lost one of my weapons. Suddenly he jumps forward at  incredible speed, but I move my second weapon between him and myself to block him.

He tries to get past, but isn't able to, without risking being cut to pieces.

*Dingg*

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

I had pulled my first Sword out of the sliced table. And shot it at him from behind, nailing his left foot to the dancefloor. Screaming, he went to one knee. His sword dropped beside him, I picked it up with telekinesis and pinned his other foot hilt deep to the dance floor.

By now the idiots screaming was just a small whimper. I walk up to him, take my hands out of my pockets and start beating him with all my might.

Whew! Its really hard work to educate children, I tell you! Modern societies just pad the heads of murdering minors, saying they can't be held responsible for their actions.

I don't believe that! He tried to murder me here! Thinking I was just some small kid three or two years younger than him. Punishment must be dealt accordingly.

The hall is strangely silent and nothing than my beating fists can be heard.

Someone pats my back!

“Dear, don't grin like that, you are scaring the people!”

“Oh, Sorry Honey I was a little caught up in my emotions after he made an advance on you! HAHAHA!”

…....a bloody something silently slips to the floor, twitching a little.

10 - Conclusion and new education!

Some people had laughed at the little prince, as he was letting go of his weapons. Sarda was a known prodigy in sword combat. But then they could feel the little princes heavy aura pressing down on them, as he lifted the swords seemingly by a pure act of will.

*zzZZZzzZZZzzZZZzzz*

The whole hall falls completely silent, as the little prince of Tirna shows his unexpected magic potential. The hall was silent to begin with, because of the rude challenge, but now the silence is complete, except for the humming of the two swords.

“Go!”, Nicosar jumps to the side.

Many people already expected a simple execution to unfold before their eyes. But then Sarda manages to dodge the first attack and the hope of an even battle befalls the observers of the fight.

Only to have that hope crushed soon afterwards.

*Dingg*

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

As the little prince walks up to his opponent.... or was it a victim? Everyone can feel the lust for blood and satisfaction the prince emanates.

Too shocked to even move a muscle, everyone is pinned to their place as the torture unfolds. Or was it a cruel public execution after all?

Only a little red haired girl is unfazed by the cruel aura that pins everyone else to their place. While others can't even twitch, she walks up to the magical monster like knowing that it would never hurt her.

And pats its back!

“Dear, don't grin like that, you are scaring the people!”

“Oh, Sorry Honey I was a little caught up in my emotions, after he made an advance on you! HAHAHA!”

Sardas life was saved by the very one he mistreated! On that day a rumor was born.

Of the gentle flower which is the princess of Stricc, who was the only one that could tame the magical beast!

And the common folk would evermore fear the day, when the princess was no more, to stop the prince of Tirna.

-------------------------------------------------

As we walk away from the bloody pile of flesh, some healers shove their way through the crowd to save what can be saved.

Somehow Nicosar doesn't look like he feels the need to announce a winner and starts chatting with the two bunnygirls instead.

Rose runs up and instructs some other servants to clean up the mess.

When we reach our parents, they are a little more relaxed. The people with them are still stunned.

“I am sorry, I had a little argument with a rude guy. When he refused to leave and challenged me, I decided that he would be a good example for others. Just in case of future disobedience.”, I state.

“Angrod saved my honour! If it wasn't for him, I would feel like I had been defiled by that bastard.”, Celes hugs me.

We where loud enough, for everyone to hear.

Slowly the hall starts to move again, as the people disperse and the music plays again.

“I... I am sorry for the behaviour of my son, he should know better than to cause an incident like this. Instead of giving the celebrated person some space, when asked for. If I and my wife may excuse ourselves? We will talk about this at a more opportune moment.”, a guy besides Arthur says.

“You may go, we will talk later.”, Arthur states while obviously trying hard not to grin.

The guy and his wife walk off, into the direction of the dead....half dead idiot.

Suddenly Ireth picks me up and hugs me, “I was so scared to loose you!”

Nicol starts patting my head, “Good work! Those fellows had the best face I have ever seen. It was a good decision to leave you to Nicosar.”

NOOOOO!

Mothers grip becomes stronger and I have problems to breathe, “Fufufufu! Yes, that reminds me. Weren't you ordered to refuse a duel? That's disobedience! Yes! I will make sure, you never give me such a fright again!”

NOOOOO!

I try to look for help, anyone! When my eyes fall on Celes. She has a very satisfied grin and her tail waves pleased left and right. Witch! I helped you! You got me into this in the first place, by setting me up against those two!

“Guys, I will go back to my friends I found some earlier!”, Celes informs us and walks off.

“How about you let go of Angrod, so he can enjoy the rest of the party?”, Katrin asks Ireth. After another minute Ireth lets go of me and I excuse myself to the toilets. I still have to wash the blood from my hands.

Hmm, strange. Is it my imagination, or are the people giving me more space, as I walk by? At first they gave me and Celes alone only about two meters, but now they seem to keep at least a distance of five?

After I washed my hands, I searched the hall again for Celes and her *friends*. A few minutes later I found them at a buffet. It was Celes and the kids, I got to know before the stupid twins disturbed us.

“Celes, you ran off without me! I felt left behind!”, I grin as I walk up to them.

“Angrod! I thought you might be hungry, so I went to get you the stuff you like most!”, she holds out a plate to me and I muster the food warily.

It is stuffed with food I like, which I find very strange? This is the witch we are talking about, so where is the trick to this? But I find no reason to refuse, so I guess I have to take it.

“Thank you Celes, what would I do without you.”, I take the plate and start eating. If this is poisoned or oversalted I will make you eat pure pepper!

Then I take the first bite, strangely enough it is not the case..... it tastes good......

“Hahaha, Angrod you sure went nuts on that guy!”, Tanja Morden restarts the conversation. The other kids put up a forced smile and look at me like some sort of dangerous animal.

“I just didn't want to give others the impression that a duel with me would be without consequence, by going easy on him.”, I explain.

“Angrod, if it weren't for you, I would have had a seriously bad time.”, Celes states.

You were about to stab him with your hairpin! If you think about it I even saved the bastard, but nobody sees it that way.

I sigh, and listen to the conversation between Celes and the Kids. It seems, that the Cygnus siblings are some serious geniuses. Their family owns the most famed schools, universities and research institutes. Of course they were deeply involved in Midholds educational system.

Tanja Mordens family governs the land on Striccs side of Midhold. During the war, they were infamous for having the best assassins and intelligence networks.

Sven Hjavars is a childhood friend of Tanjas, his family has an amazing history of high ranking military accomplishments. But when I look at the shy little boy, I don't really believe it.

As we talk the party comes to an end and we have to say our goodbyes. Somehow I feel like I was a little avoided in the end?

We are back at our private rooms and I feel like I have forgotten something important. The whole family is gathered, yes strangely enough I came to regard Arthur and Katrin as family members too.

“I have decided! You two are ready for school!”, Nicol lets the bomb explode! “You have done very well at the party. I must admit, I had a sleepless night in fear that someone finds out about you two being like fire and water. It would have crushed all the efforts we had made for peace in the last years. But after today nobody will ever believe that you two can be separated.”

Oh Hell...... I want to lie down and die.

“So next month, you will join the Midpoint School. Everything is already arranged by me. It's a highly regarded school, which takes its student through all educational levels, including university. I hope you two wont let me down!” -Nicol

Pfff! What are you thinking of us? I am over a thousand years old! I don't know how old I am because I stopped counting at 1203! Give us the stupid final test for the university and I will start teaching the idiots who call themselves teachers.

But I am silent. Maybe going to school again is nice. Its like having a long vacation. Yes, a vacation, that sounds good. I am in my own world, while sitting on the sofa.

After everyone has left Celes suddenly stands before me.

“Angrod, I have to tell you something.” -Celes

“What?” -Me

“Thanks, even though I could have managed alone!” -Celes

“Hah?” -Me

“Stupid hermit!”, she bows down and kisses me on the forehead and leaves the room. I am stunned.

What was that? Could...

NOOOO! Stop iiiiTTT! She is trying to mess with my fucking MINNNDDD!!!!

I drop to the floor and hit my head against it, trying to smash the forming thought out of it!

11 - Interlude - Another judgement!

I wake up in a white place. I sit up and take a look around, its just endless white plains! Nothing is here. It is the worst outcome possible....

I am dead!

This is the river of souls, or what a mind that doesn't want to go insane can perceive of it at least. How did this happen! My memories are just a mashed up pile of fragments. I... I was fighting. Yes, I was fighting that bastard!

And I was winning! His broken, bloody body was lying before me! At last, after all this time I had him to my feet and at my whim! Then he raised his hand and fired that small fireball at me!

No need to dodge such a weak spell! I just stood there grinning! Oh, what an idiot I was. The pain was unbelievable, as everything went red and I could feel my soul being torn apart! I could have dodged it so easily.

It hurt so much, but.... but why am I here now?

“Are you yourself again Myrm?”

I turn around, “S... Seria? What happened? Why are we here?”

Seria is there. The goddess of life and death for this realm.

“You fought with Ascathon. And he killed you.” -Seria

“Yes, I …...”, I don't know what to say.....

“Your soul was torn apart, it took me quite a while to piece you back together.” -Seria

I try to get to my feet, but I am weak and fall back to all fours, “So that bastard defeated me! Where is he now! Surely he is watching and laughing, is he not!?”

Seria goes to her knees and drops a black marble before me.

“No, he is dead too. He died shortly after you, from the wounds you inflicted on him. I put his soul into that marble for safekeeping.”, she says sadly.

“Why would you do that?”, I don't understand.

“To have you both be judged by the council. And since you were quite a piece of work Myrm, I had to keep him from resurrecting.” -Seria

The council? But why should they care? They don't move a finger at the fate of worlds! Such matters don't concern them!

“But... But why. The council ….”, but Seria interrupts me.

“Oh, my Myrm. You are the same as Ascathon. He didn't get what you two did either......”, Seria has a sad look in her eyes now.

“I get it! We trashed a world! And what about it! If we wouldn't have taken action ourselves it would have ended badly one or the other way.”, I am angry.

“hahaha.... the council doesn't care what you did to that world. Or its inhabitants. It wouldn't care if you destroyed a universe. That happens everywhere, at all times. And the same way everything is reborn again. The Council is angry at you for another reason. You two will be punished for something, the council regards as something far worse than those little reasons you talk about. And I was chosen to supervise your punishment.”

Seria smiles weakly.

Tears well up in my eyes, “So what can be worse than destroying a world!”

Seria sighs,

“I guess you two are too young to ever understand in time, so I will tell you. You have killed each other! You two have killed that, which cannot be killed.. You broke the divinity. You ended the unending. That hasn't happened in all existence. And the council is afraid of what that could mean.”

Seria waves her hand before my eyes and everything goes dark.

12 - Choosing your lesson?

“I want to visit culture and art!”, Celes proclaims! “But that's boring and of no use!”, I answer.

“What use has the magic lesson to you?”, Celes asks.

“I can sleep and still ace the test!”, yeah smart smart thinking. You have to admit that.

“So you are lazy! Do you want to waste this life sleeping?”-Celes

I sigh and continue to study the letter we got from the Midpoint headmaster. At the moment we are on the school grounds and about to register our lessons.

Nicol didn't understate when he said it was a highly regarded school. It's BIG. Without the letter and a map, we wouldn't have found our way.

There are areas for each school grade, so the younger students don't get in the way of older ones.

To advance a grade, you have to complete at least nine lessons of it. Mathematics, language and basic magic are fixed lessons for us, but we have to choose ten!

It leaves seven lessons to our choice.

Our problem is that Katrin instructed us to take the same lessons. And I am not in the least interested in the stuff Celes likes. The same goes for her of course.

“Fine, we throw a coin and whoever wins gets to choose first. So he has four choices, while the other has three.”-Me

“Never! I know how good you are with telekinesis, you would just influence the coin to your advantage!”-Celes

“Tch!”

“Hah! I knew it! You had a plan like that!”, she looks at me accusingly.

“Fine! We both choose three and take the last at random.”, I suggest. “How?”, Celes asks.

“We write some leaflets and draw one blindly.”, I suggest. “Hmmm....”, Celes bites her lip while thinking.

“We will ask a random person to name one subject until it is one we can take.” -Celes

“You don't trust me at all, don't you.” -Me

“I trust you my love! I am sure you would take every chance, that would make my life more miserable and yours a little bit better. So let the war begin, I will start!”

“Art!”

“Rune Magic!”

“Culture!”

“Science!”

“Close Quarters Combat!”

“You just want to beat me up!”

“That's not a subject, but if we ask Nicol, he could have the headmaster to introduce it.”

“Magical combat training!”

“Now, you want to beat ME up!”

“So who do we ask for the last one?”, I speak to myself. “Over there! The gardener!”, Celes replies.

“That guy is sure to say nothing intellectual, you want to trick me!”, I complain.

“Fine, we stop that teacher there. HEY! Professor! Can you help us, please!?”, Celes runs up to a random guy and stops him.

“What?”, the old guy stops. “We want to choose a last subject together, but cannot decide. So we want someone else to choose for us, could you be so kind?”, Celes asks.

The old guy starts to grin like a devil, “You two are a pain in the ass, to disturb me for something like this! So I will have you two join the worst lesson a first year can take. MINE! Take the mystic arts lesson. BE there the next time, or I will come and get you! I know your faces and you have horns! Not hard to find you.”, the old guy turns around and walks away.

“Why does it feel like we have problems now?”, Celes asks me. “Your fault!”, I comment. “WHYYY!?”, she screams.

I just shake my head and check the lessons on our applications.

The registration process afterwards wasn't worth mentioning. We went to the responsible office and gave them the required documents we got from our parents.

At least there wasn't any need to stay inside the dorm. Rose would take us to the school every morning and get us in the evening.

Protection wasn't necessary, the school had its own security guards. That's because the school teaches many kids from noble families. There wasn't anyone allowed here who didn't belong to Midpoint.

As we make our way to our first lesson, strangely enough its -Close Quarters Combat-, we meet a known face there.

“Celes! Oh I wanted to see you! You take the same lesson!?”, Tanja Morden jumps as she shakes Celes hands.

“T...Tanja. Why are you here? Aren't you older than us?”, Celes asks. “Oh, no problem at all. The instructor takes everyone who wants to. There are kids from six to twelve here.” -Tanja

Celes gets dragged to the dressing room by Tanja. And at last some peace for me!

I walk to the boys area and change into sportswear too. Then I take a look at the very spacious gym.

The instructor has already started to individually teach some kids hand to hand combat.

I guess it doesn't make much sense to hold a lecture here. A few small fighting arenas are in the corner of the gym. There will probably some kind of show-fight in the end, to judge our skills.

Everyone is wearing the same track suit, regardless of gender.

“Is that you Angrod?” - I turn around and see a cute girl of about my age. She has silver hair and wolf ears with a tail, her eyes are skyblue. “I am sorry, do I know you?”, I don't recognize her.

“No, you don't know me yet, but I have seen you at the party. You were so coool. I hope we can be friends!”, she walks up and links arms with me.

“My name is Iris, by the way.”, Iris informs me.

What's up with this little kids slutty behaviour? Is this world mad? What is wrong with the little children here? But Iris... that name sounds familiar.

And why am I jumped by a girl, only five minutes after I am separated from Celes?

*Check* “Aahhh!” *Plomb*

Iris is pushed from my arm and falls flat on the floor. Celes is suddenly beside me, “Don't touch my fiance!”

“What's wrong with you!?”, Iris screams while standing up.

“Just taking care of my valuables!”, Celes smiles bright.

So I am something like a favoured earring after all! Stupid witch, The episode with her alone a few days earlier almost made me waver.

“Celes, aren't you a little too rude? We don't even know her?”, I try to calm the situation. Though I am thankful to her for removing the slutty child from my arm.

“Honey, keep out of girls talk, and I wont interfere in boys talk. Do we have an agreement” -Celes

Uh..... she is playing with her hairpin. Good luck in your next life slutty wolf girl. I only knew you for less than a minute. That's not enough to risk my head for you.

“Celes, you should probably know that.....”, Tanja wants to say something but....

“What is going on here!?”, one of the instructors came over.

“She gave me a body-check for no reason!”, Iris complains to the instructor.

“Hahaha, you touched and dirtied something valuable to me, horny wolf.”, Celes smiles that perfect  smile of hers.

“We don't use violence outside of a match here, I hope you two will understand that.” -instructor.

“Then I will have a match with her! I want revenge!”, Iris screams at the instructor.

Nooo! Slutty wolf girl, you are digging your own grave here! Morden tugs at me, “Angrod, we have to stop them! That's Iris Tulhelm, she feared here for her brutality and is the best newcomer in magic assisted combat! Celes will be hurt!”

Goodbye slutty wolf girl, now I guess you will make her angry. There won't be much to scrape from the floor.

“Fine with me, if I win you keep ten meters distance from Angrod!” -Celes

“Ugh, if I win, the same goes for you!” -Iris

“You two! Matches aren't made for such a reason! And you Celes? You are a newcomer? You can't just fight an advanced disciple of the master at the first day!” -instructor

“Where can we fight?”, Celes looks at the instructor.

“Haven't you heard me?”, instructor starts to get angry. “Let Them Fight!”, an old geezer with a raccoon tail comes up to us. “Everyone has to learn their lesson! Some lessons are harder than others. Better they deal with it in the ring, than anywhere else! Step into the arena.”

He points to a miniature arena, which is lowered under the level of the normal ground. Celes and Iris make their way down into it.

“We really have to do something Angrod!”, Tanja Morden is out of herself.

I step up to the raccoon geezer, I have had bad experiences with those. “Uhm, Master? I guess?”, I ask him.

“I am teacher Tongord. I supervise this lesson.”, he answers.

“I think it would be good to call a healer. One will be needed. ….. a good one!”, I tell him and he looks at me with a raised eyebrow, but then he waves at the instructor. The instructor dashes off.

In the meantime Celes and Iris have taken positions inside the arena. Celes just stands there with folded hands. Iris had taken something like a praying position.

“You may Go!”, Tongord calls.

Suddenly Iris explodes with magical energy and disappears, just to reappear before Celes, which didn't even twitch.

*CRACK!*

She plants a perfect punch on Celes's chin and Celes is taken five meters up into the air. Iris disappears again and makes a reappearance above Celes. Her left foot impacts on Celes with a terrifying blow *CRUNCH* and Celes is sent down into the arena again.

Iris pulls her teleportation combo a third time and before Celes can impact the floor, she is hit by another fist.

*CRACK*

Celes is sent into the arenas wall. *BAM*

We can feel the ground shake, as the whole wall collapses over her.

“Oh, no! I could hear the bones break! Why haven't you stopped this master Tongord!”, Tanja cries out.

“Hmmmm.....I didn't expect this.”, Tongord answers.

*BAM!*

The ground shakes....

*BAM!*

The ground shakes again!

“Oh, Iris has done it, she is angry now! The poor little Iris....”, Tongord and Tanja look at me like I am mad.

*BAM!*

The collapsed part of the arena blasts apart and Celes walks out of the dust cloud.

Iris is still standing where she dealt the last punch. Her eyes go wide, as she sees Celes slowly walking her way.

Suddenly she turns around and tries to limp away, as if she has a broken foot. Being too slow, Celes reaches her and grabs her good foot.

*SNAP*

“KYAAAAA!!”, we hear a pitiful scream as something breaks.

*WHAM!*  *WHAM!*  *WHAM!*

Celes slams Iris three times into the ground like a child, playing with a doll. Confirming, that there is no movement any more, Iris gets tossed over the shoulder like a broken doll.

“I have dealt with the disturbance honey!”, she smiles and waves at us.

At this point I have to do some explaining, I think. Well the simple version: Celes is a magical idiot! Even as a god, she knew just the most basic spells. She has almost zero ability to sense mana.

What she has though, is godlike control over her inner mana flow. Some people would even call it inner power or just Ki. She is a master in manipulating it. It is a far more advanced version of what Iris did. Iris wrapped herself in her own mana, to enhance her physical abilities. But in the process, she wasted much of it and it burst out as energy. We, as bystanders, could feel it.

From Celes, who was doing the same, we could feel nothing. By coating herself with such a thin tight layer of mana, Celes becomes almost immune to most physical attacks and spells. That's why I had a hard time against her as a god. I had to pull off fucking nukes, to dent her defense.

Well, to say it with other words, she is a martial artist, who uses mana to her advantage. Or a simple brutish idiot I would say.

The only thing Iris did by hitting Celes, was breaking her own arms and leg.

I wave back at her, while I already see some healers advancing in our direction.

13 - A new rumor!

I wave back at her, while I already see some healers advancing in our direction.

That's when I realize, that the fight has gathered quite a number of spectators. Many students and instructors rushed over, when they heard the first noises of the battle.

“That's a splendid technique little princess”, Tongord compliments Celes. Morden is still too shocked to say something, it is the first time I have seen her speechless.

“Nothing worth mentioning! Don't you have someone here, who can put up a little resistance?”, Celes is dusty all over, but still talks big.

“Hmmm, I will have to put you into the special class. There is no way I can let you fight normal students.”, Tongord talks to himself.

“So no one here at the moment? Then I will take you as a training partner Angrod! No need to completely waste this lesson.”, Celes looks at me like devil!

“I... I will pass! I will be just a punching bag for you!”, I refuse! There is no way I can stand up to that brute without spells.

But I get grabbed and pulled into the direction of the arena. “No need to hold back! I allow you to use spells.”

As we stand in front of each other, I start to buff myself with every spell I can think of. Agility! Strength! Stone Skin! Shield! Vitality! Inner Peace! Regeneration!

When I am ready I nod at Celes. “Aren't you overdoing it a little?”, she asks. “Any less and I will die!”, I just want to make this clear!

So we start our match and keep it up, until we notice the bell, which signals the end of the lesson. In the meantime, just the impacts of fists and feet on the opponents body could be heard. As we climb out of the arena, the rest of the students have concentrated at the other side of the gym.

Tongord waves two papers at us, “This are the registration forms for my special class! Fill it out and go there in future! No need to have you two destroy one of my arenas every lesson.”, he looks down into the arena, which can only be described as a hole with debris inside by now.

We are both battered and sore all over. Though I am in a much worse state! The witch didn't hold back at all and made a game out of hitting places that didn't hurt yet. So my whole body hurts by now.

“Area Heal!”, a shining circle of healing light envelops us. I guess it would draw attention if I healed only myself.

“You two are both awesome! Next time I want to train with you!”, Morden has recovered herself. I will be sure to have her swap with me next time.

Celes nods, “Yes! Its good to have more opponents. It is a greater challenge like that!”

So I alone wasn't enough for you! I want to cry.

The girls run off to the changing rooms. I follow them just a little unmotivated. Will this be my new school-life? Being beaten up on a regular basis doesn't sound like fun at all!

After this we changed and met up again to go for mathematics and arts lessons. Mathematics wasn't anything special, just the regular stuff that gets taught in every world.

In arts we had to draw a picture, which got Celes really motivated. She seems to be a natural and got a really neat painting of a countryside done. Maybe something from her past life's?

I myself can proudly announce that I tried to introduce modern art to the world! It had huge similarity to a Rorschach test, I was sure to change the world with this!

But the teacher, Jeniva Guger, didn't think like that. She asked me why I sullied her lesson with my presence. It's just wrong, if you think about it! How can a teacher say something like that to a student!

So the hours went by, until we stood before it!

The door to the mystic arts classroom! I pressed down the handle and entered. Just three students were inside. And I know them!

“Oh hi! Angorn and Celes, you take this lesson too??? Wow, you are brave!”, Margerie Cygnus calls out to us. Besides her is her brother Stephen Cygnus. A row behind them is Sven Hjavars, who waves at us.

“Hi, nice to see you! And why are we brave, because of taking this lesson? And why are you here Stephen, I thought you were older than us?”, Celes asks.

“I am here because I am already retaking this lesson for the third time! And you are brave, because you signed up for a lesson, you are guaranteed to fail. So you won't have the freedom to fail any other lesson this year.”, Stephen tells us, while looking like he has bitten into a lemon.

“Then why do you retake this lesson for the third time!?”, I ask. “I hate to give up, I will take this lesson until I pass or die of old age!”, he replies.

Wow. That's what I call determination! “So, could you explain what the mystic arts are about?”, I inquire further.

“The mystic arts that mister Samarin teaches, are about all kinds of things. From the state of the world, to magic rituals and science. Teacher is very smart, and he teaches whatever you ask about without caring about any curriculum. And that's the problem! At the end of the year he will ask you some stupid stuff you never heard or talked about.”, Margerie explains.

At that the door opens and Samarin walks inside and smiles at us. Strangely enough he is the first person I see in this world, who looks completely human. Just his skin is a little reddish.

“Oh look what we have here. One, two, three, four, five people are willing to take the trial! That's a new record! Normally everyone, who hears about it applies for something else at the last minute!

As for introductions, I am Samarin and your teacher. You can ask me everything you want and I will teach it to you. Now please introduce yourself with your name and a single sentence about you.” -Samarin

“Margerie Cygnus, I want to learn everything I can to levitate something without magic!” -Margerie

“Stephen Cygnus, I wish nothing more than to pass the test for this lesson.” -Stephen

“Sven Hjavars, I just want to listen...”, someone whispers.

“Angrod Tirna, I will rule the world!” -Me

“Celes Stricc, I will save the world!” -Celes

“Hmmm, now that I look at you..... I have heard rumours in the hallway. It was about a horned devil, which beat a student half dead and then fighting a second devil in the gym, where one of the arenas was completely destroyed.

I hope it has nothing to do with you two?” -Samarin

“I don't know what you are talking about.” - “I don't know what you are talking about.”

“Angrod is my most beloved fiance! Why should I fight him, absurd!”, Celes hugs me from the side.

“Honey, I am sure that nobody with a working brain could ever think that we would fight over anything!”, I put an arm around her.

DDDAAAMAMMNNNN ITTT! FUUUCK NICOSAR! IT IS ALREADY A REFLEX!

“Well, in any case, I have to start the lesson, what should we talk about?” -Samarin

“I want to know about the goddess Seria! There is something I find strange.”, Stephen calls out.

“Hoh, what is it you find strange?” -Samarin

“We believe in a single god, the goddess Seria. That goes for the whole world. But there are some strange inconsistencies in our beliefs. Even though there is only one god, when we receive our prophecy at the age of one. The priest says that “the gods” will judge us, as if there would be many of them.” -Stephen

“Unfortunately, that's something even I can't answer for sure. What I do know is this. The goddess Seria appeared to us on several well documented occasions over the centuries.

Every time she decided to reveal herself, her revelations had a great effect on the whole world. However, there are times when mortals like us could talk to her for a while. In most cases those people were seen as her avatars.

From her words, we can conclude that she is not the only god in existence. And that this world is just one of many. Some wise people are of the opinion, that other worlds may have other gods too. Though if they exist they haven't showed themselves to us. The reason for that, we may never know.

On the other hand you are a very lucky person Stephen. Because two of the very few people, who had ever contact with the goddess are sitting right beside you, if the rumours are true....”

-Samarin looks at Celes and me.

14 - Interlude – A broken world?

I am standing on the smouldering remnants of a broken world. There are some survivors, but it will take a long time for this world to heal, if ever.....

As I take my steps through the molten rock, I leave glowing footprints behind. Maybe someone will wonder about them in a million years? Should I come back by then to check? I snicker to myself.

Simply willing myself to another place above this dead rock I reappear high in the air and take a deep breath. The sulphuric air and temperatures where the fight raged the strongest, would have killed any other living being, but not me.

Yeah, not me. How boring. I don't even remember a time when it wasn't like this? But I am sure there must have been a time like that.

A time, during which I was alive...... a time of joy, a time of wonder, a time in which a little bit of love was enough reason to live on.

But I don't remember such a wondrous time, is that why beings like me start to play with the lives of those who can't oppose us? Is it just because we become too bored of everything.

So we start to roll the dice of life, just to see what happens? It is a pretty pathetic reason I think.

That mountain is blocking the view..... *flick*

*RRRUUMMMMMMMBBBLLEEEE*

Yes, in a few thousand years, this could be a nice valley. Maybe I will pay a visit if I am still around.

“What are you doing here Seria? Playing around!”

I turn around, “Tjenemit! How nice of you to pay me a visit! How is it at the Council?” I smile a splendid smile at Tjenemit.

“The Council is doing fine! I came to check on your job! Have you dealt with them like ordered?”, Tjenemit asks.

“Oh, what do you think of me!? There is no way I would disobey the Council! They are suffering in one of my hells. There is no way they will bother you ever again.”, I link arms with Tjenemit and press my chest against him.

“Hmmmm. I hope so. So can I see them?”, Tjenemit grabs my ass! Bastard! Sometime I will rip your heart out for this.

“Oh, I am so sorry! If I had known. I threw them into a place, just I have access to. I didn't want others to see my ugly side. I guess I could lead you through the river of souls. But you know, its dangerous to loose oneself there! If.... if you really want to I guess?”, yes. Follow me there and I will have the perfect excuse!

“No need for this. I hope you are back soon!”, he disappears. Scaredy-cat!!

“Yes, my slave-master! Oh, how I enjoy to do the councils bidding! We all can have the eternity together in bed or watching each other with suspicious eyes!”, I burst out as soon as he is gone.

One far far away time I will break this frozen state of reality. Everyone will be allowed his own choice again. Whether he chooses to live, to die, to be a god, a person or to be reborn. Everyone will have a choice.

But not yet.......

15 - End of the first schoolday!

-Everyone looks at Celes and me.

What? Stupid idiots, I will not start to reveal the mysteries of existence to you here and now. You guys will forget it anyway when you die, so where is the point?

“Don't look at us like that. The perverted goddess just showed up to our ceremony to turn around the priests head. She just gave us a stupid smile and disappeared again.”, Celes gives the official explanation.

“Hoh? But shortly after this, the diplomatic exchange between Tirna and Stricc increased to another level and a year later the joining of the leading houses was announced. How do you explain that.” -Samarin

“When I met my cute, little Celes, I just knew that she is my future, hahahaha“

“He was so bold, even though we just met! It was like my pure sight had stabbed his heart!”

Bitch! You stabbed me for real!

“Anyway I fear we know nothing more than you”, I evade.

“Well. I still expect great things from you. To continue on Stephen, it were those talks with the goddess, which led us to this conclusion.” -Samarin

“I have another question! What do you know about levitation! Tell me all you know!” -Margerie

With that a painful conversation between Samarin and Margerie began. I don't even bother to listen any more. It's all well known stuff to me anyway. Stephen still looks at us like we could be the key to some of his questions. I don't like it.

Celes seems to be bored too and starts scribbling in her notebook. I try to steal a look but she slams it shut before I see anything.

“It is bad taste to spy on a woman.” - Celes

“I didn't think of it as spying?” -Me

“Why don't you give them the answer to their question, stupid hermit. I am not into this stuff, but if they follow their current train of thoughts the cute Margerie will be old and grey before her wish comes true.”, Celes bitches at me.

“I am not a fountain of knowledge for charity cases, you know? I want something for my marvellous help too.”, I answer.

“I know that this is nothing more than one plus one for you, so send my friend Margerie on the right track for now! If you do it, I will owe you one. In any case, I have to talk to you about something after school, stupid hermit.”, Celes starts scribbling again.

“Can you explain to me what you are talking about?”, Stephen butts in.

“Nothing in particular, just be glad that the great me will offer you my assistance!” -Me

Having the witch owe me one can't be something bad.... I hope? I stand up from my chair and walk to the chalkboard, where Samarin and Margerie have already written many formulas and a design for a magic device. It uses a cushion of air to hold itself up. A nice idea, but not really a good solution.

A steady stream of air like in a hovercraft would be necessary. And the magic circuit you need to construct for this isn't much different from the one you would need to levitate something directly.

Margerie seeks something that eases the strain on the resources of this world. Everything comes down to rare Earth elements, which you need to construct a magic device. Stuff like Yttrium, Scandium and so on are unfortunately extremely rare on most planets.

You need those materials in an almost pure form and that is the problem.

So if we use a magic circuit, it has to be a very small one, the rest has to be pure science. Hmmm. I walk to the unused part of the board and scribble down a simple small circuit to control the temperature.

A plain cooling system, given enough time, it should suffice to reach the needed temperatures. Yeah, like that you just need a tenth of the elements you would need for a direct levitation circuit, which would have to span the entire object we wish to levitate.

Then I give a small introduction to Superconductivity. Some materials of that category need rare Earth elements too, but you just need them in a highly dilluted form compared to a pure form.

The funny part is that this will work with some completely common materials like aluminum or lead too. I didn't invent this stuff on my own out of nowhere. Some of my previous worlds used machines like that.

Maybe i will give them a little prototype design to connect the dots. Like that hmhmlala. Oh this feels like my old times as a teacher, just without stupid students to interrupt every few seconds. Oh, how i hate those.

At this moment I hear the bell, which ends the lesson. Damn i wasn't completely done, anyway – Margerie should be smart enough to correct the bugs in the design.

I turn around and Margerie, Samarin and Stephen look at the board like it would be the holy grail with open mouths. Sven looks at the board, like it would be a pretty picture. Yes, that’s the look of a student, who doesn't get my divine greatness!

“Piece of cake, don't bother me with the details! I hate those!”, I turn to leave the classroom and Celes follows after me.

Celes is still writing in her notebook and didn't care about my ingenious solution of the problem.

“So care to explain to me, why I have to help them in this matter?”, I ask Celes while we walk to the next class. “It is a plan to save this world! Isn't it obvious!”, Celes answers.

“Yes, but I could have made a fortune with this. Why should I give it to someone else? If you hadn't said you would owe me, I never would have done this!” -Me

“That's the problem stupid hermit! You are already in the highest possible position and you still just think about grabbing more more more. That has always been your problem! What do you need money for, if you are the heir of the king?” -Celes

“Sometimes I ask myself how people like you ever became gods. It is not logical to rise that high without the motivation to grab every bit of power you can get.” -Me

I sigh again. The rest of the way, we walk in silence and during the other lessons we don't talk much either. Celes is too occupied with her notebook and as the remaining classes were just stupid introductions, no teacher bothered with her.

Well I hope the witch doesn't have something troublesome in mind. She is at it for half a day now, I am sure this spells a bad future for me.

I could break off my horns and run away to live my life as a normal civilian? Ah! But there are those eyes too, I would have to gorge them out too. No good! And magic to change your appearance is hard to hold up.

Aaah, I guess I have to wait and see.

As we stand at the schools gates a luxurious car stops and Rose gets out. “Did you two have a nice day?”, she asks smiling.

“It wasn't so bad, I took care of a nuisance and made some plans.” -Celes

“In the forenoon I got beaten up and in the afternoon I gave away something precious.” -Me

“Oh my little lord is very generous!”, Rose opens the car door for us and we get in.

During the trip home Celes is still scribbling. Haaaah......

***

We had dinner with our parents and now I am inside the study room, reading a book. I think this day may come to a good end. Celes seems to be too occupied with whatever she has in mind. The longer she is off my turf the better.

*BAM*

The door flies open and Celes storms inside. She spots me and slams the door shut.

*Klick*

Did she just LOCK the fucking DOOR?

She comes in front of me, with her ominous notebook in Hands.

“I want to confess!”

“WHAT?”

“I want to save the world.”

“Pardon me?”

“We are stuck with each other, so I have made up my mind.”

“hah?”

“I want us to make peace, stupid hermit!”

“Ehm...”

“I don't want to live a life full of stress, so be grateful I consider this!”

“Yes?”

“I have made plans!”

“Plans?”

“Here, I have planned it all! Our whole life together and the future of the world.”

“Together?”

“I know, we still have to work on our relationship, but we will be stuck at the current state forever if we don't act, so I will take the first step that's needed for the future.”

“Future?”

“If you don't make plans for the future, you can't have children isn't that obvious! Stop answering with single words stupid hermit, did you bang your head somewhere?”

“?!CHILDREN!?”

16 - The ominous notebook?

I skim through the ominous notebook, which was created by Celes. The room is silent, just the open fire at the wall sizzles a little. She is watching, while standing cross-armed before me. Everything is there, with date and time, from the moment I take this book into my hands.

From the current state of the world, to the state it -has- to be five, ten and fifteen years from now. The development of economy and culture. Changes in society? Healthcare and education politics? Tax-management? Now that's what you call a control freak!

Ten years and a few months from now, we will have our first time in a certain position. Hm. Hm. So that's how she likes it. Ooooh, you are so dirty. Sigh, the cute little girl in front of me is just a shell.

I knew it, but having the proof on paper sure destroys every last illusion of innosence I had about Celes. And there are at least three children planned, one as the main heir and two as reserves? You are so cruel, I want to cry. They are planned as spares from the very beginning! Being labelled as a spare even before being conceived.....

What bothers me is that we will do it just three times? I know it is childish, she will just write a new one but,

“I want to rip it!”

*Snatch*

“Nooooo!”

Anyway, my brain is still in short circuit mode. I have to order my thoughts, how did it come to this? We were enemies for centuries and now the witch wants to forgive and forget out of nowhere?

I am not ready for this! We are just seven years old!

“What is it, you don't like? Maybe we can make some sort of comprise.”, she takes out a pen to make changes.

“First of all. We may have been under the same roof for about five years now, but I still don't see us as something more than people who tolerate each other.” -Me

“That may be true, but love is something, you have to put work into anyway. So if we start working at it now, we could build up something similar to a decent life? I hate the thought, that the perverted goddess will win in the end.

Imagine it, we are old and grey on our deathbeds, while laughing about each others death! And that after a life of scheming against each other, while pretending to be the perfect couple.” -Celes

Okay! That is a disturbing thought. I will admit this. A lifetime may not be long for us, but it would still be extremely disturbing, if our life’s would take that route.

“You sure are disenchanted with love and romance..... . What about just finding someone else for a liaison and be fine with it.” -Me

*Whack*

The witch hit me with the notebook!

“That's absolutely not possible! What if we get found out! Worst outcome ever! You and I are old enough to know that a lasting relationship needs more than hormones and sex.

Are you some kind of pedophile child abuser? I am the only possible partner here anyway! Even an old grandma is too young for you!” -Celes

Omg.... I never thought about it like.... THAT!

“A... Anyway I wouldn't get it up with you in any case. So the whole discussion is void.” -Me

“Ugh... . I …. if.... I think ….... we … could ask.... our mothers for.. . h.. help?”, Celes is red all over.

“WHAT ARE YOU THINKING OF MEEEEE!?”, I scream.

“I even tried to arrange everything as much to your liking as possible. I made great concessions here! See? It's hard for me, but doing it three times is absolute necessary for three children.

I know you don't like doing it, but this world doesn't have vitro fertilization. I looked it up. Inventing it would probably not be in time. You are a monk after all.” -Celes

I cover my face with my hands. My head aches with slowly pulsing waves. What is going on here?

“No parents. And the just three times is the other problem. I want a normal relationship with a normal amount of intercourse. The other problem is the notebook!” -Me

“F..Fine! If you can do it more often, more children are possible! But the notebook, what's wrong with it?” -Celes

Hah!? More children? No! She is messing with me!

“You set the exact time and date for delivery in there! I know you were a god of order, but are you some kind of machine? Forget it! We are like fire and water! This won't work!”, I have serious headaches now!

“It's fine to have big differences. We can watch out for each others weaknesses. And I don't think, it will work out from one moment to the next either. We need to understand each other.” -Celes

“That sounds too nice to be true? What is your plan? How did you come to this decision?” -Me

“J... Just be glad that the perverted goddess played matchmaker for you! You would be stuck to be alone for all eternity if it wasn't for this! And I don't want the world to be destroyed. I am living in it after all! So I decided to give you a chance! After all it almost ended today, when the perverted wolf girl dug her claws into you!” -Celes

Ah, so that's the train of thoughts here. Hopefully you are not going to become a complete psycho on me?

I think about this situation. The fire sizzles nicely. I still don't understand her reasons completely. What's the problem anyway? You die sometime anyway, resurrection, death, resurrection, death, it goes on and on and there is no way out.

So why do you care about a puny world. It's just a prison for us anyway. The only reason I don't ram a dagger into my heart, is that Seria would probably catch my soul and set this whole shit up again.

No way to run from a god, who can watch you twenty-four seven. Hah. This situation is disturbing in any way you look at it.

Suddenly Celes jumps onto the couch and sits down beside me. Too close! There has to be some space at least for comfort!

“What are you reading?” -Celes

“Uhm, a book about the melting processes this world has access to? You wanted Margerie's wish fulfilled. I may have to give a hand a second time if she hits a bottle neck with this worlds metallurgy?” -Me

“Oh, good work. Good work, My plan includes for this worlds science to be at least raised to the level where they don't have to fight over resources!” -Celes

Suddenly something wriggles around my hips, up my torso and around my neck. This is creepy, it sends shivers down my spine.

“Celes?”

“Yes?”

“What is your tail doing?”

“Oh, I have to put it somewhere. I hope it doesn't inconvenience you. And as long, as I have a leash on you, you are less likely to run away.”, Celes answers cheerfully. “Is that why you locked the door?”, I ask.

“Nobody will leave this room, until you have given a positive answer!”, Celes informs me. “You shouldn't try to adapt the education methods of our parents.”, what will happen if I really try to run?

“Then choose your answer wisely!” -Celes

“F.... Fine. We will go on dates, and try to make this work out. If it does, good! If not, the world will burn for all I care! But there are requirements! First, if I ever get the idea that you are planning something, this whole thing is void! Second, get rid of that accursed notebook!”, I answer.

“The notebook!? I don't want to! I have put my soul into it!!”, complains Celes. “No agreement until the notebook is gone!”, I will not budge in this!

Hehe, she will surely not comply with this! She put so much work into this fucking thing.

“Ff.... FINE! Then we have an agreement!”, she flicks the notebook into the open fire at the wall.

As it starts to go up into flames, she pulls out some kind of list and ticks off an item on it.

“Fufufufu... step one is done, just a few more until it gets interesting.”, her eyes have a strange fire in them. I have seen that look a few times on Katrin's face. The first time was when she bondage tortured us.

“W... Why does it feel like I just lost a fight!”, I am not happy here! NOT happy!

“Oh, darling! Don't think of it as loosing a fight, but opening a new path to the future! Sometimes you have to give away something, to gain the thing you want.”

The tail tightens down on me and Celes puts on a disturbing smile.

17 - Prototype and special class?

“I wish you a nice day little masters!”, Rose smiles and waves at us, as we pass through the schools gate. I smile and wave her a goodbye.

We are walking for about a minute into the direction of the school yard, when we become aware of three students, who are lying on the floor.

Two of them are twitching and the third has foam at the mouth. “A bio-attack on the school? Is it poison?”, I ask myself.

Celes walks up to them and probes one with her foot, but no reaction. “Heal!”, I want to ask them what happened. Strange they show no reaction to healing magic?

“They aren't wounded, so I think you wasted your mana Angrod”, Celes comments. “Hm, strange, I have seen this somewhere already. But I can't remember.”, I wreck my brain.

If you live such a long life like ours, you are bound to forget a lot of stuff. Be happy if you manage to remember a few things of your first life after a thousand years.

“Hahaahaha....Muahaha.......Hihiihiiihihi.....”

We can hear a crazy laugh from the school yard. We both look at each other and start to run into the direction of the mad voice.

As we reach there, we see a picture out of a horror movie. Multiple students are lying around in the school yard. Apparently the fell were they stood, like having their strings cut.

And in the middle of it all is ….. Margerie? And a small drone-like device hovers about ten meters above her.

“Hohoho! Celes, Angrod I am so happy, you cannot believe it!”, the culprit says with a heavenly smile on her face.

Then she dashes over and bulldozes into me, giving me a big hug. “Angrod, I can't thank you enough for yesterday! You are a genius! Just solving the problem, I thought would take me a lifetime.”

“Haha, no big deal more important. WHAT happened here!?”, I ask. “Yes, Yes, was there an attack!?”, Celes follows.

Margerie smiles,

“Oh, no I was just testing Agrods prototype design. I made a few changes here and there to maximize the output. Fufufu, this is a complete new branch of science for this world! Who would have thought, that some materials get such miraculous properties, if you cool them down enough!

After Angrod gave us the hint yesterday, I stormed one of my parents research labs and enlisted all workers, researchers and materials for this project. They didn't have anything productive to do anyway. Hahaha.

So as of today, we have the first levitation-device, which isn't dependent on ridiculous amounts of rare materials!

Though there is a little safety issue, as you can see. The strong magnetic field seems to paralyse most living organisms I have tested so far. There needs to be more control on the magnetic field.

But that's no issue, I used a very simple control circuit!

Do you want to test it?”

This one is dangerous....

She holds out a device to us, which looks like a remote control. I take it and fly a few circles with the device. It is very easy to use, almost like a video game.

It must generate a really strong magnetic field to hold itself up like that. I didn't expect that Margerie could put this together over night!?

Suddenly a few teachers enter the school yard, they don't look very happy. “Give me that!”, Celes grabs the remote control and the device does a U-turn.

“SSSSSSSSSsssssmmmmmmmmmmmmmm”, directly into the group.

They twitch and fall to the ground.

“Let's run!”, “Yes!”, “Hahaha!”, Margerie takes control again and deactivates the device, to pick it up.

Then we run for it, because we already see another group of people coming our way.

“That was funny!”, Margerie proclaims in one of the hallways a few minutes later. Now, that I have time to look at her, I see that she looks really tired, despite her demeanour.

“You should probably rest, you don't seem to be in good condition”, I advice. “Rest? Rest? How can you talk about rest now! There is so much to discover! What else is in your head!? You just walk up to a chalkboard and revolutionize our science in thirty minutes! What happens if you really put some work into it. Haaahaaa.....”, Margerie is now drooling on the floor.

This makes her look like a real dog, with a happy waving tail, looking up to its master!

“Ahem! Margerie, you should probably really rest a little. Your behaviour is a little strange today. I will bring you to the infirmary-room.”, Celes grabs Margerie at the neck like a kitten and walks off.

Margerie tries to resist, but the mad scientist doesn't seem to be above brute force.....

“We see each other at special class, Angrod. Tell the teacher that I will be a little late!”, Celes calls out to me, while turning around a corner.

“Noooo! I have to dissect his brain! There is so much to leeeeaaarrrrrnnnn!”, I hear a howl, which is slowly growing weaker, as the two of them increase their distance to me.

So I turn into the direction of the so called special class. And walk a little faster. I imagine, it would surely make a bad first impression to be late. After I changed my clothes I arrived at my destination.

Which is just a wide open field?

Just seven students and teacher Tongord are present. I know five of the students. “I am sorry, but Celes will be late.”, I inform Tongord.

“Ohh, the prodigy is late? Hrm. We would have odd numbers in that case. So it is not a problem.”, Tongord nods.

“So, as for introductions, here we have Angrod Tirna. Unfortunately our second newcomer Celes Stricc will be late. This here is Tanja Morden, Sven Hjavars, Iris Tulhelm, Gabriel Rosenquarz, Sarda Meltheim, Senda Meltheim and Sandra Andros.”, Tongord introduces me to the people here.

As he points to Sarda and Senda, I give them a happy smile. Two more punching bags for Celes mean less punches for me! This is a good day!

For some reason both of them take a step back and Iris holds a respectful distance to me. I am amazed at this world's healing magic. Just yesterday, Iris had all four limbs broken and some other injuries too.

Haaah, just now I remember where I heard the name Tulhelm. Wasn't that a family which father hugely dislikes? He mentioned them to be very troublesome fellows.

Now THERE we have the reason, why the perverted wolf girl threw herself at me like a whore. Or am I interpreting too much into this?

Then I take a closer look at the two new faces. Gabriel Rosenquarz is very human-like, just his skin is reddish and he could be about eight years old. His build is a little sturdy. I wouldn't be surprised, if someone told me that he is related to teacher Samarin!

Sandra Andros is.... a bunny girl! Yes, there is no other way to describe it. A bunny girl through and through. She may be ten, but why do you wear a skin-tight suit for this!? Everyone else uses tracksuits.

“Unfortunately we have a huge age gap here. But that shouldn't be such a big problem, we have just the strongest of the strongest here anyway! But to give you a better training, I will have to know your fighting style! So I will have a test fight with each of you guys, when Celes is here.”, he explains.

“What are we allowed to do?”, I ask curiously. “Everything is allowed, as long, as you do it from a range no bigger than fifty meters!”, Tongord answers.

“I can cast spells too?”, I am confused. I thought close combat lessons were all about martial arts and use of close range weapons?

“You can cast every spell, you manage to cast. Don't confuse this class with something stupid like magical combat or martial arts classes! In which you just stand at fixed positions and cast spells at each other. Or just use your fists and feet, if you could instead use your mind too! A highly unrealistic scenario!

In my class, you will train for the real life! Everything goes, as long as you don't try to snipe the opponent from a ridiculous range.” -Tongord

Now I stand there with an open mouth, “I let myself being beaten up for nothing!”, I scream!

“Hahaha, I knew you had mistaken the rules of combat in this class, because you didn't read the flyer we got for it.”, suddenly Celes laughs behind me.

”Why didn't you tell!?”, I turn around.

“Because it was so cute to see you struggling, while trying your best!”, Celes smiles like a sadist at me!

“Your face tells the whole story already!”, I answer. It seems our talk yesterday doesn't include to not have a sadistic relationship. I want to cry!

“Hrm. Having the right informations is also a part of combat! I already asked myself, why a mage character like you fought her in such a strange way. Though I have to compliment you for holding your ground against her, while using nothing but enchants on yourself!” -Tongord

I grumble to myself, while Tongord walks onto the open field.

….

18 - Another raccoon geezer!

As Tongord walks onto the field, Celes notices the Meltheim brothers and gives them a sour look. Iris is also branded with devilish grin, which makes her back up a little more.

Tanja walks up to us and starts a conversation with Celes.

“Okay, The first hit counts! You are first Gabriel!”, Tongord calls out, as soon as he reaches the centre of the field.

Gabriel walks very carefully up to Tongord. As he reaches a distance of about fifteen meters, he suddenly thrusts out his hands and a jet of flames shoots into Tongord's direction. But the teacher just jumps and evades, while closing the distance.

The student swings his flame-thrower into Tongord's direction, but the geezer just turns to mist, as he is about to be hit. Reforming above Gabriel, he falls down and flattens the smaller student under his weight.

“You depend too much on your ability. You should have countermeasures, in case someone is able to avoid your flame attacks. Next!”

Sarda walks up to the teacher, with sword in his hand. He is putting up a better fight, but looses in a similar way. His speed gave him the ability to avoid the same fate as Gabriel, but it didn't change the outcome in the long run.

After this Senda puts up an incredible fight, while using just his bare hands and feet. Just from watching, I can tell that he is much stronger and faster than Sarda! So why did his family send the weaker one of the brothers against me? I am confused!

In the end, the geezer calls an end without touching Senda. It seems he has seen enough.

Celes and Tanja have a nice chat about martial arts in the meantime. Tanja seems to be a martial arts maniac. She is all over the stuff, Celes has to tell her everything about inner mana manipulation.

Then Sandra Andros goes for it. As the teacher approaches her, she suddenly jumps up and casts an altered form of a blizzard spell, shredding the entire area, including Tongord, to pieces. Tongord's bloody body dissolves, to reappear above Sandra.

But while he is trying to hit her, Sandra does a somersault, and kicks the teachers head. Impressive leg strength! While Tongord's limb body falls to the ground, Sandra makes a perfect landing like a ballerina.

The teacher's body dissolves again and reforms before her, he congratulates her, calling it quits.

“Sucks! That geezer has the same ability as grandpa! In the first few fights, I had hoped he does the mist thing beforehand, to avoid injuries! But he seems to be immortal too.”, I complain.

“The ability of those with the raccoon heritage is a very powerful one! It allows them to turn their body into mist and reform themselves in any form they like. So they are able to regenerate completely.

They may be weak in other aspects, but you have to kill them so many times, it is a given that they will get you sometime in turn. The only restriction is their mana reserve. If they run out, they are easy prey!”, Tanja suddenly gives a nice explanation.

As expected of a house, famed for their intelligence network! But why are you talking of our teacher as prey!??

“I am next!”, Tanja calls cheerfully and runs out to Tongord. But while she closes in, she suddenly falls into her own shadow? Tongord takes a defensive position and looks at the ground. Suddenly a knife stabs out at his ankle from his own shadow.

But he jumps up and with a short incantation, he releases a shock-wave against the ground. Landing again, the game starts anew.

Tanja seems to be some kind of fucking ninja! If she starts to pull out the shadow clones I will walk around on my hands for a day!

After five minutes and a few injuries on Tongord's side, he calls an end again.

Tanja comes back to us. “You did very well!”, I conclude. “Hahaha, not really. Its true, that I had the upper hand, but that's only as long as I have mana. If we had played this game for another ten minutes, I would have lost, because teacher has much more mana than me.

The same would probably be true for Sandra. We can't kill Tongord often enough to drive him into a corner.”

“So, how many times do I have to kill him?”, Celes asks. “Huh? I don't know? I never got him to admit that his mana is low. He never shows any indication of that, even after dying dozens of times in a row.”, Tanja answers.

What have you done to the guy!?

Iris is next. As the fight starts, she uses the same strategy, she had against Celes. Coating herself in mana to enforce her power, she gives Tongord a terrible beating. It lasts for about ten minutes, but then she apparently runs out of steam and gives up. The geezer is still standing, even though he should have died over ten times!

Then Sven is up against Tongord, with two knives. He moves so fast, there are just flashes to see. Tongord is holding his ground with defensive magic, like stone skin and shield. The teacher is not able to counter Sven's speed.

But as much as Sven has the upper hand on the offensive, he lacks the needed power to penetrate Tongord's defense. After a few minutes, Sven is completely exhausted and not able to go on.

I am impressed, I didn't think the little timid, shy boy had such potential.

“I will go!”, Celes walks up to Tongord and starts the fight with a head on approach. Storming in, she gives Tongord a kick to the chest, which he evades by ducking under her kick.

Smiling, Celes turns in the air and thrusts an open hand to the ground. While she is being pushed up by the recoil, the ground dents in around Tongord, and he is flattened!

Oi! You watched too many eastern martial art movies on some earth-like planet! No sane martial artist would get such an idea by himself! That was the open palm of Buddha! What a copyright violation!

While Tongord dissolves, Celes starts to hammer out those attacks in quick succession, not giving Tongord time to reform. The stream of attacks holds her up in the air, while the crater with Tongord inside becomes deeper and deeper.

After about forty seconds of hammering blows, Celes lands again in front of us.

“Whew! I think that's my limit for now! I hope the geezer is a goner, I dislike zombies.”, Celes has sweat on her forehead. In those few seconds, she hammered out about eighty of those attacks.

Suddenly something crawls out of the crater! “Cough, We need to have a talk about destroying the fighting grounds little miss!”, Tongord is behind her with folded arms and a nasty look on his face.

“Hiiiiiii!?” Celes runs up to Tanja and hides behind her. It seems the time with Nicosar has left some kind of trauma inside her.

I understand it! I gives me the cold sweat when I think that I am next! Even though Tongord hasn't done anything evil to us!

…....yet. He hasn't done anything YET. Yes that's the correct way to think about it. You are right Celes! All raccoon geezer are some kind of monster cockroaches! You are never allowed to underestimate them.

So I walk up to Tongord next and put my hands into my pockets. I don't really have a good idea how to fight him either. How do you fight a guy like him, without a huge difference in strength? From our time with Nicosar, I know that you can blow them completely to pieces with an explosion.

For starters, I pick up a small stone with telekinesis and accelerate it, placing it directly between Tongord's eyes.

*Splash* a cloud of red goo exits the hole in the back of his head. Who ever said you need to throw big rocks at someone to kill him? But I know this won't work. I did that already a few times to Nicosar. It made him just angry.

Now that I have won some time, I need to put up some defences! “Shield!”, “Stone Skin!”, my preferred defence skills.

Tongord is already done with healing up, small wounds seem to be no problem, even if you hit a vital spot.

“Somehow it disturbs me, that you fight with your hands in your pockets! I was at your introduction party and I know your abilities are no joke. But it still disturbs me. I want to correct that manner!”, Tongord complains to me.

“I am sorry, but it is my style to fight this way. There isn't much my hands can do, what my mind can not anyway.”, I answer.

“Then I want to see, what happens when you use your hands!”, a voice says behind me. I turn, but Tongord already struck at me, breaking my shield.

“What I wish is thunder!”, I call out as Tongord grabs my collar. My mana channels and converts into electrical energy, running through Tongord and me.

Ever touched the wires of a commercial power supply? Yeah, not good, I know. We both light up like a Christmas tree and are blown apart. I fight to stay conscious. Thanks to that body of mine the lights didn't go dark completely. “Heal!”, uh that feels good. Much better now.

This was a little bit risky, but electrical attacks are the only thing I didn't try yet on Nicosar. I sit up and see Tongord coming my way.

“This ability is just a cheap cheat!”, I scream. “Then use your hands. If you don't I will find ways!”, Tongord is almost over me!

“FINE!”, I scream and hold out a hand to him in a gesture like I would grab him - “FORCE”. Tongord suddenly stops and is lifted up like being grabbed by a gigantic hand.

Ugh. Not good this is tiring. That's the reason why I find this fighting style stupid. I strain myself again and smack him in an arc into the crater which Celes had created.

Upon hearing the nice sound of an impact I strain myself again and close my hands in front of me, which makes it easier to create the effect, I wish for. The earth around the crater starts to move and piles up to bury Tongord beneath it.

After a nice little mound is formed, I relax and go to my knees.

“Haaah, haaah, stupid... way.... to.... fight....”, I am exhausted now. See? I told you, only stupid magicians do something like that.

“Yay! We won! The geezer is no more!”, Celes runs up to me and picks me up, shaking me happily like a doll. Stupid strength monster! Tanja, Sven and Sandra run up to us too and cheer!

Suddenly a part of the thrown up earth moves and a hand thrusts outward! We all go silent. “Uuum, isn't the class about to end?”, I ask.

All of them nod and make a run for it! “Don't leave me behind, I am out of power here!!!!”, I scream.

Celes turns around to grabs me by the neck to pull me after her. Ow! Ow! On second thought! Just leave me with the monster!

19 - Interlude - At the centre of all things!

I walk through a white nothingness. But when I concentrate, I can see currents and paths, which lead me to new places and new worlds.

When I reach out, I can feel them. And if I grab one, I get carried away to the place it leads me to. Inside this network, I can see dead zones.

Places where a soul can neither move forward, nor backward. If you loose yourself in one of those, you may never find out again. With no path to guide you, you would be damned to wander there forever.

That's why the others fear those places, but not me. At least not any more. A long time ago I got lost  in one of those. I don't remember how long I wandered there. In the end my mind knew nothing but white. And I gave up, I sat down and just watched the white nothingness.

But then I saw it. The place wasn't void of paths. They just flowed so slowly, you had to remain still and silent for an eternity, in order to become aware of them.

And so I found my way back. But the world I found when I came back, I didn't like it....

The path I walk on ends and I step onto a world of crystals. Before me is a shining City, populated by beings, who are beyond comprehension. Above me shines a blue sun, which is dancing a deadly dance with a black hole.

They are the council. Like megalomaniacs, they decide the fate of all. They wield the greatest powers, under all the gods. But I think they can only wield them because they build their city at this special place. At the centre of all things.

And the very first law they apparently decided, was for their rule to never end.

I walk through the City, where I see gods, who are just empty shells. They walk around and talk, but their soul is dead. They are too old to remember what it feels like to live..... like me.

But unlike me, they are not aware of it. They just go on to exist and don't care any more. But just to exist is not enough for me.

I step into the great hall in the centre of the city. From here the council rules them all. And all who step here just blindly obey in awe.

“Seria!” a voice calls out to me.

The council sure likes to play games. Hiding themselves and just speaking with a voice from the heavens. Do they already believe themselves to be even above other gods?

“I am here to answer to your summon.” they sure like it if you flatter their ego.

“We heard from Tjenemit, that you wandered the void zones in the river of souls?”

“I just take a look from time to time, in order to satisfy my curiosity.” I lie.

“We also heard you couldn't show him the fallen ones?”

What the heck did he tell them!? Does he want to create trouble for me?

“I threw them into a void zone. Only I can wander it, as I already know it well from my past missteps. I keep them there, caged in nothingness. I already explained to Tjenemit that I would take him there, if he wishes it. But there are still risks! I can't guarantee anyone's safety, who accompanies me on such a voyage.” -Me

“So he refused?”

“Yes.” Ohoh, it seems like even the Council plays its own schemes and games of power. That makes you even less worth of the role, you wish to play. Did Tjenemit refuse to risk something in order to play the inspector?

“We will talk about this again. You may go now.”

“Yes.” I answer.

Deal with your internal problems first and forget me in the course of it. That would be best. Hopefully they will need quite some time to sort this out, whatever their games are.

20 - A new form of art!

Tongord didn't come after us. Somehow I am a little relieved, but I still feel down..... very down. We are currently in front of the arts class and waiting for the teacher to arrive.

“What's up Angrod? You seem a little more than tired!” Celes and I may not like each other, but we still lived together for quite some time now. It would be strange if we wouldn't be able to read each others mood.

“Hah, well. I thought about something very disturbing regarding Tongord.” -Me

“Yes?” -Celes

“He seems to belong to a pure raccoon lineage.” -Me

“Yes?” -Celes

“We killed him at least a hundred times within an hour today and it didn't even disturb him.” -Me

“Yes?” -Celes

“And Tanja said, his regeneration ability depends on his mana pool.” -Me

“Yes?” -Celes

“How many times do we have to kill our old geezer, who has the raccoon heritage and the strength and mana boost from the royal heritage?” -Me

“....”

“....We will never be able to take revenge! AAAH! Why did you tell me this!” Celes starts to shake the disillusioned me.

“Hahaha, your fault you asked.” -Me

“Stop playing around and enter the classroom! What's the insult still doing here?” Jeniva Guger is suddenly before us. Why are you still calling me an insult!

I enter the classroom and walk over to my painting. While everyone else starts to paint, I just stare at my masterpiece. Why can't Jeniva appreciate, what I want to give to this world?

Modern art is the holy grail for every artist, you just have to put some dots and lines onto the picture and you get the big money for it.

You don't need any talent and just for five minutes of work, people call you the biggest artist of the century.

Hoh, maybe I am no big painter, but there is other stuff I can do! She wants something that looks real, so she will get something that looks real! I take off my Rorschach painting and start to rip the paper to confetti, then I mix it with water until I have pretty good mush.

Hehehe. Now I will create a sculpture of Jeniva, using telekinesis. No big artistic talent needed here, I just have to imagine her. An easy task for the great magician Angrod!

I just have to think of those legs and this stupid short skirt, which almost shows off her panties! And those stockings, she always wears, should be banned to the underworld! Those hip-movements should also be forbidden from school! You can't show off like that in front of children!

Then the tight jacket, which emphasizes those humongous cow... things! I wonder how much milk she can give? I should write a thesis about this! She violates every law of physics by not losing to gravity.

Hmmm, maybe she uses some kind of levitation underwear? I have already seen the strangest things in worlds with magic.

Then there is her hair, which she wears as a pony-tail, going down to her hips. The horse tail and horse ears are just a formality now.

Hah! Maybe the suit is a little bit tighter after all, I can fix that! Yes, Yes, that looks good! Very good! Very sexy, and close enough to real life. Hahaha!

Now that I think about it, isn't it a bad choice to give her a figure of herself to redeem myself? Won't my intentions be misunderstood?

Suddenly a shadow falls onto my figure and I look up “Hello, Mrs. Jeniva! You need something?”

*Whack!*

….

….

….

I open my eyes. Why is the world upside down? “What happened?” I ask. “Oh, you recovered your consciousness! Good. You can walk by yourself again!” Celes answers and drops me on the floor.

“Oh... em.... How long was I out!?” I try to get up, but everything is swaying.

“Jeniva broke her pointing stick on your head. Then she confiscated the perverted figure. I found it would be a waste of time to carry you to the infirmary, so I took you along to the next three lessons and dropped you into your seat.” Celes explains.

“My innovative art got confiscated? But it was as close to reality, as I could make it! I think I will never manage to pass this lesson! I guess I have be lucky with Samarin's question at the end of the year.” I drop my head.

“Strangely enough, she gave you a positive evaluation on your first art. And I am not sure any more, if I should call you perverted hermit instead of stupid hermit from now on!” Celes answers.

“Really!?” Oh, thank you Jeniva, maybe I have some talent after all.

“She still said you would have to learn to paint one way or the other. Otherwise she won't let you pass.” Celes has a sarcastic smile on her face.

Ugh. Not good, I am no painter. “Soooo, which lesson do we have next?” I ask. “We will have rune magic.” Celes answers with a displeased face.

Good, hehe. If I have problems with a subject, you should have them too! So we will see teacher Mirgurd Salar again. He seemed to be the boring type, with nothing but magic circles in his head.

Mirgurd is a young, but sick looking fellow. He has something like angel wings on his back. The first time I saw someone with such a drastic trade.

During his first lesson, he did nothing but reciting an introduction to his lesson. Rune magic is all about the correct use of runes, to gain an effect you wish for.

If you have more complicated goal, you can combine multiple runes into a magic circuit. It is really nothing more than a simple programming language.

So we enter the classroom upon arrival and find pure chaos there. Mirgurd has papers all over his desk and on the floor. It looks like, he is searching for some documents.

As we enter together with other students he looks up and counts us, while the bell starts to ring. “Good, good. Everyone here. No injuries!?” he asks into the room.

“Why should we have injuries?” -student

“Haven't you heard? There was a terrorist attack on the school yard in the morning! Multiple students and four teachers were paralysed for over an hour with a strange new weapon! Everyone is in an uproar. Nobody knows how such technology could come to be over night, with no implications of its development.” he explains his behaviour.

Celes and I try to not give away our knowledge of the whole case. But the teacher doesn't go deeper into the matter and starts to hand out some sheets instead.

“I have a difficult problem here, two incompatible runes which are to be combined via multiple connection patterns. If you paid attention yesterday, you should be able to solve it.” Mirgurd hands out the sheets and immediately takes up his searching activities again.

It seems like he is the type, who drowns his pupils in work, so he can do whatever takes his interest at the moment. It look at the sheet and ponder over it for a moment.

Then I scribble the answer down and draw the required circuit. No big deal, it is the same as connecting two variables over a few logical commands.

Then I want to watch out of the window, which is on my left. Unfortunately for Celes, she is sitting left from me and I notice that her eyes are not where they belong.

I grin like a devil and lean with my elbow onto the desk to cover my sheet. Now she looks up at me with a grim expression.

Suddenly I get poked into the rips by something pointy. While I twitch, she snatches my paper and starts outright copying it. The witch used her tail!

That is cheating, I say! Yes! Aaahhh, its unfair, why can't I cheat in art classes. Should I snitch her? But she hasn't done anything really harmful to me since your contract. Wouldn't that be a violation?

I am not against cheating. Cheating is not against the rules, as long as you don't get caught! Yes, that's my opinion on this matter.

Suddenly Mirgurd looks up from his sheets, “Miss Celes, this practice is not meant to copy the work of another student!” Has the guy eyes in the back of his head? He stands up, walks to our desk and takes my sheet.

After a short nod, he puts it back in front of me. “It's wrong anyway. Next time copy from someone else.” he shakes his head.

“Huh!? Angrod wrong with magic? Is the end upon us?” Celes asks. I arch an eyebrow and take another look on my sheet, but I find no mistake.

“Um, can you explain what I did wrong?” I ask Mirgurd. Then the teacher sighs and answers, “You mashed both runes into each other. They have to be put beside each other and then you properly connect them with connection patterns.”

“Huh!?!? Why should I do something stupid like that!? You would have to interlace patterns around both runes. What a headache! It is much faster to connect them, fold them over and use the patterns to fix the remaining open connections!” I blurt out.

Mirgurd, looks at my sheet again with big round eyes. “You can fold runes?!” he asks and starts mumbling to himself.

Oh..oh... It seems nobody had this idea yet. Damn! Fucking backward civilisation! I lost money again!

Celes tugs my elbow, “Don't worry, if you hadn't spilled it, I would have. It's such a basic idea, even I know that much.”

Should I worry, or be happy that Celes seems to understand me better than I do her?

21 - The end of the second schoolday!

Explaining to teacher Mirgurd how we made the most important discovery ever, by misunderstanding his teachings, was a real pain in the ass!

I wanted to strangle the stupid fucker more than once in the process of it. At least we will now be known as the creators of a complete new way to draw magic circuits.

Haaah.... The last lesson is mystic arts. We enter the classroom and are greeted by Margerie, Stephen, Sven and Samarin. At least there are not so many people here.

“I already heard you guys slipped another piece of important knowledge!” Margerie states.

“Yes, that's two days in a row now!” Samarin joins the fray.

“You two are sure, you know nothing about gods?” Stephen follows.

Even the timid Sven musters us with a curious look.

“Nope! Nothing we can do! We already explained that it was pure luck. Mirgurd is a failure as a teacher, so we misunderstood him.” Celes jumps in.

I nod and take a seat. “What are you doing here anyway, Margerie! I think you should sleep!” I complain.

“I have slept enough! Here! Sign this!” Margerie deposits a big bundle of papers in front of me.

“What's that?” I ask cautiously and start reading. It seems to be some kind of contract.

“To explain the whole juristic nonsense: Half of everything I gain from the knowledge, you shared with me, is your property. The same is true for every discovery you may help me with in the future. I would feel bad if you don't sign it.” Margerie explains.

“No need Margerie, I already paid him!” Celes smiles. “You will need it all to advance further in any case.”

“Ho? I want to know those plans in detail?”, I ask.

“It is simple. You will further Margerie's family in any way you can. They have the facilities to create the needed research. In their names, we will raise the technology of this world to the needed level, so no more resource problems!

No contracts needed, I have already talked to our parents about everything. Everyone here knows already about your talents, so no security problems. Dad has already checked everyone.” -Celes

“What an honour. To be in the eyes of the royal family. It's like I am suddenly much more than a simple teacher.” -Samarin

You shouldn't think that way about having your background investigated you know?

“You sure are starting to take big leaps here, when did you set all this up!?” I ask Celes.

“I have more than enough time to make plans, while you have your nose inside a book. Creating the necessary infrastructure won't happen over night anyway. If we are lucky, all our problems will be solved by the time we are twenty, or a little older.” -Celes

Hah!? Could it be? The muscle brain was not only setting up a plan to change the world, but also put it into motion already?

“Uh. I haven't heard anything from my parents yet. But if its in accord with the royal family, I can't voice any complains.” -Margerie puts away the documents.

NOOO! My Money! I want to cry! Give it back! That's two times today! Now I am just tired of it all.

“So what do you know about the gods?” - Stephen

“They are all bastards! You create a little havoc and they throw you into hell! Explanation enough!?” I snap.

Celes pats my head. “I am sorry, but it seems you will have to stick around and wait for Seria to show up. Maybe she will answer your questions.” She gives Stephen another evading answer.

“HmHm. In any case let's start the lesson!” -Samarin

While Samarin, Stephen and Sven join a conversation on their own, Celes starts to edit her strange new list of -things to do-. This lesson surely is handled very lax by Samarin.

Margerie sits down in front of me and holds out a writing pad and a pen. “Write down everything that is in your head!” She has that strange fire in her eyes.

I sigh and take the pen. “What do you want to know.”

“Everything!”

“We will concentrate on the stuff, which reduces the strain on resources for now. So point out to me which economical areas cause the biggest problems.” I don't want to waste my time here.

***

We are back at the school gate, where Rose was already waiting. “How was your day my little masters?” she asks and smiles, while opening the car's door.

“We had to run away twice!” Celes answers.

“I gave away -many- precious things!” I follow, while I enter the car.

“Hahaha, little master is very generous.” Rose answers. I hope this ritual won't become a habit!

Once inside, the car starts to move and I look out of the window. Celes yawns and ticks off another object on her list.

Then she suddenly uses my leg as a pillow to lie down.

“Celes?” -Me

“Yes?”-Celes

“There has to be some distance at least, for comfort!” -Me

“Endure it, I do it too.” She answers and is sleeping, like someone switched her off.

Hmpf. I am still not sure what I should think of our agreement. Sure I am not the romantic type. But even I think it would be impossible for two people to just decide to fall in love. While I look out of the window, I start to stroke Celes's red hair.

“When we are at home, your parents want to immediately speak with you two.” Rose suddenly informs me.

“About what? Do you have an idea?” I question her.

“I am not sure, but apparently it has something to do with the plan, little Celes has put together.” -Rose

I don't answer and keep silent, until we arrive at home after about thirty minutes. Once there, I wake up Celes and we disembark.

Ten minutes later we are both in front of our parents, who seem lightly stressed.

“We have to inform you two to be more careful in school from now on. Try not to let people know that all this new knowledge comes from you. We are already trying to cover it up as much as we can.” Nicol informs us with a grim expression.

“What is the problem?” Celes has a curious look on her face.

“The problem lies with those, who don't like the idea of reduced needs for rare elements! I heard you have a class together with the Meltheim twins? And a Tulhelm is there too?” Arthur questions us and I nod.

“The Meltheim and Tulhelm families are biggest providers of rare elements. They own a big part of the market. The publication of the new design for a levitation device by the Cygnus family will put a real dent into their finances! They will still own the market, but the yearly demand will go down for sure.” Katrin states

“So if there are more inventions of that sort, they will try something to stop it.” I conclude.

“They are already moving materials and equipment around in disturbing ways. I don't like it. It smells like they are up to something. We also can see that they are somehow coordinating their actions, trying not to disturb each other.

They both control a big part of the north. Together they have a problematic amount of control. So we have problems to gather information in such a huge area.” -Ireth

“So please be more careful at school, and have an eye out for those guys in your school. I don't think they are ready to try something, but it is better to not feel safe.”, Nicol ends the explanation with a grim expression.

Celes nods and after dinner, everyone goes their way again, leaving me and Celes behind. Celes looks like she bit into a sour lemon.

I take a seat at the couch, to read one of my books. It doesn't make sense to wreck your brain over something, you can't influence.

“Haah, it sure is the same wherever you go. There are always those who aren't of the same opinion.” She talks to herself.

“That's the way it is. Don't tell me you ever found a world in your lifetime, in which, there wasn't some sort of conflict?” -Me

“76839 years and nothing like that. You?” She hits her head on the desk.

“Duh? I stopped counting at the age of about 1200.” I answer.

“You are that young!?” Celes sits upright again.

“Don't misunderstand! I said I -stopped- counting. I didn't care any more. I don't know how old I am. It doesn't make much sense to count years like you do anyway. Most world's have their own flow of time. The most you can do is to count your lives.” -Me

“Oh, so I have lived about 1230 times until I became a god and you?” -Celes

I sigh “Maybe a little bit more, maybe a little less. I really don't remember. There was a time, when I got mad at the universe and tried to destroy my soul in every way I could think of. But after a certain point, it seems like the memories will always come back after a few years.”

“I had a time like that too" Celes answers. "Maybe everyone has to go through a phase like that. Then I tried the other way and got stronger in every way I could. Until the Council became aware of me and gave me an occupation.” -Celes

“Hrm.” I start to read my book again.

Suddenly Celes jumps up and throws herself onto the couch, using me as a pillow. “Not again!” I complain. “Yes again!” She answers grumpy and ticks off another object on her list.

Then she is off to the world of dreams again.

I wait a few minutes, until I am sure that she is sleeping. I slowly wriggle the folded list out of her hand and take a look at the front page. Now I will find out what you are planning witch!

Steps for a proper life!

Get my parents to further the technological advance! Ø

Fulfil Margerie's dream. Ø

Make peace with the stupid hermit! Ø

Start a new life and leave all the old grudges behind. ~

Have him as a lap pillow! Ø

Sneak into his room, to crawl into his bed!

….

….

The list from there onwards is full of really cliché romance situations..... you read too many bad smut romances, comic's, cheap movies or whatever you did!

Today I will have to lock my room to sleep........

***

The next morning, I awoke fully rested. It seems like Celes didn't try something funny during the night. So I put on some clothes and exit my room.

Outside I find ….. a trail of blood! There are a few squirts on the wall too! Did someone get murdered here?

I follow the trail to Katrine's and Arthur's private rooms. I open the door slightly and take a peek into the room.

Katrine and Celes are in there. The little Celes is bondage-bound to a chair and squirming. Katrine is in front of her and has a chalk-board in her hands.

-I wont sneak into a boy's room until I am old enough!-

I am sorry Celes, but you are in this on your own..... I will never join you in a chalk-board torture session on my own free will.

Oh, how deep has a eighty thousand year old god to fall, just to end up like this?

I slowly shut the door and walk away.

22 - The End?

….snow has started to fall and it is winter.

It is the end of our first school year. I really did a lot of work with Margerie during that time. I think we have now a solid scientific foundation to develop the world's economical structure into the direction, we want it to.

Tongord is training us really hard, putting his own life on the line in the process. I admire him for his ability. I really want that cheat! It is so unfair!

Sarda, Senda, Iris and Gabriel somehow ended up forming their own little group during combat lessons. On the other side are me, Celes, Tanja, Sven and Sandra, who is a nice girl, if you get to know her better. I don't think you could call us friends like we are with Tanja. We are more like good acquaintances.

It's hard to build up any sort of relationship with someone, who you see just for training and who dashes off as soon as the lesson ends.

Strangely enough the Sarda group made no trouble for us any more and laid low. Celes calls it the silence before the storm, whenever we talk about it.

Stephen isn't pestering us about gods any more, because we decided to avoid his questions. So he is now helping his sister to put everything to practice, which I taught her.

Strangely enough Margerie never asked where my knowledge comes from. I guess my parents shut Margerie up by dropping a few heavy words on her parents.

Everything else follows the daily rhythm of going to school, listening to lessons and going back.

There is only one little problem!

We will fail this year! It is the end of us, our parents will turn around our necks and pop off our heads for sure!

I will fail in the art class and Celes has no chance pass the test in rune magic. Her marks are just too bad! We sure broke our own legs in the beginning of the year by choosing the wrong subjects.

There is no hope, because we are sure to fail Samarin's random question test too! If we try to talk to him about it, he won't budge.

Right now I am sitting in the school yard and try to make sense out of this mess. There has to be a possibility. I don't like to just hope for my luck with Samarin.

Celes ran off somewhere with Tanja. I don't care, I am not her babysitter.

In the evening there will be the last test and everyone has to bring something of great artistic value to Mrs. Jeniva. It sucks. I have no idea. As the snowflakes dance down from the sky, I start to shape the snow in the school yard with my mind and start to build a snowman.

It's no problem for me by now, the training with Tongord gave me the necessary experience to use my new body's mana more efficient.

I let my mind wander and try to drown myself in memories of a better time. I think of a time long ago, when I loved a fine woman and had a big family with her. I think she was the first person, I ever really yearned for whenever we were separated.

That was before I became a god and when we died after a long and good life, I searched for her for many lives. But how do you find someone again who doesn't remember his past life?

An impossible task.

“BOOM!”

An explosion shakes me out of my dreams and I jump up. That came from the front gate? I run into the direction but I am soon stopped by a stream of screaming people, running my way.

“The school is under attack! Everyone to the shelters until the security can solve the situation!” A teacher calls out to the students.

The stream of people carries me away, while I try to find someone I know. Unfortunately I have no idea where the others are.

I keep looking until I arrive at the shelter, where a few teachers and Tongord are protecting the entrance.

“Have you seen Celes, Tanja, Margerie and Stephen?” I ask him about the very few people in this school, I have any sort of deeper relationship to.

I don't ask about Sven. First of all, because I don't really talk to him that much – though he is a good friend of Tanja. Second, because I know that he can take care of himself by running away if he wants to. When Sven starts to run, nobody can catch him, and he has the judgement to do so.

With the others I am not so sure, they are more the types to fight instead of using their heads and run away.

“The Cygnus siblings are inside! The others I don't know of!” Tongord answers.

Well crap, two people to search for. I turn around and want to run off, when Tongord grabs me by the neck. “Where do you think you are going?”

“To search my fiancee and my friend. And if you try to stop me any longer I smear you over the entire hallway. Should give me enough time to run away.” I answer Tongord with a grave expression.

He drops me. “Come back as soon as you find them. And run if you meet an enemy. You can't survive daggers from the shadows like me.”

I nod and walk off, trying to imagine where Celes and Tanja could be. We were waiting for the last test to start.

They couldn't have run off too far. I wander the school yard again which is now void of people. I walk very slowly, while I hear the noises of fighting from the gate.

I hope those two wouldn't be so stupid to run into a full blown fight. The only place I can think of is the cafeteria. Maybe they wanted something to drink? While walking I pick up two fists of snow.

With a little concentration I melt the snow and freeze it again, forming about twelve icicles.

I walk into the direction, when I come across a black robed guy, carrying an unconscious student. The guy drops the student at my sight and reaches for something under his robe.

But it did cost him too much time in any case. I didn't hesitate and send one of my icicles on it's way. It embedded itself into the robed persons left eye, driving all the way to the brain.

For a second the guy just stands there, until his body registers the loss of control. And then the person just slides down without a sound.

I walk up to the robed guy and confirm his death. Too often I died, because I thought my enemy was a goner. Check always the enemy first and the ally second! That's an iron rule. Never violate it.

Then I check on the student. What I find amazes me. An unconscious Iris, but she is not wounded!? Strange, I would have thought the attackers would belong to her faction? So there is another party playing here?

So what to do? The battle noises from the school gate are dying down. So some side is loosing. Haaah. I hope I wont regret this.

So I pick up Iris and carry her over the shoulder, while I hold my icicles in front of me with telekinesis. Then I walk into the direction of the cafeteria again.

Thanks to my bloodline, its not a great bother to carry a person, who is lighter than me, around.

When I arrive at the correct hallway, I look around the corner and see five persons at the entrance. Two are casting firespells into the cafeteria, while another two are backing them up with shield spells.

The fifth guy is shooting with something like a musket from time to time.

Suddenly one of the casters drops backwards and moves no more, a familiar hairpin standing out of his forehead.

I use the disturbance, jump around the corner and unleash all of my projectiles on them from behind.

Two are hit in the head and are taken out instantly. A third just takes an icicle to the knee and drops out of his cover and into the gate. Another hairpin ends his life a second later.

The second shield-caster drops to one knee and looses concentration, because of the icicle, which penetrated his flank. Trying to pull out the icicle, I feel how his mana flow is disturbed and his magical defences evaporate.

I reach out to his brain with telekinesis and pop some important blood vessels, a very clean and cost effective method to get rid of someone, who lost his magical protection.

The last one drops to the ground like having his strings cut.

I walk up to the entrance. “Is it safe in there?” I call out. I don't want to be the next one with a hairpin in his head.

“Angrod?” I hear Celes voice. “Yes!” I answer. Then I hear how a table is kicked to the side and Celes storms with Tanja in a princess carry around the corner.

“HEAL HER!” she screams at me with tears in her eyes. Tanja is seriously burned and breathing heavily.

I put a hand at Tanja's forehead and concentrate, feeling how my mana flows into Tanja's body to repair the damage. I concentrate on her lungs first. Then her upper body.

After I have depleted three quarters of my mana, I stop. Tanja is now unconscious, but I can see that she can breath easier now. I don't want to become completely defenceless. “For the moment I can't do more. But she is out of immediate danger. At the shelter we can patch her up completely.”

“Thank you.” Celes eyes are red from crying. She became very good friends with Tanja, during the last year.

“Who... Who is that.” She asks me while blinking. “Iris, she is unconscious too. I picked her up on the way here.” I answer.

“You should have left her where she was!” Celes is clearly angry. “Hah, I thought that too, but obviously for other reasons than you. I don't think her party is behind this, as she was attacked too. And I don't think that we should hold a little child responsible for anything her parents did or told her to do.” I answer.

After a second Celes nods. ”We need to get them away from here. For the others, there is nothing we can do.”

At that I take my first look into the cafeteria and see a few burned bodies. Attendants, students, teachers. Those guys didn't really care whom they killed.

“Fuckers! …. Follow me. We go to the shelter where Tongord is.” I start to walk the way I came back.

“You are not hurt?”, I ask while we walk. Celes shakes her head. Hm. Well that's how the world turns, is it not?

Celes you should know better than crying for a single person.

As we walk over the school yard, Celes suddenly holds me back. “Hide!” And we duck behind one of the bushes, which are aligned along the path.

Eleven black robed guys run past us, into the direction of the fighting at the school gate. After Celes nods we continue on our way without further incident.

At the shelter, Tongord receives us and takes Iris from my shoulder. As soon, as we are inside the large underground room with other students and teachers, I take another look at Tanja and start to pour my remaining Mana into healing her.

Soon after this, some healers appear and take care of her from there. I sit down at a wall and just feel tired. I close my eyes, maybe I should dream of better times again?

“Tongord said you were already at the shelter? But you still ran off to get us?” Celes suddenly asks besides me.

“Don't get the wrong idea. I am no white knight for the maiden. I just would have felt bad if the few people I know in this world were hurt, while I was sitting around.” I answer.

“Hmp! You are still a stupid hermit.” She calls out, but I don't answer.

And so we sit in the shelter and wait.

***

The following day, everything is like it never happened. Yesterday, the school was closed for the rest of the day, after the terrorist attack was repelled. All sixty attackers were dead and no sign of their affiliation was found.

Neither their aim could be discerned. Apparently they just tried to kill as many people as possible, while abducting a few selected individuals. Though they never managed that, because the schools security managed to slow them down until regular forces from the city arrived.

There were quite a few deaths, but luckily nobody we knew. It was the worst where Celes had been. Apparently a small group had used flying magic to invade from the sky.

But the school did nothing more than to hold a short minute of silence and a few words for the dead by the director. Apparently the people here are still hardened by the war.

Celes has already received her negative mark in rune magic. Teacher Mirgurd had no mercy with her.

The other subjects were no problem for us.

Right now I am waiting for my negative mark in art. I couldn't think of anything that would please Jeniva. I have to try my luck with Samarin like Celes.

“Angrod your are positive by a hairs breath. Next time work harder!” Jenvia shoots at me.

“HUH? But I didn't have ANYTHING!?” I scream baffled.

“I took your work in the school yard into account.” -Jeniva

“THE SNOWMAN!?” -Me

“I have watched you while you created that -wonderful ice sculpture- in the school yard. You may be a lost case as a painter. But as a sculptor you may have some talent. Though I think that the use of magic for this is cheating, you shouldn’t be self-deprecating yourself. Your work had emotion. Something I unfortunately never felt from your other works.” -Jeniva

“Hoh, I must take a look at that Snowman.” Celes grins at me, she has recovered pretty good from yesterdays shock.

Celes own work for the art class is a nice painting of a landscape with fields and a little house of wood at a lake. It looks very peaceful.

So after Jeniva declared the end of the class, we went for Samarin's test.

And for everyone, who wanted to know how Samarin's test worked. After we entered the class it went like this:

“Soooo.... I don't like tests, so I will make this fast.... Sven, how many suns are there in the sky?”

“......One?”

“Wrong, Failed. Margerie? What's the square root of 676?”

“26”

“Right, Pass. Stephen? How many times will you take my test, until you give up?”

“Huh!?”

“Wrong,”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

“....Failed. Angrod? Why do you know so much about science and magic?”

“Because I am much much older than you mwhahaha!”

“.......Failed.”

“What?”

“Celes? What is the annual income of Stricc and Tirna together?”

“2.345.678.786 Crown Coins this year!”

“....”

“YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW, YOU JUST WANTED TO BAFFLE ME!!!!!!”

“Pass.”

And that's how Celes and I somehow managed to pass our first school-year. After saying our goodbyes to everyone, I leave the class and walk off into the direction of the school gate.

But Celes takes another corner. “Hey, Rose and the car are waiting!” I follow her.

“I know! But I want to see the snowman!”, before I can stop her, Celes runs off onto the school yard.

I sigh and follow her, to take a look at the creation I made so absent mindedly. Ah. Now I remember, what I thought about, when I created it.

On the school yard are a few people, who are gaping at a wonderful ice-sculpture of a whole family in life-size. A bearded man holds a small child up in the air. Both are laughing. A beautiful woman with an infant in her arms is smiling at them. She has long hair, which looks like it is waving in the wind.

A small girl tugs at her skirt. They look like a happy family of ordinary people, who don't have to worry about a thing in the whole world. Just being happy to be together.

It is almost as if you could see a field and the wonderful nature around them. If you watch a little longer, you think they could start to move any second.

Hmmm. A hopeless memory, nothing more.

“Angrod? Who is that?” Celes asks

"Nobody... just... a wonderful, lost dream"

I turn around and walk into the direction of the car.

But Celes still stands there, staring at a long forgotten memory.

23 - Reunion or restart?

The stupid hermit is my honey? My honey-pie? My cuddle-bear? My one and only snuggle-bear? My one and only biggest love of all time!

My -little one-, oh no, he has that as a title! That's what I always called him, when he played with the kids! Now I remember!

!!WHAAAAAAAAT!! CAN'T BE!

But there is no doubt. I am looking at my past self! And not only I am there, the little Sofie is also there, tugging at my skirt like she always did. And the little Siegfried! I would recognize these people even in another hundred thousand years, they are my dearest memories.

And my Johann, my honey, I would recognize this stupid smiling face everywhere! Always being happy with the world and being together with his family.

How does the grumpy, sadistic, idiotic hermit know this scene. Is he the little Siegfried? Or the baby Friedrich?

Wawawawa! Worst outcome ever if I would have been his MOTHER in a past life! But he can't be Johann! My Johann was a nice guy! Not an idiot, who laughs at others misfortune. He always tried to solve the problems of others.

The stupid hermit never smiled like that!

And everyone came to us for help. Johann would never send anyone away! He was a saint! But he was really good with science..... and he always had some strange machine to play around with. The stupid hermit is really good with that stuff too.

There was no magic in that world, so I can't verify that point....

But he has a completely different character! He can't be Johann. Uwahh! I have to know!

“Angrod? Who is that?” I ask.

“Nobody.”

“Just a lost wonderful dream.” The hermit answers.

Is he sad? The hermit is sad? That is the first time I have heard him saying something like that. Ugh! He can't be Johann! How can somebody with Johann's character change into something so twisted like the hermit!

I turn around, but the hermit already walked off into the direction of the car! He left me behind! Cruel!

I run after him and reach the car, where Rose is waiting. Angrod is already inside. I enter the car and Rose closes the door.

While we drive home, I remain silent and Angrod just looks outside the window.

I have to verify his identity somehow. But how? Does he remember our names from back then? I could ask him to tell me the names. That would be the only save way.

B... But we fought each other over eight hundred years. Wouldn't that be the biggest domestic quarrel ever? My brain somehow feels like mush.

I need to talk to the hermit alone and I need to … argh there is no good way to do this. Just calm down and wait and think. Nothing runs away from me.

***

Ok. I have something like a plan. He is inside the library for sure and reading a book again. So he is distracted.

I open the door, walk inside, close the door, and ask. Yes. So I open the door. I walk inside. I close the door.

“Angrod, tell me the name's of that family.”

“Huh?”

“Tell me the names of the ice sculptures! The snowman!”

“..... why should I?”

DAMN!

“Tell ME!”

“Don't scream! … whatever, I was the bearded guy Johann, the woman was my wife Sandra, the kids were Sofie, Siegfried and Friedrich. It's a scene from a past life. Happy now? What do you need it for anyway?”

My brain shorts out!

“YOU CAN'T BE HIM!”

“What?”

“GIVE HIM BACK!”

*CRUSH* *PUNCH* *BANG*

“No violence!”

“DON'T RUN!”

“What!?”

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!”

*Whack!*

“DID YOU STEAL HIS MEMORIES?”

“Ow! What's wrong with you, don't shake me like that. Do you have your first period or something?”

My vision is blurry. I want to cry here. “I am Sandra! What did you do to Johann!”

“You can't be Sandra! She was a fine and nice woman. She always assisted me in my work. She wasn't violent or a control freak. She knew no martial arts!” He answers.

“Huh? Our country was peaceful for our whole life! There was no need to fight. And as long as I was with Johann, I always had enough money! He was a perfect money printing machine with his genius mind.” I answer. Then I hug him tight. “What happened to you to become like that?”

“I could throw the same question back at you. And do you want to imply, that Sandra just stayed with me for the money?” Angrod doesn't move.

“I seems people change with time.... and you can't get them back.” He says disillusioned.

I guess you should never tell a guy that you are thinking about money...

“This is worse than knowing that you are just out there somewhere in the multiverse and I just can't find you.” -Angrod

I really don't know if this the worst or the best day ever.

“I guess it is better to continue as we were. We are not the same people, we were back then. Trying to go back is probably impossible.” -Angrod

“You think? But... No, you are right. You are not Johann. And I am not Sandra any more. Waaaa, I hate this situation! B... But you came for me, instead of hiding in the shelter! So maybe there is still a good guy somewhere inside you.” I am mad at myself, I should have just forgotten about this.

“I said you shouldn't misunderstand that!”, He gets red, oh so cute! He can't be sincere.

Suddenly the door opens and Ireth looks inside. “I heard some noise... WHAT HAPPENED HERE!? Did a bomb explode!?”

Then her eyes fall upon us. “YOU two FOUGHT! ......AGAIN!”

Angrod hugs me. “Hahaha! We just had a small lovers quarrel! Isn't that right my sugar-cat?”

My stomach turns upside down when I hear my old pet-name.

“Sure, but we already made up again. I can't be mad at my -little one- forever! It was just a minor misunderstanding.” I join him out of reflex and he turns stiff.

But a rope appears in Ireth's hands and she walks into our direction. Now I am crying for real while hugging Angrod. He is crying too and hugs me in turn.

Aaaah..... Somehow this feels like those forgotten times. It's just that the reasons for crying are now completely different.

24 - Interlude - Henchman?

I followed him for quite a while now. He refused the Council's offer and so the hunt was on. Nobody can refuse them and if you do, you become a heretic. They will hunt you until the end of existence.

And if they catch you, they seal you inside the black hole above their city and then they forget you. I don't know how many of us are rotting inside that dark timeless place.

It is worse than being caught inside a void zone, some have told me. But they couldn't explain why... I hope I will never find out.

I leave the path and stand before him. He is weak and tired. How far has someone of us to run to get tired? I don't know.

Around us is a barren wasteland with four suns in the sky. Not much can live here.

“I guess you guys will follow me wherever I go? Is there even a place where you can't find me? Can I at least ask for the name of the one who caught me?” He asks

I smile. “I am Seria. And they will always find you. There is no place, a god can hide from the Council. There is only one way to escape.” -Me

“How?” -Him

“You have to die and forsake your divinity.” -Me

“That's all? But I have no divinity! I refused to become a god! They offered me the job and I turned around and ran!” -Him

“Then how are you walking the multiverse, if you are no god? Something only gods can do?” -Me

“...”

“The Council doesn't make you a god, they just want everyone to believe they do. And it would be very bad for their reputation if there were gods, who weren't selected by them.....” -Me

“...”

“Do you want me to help you? I could save your soul, but you have to decide fast and the price is high.” -Me

“What is the price?” -Him

“You will be no god any more. You will loose your memories and start anew. Maybe you will get them back in a distant future, but they will never feel like your own again. In turn for saving you, you have to help me when I ask for it in the future. And you have to trust me and lower your guard.” -Me

“...”

“You must decide now.” - Me

“Hahaha. Fuck this, I never wanted to be a god anyway. Do whatever you have to do.” -Him

“This will hurt for a short while, but you have to stay still.” -Me

He nods and I trust my hand into his chest. I see the pain on his face, but then he starts to smile and his body dissolves into light. He didn't even twitch, he must have a valiant soul.

I look at the two shimmering marbles, which are now in my hand. One for his soul and one for his divinity.

Someone arrives and I turn to him, while forming a fist to hide the two marbles.

“Where is he?” -Tjenemit

“I managed to intercept him here, like you said. But he wasn't as weak, as you predicted. He resisted and stepped onto a path. He got away.” -Me

“What! Damn! Why didn't you stop him!” -Tjenemit

“I tried.” -Seria

“You call yourself a god of live and death, but you can't catch a puny little half god, who just found out how big the multiverse is! I lost much time through you. Now I have to start the search anew!” -Tjenemit

“I will try to do better next time. It seems like I am just not cut out as a hunter. But the Council just keeps enlisting me, because I am faster than others.” I smile at Tjenemit.

“I will keep an eye on you from now. You are acting strange recently! Gods just disappear around you much too often.” -Tjenemit

He turns around and fades away.

25 - Training and mistakes?

It has been two weeks since our little reunion. My parents are on a trip to inspect various independently managed states of the country. And Celes is acting …. strange. Yes, strange is the right word to say the least. If I wouldn't know it better, I would say she is trying to train me?

I don't know how her twisted logic came to the conclusion to take this step. She is using her knowledge from our past life as a family for this.

Somehow she got a hold of chocolate. To be truthful, I am addicted to chocolate. Throw some of it in front of me and I will eat until it is gone.

I didn't even know that chocolate exists in this world! Yes I said I am addicted, but somehow I never had the time to think about it until now. There was always something to do between being a baby, training, school, assassins and attacks and torture sessions.

And It is not the type of addiction in which the first thing you do after reincarnation, is to try to get your hands on chocolate. I have made it an iron rule to never buy or otherwise get chocolate on my own. I would be a fat guy in every reincarnation otherwise.

Back to the strange training method. Celes is giving me a little bit of chocolate, every time I do something she likes. I am not a dog you know!

I was surprised, when she gave it to me after I had helped Margerie with a problem. Someday, she appeared at the palace and asked for help with a problem, regarding metallurgy. I had already anticipated this.

When Margerie was gone, Celes suddenly shoved a piece of chocolate into my mouth. Like Sandra did when …. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

*Crack*

Damn! I destroyed my pen! That was my favourite one! Stupid strength blood trait! I rarely ever use it anyway. Haaah! I guess I have to go and get a new one.

Now that I think about it, Sandra also just gave me chocolate when I did something that pleased her...... did she train me back then too? Oh, god! The Sandra I knew …. I want to cry! Fuck this!

I want this power plant design principle done before the winter ends. I don't save every bit of knowledge in my head. When I arrive in a new world, I have to reinvent every bigger machine, which I want to have.

So I leave my room and walk to the study of my parents. If I remember right, father has quite a few good pens. I will just borrow one of them, though I doubt that I will give it back.

On my path, I pass the living room and become aware of a piece of chocolate on the table. Hoh? How can someone forget som..... This is fishy! I stop and take a look around.

But... no one here. Hmm. Whatever, I take it and throw it into my mouth. Hmmmmmm

“hihihihi” “See? He can smile!” “So it is true.” “Damn I lost the bet.”

Suddenly Margerie, Celes, Stephen an Tanja appear out of nowhere in front of me. Sven is there too. Some kind of invisibility magic?

“Why do I feel like a lab-rat?” I ask.

“Celes told us that you are able smile for another reason than malicious-joy. So we wanted proof!”, Tanja answers.

“Now I know that I am a lab-rat!” -Me

“Yes, but we are also here to have a nice little party. We still haven't celebrated the end of your first school year.” -Stephen

“And we have to celebrate our birthday too. Eight years old soon. Fufufu.” -Celes

What's with this mad laugh? “Oh, I haven't even thought about that.... “ I think loud to myself.

“What? You have no present for me!?” Celes jumps at me. “You never got one before, so why should you get one now!?” I don't see why I should start to give out presents now.

“Cold! Cruel! You have to get one! I have one for you too!” She insists. “Yes. Yes. I will use a part of my brain to think of something.” I answer.

“Only a part!? All my efforts and I am still only worth a part. Can you guys see how hard this life is on me.” -Celes

“So, can you tell me how this party will look like? I still have a project I want to finish.” -Me

“Show me! I wanna see!” Margerie jumps at my words. “We thought about relaxing and playing games!” Tanja interjects. “Here I have brought the latest set of Adventure with me!” She holds up a box.

After inquiring about the rules of Adventure, I concluded that it is a pepped up version of Dungeons and Dragons from earth. I am not against playing games and so I join them.

While the day comes to an end, we play the game and chat.

***

In the evening, I take up my work again. After I am done, I am on my way to the library when I notice that Katrine is sitting in the living room with a sour face. Something unpleasant must have happened.

“What's wrong?” I ask?

“The Meltheim's are here to have an “audience” with the king. It can only spell trouble if they come on their own.” Katrina looks into her coffee cup, while thinking.

“Most likely they will complain about the new inventions. The latest one, which reduced the use of rare elements in car engines to a third should have reduced their income drastically.” -Me

“Hmmm. I wonder.... .”

Katrine is interrupted by Arthur, who enters the room. “We have a problem. The Meltheim's want to see the highest ranking available Tirna ruler asap.”

“Hoooh. Then they have a problem, my parents aren't here. Nothing that can be done.” I grin.

“That's the problem. They plan to use a loophole in our peace treaty. Apparently, if there are economical issues between the two countries which the own ruler cannot solve, you can demand for an audience with the ruler of the other side. If the audience is not given within three days, the party in question can take every action they deem necessary to solve the problem.” -Arthur

“My parents can't be back in three days. And you can't solve the problem because?”  -Me

“They have issues with the inventions by the house of Cygnus. But I can't give orders to Cygnus, because they belong to Tirna. So if I would tell them no or yes, it wouldn't matter because I don't have any legal authority.” -Arthur

“So they just rely on the fact that there is nobody here, who can order the house of Cygnus around? It doesn't matter if the person in question would tell them “Go to Hell!” in any case?” -Me

Arthur nods.

“And what happens if they can take any action they deem necessary?” -Me

“I don't know. In worst case they start a fight with Cygnus or cause other problems. They can make a whole lot of problems because they still control the market for rare elements. Maybe they stop selling their goods to everyone, who uses the new technology.....” -Arthur

“Annoying. Well then I will go and tell them to fuck off....” I start walking into the direction of the throne room.

“What? You can't! You are just eight!” -Arthur

“And I am the prince of Tirna. So they get to talk with the third highest ranked person. Does the peace treaty mention a needed minimal age?” -Me

“No?” -Arthur

“Then we will twist the stupid peace treaty like they do.” I turn around and start walking again. “But you have to give them a proper audience or it won't help!” -Arthur

“I have seen enough of your audiences. And if nobody shows up, the outcome is the same.” Before he can stop me I walk out into the throne room. In front of the throne, a guy in extravagant clothes is waiting. He has obviously the blood trait of the ruling house. His horns are long and straight.

His eyes are perfect golden snake eyes like mine.

A woman and the two idiot twins Sarda and Senda are waiting farther back. I walk up to my fathers throne and jump into it. Muuuuch too big, man must I look stupid!

The guy just watches me with an open mouth.

“Ahem! I declare the audience as opened! You may shut your mouth and then speak.” I declare in the most uppish demeanour.

“Is that a joke?” The guy asks dumbfounded.

“No? I don't joke in matters of state. So state your business and don't waste my time. If you would have any manners at all, you could introduce yourself while you are at it.” -Me

“I wanted an audience with the ruler! Not with a kid!” -Him

“The king and the queen are on a trip and not available. But I guess you already knew that and chose exactly this moment to launch this nonsense. Unfortunately for you, I stayed behind. So you have to deal with me, prince Angrod of Tirna. You are talking to the highest available person possible. So you may speak now or announce that there is no need for an audience and we can all go our way.” -Me

“I am Odlef of Meltheim! I am here to demand that the house of Cygnus stops their research to undermine our concern. They are toppling the proper balance of power between the houses and our countries! This has to end now!” -Odlef

“No.” -Me

“What?” -Odlef

“No, they will not shut down their research, nor take it back. On the contrary. The research will be expanded. This world has resource problems and because of that, we are constantly on the edge of war.

Since the new inventions started to go into production, the tension between our countries economies has lessened like never before. So unless you want to claim profit out of war, you will adhere to this.”

“I hope you know what you are doing!” -Odlef

“I am refusing to give someone with too much power even more power. You are controlling the market for rare elements. Because of the new inventions, your profit goes down.

But you will still control the market and have more than enough to live. So I don't see why I should give someone, who has enough even more and risk a new war.

So you will either adhere to peace, or claim yourself to be a supporter of war.” -Me

“The Cygnus family will continue their research. End of discussion.” I conclude.

The guy went through the full spectrum of colours, while I was talking. From red, to blue followed by a very unhealthy violet.

“I demand an honour duel!” -Odlef

“You guys already tried that once. On what basis do you claim it now!” Arthur interrupts.

“On the basis, that I wont accept to be played by a little child, which almost falls out of the throne!”  Odlef screams.

“Who do you want to sent this time? We have already seen that Angrod doesn't even have to lift a finger against someone of his age. This makes no sense.” -Arthur

“I will send Senda! He is stronger than Sarda! He will win!” -Odlef

“I will kill him.” I interrupt the discussion. Everybody looks at me with shocked eyes.

“I have had enough of putting up a front! You already tried to kill me at my introduction party. Sarda and Senda provoked the first duel intentionally. You thought I would be no opponent and sent the weaker Sarda.

You did this because he has inherited the bloodline stronger for some reason. With that, it would be easier to argument a marriage with Celes.

I was nice at the party, because it was my party and because there were many people. But if you don't stop this madness now, I swear I will rip out every one of your children's hearts, you send against me and drop it before your feet!” I tell them with a sweet smile.

“It is not allowe..”  “And I don't have to! I will twist out their hearts in the first second of the battle with a mere thought!” I interrupt him.

“This isn't over!”, He turns around and leaves without saying goodbye. Hmm. Not very respectful.

I jump out of the chair and correct my attire. Then I walk back to my library. Ahh, I still have so many books to read!

“Would you really have done it?” Arthur asks.

“Everybody is allowed to make mistakes in his life. Just don't make any of them twice.”

26 - I want my own toys!

"I want the mountain range in the north of midpoint and a workforce, sworn to secrecy." I proclaim in the living room.

"...."

"What do you need a mountain for?" -Ireth asks shocked.

"I want to set up my own research institute there. It is an old volcano and there are many metals like iron inside the volcanic rock." I explain.

"But we have the house of Cygnus who can do the research for us." -Arthur

"That's true, but there is much knowledge which I don't want to distribute to the public. I trust Cygnus, but I would feel much better if I could keep it in my own hands. The latest design for the new power plant belongs to that category." -Me

"I guess we could organize it. But what about the money." -Nicol

I drop a stack of papers onto the desk.

"I already calculated everything. We will shut down the old royal power stations, which support the city and replace it by my new power plant. They are coal based and outdated anyway. My new power plant produces energy much cheaper and we can just keep the old price and finance the project with the saved money." -Me

"Hmm." Katrine looks suspiciously at my papers.

"On top I want to set up some surprises for the guys from Meltheim and Tulhelm. They were too silent since Odlef ran off. It bugs me." -Me

Yes. It has been a few months since the incident with Odlef. My parents are back already and I and Celes are in the middle of our second school year and eight years old by now.

But strangely enough there was less action than we anticipated from the Meltheim side. They just heightened the prices for their materials.

The other disturbing thing is that Sarda and Senda are gone from the school. They were studying abroad anyway and all the notification the school got was that they went back home.

Strangely enough Iris is still here. Though she seems to be pretty isolated during fighting lessons by now.

The north is just one big black hole of information by now. Of course there is still the official stuff, but the buggers have somehow managed to cut off every intelligence my parents could get in other ways. Including stuff like material and equipment distribution through the area.

My parents cannot complain, because they fulfil their responsibilities in every aspect to the letter.

“You just want some toys to play around with!” -Celes

“That is the other reason.” I will try to be frank here.

“Why not, it is not like I don't believe that Angrod couldn't manage something like that. And we have given in to Celes's technological development plan too. Compared to this, giving Angrod a single facility to play around with can't cause that much trouble.” -Nicol

The rest of the parents nod and I put up a devilish grin. Celes just shakes her head but doesn't say anything. When everyone is gone, she sits down in front of me and stares at me.

“What?” -Me

“Could be my question. What are you planning? I want to know too.” -Celes

“I am planning to do exactly what I said. A facility with state of the art technology, to counter everything Meltheim and Tulhelm may throw at us.” -Me

“You know that it's bad for a world if there is too much innovation? That's why we fought in first place! I hope you won't give this worlds people too much knowledge and power!” -Celes

“Hmm. Maybe? I wonder.” I answer.

“ANGROD!” Celes is now seriously angry.

“It's just my very own toy, so don't freak out like that. And the facility will have every security and secrecy possible.” -Me

“I hope that....” Celes has now a complicated expression, while looking at me. Then she jumps up and leaves the room, leaving me alone.

I shrug my shoulders and take up one of my books.

***

I am sleeping. Ah, its so nice. Being able to sleep and dream of good times. I grip my encyclopedia tighter to my chest.

Strangely it keeps slipping away hmmmmm. Hoh, something seems to creep around inside my bed? Strange, do I have a pet?

Something inside bed?

I shoot straight up and awake to bump my head into something.

“OW! MmhhhmNMEMNemn” Someone shuts my mouth with his hands.

“Shhh! Or they will hear us!” -Celes

“Wmat mare mou moing mere!?” -Me

“Give me that book, I need to see those plans for the facility!” -Celes

“No?” I press the encyclopedia tighter to my chest. Apparently Celes has mistaken it as the blueprints, which I obviously hid much better.

The encyclopedia Celes found when she first rummaged through my room helps me to sleep easier. Yeah, yeah just laugh at me. Others have a favourite plush toy, a favourite pillow or someone of the other gender they can hug.

I have a favourite book! And I hate pillows! I just can't sleep with something so soft under my head.

“Give me that plan! You are obviously planning something stupid, or you wouldn't need to hide it! It's even bad enough, you need to keep it with you even in bed! I knew that there was something fishy about this!” She grabs my book and starts to pull.

But I resist and pull on my end too. The witch wants to steal my favourite encyclopedia!

“Never! You will never get it! Only over my dead cold body!” I grasp it tighter. I am still sleepy and  the gears in my head haven't started to turn properly.

Celes locks me down with her legs to get a better grip, trying to use the leverage effect to get a hold on the book. Her tail wriggles around me and tries to twist off my fingers.

“Give it! I won't allow you to lure this world on to destruction too!” -Celes

“Wawawa! Never!” I try to push her away with an arm, when the door opens and a tired looking Nicol looks into the room.

Now I become aware of our position, which could be misinterpreted very easily.

Nicol looks at us for two seconds and then smirks in a very dirty way. He raises a hand to his lips and signals us to be quiet.

Then he slowly closes the door.

NOOOO! IDIOT FATHER! THAT'S EXACTLY THE WRONG THING TO DO!

I didn't sleep much this night....... and I guess Celes got to check another item on her list.

27 - Failure and an abandoned child?

It is the end of my second school year and my project is developing quite fast. I took full advantage of this world's building capacities.

By now I also know why Margiere is so interested in levitation. It's actually quite simple. The people of this world are using magic devices for almost all aspects of work.

There are no cranes on construction sites. Instead everything is just levitated into the proper place. There is almost no use of electricity. Something I wish to change as soon as possible.

The heavy use of magic devices is a serious factor in their resource problems. I will have to replace most magic devices by something that relies on pure science.

But for now I am playing around with a magic device for myself. It's a wristband with the newest state of the art technology. I call it an assistant casting device. You can put it on and then it taps into your mana pool.

By recording one of your spells, you can set it now to activate the recorded spell on a pre-set condition. For example you could record a healing spell and activate it on the condition of being wounded.

Pretty convenient if you ask me.

I have many other projects, but I made this one my first priority in order to raise the fighting force of my facility's security. Imagine a trained guard to being able to cast healing, beside being an idiot, who never even looked into healing arts before.

Yes. That's right you can record a spell and then give the device to someone else. He can cast your spell through the device, despite of having no idea how the spell works.

And that is the main reason for this invention!

Mwahaha! And I will use it to record the stupid raccoon geezers ability! The cheat will be mine! I will be an immortal cheat character too!

Right now I am standing before Tongord and the lesson is about to start. Everyone is here, though Sven, Gabriel, Sandra and Iris have already started to train.

“Teacher Tongord? Could you please put this on and activate your regeneration ability once?” -Me

“What's that?” Tongord asks with a suspicious look.

“A spell recorder. Something I am developing. Nothing can happen, I have it already tested by myself.” -Me

“Hmm.” Tongord puts it on and activates his ability. Then he takes it off and gives it back. “Here.”

I take the wristband. Hahaha! Now I ….  HUH!? Nothing is recorded?

“Hmmm, that's strange. I thought I had made no mistakes.” I talk to myself.

“Nyahaha! Angrod is too smart for his own good! Tongord's regeneration is an innate ability and not a spell. He doesn't need to generate a magic formation which could be recorded. So it is obvious that there is nothing your device could record.” Tanja shoots at me from the side and my mind freezes.

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!” I scream. How could I make such a basic mistake! All my work for nothing. I don't even need such a useless device because I can insta cast everything I need anyway. Ugh.

I fall to my knees and drown in self-pity. Haah, no choice here. I can just as well throw the thing to the dogs.

“Celes? I know its late but I have a present for you.” -Me

“Huh? Huh? A present? For me?! From you!?” Celes is shocked.

I put the wristband onto Celes hand who is standing beside me. “There is shield magic and healing magic recorded inside this, all you have to do is to pour your mana into the device and think either “heal” or “shield” for it to activate.”

“Oh? Uh? Could it be that you made this especially for me, because I am so bad with magic spells?” Celes suddenly starts to cry.

“Ahem....” No? Why would you interpret it that way?

“Oooh! Angrod, you really still have feelings for me after all. I had almost given up hope after you didn't show me those blueprints! But they were my present and you didn't want me to see them in advance! And even going to your knees for this, it is almost like getting a wedding ring! Thank you!” Celes gives me a big hug.

Huh!? What? I don't get it! I... How can my actions be misunderstood like this?

“Tanja let's test this immediately!”

Celes and Tanja run off to do a training match. NOOO! Let me explain!

That leaves just me and Tongord here. Wait a moment! Jus...

“I guess I will give you a hand then!” Tongord rolls up his sleeves and grins at me.

…....

***

It is evening when we come home and find our parents with grave expressions in the throne room. The little Iris is standing in front of them and looks even more frightened than she normally is around Celes.

“What is going on here?” Celes asks and they turn around.

“Ah, you are coming exactly at the right moment for the latest news.” -Arthur

“The house of Meltheim and the house of Tulhelm together with some smaller houses in their vicinity have declared independence. The entire north is in rebellion.” -Ireth

Well, fuck....

“Now we know why the house of Meltheim completely retreated from Midhold. Taking all their staff with them and closing down their residence.” -Nicol

“The only question we have, is why this one is still here. We send a few guards to the Tulhelm residence to fetch them. But they reported that it was completely abandoned with only a small part still in shape. Apparently Iris has lived there alone for quite some time, while only a skeleton-crew of employees kept the outward appearance.” -Katrine

Oh, that's actually quite the story. I scratch my head and try to think about the implications.

“So what do you have to say for yourself? Nicol asks Iris who seems quite pale by now.

“Where.... where should I start?” She asks.

“Starting at the beginning is always the best.” Arthur urges her on.

“I.. I was never that much in politics. But one day my parents started to command me to suck up to Angrod. They wanted me to cause an incident at the introduction party, but I refused. I hate their way of doing things.

It made them mad like hell and then this whole duel-incident with Sarda and Senda happened. I think they were instructed in similar ways. Only in their case, they didn't refuse.

When my parents got really nasty, I tried it at the school with all my might. But Celes gave me a beating. I was too afraid to go near Angrod again. Then one day my parents told me not to go to school.

I refused again because I hate their games. And then that terrorist attack happened and the terrorists tried to abduct me. I tried to resist them, but failed. Then I got saved by Angrod. I am sorry for not thanking you, but I was afraid.” -Iris

She takes a frightened look at Celes.

“And... and when I came home that day, I found the whole residence abandoned. And one of the employees told me that they were just instructed to keep the garden intact.

In my room I found a letter from my mother, telling me that I am a disgrace and that I can stay in the residence until I am done with school. And if I would tell anyone, they would send assassins after me.”

Iris has now tears in her eyes and is really trembling. Wow... though. Isn't it strange for someone her age to give such a thought out explanation?

On the other hand, she had more than enough time to think about her words, if a situation like this should come to be.

If that is all true it's quite the heavy stuff. For parent to do that to her own child that mother should actually be shot on the spot. There is a heavy silence in the room.

“Angrod?” -Celes

“Hmmm?” -Me

“I need some nukes!” -Celes

“How big?” I grin. Unfortunately I am just kidding. This world doesn't have any production of nuclear fuel. Building it up would require quite some time.

But what should we really do in this case. Unfortunately I have no idea.

28 - What to do?

We are currently in our private rooms and our parents and Celes are staring at a map, racking their brains. The situation is complicated to say the least.

I am reading a good book about this worlds industrial capacities and having a sandwich as dinner. I will need to develop some better automated machines for them. If the stuff in this book is true, they still do so much by hand and magic.

My conclusion that this world is just starting it's technological advance in many aspects, was on the spot.

The reason is probably the existence of magic. You can do so many things with magic, it seems that some solutions don't even come to your awareness. Why should you start to create complicated machinery if you could develop a spell, which does the work for you?

Iris was sent to the Cygnus family to take care of her. My parents didn't like the idea to leave a minor to her own.

Then I take a look at the map too. It is surely a problem to have such a big area in rebellion. History shows, that it is almost impossible for a country to suppress another one, if the civil population is not willing to accept it.

And from our information, the civilians there are not on our side any more. The houses of Meltheim and Tulheim started a massive campaign of misinformation and propaganda, to bring everyone to their side.

They claimed that the gentle princess of Stricc was forced into a marriage with the cruel prince of Tirna. It would be a shame to obey such rulers.

It have no idea where they got that from.

Furthermore they accused the ruling house of favouritism towards a few selected houses.

Most of the minor Houses and Dukedoms in the northern region followed them. If willingly or not doesn't really matter that much. Those who didn't follow were struck down with overwhelming military force.

It must have been planned for a long time.

Practically over night, they had a third of the worlds population under their control. That's because there are many of the population centres located in the north. The population density becomes scarcer, the farther you go south.

The reason for that lies with the worlds ecosystem, with much more unfriendly organisms in the south.

Along with a big chunk of the population, they have access to some of best mines for rare elements. My parents already took control of every mine in our reach. Which comprises everything from the middle of the continent, down to the south.

They have also ordered every bigger noble family to pay a visit to the crown. The military is also already on the move. By now we can almost conclude that we have two completely separated countries again.

Together with the population centres, there is a sizeable amount of industrial capacity on the other side too. They have everything, they need. But so do we.

“If this evolves into a civil war. It will become very ugly. A lot of innocent people are bound to die again.” -Ireth

“But we have no other choice, than to react in some way.” -Arthur

“Assassinate them, like they tried with us? No need to be friendly any more.” -Nicol

“But wouldn't we make martyrs out of them. We would be tyrants, exactly what they claimed us to be.” -Ireth

“That's sure to cause a long period of disturb and unrest under the population of the whole continent” -Arthur

“And maybe that's what they want. If we strike them down with military force it wont be fast. And it will be messy. Maybe they hope to persuade some nobles, who are still loyal and turn them against us.” -Arthur

“Then just do nothing and isolate them. Shut down the border and hunger them to death.”

I interrupt the conversation and everyone turns to me.

“But we can't starve them. They have everything they need. Resources, food, equipment, industry. Everything is there.” -Nicol

I shrug my shoulders. “We have those things too. We need nothing from them, they need nothing from us. If your conclusion is true and they just want to provoke a fight to create even greater chaos, then we don't give them what they want.

They threw their cards on the table and are hoping for us to do the same. But we shouldn't do it, because our cards keep changing, while we keep holding them.

Their interferences with our development plan, by controlling the market price, were a big hindrance. Now their control in our part of the continent is gone.

I think they made a huge mistake there. If we just sit around and concentrate to put our inventions to practical use, they will become a smaller and smaller problem by the month.

They will never be able to follow our technological advance. On the contrary, they even refuse to follow it. So we will just keep sitting on our asses and wait for them to move.

We just have to lean back and denounce them in the public. After all they are the ones who are not loyal. They even killed those of their own who didn't follow them. We just have to wait for everyone to realize who the real tyrant is.

If they act first, we have a legitimate reason to beat them down with brute force. If they don't act, they will loose to us on the technological side soon.

And if they start to advance technological by themselves, they are digging their own grave. Because the reason for their control, their power base in form of resources, will start to slip out of their hands.”

Yeah, I am proud of my deduction. Just let the barbarians hide under their rock and wait for the day, when we come with a sledgehammer and crush them.

I take a bite from my sandwich.

“How long do you need to create a nasty surprise for them?” Celes asks me.

“Not long. Something like a guided missile isn't a big problem, if I use magic. But didn't we just conclude that eliminating them now, is a bad idea?” I answer.

“I don't want to eliminate them. I need something to crush the major arterial roads, in case the north tries something on us. It has to be fast and on command, in case they try something stupid like marching their army into our territory.” -Celes

I think for a moment and nod. “Should be no problem. I will make some plans for a big bomb. We can mine the bigger roads with them. If they walk over it, they get sent to space.” I grin.

“I am not happy with something like this, but I guess we have no other choice in this case.” -Arthur

“With some time I may be able to find out who is most likely to turn on us.” -Nicol

“I can already tell you that the houses of Rosenquarz and Andros a likely candidates.” Ireth answers that with a flat voice.

Celes jumps up. “Huh? Sandra Andros is a nice girl. She would never betray someone. With Garbiel I am not so sure. But despite being a silent fellow, I wouldn't think he would do something like this either.”

“I am not talking about a single person, but the household as a whole Celes.” -Ireth

I nod. If our parents tell us, that those people are a risk, then they most likely are right. After all they are the ones who have to deal with them day and night.

“I will instruct the house of Morden to double the efforts in information gathering. There is nothing that can detect their ability to hide in the shadows.” Katrine informs us.

“Then I will set out with Nicosar to establish something like a new border. And to see to it that the current standstill doesn't develop into a full blown war.” -Nicol

“This sure sucks, all our efforts for peace and over night we are suddenly on the brink of civil war. I wish I had crushed their monopoly in the beginning, when I still had the chance.” -Arthur

A monopoly of power always sucks, I will be sure to change this in the future. After the last words are spoken, the meeting dissolves and I walk back to my room.

I am really tired by now. This wasn't a good day, if you think about it. Well, I will have a nice sleep and tomorrow I will play the scientist.

I lie down, but suddenly something hugs me from the side with unimaginable force? Huh? I struggle, but I can't get free! I can see nothing!? “Dis.. Dispell!”

“Celes! Why are you in my bed again!” -Me

“The next item on the list is to innocently sleep together! It came right after the “Get a present from Angrod” objective!” Celes has a pleased expression on her face.

I dug my own grave!?

“I will call your Mom! You know what will happen!” I will have no mercy with her. Though a chalkboard-session is cruel and I wish it to no foe, but I have to protect myself here!

“Hahaha! I have already anticipated that you would be embarrassed. So I got Tanja to record not only an invisibility spell for me, but also an area-silence-magic. Nobody can hear a single sound from this room.” Celes says proud and with a strange fire in her eyes.

NOOOOO! I HAVE CREATED A MONSTER!!!

29 - A mad scientist in my lab?

It has been a few months since the rebellion started. My parents somehow managed to take control of the situation and right now there is a complete blockade on the north.

There have been a few conflicts, but nothing serious. Just a party of scouts, running into another one. Small incidents, which aren't even worth mentioning on a continental scale.

By now we can be pretty sure, that the Nobles of the north were hoping to draw others onto their side. But by remaining calm, we took that opportunity from them.

My father and Nicosar are constantly travelling to keep an eye on the situation. Even though they use teleport magic, they are quite busy.

I am in my third school year right now. That makes me nine years old. But right now it's weekend and I am inside my lab! Mwahahaha!

Whenever I have nothing to do, I teleport into this facility inside a mountain. It is located in the north of Midpoint.

The whole complex is a work in progress. I offered every worker on the construction side a permanent employment and a pretty good payment in exchange for their silence.

Everything is financed through my new power plant. It's a cold fusion generator. Though a cold fusion generator would be impossible with science alone, with a little bit of magic here and there you can play a trick on nature.

We are providing the whole city with energy. And there is even enough left for some pretty cool experiments.

Right now my work-crew is building a particle accelerator for me. It's for one of my future projects. The materials come directly from the mountain. A part of the crew is mining everything that's needed.

This whole facility is already a huge complex, but I have something bigger in mind. For this, I will need a big amount of space and resources.

Mwaahahaha! Just thinking of it makes me laugh. Those suckers in the north will get a big surprise.

I love this place! Here I can play around as much as I want. Nobody to disturb me. Most important no Celes. She sticks to me like chewing gum on a shoe.

But here I …..

“Deeeaaaar! Guess who it is!” Someone covers my eyes from behind.

“Huh?” NOO! How can that be? I am sure I gave orders that nobody except me is allowed in this complex! I will massacre the security for this!

“Celes. How did you get here?” I ask in a moody voice.

“I copied the teleportation spell to teleport here directly. With your wristband.” -Celes

“Um... I am pretty sure I never let you copy that spell?” I ask. Did she modify the wristband to work from a distance? No. That would be too hard to do.

“I copied it from the wristband, you gave to our parents for cases of emergency.” -Celes

Damn! The simple solution is also the most effective! I turn around and see Stephen behind Celes.

“Oh. I see you have brought a visitor too?” I ask.

“Hi, you have a nice facility here!” Stephen greets me.

“Thanks, but it is still more like a construction site.” -Me

Celes turns around and looks like she is searching for something. “Huh? Where is Margerie?”

The gears in my head begin to turn slower.

Stephen turns around too. “Hmm, strange... three corners ago, she was still behind me?”

The gears in my head stop?

“You two want to tell me something? Surely it is not that you brought Margerie here? Surely you don't want to tell me that a mad scientist is on the run in here? There is tons of dangerous equipment and you tell me you let Margerie from the leash here? And she is without supervision?”

Stephen and Celes have both an expression on their faces, which says only one thing. GUILTY!

“If it helps, Tanja ran off earlier without asking. We couldn't catch her, so we didn't really loose her per definition. She said something about a perfect infiltration training and vanished.” -Stephen

I slap my head and walk over to a communication screen on a wall. Then I activate the communication link to the chief of security. His name is Drem Snowden and he and his team were selected by my parents.

“Yes?” -Snowden

“Errr, my friends paid me a visit via teleportation and two got lost in the complex. One is a happy go lucky ninja. The other is a mad scientist on the run. Could you please fetch them and bring them to the main lab?” -Me

“....”

“Understood. We search for a ninja and a mad scientist. Is the ninja dangerous?” -Snowden

“No, the ninja is not. But you are allowed to stun the mad scientist, if she is close to sensitive equipment.” -Me

“Heeey!” -Celes

“It is for her safety too!” -Me

Celes shoves me to the side. “No stunning! Just bring her here!”

“Yes, princess.” -Snowden

Snowden deactivates the line.

Then something comes to my mind. “How did you even find me here? You were never here before!?”

“Obviously mother gave me directions, when I copied the spell” -Celes

I was betrayed! My parents gave everything away to her. I will never give them the keys to my inner sanctum again!

“So we wanted to pay you a visit and see how you are doing. You are pretty hard to find out here.” -Stephen

I sigh and sign them to follow me. “Come with me, I will show you the lab and the newest invention.”

“Oh, cool! Have you made the ring for me Angrod!? Have You?” Celes storms in front. A week ago she asked me to create a ring-shaped device like the wristband.

I know. It's another objective on her list. But I made it anyway. The process of miniaturisation was interesting enough by itself. So it was worth it I guess.

“I won't kneel!” I grab a box in my pocket and shove it into her hands.

“Oh, thank you!” She hugs me again, while I continue walking and drag her with me. Why do I get this warm feeling when she does that? It is not right! Not right I say!

After a short walk we arrive at my main lab. Well maybe not a lab. A big dome would be a more proper term.

I rummage through some stuff until I find what I am looking for. I take the remote control and activate an elevated big screen. It shows a bird-view from high in the air.

“What's that?” Celes asks.

“I used Margerie's overpowered drone technology and pepped it up for high altitude flights. Then I installed some surveillance technology like optics and infra-red.

And then I used a little magic for the controls and to operate it from bigger distances. This drone is currently mapping the entire north.

If I want, I can count the hairs on Sarda's head.” -Me

“You know where Sarda is?” -Celes

“It seems the whole bunch together with the guys from Tulhelm set up residence at Mount Seria. Hmpf. A little bit arrogant to name a mountain after a god isn't it?” -Me

“That's really coool!” Stephen comments. “Can you drop it on their heads? It would be funny if one of them suddenly gets squashed by big chunk of metal out of nowhere.” -Stephen

“Maybe we will do that later.” -Celes

At this moment Snowden enters the dome, dragging Tanja and Margerie at their necks behind him.

Tanja has her arms crossed and is obviously pissed at being caught by a guard. Margerie has a communication screen in her hands. It was obviously broken out of some wall and now it looks like a dissected animal.

“Haaah. Haahah. That's so cool. I never thought about using electricity to change the pigmentation of some elements in order to show a picture of something.”

She doesn't even realize her surroundings any more. “I guess I should be happy that she found the communication screen first and didn't rip out something like a plasma cord for my power plant.” I analyse the situation.

“Angrod! How does this work exactly? I need to know!” Margerie runs up to me.

“Is there anything else?” Snowden asks.

“Nope, thank you.” -Me

The guard turns around and leaves again. He surely is not a guy of many words......

“He got me too easily.” Tanja grumbles.

“Don't ignore me Angrod!” Margerie shoves the dissected communication screen into my face.

“If you don't pester me any more, you can have a magical powered screen, which shows you all the information of my less dangerous projects.” -Me

The dead animal is instantly removed from my vision and I walk over to a table with one of my portable computers. I turn it on and give it to Margerie.

“You sure did much in the last few months. I can't believe you achieved all that by yourself.” -Celes

“I had a little help in form of my automated factory. It was the first thing on my list and it was a pain to realize. Until a month ago my whole workforce was busy with it. But now it is working and creating stuff for me.” -Me

“I must see that!” -Stephen

“Maybe I will give you a tour later. But first I want to evaluate the data my drone has collected.” I press a few buttons. And a cartographic view of the north shows up.

“That's wrong.” Margerie comments the map. “What's wrong?” -Celes

“There isn't enough industry! Here, here, here. Those are big population centres. There should be heavy traffic but there is nothing. Can you enlarge that?” Margerie asks me and I do as she wishes.

When I zoom the city up we can see that it is a ghost town. No cars, no transports, no people.

“Okaay! That's disturbing.” I comment the obvious.

“I see no technology. No cars, no city lights, no traffic regulators, nothing that would require rare minerals.” -Stephen.

“I think we should call our parents. They need to know.” -Celes

30 - An angry ex-god?

We are back inside the royal palace and watching a big screen with the information, my drones are gathering.

I took the screen with me and set it up in the living room. Too bad that there is no television in this world …. yet. It's way more convenient than to have more people inside my lab.

Margerie has taken the small computer with her. I am sure she will start to spread a new wave of technology pretty soon.

“This looks bad. What happened to all the people?” Arthur is talking to himself for quite a while now. I can't hold it against him.

“They haven't relocated to other cities. We should be able to spot a change then.” Ireth comments and sits down on the couch.

“What do you need so many materials and people for? And how many are missing?” -Katrine

“I think there should have been a few hundred thousand at least? After all we are talking about four big cities.”

“The material can be used for magic circuits, rune magic, magic circles. The people ….. regarding the fact that a few cities are completely emptied of people regardless of age and occupation. I can only come to the conclusion. They are fuel.” -Me

Everyone looks at me horrified. What? I am not the one who has done it! Don't look at me like I am the monster.

“F.... Fuel?” Katrine asks.

“Well, living body's are the best containers for mana after all. If you want to cast a really big spell, you need much mana. And if it has to be fast, you can just get it from a random bunch of people.” I explain my thoughts.

“What would they want to achieve on that scale?” Celes asks me.

“I don't know. It's a stupid idea anyway, I gave up on that long ago. Destroying the world or summoning a god maybe?” I scratch my head.

“They want to summon Seria!?” Arthur bursts out.

“He said they want to summon -a- god. I assume it doesn't have to be Seria. You two know anything about it? Which god could they want to let loose on the world.” -Ireth

Oh there it is. The awkward debate about us and the gods.

“Hahaha. How should we know?” Celes tries to avoid the subject but Katrine pats her head.

“It's okay little miss. We know that you two are much older in your mind than you look. It's not really hard to imagine who you really are by your titles. It doesn't change anything though. You are still our children. And children, who are having secrets from their parents are naughty.” Katrine smiles at us.

“There are millions of gods out there. So we really can't tell who or what will be summoned. If it is a summoning. But gods are like every random guy, you pick from the street, so I assume the Meltheims won't be happy with the result.” I burst out. I would do everything to avoid punishment!

They want to look down the bottle neck of the universe and go insane? So be it!

“Which means?” - Arthur

“Well. How would you feel if someone summons you to another world out of nowhere?” -Celes

“I wouldn't like it.” -Arthur

“And even a minor god can change the landscape, if he gets fired up. So there are all sorts of possible outcomes. From the summoned god being bored anyway and deciding to help the Meltheims, to being indifferent and just going home again, to loosing it and crushing a few impudent flies. Hopefully just the Meltheim guys alone and not us too in the process.” -Me

“Hmmmm” -Arthur

That's when suddenly a few fortresses on our side of the border light up and vanish, forming all too familiar mushroom clouds.

I know that this world knows some serious long range magic. So those clouds aren't all that unfamiliar to it's people.

Though the ones which just took out those fortresses are on another scale.

Mother shrieks and holds her hands before her mouth, then she starts to cry and goes to her knees. I don't get what's going on, so I pat her head. Arthur and Katrine look at the screen with pale faces.

“What's wrong?” I ask Katrine and look up to her. She doesn't look happy either.

“Nicol and Nicosar were in one of those.” -Katrine

Ah....

“We have to retaliate. Their forces are starting to move.” Arthur does his job as a king and keeps a cool head.

“The roads are all secured by mines, they won't be able to invade that fast.” Katrine bends down and tries to calm down Ireth.

Celes doesn't look happy either.

Celes

This is it! They have done it now! Did they really kill Nicol and the old perverted geezer? Ireth is down on the floor, crying and Katrine tries to calm her down.

Arthur is using communication magic to get the army to move. It seems like he deems the situation as sufficient to crush the north.

It sucks! I am not powerful enough to change anything with this body. I am mad at myself and this world. Why are there always idiots, who have to fight stupid wars.

But I guess, I am the last one allowed to complain. Angrod is on the floor besides Katrine and playing with his computer.

“Do you really think it is the right time to play with your toys Angrod?” I snap at him. He should be trying to comfort Ireth. And he just lost his father and grandfather! Those are people, he should care about!

“Kukukuku! I was too nice. I am always too nice. That's my flaw. Every time I start being nice, someone close to me gets hurt. I should have massacred the whole bunch, the same moment they disrespected me.....”

“Angrod?” Don't tell me he has lost it?

“....but I can correct that. Yes, I should have killed those children and thrown their beating hearts into that bastards face without a single warning. No more Mr. Nice Guy!”

A red evil looking button pops up on his screen and he presses it. I try to stop him, but I am too late. The big screen changes into a red colour and gives off a shrieking warning sound.

“Angrod! What have you done?” I look shocked at the screen, as a cloud of red dots appears above the mountain where Angrod's lab is located.

“I just corrected my mistake and did a little house cleaning!” Angrod says in a pissed voice.

The cloud spreads and moves north at a moderate speed and Angrod pulls a chair close and sits on it to watch the screen.

“Angrod, you better explain, if you did something of military relevance. I have to coordinate the army alone here and in a few minutes I have a meeting with the highest generals to discuss the situation!” - Arthur

Angrod explains in a moody voice. “If you can wait fifteen minutes, the last rocket should have hit its target. I just launched all the long range weaponry my lab produced in the last month. The targets are enemy command centres, the mansions of northern nobles, the enemy army, strong energy signatures ..... in twenty minutes most of the northern leaders should be mangled pieces.”

“Angrod, that's not the right path, you know it! What if some of them are innocent?” I don't recognize this Angrod any more. Or should I say I recognize him again? That's the guy I fought for a long time. Someone who would kill everyone, who opposes him or his ideas.

“They aren't innocent. They all have guilt. Those without guilt died in the first night of the rebellion, when they showed the courage to refuse such actions!” He watches the screen with a angry expression.

I watch the screen, as the first red dots become flashes of light, but smaller than the earlier ones. Though if something can be seen on a continental scale, they shouldn't be small at all. I don't know what to do.

Then I just sit down and hug the stupid hermit. I guess, I have to accept that evil side of him. I guess we would have used strategic strikes in the end anyway. We silently watch the red dots spreading out over the north.

And over a few minutes many small lights start to bloom over the whole north. At least Angrod's weaponry seems to allow precise strikes and in most cases just a few selected buildings get crushed.

“Those exploded too early.” Angrod notices us a few minutes later. “The missiles, I shot at the City of Seria at Mount Seria didn't reach their destination.”

“That's disturbing. Do they have some kind of defence? Try to drop one of your drones into the city. During the war, we experimented with shield spells to protect our cities. I have a bad feeling about this.” -Arthur

Angrod works on his computer and two drones change course, to dive down onto the City. One is following the other to observe the first ones fate.

A few hundred meters above the city the first just gets crushed, like it flew against a solid wall. Seconds later the second drone is lost too.

“They really managed to cast a shield spell of that size? That would need huge amounts of mana!?” Arthur is shocked.

“I guess that's where the missing people come into play.” I say in a very unhappy tone.

“They wouldn't need so many people just for a stupid shield spell. They ransacked at least three cities, that's much more than they need even if they used thousands just for the shield.” Angrod explains in a moody voice.

“Can you zoom that area out!” Katrine points out something like a field close to the city and Angrod enlarges it.

“Ugh! Are those mass graves?” I ask shocked. I want to throw up. How can those guys go to those extremes.

Angrod changes the view to the city again, but everything looks normal. Except for a big building, shaped like a hemisphere. Then he switches through some instruments in the drone until something like an infra-red vision shows up. Just that it seems to filter for mana.

“I guess, they really are trying to summon a god.” Angrod concludes in a grim voice.

31 - A light at the end?

“Those monsters killed all those civilians, just to summon a god? How did they even get the idea?” Katrine is shocked.

Angrod is still staring at the screen with a grim expression, his drone is flying a circle around the city, to get a view from all angles.

Now that I look at the circle, it looks familiar. “Somewhere, I have seen that circle before. If I could remember where?”

Angrod leans back on his chair. “It's the same circle, the council used to summon us, when we became gods.”

“It's a summoning circle? I thought they gave us our divinity through it?” I don't get it?

Angrod smiles. “They never -gave- us our divinity. We became gods on our own. Everyone becomes a god, on the condition that his soul reaches the required strength. They were lying to hold their control over us.”

“How do you know that?” I ask.

Angrod snorts and starts at the beginning. “When they summoned me and -made- me a god, I already had done quite a bit of research on souls and gods. That circle is nothing more, than a summoning formation. I admit, it is a powerful device, but except for a change in location and a beautiful light show, combined with a dizzy feeling, you get nothing from it.

The Council just does this to convince the new born gods, that they have some kind of control over them. I guess it keeps the trouble away, if such a belief exists.

But they didn't fool me with this. Most of the runes on this circle are just for show and to make it look like a really complicated thing.”

“Why didn't you tell anyone!?” I get even less now. The Council doesn't have any power over our divinity? They just let people assume that they gave it to them? To get control over them?

“Mwahaha! I was lucky to think three steps ahead, before blurting out my knowledge to the world. Don't you think this secret is quite a powerful tool of control? What would they do if someone ran around and told everyone of the biggest lie in the whole multiverse.

Wouldn't quite a few gods decide that it is not necessary to follow the Councils words like dogs? Wouldn't someone, who knew that secret, be silenced at any cost?

So I kept my mouth shut. I played the scientific idiot, who is much more interested in their city than in the circle under his feet. And then I said “yes and amen” to everything they asked of me.”

I think about it for a few seconds. “I guess you could be right. There are some who are very unhappy with the Council. That still doesn't explain where the Meltheim's got the knowledge of that circle?”

“Don't know.” Angrod shrugs his shoulders.

“Could you two speak our language and try to explain what the Council is?” Katrine asks.

“Nothing to worry about, just the gods of all gods, the rulers of the universe. No big deal at all.” Angrod proclaims in a happy voice.

“What about Seria? Can she help us?” Arthur asks.

“Nope, sorry to inform you, but Seria is also just one of their employees.” Angrod smiles at them.

“So the Meltheims got their hands on some really powerful spell, which is connected to the rulers of the universe? Why am I even trying to save my world, if the rulers of the fucking universe are on their side.” -Arthur

“Because if you don't keep trying from the beginning. You will never achieve anything. We don't know much yet, but we know for sure that we should interrupt that summoning!” I try to encourage my dad again.

“At least the time seems to be on our side. To power a magic like that, you need huge amounts of mana. Those maniacs would need to sacrifice a whole world to run it at full speed. At this rate it will take years until the spell is done.” Angrod explains.

“Then we have time to take over the north and deal with the City of Seria later?” -Arthur

“Maybe.” Angrod doesn't sound so sure.

I am still a bit shocked. If Angrod's observation is true. Then there is much more at stake here. What reason could the Council have to enter this world in such a roundabout manner? A god should be able to walk where he wants.

“Unless Seria somehow managed to shut them out? And now they want to take a look at this world?” I am talking to myself.

“You can't hinder a god from walking where he wants. As long as there is a path, you can reach every world. But it doesn't matter, we will stop this madness and then we are done with it.” -Angrod

“In any case, I am off now to coordinate our actions with my generals. Inform me if you find something with those nice spy-devices of yours.” Arthur turns around and walks off.

“Take the screen with you. Your generals and you will need it and I can just go and get another one from my lab.” Angrod waves at the big screen which is about one meter long and a half meter high.

Arthur nods and grabs the whole thing. Then he leaves with Katrine. I stay back with Ireth, but she is still out of it and silently crying. Angrod is holding her hand.

“I don't like it. We don't know what's going on. Do you have any idea?” I ask the stupid hermit.

“We can only wait until the army has taken control of the north. It should be no problem, even though I failed in the City of Seria, the rest of their command structure should be in utter chaos.

Arthur just has to walk through them and take over. Then we can deal with the City of Seria and its stupid shield. Though I am not sure how we can deal with it.” Angrod explains slowly while thinking over something.

“What could be the problem? If they have just one city left and we have enough time, we can crack the shield and deal with them.” I ask him.

“I don't know how many people they sacrificed for that shield. What if they used a sizeable amount? We could have troubles to bring it down.” He stares at his small computer and keeps silent.

I hug him. He may be an uncaring idiot with a cold heart. But at least he gets angry for those close to him. “Hahaha, we will get through this, don't you remember! Seria said that we will lead the world towards a better future! If we are together, nothing can stop us!” I proclaim proud and he smiles weakly.

We just sit there for the rest of the night, while Ireth fell asleep on the couch. Angrod keeps working on his computer, so I stand up to get a blanket for Ireth and something to drink.

After I got a blanket from my bedroom, I make my way towards the kitchen. But when I turn around the corner I bump into a person, who rushed along the hallway.

“Celes, where is Arthur?” Nicosar stands before me, though a little dusty, he is alive!

“N.. Nicosar! We thought you were dead!” I run up to him and hug him. I can still get my revenge! Oh, thanks! I can still pay him back for all those months of torture. “Where is Nicol?”

Nicosar shakes his head. “I got blown a few kilometres through the air. After I regenerated, I had to walk back by foot to the next place with someone who could teleport me back. I fear Nicol hasn't made it. It was... a rather big explosion...”

“A... Anyway. You have to take care of Ireth. She is pretty down since we got the news of the attack. Arthur is already coordinating everything.” I take him by the hand and lead him back to the living room.

As we arrive there, Angrod smiles an evil smile. “I am so glad you made it. Though I had already feared that thing got you, after you didn't show up for so long.”

At the noise Ireth wakes up and sees Nicosar. She jumps up and hugs him. “Father! I am so glad. What …. “

“I am sorry.” Nicosar whispers and hugs her in turn. “But you have to be strong, you are the queen of a country. We can't just lay down our responsibilities because we lost someone dear to us. We have to stand up and work for a future in which those things won't happen.”

Ireth nods and Nicosar takes her by the hand. “Then we should go and help Arthur and Katrine.”

Together they leave to join Arthur and Ireth.

“And what will you do now?” I ask Angrod. “I will go to sleep, I am tired. I have the body of a child after all.” He answers.

A chance! Tonight I will get off another point on my list!

32 - Interlude - Neither black nor white?

Seven gods are sitting around an oval, white table. Beneath them, visible through a transparent disc, is a city made of crystals. It seems like they are just hovering in the sky without the need of any support. Around them stretches a wonderful sky, dyed in shades of blue and red.

Above them, a blue sun is dancing around a black hole.

“I don't believe her! She is playing tricks on us! You guys must see it too. She is spending too much time outside of our surveillance! What is she doing in those void zones?” -Tjenemit

“I agree, but we never had much choice in the matter. She is the only one who can wander through those places. That makes her our fastest weapon. While others have to take detours, she can just walk in a straight line.” Amaru nods at Tjenemit's words, but there is doubt in his voice.

“She is too useful for the hunt. And she brought us countless escapees who didn't approve of our guidance. Sometimes a god she is hunting escapes. But what's the problem with that? Other young gods on the run manage to get away a few times too. Though she is surely acting strange. Maybe we should investigate her a little.” -Eris

“But many who escaped her never turned up again! Here!” Tjenemit throws a few papers onto the table. “There are countless cases! It goes back as far as our records about her reach! I want to know what happened to them!

“I don't care, even if she locks them up somewhere to play her games. We gave her that freedom for those two too. If someone of her usefulness asks for a favour, you should grant it once in a while. And who cares if she takes some of those she caught for herself?” -Elohim

Enyo stretches in her chair and speaks with a bored voice.

“I think so too. Eternity is long, you need a hobby. I don't know which sick side of hers she is hiding from us. And I don't care, as long as she does her job and those who vanished never turn up again.”

“I still think you guys make a big mistake by turning a blind eye on her! It was a big mistake to give her those two when she asked for it! We should have locked them inside the black hole too! She is planning something. I feel it! And soon, I will be able to prove it!” -Tjenemit

“How?” -El Shaddai

“I invested quite some time to research her favourite void zone. And I think that something is in there!” -Tjenemit

“I am sure, if we would just talk to her we could reach a consensus.” -Lada

Tjenemit throws a disapproving look into Lada's direction.

”I have already sent a message into the void zone. It contains a summoning circle for myself. If we are lucky, someone inside will find it and summon me there. With the circle I will have a perfect conjuring point. I will also be able to use it again to return.” -Tjenemit

“Does Seria know about this?” -El Shaddai

“No. It would be stupid to try this with her knowledge. She would try to stop me. I could even be caught inside the void zone!” -Tjenemit

“I still think that we should talk. Seria is a trusted aide. If we plan something like this behind her back it could destroy our relationship.” Lada throws a pleading look at the others.

“I know that you are a goddess of harmony Lada, but you are too trustworthy.” Amaru shakes his head.

“A god of wisdom should know better. This is not the right path!” -Lada

“Then we will take a vote to decide. Speak now! Who is against Tjenemit in this.” -El Shaddai

“I am!” -Lada

“I don't believe it to be the right step either.” -Elohim

“I will do it!” -Tjenemit

“Let him try.” -Eris

“I am not against it either.” -El Shaddai

Everyone looks at Enyo, but she shrugs her shoulders. “I don't care. Tell me if I can crush something, then I will decide.”

“So we have three voices in favour of the plan, two against it and one without opinion. So you will go through with your plan Tjenemit.” El Shaddai sums it up. “I will leave then. There is much to do.”

El Shaddai vanishes.

“Nice! Boring talks are done! Time to crush something!” Enyo blinks out of existence.

“Then I will retreat too. I will have to meditate, in order to find the summoning circle.” Tjenemit fades away.

“Sorry Lada, but creating discord is my forte! So I have to assist Tjenemit in this.” Eris dissolves into particles of light with a smirk on her face.

“This is wrong. Elohim, you know it too!” Lada turns to Elohim.

“I am sorry Lada, but I don't agree with you. I may have voted with you, but for different reasons. In my opinion Seria should be left alone, because she never betrayed our trust. But if she would be planning something like Tjenemit thinks of her....... well.

But Tjenemit doesn't have proof. He has just one of his stupid feelings. So I am against kicking the bee hive just to test if there are some killer bees or normal honey bees inside, if you understand? Even normal bees get mad if their hive is kicked. Seria has done nothing to deserve that.”

Elohim waves and vanishes too, leaving a sick looking Lada behind.

Lada grabs the papers on the table, which Tjenemit left behind and starts to read.

33 - It is the first ....?

I am fifteen by now and in my ninth school year. Thanks do the strategic strike by my research lab, our parents could subdue the north without real problems.

The Meltheim's forces dissolved without a competent leadership. The army just had to walk to the north and take control again.

We still lost Nicol to that surprise attack though. Something I am still blaming myself for. It was my proposal to wait and defeat them with patience.

That probably gave them the time to prepare that attack. But you can't change the past. I have to go on and do better next time. Yes, always doing better until you won't lose the ones dear to you.

Nicol's burial wasn't anything special. Mourning the dead doesn't seem to be a big deal in this world. You do it by yourself and the most even a king gets, is a minute of silence.

The culture just developed that way during the war and didn't change since then.

The north is under our control again and the City of Seria lies under heavy siege. Their shield protects them and nothing could break it until now.

Those bastards put so much mana into it, it's a big problem to bring it down. Although I am working on a solution, the needed hammer for this egg is on another scale.

Even now, the army is bombarding the City of Seria day and night while trying everything to crack the shield open.

But I don't have much hope. Not unless we would go to the same length as them and start to sacrifice people.

Luckily the support for the royal family is as big as never before. Everyone who supported the Meltheim's was lynched, when the truth got out.

The People went to the streets and dragged nobles out of their houses. Everyone who had even the smallest connection to Meltheim or Tulhelm, had to fear for his life.

Our parents had a hard time to stop the people from taking the law into their own hands.

Some even tried to storm the house of Cygnus and get their hands on Iris. A little bit sick if you ask me, after all Iris is just a child.

But they never got over the doorstep. The security took care of them as soon as they set foot onto Cygnus property.

Right now I am designing a little surprise to crack the shield of the City of Seria. It will take lots of work, but we still have time and I hope to be ready soon enough.

We couldn't even talk to those idiots. The shield is blocking everything. Although we got some information from civilians in the north.

From their story, it appears that the Meltheim rule got very close to a police state shortly after they took control.

Most people weren't allowed to travel. That's how they managed to hide their actions from the rest of the population.

No wonder they went to the streets, the same moment it looked like their military wouldn't be able to stop them.

This whole story seems like it came out of the mind of a really sick person. But that's reality. Before you even know it, your nice and happy world turned into hell itself.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

“Angrod! Get out!” I hear Celes voice from the other side of the door.

But I won't open. Mwahaha! I put some really strong guarding enchantments onto my door. No one will be able to enter unless he is a high level magician.

“Angrod! It's important!” -Celes

Important? “What's important?”

“Something came up! We have to go!” Celes starts to hit the door again.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

Did she just use her foot? The door holds perfectly. But when I look at the wall around it, I see some cracks.

“I am coming! Don't hit again! You will take my whole room down!” I jump up and run to open the door.

“What do you want? I have work.”

Celes storms into my room and starts to search through my wardrobe. “Hey! What do you need my clothes for!”

“To find something decent! You can't go out in that dull stuff on you.” Celes answers.

“Go out? Where to? Is there some festival we have to take part in? I heard of nothing?” I am a little dumbfounded. Normally our parents inform us beforehand, if we have to show ourselves to the public.

“No time. Something came up! Here, put that on. That looks nice on you.” Celes holds a suit to my chest.

“Isn't that suit a little bit too normal for a festival?” I ask. The suit is nice, but could go through as normal street clothes. For a festival I always have to wear some really nice and high style clothes.

“It's okay! You look cool in that! I will wait outside.” Celes runs out of the room.

What the hell got into her? I get dressed and walk outside.

“Good! Looks nice now come, we don't have much time.” Celes leads me outside, where Rose is waiting with the car.

We enter and Rose starts the car.

“Can you explain what's going on?” I ask Celes.

“Can't you remember? We promised to make peace and work on understanding each other! You are locking yourself in your room for about a week now! Unless for school you don't come out.” Celes answers me.

“I don't get it. What does that have to do with the current situation?” -Me

“We will start to work harder on our relationship from now on. So we will go on dates every week!”  Celes smiles at me.

“Hahaha, oh the benefits of youth!” Rose enters the conversation.

“Date? I have no time for dates!” I answer.

“You are the one who proposed them. Can't you remember our promise? You were the one, who insisted on a normal relationship and dates. So we will go on dates every week from now on! Today we will visit a musical!” Celes nods and smiles even brighter.

“Uhm... . Now that you mention it. I really said something like that?” I have a dark memory of this somewhere in my head. She tricked me that time!

“I think it will be nice. The musical has a nice plot. I think even Angrod could find it interesting.” Rose drives around another corner and stops the car in front of a big building.

“Have fun!”

“Wh.. What about security?” -Me

“This place is for the higher society. It's guarded and the danger has lessened since the opinion of the public is in our favour.” Celes explains to me, while pulling me outside.

The door gets closed and Rose drives off.

Celes links arms with me and leads me to the entrance where she shows the guard two cards and we enter.

Just now I realize that she is wearing a dress, which is similar to mine. A waitress leads us to a row of seats with a very good view.

It is a big hall with a stage a few levels below us. There are amplifiers all over the place to guarantee a good sound for everyone.

“It is like you're hijacking me. How did you get the idea so suddenly.” I ask Celes

“Mmmm. It is because I planned it of course! I had this on my list for quite some time now.” She pulls out a highly used looking list and checks an item. I haven't seen that thing for a long time now.

“First date at fifteen, done.” She smiles and looks happy.

“You realize that you are carrying that thing around for years already?” I ask her.

“No problem, even if it is a little bit tattered. It still does the job.” She hides it again inside her dress.

At that moment the musical starts and Celes grabs my arm to lean onto me. Oh! Don't use your chest like that! This isn't fair play!

Celes has done quite some development in the past years. She will become a real beauty like her mother in another three or four years.

Though she has a nice look already. If it wasn't for that personality!

We sit in silence and watch the musical. It is about the creation of this world. How the Goddess Seria created the world and it's people. And about a hero, who went on an epic quest to make the dangerous continent a safe place for everyone.

It has a nice story and the songs are good. Though the tightness of Celes's grip on me is a little uncomfortable. We are about halfway into the performance, when Celes tugs at my sleeve and I look down at her.

Celes's face is a little bit cramped with a forced smile. “Can you bring me to the toilets?”

“Ahem. Aren't you old enough to go by yourself. I don't think a guy should... You are a little bit pale, are you okay?” I ask.

“It just hurts a bit, so give me a little walking aid.” -Celes

“It hurts? Are you wounded or sick? I can heal you.” -Me

“I am just bleeding a little, it is nothing serious.” -Celes

“You are bleeding!? Where, I will heal you!” -Me

“SShut up! That'S nothing you can heal IDIOT! SSo bring me there now!” Celes hisses at me with tears in her eyes.

Ah!? No she can't mean? For real!?

I pick her up in a princess carry and run to the toilets.

34 - The past always returns?

We are sitting on a bench in front of the musical building and waiting for Rose to get us. I feel horrible.

“*Sniff* I am so sorry. I messed up our first date. All because I didn't keep track of such a basic thing.” It's all my fault.

“It's okay. I know how it feels. You don't have to blame yourself.” Angrod tries to comfort me, but it's a lame attempt.

“You are a guy! You have no idea, what you're talking about!” -Me

“I was female too in some reincarnations. So I think I am allowed to say that! You should have been a guy one time or the other too.” -Angrod

“Pff. You as a girl. That must have been quite the view.” Somehow I can't imagine the hermit as a girl.

“Don't laugh, those weren't exactly my best times. Though I think, you didn't have a problem when a reincarnation messed with your gender. You would be a perfect muscle guy.” -Angrod

I will get you for this! Fear the might of a female!

“*Hic..* You really don't ….. don't think of me as a woman at aaallllll.” It's easy to cry when you feel horrible anyway.

“It's... It's okay! Don't cry! You are a fine woman now! No need to feel anything about it.” Angrod answers with a flustered voice.

Ah, so nostalgic. My Johann back then was also weak to the crying me. Tehe... I grab my Johann tight and hug him without giving an answer.

“It …. It's really no problem. The important part of the story was already told. All that was left of the story was a stupid fight with the last boss anyway. Those stories always follow the same set of rules.” -Angrod

At this moment Rose stops her car in front of us. “Did you two have a nice evening?” She gets out and smiles at us.

Tch! Just a few more minutes and I would have had him eating out of my hands! It's no use, I will have to give him my present inside the car.

“Unfortunately Celes had a small mishap. And we didn't see the end of the performance.” -Angrod

Ahhh! Don't tell her about a women's problems. She will pester me about it!

“Oh. You have to watch it again then. The end is the best part! Celes is everything okay now?” -Rose

“It's okay now. I just had a minor problem and missed the last part, while being on the toilet.” -Me

“Oh, my. Too bad. Just get in, I will bring you home.” -Rose

We enter the car and Rose closes the door.

“Um. Celes. Why are you sticking to me like that?” Angrod asks with a disturbed voice.

Since I hugged him earlier, I didn't let go. It makes me feel at ease. I don't know why and I don't care.

I grab box out of my pocket and shove it onto him to shut him up.

“That's for not being a total douche bag. Though you didn't manage completely in the end, I will grant this to you if you shut up.” I use him as a pillow again, while he opens the box.

Yes, chocolate always works on that guy. At least that trait of his character didn't get lost. It's nice to know an easy way to please someone.

It's best if they don't make too much work. I lean onto him, while falling asleep....

Angrod

I carried Celes into her room. She was sleeping like a log and didn't wake up, even when I shook her.

Afterwards I went to work again. Though there isn't much I can do. Everything is set up. The automatic factory is working and my employees know their jobs.

All I can do is to check the progress. If I am lucky, everything will be ready in time.

*Knock* *Knock*

“Yes?” I answer and Ireth enters the room.

“Angrod, I know that you are trying to break that shield spell, but something came up.” -Ireth

“Why do you sound like something horrible will happen?” I ask my mother.

“It's this stupid law stuff! You see, your father has a brother.” My mother says it like everything is clear with that.

“Uh... you know that I don't like this law issue. So why don't you start at the beginning? I totally don't get what you are talking about.” -Me

“I am talking about your birthday in a few months! You will turn sixteen and with that, you will have to succeed the throne of Tirna. Your father is dead after all.” Ireth sighs.

“I can't give the boring stuff into yours and grandpa's hands any more?” I ask.

“Yes. You have to take over the throne, although we will still be able to help you.” -Ireth

“So where does my father's brother come into this?” -Me

“When the crown goes to the next heir, everyone who is able to succeed the throne can challenge him for the crown. This was established to make sure that a strong king is in power.” -Ireth

“So you believe that my father's brother will make an entrance. Whom I have never heard of by the way?” -Me

“He challenged your father for the throne when he took over and married me at eighteen. Your father crippled him in the following fight. Then your uncle went into exile by his own choice.” -Ireth

“So you think that he still has a grudge and is striving for power. So why didn't he jump at the chance when father died?” -Me

“I am pretty sure of that. And he didn't act, because he doesn't have any legal claim. I am ruling the country -in absentia- of your father, because you are not allowed to take the crown yet. But with sixteen you will have to.” -Ireth

“So how did you just remember someone, who disappeared years ago?” I am a little confused.

“Two days ago, he appeared in town with someone who was introduced as his son. He claimed a few old favours from some nobles. Some of them saw a problem with him and informed me.” -Ireth

“This joke is getting old. The Meltheims tried that already.” -Me

“Yes, unfortunately I believe that this is another attempt by them. Just in disguise.” Ireth shakes her head.

“Oh?” -Me

“When the Meltheims locked themselves up in the City of Seria, they still had a big amount of money in various banks and institutions. We tried to trace it down, but most of it just disappeared.” -Ireth

“And let me guess. My uncle is throwing around with money left and right and nobody has a clue where it came from.” -Me

Ireth nods with a sad expression. “We don't have any evidence, so we can't stop him. The exile was of his own choice, so we can't send him away either.”

“So you think he will send that son of his against me?” -Me

“That's likely. He even signed him up for your school.” -Ireth

“Wonderful, so I will have to endure a pest similar to the Meltheim brothers in school, until I am challenged at my coronation.” This gets less and less funny with every word.

“Your uncle's name is Seredorn of Tirna and his son is named Markorn of Tirna.” -Ireth

“Hmm. What about the mother? Or did my uncle just use cell division to sprout an heir?” I throw my arms into the air and my mother has to smirk.

“We don't have any clue on her. Your uncle just showed up with his supposed son and set up his residence.” -Ireth

“Is he even his real son?” I doubt it somehow.

“We are investigating. When it comes to the rank of succession, things have to be clear without a doubt. But so far we couldn't find a clue against it. He looks similar enough to his father from what I heard. And they came with a lot of servants who confirm their story. Right now a few investigators are on their way to your uncles previous residence. But I have my doubts that they will come to a different result. If your uncle could be caught with such simple measures, I doubt that he would have made an effort to pull a stunt like this.” -Ireth

“You sound like you know him in that regard?” -Me

“Before he challenged your father, he tried several times to get his hands on me. He was always smart enough to leave no evidence. So it was always his word against mine. And he had a really good relationship with his brother. Your father didn't believe me that he had ulterior motives. Until the challenge, he was the nice brother of the heir to everyone.”

I nod. “Then we will have no other choice than to keep being on alert. Don't fear for me, I can take care of myself. And thanks for the warning.”

Ireth hugs me with tears in her eyes. “Don't do anything dangerous. I lost so many of my family already. Any more and I wouldn't be able to go on.”

I hug her too with a grim expression on my face.

35 - A nice greeting!

“I can't believe this! Didn't we have enough trouble already?” Celes is complaining after I communicated my mothers warning to her. Right now we are on our way to school.

“I hope the little masters are careful today. I have heard some disturbing things about that new student. Yesterday after he was registered to school, he went to the fighting class and picked a fight with a whole group of students. He beat them up badly.” Rose warns us.

“So we will have to deal with him in special class for sure. That's great!” Celes complains even more.

“Hmmm. So who should beat him up if he picks a fight?” I ask Celes.

“If you would do me the honour. I don't feel like breaking bones today.” Celes watches out of the window.

“You still have trouble with your hormones? It feels like you are a little more edgy than usual.” She was like this since breakfast.

“I am fine. I just need a little space for myself.” Celes answers and I keep my mouth shut.

Obviously she is still pissed from yesterday's date. She had something else in mind, but nature blew a hole into her plans. Well, she deserves no less for ignoring her body.

Though I think it could have happened to me too. The multiverse gets your gender right in about ninety-nine out of a hundred reincarnations. Every hundredth reincarnation it fucks up and you end up in a body of the opposite gender.

It has something to do with the compatibility between body and soul. The soul sticks to the first body, which is a match. For some strange reason, some body's are compatible with almost every soul.

I never really understood the reason for this. Probably just a sick joke of the multiverse. Everyone has to laugh once in a while.

After a few minutes, we arrive at the school and silently make our way to the first class. Celes is still pissed at herself and the world. I can't do anything about it. If I talk to her, I will probably just become the target of her anger.

That's how this stuff works in my opinion. If a woman is angry, you hide somewhere and keep out of sight until the storm is over.

If you give her a present or try to cheer her up, you have a fifty fifty chance. In the first case you manage it, then you are the hero. In the second you will be a nuisance and treated accordingly.

Some hours later, the dreaded special class is on the list. When we arrive at the meeting place, which is the same open area it always was, we find Stephen and Iris. The others are also present.

But the reason, why Stephen and Iris attract my attention is because they are holding hands. Their expression is... yeah... if this was some kind of comic, the artist would draw a pink aura and hearts around them. That's how it feels!

Garbiel, Tanja, Sven and Sandra are also present.

“Hi, Stephen. Long time no see.” I try to strike a conversation because I am curious.

“Oh Angrod and Celes! I just escorted Iris here. I am gone then, my class is about to start too.” He bows and leaves.

I throw a curious look at Iris, who starts to fiddle with her hands at everyone’s gazes. It seems everyone became aware of those two.

“Well.. you see. I live inside the Cygnus mansion now and as a result I spent really much time with Stephen and at some … time he proposed I guess? So we are a couple now! No need to look at me like a rare animal!!” Iris is red from head to toe.

“Ohohoho. How far did you go already?” Sandra and Tanja jump at Iris. That's exactly the right matter for those two bird brains. Celes runs up to them too and they have the typical girls talk.

I turn to Gabriel and Sven who are now the only ones I can have a … decent talk with. I hope?

“So what's up with Tongord?” I ask them. The lesson should have already started.

“He went to get the new student.” Gabriel informs me and Sven nods. “The rumours say that yesterday, he went against the whole fighting class and won.” Sven adds.

Sven somehow managed to get a hold of his shyness over the years. Though he is only all right with people whom he knew for a little while.

“The rumours on this school are always a little out of proportion.” I just remember the rumour about me and Celes, subduing the whole fighting class with our presence alone.

The guys in that class are all weaklings after all. You could throw them by the dozens against anyone of the special class. Many mangled bodies would be your only result.

At this moment Tongord arrives with a guy of about our age. He has horns and slit pupils, like someone with a strong royal bloodline should have. His hair is dark like mine and you can really see a strong resemblance.

I guess he really is my cousin? “So here we have the other students of the special class. Everyone line up here!” We do as ordered and Tongord continues with the introduction.

“So here we have Iris, Tanja, Celes, Sandra, Gabriel, Angrod and Sven. Everyone, this is Markorn of Tirna.” Markorn smiles and bows to us. “I am happy to join your class.”

Markorn walks up to the beginning of the line and shakes hands with everyone. Reaching Celes, he bows down in an attempt to kiss the back of her hand.

*WACK!*

At the mere attempt Celes gave him a slap with the backside of her hand, lifting him up three meters into the air while spinning two times. He falls to the ground head first and impacts.

Ouch! Celes took the work from me. What a way to end your life.... his spinal cord must be broken!

“Hahaha! I like them spicy. It's no fun without a little challenge. The people in this class are sure to be worth the time.” The corpse talks! Markorn stands up and tests the movement of his head.

We hear some creaking sounds, like something snapped back into place, but otherwise Markorn seems to be fine.

He continues farther down the line, until he reaches me. “I am pleased to meet you cousin. It was overdue for a long time now.”

“The pleasure is on my side.” I answer. He grabs my hand and puts his whole strength into it. Which is enormous. I hold against it with everything I have until I hear my bones break.

The pain must have been immense. But I didn't even flinch. As soon, as I realized that I wont win this fight of strength, I used my telekinesis to sever the nerves for pain in my hand. All I feel is a nasty itch.

This obviously disturbs Markorn a little, he must have felt the bones break. So he lets go and continues towards Sven. Remaining with me for too long would have been strange.

I will kill that bastard! I will take my time doing so! This isn't going to be over fast, I swear.

I hold my hands behind my back and set the bones right. He got my two fingers and one of the metacarpals! By the time Markorn is done shaking hands with Sven, I have already healed my hand again.

Then Markorn walks back up to the teacher and Gabriel and Sven look at me with worried faces. “You okay?” “I could hear them break!”

“No worries. I am fine!” I smile and show them my hands while moving them as proof. At this sight, I can see Markorn's eyes go round for a second.

“Okay! After we are now all somewhat introduced to each other, we can start our training fights again. Markorn, you as a newcomer can choose your opponent if you want.” Tongord continues the training.

“I would like to test myself against my cousin!” Markorn answers with a devilish smile. “That's fine then, everyone else team up and start training.”

The others also team up for training and spread out. I am left alone with Markorn. “That's strange, I thought I broke them. You are rather weak for someone of the royal bloodline dear cousin.”

“I see no problem with it. I just find it strange that you aren't hiding your hostility at all.” I really don't know what to think of that guy.

“There is no need to play games between us. I am pretty sure, I can take Celes from you and get the throne for myself. A weakling like you isn't cut out for the throne.” He is very confident to have the upper hand.

I put my hands into my pockets and set up a few defence spells. “We will see about that. Will you talk for the rest of the day, or can we start the training?”

“I will start the beating then.....” Suddenly Markorn is in front of me. Did he teleport? I didn't see him move at all! I pull my head back by pure reflex. It was burned into me from training every day with Celes. An open palm crushes my shield and drives forward, through the space where my head had been.

A stone lifts from the ground and shoots straight at Markorn, but it is swept aside by his hand. Not fair! That should have killed him! I jump backwards, but Markorn follows in close range and continues to throw his fists and feet at me.

Each time I manage to evade by a hairs breath. I thrust my hand at him and a small red orb shoots out, but he evades with ease.

“Hahahaha! Silly little spells! Ain't worth a thing if you can't hit!” He leaps forward and places a perfect kick on my chest. The air is pressed out of my lungs, but thankfully my stone skin spell protects me from taking serious injuries. I still feel like something broke!

I am still thrown backwards. It is like I was hit by a truck. After flying a low arc through the air I impact the floor and stay down.

While lying on my back and casting another healing spell I think about the situation. This guy is way too powerful. Something is off. He seems to use the same fighting aura, as that Senda guy. Senda fought just with his body too, but that guy is on another level.

“Done already? I am even more disappointed now.” It seems that Markorn doesn't want to shut up.

Somehow I am angry now. I don't get angry often. Hmmm, I guess using a second hand is allowed in that case.

Suddenly Markorn appears above me and I see the sole of a foot coming down on my face. Teleport again?

The foot stomps down but all that gets stomped is earth. I teleported ten meters above Markorn, swinging down one of my hands in a chopping motion from above, a wave of energy discharges from me.

But the sucker somehow realizes the danger and jumps to the side. A five meter long rift is struck into the earth, where he just stood.

Now he jumps up to me, but I teleport to the ground again. Hehehe. That's the problem with high speed movement, you can only do it if you can propel yourself somehow. Real teleportation is much more convenient.

I shoot another -air bullet- at him, which he can't evade. It strikes him point blank and he is lifted even higher.

*WHAM*

Air bullet is a nice spell. It doesn't have much penetration power, but it packs a serious punch of physical energy.

I wait until Markorn falls down again, in his face I see pure rage. When he is about five meters above me I hit him again, pounding him upwards again.

*WHAM*

And again.

*WHAM*

And again.

*WHAM*

Mwahaha, this is fun.

*WHAM*

Though, it's disturbing that I can't do any damage to the sucker. Hmmm, what to do? A little experiment to test his defence?

*WHAM*

Let's try how you deal with one of these.

A little, fist sized red orb of energy appears in my hand. I move my hand to aim at him but Tongord grabs my hand from the side.

“That's enough. I think there isn't much value in this duel any more.” He looks wary into my face.

“I don't think we are done yet!” I answer and stare at Tongord.

*PLOP*

Markorn hits the ground with an ungraceful belly landing. He jumps up and storms to us. “I WILL GET YOU BACK FOR THIS! YOU ….”

*RRRUUMMMBBBLLEEEE*

A distant sound can be heard like the roll of thunder. Everyone turns into the direction to see what happened.

There is a mountain in the south of Midhold. But now a little piece of it is missing near the peak. It's no big deal that would be noticeable, if you weren't looking for it. But a cloud of smoke and dust marks the place pretty good.

It must be quite the event, if you can see it from here. The mountain is pretty far away.

“Isn't that the direction, one of those red orbs of yours went Angrod?” Tongord asks me with a serious tone.

“Uuum. Yes, the orb went that direction.” I smile a forced smile at Tongord.

Then Tongord looks at my hand, in which a fist sized red orb is hovering. “That one is bigger!”

“Uuum. Yes, this one is bigger. You are very observant today teacher.” I still smile at him.

“Dispel that thing at once! You will NOT mess up my training field!” He screams at me.

“Hmpf. Fine.” I close my hand around the orb and it is gone. The lesson is at its end anyway. Tongord cares about his training field more than his own life.

Markorn still glares at me, but he is silent now. I smirk at him and walk back to the others, who are already grouped up.

***

Some time later Celes and I are inside the car and on our way home. I take a curious look outside the window and ogle the new look of the mountain.

“You had that dangerous smile on you face again today.” -Celes

“Dangerous?” -Me

“You know, like you were really enjoying to hurt someone. And when you started to treat him like a ball to play with. Then you got that other look, like you were dissecting a rare animal.” Celes sounds a little worried.

“Hm. And I am not allowed to experiment on a bastard, who broke my fingers? And tried to kiss you? He would have survived it anyway.” -Me

Damn! That came across the wrong way! Didn't that sound like I was jealous?

“He would have survived THAT!?” -Celes

Good! She didn't realize it!

“I felt an unbelievable amount of mana inside him. Maybe that spell would have been just enough to scratch him.... ” -Me

“Do we have a problem?” -Celes

I shrug my shoulders. “Maybe. But it's for sure that you don't acquire that much mana by natural ways.”

36 - School life continues?

This whole situation is out of hand! It's been two weeks since Markorn showed up at our school. Since then he evolved into something like the local boss of a gang!

He seriously wounded some students, who didn't jump on his every whim. All in all he is acting like he owns the world.

Though at the moment it really seems like nothing can stop him. After Angrod couldn't scratch him in special class, he challenged me a few days later.

I couldn't do anything to him either. He is using a mana aura, which is protecting him. It is similar to my technique, but much much worse in terms of mana consumption. Unfortunately he has huge amounts of mana to waste.

“You already have an idea how to stop that guy?” I ask Angrod.

“Nope.” He shakes his head and leans back in his seat. “He has too much mana, he can toss it around in any way he wants. Maybe we can take him down if we fight together.”

“Then we fight together, he is a real bother. Yesterday, he appeared and tried to lead me off somewhere!” This guy is dangerous!

“Ok. Then let him do you. While his guard is down, you ram one of those hairpins into a vital spot and the problem is solved! A good plan.” Angrod nods to himself with a smiling face.

Scum! Idiot! I will not forget this! Wait and see, my revenge will be painful!

“H... How could you suggest this! I am your fiancée!” -Me

“No hairpin? Well you are right, too dangerous. Poison then! We will poison him, mwahahaha. Oldest trick in the book!” Angrod smiles at me.

“Don't you have any shame?” I ask agape.

“No? What's wrong with poison? Do you think he has some kind of resistance?” Angrod now has a worried look.

“I think we are not really talking to each other! Do you even pay attention to me? Look up from your book when I am talking to you! It feels like you aren't taking me seriously.” I am in dismay. This doesn't feel like a proper conversation at all.

“I am sorry Celes, but I really have to think about the coronation. It's in two months and I have to win that fight somehow. On the side, I have to take care of breaking the shield of that stupid city! So let me read this book, it helps me to concentrate.” -Angrod

“Fine, tell me if I can do something to help. I will go and visit Tanja. She promised to load a new spell into my ring.” I turn around and walk away.

“I hope it isn't another indecent spell to hide your presence, just to sneak into my room! Besides, I have to talk to Tanja anyway. So bring her if you find her!” Angrod calls after me, but I just wave my hand at him and turn around the corner.

I loathe it! Why can't I build a decent relationship with him again. A few times it looked pretty good, but when he gets stressed, he always falls back into the old behaviour and I can't get through to him.

If he would be the old.... . Nah. What am I thinking. Maybe he was really right and we should forget about the past. We are really different people from then.

Maybe I just don't want to admit it, but I could be different too. Heck! It has been a few thousand years since then!

*Bump*

Ah! I ran into someone! “Um, sorry! I guess I didn't pay enough attention.” A student, about two years older than me is blocking my path. Three other guys are behind him.

I step to the side but they block my path. When I turn around I see that three other students are behind me and the hallway is suddenly empty. This was set up?

“We would like to have the honour of escorting you.” The older student says. “And why should I let you?” I ask with an annoyed voice.

“Because king Markorn wishes to see his future queen.” The older student answers like nothing is wrong.

“Do you have some kind of brain damage? Markorn is nothing of the sort!” What's wrong with those guys!

“We have watched your duels in special class and we are pretty sure that he is stronger than you. It's good to be on the good side of the future king. So we will bring you to him if he asks for it.” The student grabs my shoulder.

That's not the right way to treat me! I grab his hand and twist while I redirect the flow of my mana.

*Snap*  “AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”

Oh, shut up! Grabbing his shoulder while twisting further I shove a little, and the offender exits the hallway through the window beside us.

*Crash* “AAAAAAAAaaaaaahhh” *Thud*

“Th.. This is the th... third floor!” One of the other minions stutters with a shocked voice. But I am not done and kick another one into the groin.

I feel something getting crushed and finish the guy with a fist to the face before the rest of the gang can recover from their shock.

The rest is about to jump on me, when someone starts to clap his hands.

“Well, that's enough. I expected you wouldn't be able to bring her. So I came to check myself.” Markorn appeared out of nowhere. “Would you guys please wait around the corner, I have a few things to discuss. No one is allowed to disturb us.”

The remaining minions take their fallen comrade/eunuch? and leave. When they are out of sight Markorn addresses me again. “I know, this isn't very gentle, but you refused to talk to me on every other occasion.”

“What do you want?” -Me

“I just want you to realize reality and team up with me, that's all. I will get the crown at the coronation and you will have no other choice than to marry me anyway. You will profit from this too. Don't you want the best candidate for the job too?”

“...”

He continues. “As I see it, this weakling isn't fit for the job. This world needs a strong leadership and not a strange guy who hides himself behind books, or inside a strange facility. A King needs to show presence and strength if he wants to lead a country. He needs to be smart too.”

“Being able to set some traps like I just did is an important part of leadership.” -Markorn

“And why is it such a great trap to send some bullies after me?“ -Me

“Because everyone of them is now a witness. You went crazy and attacked two Tirna nobles, after they refused your orders. It should be enough to cause quite the commotion don't you think?” He smiles at me.

“I still don't understand what you would gain from that?” -Me

“Of course you have a really good reputation at the moment. But everything that damages that reputation will make it easier for me to take over! The Stricc princess, going rampage on some Tirna nobels. If that wouldn't shake up the state of affairs, I don't know!” -Markorn

“It's good then. Without any witness, there won't be any commotion.”

Angrod walks around the corner, pulling a limp body behind him. Angrod! I run up to him and embrace him. Oh, he came for me after all!

“There are enough witnesses! I have at least four Tirna nobles and three people from Stricc, who.....”

Angrod throws the limp student at Markorn, who steps aside and the student lands on his back. While staring into the ceiling, the student breathes slowly and regular.

“You are awake? Get up and bring the others!” Markorn kicks the student, but gets no reaction.

“Don't bother. I had our friend Tanja investigate your connections inside the school. Then I begged her to tell me, when you would leave your …. I will call it hideout for the lack of a better term. When she reported you gone, I went there and had a little talk with your employees.”

“Everyone from Tirna got a nice little treatment from me, while I had the guys from Stricc watch. I doubt that they are willing to risk anything for you by now. Afterwards I came here and had a nice chat with your guards.”

“I hope you won't be so foolish, as to attack me here in public, because everything what happened until now was within my legal jurisdiction of punishing disobedience.”

Angrod smiles at Markorn and turns me around to leave. As we pass the group of minions from earlier, I see the Tirna nobles lying limp on the ground, staring into nothingness like the other student.

The guys from Stricc watch Angrod with pale faces and press themselves against the walls to gain the highest possible distance. They act like they are in the same room with some kind of monster.

“How did you find me?” -Me

“There is a tracking function inside your ring. I also hid a tracking device inside Markorn's clothes during training. We share the same changing room after all. When you two were in the same position, I came to check.” -Angrod

He is tracking me? He …... DOES that mean he cares for me in his own way!?

“And what did you do to those students?” -Me

“Nothing. Just a punishment according to disrespecting orders during a time of war. You threw that guy out of the window too, didn't you?” -Angrod

“I didn't kill him!” -Me

“Tanja finished it from the shadows. I explained the situation to her.” -Angrod

“She would never!” No. Tanja is a nice girl. She wouldn't.

“She would do everything for you, her friend. Markorn is right when he thinks that a commotion right now would disturb the balance. Tanja knows that too, probably better than both of us if you think about her family background.” -Angrod

We turn around another corner and Tanja steps out of a shadow and hugs me. “Everything okay Celes?”

“I am not sure. I feel like I was used as a bait!” I answer honestly.

“Sorry. It wasn't intentional, I promise. But everything played out like this, when you went to look for me. And Angrod had to deal with those thugs.” Tanja fiddles with her fingers.

“What did he do to them?” I ask worried.

Tanja turns pale. “It's better if you don't know.....” And looks away. I keep pestering her for the rest of the day, but she won't tell.

Nor did I hear any rumours from the other Stricc nobles.

37 - Interlude – A certain god's hot spring?

AAAaaaahhh.... There is nothing better than a bath inside a hot spring at the top of an inactive volcano. No other gods to disturb my peace. No Council, no worshippers, no stress.

I soak inside the water and relax. This is my favourite place, right after my own little world. I visit just about every few hundred years and it is fantastic.

The hot spring is located inside a cave near the peak. The water, heated by the slumbering volcano, is just about the right temperature.

It's a pool of about thirty square meters. On the walls of the cave are crystals. I enchanted them with a light spell, so the cave is always bathed in pleasant light of different colours.

There are even crystals on the ground of the pool, which are shimmering in different colours. It's a fantastic place!

“Unworthy! Don't desecrate the holy water with your body!” “Get out now!”

I look up and see two elves at the entrance. It's a woman and a man, the guy aims his bow at me, while the woman has readied a fireball.

I sigh. “Get out of my hot spring and I may be benevolent and let you live.”

The guy shoots his arrow and the woman launches her fireball. Why are mortals so bad at judging someone else? I wave my hand and the projectiles disappear.

With another wave of my hand both elves are pinned to the wall. They struggle, but are held in place by an invisible force.

I step naked out of the pool and walk before them. “Ah. How to punish the foolish mortals, who enter my domain?”

Their eyes go wide.

“Maybe a hundred years of pain and suffering?” I muse to myself.

“Please. I don't know who you are, but this a sacred place for our people. We protected it for over four hundred years now.” The woman speaks.

I try to remember when I was here the last time? Was it five hundred? “No, I am sure I checked this place about six hundred years ago.”

“You can't just bath inside the holy water! You could destroy it's healing properties.” The guy barks at me.

Holy water? Healing? Don't tell me....

“PFF! hahaha hHAHAHAAHAHAHA!” I fall to the floor and roll around. It has been an eternity since I had a good laugh.

“Let them go! That's not the proper way to treat mortals Seria!” Lada suddenly appeared above me, hovering in the air.

Both elves open their mouths and stare at me with a scared expression. “The goddess Seria?” “Goddess of life and death!”

Then both of them look shocked at Lada.

“PFAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!” I can't control myself any more and point at Lada, who is showing off her panties to the elves.

“Your skirt! Hahaha... too short......... your skirt …. and.... hover around up in the air like that! Hahaha! Your lingerie can be seen.” I crawl to my knees and pound the ground. I can't breathe! Need air! Another laughing fit shakes me.

Lada immediately descents to the floor and corrects her outfit. “I don't want that to be told by someone, who is showing herself off naked!”

I get to my feet. “But by showing off, you can get much more followers! See? Even those stoic perverted elves are shaken by my godly self!” I run up to the guy and rub my body against him, which results in a completely natural reaction.

The woman's face gets red like a tomato. “We aren't perverts!”

“What? It's not perverted to drink someone else’s bathing water? Well I suppose mortals have all kinds of strange fetishes.... tell me, how do you feel when you drink a god's bathing water.” I change places and press myself against the female.

“It's … it's refreshing. And it heals all kinds of sicknesses. And when mixed with some herbs, it raises fertility or acts as a good poison for arrows.” The guy admits in a low tone.

The elven woman is turning blue by now. It's seems she is almost dying of shame. Don't tell me they came here as a pair to...?

I move my fingertip around her navel and whisper into her ear. “I will help you out. Try again soon and I am sure you will be blessed with twins!”

The woman is now blue up to the tips of her ears.

“See Lada? They aren't perverts at all! They just use my bathing water to make all kinds of strange medicine! Oh mortals sure find a use for everything.” -Me

Lada sighs and waves her hand. Both elves drop to the ground. “I think you had your fun now. And I am sure they will tell their people to not disturb the goddess, while she is using her hot spring. You don't use it very often anyway, so there is no harm in them being here.”

Both elves look up at me with frightened faces. “Fine, but if you damage my hot spring, I will make the volcano erupt and flatten your village!”

Both run out of the cave without answering. Holy water......

I jump into the pool again. “So why do I have the honour of your presence Lada?”

Lada doesn't enter the hot spring and just walks above the water. “I heard some disturbing news about you during the last meeting of the Council. I hoped we could talk about it in private.”

What's wrong this time? Lada is the only Council member, which isn't rotten to the core. If I have to deal with the Council, I prefer to talk with her. She is a goddess of harmony after all.

And maybe I would even call her a friend? At least I know that she cares for me. Otherwise she wouldn't come here to speak to me. She is obviously doing it without the knowledge of the other Council members.

I wave for her to go on.

“Tjenemit believes that you are planning something stupid. He wants to know where all the vanished gods are. He is investigating their whereabouts and he believes that you have a hand in it. He thinks that you are hiding much more than those two inside one of your void zones.” Lada drops the whole bomb at me.

“Hmm. I don't have anyone else, beside those two inside my void zone. Why are you even worried? I took a magical oath to the Council. If I would ever raise my hand against you, I would loose my divinity and die.” I answer with closed eyes, while drifting inside the water.

“They believe you found a way to bypass your oath. You don't know what's on the line here! I took a look at Tjenemit's research. It is very convincing. Whatever you are doing, you have to stop it! Such a stupid little plan won't work against the Council! They will find out and deal with you, I can't stop them! I can't stop them, they are too strong! Especially El Shaddai!” -Lada

I rise out of the water and hug Lada. “It's okay Lada. You are the only god among them, whose soul hasn't completely died yet. And it isn't a stupid little plan. Just trust me, everything will work out in the end. Maybe you will see it.”

“Please don't tell me you are really planning something! You know why the Council was created. The gods have to be controlled somehow! You have no idea about the time before the Council! There is a reason for it's existence!” -Lada

“I know. Everyone strived for power and gods fought each other, dying and being born again. Fighting each other.... . It was an endless cycle of war and bloodshed. Very much like the fight of those two. Only that it happened in the whole multiverse. In the end most gods were slain by the Council and everyone, who didn't obey their rule was locked inside that black hole. You held the new status quo by absolute control and forced your ideals onto every new god, who emerged. And so it has been for an eternity till now.” I answer.

“You know? But..... I never told you...... . But if you know, you should support the Council!” -Lada

“I know because I was much longer inside that void zone than the Council thinks. I got lost in there before the Council won. I am not some little new god, who emerged unnoticed to godhood and made the wrong step, while walking on her first path through the river of souls.”

“ … ”

“The Council is wrong Lada. Maybe it was created with good intentions. But those intentions are just a facade by now. If you are my friend, you will just lean back and remain silent. You wouldn't be able to stop it anyway.” I explain in a gentle tone to my friend.

“What have you done Seria?”

“Hmmm. Nothing huge. I just gathered a lot of people and gave them a choice. I myself don't really know which side they will choose in the end.” -Me

“But if the Council is no more then... “ Lada starts speaking but I interrupt her. “I believe something better will take it's place! And I need you to shove them into the right direction.”

“Me?” -Lada

“Yes. You need to pick up the good parts and help them to find the right path.” I smile at Lada.

“You are playing a dangerous game Seria. But I see that I won't be able to change your mind.” -Lada

“I know my friend.” I answer and smile at her.

“Tjenemit is trying to enter your void zone with a summoning circle. I guess you want to stop him?” -Lada

I think about it for a second. “Maybe it's good if he enters it. He would be alone and cut off from the others. It will be the best chance to start everything.”

“But you will be alone against him! He may be a god of creation, but that doesn't mean that he is weak!” -Lada

I hug Lada tighter. “I won't be alone there. I think I would never be alone again in that void zone.”

38 - Plan or no plan?

I am sitting inside the living room while reading a book. It's good to distract my mind. Celes is sitting across from me.

“You don't have a plan, do you? Don't you want to train? I will help you! The coronation is next week you know? There isn't much time left and that bastard will try to kill you.” She is pestering me for days now.

Train this, train that, come up with a plan. I sigh and drop the book. “I have more knowledge and power than most people in this world. What can a week of training change now?”

“I don't know. I am afraid. I couldn't defeat that bastard! Even if I would fight a perfect fight, I would run out of mana before him. It's unfair!” Celes covers her face with her hands.

“That's because of your fighting style. Your only strategy consists of breaking the enemy's defence with sheer force. And I have to admit, that's enough for you, because you are a genius in inner mana manipulation. You don't waste any of your power, while fighting. But our opponent is cheating in this case, so it's not really a fair fight of power between two persons.” I try to cheer her up.

“Cheating!? How? Can we expose his trick?” -Celes

“No. I guess he received mana from the Meltheim's ritual. They must have found out how to store the stolen mana inside a person.” I am just guessing here. I have no proof.

“B... Ugh. But I thought there is still a maximum to the mana a person can store?” -Celes

I shrug my shoulders. “Then he is very talented and got his possible mana household filled up to the brim. Some people can store more mana than they could ever generate on their own. He could be such a talent. I will just have to fight with my brain and not with muscles.”

“How do you think you can defeat that monster!?” -Celes

“I already fought more powerful opponents and won. You are a perfect example. Though you have much more power at your disposal, I killed you in our fight.” I grin at Celes.

“You died too....... ” She looks at me with a grim expression.

I shrug my shoulder and lay back my head. “Then I need to try harder this time. If the fight lasts long enough, I might get past his passive defence and pop something important inside him.” I muse to myself.

“You know how unlikely that is. It's almost impossible to enchant a person against his will. Your mana inside and around your body is protecting you passively against any outside influence. Someone, who wants to manipulate mana inside your own sphere of control would need to tune his own mana perfectly to your own. Healing is just possible, because your control is already gone. And it just restores something to the state it should originally be in. So the natural defence doesn't interrupt it. But if a healing spell would disturb the natural order inside your body, it would be just cancelled.” Celes explains.

I chuckle. “Perfect explanation, but not entirely correct. Many people think of it like you do. And they are right..... in a very rudimentary way. But the natural magic resistance is a little bit more than that. It's the unconscious refusal of every living organism to be influenced by another’s will. But that unconscious protection isn't without fault. If you get disturbed by a strong pain, or are very focused on something, this defence tends to drop. During my days as soul-mage, I did nothing else than feeling the minds of others. And if you are adept at small manipulations, you can slip past that defence. Tell me, how can I lift you up with my telekinesis? Aren't I manipulating the mana inside you?” I lift Celes up into the air, until she is hovering a little above her seat.

“Huh? But you aren't manipulating the mana inside my body. The protection just stops you from doing something inside my body!” Celes tries to explain.

“That's the error most people fall prey to. I am manipulating your mana. I changed it's location, didn't I? It's just that I am not rearranging the natural flow of mana within you, so your unconscious defence doesn't recognize my intervention as harmful and didn't activate. So I slipped past your defence.” I explain.

I continue. “I could do everything I want, as long as I don't rearrange the flow of your mana, I could teleport the air out of your lungs, or heat up the food inside your belly to cook you from inside. If you are distracted strong enough, I could go farther and manipulate something small which really belongs to your body. But that's enough, I could pop a vein in your head, or slice the nerves inside your spinal cord.”

“So why don't you do it all the time then?” -Celes

“Because everyone gets indoctrinated to set up a magic shield as the first thing to do during combat. Fighters do it by coating themselves inside mana or an aura, mages cast a real shield. Lower class magicians and fighters just think of it as the first line of defence. But to an experienced soul-mage, it's the last line of defence. It's everything that stops me from executing Markorn on the spot.” -Me

“Then you have a big problem, he activates that thing every fight. It's the first thing he does. And it's his best weapon. It's not a problem to keep it up either.” -Celes

“I just have to make him drop that stupid mana aura for a mere second. One second is all I need and I could dissect him in a thousand different ways.” I stare into the fire.

“What if you lift him up like in your first fight and spin him until he looses consciousness.” -Celes

“It would be nice if it would work. But I fear he has at least some possibilities to attack from afar. Mother said that his father is a smart guy and everyone knows how I fight. It would be stupid to send someone against me, who couldn't escape something like that.” -Me

“So we really need a distraction.” -Celes

“Would you strip and dance on the throne, I am sure that would ..” *SMACK* “..Okay. No naked princess on the throne for my coronation.” I sigh.

“Perverted stuff is forbidden until marriage! Think of a better plan.” -Celes

“Yes my queen.” *Smack* “No sarcastic comments either!”

“But you are my queen!” This wasn't fair. Celes stops with an already raised hand. “Oh, you are right. Well then you are forgiven.” She leans down and gives me a kiss on the forehead, giving me a nice view at... ohohoho... if she evolves even further I might forget her personality!

*Whip!*

Ow! Fucking tail!

“You know what that one was for!” She leans back in her seat again.

“You sure you don't want to distract him with a little dance?” I ask her, but she doesn't even consider to give an answer.

“I guess I will have to die a gruesome death and you will get raped by that guy every night from then on.” I shake my head.

“If you trained your soul magic so much, then just walk up to him and do some stuff to his soul, wouldn't that work?” -Celes

“Hoh, that's the idea! When the duel starts, I will kill the stupid spectators and create a horde of zombie's to cover him in a mountain of corpses. But I have to disappoint you, soul magic is just about tuning yourself to other souls, heightening your sensibility for them. It allows you tricks like my instant casting and using the weak points inside someone’s defence.” -Me

“I feel that you aren't entirely honest, but I will forgive you.” Celes fiddles with her fingers. “You know? We could just try to murder him together. Fuck the stupid laws of this world. We will deal with everything else afterwards.”

“I am shocked! A god of order proposes to break the law!” I shake my head.

“The laws of this world are barbaric! They challenge you to duels on every occasion! It's like some bad movie!” Celes hits on the table.

“Well, it's the easiest way for them to get rid of me, while gaining all the power at the same time. Fortunately simply assassinating me wouldn't ensure the throne at the same time. If the king dies by assassination, the new king would be chosen by election. I am sure that the crown would just go back to Nicosar. Strangely enough he is loved by the public.” -Me

“I heard he was a good king while he held the title. During the war, he became a hero. Fucking geezer, if the people just knew his real personality!” Celes shakes a fist at her words.

I nod too. “It's late already, I want to sleep.” Standing up, I turn to the door, but Celes jumps on my back. “Hey!”

“I have to check another item on my list! Being carried piggyback to my room and laid on my bed!” She hugs me tighter and almost chokes me.

“I don't think we are on those terms yet.” I am not a horse!

“There is a reward!” She whispers into my ear and dangles a piece of chocolate before me.

*chocolate* or *humiliation* or *chocolate* or *humiliation* or *chocolate* or *humiliation*

39 - Coronation!?

“I look like a penguin in this!” This isn't right! I am about to fight for my life and I look like some opera singer from Italy!

“This is the traditional garb for the coronation. No chance to get around it.” My mother explains.

“Wonderful. At least we can please the audience.” I stretch a little. “This will rip during the fight! I will be butt naked on the throne.”

“That would be bad. I will go and get you my old robe! I should fit you just fine.” Nicosar offers and runs off.

I let out a heavy sigh. “You are king of the fucking world and you can't get a suit that fits.”

“You remember the right words to take the crown from the priest?” Ireth interrogates me again. She asked for the fourth time now.

“Yes. Hereby I take the throne and swear to protect the country and it's people. Not that hard to remember. Much more important, anything new about our brethren?” I ask with a displeased tone.

“No. But I am sure they will come. Though I didn't officially invite them.” Ireth smiles at me.

The door flies open and Nicosar storms in. “Here try this. I wore it just once, so it should be fine.”

I get dressed and surprisingly, it fits! “Hoh, not bad, at least this proofs that you are my grandson. You have the same build as me, when I took the throne.”

“Hmpf. Yeah, I suppose this will work.” I nod while looking at myself in the mirror. At least this suit isn't so close to the opera style. “I will be off then, I'll be back in a few minutes.”

“What? No, the coronation is in half an hour!” Ireth wants to stop me, but I already teleported.

The world around me distorts and reforms again. I am in my facility and in front of me is the cold fusion reactor, which supplies the city with energy.

Three workers are repairing something. They are very concentrated and have their backs to me. “Hrm. Hrm!” They turn around. “Prince! Shouldn't you be at the coronation!?”

“I need something, and that's the access cover for the main power supply line, am I right?” I ask them.

“Yes?” One of them answers with an enquiring voice.

“Step back, I just need a second.” All three step back and I take a look at a knot of cables. Some of them are a little burned. The distribution device, which I am looking at is under high strain and has to be maintained very often.

But it's no problem, the workers were just replacing the old parts. Everything in my facility is redundant. There are at least two replacement systems for everything.

I am only interested in the heavy red plate behind all the other cables. It gives access to the big cables, which transport the electrical energy to the city. I grab the plate, which protects against accidents and pull it off.

“!!That's dangerous! You need the right protection prince!”

“I know.” I feel the energy, which is running through the cables and grab them. Even before I touch them a spark of energy reaches for my hand, but I just absorb the power and convert it to mana. A little bit of smoke rises from my fingers and I cut my nerves with telekinesis. Sparks of electrical energy wander around my body without harming me. The lights start to flicker.

Humans may be the best containers for magical power, but it's way more convenient to convert mana from another source of power like I am doing now.

I waited with this until the last moment to be sure to walk into the fight with every ounce of power I can hold. Unfortunately Markorn is a real talent and will still have much more mana at his disposal.

This will somehow even the odds.

After a minute I pull my hands back, which are a little charred at the fingertips. It's hard to control the conversion process. A little healing spell fixes the problem.

The lights come back online, seems like I drained a little more than the systems could handle. I turn around and look at the three pale faced workers.

“Ar.. Are … you okay?” Seems like they already saw their heads being lopped off for letting the prince commit suicide.

“No problem, I just needed a little more power than the system could handle.” I look at the now completely charred electronics. “You will have to do a little more work than you anticipated.”

“N.. no problem, we will work overtime.” Another one of them offers. I smile and wave my goodbyes, while I teleport back to my room.

“Where have you been! We had a short power outage here.” Nicosar asks.

“I just paid a short visit to my lab.” I walk to the door and leave for the throne room. Nicosar and Ireth follow me with grim determination.

When I arrive at the entrance I can see Celes with Katrine and Arthur. I wave at them and walk into the throne room. There are just nobles from Tirna. No wonder, why should a Stricc noble visit the coronation of the king of Tirna.

I make my way to the throne, where a priest of the church is waiting for me. Everyone's eyes are on me. The hall is completely silent.

While I am on my way, I identify some familiar faces. I identify Sandra, Gabriel and the Cygnus siblings in the first row of spectators. I smile, while I walk by.

I couldn't find Markorn or Seredorn. Though I know Seredorn just from bad pictures. It is unlikely that I would recognize him.

Arriving at the priest beside the throne, I nod to him and he starts to speak to the audience.

“Nobles of Tirna! We are all here today to....” I stop to listen to boring speech and scan the people for the problematic individuals. But it's hard to find a special person inside that crowd. Mother and grandfather took place in the first row of the audience.

A few minutes later the priest arrives at the important part of his speech. “.... and if there is someone, who believes himself a better king. He may speak now or remain silent forever!”

The priest looks over the crowd and just as he wants to speak again. “I will be a stronger king! I challenge Angrod of Tirna!”

Murmurs start to spread inside the big hall and everyone tries to find the rude person, who disturbed the coronation.

The crowd parts and two people are standing there. It's Markorn and a guy which couldn't be anyone else than Seredorn. Seredorn is strongly resembling my father. He holds himself upright with a walking stick and his left leg is missing from the knee downwards.

The priest is shocked. “And with which right are you challenging Angrod?”

Markorn steps forward. “I am Markorn of Tirna, son of Seredorn of Tirna. The previous kings brother!”

The priest grinds his teeth. Obviously he wasn't informed about this breach of protocol. “Then the challenge is legal! You are the challenged party, you have the choice of weapons and location.” The priest turns to me and looks at me.

“Right here, right now! No weapons.” This will be over fast. At least I hope so. If this becomes a long fight it could go badly for me.

The people try to enlarge their distance from us and I approach Markorn. Seredorn limps to the side with a sly smile on his face.

A few feet before Markorn I stop and take a look back at the priest. “You give the sign.” The priest nods and I turn back and look at Markorn.

The stupid idiot is grinning at me like he already won. He has no clue what I am capable of. I don't like dying. It hurts. And you lose memories. I don't like to lose memories.

“START!”

Markorn explodes with mana and disappears. I teleport. Reappearing directly before Seredorn, who is standing in the first row of onlookers with other nobels. His eyes go wide, as he looks at me.

“Hi, uncle!” Focusing mana into my left hand, I stab it directly into his chest. He opens his mouth with a surprised look on his face, but no scream comes out.

I feel a mighty power inside Seredorn. Obviously he underwent the same treatment as Markorn. Right decision!

Retracting my hand, I turn around. Everything took less than five seconds. Markorn is standing at the point, where I was before. He looks at me with an open mouth, not really understanding the situation.

Seredorn crumbles behind me and I start to walk towards Markorn.

The mana inside him wavers, swirling and twisting, obviously his soul is in great turmoil. I grin at him and throw the beating heart of his father directly into his face.

It lands on his cheek and drops to the ground. Still not realizing the situation he stares at the beating heart to his feet.

I charge forward and strike at his face. *Krack!* A tooth flies out of his mouth and I feel his fighting aura waver. An opening!

Feeling my way, I get a hold on some muscles in his right arm. Taking what I can get, I slice at them with telekinesis.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

Suddenly Markorns body blurs and something hits me right into the chest! Driving the air out of my lungs, I am thrown upwards and impact the ceiling, penetrating it.

Impacting the ceiling of the next floor, I fall down again, together with tons of debris. Markorn is already waiting and thrusts a hand towards me, but I teleport behind him.

Another part of the ceiling dents in. It seems like he released some kind of shock-wave. I grab his shoulder and convert the mana, I stored within myself, back to electrical energy.

While the surge of power shakes us both he grabs my hand and tries to throw me over his shoulder, but I stick to him with all my might and we roll over the floor.

Fighting this fight in a normal way would be my end. I stay as close as possible, while he grabs and breaks my hand. But I feel nothing. I cut my nerves, when I started this.

I tear and rip at his mana with my will alone. Pouring energy into healing myself, while ripping parts of his aura away and converting it into my own mana.

This is no stupid duel with rules. I will show you bastard a real fight with life and death on the line. No nice fighting rules. No forbidden use of lethal attacks.

Sparks of pure energy fly back and forth between us. He stabs a hand through my ribs and destroys something important.

I don't care. All my concentration is focused at tuning myself to his energy. With a hand I claw my fingers into his face and eyes. With an animalistic scream he rolls on top of me and tries to snap my neck with his good hand.

He almost managed it, but I reinforce my body further by using the same fighting aura as him. It's a rough method, that's why I hate to use it. It's nowhere as good as his version and worlds apart from Celes. I just waste mana, but it keeps him from killing me outright.

Suddenly something within him loosens and I slip past his defence. I rip and tear! Throwing him to the side and rolling above him. He goes limp and his hands fall to the ground.

With a savage grin I get to my knees and pull something out of him. Kukuku! You are mine now! I promised I wouldn't make this fast.

Somehow I get to my feet. I am a bloody mess and I don't have an ounce of mana left. A ghostly green figure is struggling in my hand. It's a splitting image of Markorn. Just that his broken body is lying to my feet.

I hold the ghost at it's head, while it is obviously screaming in horrible pain. But no sound is heard within the whole hall. Everything is silent now.

Slowly limping towards the shocked priest, I grab the crown out of his hands and press the thumb sized crystal, which is framed into it, against Markorn. He is still wriggling, trying to free himself, while he is sucked into the crystal.

Finishing it's business, the crystal starts to emit a green glow. Mwahaha! I will take my time with you. I had two months to think up some things for you! Realizing that i have probably a problematic expression on my face again, i try to straighten up.

I put the crown on. Limping towards the throne, I drop myself into it. I cough up blood. Fuck, I don't want to know how this hurts. Thank the multiverse for well used telekinesis.

Letting my gaze slide across the hall with nobles I ask:

“Anyone else who has complaints?”

All spectators shake their heads in unison.

“Th... Then I declare prince Angrod of Tirna as the new King of Tirna!” The priest stutters.

“Hereby I take the throne and swear to protect the country and it's people.” I answer the ritualistic words.

“And since I am feeling a little tired, my first order is to clear the throne room. I will hold a speech, when this mess is cleared up!” I wave at Markorn's and Seredorn's bodies.

Everyone starts to file out of the room. Mother and Grandfather run up to me. Mother is crying and immediately kneels down to stop the blood flowing out of the wound in my side.

“It's okay... It doesn't hurt.” I gurgle and blood is coming out of my mouth. Fuck, seems like my body is seriously messed up.

Arthur, Katrine and Celes also come up to me. Katrine joins Ireth in her efforts to heal me. “This looks bad.” Arthur looks at me like I was already a goner.

Celes clenches her fists. “I told you! We should have taken him together and beaten down all the bastards afterwards.” She has tears in her eyes. Do I really look that bad?

“I have already called for the best healers, they were waiting close by. They should be here any second.” Arthur informs us.

The guards close the doors and we are alone. At that Celes turns around and runs back to Markorn's dead body. She grabs his head and lifts it a little.

Searching around inside his hair, she suddenly pulls a hairpin out of his head and lets go. *Thud*

Walking back to us, Arthur gives her an inquisitive look.

“No proof, no accusation, no deed!” She explains.

I grin while everything goes dark...............

40 - A Dream?

It has been two days already, but Angrod still didn't wake up. When the healers arrived, after he went unconscious, they already wanted to file a death report before even looking at him!

After hours of uncertainty they healed his body but because he was severely weakened, he hasn't woken up till now. The medicine of this world is amazing. Within hours, they announced his wounds to be healed.

I already thought myself a widow before marriage. Even with the ring, Angrod gave me, I am bad at magic, so I left the first aid to Ireth and Katrine.

Right now I am at Angrod's side and trying to wake him up by stimulating the flow of mana within him. If there was enough of it... he feels more like a corpse. By gripping his hands directly, I am able to feel it somehow.

We are inside his room and the healers are paying visits every hour. Stupid idiot hermit! What should I do, if he leaves me alone now! Couldn't we have just fought together?

I don't know how this was possible yet. Somehow he gained a huge amount of mana for this fight. I hope he didn't go to the streets and suck some people dry! But if he did that, it would already be known.

The fight itself shocked all the nobles. There are already some voices that a king shouldn't attack bystanders. But there are very few of them. I guess everyone is afraid of being added to Angrod's crown next.

I hope nobody finds out that I intervened. My parents gave me a day's worth of lectures. But the opportunity was so great! After Angrod had penetrated the ceiling and Markorn fired that shock-wave after him, a huge part of the ceiling caved in. That created a huge cloud of dust, which was enveloping them.

Just reacting on the spur of the moment, I pulled a hairpin out of my pinned up hair and threw it. Everyone was concentrated on the fight and no one paid attention to me.

The small hairpin disappeared inside the dust cloud and struck the figure I had identified as Markorn. By paying attention, I had a pretty good idea which figure was the right one.

Katrine had given me a shocked look, but didn't say anything. I was right next to her, so she became aware of my action.

I know myself that I took a huge risk. Interfering in such a manner could have easily tipped the delicate political balance. Even if our reputation is very good at the moment, if something like this would become public.... I don't want to think about it.

I hope he wakes up soon, his hands are so cold! He has to be warmed up somehow. Hmm, he isn't conscious right now, so I can do everything I want to him. Hohoohohhoho! This is the perfect chance to get a whole lot of items from my check-list.

I carefully lift the sheet and hug the stupid hermit, while sneaking under the cover. Hahaha, you can't run away now!

His mana feels so familiar. Like in the old times, when he was Johann. I relax while I fall asleep.

*****

I am sitting at a bench. Behind me is a house of wood and fields stretch to the horizon. Before me is a valley with a forest and a lake.

Is this a dream? I know this place. Am I dead and this is the real afterlife? I pinch my cheek, but I feel the pain. And this bench feels too real. But this is my house, from the time I was with Sandra.

“How is it?”

I jump up and turn at the voice behind me. “Seria, You!”

“Hiiiii.” The goddess waves at me with a smile. I try to ignore the almost transparent dress.

“What are you here for? Am I about to be sent to the next punishment?” I ask her.

“Nope, I just wanted to say hello and ask how it is going.” She sits down on the bench and pats beside her, signalling that I should sit down too.

I sit down, no point in opposing a god. “Why would you need to ask me? Can't you check for yourself?”

“I am just talking to you via long range telepathy. I didn't visit your world for quite a while. If I did, Tjenemit would immediately get access and I am not quite ready yet.” She explains to me, but I understand exactly nothing.

“Could you please start at the beginning? I know that some fanatics are currently trying to summon a god to my current world. But a council member at that? And why would any god have the need to be summoned?” Seria will have to do some explaining here.

“Unfortunately I don't have very much time. Just until you wake up. But to make it short. Your world is inside a void zone. It is my personal playground, no other god has access to it. I grabbed you two for myself, because I like you two. Tjenemit isn't too fond of me and has found out about my little rebellion against the council. Although he has no proof, he is trying to get access to this world. I plan to let him enter your world to fight him there. I can't come to the world, because it would help him to get access and I am not ready to fight him, yet.”

“A rebellion against the Council?” I ask her.

“Just a little long term plan of mine.” Seria smiles an innocent smile at me.

“And what if I stop him from gaining access at all?” I ask her.

“Feel free to try, but when I interpret the stuff in your head correctly, it's unlikely. Other questions?” -Seria

“How do you know this place?” -Me

“Hmmm, I wonder? It's a nice and peaceful place isn't it? That reminds me! How is it going with your wife? Did you two already make up?” -Seria

“You are trying to evade the question...... It is going okay I guess?” I answer.

“Wonderful, I wish I could show up to the marriage! Maybe I will project an image of myself to visit you for a few hours.” -Seria

“Why are you so enthusiastic about this?” -Me

“Why shouldn't I be enthusiastic about the marriage of two people, I brought together? But I fear our time is up.” Seria pats my head.

“What? You still have some explaining to do!” Somehow the world distorts and starts to fade away.

“Don't forget to take a close look at that soul, you captured........ and be nice to your wife.”

….

….

I open my eyes and look at the ceiling. “That's what I would call a nightmare.” I look to the side and see my mother smiling at me.

“I am glad you woke up.” She whispers and I become aware that something is lying on top of me. I lift the sheet and discover Celes. “Why are you using a sick person as a body pillow?”

“She was at your bed for three days now, like me. The healers already started to dig your grave.” -Ireth

“Is that so? I guess I will have to disappoint them. Anything else?” -Me

“Nothing that couldn't wait. After your little demonstration, everyone was surprisingly docile. I never heard so few complaints.” -Ireth

Ireth pats my head with a relieved expression and leaves the room. Wait! You have to take Celes with you. I try to slip out of her grasp, but suddenly she tightens down around me like a vice! OOWW! I need the healers again!

“Nyahahhaha. You won't get away...... the body pillow has no right to sneak off......”

What the hell are you dreaming!?

41 - A bad prophecy?

I am sitting on the throne and playing around with Markorn's soul. It's been a few years since I had a toy like that. Right now he is going through his own little hell.

Should I give him a chalkboard session next? Or should I let him experience something else? Maybe another little dissection to find out what's wrong with his soul?

Hmmm.

“You have that expression again. And you promised to let his soul go as soon, as you found out what you needed to know.” Ireth gives me questioning look. Everyone else of the family is here too. I just held a little speech to the nobles and gave Ireth and Nicosar governing rights too.

It's a pain to do everything on my own, so the more annoying stuff they can take off of my shoulders, the better.

“I just found out that his soul is missing something. The same something, Celes and I are missing. And I will wipe his memories before I let him go. I don't like to have enemies, who could remember a past grudge.” -Me

“He is a former god too? Is this world becoming a meeting place for ex-gods?” -Katrine asks with a surprised expression.

“Yes. Though he has no memories of it. Everything he remembers is this single live, he lived in this world. Unfortunately he cannot give much information about the Meltheims. They powered him and his father up, before they shut themselves inside their city. I had hoped for a little back-door, but they were smart enough to not inform him, if they have something like that.” I scratch the broken tip of my left horn.

It broke during my fight with Markorn and it still itches. The healers think it will regrow because I have pure blood, but it will take a while.

Nicosar's broken horn didn't heal because he has mixed blood.

Now that I think about it, how did it get broken in the first place? Couldn't Nicosar just have healed himself?

“Don't do that, the healers said it wouldn't grow correctly if you disturbed it!” Celes snatches my hand. “Haaaah. You have no idea how annoying it is.”

“Just make that -no pain- thing of yours then.” She is much too concerned about me.

“Don't want to. It works by cutting my nerves and healing them afterwards. It would be a pain if they healed on their own in the wrong way. This isn't a really good long term solution.” -Me

“Then deal with it like an adult.” -Celes

“Though your horn surely isn't why you called us all to remain here for an important discussion. I have to manage the other part of the continent you know? There aren't less idiots there. So if it's nothing important, I would like to do some real work.” Arthur crosses his arms before his chest. Seems like he is a little stressed at the moment.

“Oh, sorry I just wanted to inform you about the end of the world.” I nod and smile, while everyone looks at me with shocked faces.

“From the begining please?” -Nicosar

“When I was unconscious, Seria paid me a visit. She told me that she has a little rebellion going against the Council. You remember? The rulers of the multiverse. Because of certain circumstances, they can't visit this world. It lies within a void zone, that's a space where god's can't leave and enter as they please. It seems that Tjenemit, one of the Council members, managed to get information about a summoning circle for him to this world. The stupid Meltheims found it and believed the promises that came with it. Seria is unable to come here in person, because it would give Tjenemit immediate access, if he followed her. But it seems like she is preparing to fight him here, as soon as he is summoned. If she is serious with her rebellion, it's a good chance for her to catch a Council-member on his own and without assistance of the others. So she isn't opposed to let him be summoned.” I take a deep breath and look at the others.

“But... but.... That will be Armageddon!” Celes screams at me.

“Can you explain why Seria should want to rebel against the Council. I still don't get the whole power issue outside my own world.” Arthur asks with a pale face, so Celes and I take another hour to explain the real issue of existence and reincarnation.

“So the Council dictates what every god is allowed to do? Aaand they punished you, because you killed each other?” Katrine asks with a surprised look. Both Celes and I nod.

“But you see, we were stuck with each other for over a thousand years. If we were allowed to abandon our jobs, anyone of us could have just left and gone somewhere else. The current system is partly at fault for our fight.” -Celes

“To think that being a god is just a job for my daughter ....” Katrine shakes her head and massages her temples.

“Well Seria will fight Tjenemit here. And that will be most likely cause serious destruction.” I sum it up.

“What scale are we talking about?” -Arthur

“When Angrod and I got personal, we wrecked a world. So no point in hiding anywhere.” Celes grumbles.

“I don't think Seria would do that if she thought, the destruction would be so big. We should still consider evacuating as much of the north as we can around the City of Seria. Just in case everything goes well.” -Me

“We should evacuate the north, just in case everything goes well....” Ireth whispers to herself.

“Maybe we can stop the summoning?” Nicosar asks hopefully.

I shrug my shoulders. “Maybe, but Seria was pretty sure, I wouldn't manage it. At least we still have a few years to put our stuff in order.” I straighten my suit.

“How long exactly?” Ireth asks.

“At least three years if I interpret the newest readings correctly. In five years the summoning should be done for sure. It's hard to tell without any data directly from the source.” -Me

“So we will have three to five years. At least that's enough time to prepare.” Arthur talks to himself.

“I will have my project finished in three years too. It will be a close call, but in three years we will have a weapon which is able to break the shield. So it will be nice if you could plan an offensive for that time Arthur.” -Me

“Hoh, breaking the shield? Would you explain that.” -Arthur

“I would rather not. I have it sealed up inside my facility and all my employees took a magical oath to keep the secret. It's not that I don't trust anyone of you, but it's better if everything is uncovered at the last moment. I want to keep this secret because the Meltheims have already proven that they are capable of setting up disturbances for us. Even though they are hiding behind a shield.” I jump out of the throne.

“If you want to make it a surprise that badly, then I hope it will be a really good surprise.” -Arthur

“Don't worry, I think it will be quite a show.” I grin at Arthur. “I will now go and read a good book, I have found a pretty smart author.”

“No you can't! You need to come with me.” Celes suddenly grabs my arm and pulls me off.

“What, where are we going?” -Me

“Surprise!”

Celes leads me outside the palace, where Rose is waiting with the car. But no matter how often I ask, she won't answer my questions.

Minutes later, we stop on the Cygnus property and I am led inside. After a few corners, we arrive at a somewhat big room, where a few familiar faces shoot confetti at me. The whole room is styled out for a party.

“Congratulations on becoming king!” Celes gives me a box of chocolate. Oohhohoho.... I could make a habit out of becoming king.

The Cygnus siblings, Tanja, Gabriel, Iris, Sven and Sandra congratulate me too. Everyone of the special class has paid a visit.

Everyone is giving me chocolate and congratulating me? Has Celes told them about my weak point?

“They all wanted to get on your good side, after they saw the coronation.” Celes whispers to me.

“Hey, Hey, Angrod can you teach me that soul-thing of yours. I have to learn it! You can still interrogate the bastard after you killed him! Can you? I have to learn that!” Tanja looks at me with sparkling eyes.

“Huh, maybe I will teach you the training basics during class, but I takes a lot of time to master it.” I answer.

“Really? Yay! You know, I always hated that torture stuff to get information! All the blood and body-parts, it's too dirty in my opinion. If I could learn that, everything would be much cleaner!” Tanja nods to herself while talking aloud.

What the hell did her parents teach to her!?

I start to eat chocolate, while I have a nice conversation with the others. It's nice that my coronation didn't change all that much in our relationship. At least I hope that's the case.

42 - A picnic in the woods?

I feel like I am a pet! Yes, if I think about it, our relationship is like I am the pet and Celes is the owner. When I do a pleasing trick I get fed and otherwise I have to stand on guard.

It's infuriating! I am the king of a country! Somehow I have to get the upper hand in our relationship. If I could just remember one weakness of hers from our past life.

Just a single weakness would be enough, but nothing comes to my mind. I remember that she always jumped at every plea of our children.

When I wanted her to do something, I always used our children as middlemen. Ugh, nothing like that available now...... and I am not sure if having children in our current relationship would be a good idea.

And we will get married in a few months! Our parents are already making preparations and are sending out invitations. It looks like they want to throw a party for the whole world!

Huh, I guess they -are- throwing a party for the whole world! Stricc and Tirna will be officially one country after our marriage.

Every weekend Celes drags me off to an event. She always chooses loud places with many people. I really hate those, you can't talk to each other and in the end you just sit side by side and watch the performance. Maybe I should try to go on the offensive? It would surely surprise her if I would take her out on a date by myself?

If I would do something like that, it would surely catch her off guard and maybe I can find a weakness. But where should I bring her to? Hmmmm.....

****

Where should I take him to? Maybe the national flower garden or the new theatre? I can't decide what I like better. No point in asking the hermit, he would surely visit a library if he could choose.

I am in my room and planning our trip for today. There are still some points on my list, which have to be accomplished.

Muahaha. I could do this and that. And afterwards.... I just have to make sure that he can't escape.

“Celes.” A voice behind me shocks me and I cover my list.

“What are you hiding? It's that perverted list of yours isn't it? Have you thought up a few new idiotic points for it?” The hermit asks from behind me.

“It's not perverted! It's a guide to a decent life! And what are you doing inside here? How did you even get in here? I was sure I locked the door!” I ask flabbergasted.

“I just teleported here. Oh, and you locked the door? Where you about to release some urges?” He asks with a smirk on his face.

“Noooo? And don't you have any common decency? Just waltzing inside a lady's room? At least knock first!” I am angry. He acts like this place belongs to him.

“Hoh, Sorry. I didn't think that you would have anything to hide. But if you need some time for yourself first, then my surprise can wait.” He looks at me with an interrogative expression.

Since when did the stupid hermit do anything for me on his own? That's suspicious! On the other hand, he gave me the ring. So he has his generous moments.....

“Umm. No I have nothing planned? Though we have a date today you know? Not a chance that you could distract me from it.” -Me

“Then we can take look at the surprise, care to join me?” He offers his arm to invite me. Something is definitely wrong.

After wavering for a moment, I grab his arm and stand up.

“Then let's go.”

The surroundings distort and are replaced by a wide grassy plateau. A valley stretches out in front of us and at the bottom is a forest with a lake. “Huh? Did you just teleport us?”

“Geez, and there I thought the picnic would be a surprise.” He sits down on the blanket under us and starts to unpack a huge basket with food. “I told Rose to prepare something really good after I found this place. We are in the southern area, which is mostly uninhabited. It took me a few days to clean this mountain valley from all the monsters, so we could have a nice evening here. It's really cool when the sun sets and the whole sky is painted in red. Why are you feeling my forehead?”

“I just wanted to make sure you don't have a fever.” I sit down beside him and help to unpack. “So if I understand it correctly you took care of today's date?”

“Huh, why not? You are planning all the others. And you always bring us to noisy places with many people. So I thought I would take you somewhere quiet for once. Otherwise talking would be just a huge pain.” -Angrod

Huh? He wants to talk to me? The other places were too noisy? So he didn't like the dates I organized? I am not sure if I should hit or kiss him.

“Here that stuff is really good, you have to try it.” He holds a piece of meat into my face and I open my mouth, so he can feed it to me.

“It's good did Rose make that?” I ask. “I think so, she is really talented with cold food.” He smiles at me.

What's up with this pink atmosphere? Is the hermit sick? Or could he really be trying on his own? Oh my, didn't I want this all the time? Why can't I just believe him? Um, I will just believe in his good intentions! Yes. That's the right choice!

We sit down together to eat the wonderful food.

“I chose this place because we will have a nice sunset soon.” He continues to explain.

“W... wait, does that mean you just teleported us to another time zone? How far can you teleport with two people? It's incredible hard to teleport short distances alone and you just took me with you like nothing!” I am shocked.

“Huh? It's not that hard, really. Other magicians just teach that teleportation is an incredible complex and dangerous field. But it's not that hard to master if you have reincarnation. I trained long range teleportation before I became a god. It's a handy skill because many worlds don't have a good transportation system. I killed myself a few times in the process, but who cares if you just come back to life anyway. That was when I had a deep depression and concentrated just on honing my skills.” -Angrod

Ugh. So he killed himself while training teleportation alone. How did you learn to take someone with you? Did you just grab some innocent person from the street and started teleporting around the world? I don't want to think about it.

It's okay! He may have some really dangerous impulses, but even he wouldn't just start to experiment on random people. Probably he took some guy, who really pissed him off. Yeah that's it.

“Here, I have another present for you.” He grabs a small box and gives it to me. I open it and there are two nice silver earrings inside. Their style matches my ring, which assists me in casting spells.

“They are a set with your ring. The ring could only save up a few selected spells on his own. Those earrings supply additional memory, so you can save three times as many spells now. If you don't copy any overly complicated spells, it should be enough for thirty smaller spells. And you can activate the spells by a thought now. It will take some time to learn how to handle it, but it should be much more convenient to use the ring now.” He explains to me in a happy and anticipating voice.

I blush. Somehow my face feels hot. He really is thinking about me! He wouldn't develop something like that otherwise. He has no use for it. I smile and hug him. “That's such a nice present.”

He goes stiff when I hug him. Oh, he is still such an innocent boy! Maybe I should? Using the moment I give him a long kiss. He falls backwards and I sit on top of him.

Then I smile at him. “Ohohoh, it's unfortunate. But we will have to wait with the aftermath until we are married.” I inform him with a smug grin.

Suddenly his face twists into a devilish grin. “Now I remember! Weren't you actually quite ticklish?” He grabs my belly and..

“HahaahAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHANOOOHAHAHSTOPPPHAHAHAHAHA”

*WHACK!*

Uugh. Stupid hermit! Why do you have to destroy the mood! I just struck him unconscious. Serves you right! If I wouldn't be somewhere in the woods because of you, I would just leave you here and walk home by myself!

But that reminds me of another item on my list. I pull him upright and lean him against one of the stones. Then I sit on his lap and lean against him.

Aaaah. That's a nice comfortable position. Much better than the stupid hard earth! I watch the sunset and eat the food until he wakes up.

“You shouldn't have hit that hard!” He complains.

“Serves you right! But I forgave you because the sunset is really beautiful.” I answer.

“I can't feel my feet....” -Angrod

“Deal with it!” Men don't need feet. They should be happy to be a body pillow!

“Hrm. If my queen is happy. And I remembered that you are quite ticklish, I guess today wasn't that bad.” He hugs me from behind.

“Fufufufu. It's true. Today is a really good day. A nice present and I found out that you can teleport me anywhere I want to go. That increases the amount of possible dating places by leaps and bounds!”

“...”

43 - Graduation party!

I have graduated! No more school! Well unless I decide to go for university too. Of course the tests weren't a problem. After all I have a few lifetimes of experience.

Right now we are celebrating in the same valley, I found a few months ago. I took some of my employees and ordered them to build me a nice little house of wood with a good view on the lake.

Then we created an electrical fence to keep out the wildlife. Right now this my own little hiding place. Though we invited some guests today.

We have everyone from the special class here. Teacher Tongord, Jeniva and Samarin joined us too. Rose and a few other maids are taking care of the food. From my parents side just Ireth and Katrine came. Nicosar and Arthur stayed in the palace to keep an eye on everything.

Everyone is having fun, while I am lying in the grass. I need to rest a little. Teleporting so many people in short order is a little straining.

The queens are talking with the teachers and Rose. The girls are playing volleyball, while Iris and Stephen seem to be in their own world on a bench. They surely hit it off right from the start? I never would have thought it would turn out like that.

Margerie is playing with her drone in a few meters distance.

“You found a nice place here.” Sven tells me from behind.

“Yeah. It's reminding me of a really nice time. I had to search for quite a while to find it.” I answer him.

“It's interesting that everything can seem so nice and normal while we are at war.” -Sven

“I don't think you really could call it a war. They are hiding behind their shield while we are constantly bombarding them with everything we have. The situation doesn't change in any way.” -Me

“Though we are still in a state of war.” Sven reminds me.

“It's not possible to mobilize the army otherwise. The laws are ironclad in that regard.” -Me

“Hmmm. It's still hard on the nerves to have it always on your mind. But I guess you can distract yourself soon with a pretty queen. The marriage will be next week? The whole world is already talking about it! Will you pop the cherry on the first night?” He grins at me.

Now you have done it! If you really want to play that game, you made a poor choice. I may be a little dense in terms of relationships, but I have still much more experience than you! I throw my hands up in the air. “What happened to the cute little shy boy I first met at my introduction party. I don't recognize him any more.....”

“Th.. That was years ago! I worked on my character since then.” He nods to himself.

I sit up. “But you still haven't told Tanja about your feelings. So you aren't that different after all.”

“Wh.. What are you talking about? Tanja is my cherished childhood friend.” -Sven

“Are you sure? I noticed that you always look at her when you think that she doesn't realize it.” I smirk at him.

“I don't do that!” He got red all over.

“Don't worry about it, it's nothing bad to like older girls. But you should be sure to tell her your feelings. Women feel it when you look at them. If you don't tell her your feelings, she will just think you became a creepy, lecherous guy.” -Me

His jaw drops. “If you want I can help you. I will set up a situation with you and her alone.” I offer to him. Just wait, I can be a horrible guy. Mwahaha. You will have the time of your life. Never accept my help without second thoughts.

“Huh? You would do that?” He asks hopeful.

I smile at him and he puts on a wary expression. Seems like I put on that face again? “Don't worry! I will take care of it, but the rest is up to you.” I jump up and put my hands on his shoulders.

“Whh.. when will we start. I have to prepare myself!” He asks.

I take a look at Tanja, who sits on a bench and is waiting for the next game of volleyball to start.

“Hmmm... How? …. About?.... NOW?” I teleport us both up to the hills above my woodhouse. His eyes become round and he looks left and right to get the situation.

I teleport again, before he can collect himself and appear right beside Tanja, who didn't move. She jumps a little at my sudden appearance.

“I need you for a second, care to join me?” I put a hand on her shoulder and teleport again. We appear right beside Sven who is still trying to get the situation.

“Have a nice time you two. The house is about half an hour away. Walk in this direction.” I point downward and smile at them. “If you walk at a normal pace you should be back soon. Bye!” Before  anyone can say something I teleport again and reappear on Tanja's bench with a satisfied expression.

“Why did you just abduct Tanja?” Sandra asks me, while I get stared at by the volleyball players.

“I was asked by a lesser being to help him in an epic quest of love! So I decided to help. They should be back in half an hour, I just teleported them up the hill to be alone.” -Me

Everyone looks around and realizes that Sven is missing too.

“No way! He wouldn't?” Sandra smirks at me and Celes smacks her head. “That's why he always looked at her like a perverted old man!”

“I never would have thought that he would go for older ones, how bold! If I knew I would have eaten him up. I like the cute and silent type. Hopefully he gets turned down. Then I can console him and reap the fruit. Mmmmhhhh.” Everyone looks at Sandra, who just blurted out a pretty dangerous line.

“If you like younger ones, then how about me. I would be happy to end your loneliness.” Gabriel knees before Sandra and smiles at her. She looks down on him like she is considering it but... “NO. Sorry, but you are neither cute nor shy. So no fun there. I don't like red ones either, so you will have to search somewhere else!” Gabriel lets himself fall on the face and moves no more.

“But if you like, I guess I could introduce you to one of my seven little sisters. You are a decent fellow after all.” -Sandra

Gabriel jumps to his feet. “I am at your service! Of course I would cherish everyone of them.”

“I don't think you could handle all of them, you would be dead in no time.” -Sandra

“I will try my best!”

Who would have thought that Sandra has seven little sisters? She never talked about it. What about brothers! Her parents must be pumping them out like on an assembly line! They don't just look like rabbit-men, they are rabbits!

“Anyway, you have to play now Angrod! You abducted our fourth player after all.” Celes informs me.

“I will play with my queen then!” Before anyone can vocalize anything, I sprint onto her side of the field.

“Hoh, where does that enthusiasm come from?” She asks me.

I smile and point at the other side, where her opponents fought for their lifes during the last match. The whole field is packed with dents, which have the outline shape of volleyballs.

Playing against Celes isn't a game of hitting the ball back to her side of the playing field. It's a game to evade the ball in order to live another day.

“Hmmmmm. You are no fun!” After Celes's observation, we start to play. I have the honour to watch while Sandra and Gabriel fight for their lifes. Celes is too strong. Every ball she hits just disappears, followed by a rising dust cloud inside the enemy's field.

An hour later Rose calls us for dinner and we stop the survival training game.

“Didn't you say you teleported them just a short distance? They should already be back.” Gabriel asks me.

“I don't know. They could see the house, it's impossible to get lost like that. They are about ten minutes from here, I can feel their presence.” -Me

“Muuuuh... She must have eaten him on the spot. Maybe they are hiding under some bush and are very busy at the moment.” Sandra puffs her cheeks.

Celes gets red and Gabriel looks like he is thinking very hard about something.

“Hmmm. We could go and check? ” I ask and smirk at them.

“No!” -Celes

“I am in.” -Gabriel

Sandra grabs my hand. “Teleport now!”

I put my hand on Gabriels shoulder while Celes jumps onto my back to stop me. “You can't just disturb....”

But I teleport all four of us and we reappear at the foot of the hill. In front of us is Tanja, which is being carried piggyback by Sven. Ohoho.

“Mmmhhh! See, I told ya! They even were so rough, the girl has to be carried now!” Sandra pouts with a displeased voice.

Tanja turns red. “N.. Nothing of the sort! I tripped and sprained my ankle! And I turned him down by the way. There is nothing between us!” Sven looks a little down.

“Really?” Sandra asks.

“At least you tried. It's better than eating it inside yourself for the rest of your life. I am proud of you.” I try to console him.

“I feel with you! It's hard to be sent packing one time after the other! But be strong my friend! After a few times it starts to hurt less!” Gabriel pounds Sven's shoulder with tears in his eyes.

How often did he already confess to get like that!?

“Haah, who cares. But it's nice that you guys are here. I may be fast, but I am already at my limits.” Sven's knees are shaking a little, while he is carrying Tanja.

“You two should have learned at least some basic healing spell! I won't complain about broken bones, but to be held back by a sprained ankle? That's like a bruise.” I heal Tanja with a wave of my hand.

Sven lets her down and she jumps a little. “Nice! Good as new! Oh by the way. We found something cool up the hill. You have to come and see!”

“We have to be back for dinner.” Celes reminds us.

“It won't take long! It's really interesting.” Tanja doesn't yield and leads us about five minutes back into the direction they came from.

At a scarp, flat rock face she stops and points at a particular area. It's volcanic rock and you can see footprints, like someone was walking down the vertical surface.

“Cool, Isn't it?” She asks us. “The Cygnus siblings would surely like to see that.”

“We left Margerie with her drone back at the house. She is in her own world as long as she can screw around with that thing.” Gabriel answers.

“You think it's some kind of fossil from the first humans?” -Sven

“Which idiot would walk through lava?” -Celes

“A God?” I ask and chuckle. The footprints surely look feminine in size and form.

Tanja's, Gabriel's, Sven's and Sandra's jaws drop and they look in awe at the godly footsteps. I take on a grim expression.

“Don't tell anyone! That was a stupid joke! If the idiots from the church knew about this, they would be here in no time and start to build some kind of shrine.”

44 - Interlude - A stolen world?

El Shaddai is sitting in front of me and looks very displeased at some documents. “Seria, Do you have any idea why I invited you into my office?”

It's not really an office. Just a white room inside a dimensional pocket. There is a desk and two chairs. That's all. It's located at an important cross-way of paths inside the river of souls.

“No?” I smile at him while playing with my long golden hair.

“So you don't know what happened to a certain world?” He lifts an eyebrow and looks at me accusingly.

“What have I done now? First Tjenemit with all those strange accusations and now you. I neither have an idea what you are talking about, nor a clue to guess anything.” I shrug my shoulders and pout.

El Shaddai sighs. “I am talking about the world of those two gods, who killed each other. The two, we gave to you, to supervise their punishment. By your wish. It was a big favour by the Council. But I am beginning to believe that you have a little too much freedom.”

I frown and arch my eyebrows. “What about that world? I haven't been there in years. Wasn't it destroyed?”

El Shaddai scratches his long earlobe and strokes his bald head. He looks like he is thinking hard about something. His golden skin reflects the light in painful way. If I wasn't a god, I would probably go blind just by looking at him.

I often try to imagine what would happen if he just sat down and stopped moving. Most people would think of him as some Buddha statue.

He leans back into his seat. “It wasn't really destroyed. Just a little damaged. But when a god of nature was tasked by the administration department to repair it...... Guess what he reported.”

“What?” -Me

“Gone!” -El Shaddai

“Gone?” -Me

*Wham!*

“The world is gone!” El Shaddai hits the desk with his fist and I flinch out of surprise.

“I hope you don't want to imply that I am stealing worlds now. First I am accused of stealing gods and now I steal whole worlds?” I ask him like I am insulted.

“Not just the world! The whole solar system just disappeared!” He screams at me. I guess he had a bad day. He is always a little itchy, but it's particularly bad today.

“Oh, that's fine then.” I let out a sigh of relief.

“F.... F... FINE!?” He looks seriously angry now. He doesn't like it when something happens inside -his- multiverse, that he doesn't know about.

“Oh you see. If the whole solar system is gone, it proves that I am not guilty for sure. I may be one of the mightier gods, but even I couldn't just grab a solar system, put it into my pocket and walk off with it.” I nod and smile, while looking relieved. Even if El Shaddai is a tyrant with dangerous mood swings, He is always logical.

“You -may- not have enough power for a stunt like this. But you are the only one who has access to a place where a whole solar system could be hidden. I ordered a little search for the system in question and there was no result for two months now!” -El Shaddai

“Oh, please.... there are a thousand other possibilities!” -Me

“Like?” -El Shaddai

“It could be destroyed. Ascathon was a god of magic and change with serious powers. The whole world was littered with his divine artefacts. I am sure he had some kind of doomsday device, which activated by default.” I smile at El Shaddai, who just gives me another suspicious look.

After a few seconds he waves to signal that I am dismissed. I bow and leave his office by directly using a path through the river of souls.

Everything is starting to move. I wonder if my house of cards will crumble above me or above the Council? I know of many rebellions which failed in the end.

The problem lies with power. The Council governs hundred thousands of gods. Those in turn have control over several smaller gods and deities. If some of them show too much resistance, they are hunted and dealt with by armies of loyal servants to the Council.

This system worked for an eternity till now. It became bigger and bigger over time. But this works in my favour. Bigger also means harder to control. That they found out about the missing world so late is proof that they aren't really in control any more.

The gears of their machine are becoming old and worn. So it takes them much longer to find out about the really important issues.

Somehow they can sense and find every god in the multiverse. So none of the rebellions until now had a chance to succeed. They were already doomed before they started.

Oh, I just remembered that I have to make an important call!

45 - Until death?

Married? I am getting married to that crazy girl? I admit that our relationship really got better, but it still feels unreal. Am I getting cold feet? No, I am too old to run away from a wedding ceremony.

After a few seconds to gather myself, I walk to the window and take a look out of my room.

The whole city looks like a rainbow..... I don't want to complain, everyone has his own tastes. But if I watch this view it's freaking me out. Fucking crazy world!

This is a marriage and not a damned carnival! I just have to think about the whole event and my head starts to spin.

First they want to put us into a car and drive us around the whole city for everyone to see. Then we visit the biggest cathedral in the city to get married by a priest. Afterwards we have to meet all big noblemen and officials at a festival. This is just to give them the possibility to congratulate us.

Last but not least, we will have a small party with a few selected guests. My head is spinning just by thinking about it. I am not a social person. I dislike it to be treated as some kind of exhibition-sample.

“Are you done?” Rose bursts into my room. “Yes, yes, I am done dressing up. No stress!” I wave at her to calm her down.

“Oh, no! You can't go out like that. Your neck-tie is so sloppy! And you didn't put on the traditional markings!” She immediately starts to correct my appearance. First the tie. Afterwards she plucks at my black suit at least for five minutes and then paints a complicated tattoo onto my cheek.

It's some kind of tradition. I don't like to put make-up onto myself and had hoped I would get around it. They are dressing me up like some kind of bird!

If I think about it. This world seems like a mix of every culture, I ever knew. Hmmmm......

“Rose, don't you think it's enough? We are almost out of time.” I try to redirect her attention.

“Oh no, you are right! But you have to look perfect. This will be your biggest day ever!” She drags me outside, where a stunning red haired beauty is waiting. Her hair is woven around her horns and there is a really complicated pattern painted around her eyelids. Her black dress emphasises the important curves at the right places. This is dangerous.... I have to think straight..... let me see.... Pi is 3.14159265359

“Are you ready? If we drive now, we will be just in time.” The beauty prompts us to proceed.

DAMN! That put me off my stride!

“Isn't that a little too much effort? How long did you have to keep still for this?” I don't like make-up. But whoever worked on Celes did a good job.

“You have no idea. How do I look? Was it worth it?” She smiles at me warmly.

Brainfreeze...

“Ehm.”

“It doesn't look good? How can that be? It took so long to find the right dress!” Celes stomps on the floor and pouts.

“I think the young king wanted to say that no words could describe your beauty my queen. You both look okay, so let's go now. We have a schedule to keep.” Rose jumps in and saves me.

Why did I just freeze up like that? Fuck, I have more experience in life than anyone could imagine! Could it be that this new body is causing me trouble? Hormones? Could it be? I never felt anything like that as a god.

We proceed to the throne room, where the other family members are waiting. “Oh you two look beautiful!” Katrine explodes with joy.

“The time sure flies by. It feels like yesterday, when I could still carry you around with my tail.” Everyone gives Ireth a shocked look. Yes! Think about your own shortcomings mother! I was right when I thought that it isn't proper to treat a child like this.

“You can use your tail like that? Now I remember that you did it a few times with me.” Celes waves her tail before her to inspect it. “I often felt like I could use a third hand.”

“Don't copy her bad habits!” Arthur jumps in. Thank you father in law!

“We have to go!” Nicosar shoves us into the direction of the exit. He is right, we have a tight schedule.

Outside we enter a limousine and a procession of guards and servants starts on its way. “Now this is really a full blown carnival!” I look back at the line of gaudy vehicles behind us.

“It's funny. I never had a marriage like that. And I had many marriages until now.” Celes seems to be in a good mood.

“At least I just have to wave at the people and smile.” I have to be positive. There is no point in focusing on the bad things.

Yes. It's not that bad! Think about it! Even if I get married to her again in this life..... it's just one life! It's just a few years and then I am free again. And while I am at it, I can take advantage of the good aspects.

There are many guys who don't care about personality. Why shouldn't I be able to become one of them too?

Our car leaves the palace grounds and I can see thousands of people, all of them are trying to get a look at us.

Suddenly Celes links arms with me and waves at the crowd. There are thousands of people cheering at us. I smile and wave at them. Yep. I officially hate this day. When we get married, I will make this day a working day! Everyone will have to go to work and pretend that nothing is out of the ordinary!

People, who are celebrating in any way, will be executed on the spot. I will be damned if they make this something like a national holiday.

“You have that strange grin again Angrod.” Celes whispers into my ear.

“R.. Really.” I try to lighten my expression.

“Now you seem really stressed. Just think about something positive. We have much to do today. There are many important points on my list.” -Celes

“About that... I actually think that...” But I get interrupted.

“Ohohoh. I can remember my wedding night! Arthur was so wild!” Katrine bursts out. “Unfortunately, I found out that I can't teach my daughter anything in this respect.”

I think I will just teleport away, as soon as this is done. Yes. Nobody can catch me. I will say yes and amen. And when everything is done, I will make a run for it and have my peace.

While we drive around the city I dwell in my own thoughts. Of course I keep smiling and waving at the people. After hours, it must have been hours because the car continued on, with a constant velocity of walking speed. Finally, we arrive at the cathedral and exit out of the car.

People throw confetti at us, while we walk inside. Rice guys! It's supposed to be rice and not confetti! I want to cry, who messed this culture up?

At least there is nobody allowed inside the cathedral. Just the priest and a few novices are waiting for us. At least this ceremony is short. It was explained to us beforehand.

We are led in front of Seria's statue. Then the priest carries a bowl of water before us and mutters a few words which I don't understand.

Then we both hold a hand into the water. “We are here, in front of our goddess and the gods to witness the marriage of these two young people. May their life be happy. May both of them care for each other and face all hardships together. Are both of you willing to give yourself to your partner and protect him or her from any harm. Will you stay with each other until death?”

“Yes.” -Celes

Actually I have to think for a second! This is a really heavy and meaningful promise you know! Even more so if you think about it a little. I just realized that we now both know about each others reincarnations. So are we now married until death, or until death?

*Poke* *Poke* *Poke*

Ugh! Damned tail! “Yes!”

“Then I declare you both a married couple. May you live prosper and in peace. King Angrod and Queen Celes.” The priest bows to us and smiles.

Celes jumps at me and I have no choice but to catch her in a princess carry. “This is an important point. You have to carry me back to the car.” She gives me a kiss on the cheek. The priest chuckles at my sight. Obviously her lipstick left a mark.

I nod at the priest and turn around to carry Celes outside. As we leave the cathedral, the crowd almost goes insane and some crazies start a firework.

Ey, it's in the middle of the day! Have at least some reasoning and start it during the night!

We arrive at the car and our family members congratulate us. Ireth has actually tears in her eyes, while she is hugging me.

But Rose already waves us inside the car. This is surely a tight schedule.

The festival afterwards couldn't be counted as a real festival. The location was a neat big garden...... or should I say park? It was big enough to hold all the noblemen and officials in any case. There was a big line of noblemen, who congratulated us to our marriage.

Everyone gave us a present. At the end, there was a huge pile of gifts around us. Nobody paid a thought to what would happen if a thousand rich guys would give a present to the wedding couple. What a pain the ass!

I gave the order to Rose that she should confiscate the chocolate and the dangerous stuff. The rest should be given to someone who may need it.

It was already evening, when we arrived back at the palace. My face was hurting from all the smiling. I never would have imagined that it is possible to strain the muscles in my face like that. My left hand was numb from the waving. My right hand was sore from shaking hands with over a thousand people. If I hadn't used healing magic, it would be just a bloody stump by now.

Back at the throne room we were welcomed by everyone, who could be counted as a close friend. This involved some of our old teachers, the Cygnus siblings, the people from special class, as well as some closer friends of our parents.

Celes kept linking arms with me the entire time. After everyone had congratulated us another time, we proceeded to the big room which was reserved to receive guests. It is inside the private area of the palace.

Rose led the party proudly along the hallway. “I have put all my efforts into this cold buffet. I am sure your majesties will be very pleased.”

With a smiling face, she opens the big two winged door to the guest room and freezes. Then it looks like she wants to scream, but she freezes again, not knowing how to react. I take a look around the corner and freeze up too.

A stunning blonde beauty inside a transparent dress is happily stuffing a big plate with the most delicious looking food. Four white angel wings are sprouting from her shoulder blades and the whole figure is emitting an aura of light.

Other people also take a look around the corner and freeze up with their mouths open.

The figure turns around and waves at us with her free hand.

“Hiiiii! How are you guys doing? I am so glad I made it in time to give my congratulations!” Seria runs up to me and Celes after setting her plate onto a table and hugs us both like children to her big chest.

“Ooh, I am so happy to see you two are doing well. The city looks wonderful by the way.” She kisses me and Celes on the cheek. “There is so much to talk about! I hope you two behaved well, I sent you here with a purpose after all. Are there any children on the way?”

“No?” “..T yet!”

“Oh too bad, well you have the whole night before you to work on that!” Seria smiles and rushes off to Ireth, Katrine and Arthur. “I have to give you guys my thanks too! You did such a good job on educating them! I couldn't have chosen better.”

“We did our best.” Ireth is the only one who manages an answer. “Oh, you don't have to be so stiff, I am not here in my function as a god. I took a day off to visit my little helpers on this world. So no hard feelings, let's just relax and have fun! The last time I took a day off was a few thousand years ago.” She continues down the line of stupefied guests and shakes their hands.

When she is done, I grab her arm and drag her off to a silent corner. “What are you doing here!? I thought Tjenemit would be able to follow you, if you came here!”

Celes nods with a pained expression.

“Haha.. Don't fear. I am not really here in person. This is just a really good astral projection. I would never ruin your great day!” She winks at Celes.

I let out a sigh. “So can you at least give a detailed explanation of what's going on?” Our parents, who joined us from behind nod.

“No. Sorry. I can't give out information of that importance to mortals. Everything will be clear when the time comes, I promise. But if anything goes wrong and Tjenemit gets access to this world before I am ready, he could just rip the information out of your minds. The less you know the better. Just keep your trust in your one and only goddess!” She smiles and pats my shoulder. Then she runs off to the buffet again.

“Is every god like that?” -Arthur

“I need a new religion...” -Katrine

“I like her.” -Ireth

“... If there is a beautiful women which is older than you..... There is only one thing to do!” Nicosar walks after Seria.

I am shocked! Does the old fart fear nothing!? But Nicosar really goes for it and strikes up a conversation with Seria.

“I am curious how she manages to eat food with an astral projection?” I talk to myself while realizing that her powers must be on another level. I couldn't do that while I was a god.

“Maybe she created a body on this world and just possessed it?” -Celes

I nod, but I still have problems to believe it. Then Celes tugs at my sleeve. “Look at that!” She points at a quiet corner of the room. There I can see Sandra with Sven on her lap. Both of them are hugging each other and erect the impression of a lovely couple!

I chuckle. “She really meant it, when she said that she would console him.”

“Unbelievable! And a few days ago he was still head over heels for Tanja!” Celes puffs up her cheeks in frustration.

“But she refused him in a clear manner, which can't be mistaken. On top of that Sandra has two very big arguments to distract her prey from a bad conscience.” I point at my chest.

“Men! All the same! I have to look for Tanja and see if she is okay.” Celes stomps off and I follow her.

“Don't forget that they are just a bunch of young people after all. At that age your heart beats for someone and in the next moment for someone else.” Celes stops and looks at me a little surprised.

“I guess you are right.” It seems like she is considering my words. Nonetheless we keep searching for Tanja.

But it seems like Celes worries weren't necessary. We find Tanja at the buffet, while she is talking with Gabriel and Margerie. She doesn't look the least bit concerned, so we join their talk.

When Celes wanted to know what Tanja thought about Sven and Sandra, her answer was something like this. “I already knew that Sandra had a crush on him. I value him as a childhood friend, nothing more. So it's good that Sandra finally went on the offensive.”

So it really looks like she threw her childhood friend into the tigers maw. We continued to talk while the time flew by. An hour later, Seria walked into our direction again. She had linked arms with Nicosar and smiled at us!

“It was really a nice time, but I have to say goodbye.” She hugged us again. “You sure about this, about not telling us what’s going on?” Celes asks her with a stiff expression.

“Nope! There is nothing you can do at the moment. Everything depends on Tjenemit's arrival. Either I am ready, or I am not. It's not like you could do anything against a god.” Seria answers in a serious tone.

“I understand. Though I still would have liked to know the motivation behind everything.” I give her a wry smile.

“Everything in due time will be known.” She pats my head while she dissolves into light.

Nicosar sighs and gives us a sad look. “She is a fine woman for sure. It's a shame that I am too young for her. I never would have imagined to being told something like that in my age.” He presses out a tear from his left eye. Then he walks off into the direction of two bunny girls which seem familiar to me.

“Did the geezer just cry?” Celes asks me with a shocked voice while pinching her own cheek.

“I honestly don't get him.” I don't want to know what's going on inside Nicosar's brain. I turn away to stuff myself with some nice food from the buffet.

“Don't eat too much, I have a little present for you later” -Celes

After another hour, the party comes to an end and everyone leaves. Saying our goodbye didn't take that long at least. When the last of our friends left, Celes took me by the hand and led me to her room.

“Ehm, Celes? What do we need from your room?” I ask while she opens the door and pushes me inside. Now I realize that we sneaked off, while our parents were still talking to their friends... isn't that a little unfriendly?

Now that I get a closer look at Celes's private room, I realize that it is quite spacious. There is a big bed, a couch with a table and multiple chairs and a writing table. It still doesn't feel cramped.

Celes pulls me to the couch and pushes me onto it. “Wait here, I will get the present!” She runs off into her bathroom. Oh.... now I understand........ the wedding night. I am sure she has such an item on her list. Whoa! Now I remember! There is such an event! I saw it a few years ago on her list!

So she will come back in some kind of negligee to turn me on and twist my head? Not with me! It's time to teleport out of... hmmm... chocolate? I become aware of a box filled with chocolate on the table.

Before I know it, I grabbed a piece and ate it. Hmmmmmmm. Delicious! It tastes so familiar. Exactly like the chocolate I always got from.... ah …. no. No! This memory! It has to be wrong! But it's the same taste! I take another piece. And another one!

It's the same chocolate I got from her back then in that other life! It's handmade and it's the best! Mmmm! I take a fourth piece to savour the taste.

Suddenly a shiver rushes down my spine and I feel something getting very stiff. Ahhh.... what's wrong with me? I pride myself in having complete control over my instincts. I try to get control over my erection, but nothing works.

I even imagine Nicosar naked on the bed. It doesn't work Fuuuck! What's going on?

“Haha. It seems the mouse took the cheese.” Celes leaves the bathroom, wearing a really dangerous outfit! More like she is wearing almost nothing.

She is just wearing a red lingerie, which matches her hair. It almost shows the really interesting parts of her body, but also hides them at the same time.

Brainfreeze! Again damn it!

“Cheese?” I look at the next piece of chocolate in my hand and drop it, as I make the connection! “You poisoned me!”

“I would never poison my husband.” She walks over to me while shaking her hips in an arousing way. “I just made this chocolate for this special occasion. You see, it's a little pepped up with a really strong aphrodisiac.” She whispers into my ear.

My eyes wander over her body, while another shiver shakes me. She is a genuine witch after all! “Then why does it start to hurt down there?” I can barely control myself and my voice shivers a little.

“I already told you that it's really strong. I asked Tanja for something that would turn the coldest guy into a wild beast.” She sits down on my lap and traces her finger over my chest, which sends another shiver through my body. “She said that this is used to interrogate prisoners. It's possible to go insane if you aren't able to release yourself somehow.”

Hoh, so she really intends to go all the way? I look at my hand which is trembling slightly. “You do know, that this feels like I could get a heart attack at any moment, right?” I wonder if it just feels like I am sweating? Is this room really this hot?!

“I know of an easy way to solve the problem.” She takes a piece of chocolate from the table and uses it as lipstick. Then she puts her hands around my head and starts to move in a way which almost drives me mad. “Weren't you the one, who once said that the guys who live their lives as pure perverts are right? Isn't it better to take what you can get for free?” She whispers into my ear again.

Her tail suddenly touches me in a few places, while she licks over the chocolate on her lips and smiles provokingly at me.

OooOOO  Shit! I can't take this any more! I grab her arms and lock them behind her back. “Ouch!” She lets out a small complaint. “I think you have underestimated the effectiveness of this drug!” I take another piece of chocolate from the table and put it into my mouth. Then I press my lips onto hers and give her a deep kiss to give her a good taste of her own medicine.

Somehow, everything is spinning while I stand up and throw her onto the bed. “Kyaaa!” And jump onto her.

46 - The day after..... ?

….. Ow! My head hurts! I don't want to wake up. And it's hard to breathe! What's this soft thing in my face? I grab it and push, but something wraps around me.

“Mmmmm!Mhhmmm!” Somehow I am able fight myself free. But a naked Celes doesn't let go while she is entangled around me. “Body pillow.. don't move....” She is talking in her sleep.

Hah? How did I get here? Is this Celes's room? A that's right! Yesterday was that had horrible marriage! And then... and then... Damn it! I've been had!

Ah, though if I remember right the night wasn't bad at all. “Celes let me go. We have to get up.” I twist her earlobe to wake her up.

“Mh.. don't wanna. Let us sleep for the rest of the day....” She mumbles half asleep. I take a look at the clock. Ugh! It's already 7 pm! Whatever she put into that chocolate, it knocked us out for a whole day!

I grumble, but then I have a great idea. “Teleport!” We reappear in the air above a certain lake. I brace myself for the impact!

*SPLASH!*

“KYAAA! Gurrrgle....”

Woohoo! Cold! I start swimming as soon as I am freed from my shackles and start laughing. “What was that for!?” Celes glares at me.

“That was for drugging me.” I glare at Celes. “You want to eat that chocolate again tonight?” She grins at me. “No way in hell! I would rather start buying chocolate by myself!” I hate it to loose control over myself.

“Good luck with that. You won't have much success with it.” She swims closer and grabs my hand with a triumphant smile.

“Why?”

“Because I am the only one in this world who knows how to make that special chocolate.”

“...”

I guess this world isn't a chocolate paradise. It's true that I never came across any chocolate until Celes started to give it to me. And apparently everything was handmade.... I wince at the thought.

“Can you teleport us back into my bathroom. I wouldn't like to get my bed wet.” She smiles at me. I am glad that this water is cold like hell.

I pull her closer and teleport us back. Though I missed the bathtub. I guess a little water on the floor isn't a problem since the whole room is tiled.

Celes walks a bit awkward to the basin and takes her ring out of a small box. “Heal!” She immediately casts healing onto herself. “Ahhh.. That feels much better!” Then she throws an accusing look at me. “I thought I wouldn't live through the night. Couldn't you have been a little gentler?”

“Who drugged me with something that would turn the coldest guy into a wild beast.” I raise an eyebrow and Celes puffs up her cheeks.

“At least the drug seems to work on girls too. I have to talk to Tanja about this...” I leave Celes to talking to herself and get dressed.

A few minutes later I am sitting in the kitchen, where I plunder the leftovers from the buffet. Rose is giving me a dirty smile.

I choose to ignore it, but a few minutes later Celes joins us and Rose can't hold back her curiosity. “How was the night?”

“Enslavement!” “Pain!”

Rose is taken aback but not defeated. “Oh, I heard that the first time can be rough in some cases. But I am sure it will get better if you keep the ball up in the air!”

She nods and smiles, while she gives another plate of leftovers to Celes. After a few minutes of silent eating, she snatches the fork, which Celes had put down.

A small stick-like magic-device appears in her hand and she presses it against the fork. “kukuku...” Then she storms outside, while yelling. “The family just got bigger!”

I almost choke on a small fruit when I hear that and Celes has a predatory grin on her face, while she looks at me.

“Pregnancy test?” I ask and Celes nods at me. Haah. I give up. It's fate. The door opens and the whole family storms inside to congratulate us.

Somehow I am a little confused. Why is everyone on cloud nine because of this? This isn't a miracle? That's what happens when you bed a girl without protection!

But after a little explanation about this worlds crazy biology I understand their happiness. Apparently the royal bloodline isn't blessed with many children. I guess there has to be some kind of drawback for having the benefits of superhuman strength and a greater mana pool.

Mother and father had tried to get children for at least two years, until my dead siblings were born. When they died, mother had almost given up on a child. It almost never happened in recorded history that a queen would have children twice.

So mother treated me like a present from heaven when she got me. I guess she wasn't so far off....

But Celes seems to be a bit down. Apparently she hadn't heard about this particular blood-trait of ours until now.

“B.. But I wanted to have at least three childreeen...” She starts to cry and hugs me. OMG! What to do? I pat her head and try to console her while Ireth and Katrine look at her with a sympathic expression. “D..Don't worry. It worked for you on the first try. So either you just won the lottery, or your stupid chocolate had a strange side effect.”

She goes stiff and suddenly starts to laugh. “I AM SO STUPID! This world has such amazing healers. I got overtaken in the believe that they are much better than me. But if I think about it, each of their achievements is accomplished through magic. They have no idea how the body really works at all. There wasn't a basic class like biology too.”

“I guess it's pretty useless to research scientific biology for every human species on this world. There are hundreds of different bloodlines. Not to mention the mixed breeds.” I talk to myself. Everyone, who started to work in that direction would be dead before he could accomplish anything of value for the world.

So only finding out why the speed-type muscles of the people with the elf-trait worked, wouldn't be of much interest to anyone else.

“Angrod, you can build me the equipment to start biology research?” Celes eyes sparkle at me. “Uhm, I guess? If you tell me what you need for biology research? I am a techno-freak, I have almost no clue about medicine and biology besides magical applications?”

“First I need a really good microscope! Then incubation ovens, temperature baths, centrifuges, spectrophotometres, PCR instrumentation, high resolution imaging devices, electrophoresis systems, micropulser electroporators and something for chromatography would be a good start!” -Celes

My eyes become rounder and rounder as the list grows. “Could... Could it be you were some kind of doctor in a previous life?”

Celes takes a proud stance. “Hear me unworthy! Before you stands someone with hundreds degrees in biology, medicine and molecular science.”

Huh!? Could I be that my wife is actually pretty smart!? I mean, I knew that she IS smart, but she is smarter than I thought? Why did she never tell?

I get grabbed by the hand. “To your laboratory! Now! I have to explain the devices I need from you. I am sure you wouldn't be able to fulfil my needs otherwise.”

“Uh!? Sure?” I teleport us and start to listen to Celes's explanation. I am sure that my automatic factory can produce everything she wants to have.

But I am still a little bothered. It feels more like she is going to start a cloning farm than a research lab. And at the end of the day her personal lab looks like a high danger bio-hazard research lab out of a movie!

I hope I didn't destroy the world by giving her those toys.

The next day I am lying in my bed and think about the current situation of my life. If I am honest to myself.... it could be worse? And I am actually a little mad that there is still that affair with Tjenemit looming over us like the sword of Damocles.

Suddenly the door flies open, Celes storms inside and slams it shut. *Klick* She locked it! I have given up to lock my room long ago. She would take down the whole palace, while kicking the door.

She hops onto the bed. In her hand is a piece of chocolate. “Eat that!”

“No? I won't eat suspicious food you are giving me any more?” Last time I almost had a heart attack because of you!

“It took me the whole day to analyse my body and I found no problem. So the problem must lie at the male side of our bloodline!” She grabs my jaw and forces it open. In terms of strength she is still above me.

Then she shoves the chocolate into my mouth.

“Mmm!” She force feeds the stuff to me. “What was that?” I ask as soon as I get some air again. A needle appears in her hand. *Stab* “Ow!”.

“That was just a little stimulant to get your body to produce some needed pheromones. I took some blood samples from Arthur and Nicosar, so I think that if I get your body to produce the right pheromones everything is okay.” She takes a blood sample.

“I am not some lab-rat!” -Me

“But you are the one who gave me the idea! If I find the problem we could have a whole bunch of kids!” She nods at me. “I was a little afraid that you wouldn't be willing to do your duty. You know... hermit and all. But when you did this and that to me, I realized that you didn't loose your touch!”

“Is that so?” I grab her hand and take the needle and the tube with blood.

“But I think it's not so bad if you have to do a little work for children. If you put so much effort into it, we will have to take care of a whole football-team.” I kiss her.

I guess I will take everything while the food is still hot.

47 - My daily life?

So much has happened since our marriage. It has been a few months and Celes is hiding herself in her new lab. Though she never forgets to pester me. I myself decided to join the university and earn a degree.

Although I never visit a course, I already took quite a few tests. It's no problem with my knowledge and status. After I interrogate the teacher about the knowledge they expect from me, I either take the test right away or read the needed book.

I have the opinion that a king should have the according educational status. Of course I have the education and knowledge anyway. But that's not known to the public.

Of course I wouldn't care about anyone else's opinion if it would affect only me. But by now I have a family to take care of. Our parents, Celes and the kid! What kind of bad example would I be if it became known that the king of the world didn't even try to visit a university!

Wouldn't the child get the stupid impression that knowledge isn't important? Anyway, I want to be a good example.

But right now I am really pissed, while I sit in my throne and gnaw my teeth. Once a month I listen to the problems of nobles and representatives for the common people.

Some of the nobles really piss me off with their problems. They have all that power and still are pestering me with their struggles.

A secretary is introducing them while Drem Snowden is standing guard. He is also the chief of security for my personal facility. Though he is much more often inside the palace now. I gave him responsibilities for the palace too. It's easier to have him keeping me up to date about my projects.

He is a strong looking guy with huge muscles and bear ears. His personality is also similar to a bear. Very silent, very grumpy.

“Next!”

I call in the next case, after dealing with a really stupid quarrel between two smaller houses. Two nobles enter the throne room and bow to me. An older woman in a white dress and a young, gaudy looking guy in extravagant clothing.

“These are Duke Sharen and Baroness Kuizen. They are having a quarrel about two serfs, who are taking care of their lands. Both of their estates border each other. So a serf of Baroness Kuizen and Duke Sharen had a child with each other. Now they are quarrelling about whom is responsible for the child. As the law says that the master of a serf is responsible for the serf's children.” A secretary introduces the new arrivals.

I raise my eyebrow. Yes, in this world serfs do exist. And I always was of the opinion that it is just a nice word for slavery. A serf is someone who owns nothing and sells himself to a noble. He is paid almost nothing, but he gets food and a roof over the head.

It's this world's solution to unemployment and poverty. But the nobility often misuses it's status and treats a serf like an owned good.

I am not sure if the current system is good or bad. I have been to worlds with freedom for everyone, where people died of hunger on the street. So I didn't touch this world's solution to it. At least I don't know of any beggars and homeless people in this world.

Everyone who falls so low simply joins a nobles workforce as a serf and is at least able to wait safely for an opportunity to find a better employment.

So with other words, those two are fighting over the cheap workforce, the child will provide in the future. It's very likely that the child will become a serf like it's parents.

I don't want to go as far to think that they have good motives.

Although everyone has access to an education by law, it's still hard to rise from such a low position in society.

Most likely both of them have a good reason for not letting go of the parents. Serfs though have it better than real slaves. They are protected by quite a few laws. Though they don't have the right to stop their employment and live on the streets.

I think there is an easy solution to the problem.

“Scribe. I decree a new law: Every serf is allowed to freely switch the employing noble, if the new employing noble is willing to employ him or her. Add that to the law regarding serfs and make sure that it is made known to them.”

Duke Sharen face goes pale, while Baroness Kuizen's face distorts into a winning grin. It's obvious whom of them is able to provide the better conditions to the parents.

“Does that enable your serfs to solve the problem for you?” I ask them with a serious expression on my face.

“Most likely your highness.” Kuizen bows to me followed by the Duke. He doesn't look as happy as her but doesn't seem to find a valid point to object.

I hope this little change to the law will better the serfs situation. If they are allowed to run off to the best paying available noble, it is less likely for them to get even more exploited.

I prefer to solve the cases in that manner. If the law solves the problem in a clear manner, they can't annoy me to solve it.

“Next!”

***

At the end of the day I lean backwards in my throne and use one of my newly created hand-held computers to check on the progress of my projects.

It goes well. I hope it will be ready in time....

“Angrod!” Celes calls out to me from behind.

“Hrm?” I turn around and look at her. I am a little tired.

“Eat that!” She holds a few pills in front of my face and gives me a glass of water.

“Oh, please! Stop it. You are feeding me with strange pills for months now. I am surprised that I didn't get sick!” Celes sure became a real health freak when she found the reason for the royal bloodlines child problems.

It was a simple lack of vitamines. Our bodies have to get the resources for their high performance from somewhere. And the lack of those resources leads to ….. well.

“Do I have to lay you over the knee and force feed you before the secretary and your guard?” -Celes

“Hrm. You wouldn't do that. Besides I doubt that you could catch me.” I look at her belly, which had gained considerable size. “You sure, you aren't hiding twins in there?”

“Being caught by your pregnant wife wouldn't hurt your image at all I understand.” Celes looks down at me from above.

I take a look at the female secretary, which is looking at us expectantly. She has furry ears, probably some kind of hamster. “If you tell anyone about this conversation, I will make you a nanny for the child and bet with Drem how long you survive!”

The secretary goes pale and nods. “I wouldn't bet on such a serious matter sir.” Drem answers with a cold voice.

I take the pills and eat them. “Hooh? So you think you could take care of a child with the strength of several adults?”

“I am confident in my survival sir.” -Drem

“You hear that honey? We have a volunteer.” I smile at Celes and get smacked over the head.

“I wont leave my children to anyone else besides family. And if you don't do your share in watching after them there won't be any chocolate any more!” -Celes

The secretary grins at me and I stare daggers into her. No choice. I swallow the pills and drink the water.

“This feels like I am ill.” -Me

“From my perspective you, Nicosar and Arthur are all ill. It's like you don't get the needed food.” -Celes

“Well doctor. Maybe that's exactly the problem. Didn't you wonder about this world's sick biology. It's like someone threw the ecosystems of multiple worlds together to see who would survive.” -Me

“You are right. We should ask Seria the next time we see her.” Celes answers with a sarcastic tone.

I shrug my shoulders. “Maybe She abducted people from many different worlds and set them free here to do some mad experiments on them Mwahaha.”

“A.. Anyway. Are you done for today?” -Celes

“Hmm. I think so, why?” -Me

“Then come. I need something from you.” She pulls me out of my throne and leads me off to the private area of the palace.

“You know how this looks?” -Me

She sighs. “I don't care. You should be mature enough to stop your teasing.” She leads me to the living room and picks a few documents from the table.

“Look! It's a boy! I made some pictures with your new CT scanner! What should we name him!?” She grins at me while she shoves the black and white pictures into my face.

“Yeah, I see. Hmmm. We could call him Aphrodium to always remember how he came to be!” I smile and nod.

*Smack*

Oi. She hit me with the pictures!

“No. Way!”

48 - New life at the end?

Crap. How long has she been in that room? Did giving birth always take that long? They told me that she went into labour ehm.. one? two? hours ago?

Shouldn't it be done already? What's taking so long to press a lump of meat out of your body? Maybe I should go and take a look? Nono. I have bad memories about this.

Better to stay in my office and pretend to be hard at work. There are some of the best healers at her side, no need for me.

The door gets slammed open. “Found you!” Ireth gives me an unhappy glare and switches on the light. “How can you hide here while your wife is giving birth!”

“I don't know what I could do to help. And I didn't really hide....” Damn who would have thought that she would search in my dark office at three in the night!

“Come! A husband should be at the side of his wife at a time like this.” I get dragged in front of the bedroom where almost everyone is waiting.

Inside a healer is taking care of Celes while Katrine is holding her hand. “You have to press!”

Ireth shoves me me into a chair to the other side of Celes. “Good to see you husband. I thought you were hiding somewhere like you always did.” Celes gives me a forced smile.

“Me? Hiding from the birth of my child? Pah! Never!” I would never do something like that. What are you thinking of me.

“Then hold my hand.” I reluctantly give her my hand. “Press now my lady, I think it turned into the right position.” The healer calls out.

“Hnngh.” *Crack**Crack**Crack*

OWW! I knew it! It hurts! You are the one supposed to suffer!

I don't know how long it took. But some time later everyone is in the room to take a look at the baby in Celes's arms, while the healer is trying to sort the bones in my right hand.

“Hmmm. This is a really complicated puzzle!” He murmurs to himself.

“Can you fix it or not!” I am getting nervous here.

“Not so hasty. Ah I think I have it, that bone belongs into the other finger! HEAL!” By all the gods, who employed that guy?

I take a look at the child while the healer is still trying to fix my hand. It smiles into my face. “Hehe. You look like an old man with all those wrinkles Aphrodium.”

“He is NOT Aphrodium! His name is Aengus of Tirna to continue the tradition. A member of the royal line needs a strong name!” Ireth puffs her cheeks at me. She took the naming matter into her own hands when she heard of our little problem.

“Let me hold him.” I take the child out of Celes's arms and smile at the wrinkled smiling face. Then I press a thumb at his forehead and search his mind and soul.

But all I find is the dim and weak flame of a newborn. “What are you doing?” Celes gives me a concerned look.

“Hahaha. Nothing I just took a look at his soul. The last thing I would have needed is that Seria played another joke on us and gave us someone who remembered his past life. I would find it creepy to educate someone who is already an adult person.” Everyone gives me a concerned look.

“No problem really, he is just a normal dumb child, here look.” I make a stupid face at him and he laughs. “Papa will have to teach you everything the good old way.”

All family members let out a sigh of relieve. “I had feared my grandson wouldn't be a normal child either.” Arthur hugs his wife.

“Was it really that bad with Celes?” I ask him. “You have no idea how creepy it is when your baby daughter suddenly explains to you that you made a mistake with the taxes.” Arthur answers.

I look at Celes. “I think I was two. And he forgot a whole city in the annual tally!” Hrm, I tried at least to pretend to be a normal child.

*Boom*

The room shakes.

*Boom*

The palace shakes again a little. Crap, what's going on? Explosions? I take a look out of the window and can see a ball of light arching through the sky, coming down at the palace.

But a second before it impacts, it hits an invisible wall and disperses.

*Boom*

The palace shakes another time. Seems like the automatic defence against long range weaponry works.

The door opens and Drem enters the room. “Your majesties! You have to evacuate! An army suddenly appeared in the city and started to employ long range weaponry. The palace's shield isn't able to stop that for very long.”

“How many?” -Me

“At least ten thousand my king! They are marching in this direction. Our army is completely out of place. We can't stop them before they take the palace down.” Drem says with an urgent voice.

“Leave the palace with everyone you can find and retreat to safety. I will teleport my family out of here and join you later.” -Me

Drem nods and runs out of the room. “I will go too. I need my generals.” Arthur turns to leave.

“Stop! Are they inside the palace?” I stop him.

“No? It's late they are at their homes for sure. We didn't expect this at all.” -Arthur

I give the baby to Celes and heave her out of the bed.

“Then it's better if you leave with us. It would be stupid to collect at a point where the enemy already has a strong foothold. We give them the palace, it's just a stupid building.”

Another explosion shakes the palace and a little dust is coming from the ceiling. It's time to get out of here!

I teleport Celes and the healer, just to immediately return. Next are Ireth and Katrine. On my third trip I take Rose and Arthur.

When I reappear for the third time to get Nicosar, I am in the air..... falling! “Stone Skin!” I experience a second of weightlessness and impact on the ground. “Ouf!”

I get to my knees and see that everything is in ruins. Apparently the shield was broken and the private part of the palace was targeted first! “Nicosar!”

No answer! I turn around and can see a hand under the rubble. A swipe of my hand frees the geezer, who is already half healed up again, while the mist is reforming his body.

I grab him at the neck and teleport just a moment before another white ball curves down on our position.

When I reappear, I drop Nicosar to the ground. “Where are we?” I hear Arthur's voice. “It's dark, I can't see!” -Ireth

“Light!” I speak the command and the room is bathed in light. “You are in my research lab. It's the safest place I could think of.”

“Safe? Wouldn't they attack the vital installations first?” Arthur is shocked. I run up to a console and hit a button.

The face of a technician appears on the screen. “Your majesty! We already wanted to contact you, but the communication line into the city was cut. A few people tried to gain access to the facility. The guards dealt with them. We didn't leave our posts because we feared to leave the installation understaffed.”

“Good work. Man the control room. Power up all systems. The City is under attack.” I cut the line before he can answer.

“I need to get to our military.” Arthur stops me. “If you can tell me where they are likely to gather, I'll teleport you there. Otherwise you stay put.” My answer baffles him and I walk past him and out of the room.

The whole facility starts to wake up and people run past me along the hallway. I walk about twenty meters and enter another room with a big door. Inside are already a few workers at their consoles.

A big screen is on the opposite side of the room.

Some are clearly controlling drones, while others are supervising my energy plant. On the screen is already a pretty good tactical map of the city.

“How is the situation?” I ask one of the officers, who are studying the big screen.

“It seems like they managed to teleport a big army right into the city's central park. Afterwards they set up heavy air defence and artillery. The palace is bombed to rubble and the little military we had in the city took a heavy blow. They knew exactly where they had to aim their first shots. Caserns, power and communication lines where taken out with the first volley.” The man answers.

“This looks bad.” Arthur says from behind and I turn around to see that Arthur, Celes and Katrine followed me. It seems like Ireth and the healer stayed with Nicosar.

I turn to take a look at the screen where a big red dot is spreading out into smaller dots while covering my city.

“No.... They sure have bad timing to do this on my son's birthday.” I say with a grim expression on my face.

49 - Striking back!

“Power up the engines! Cut the power lines to the city and activate the secondary facility! Tonight we are going for a hunt!” I scream while I hit a few buttons on the console next to me.

“B..But your majesty! Nothing is tested! And we haven't installed some of the engines yet!” A technician with a red face complains to me.

“I don't care! I over-dimensioned the whole thing anyway! They are wrecking my city! Either this thing flies tonight or it doesn't!” A big chair is formed out of a magical circle in the centre of the room and I jump into it.

Everyone inside the room becomes hectic.

“Engines are powering up!” “Deploying the anti gravity field!” “Shields are active.”

“The mountain is still above us. We can't clear all the rock above us.”

“Shields to full energy and blow it up!” I smile at them and one of the officers flips a switch.

Everything shakes, but it's manageable. I hear a low rumbling sound. “The rock is out of the way sir.” The officer gives me a savage grin. Those military people sure like it to blow up stuff.

“Take us up.”-Me

The floor bucks a little. “It seems we are stuck.” A technician informs me. “Full energy to the engines! We are behind the schedule!” You want to tell me that a few rocks are stopping me from saving my city?

The floor bucks again while I can hear a screeching sound and stops suddenly. “We are free! We are flying!” The workers and technicians start to cheer while I press a button on my chair to get a better view on the big screen.

Under us is the hollow shell of the mountain, which once harboured my facility. “Hrm. Since this isn't a research facility any more. This is now officially called the Nomad Fortress Midpoint.”

A part of the mountain crumbles and caves in at my words. I hid this ship inside the mountain while it was built.

“Mwhaha! Behold! 5200 metres long. Six million tons of steel! Enough fire power to roast an average army within seconds! Loaded with tactical warheads, particle cannons and plasma weapons. Three layers of independent shield spells, each powered by it's own cold fusion reactor! On board repair facilities and the latest drone-tec to go with it. Anti-Gravity propulsion and teleportation systems. Everything has at least three substitute systems! You could blow two thirds of this ship to hell and it would still keep coming at you!” -Me

“Head us towards the city and redirect the full energy output to the shield and weapon systems. Activate the drones and give me an outward view.” I grin while the screen switches to a flying monster of a battleship.

“Mwahahaha! My new toy looks cool! Time to test it on those fools!”

Magical runes and circles are glowing in blue and red on the hull. The whole thing looks like a huge space ship with weaponry facing into every direction, but there are no visible engines.

“Arrival in five minutes!” -Engineer

“Take us higher. I want a good angle to pound them into the ground.” -Me

“No way! You rebuild one of those monsters on this world!? Are you insane?” Celes looks at me with a shocked face. She seems to remember the best weapon of my followers. They build dozens of those things back in our old world. And they were the reason for which Celes entered that holy war herself.

“No need to fear anything. Who do you think gave them the blueprints?” I smirk at her.

“We are under fire sir! Deploying defence.” -Technician

Seven balls of white light are coming into our direction. But they are countered by seven smaller blue energy sparks and explode early. “It looks like they are trying to use their artillery to take us down? That's good.”

“I don't see what's good about it!” Arthur holds himself upright on a console while the bridge is shaken by the shock-waves.

“If they are shooting at us, they can't shoot at my city.” I smile at him. Then I look into Celes direction, who is holding the screaming baby. “Give me Aengus, he has some work to do!”

“Counter attacking the enemy artillery!” A technician informs us and seven lances of red energy stab into the dark city under us.

She reluctantly gives me my screaming son and I hold him in front of me. “No need to cry. They blew your birthday, but we are going to punish them see? Look, nice red dots.”

I show a tactical projection on a smaller touch-screen to my son. “Activate the weapons and lock them onto the enemy units. I want the fire control on my station.”

“Done sir!” -Technician

“See Aengus? Evil red dot! Touch!” I hold the small touch-screen in front of my son and demonstrate it by touching one of the smaller red dots with my finger.

A ray of energy lances down into the city and the red dot disappears from the screen. “See, Aengus? Funny, isn't it?”

Aengus stops screaming to pat the big red dot in the central park curiously with his flat hand. A ball of blue energy howls down to the city and wipes the park off the map.

“That's my son! Taking out the enemy's command centre with his first strike! I thought I would let them struggle for a while, but Aengus already knows that it's best to lop off the enemy's head first!” I smile while a small mushroom cloud rises from the park. But then I notice that everyone looks at me with pale faces.

“Hrm. Fire at will. Just use precision strikes from now on.” -Me

Celes takes Aengus back from my lap. “Don't teach him strange things that early! I don't know what to do if he copies that strange grin from you.”

Other rays of red energy strike down into the darkness. After a minute of continuous firing the red dots are all gone.

Everyone stares in awe at the hell, which we let loose on those backstabbers.

“A call from the city. It's Drem your majesty.” -Officer

I flip a switch on my chair and Drem's face fills the screen. “I am at the edge of the city with a few troops and some big animals from the army. I hope the end of the light-show means we won sir?”

“Hohoho. Sure as hell we won! I will get Arthur and Nicosar down to you in a minute. How does the situation look from down there?” -Me

Drem snorts. “From what I heard like ten thousand terrorists with heavy weapons ran through the city, while shooting at everything that moved! But at least they didn't concern themselves with any civil installations or areas. Those generals aren't really talking to me. I am not important enough.”

“I understand, we are on our way. Technician, teleport Arthur to Drem's location. Arthur, we need your guys to take care of the city. I will teleport everyone down there, as soon as it is safe again. And then we will tell them our opinion of their little summoning ritual!” -Me

A guy at the back of the room nods. “Please stand straight and don't move for a second your majesty. That makes it easier.”

“Is this dangerous?” Arthur asks with a concerned look.

“No... I just never did this before.” The technician presses a button and Arthur vanishes and reappears on the screen behind Drem. “Perfect.”

I nod and turn to the guy at the engine control. “New course! North! We are going to the City of Seria to crack an egg.”

50 - Interlude - An ocean of clouds?

“Please don't do this alone! Seria, it's stupid to fight a council member one on one!” Lada preaches to me.

I am sitting on the highest peak of the biggest mountain. I like this nameless world, there is always snow here. “It's really not a big problem Lada. It will turn out good. I promise. Besides, what would you want to do if you were there? Fight him with me?”

“I could at least protect you!” Lada looks at me with an angry face.

“If he gets away and tells the rest of the Council about you, you will be in deep shit Lada. I don't want that. I need you where you are now. You will be able to do much more from inside the Council. Though I never thought that I would get a trump-card like you.

I think my plan would work without you, but you can reduce the resulting destruction by a great deal.” The wind blows nicely up here. And the sky is so wonderful blue.

“The council isn't what it was any more. We... at least I had something else in mind when it was founded.” Lada looks sadly at the ground while she is floating beside me.

“I couldn't tell you everything Lada, but I promise I planned everything. I did this for so long, I actually don't even remember when I started this. If I am truthful, I was always afraid to go from preparations to the actual execution.” I smile at her.

“If Tjenemit wouldn't have acted, I would have continued for another eternity. It doesn't matter any more if I win this fight or lose it. This is out of my control since long ago, like I said.” I stand up and take a look around. The view is wonderful, though there are just clouds to see. Kukuku it's an ocean of clouds. Kind of cool.

Lada grabs my shoulder. “That sounds like you actually expect to die!”

“Bwahaha! Don't be ridiculous. Of course I would prefer it if I don't die. But it will be a fight between gods and one of us will die. All I am saying is that my plan will go on without me. You just need to play the nice little Council member. Harmony and peace for everyone. And when my friends come and knock on the Council's door, you will have to decide if they are better than the Council or not.” I pinch her cheek. “Smile a little more, that grim expression doesn't fit you.”

“I searched all the records and I actually know how many gods, angels, demons, half-gods and so on you hid from the council. I don't know how you did it, because Amaru's Sphere of Sight can detect any divinity within the multiverse.

But I know that it will be really a gamble to unleash them all at once.

Who knows how many more you found without any record of it? We just know of those you got your hands on during the hunts. Who ever said that you didn't find many more who were just on the brink of turning into gods? You obviously have a little more knowledge and power than the Council in some areas.” -Lada

“Oh, it seems I really can't hide it all from you. But that's fine.” -Me

“Just tell me, is it really worth it?” Lada asks me with a serious face.

I turn silent and think about my answer. “You know..... when I came out of the void, it felt like I was dead. I always had ideals and a conviction to keep me going. I think during that time in the void some of my feelings died and I became a little like a machine. I came out and found the Council.

You guys were against the freedom I always believed in. So I started my plan. But it wasn't out of passion or hate. I just did it because I thought it is my duty. Then over time I talked to the other older gods and I found out that they are dead. Not in a physical sense but in a more spiritual one.

They lived so long, too long and lost their feelings. The same happened to me, though I realised that I still had some. I am surprised that you aren't like them, though you are pretty old too.”

“I was always the emotional type.” Lada smiles at me.

I continue, “... however. Then I talked to some of the younger gods and I realised that they still had life in them! They weren't so far removed from the cycle of life and death.

They still have power and passion, but they are suppressed by the old ones. I thought to myself, if we old ones were allowed to die, wouldn't we be able to get our life back? So I took a little vacation and tried to live a life again. It wasn't long. Just fifty or sixty years I think.”

“You reincarnated? How? The Council should have noticed!” Lada stares at me with big eyes.

“I hid myself during that time. The same way I am hiding the other gods. Well, I lived a nice little life. I had parents again and could play my pranks on them. Can you imagine that?” I grin at her.

“I feel bad for your parents...” -Lada

“Well, that's when I decided that my actions are the right ones. I think every god should be allowed to return to the cycle of life and death if he or she wishes for it. Actually I believe it's the natural order of things.

Think about it! A soul continues the circle until it becomes strong enough to ascend to godhood. And with it the circle just ends! Are we really supposed to endlessly walk into the same direction from that point onwards?

Or is it just a chance to explore the multiverse and yourself until you become bored of it and decide to return to the circle as a new soul? I like my view much better than the Council's if you ask me.”

Lada smiles wryly at me. “The problem with it is that a god has to return to the flow out of his own free will. Otherwise he would just be reborn as a god. When the ancient war ended, we had much too many foes, who would have continued to fight. We had no other choice than to seal them and to forbid everyone else from reincarnating.

If everyone would reincarnate, we wouldn't be able to find the new gods with the Sphere of Sight any more. The old gods who are reincarnating would appear as new gods and we would loose track of everything.”

I nod. “I think I found a better solution. It will be okay Lada. I am sure of it.”

Suddenly I feel something rip the space, which belonged only to me for such a long time and flinch.

“Is everything ok?” -Lada

“It is. The dice are finally falling. I have to go now. And you should be at that Council chair and put on an innocent smile.” I hug Lada and step onto a path which leads me to a familiar place.

I almost don't hear the weak “Goodbye.” from Lada.

51 - To the north!

I am sitting on my chair at the command centre of my flying fortress grinding my teeth while I think about the situation.

We left Ireth, Aengus and Rose back in Midpoint. Celes didn't want me to walk into this alone. Arthur and Nicosar are with me too. Katrine went another path to oversee the evacuation of the north.

The north was already emptied of most people to begin with, but there are always some idiots who wont leave their houses.

But what I am more worried about is how to deal with the magic circle to summon Tjenemit. Should we just keep shooting at the city until there is nothing left except dust?

Arthur informed the troops which besieged the city. They are ready to advance.

“What are you thinking about?” Arthur asks me while he is taking a look at the map. After two days of flight, we have almost reached our destination.

“I am not sure if we should take the risk and destroy the magic circle from afar with everything we have after the shield is broken.” I scratch my head.

“Why should that be risky?” -Arthur

“What if the whole thing blows up? There is a serious amount of energy in there! What if the aftermath makes the world uninhabitable?” -Me

Arthur goes stiff. “Do you think that could happen!?”

I shrug my shoulders. “I have no idea how well the summoning circle is made. It could have some safety mechanisms and it could have none.”

“Then what other possibilities do we have?” -Arthur

“We break the shield, bomb everything to pieces, except the building with the summoning circle. Then we invade and take a close look at the thing. Maybe we can cancel it safely somehow.” -Me

“You don't sound convinced.” -Arthur

“That's because I have no idea what we will find there. The only safe possibility would be to blow the whole city to smithereens. But that come with a serious risk.” -Me

“Those Meltheim and Tulhelm fellows have already proven that they have some screws loose. I don't want to gamble on the possibility that they did something smart like installing safety mechanisms into the circle!” -Arthur

“I don't think it's a question if they wanted to install something like that. It's a question if the blueprint for the circle came with something like that. I doubt that they understand the circle. I doubt even more that they would be able to modify it if they wanted to.” I lean back in my chair and  look at the ceiling.

“That makes me even more uncomfortable with a gamble like that! We will invade by foot if necessary! That's it.” -Arthur

“I don't now Tjenemit well enough to take any guess, so we should really try it the safe way.” Celes gives her opinion too.

I nod and take another look at the map. “Start the long range bombardment. I want the shield weakened when we arrive.”

“Yes, Sir.” -Technician

The fortress shudders, as a full salvo of blue energy balls is fired. They are pure plasma, encased in a magically upheld electromagnetic field under high pressures. Upon impact the field crumbles and hell is set loose upon the world.

A few seconds later the screen shows blue flashes on the horizon. “Start the drones and give the command to swarm the city as soon as the shield goes down. We will use them as the first wave.”

“We will loose many of them to our own fire sir.” An officer reminds me.

“They are just metal and maybe some can find valuable targets in the confusion. Set them up to clear out the area around the summoning circle. I don't want any surprises there.” I point at the locations I want them to be.

“I will order the troops to overrun the city as soon as the shield goes down.” -Arthur informs me.

“They will run into our fire.” Celes interjects.

“Everyone knows what's on the line. I have picked only veterans to serve here. They all know that this could affect the world. If I tell them that they improve our chances a little by throwing themselves into a firestorm, they will do it.” -Arthur

I nod. “I hope it will be worth the risk.”

The rest of the time we watch in silence while the fortress is shaken by our own artillery. After another hour our target comes into view.

Located at the biggest mountain range, we can see the City of Seria. A white bubble over the city constantly lights up and disappears again while it is hit by our artillery.

It looks like any other city, but a few structures stand out. First the big tower at the centre of the city, second is the dome, which most likely houses the summoning circle. And third are the smaller towers around the city which are similar to the big one.

Around the city our besieging troops started to intensify their bombardment too and the whole city is constantly hit by projectiles.

“Prepare the main cannon. The target is this tower at the edge of the city. Fire when ready.” I give my command.

“Why exactly that one?” Nicosar asks with a curious voice.

“I studied the city layout for quite some time and I guess it's the most likely place for one of the magic devices which create the shield. I don't think it's created by a single device, which would be hard to control. The central tower most likely acts as the power source which supplies the shield generators at the periphery. We will concentrate everything we have on that single tower. I hope we can overload the supply line for the mana. If we manage to blow out that part of the shield we will take out the big tower next.” -Me

“That's the plan? And if we can't overload the supply line?” -Arthur

“Then we will fly the fortress above the city, climb to the highest altitude possible ….. evacuate and cut the engine.” I answer with a sweet voice.

“Target acquired! Firing!” -Technician

A big red beam shoots out of the front of our ship and impacts into the enemy's shield, where it disperses and vanishes. But the beam of energy doesn't stop.

“Output continuous. Raising it to hundred percent.” -Technician

I watch the effects on the shield, but it seems like it isn't working. “Raise the output by five per cent every ten seconds.”

“But... that could blow the cannon!” -Technician

“Do it! If it can't break that shield, we don't need that cannon!” -Me

“Raising the output to 105....... 110.......115....... we are overheating!” -Technician

“120! Do it!” I scream. This fucking shield has to go down!

“120” -Technician

The beam of red energy starts to pulse while the city's shield starts to flicker. Suddenly a little beam of energy passes through and strikes the tower.

Flickering again the shield vanishes and the disappears, being hit by the full power of the beam. The people in the room start to cheer.

Our energy beam also flickers and turns off.

“The main cannon burned out!” -Technician

“Who cares! Open fire! Wipe the big tower from my sight!” I start to laugh like mad while our cannons pour their fire through the opening at the big tower. Explosions tear the other building apart and suddenly the whole shield goes down and the bombardment starts to ravage the city from all sides.

Arthur activates a little communication device. “All units attack!”

“Clear out the area around the dome and give the command to the drones. Get ready to teleport us to the dome.” I jump out of my chair.

Some white balls of energy start to rise from the city, but they are few compared the bombardment of the besieging force. As soon as a ball of energy starts to rise the position it was fired from is torn apart by multiple impacts.

Our army is doing a good job in taking out the enemy's artillery.

“Start to teleport the troops directly to the dome!” Nicosar gives instructions to a technician.

“I guess it's time get ready.” I nod at Celes and we start to make our way towards the weapon arsenal.

A few minutes later we are equipped with the latest magically enhanced armour and weapons. A few technicians are helping us to correctly put on the golden armoury which looks like a combination of a knight and a space suit.

Everyone has his own, but I still should have checked on the work of my people. “Why do we all have black suits combined with gold, while the regular troops are black and silver?”

“Your majesties have to uphold the right appearance! It's unthinkable to dress you in the colours of the regular troops!” A technician explains shocked.

“Hmpf. Get us normal ones the next time. We stand out like hell! This just screams to the heavens that we should be shot first! Well at least the black dominates, so it should just be a problem at close ranges.” I grumble to myself. You should always check everything for yourself!

The technician bows to me while sweating a little. Then his communication device vibrates and he listens to it for a second.

“The troops cleared an area around the dome and judged it safe enough. They are now entering, but there is heavy resistance. Drem thinks it would be okay if you follow on their feet while they are advancing. That's just if it's true that every second counts.”

Suddenly Celes hugs me. “Don't do anything stupid!” After a few seconds she lets go of me and I kiss her forehead. “I promise.”

Then I look at one of the guys at the teleportation controls. “Get us down there!”

52 - What a god can do.

We re-materialize at an open plaza in front of the main entrance to the dome. A quick look at the dead bodies and the destruction tells me that a really brutal fight took place here.

There are our people, as well as enemy troops on the ground. Drem awaits us at the entrance and waves us in. “Hurry, you can never know if there are still snipers around here.”

I walk up to him and enter the dome. “How is the situation?”

“We cleared the area and took control over the dome, but there are several layers of safety doors. We broke through three so far and encountered heavy resistance. At the fourth we are at a stale mate. There are some really strong people protecting it. I already lost a few men to them.” Drem leads us through a labyrinth of corridors.

“Is it possible that those guys are nobles from Tulhelm and Meltheim?” Celes asks with a curious voice.

“It's likely, but we couldn't confirm it until now. I saw one of them fighting with his bare hands, crushing my people. That meets the criteria for one of the Meltheim brothers. But they all wear hooded robes and are masked like some kind of cultists.” Drem snorts with an expression of disdain.

I nod and after three big blasted doors, we reach a fourth, where Drem's people are having a good old gunfight. They are taking cover to the sides of the door and behind whatever they could carry here and use as coverage. “I am sorry, but we couldn't break the stalemate until now. We tried to enter twice, but got crushed both times.”

Walking up to the guy next to the door, I pat his shoulder. He looks at me and I signal him to make room. After he stepped to the side I go to the knees and take a quick look around the corner. I jerk back immediately and a few bullets cut through the air where my head had been. About twenty people with guns behind barricades. Some, who look like wizards are casting shield spells and about ten guys in robes, who look like the leaders. “Those guys are fast.”

“They already got three of our best shooters. Placed the bullet right between their eyes. Even the new automatic healing devices don't help against that. Either you are fast in taking cover again or you are dead.” The soldier grimaces with pain.

I look at the grenades in his belt. “Give me those.” After I have them, I unplug their safety mechanisms and look at the soldiers. “I will teleport inside and start a distraction. As soon as you hear the explosions you storm inside.”

The soldiers nod and Celes starts to kick at the wall a few feet down the door. “I will make a new entrance here.” She grins at the dent in the wall.

Arthur lifts an eyebrow and kicks the wall at another spot lightly. It dents in a little too. “The more entrances the better.”

….. Family of brutes.... oh, shit I belong to that family! Argh!

“I will take the main-entrance! The day I sneak through a self dug hole is far in the future!” Nicosar seems to be undisturbed and lifts a gun in each hand. YOU AREN'T RAMBO!

I nod at everyone and teleport, reappearing close to the ceiling of the dome above the enemies. While I start to fall, I throw the grenades and two fireballs before I teleport again.

Reappearing again behind the enemy, I take cover and start to hurl spells at them to get their attention.

The dome is turned into a hell of bullets and explosions. My people break the walls, while some enemies turn around to shoot at me.

Everything turns into chaos, as our people storm the enemy. One of the hooded figures disappears and reappears right in front of me.

A fist impacts my chest and I stumble backwards. But the shock is mostly absorbed by my armour. “Long time no see. I hope you can remember me!” The figure uncovers it's face.

Sarda! I grin at him. “Did you join the priests?”

“Insolence! You will come to fear the one true god too! Once he enters this world the people who don't believe into him will burn!” Sarda has a mad look in his face.

“It looks like you guys locked yourselves up for far too long. Some screws seem to be loose.” -Me

Sarda screams and draws a sword. Then he jumps at me and I dodge. Elsewhere I can see Celes, Arthur and Nicosar fighting with other hooded figures.

Looks like they build up their own cult while they locked themselves inside this city. Fanatics can be truly troublesome.

I evade another strike and realize that Sarda didn't really get better in all those years. Though it seems like he got the mana treatment. He throws the mana around like he has enough to waste. But I have seen to it that we all got a little charge up too.

The armours are actually constantly converting mana from a small power cell and infusing it into our bodies. A little piece of technology I am quite proud of.

Sarda jabs his sword at me again and I cast a fireball directly into his face. The strong aura he emits protects him but he is blinded for a second.

A little rock, lifted by telekinsis blasts through his knee and while he falls, I twist the sword out of his hand and nail him onto the floor.

I watch his big round eyes staring up at me. “Feels like old times doesn't it?”

He grins stupidly at me. “Yeah. Feels familiar, but you will still lose in the end.” Then the life in his eyes fades and I pull the sword out of him.

Taking another look around the room, I see that the chaos has lightened up a little. But six of the hooded figures are still fighting.

Celes is smashing a guy into the ground like a doll. He is struggling but can't put up a fight any more.

Arthur is surrounded by two enemies while he is using the feet of someone as clubs. It seems his first victim got the doubtful honour of being torn apart to serve as weapon.

Nicosar is surrounded by three others. They are hacking in horror at his mangled body while it keeps trying to reform.

“Just Die!” “Zombie!” “Unholy Monster!”

I throw a lightning spell at them to fry them together with the geezer. They seem to be too occupied to mind me. It's wonderful if you don't have to mind friendly fire!

When their colour turns to a crispy brown I release the spell and watch out for the next target. But the one who was unlucky enough to be Celes's opponent is just a bloody mess by now.

Arthur has dealt with his opponents too, while the surviving soldiers sniped them from the side. He has a lone survivor grabbed at the neck. “Look who we have here! Odlef of Meltheim he looks a little mangled, but i am sure he is it.”

The man struggles but can't break free. Both his legs are bent in an unnatural way. “The god will punish you all! He will clean the world!”

Arthur shakes the guy a little and he starts to sob. “They really went insane. I hope it hasn't something to do with our bloodline.”

For the first time I can take a close look at the inside of the dome. It's completely empty execpt for the barricades, which were put up by the defenders.

The whole floor of the size of a football field is engraved with the complicated pattern of the summoning circle.

The metal glows in fluorescent white light. In the middle of the dome is an altar with a box. Two soldiers are already securing it and one of them is taking a look into the box.

Suddenly a mad grin creeps over his face.

“There is only one true god! All who are unworthy must die!” He lifts his gun and shoots his comrade right into the chest, then he turns the gun into our direction. I throw myself to the ground but a storm of bullets punches more holes into him than I can count.

Another soldier drops his weapons and runs up to the chest while shielding his eyes. He closes the chest and then lifts his hands. “I am not insane! Don't shoot.” Hoh, it seems like they are really good trained people who have something between their heads! Good job Drem!

While I stand up again, healers come into the dome to tend to the wounded. I walk up to the altar, while I take a close look at the summoning circle under my feet and then at the altar itself.

“So that's the seed of the problem.” Celes takes a look at the chest, picking it up and shakes it …... very scientific! “Seems like nothing is in there.”

Arthur comes up to us, while dragging the sobbing Odlef behind him. “It looks like that's the -message- from this Tjenemit. Is is really possible to drive someone insane just by looking into a glowing box?”

Nicosar is behind Arthur and takes the box out of Celes's hands and sets it very carefully back on the altar. “You just witnessed what happened to the soldier. Why are you doubting what you just saw with your own eyes.”

I walk in a circle around the altar, then I take out a knife and start to cut some of the finer connections of the glowing metal. Insane box or not, we have to stop the summoning.

“How does it look Angrod?” -Celes

I continue to cut some other connections and then I look around the big circle.

“Bad.”

Suddenly Odlef pulls a knife out of his clothes and cuts his wrist. Before I can stop him he sprays the blood over the floor.

The altar starts to pulse and Odlef begins to scream. “The god is coming! The god is coming to cleanse this world!”

I kick the altar, chipping off a piece of it and glows up angrily, giving off a buzzing sound.

“Wow! Don't do that again!” -Arthur

I shrug my shoulders. “I seems that produces at least a reaction!”

I kick the altar with my full strength. The damned thing splits apart but the circle keeps pulsing with a white light.

Shit! If I just had time to take a closer look at this.

Suddenly reality seems do distort and a shock-wave blasts us out of the circle. People are thrown left and right while I try to steady myself.

“Well, well. Look at this. Who would have thought that Seria was able to drag a whole world into her void zone.”

I look up and see a white glowing figure at the centre of the circle. Odlef actually got free from his shackles and is crawling towards Tjenemit. “God! Heal me! Punish the heretics!”

“You are annoying, whoever you are.” He waves his hand at Odlef and the poor idiot is blown away like an insect. He strikes the wall of the dome and is smeared flat like a fly.

“This blocks my view.” The dome blasts apart like a tent, struck by a strong wind and Tjenemit lifts a few feet into the air while turning in a circle.

Someone grabs me and pulls me to my feet. It's Arthur. “What can we do? Is that the real power of a god?”

I look around and find Celes a few feet beside me. “We take cover and hope that he doesn't step on us.”

At that moment a ray of energy hits Tjenemit, but it's doing nothing to him. No! Idiots! Don't shoot at the god! The people on my flying fortress have taken action.

“Hahahaha! You guys are funny!”

Tjenemit lifts his hand and flicks a finger at my flying fortress. It bends, breaking apart at two thirds of its length. No! Damn! It took me years to build that thing!

The parts fall to the earth while they burn. Impacting with and impressive blast of energy.

“Evacuate everyone, give order to retreat and don't look back!” -Me

Celes has gotten to her feet too and I grab her shoulder. “We run!”

Suddenly the space behind Tjenemit distorts and Seria appears. She stabs her hand into his back and everyone has to cover his ears at the unfolding scream.

“AAAAAARRGHH!”

Tjenemit turns around and strikes at Seria. After a few blows between them, Seria is struck out of the sky while a mountain behind her is blown apart. The resulting shock-waves lay waste to the city and blow everyone away.

Damn!

While I can barely hold myself upright at the fragment of the dome, I act on reflex and teleport to Seria, grabbing her body and teleport again. “Great! Was that your plan!? Backstabbing a Council member and hoping for the best? That was the worst fight I have ever seen.”

Seria looks up to me and smiles while she coughs up blood. “No. But it would have been funny if it worked.” A horrifying wound spans across her chest. This doesn't look good.

Tjenemit appears above us. I guess there is no running from a god.

“Look who we have here. If it isn't Ascathon. If I remember right you should suffer horrible inside this void. But you look perfectly fine to me. Hmmm. I think this will be proof enough. I will have to find Myrm too.”

He points a finger towards me and a small ray of white light stabs through my throat.

I go to my knees and gurgle up blood. It HURTS! “Hgr ee aall!” Heal! Damn!

“Don't bother. That spell cancels every healing a mortal would be capable of. I guess I will go to work and lay waste to this world. When I have dealt with all those runaways, their souls should be really caught inside this void. And if there are no bodies which could house a soul, there are no problems with the reincarnation issue. I guess I don't have to bother with you two any further.”

Tjenemit turns around and flies off. Destroying everything in his path.

I crumble to the ground while the lack of oxygen robs my consciousness. Seria crawls towards me and grabs my hand.

“I am sorry Johann. I guess.....”

But I can't her words any more, as I drift off into the darkness.

53 - Who you really are?

„Uuuhhh....“ My head hurts! I try to move, but something heavy is on me. It's dark. I concentrate and redirect the flow of mana within me.

I wait until the mana in my body circulates in the correct pattern again. It's quite a difficult process to sort this out again after everything got messed up.

Then I force myself to move, lifting the heavy stones which are burying me. Haaa! This hurts! I concentrate some of my mana to the ring, which Angrod gave me. “Heal!”

After a short burst of power I am free. The City is in ruins! Far away, I can see the smoke of a big fire. That must be where Angrod's fortress fell from the sky.

The dome is completely gone!

“Hello! Anyone?” I turn around, but nobody is here. A few bodies are here and there, but after I check on them I find out that they are long gone. I have to find Angrod. “Track: Angrod!” At my command one of the spells in my ring activates.

It's convenient to being able to cast at least basic magic. A small bubble of light appears in front of me as I feel a portion of my mana disappear. Then it shoots off into a direction to my left and I follow it.

The bubble leads me in straight line over the wreckage of the wasted city. It looks like a tornado leveled everything.

After five minutes I arrive at the crumbled wall of a building. Seria is leaning with her back towards it and I see Angrod on the ground besides her.

A few more steps take me to Angrod's side. He is lying on his belly. I turn him around and see that something stabbed into his throat. No... I feel his pulse but there is nothing. I feel tears on my cheeks while I try to give him first aid.

But the healing of my ring doesn't work! Why! What's this devilry! I hit at his chest in an attempt to start his heart again, but it doesn't work.

NONONO.

“I am sorry....” Seria looks at me with a ghastly wound on her chest. “Seems like this could have gone smoother Sandra.”

“What could have gone smoother!” I scream at Seria and hit the wall beside her head, pulverizing it.

“He is dead! I lost him again!” I shake the stupid bitch, but then I feel her mana through her skin as her guard is completely down.

“That … can't be! Sofie?” I am shaking what's this!

“Hi, mom! Have you and dad made up?” She smiles at me and I slap her. “Explain this!”

“While you two lived as Johann and Sandra, I took a little vacation from being a god and reincarnated to live a mortal live again out of curiosity. I liked it very much, so I kept track of you two from then on, hoping to get you back together, but it never worked out.” -Seria

“Hoow.... what's this stupid game of yours!” I howl while I shake her but somehow I feel that she is telling the truth. I would always recognize my children's mana.

“Kill me mom. If you do, you can get father back.” Seria grabs my hands, begging for something unimaginable.

“A.... Are you crazy? I just learned who you are and you beg me to kill you!? And how should that get Angrod back. HE IS DEAD!” My hands form fists while my vision gets blurry. Who knows if he will keep his memories after death.

“He is still here. I bound his soul to his body. This is planned far longer than you can imagine. I collected the souls of gods for an eternity. Everyone in this world is like you two, you would have found out if you ever had bothered to check.

I stole the world which you two destroyed and rebuild it. This is inside the void zone, the time flows differently here. A year in here is a mere second to the rest of the universe.

It took me quite some time to get a working ecosystem running. I should have listened better when you taught me biology back then. I guess just taking random parts of other worlds is a really stupid approach on this.

But you two are the only ones who kept all their memories. When I saved the others from the Council, I split their souls and sealed their memories and divinity inside my own soul.

I had feared that they would try to escape this world otherwise. Once I die, everyone will get their powers back. My soul will be torn to pieces though. I think. Maybe dad could have saved me but he is indisposed at the moment.

I tried to get myself killed by Tjenemit, but the bastard is too stupid to finish the job. So you have to do it. The faster I die, the sooner you can start to fight back!”

Seria clings to me with tears in her eyes.

“I was always too afraid of this part of my plan. But it has to be done. Please!”

“I... I can't..” I hug my daughter.

“Do it now! I have put so much effort into this world. I don't want to see it destroyed. A world just for the gods. I am already on the ground anyway. Even if I survive, Tjenemit will come back and finish the job after he is done with this world!”

I grab her head with shaking hands. “I hate you for this!” And with a sudden jerk I snap her neck. She offers no resistance.

While I hug the lifeless body of my daughter, it disperses into countless shimmering marbles of different colours while a pillar of light rises to the sky. They disperse like a giant storm of energy, passing through solid matter like it isn't there.

Somehow I feel …... empty.

But a fiery red marble stays in front of me. It feels like some lost part of me and I grab it without thinking. I feel something entering my body and suddenly a glowing ghostly smiling image of Seria is in front of me.

HI! This is something like an automatic message to everyone on this world!

I am your one and only goddess Seria!

A long time ago I saved everyone on this world. Even though you don't remember it right now. A long time ago, everyone of you was a god. But because of certain circumstances you will soon remember. The rulers of the multiverse had something against you for one reason or the other. You will remember it more or less pretty soon anyway.

When I saved you from them, I asked everyone of you to help me once in exchange. I would be fine with it if you did whatever you wanted to do afterwards. But I hope you will be fine with keeping an eye on this world, I made it for all of you.

So grab the marble in front of you and take everything back which once belonged to you. I am sorry about your memories, they will be a little blurry or feel not like your own after such a long time.

But if you look out for your king and queen it should be fine. They still remember everything of their past life as gods. They should be able to guide you.

As for my wish. You will understand once you remember. It is easy! May you be peasant or noble, soldier or king.

Please crush the Council!

And if it isn't too much I would be happy if you would be able to live in peace together afterwards. On this world for living gods! Create a new order of living gods! Be better than the Council!

I guess that's everything I wanted to ask of you. I sacrificed much for this little speech, so I will have to say goodbye to everyone now.

That's goodbye from your one and only goddess!

Seria strikes a strange pose and throws an erotic kiss at me while the projection fades away. Stupid daughter! What did I do wrong with her education....

Someone grabs my shoulder and I turn around to look into Angrod's face. “I had a weird dream..... can you tell me why we are gods again.”

I throw myself at him. The tears won't stop. “I thought I had lost you again. But we will be together forever from now on!”

“Hahaha....... I guess...... together...... forever.....”

54 - Where it all starts anew?

“So Seria is Sofie!” I am shocked! If Celes's story is true.... I looked at my daughters ass and had perverted thoughts about her! Urgh!

And she died to make us gods again? Hasn't she learned anything about soul-magic while I taught her? What did I teach her for twenty years if she just goes off and dies like that. Oh, I will give her hell if I ever manage to piece her together with her memories intact.

Actually that's a point I am a little worried about. Loosing all your memories isn't much different from dying. The soul is immortal and all that stuff isn't really helpful. Who cares if your memories are gone?

Getting your soul injured or dying is really scary in that regard. Think about it. You die once and you may forget the name of a loved one. The second time you may forget an important event and you ask yourself why you ever loved that person and live a live without ever thinking much about him or her. The Third time the person is completely forgotten.

On that hand... I messed up Celes's soul pretty heavily once... she surely has some black holes in her memories from that. Even more amazing that she still clung to the memories about our life as Johann and Sandra.

…... I should remember to never talk to her about it. If she realizes it she will give me hell for real.

So Seria was our daughter Sofie all that time..... I never had any suspicions about her. Snake! She is a lying double tongued snake! To keep that act up for a whole lifetime is really commendable. And that's not meant in a good sense.

“So what should we do about this?” Celes points towards some pretty awesome explosions on the horizon.

“Seems like some people took Seria's wish to heart and are already bashing up Tjenemit. They will have problems though.... they just got their powers back and their memories of their past lifes should be pretty bad. Reintegrating old memories into a complete personality is pretty troublesome. Even more so if the owner developed a completely different personality from his old one. Tjenemit has an eternity of experience and who knows how much power.” I grumble while I analyse the situation.

“But if this is really our old world ….” It should still be there. For a second I concentrate and search for a familiar place. Deep down in the planet. “Go and distract Tjenemit for a few minutes. I will be right back.”

“What?” -Celes

But I already teleport straight down into the planets core.

“Mwahahaha!” I laugh, as I turn in a circle and look at the wonder around me. An eternity ago during the great war between me and Celes I started a project.

I wanted to create something worthy of a god! The inspiration for it was given by the crystal city of the Council. I often tried to recreate those crystals, but it was insanely difficult.

Imagine a substance that's durable enough to withstand even the power of a god. That's the crystal city at the middle of all things. I wanted that technology! But I was unable to recreate it. No matter what I tried, I ended up with failures.

Then one day, as I was watching a crystal grow, I had an enlightenment. The crystal city wasn't created! It grew like all crystals do! If you gather enough mana in one point, it crystallizes and you end up with something that looks and feels like solid matter but isn't. It's pure mana.

So I created a seed and set it free down here inside the planets core. It should have taken hundreds, thousands of years to mature. But on the other hand I guess that much time really went by since then?

I am inside a room made out of mana-crystal. The same crystal which the Council used to build it's city. I step forward and leave the room. I need to get to the core.

There is no need to search for it. I can feel the huge power, which is collected inside the core. After a few corridors I reach a room with a huge crystal inside. It looks wild and naturally grown. But it's the heart of this structure.

I touch the crystal and feel the power inside it. After a little concentration I give it the command to rise to the surface. The crystal hums as if it wants to reassure me that it understood the order.

Then I instruct it to teleport me to the armoury. The world shifts smoothly and I am inside an immense room.

It is filled with rows and rows of weapons, armours and artefacts. They are all out of crystal. Weapons which can strike down even gods.

But I avert my eyes, those weapons are of no interest to me. I walk to the end of the room where a staff is resting on a pedestal.

It looks like an ordinary staff, about the same length as my height. But if you look closely, you can see that it is riddled with countless fine runes and circles.

I grab it and feel the power pulsing through it. This is my masterpiece. A weapon worthy of a god.

But suddenly I see the reflection of my savage grin in the mirror. Damn, do I really look that scary every time Celes complains about my expression?

Uuuh. Why am I wasting time here. I concentrate again until I have found Celes. Then I teleport.

I arrive at a battlefield. Multiple soldiers are trying to stop Tjenemit with their regained powers. He is hovering a few meters above the ground while he sends out blasts of pure power at everyone who decides to attack him. Among them are Celes, Arthur, Tanja, Gabriel and Nicosar. But short of Celes, everyone else looks like a baby fighting an adult.

I had expected that. But it's a little worse than I imagined. Tjenemit has grabbed Tanja at her neck and is shaking her like a light doll. Others are trying to get up again after they were obviously beaten down.

Tjenemit seems to be disturbed. It has to be shocking if mere mortals, who should be nothing more than insects, suddenly put up a fight.

Using the distraction I teleport directly in front of Tjenemit and touch his chest with the tip of my staff. A blinding flash of light erupts and the Council member is send straight down to the earth like being hit by something far more powerful.

I grab Tanja at her foot before she can fall too. “Are you still alive?”

“... Yes …. my king. Though I don't feel that good.” She nods.

“Then retreat and try to lessen the damage to this world with the others. Put up a shield and shut me and Tjenemit inside. I don't want him to get away.” I let go of her and teleport down to Tjenemit.

Celes appears beside me while a big shimmering bubble appears around us and Tjenemit. It has a diameter of roughly fifty meters. Multiple people join Tanja in her efforts and new arrivals join in as they arrive at the scene.

Tjenemit gets to his feet. His chest is visibly dent in where I touched him with my staff. “How is this possible. Do you know what you are doing!? You are resisting the Council!”

“The Council has nothing to say on this world. Here, I am the ruler.” I inform him of the circumstances and he turns red.

“You will suffer! We will crush this rebellion and seal you all away.” He lashes out at me but I counter with my staff. Waving it, the surge of energy is dispelled like a stick would destroy a spiders web.

He looks at me agape. “I like that thing. Could you lend it to me for a second honey?” Celes tugs at my sleeve with a strange expression in her face.

“Um. Be careful with it. I can't replace it.” I reluctantly give her my staff. That expression was really scary.

“Don't ignooreeee meeeee!” Tjenemit screams with rage and jumps at us but Celes jumps towards him, wielding the staff like a club.

The following fight …. ahem.... the following beating was ….. thoroughly done. After half an hour I had the honour to witness a Council member crying like a little child.

I doubt that a single bone in his body was bigger than the nail of my thumb by now. Celes somehow managed to avoid killing him while she …. punished.... him.

The shield to contain our power flickered multiple times during that time. Once I even feared that it would break. All the people outside could hear only screams of pure pain and terror!

After even the low whimpering of Tjenemit subsided, she came back to me and pressed the bloody staff into my hand. “Thank you honey, I hope I can borrow it again if I should need it.”

“Ahem..... sure?” I am not certain if I should give it to her again.

It was easy to collect Tjenemit's soul afterwards. There wasn't much of him left after all. I sealed him inside my staff for the time being.

Later I would have enough time to interrogate him. Maybe I would let him resurrect again after a thorough deletion of his memories.

After a while the shield fell and we were welcomed by a mass of people.... or gods I should say? Apparently everyone rushed here as soon as they overcame the shock of getting their powers and memories back.

After a short talk with Arthur, Nicosar and Tanja I could settle down a bit. To my great relief, nobody was really changed by his new... or old memories. They were still the same people I knew before.

From their explanation, accessing the old memories was like remembering a movie. They didn't feel like they were your own. I guess it will still take a long time for everyone to settle down.

This will surely have a big effect on society too. I don't even want to imagine the consequences. After Arthur and Nicosar had ordered some volunteers to clean up the mess in the north, we went back to Midpoint. Teleporting around the world wasn't a huge issue for anyone any more.

Ireth and Rose stayed back in our summer residence in Midpoint. The palace was still in ruins. As we approached the door, it flew open and Ireth stormed out with tears in her eyes.

“Help Meeeee! He is asking so many questions and I don't know how to answer them myself!” She shoves Aengus into our faces.

I can feel a mental connection being build up and a stream of questions hammers down on me.

-Mommy! Daddy! Good you are home! Grandmother is a little overtaxed at the moment. Can you explain all those weird dreams to me? I remember a weird blonde hottie helping me to escape from some old farts after I refused to become a god. And why are you looking at me like that? Mommy, I am hungry! And Daddy, can I play that funny game with the red dots again!?-

"....."

55 - Between father and son?

We are inside our summer residence and Celes is holding Aengus with a distressed expression. Just imagine how you would feel if your two week old baby would suddenly start to talk in your mind.

No wonder Ireth freaked out!

“So.... who do we have here?” I ask Aengus with a forced smile. At least I have to try to keep my calm. If I don't like his personality, I will wipe his mind and that's it!

-I just woke up and had all that knowledge about language and other stuff that's common sense. Then I had those dreams. I was always a hero in shining armour and I would help the weak and save the innocent. It felt like I was doing that over many different lifetimes, always choosing a righteous path.-

“Hm... So you don't actually remember who you really are Aengus?” I ask him the most important question. I am a little concerned about his mental health. A little baby shouldn't have all that knowledge. It's different if the baby has a complete personality to boot with. But Aengus seems a little incomplete. He didn't have his own personality and his brain just suddenly got stuffed with enough knowledge about mind-magic to use telepathy.

-Actually I don't really remember who I am. It's all a little blurry. The only thing I remember clearly is that I was just banishing some evil demons from my plain, when a blinding light suddenly pulled me forcefully away. Then I was inside a magic circle and some people told me that I had to join the ranks of gods.-

I nod and signal him to explain further. Without the whole story it will be hard to judge the situation.

-They even went as far as to give me working instructions for this new.... appointment. They didn't even ask for my opinion. I never wanted such a great responsibility on my shoulders. I think I was fine with just wandering the world in my current reincarnation and helping people in trouble.-

-I always thought that's my destiny for which I could remember my past life. While these Council people were talking about more and more pretty heavy stuff, I freaked out and made a run for it. But even by travelling between worlds, I couldn't shake them off.-

-They even threatened me with being sealed forever inside a black hole. They are nuts if you ask me. When I was about to give up a blonde beauty appeared and offered to save me from them. It was connected with a hefty price, but it sounded better than the black hole. So I accepted.-

-The next moment I wake up from that dream and a demon smiles into my face!-

I sigh and close my eyes. “That demon is your grandmother. And if you ever call her a demon again, you will wish you were never born.”

From what I heard from him, it seems like he was a newborn god. A soul which just transcended from a normal cycle of reincarnation to godhood. The council became aware of him and tried to enlist him. The normal procedure like it happened to me too. You get summoned, intimidated and the ordered to work for them.

-I gathered that myself after I thought over my experiences as a baby. Say dad! Was I really reborn as a demon? But after I see you and mom I guess that question is void.-

“We aren't demons. This world is a little different from your previous ones. Everyone on this world is a god. We are opposed to the Council and you could say that we are at war with them.” -Celes

-So that's why you came back in shining armour! Are you some kind of high ranking warriors?-

“Kukuku. Nothing of the sort. We are the king and the queen of this whole world. So you are the prince.” Celes smiles with a proud face.

-...-

“Thinking about running?” I ask Aengus and smile at him with a devilish grin.

-It's hard to believe that you are not a demon if you look at me like that.....-

Aengus has now a complicated expression. You can tell even though he has just a baby-face.

“Returning to the question of what to do with you. To be honest, I am concerned about your mental health. It must be pretty hard to cope with those dreams without a stabilised personality. I am thinking about deleting or sealing your memories.” I explain the situation to Aengus with a firm voice.

-You can do that? ….. To be honest I am afraid of dying. Wouldn't the deletion of my memories kill my current personality? Couldn't you just seal those dreams away? To be honest most of them are pretty disturbing anyway.-

I cock my head while I think about that possibility. It would be the least I would do.

-And if I understood the situation correctly. Wouldn't I be hampered compared to others of my age on this world? Haven't all babies gotten back their memories?-

I massage my temples while I think about it. Great work Seria! You created a complete chaos for society. Talking babies, workers and serves who suddenly are gods and who could smite cities with a thought. A wonder it didn't already deteriorate into civil war again.

“I have so much other stuff to do. For the moment I will go with this solution. It is at least not permanent like a memory reset.” I press a thumb onto Aengus's forehead and concentrate on his soul.

It is in more turmoil than someone would imagine from talking to him. So it takes me quite a while to sort his memories and seal them. It helps that he relaxes during the process. After a few minutes I am done. “How do you feel now.”

-Not much differently. So no more weird dreams?-

“No.”

-Thank you daddy, I guess?-

Suddenly Rose enters the room. “Ahem. My king there are some documents, you have to sign. We need to rebuild the palace!” She waves a package of documents at me.

The palace? …. OF COURSE! “THE PALACE!” I scream and Aengus twitches at my outburst. I teleport to the ruins of the old palace.

A few people are trying to save valuables from the rubble, but I shoo them away. I just got the area free of people when Celes arrives with Aengus and Rose.

“What are you thinking, just teleporting off!” She snaps at me.

“Oh, sorry! But I almost forgot that the new palace should arrive any minute now!” I inform them while I already start to clean up the area of the old palace, flattening everything with telekinesis.

It's no great deal with my newly regained powers. The area just has the size of a few football fields. That's nothing compared to crushing a mountain. The process is progressing quick and without problems.

“New palace?” -Celes

“Arrive?” -Rose

“Yes you see I remembered one of my projects when you told me that this is our old world. So I went down to the planets core and ordered it to rise to the surface.” I smile at them while the earth starts to shake. It's not really an earthquake, just a mild vibrating sensation.

“The core?” -Rose

“You ordered it?” -Celes

“Off to the side! We have to get out of the way!” I lead them out of the area.

Just in this moment a spike made out of crystal stabs through the ground and starts to rise higher and higher. The ground is penetrated at several other positions by other spikes too. They grow to the size of a house, then they start to resemble towers.

Suddenly the whole area opens up and a huge shimmering structure out of crystal rises out of the ground. “Mwahaha! Behold! My greatest technological masterpiece! Worthy of the gods! I call it the Eternal Palace. Originally I just wanted to use it as my mobile research lab, but I guess it is grand enough to serve as a palace too.

After two minutes the structure stops to rise and the ground stops shaking. A sudden pulse of power shakes off the dirt and the whole building gives off a satisfied hum as if it was pleased to have accomplished its task.

The sunlight is broken in the diamond-like surface and the building shines in all spectral colours. Satisfied I nod and grin at Rose and Celes, who are looking agape at the new palace.

Behind us I notice a crowd of people growing bigger and bigger. It seems the spectacle alarmed the whole town.

Well it is okay. Witness the might of your king! The king of all gods! "Mwahaha!"

-Daddy? You do realize........ This thing just literally rose from hell! Are you sure we aren't demons!?-

“...”

Maybe I should wipe your mind after all.

56 - Interlude - The Sphere of Sight!

“And you are sure that you know nothing of Seria? You had the most contact with her Lada.” El Shaddai is walking down a long corridor with me.

“No? The last time I saw her, she suddenly had something urgent to do and ran off? I never saw her since.” I answer truthfully to El Shaddai.

He nods and we walk in silence until we arrive at a room with a spinning sphere made of crystal in the centre. Amaru is also there. He wears plain clothing and looks more like a university professor. He is polishing his monocle at the moment, which he just does if he encountered a problem.

At our entrance he turns towards us. “Good you are here! Tjenemit disappeared!”

“What do you mean …. he disappeared!?” El Shaddai has a dangerous tone in his voice while he interrogates Amaru.

I purse my lips and listen to the evolving conversation.

“Like I said. I can't find him with my Sphere of Sight any more. It's like he is..... gone?” Amaru throws his hands into the air. It's rare to see him like that.

“And Seria?” -El Shaddai

“I can't find her either. The last thing I know is that both of them went into the void, but no one came out again. Then there was this.... reaction.” Amaru ponders over the spinning bubble of crystal. It's one of his greatest creations.

It's the Sphere of Sight and it is the basis of the Council's power. With it we are able to track the awakening of each god and search for everyone, we want to find. It is the ultimate spying device.

Unfortunately.... or fortunately Seria's void zone is a black spot on the map. Even for Amaru.

“What reaction?” -El Shaddai

“You see. Shortly after Tjenemit entered the void, there was a burst of power. Like hundreds of millions of gods awakened at the same time. It has to be an error in the system.” Amaru shakes his head.

El Shaddai shakes his head.

“Nooo.... The Sphere worked without problems for an eternity. Why should it suddenly fail us for no apparent reason? Tjenemit was right. Seria really had all those gods hidden away from us. She is responsible for the disappearances. Though she had apparently collected much more followers than we ever imagined. We have to prepare ourselves.” El Shaddai scratches his cheek while he looks absent minded into the sphere.

“Shouldn't we wait until Tjenemit comes back and reports the situation to us?” Amaru asks with a hopeful voice.

“Bwahaha!” El Shaddai bursts into laughter. “Tjenemit wont come back! Your device worked perfectly fine. He went alone into the void and somehow caused the awakening of Seria's followers. Then they dealt with him, one way or the other.”

Amaru gets a little concerned. “But he is a Council member! Surely he wouldn't...”

“Could you win against a million gods? Even if they would be weak and just became gods? You would never have a chance against millions of them! And you said the reaction was big enough for hundreds of millions of them!” -El Shaddai

I look into the floor while I think about it. So I was right. Seria really had that mighty force up her sleeve.

“What do you think Lada? Still of the opinion that it would have been better to talk?” El Shaddai smirks at me.

“Like you said. Tjenemit went there and started it. Now there are who knows how many gods from the leash and we have no way to control them. We can't enter the void and apparently they can't leave it. Otherwise they would be already knocking on our door. So you tell me if talking about the situation with Seria could have evolved into a worse scenario.” I smile at El Shaddai with a small feeling of superiority.

But he doesn't answer and leaves the room..... probably to gather an army.

Amaru has finished polishing his monocle and puts it back on again. “This surely forebodes hard times. I see war on the horizon.”

I raise an eyebrow. Obviously he had the same thought as me. “What do you think would happen if it's true?”

He shrugs his shoulders while he watches the Sphere. “We control the whole multiverse. The number of gods we have under our command isn't small and amounts to the population of several worlds. But we have the control just because everyone is embedded in the system. What if they suddenly realize that there are sides to choose?”

After a second of silence he continues. “If we manage to crush those rebels fast, we may be able to keep the control. But every day of fighting without defeating them will give our followers more time to realize that they could just turn around and stab into the other direction. It solely depends on what this new power will represent.”

He turns to me and looks straight into my eyes. “Either way, it surely will be a troublesome time.” Slowly he fades away and vanishes.

I sigh while I look into the sphere and contemplate about the future and my role in it.

57 - Sorting out the mess?

I am in my new palace, sitting on my throne. Aengus is riding on my lap while I am dealing with various matters of state.

Before me is a multitude of representatives who are unhappy with the new order of things in this world. After the whole issue with the new memories and godhood, we are finally back on track again.

It was clear that the old order of things was completely overthrown. Gods can take care of themselves. So why should the serfs and workers continue to crawl under the nobles feet.

I introduced a guild system, for the lack of a better solution. What else can you do with a population of beings that powerful?

Every guild has to order its internal affairs and hierarchy by itself. Currently we have guilds for war, nature, arts, technology and construction. They all have to answer to me. If a guild needs or wants something, it has to trade with the others through the provision of a service. By working for a guild you can gain points which you can spend on various luxury items.

It will surely get adjusted in the future, but for the time being we are going with this. Of course most noble houses are now in the first line for the different guilds leadership.

Of course we had to create a new currency system. It's pretty problematic if everyone can just wander off and collect some valuable minerals like gold or diamonds. On the other hand many things like cars or air-planes completely lost their value.

Those people before me don't belong to any of the current established organisations. They just entered the room and started to complain about various stuff. Like not being able to have a proper life, being bored and having nothing to do.

“We think that we deserve better!” One of the men complains. “We are gods now after all! Why should we serve others!”

“Yes!” “Exactly!”

“Because even under gods, there have to be rules! We are stuck on this world together for the time being. So we have to deal with it. If you guys are unable to cope with the situation I know a solution!” I throw a meaningful glance to a fist sized crystal globe on a pedestal beside my throne.

A small green figure is hopping up and down inside it. It looks like it is screaming at the top of it's lungs without accomplishing anything. It has a strange resemblance to Tjenemit.

The people before me grow pale.

“But I am a reasonable fellow! If you explain your problem to me in a civilised manner, we may find a civilised solution.” I continue the talk and grin at them.

One of them who has grey hair and the features of a mouse steps forward. “I have been a scholar for my entire life. I worked in libraries and taught students. From my previous lives I remember nothing different until I got problems with the Council. I was always a peaceful fellow and tried to stay away from problems. I am not a fighter, so I can't join the warriors guild. I am no technician, so I can't join them either. For the other factions my skills are too mediocre too. For one reason or the other everyone here doesn't fulfil the requirements to join any of the existing guilds. Without being able to join a guild, we can't acquire anything we wish for, but can't create by ourselves. Others are simply bored because there is no work for them.”

I nod and think about it. “So what type of guild would you need to have a place in society?”

The old guy blinks. “Pardon me?”

“You tell me you are here because you can't join a guild. So we will create one for you. Hmmm, like a service guild?” -Me

“But who needs such things now? We are gods now. If we wish for something we can get most of it by ourselves.” The old guy is confused.

“Well for example I wish for some people who get my state in order, most of the servants ran off because they remembered a heroic past life. Officials threw their work to the ground because they remembered that they were great arch-mages. If there was a guild which would offer to keep track of my books I would certainly take their services.” I am speaking the truth here. Rose may have stayed with the family, but the royal household surely got messed up. Rose only stayed because she is more like a family member than a servant.

The old guy nods to himself. “If you could really set up such a guild for people like us, that would surely ease the problem.”

“Then it's done. I will tell my remaining officials to sign the necessary papers. And I am sure they will join that guild themselves in the same moment. They surely just stayed in their position because their situation was similar to yours.” I rub my temples while I contemplate the chaos I had to endure until recently.

The representatives bow to me and are led outside by a guard. It will surely take several years for society to settle down. Not to mention what we had to do to the kids. Some smart asses with big degrees ultimately decided that it would be best if they had their memories sealed until the age of twenty.

-Daddy? It's all nice and all. I appreciate that you are showing me your work. But it's still boring as hell!-

Aengus complains from my lap.

“Oh...sorry, but mommy can't look after you at the moment. She is trying to find out how Seria created this.... mess in our ecology.” Then I grab the crystal globe with Tjenemit and shake it a little before my son. Tjenemit gets slammed from one side of his cell to the other like there would be a violent earthquake.

“Look! You can play with this for a while. This is my new Tjenemit-globe!”

Aengus takes the small crystal sphere with both hands and holds it carefully.

-You shouldn't do that to prisoners! It's not very heroic!-

“Aw! Cheapskate! Try it! On top, that's no prisoner, that's an experiment!” I have to teach that guy the right view on the world! What if he ever has to take over my position?

Aengus tries to shake the globe up and down a little. Then his eyes start to gleam and he lets go of the globe. It stays in position and doesn't drop. Looks like he is holding the light globe with telekinesis. Then the globe slowly starts to spin through the horizontal axis. Tjenemit starts to run as his prison starts to spin. Going ever faster until he trips and is pressed against the wall like a hamster in a running wheel.

“Hiihiihihihihi!” Aengus starts to laugh with a high voice but the Tjenemit-globe gets snapped out of the air before our eyes by a hand.

“Don't corrupt him!” Celes snaps at me and slams the globe back into it's position at the pedestal. “I had hoped that you would be a better example.”

“Hi, honey! We just had a little experiment that's all.” I smile at her.

“So it wasn't mistreatment of a prisoner of war?” She looks down at me like I would be dirt. “Give me Aengus! He has to get to sleep, he is a child after all.”

She takes Aengus from my lap and walks off with him. He is waving at me over her shoulder, while he is looking a little disappointed at the globe. Hoho? Maybe I can teach him a few things after all?

Looking out of the window, I realize the setting sun and declare the end of my audiences. After a few minutes I am back in our private chambers and throw myself onto the bed.

Why is it that we still get tired and have to sleep and eat? Aren't we gods again? Are we something between mortals and gods now? Celes is trying to find the answers, but I don't have much hope. From my knowledge no god ever lost his divinity, got reincarnated and got it back.

Not many gods ever died before under the council too. There is no knowledge about the life cycle of gods. It's disturbing.

Celes enters the dark room and jumps onto me. “Husband, I need you for an experiment!”

“The husband is tired! The wife has to make the experiment on her own....hmpf” I grumble but something that tastes like chocolate gets shoved into my mouth.

“The husband is needed for this, because this doesn't work with a female alone!” She kisses me while she hugs me on the bed.

“Did something happen? You are really aggressive today?” I ask her while she is rolling on top of me.

“Oh. Nothing... I just managed it to create a new form of that aphrodisiac, I got from Tanja..... so I wanted to test it!” She whispers into my ear.

My face drops. Damn! I have to puke! I already swallowed it! I try to jump out of the bed but Celes wraps around me like a snake, using her tail too! “The husband shouldn't run from his duties!” She whispers to me. “It's not good if you run around while the drug is taking effect!”

…..

58 - A mount for a goddess?

I am currently walking through Midpoint to take a look at the town. During the last four years, I was really rotating from left to right to get everything into order.

First I tried to explore the void in order to leave this world like many other gods. But like them I soon realized that we are stuck on this world for the moment.

Nobody can navigate inside the void. There are no pathways you could follow. I guess that's why Tjenemit took the approach of letting himself being summoned. But after interrogating him for a few months I came to the conclusion that he really doesn't have another solution to the problem.

Of course I learned much interesting stuff about the Council and it's members for example.

There is El Shaddai. He is something like the leader and he looks like a golden statue of Buddha. He is a creepy fellow who can be completely nice in one moment and the next he calls down the apocalypse on anything he doesn't like.

During the great war between the gods, he gathered all the Council members and created peace by defeating everyone else and sealing them away.

I will call that period of time of chaos, because it was everyone against everyone. It looks like the Council didn't rule since the beginning of time after all. It's just what's being told to the younger gods.

As of now the only gods who remember that time are the Council members and the gods who are living inside the Council's city. They belong to the Council's personal army and are fanatics if I understood it correctly.

Then there is Lada. She is something like the bad conscience of the Council, but nobody gives a shit about her opinion. She was always on Seria's side when the Council had a discussion about her, so Tjenemit hates her.

She is a brown haired, normal looking woman with fable for too short skirts? I am not sure why Tjenemit insisted on that piece of information.

Amaru is a technology freak and responsible for the Council's win in the great war. He created the Sphere of Sight, which gives them the ability to spy on everyone almost anywhere. He also invented various weapons, but the mana-crystals weren't his invention. The Council's city existed way before them, they just took it from someone else during the war.

He has the appearance of an old scholar with grey hair and a monocle, which is his personal treasure.

If that's true the history of the multiverse may be way more complicated than we thought.

Then we have Enyo, who is a crazy fighting maniac. Most of the time she would be in charge of the army. If she has some free time she always indulges herself into carnage and destruction.

From Tjenemit's description she should be a perfect candidate for that black hole sealing method.

She is easy to recognize, as her whole body is covered with tattoos. She tends to wear full body armour and has short white yellow hair.

Eris isn't much different from Enyo. She is always striving to create trouble for everyone else. There is nothing she is more happy about than to see others suffer.

She has black hair and really pale skin but otherwise she looks like an ordinary human being.

Lastly we have Elohim. He is a mysterious fellow who keeps to himself. A balanced individual. He always does what he believes the best for himself. Even though he was the only one who backed Seria together with Lada, it looks like he did it for opportunistic reasons.

He has green hair and is some kind of elf. There are always plants growing on him, which sounds creepy. Why should someone intentionally grow plants on his own body?

Though I think I may have managed to give Aengus a broader view on the world by letting him join those interrogations. Of course I never told Celes about this. She would behead me if she knew!

After Aengus managed to overcome his heroic demeanour, he was a perfect help in tortu.... interrogating Tjenemit.

I am proud of my son to say the least!

Then I had a pretty hard piece of work with putting our society back in order. Of course many smart asses were helping me, but it doesn't really account as help if everyone has a different opinion.

Sometimes it's really good to have someone who has the last word! Fuck democracy! If I would have let them continue to discuss the problem, the multiverse would have ended before they presented me an answer which satisfied them.

We are still running with something like a guild system. It's working for the moment but of course it is still far from perfect.

First a guild needs a unique purpose. Like the warrior's guild is guarding a building against trespassing, protecting people and goods. Then it can offer this service to others in exchange for guild points which is now our currency.

A god would only start to work, if he wanted a luxury item which could only be provided by another god. So most of the services are traded for valuables and magical artefacts.

Frustrated by our inability to get outside the void I then committed the biggest mistake ever. And if I say ever I mean EVER!

Celes was pregnant with another child and I was alone in my lab in the evening. I was trying to piece Seria's soul back together by using the help of my palace.

It is a pretty strong conjuring point for mana and souls. Luckily we are inside the void and Seria's …. pieces didn't fly off too far.

When Celes found out what I was attempting to do she …..persuaded? ....convinced? .....wooed? ….

….. she forced me to put Seria's soul into our child's body.

According to her, she didn't want to give birth to some stranger. Hah... our society got pretty disturbing. Imagine every newborn child has the personality of a dead person or at least some memories of a past life.

“Daddy! More to the left! I want to see that statue!”

My head gets yanked to the left. The little girl on my shoulders is using my horns like a driving wheel while she uses me as a mount to explore the city. She has red hair and very similar features to her mother. Though she is obviously much more than a three year old child.

“Daddy, what's that statue? It seems familiar.”

“That's a statue of you Seria.” We are in front of a temple and there is a really fine statue of the Goddess of Life and Death in front of it.

“A statue of me? But I am naked!? Mom hit me until I turned green and blue when I ran through the house naked yesterday!” Seria uses my horns to urge me forward. “I wanna see that building from inside!”

I start to move and walk slowly into the ordered direction. The attempt to revive Seria worked in a way … and didn't in another.

Seria kept some of her memories, though she clearly lost many of them. From what I could gather she only kept the more recent ones. Her personality is a little different too. Though not in a good way.

She is really childish now. She was childish before too, but you could realize that she was just playing around. She wasn't taking the world seriously.

Now I would judge her mental age around ten. Though she has much more knowledge than a ten year old should have.

Unfortunately she forgot how to travel the void. I still have hope that she somehow remembers how to. Sometimes she gets access to some memories which were locked before.

I do not dare to dabble with her mind any further. Reforming a soul after it got ripped to so many tiny pieces should have taken aeons.

A soul is a very delicate form of …. energy wave of quantum fluctuations in absence of a better term. It's like the surface a silent pond. If you throw a stone inside it gets disturbed and forms waves which disturb the pond for a long time. You can try to forcefully smooth the surface again afterwards by creating an opposing wave front which cancels out the previous one.

That's what I did after I had her soul back together. But it's not as good as giving the soul the needed time to find back to it's natural state. I don't have the guarantee that I really found all her pieces either. But they will naturally rejoin with the main body over time. Maybe she will remember even more but only time will tell.

I am inside the deserted church now. The religion of this world took a pretty heavy blow by the revelation of us being gods all along.

Many gods asked themselves why they should pray to another god and abandoned their belief. Whoohoo, who would have believed that a wonderful building like this temple could be run down like that in a few years.

I look around the desolate area inside the temple with another statue of Seria in the centre of the room. The rows with wooden benches are broken in some places.

“What leads you here, lad.”

I turn around and see an old woman with owl-like features on a wooden bench beside the entrance.

“I am on a tour with my dad to see the city!” Seria shouts proudly from above my head.

“Hoh, and what's your name little one?”

“Hear and Behold! Seria herself is before you! The one and only Goddess of Life and Death!” Seria puts on a really grand speech.

“Hahaha.” The old woman starts to chuckle. “That's a really grand name little one.” She obviously doesn't believe her.

“Hmpf. It's the one my parents chose for me. So what are you doing here?” -Seria

“I am the head priest of this temple and I am waiting for people who need my help.” The old lady answers with a smiling face.

“Though it doesn't look like there is anyone here....” Seria points out the obvious.

“Oh, there are enough who are coming here. It may be true that there used to be more in the past. But everyone I can help is making me happy.”

“And what could you do for them? We are all gods now.” -Seria

“Even if we are gods, it's still good if you have someone you can talk to. Some people are still coming here if they need advice or help. Yesterday I had a pair, which wanted a old fashioned marriage. Or for example parents who have problematic children.” The old woman smirks at me and I smile back at her.

“Ha! How could the great Me be a problem child. I am Seria herself after all!” -Seria

“You shouldn't use her name like that. It's true that things have changed. But if I believe my memories, she still saved us all.” The old priestess smile becomes a little bit forced.

“But I am Seria! I may have lost some memories because I died but I am the creator of this world. Hmpf!” -Seria

“Oho! So you really are HER? But why did you die? I never heard of something like that.” -Priestess

“To give you back your memories and powers of course. Did ya think it wouldn't come with a price to betray the Council.” -Seria

“Hmmm.” The priestess still looks like she doesn't believe her and looks with pity into my eyes. You are thinking I have a delusional child. Right?

“Fine! I will prove it! Who ELSE than the great Goddess Seria herself...... Could ride on the KING's head!?” She pats my head from above.

The woman looks doubtfully at me, then she goes pale. “Y...y... your majesty! I am sorry, I didn't recognize you. Why are you here all alone!?” She hastily stands up and bows to me.

“It's fine. I am just a mount today. Seria wants to see her world..... though I assume she just tried to get away from her mother.”

Seria starts to fidget on my shoulders. “That's not true. I am not afraid of mom..... though she is very strict with me.”

“And your brother distracting her for a moment has nothing to with you running away at every possible opportunity?” I ask her with a sarcastic tone.

“Wh.. what are you thinking? I totally did not bribe my brother to distract her.” -Seria

“kukuku... to think the king would go for a walk in my church. The world surely has changed.” The old woman chuckles.

“Though it looks like it didn't go well for the church.” I contemplate while I look at my surroundings.

“It's true. But I think that the people may realize at some point that the church did more than promise a great afterlife.” The old woman answers hopefully.

“Daddy, can you repair the churches?”-Seria

“I have no money for something like this. They don't even have a proper use any more.” I won't waste money on those buildings.

“What about the historical value! Cheapskate! I will use mom against you!” Seria makes a serious threat and my face drops.

For a second I think about her possibilities and then I shudder. “I... I will consider it.”

“See old hag? Another proof! Who else than the goddess could give orders to the King?” Her voice is really high and mighty now.

The old woman really smiles with pity at me now. “Hah, I thank you for your help my goddess. But even if the temples would be renovated, there is still the lack of people.”

“Why don't you create a guild for spiritual guidance then. There are still enough mysteries and questions about the universe. There is always a new horizon behind the old one.” Seria shouts out.

“Hoh. I may do that.” The old woman smiles warmly at Seria. Looks like she still doesn't believe that she is her former goddess.

“Daddy, can we take a look at the new park?! I heard they rebuild it more wonderfully than before my brother nuked it!” Seria pulls at my horns while I sigh and wave goodbye to the priestess.

I turn and walk outside.

“Brrrrm! Step on the gas daddy! We need to be there before mommy finds out that we are gone.” Again she urges me forward and I walk down the plaza.

59 - Remember, remember....?

I am with Celes, Seria and Aengus inside the Garden of my log-house in the southern part of the continent. While I enjoy the screams of pure pain and horror, I sip on my cold fruit-juice. Celes is taking a sunbath with Seria and I am comfortably lying in a hammock.

The screams are coming from Aengus. He is rolling around on the ground while he is trying to scrape out his eyes.

“Haaah, Celes, do you remember when we were that age? Isn't it reassuring that we aren't the only ones who have to suffer?”

“Sure my dear. Though I have the feeling that Aengus is a really bad case.” Celes mumbles while she is lying on a mat.

“I am sure he is just a sissy! Couldn't you do something to ease the pain? What are you researching our bodies for if you can't do that.” I raise an eyebrow. She sure is heartless if she could help her son but decided against it.

“Probably I could do something, but it would require some pretty heavy drugs. I don't want to give something like that to a little child.” Celes hums a little while she is enjoying the sun.

“What's happening to big bro mom?” Seria musters her brother with a concerned look.

“Ahem... nothing dangerous. He is just undergoing the metamorphosis. His Adult features are developing. Like horns and split pupils. He will look similar to daddy.” Celes smiles at Seria and pats her head.

“Hooooorrnnnnnnnsss!? Puuuuppiills!? Whaaaahaa... III DONnn't wannNNNAaa bEEE AA DEEOEMON!! HUUURRRRTTTSSS!!!!!” Aengus rolls over the floor and then starts to hit his head against the ground.

Seria looks at her brother with a shocked expression.

Celes continues to explain. “The affected body tissue starts to grow and change rapidly. As a side effect the nerves inside it are going havoc and start firing constantly for naught. It's in fact a form of phantom pain inside the brain. Nothing you could treat that easily. And it's a natural process, better not to disturb it.”

“Aaah. I remember it like yesterday! It was like someone was stabbing screwdrivers into my eyes while twisting them and having a mixer meshing up my brain at the same time.” I recall my own metamorphosis.

“Kyyyyaaaaa!” *Sob* “Thiiis IIS Theee PPURRRTAAAGOORY! III KneWWW I WAAS In HEELLL!”

“You have to learn the dark sides of this world as well as the bright ones Aengus. Try to control yourself a little, you're starting to sound like a little girl.” I grin at the wriggling figure.

“Don't be so high and mighty! You started to cry like a little baby yourself!” Celes rebukes me.

“Mom! Will that happen to me too?” Seria asks Celes with a frightened voice.

“Most likely. Though you will be spared from the screwdrivers through the eyes.” Celes continues to hum her melody.

Seria lets out a sigh of relief while she sits down besides Celes again. “Then it will be half as bad.”

Suddenly Celes tail entangles Seria and Celes throws a creepy smile towards her daughter. “Oh, it wont be half as bad. In exchange for the screwdrivers it will feel like someone is constantly stabbing and drilling a stake up your butt, directly into your spine!”

Seria's mouth falls open while she comes to view her mother's tail in a different light.

Ireth enters the garden through the veranda. “What's all the screaming abo... . Oh my. They grow so fast. Before you can take a look they are already at age. How is it Aengus?”

“IIS? Iiii waanana DDIEEEE!”

“Your parents surely are horrible for letting you go through that even though you did nothing bad.” -Ireth

“WhhhyYY?”

“On the other hand. We never showed them the method to ease the pain for a while because we had to educate the naughty children.” Ireth ponders over the past while she scratches her chin.

“Grandma! Save brother and show me the method! Pretty please!” Seria jumps at the opportunity.

In the meanwhile the screams have taken another dimension. “Okay! If my cute little granddaughter asks me like that, we will save your brother.”

She walks over and grabs Aengus at the neck to drag him over to the close fountain..... and pushes his face under water.

“Blerhg BbllBLblbB”

A long and nasty fight for life and death starts. Aengus is trying to cast a spell to breathe under water but Ireth cancels it. Various other attempts to escape are also prevented.

After long and gruesome ten minutes Aengus's movements are just mere twitches. It's really hard to drown a god, even if he is a child.

Seria is just standing besides Ireth with an unbelieving expression on her face while she watches the entire procedure.

When Aengus stops to move, Ireth pulls him out and casts a mid-level healing spell on him. This has the benefit of not waking him up again.

“See? Easy, isn't it?” Ireth asks Seria with a bright smile. Then she lays Aengus on the ground and folds his hands on his chest like you would do with a dead person.

The little sister of Aengus just nods with a pale face and a very forced smile. Then she walks over to us with dead eyes. “Mommy, daddy, I am sorry. Aengus is right. I really created hell.”

We both just grin at her and say nothing.

That's when Rose arrives with a plate of new drinks and sets them onto the ground besides Celes. “Um, everyone. There is something I want to ask. Would it be a problem if I took a leave for the rest of the day?”

“No, But if it comes from you, I have to know why. Otherwise I would die of curiosity.” I answer with a stern voice and Rose starts to fidget.

“Rose has something on her heart! What's it? I want to know!” Celes sits straight up and looks at Rose who turns red.

“You know... originally I thought it would never happen. But with us becoming gods. And the much longer lifespan. There were suddenly so many new options! It kinda happened before I knew it.”

Oh, no! It can't happen! The good soul of the household! Don't tell me you want to quit!

“I have a date!”

Puh. Wait! “Who!?”

“His name is Drem and he is the captain of the guard.” Rose smiles at us while Celes spits her juice over the ground.

“The bear!?” Ireth shouts out.

“..... I am trying to imagine the fragile slender elf-body of Rose besides that muscle monster Snowden but the picture is just too hilarious....” I mutter while my fantasies are running wild.

“It's the first date?” Celes asks Rose.

“Um, yes?” -Rose

Celes jumps up and runs into the house. A few seconds later she comes back with a little box and shoves it into Rose's hands. “Give him that when you are alone.”

“What is it?” Rose asks with a curious voice.

“Just a little help, you have to go now. It's better if you find it out yourself.” Celes urges Rose to take her leave and Rose nods.

Then Rose teleports away.

“What's inside the box?” Ireth asks Celes.

“Nothing, just a little chocolate.” Celes has a wide grin on her face.

I have to warn him! I close my eyes and concentrate myself and establish a mental connection.

-Drem! Drem do you hear me? It's important!-

-Your Majesty? Is something wrong? It's rare for you to call me.-

-Nothing is wrong. But it's important, don't eat the chocolate!-

…..

-Drem?-

*SMACK*

“Ow!” I rub my head. “You tried to tell him didn't you?” Celes looms over me. Did she interrupt the connection? Did Drem get the important part?

“Did daddy do something bad?” Seria hops up and down besides Celes.

“Yes, he tried to tell on a woman's secret plans.” Celes pats Seria's head. “He was a veeeery bad daddy and mommy will have to punish him!”

“How can you punish daddy? I need to know too!” Seria is such a smart child! She knows what's really important.

“That's not for children to see! Stay here and keep watch over your brother.” Then Celes grabs my hand and drags me to the house.

Noooo! Snowden! I hope my sacrifice wasn't in vain....

“That's the same thing you always tell me Sandra! I am sure you will just drag him to the bedroom and do this and that......... why are you looking at me like that?” Seria became aware of our frozen state and looks at us.

Celes drops me and kneels down in front of Seria. “You just called me Sandra.”

“Did I?” Seria smiles at Celes. If this were a comic I could probably see small pearls of sweat forming on her forehead.

“You totally did! What else do you remember!” Celes grabs Seria at her cheeks and starts to twist.

“Owowowo!”

“I said many times that if you remember something you have to tell! How much did you hide!” Seria gets grabbed by Celes's tail at one leg and is lifted into the air.

“Do you remember how to travel the void Seria?” I ask her with a smile on my face.

“No? I thought we already confirmed that I only have memories of more recent events?” Her smile becomes wide and shiny. Hah! I remember! She always did that when she lied as Sofie!

“You just called your mom, Sandra. That memory should be quite old.” I point out her mistake.

“Do you see your brother lying there?” Celes asks with a sweet voice.

Seria looks into the asked direction and nods her head.

“Right now, he has the bliss of unconsciousness. But if you don't spit it out, I will see to it that you are awake and aware the entire time when it's your turn. You wont even have the mercy to faint from exhaustion! I will personally see to it.” She grins at Seria who becomes as pale as the moon.

“Uwaaah! I just didn't want to tell that I remembered more! You and daddy will go off to war if you know how to travel the void. I didn't want that! I want things to be like now forever. I will tell! Please hit me unconscious when it's my turn!”

60 - Hide and seek?

“Big bro, it's scary here.” I tug at Aengus's sleeve while I take a look around. The room is dark and many technical devices are blinking and beeping all over the place.

“I know Seria, but it's also exciting! How often do you have the chance to take a look at the lab of a mad scientist?” Aengus pulls me with him to explore the room.

We are at the Cygnus property. Our parents -disposed- of us here. They had too much work to do after I told daddy what I knew about the void, which wasn't much. He ran off and wasn't seen since.

Mom also wasn't able to keep an eye on us. Neither were our grandparents. Seems like planning an all out war is really time consuming. So Celes dropped us off at the Cygnus property for Margerie to take care of us.

Celes's isn't of the opinion that we could be left alone. Though I believe it would have been more safe at the palace....

Right after we met Margerie, who really looks like a mad scientist, Aengus and I fled to inspect the big mansion.

Margerie was busy with instructing an employee and we took the opportunity.

It was really hard to evade all those servants and other people. It seems to be a busy place. Though we found a few deserted rooms which seem to function as a research lab.

“Look! That device looks cool, doesn't it?” Aengus grabs something which looks like a mechanical spider from a table.

“I wouldn't touch anything in here. It could be dangerous.” I warn my brother, who seems a little impulsive to me. I know, I lost many of my memories and my parents think that I am childish. But I still have my head together!

“Booh. Cheapskate. I can't believe I have a little sister like that....” Aengus puts the spider back.

“To imagine that I would be called little sister...... I am the BIG SIS!” It's humiliating! I am surely older than this upstart youngster!

“Oooh? But I am a year older than you!” Aengus answers high and mighty.

“That's just physical. What's important is the mental age! And from that perspective you are looking at one of the oldest beings in the multiverse! Be honoured!” I refuse to give up an inch of my dignity!

“Oh? Being that old doesn't really count if you don't remember much of it.” Aengus makes a point.

“I remember at least the important stuff! For example that you promised to help me if I would save you. So where is your respect to your saviour high and mighty hero?” I look up into my brother's eyes without flinching.

“Urgh... you won that one, but don't overdo it!” -Aengus

We continue to inspect the room, but there is just too much stuff here. It's more like a mountain of collected garbage.

Suddenly the door flies open and Margerie storms inside. “Found you!”

“Run Bro! Whoever gets caught is a slow turtle!” I storm up to Margerie, who tries to catch me, but I drop myself to the floor and slide over the ground. Margerie tries to grab me but she is too slow. Aengus uses the distraction to slip past her and the next second we are outside and on the run.

“Hold it! No running in the corridors!” Margerie calls after us but she is too slow.

Suddenly a big busted rabbit girl appears out of nothing before me and I collide with her leg. “Ouf!” I am thrown backwards and land on my ass.

“So cute! It's a little version of Celes! Too bad that you don't have the horns and the tail yet.” I get grabbed by the girl and hugged to her chest. What's wrong with those things! Does she have a little bit of cow in her genes too!?

I try to fight myself free but then I realize that Aengus got caught by a cat-woman and dangles in the air, held by the neck.

“They tricked us sis! This was a pre-planned ambush!” -Aengus

Seconds later Margerie arrives at the scene, panting like dying any moment. “......Sandra..... Tanja..... good.... that..... you.... caught.... them.”

“Seriously Margerie? Why did you agree to babysit for people whose children have higher physical abilities than you?” Tanja complains about Margeries lack of forethought.

“....but …. that's.... why ….. I …. invited.... you...” Margerie lies down on the floor to catch her breath.

“Seriously! But it's still nice to meet the offspring of our old school comrades. They were so busy in the recent time. I would have liked it if we had seen each other more often.” Sandra hugs me even tighter.

“I always wanted to meet the goddess Seria. That's why I came.” Tanja goes with the blunt truth.

“I am not sure if I can really live up to that reputation.” I answer with a concerned voice.

“Aw... no problem. I am Sandra Andros and that's Tanja Morden. We are friends of your parents. Say? Do you want to play with my kids? They are a little younger than you, but they are also an active bunch.” Sandra takes me under one arm and carries me off, without asking for my opinion.

My captor starts to walk through the corridor while she talks about uninteresting stuff. After a few corners we arrive at the living room, where a blonde guy is waiting in a sofa.

Five kids are playing cards on the ground. “Ah, I see you caught them!”

We are put in front of the other kids, who stare at us.....

Not being able to cope with the silence I try start a conversation. “Hi, I am Seria and that's my brother Aengus!” I introduce myself.

“I am Yondus, and those are my brother and sisters Gustav, Monika, Evel and Sarah.” One of the kids takes the lead.

“Wow... Quite the big family already? Your parents must be hard workers!” Aengus bursts out.

But Yondus drops his head while the others put on a disturbed expression. “That's what everybody thinks, but it's a trait of our bloodline to have many children. In fact mom got all of us in the same go. Though normally it's just twins or triplets.”

“Holy shit! Five at the same time! That must hurt like hell!” Now I burst out and everyone looks at me with a shocked expression.

“What?” Don't look at me like that!

“Oh, it's just that we had another image of the goddess in our heads. I am Sven by the way. I am Sandra's husband.”

“Haven't I seen you guys at my parent's marriage? So what are you guys doing now? The last time I saw you, you just graduated.” The memory just came to me like a flashback.

“Oh, Sven is in the army and in the process to work his way up. Tanja is doing something like spying and other secret activities. I am taking care of the kids while I manage my family's estate.”

Sandra explains in short words.

“And your brother Margerie? I think I saw him too at the party. Wasn't he with a nice little wolf-girl?” -Me

Margerie answers with a disdainful voice. “He dropped the whole family business on me and ran off with that bitch. It's hard on a family if the only heir doesn't want to take responsibility and prefers to live in the woods with his girlfriend.”

I nod. Obviously there is a more complicated story behind it, but Margerie doesn't want to talk about it.

Then it hits me again and I point at Sandra and Sven. “Oh! Now I remember! I think I saw you guys at my parents marriage party! You were already so lovey dovey back then. I couldn't resist and blessed Sandra with fertility.”

I hit my fist into my open palm.

Now everyone’s mouth is standing open while they look at me.

“What? I am a goddess of life and death. Doing stuff like that is my job.” I smirk at Sven who started to mutter incomprehensible stuff to himself.

Sandra grins at me. “Oh, I have to thank you then. If it weren't for the children, he wouldn't have married me.”

I give Sandra a thumbs up and smile at the quintuples, who are staring at me with big round eyes.

61 - Sending a message?

It's complete! “MWAHAHAHAHA!” Hrm! Luckily nobody heard that. I sounded like Margerie.

When Seria explained the nature of the void to me, I had an enlightenment. She realized that the void isn't a space with no pathways at all.

A pathway is a stream of energy and mana through the multiverse. Mortals often call them Ley lines, but they are only able to sense them in a very rudimentary way. A god can hop onto one of those streams and travel with them. They are able to do it because they can sense the fast moving current.

Being able to do this is the most defining characteristic for being a god. It can't be done without aid by a soul which didn't ascend.

By using this method, you can go anywhere you want at instant speed. That's why some mortals think of gods as omnipresent. Which we are not.

Those currents flow extremely slow inside void zones. So an untrained individual can't sense them. That gives the impression of an empty space.

After Seria had given me this hint, I ran back to my lab. It took me two sleepless days to complete the preparations and to instruct the palace to grow the necessary equipment.

At the third day I fell asleep and when I woke up, the palace had completed it's task. Right now I have a small crystal in my hand.

It's similar to the ring and earrings, I gave to Celes. By connecting directly to the users mind, it can show me a whole new view on the world.

By using the mana-crystal as a sensor, the user is now able to feel even the tiniest bit of energy.

Time for a little test!

I close my eyes and concentrate. By blending out my surroundings, I slowly become aware of the pathways. They are dim and slow, but it's enough.

A step takes me outside the void onto another world. Appearing in the sky above a big city, I look around. I know this world from a previous life.

But I am not here to dwell in my memories. I want to leave a little message for the Council. For this purpose I need to talk to a god. Preferably not to a Council member and not on their territory.

I need a messenger. Someone completely unrelated. What's better than to trespass into random gods territory and give him the message. All I need to do is to create a little commotion and hope for one of the caretakers of this world to notice.

Using another pathway, I appear inside the town on a big open area in front of a university. There are so many students here. Hah, this feels nostalgic. A long time ago I was a professor here.

But then the screams of fear and terror arise!

“KYAA!” “DEMON!” “RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!” “AAAAAA!”

A few seconds ago the area was crowded with people. Now there is nobody left. They all fled head over heels when they saw me and dropped everything they had on the ground.

Books and papers are all over the place. I take a few steps forward and grab a random book to read the title.

“About the world, it's inhabitants and the gods.   -By Lerem Gerwais”

I flip through the pages and grin at the stupid ideas inside. It's been to long since I was here. They already started to teach this esoteric shit again!

Suddenly someone is shouting behind me.

“Hold it demon! In the name of our holy protector Fendulf! Leave this world and go back into the abyss which birthed you!”

I turn around and see a very shiny looking knight in full body armour, a wizard girl, a priestess and an archer. They aren't gods, just mortals. Meh... I turn around again and continue to flip the pages.

“By the light! Holy sword! Slay this creature of evil!”

I feel something poking between my shoulder blades and sigh. Yeah... what did I expect. This plan was stupid. Why should a god turn up if I don't ravage a continent or two.

“What is this devilry!? The holy sword, given by his holiness himself doesn't even scratch him!?”

I turn around and grab the knights sword. *Snap!* I broke the stupid thing at the hilt.

“Adults shouldn't play with toys! Hasn't your mother taught you anything?” I smack him with the book.

He falls to the ground like a felled tree and moves no more. A dent in his helmet proves the force with which the book hit him. “Aw! Look! Because of you I destroyed the binding of the book!” I complain to the unconscious knight.

“Kyaaa! Hero!” The wizard girl starts a tirade while the priestess falls to her knees and starts to pray. The archer just stands there with a dumbfounded look on his face.

Oh well. This doesn't look like it will lead to anything. I frown over the destroyed book when a sudden flash of light appears above us and a shiny figure of light suddenly floats there!

“WHO HAS SLAIN MY CHAMPION!?”

LUCKY! That's a god. “Come down here, I have to talk to you.”

“VILE DEMON CREATURE, BE GONE!” Another flash of light and the ground around me is burned and turns black from the heat. Had I not countered the spell by forcefully emitting my mana through my aura, I would have been roasted!

The god didn't have any problems with my aura pressing down on him. But the archer is twitching on the ground and has foam at his mouth. Wizard girl and priestess are also panting on the ground like the gravity would be too much for them. As magic users, they are taking it better.

Poor mortals. “Come down here stupid god! I have to talk to you! Or do I have to destroy this world, just to tell you a few words? And switch off this stupid light-show! That's outdated!”

I wave a fist at the idiot.

The figure of light descents to the ground and dims down to reasonable levels. Seems like he realized that I am a god too. Took him long enough.

“What's a fellow god doing here? This is my world. Why are you stirring up trouble?” The wiry guy asks.

“I need you to give the Council a message. Fendulf, I assume?” -Me

Fendulf nods. “Why don't you give this message to the Council yourself?”

“Because I don't like to walk into the enemy's territory. And for the message, tell them greetings from the void. We will soon visit them in their heavenly city. And then we will have a nice talk with them.” I smile at Fendulf.

He looks at me with question marks above his head.

“Ah. And could you also spread the word to everyone who doesn't want to get involved in the Council's business! They should stay away and keep their heads down.” -Me

“You aren't planning something stupid like a rebellion are you?” -Fendulf

“Count your ass on it! The final days of the Council are close and it's in their hands to choose if this will be ugly or not.” I wave at Fendulf and then at the mortals, who are looking at me like the harbinger of the end.

To them this conversation must have sounded like hell just declared war on heaven.

I turn around and step onto a path which takes me home again.

Back at home I start to sort my equipment. It's important to have an orderly laboratory. Order and cleanliness are the most important things in a workplace.

Hmm.. I think I forgot something. Didn't Celes tell me to …..

AH!

I forgot to get Seria and Aengus! They are still at Margerie's mansion! I am a sore excuse as a father! Forgetting my children at a friend's place!

Teleporting, I reappear inside Margerie's home. After a few seconds, I found an employee who leads me to the living room.

Inside are Seria and Aengus, together with Sandra's children. They are on top of Tanja, who looks like a slain animal while she is lying on the ground.

“I will never have children.... this is hell.....” Tanja complains with dead eyes, while she is looking at the ceiling.

Sven is crouching down in a corner and mutters something incomprehensible to himself. Margerie is lying on a couch. Seems like she passed out on the spot.

Sandra jumps out of a chair when she sees me. “Our saviour! I am so glad that you are back!” She runs to me and hugs me.

“What's going on?” I ask with a confused voice while I pat her shoulders.

“They don't sleep! First we lost Margerie, then Sven had a talk with Seria and since then he is looming in the corner. I don't know what she said to him. Afterwards they banded together and took out Tanja!” Sandra has tears in her eyes.

“Looks like your children and mine are an explosive combination?” I walk over to the kids.

“Daddy! We had so much fun! Can we come here to play every day?” Seria jumps on top of Tanja while she smiles at me.

“Don't use my intelligence officer as a trampoline! And why didn't you go to sleep like they told you?” I ask with a strict voice.

Before they were dropped off by us, we instructed them to behave. Which they obviously did not!

“But we never had so many people to play with! How can you ask of us to sleep at such a moment!” Aengus pokes Tanja, who doesn't even flinch.

I sigh and grab Seria and Aengus to take them home.

62 - Preparations!

I look up above my city and watch the three flying fortresses hovering there. They are made of mana-crystal. It took us a lot of resources to build them.

Currently I am standing on a balcony of my palace to get my head free. There are still so many preparations to make.

Fortunately countless people gave their assistance for free in this project. All of them combined their knowledge and power.

They did it for a single reason. Seria's last wish.

It's not wrong to call it her last wish. After I had the chance to watch my daughter for a long time, I am sure. The old Seria is gone and the new one is more like a very similar twin.

She has some traits of her personality and some of her memories. But the old personality is... dead. The old Seria had something like a certain aura. You could feel that a veryyyy old being was before you.

The new Seria is just my daughter.

We decided that one fortress should always stay at this world to protect it. With the other two, we will set out and change the order of the multiverse.

The challenge has been already made. All that's left to do is to leave the void and tell everyone about our existence. I decided to mass produce my sensory crystals, which enable a god to travel through the void.

Every inhabitant of this world is allowed to get one. They will be given to nobody else. I hired an army of very proficient people to see to it.

They will be similar to a passport I guess.

Of course the secret will come out sometime and other gods who are not natives will get access to our world. But I prefer it if it will be later than sooner.

With more time our society will be stronger and less likely shaken by people from outside the void. I am sure that other gods will come here with time.

We still have more than enough space. It's a big planet and our population accounts only to about eight hundred million people.

I don't want to know how long Seria's plan was running in order to gather this many souls. And how many are still drifting as dead souls around?

My army is also ready. We decided to give the Council a show of force with fifty thousand of our strongest fighters.

As soon as we are ready, we will march directly towards their city and give them a choice. Tjenemit gave me really good intelligence about their fighting force.

There are about sixty thousand occupants in their city. Ten thousand of them should be completely useless. They are suffering from something like senility.

It looks like your mind really can die somehow if you just get old enough. It's a natural process according to Tjenemit. A soul ages and collects memories until it gathers enough strength to ascend.

Then it continues to grow and collects memories until something like a breakdown occurs. The mind dies. The soul will lose all memories and you will be reborn as a normal mortal again, should you choose to so.

But why should someone who is bored to death refuse this possibility. To him it will be a chance to start anew.

I am not sure if it is really a breakdown, or if they are just too bored to care about the world any more. If you just live long enough, you should become bored of everything at some point for sure.....

For some reason El Shaddai fears that. He forbade the death of a god and made a law out of it. Tjenemit couldn't tell me why.

Seria obviously wished not only for more freedom. She wished for everyone to be allowed to start anew, if they wish for it.

I am fairly sure that we can defeat the Council. If we subtract those ten thousand people, the Council has just fifty thousand followers, which form their hard core.

At least thirty thousand of them aren't fighters, so their army has just twenty thousand people. The rest are supporters and guys, who help to govern the multiverse.

Others keep the city in order. Their standing army is quite big compared to their civil supporters if you think about it.

That's almost fifty percent of their working population, but according to Tjenemit the rest hasn't much power. They should be seen as civilians, who will most likely run at the first sign of fighting.

So if the Council hasn't gathered mercenaries from the younger gods, they should have a far weaker force than us.

If they have mercenaries. We will have to turn them around over time. I am sure we can do that. It's just a question of information and propaganda.

If everyone has the whole picture, they surely won't be unified any more. For one reason or the other.

On top of that we have the weapons from my palace. They should give us another edge in the coming fight.

Tjenemit hasn't any knowledge of such weapons. It fits with the information that the Council stole the crystal city from some other gods.

They never really understood the technology and just started to use it. If that's true Amaru's Sphere of Sight may also be just a stolen artefact. Though Tjenemit told us that Amaru really created it himself.

The former occupants of the City weren't it's creators either. At least that's Tjenemit's assumption because they hadn't much more knowledge of the city than the Council.

But why didn't Amaru invent much more marvellous stuff if he could create something like the Sphere?

It could be that he somehow came across a few seeds to create crystal-artefacts. Then he managed to manipulate them into growing according to his wishes. Maybe he never understood how to create a seed?

That would be a possible explanation. But the answer can only be given by Amaru. To Tjenemit's knowledge, they have some really big crystal-guns from Amaru too.

The longer I interrogated Tjenemit, the more it looked like the Council just consists of a collection of barbarians, who took over the ruins of a higher civilisation.

So my assumption is that there was a high civilisation of gods in the long forgotten past. They created the crystal city at the middle of all things as an eternal monument.

Then something happened and the civilisation broke down. An eternity of civil war between the gods followed until nobody remembered why everyone was fighting. The crystal city changed hands many times until the Council won in the end.

Something which happened a few times in the history of mortals to my knowledge. Why shouldn't it be the same for us gods? Without finding hard proof, it will stay a speculation.

Maybe the crystal city will hold some answers.

I turn around and walk inside the palace. Screams of pain greet me as I reach our private quarters. Seria is getting her horns and tail.

Oh, my daughter will look really cute with those! I enter the room, where Seria is hanging from the ceiling. She is bondage-bound like Aengus and Celes is standing in front of them with her arms crossed.

“You two gave Tanja, Sandra, Margerie and Sven a really hard time! Can you imagine how we look now as parents?”

Celes is furious.

“I will never do it again!” -Aengus

“Yoooou PROmised you wilLLL hit me unconscious MOM!”

“Back then and now are two different situations! You won't get out of this.” Celes whips Seria with her tail on the ass!

“KYAAA! III RREEGREET! NOO MOReeee whIPPINggg!!”

“Mom that's cruel!” Aengus tries to intervene, but a series of whipping attacks shuts him up. Celes surely doesn't think much of a pedagogic approach.

Hmm, I should help them. They don't really deserve that much punishmmmm............ but I really like that movement of Celes' hips when she uses her tail!

*Whip* *Whip*

“!!AAARGGGH!!”   “!!KYAAAA!!”

Oooh, and that ass! Maybe I am starting to see the positive side of this marriage!? Didn't I tell myself a long time ago to act according to my urges? Maybe this is a situation like this?

Another series of whipping attacks rains down on Seria and Aengus. Oh, wow. Until now I only received them! I could never watch her from behind while she was doing it!

*Whip* *Whip*

“!!KYAAAA!!”   “!!AAARGGGH!!”

Yeah. That's really erotic if you think about it. And those screams! Like our first night!

Sneaking up from behind, I hug Celes and give her a kiss onto the neck. “Aren't you overdoing it a little honey?” I whisper to her while I grin at Seria and Aengus.

“Don't distract me now! I have serious work to do!” Celes glares at the kids and tries to get out of my arms.

“But your husband is in need of his wife.” I throw her over my shoulder and wink at Seria and Aengus. Both of them have a disturbed look on their faces, but at the same time they look relieved.

“What are you doing Angrod!? I am serious here!” -Celes

I turn around while I grab her ass and carry her out of the room. “I thought I would act upon a sudden urge of mine.” I hum while I walk to our bedroom.

Celes freezes up. “What's wrong with you? Do you have a fever? That's not like you!”

Reaching the door, I open it and close it behind us. “Hmm. I don't really know. I just had the urge. So no voice for you wife!” It's nice to be on the other end for once!

*Click*

Door locked! “Hehehehe.”

63 - Discussions?

The Councils crystal city:

We are at our round table which is floating above our city. El Shaddai called for us after he received a very strange message from a minor god.

I was here first because I was in the city. While I was waiting, I was able to see El Shaddai change colours. From gold to silver and back to gold. I guess that's his equivalent of turning red.

With time the others arrived too. Everybody felt the atmosphere and preferred to stay silent.

Even after everyone was at the table, El Shaddai didn't say a word for several minutes. Just now he is returning from a state of silver to a golden state.

“I just had a visit from a minor god. He told me that a messenger from the Void contacted him. The Messenger said: Greetings from the Void. We will visit you soon to have a nice talk! Your final days are close and it's in your hands to choose if it will be ugly or not.” El Shaddai turns silver again.

I dribble with my fingers on the table while I think about it. “Looks like we will get a visit soon. They found a way to leave the void.”

“Lada, you always amaze me. This conclusion is marvellous!” Amaru comments with acid in his voice.

“Have you disposed of that messenger? We could get into trouble if this situation becomes public!” Eris suggests while she is loitering bored in her chair.

El Shaddai turns silver again. “It IS already public! The minor god in question wasn't stupid and came here, while shouting the circumstances to everyone in the city. It's almost certain that some other minor gods are already carrying these news around. Tomorrow the whole multiverse will know it!”

“You should have intercepted him.” Eris throws another ridiculous claim into the room.

“How do you intercept a messenger, you don't know about!?” El Shaddai's voice is now really dangerous.

“It wouldn't have changed anything. Even if you had managed to stop the guy from distributing this information. The Void could spread the information to someone else. You would just shut up a carrier, but not the source.” Elohim soberly analyses the situation.

“If they want to, they can tell everyone about their existence. It's just unfortunate that we still have no idea about their abilities.” Amaru winces while he reflects on the situation.

“They can come! Our army is ready! And I have another thirty thousand recruits from the younger gods!” Enyo hits the table with a bloodthirsty smile.

“I hope you don't rely too much on those.... I wouldn't put trust in their loyalty.” Eris says with disdain in her voice.

“They are planned as cannon fodder anyway.” Enyo shrugs her shoulders.

“C...Cannon fodder! They are people!” I cry out! This isn't right! Are they trying to destroy the last piece of righteousness in this group?

“Calm down Lada, sometimes sacrifices have to be made. We won't be able to let those people go after the fight anyway.” Elohim stops me.

My heart stops. “WHAT!?”

Amaru starts to assist him.

“Think about it. They will be first hand witnesses of a rebellion. They will know that resistance is possible. How can we let such gods roam the multiverse afterwards? The best example is that little god, who brought us the message. At the moment he is too frightened to resist us openly. But he already proved that he doesn't trust us, by spreading the message before he brought it to El Shaddai. By doing that he ensured his safety. Shutting him up would be useless and others would question his whereabouts, should he disappear.”

I shut my mouth. What am I even doing here? These people aren't the Council I joined any more.

“Enough of this! Gather the army and ready them Enyo! They have a possibility to travel the void. I want that knowledge! We need it to destroy their hideout!” El Shaddai teleports away without waiting for an answer.

“Yay! I guess that's it! Finally some action again! It started to get boring.” Enyo also leaves.

One after the other, the Council members leave and I am just sitting there, staring into the table.

“You were always too nice for this Lada.” I look up and see Eris on the other side of the table.

“Why are you still here? Aren't you happy with the current events?” I hear the poison within my voice. Ah... that's not like me.

“To tell you the truth. I am happy with the current events. But not for the same reason, you may believe me to. I am happy with the current situation because it proves that the world is still turning. No matter how deep the Council may freeze the ocean, it will still stir under the ice! Kukukuku...”

Slowly goddess of chaos and strive fades away to leave me alone at the table.

I stand up and step onto a pathway. Away from here. There is much to think about.

***

Somewhere in the void:

“I am really worried!”

Currently I have a women's meeting with Margerie, Tanja and Sandra. We are doing this once in a while to talk about everything of interest. For this purpose, we have gathered in a lounge inside the palace.

“But isn't it fine Celes? I can't understand your problem?” -Margerie

“No it isn't fine! Suddenly he throws me over his shoulder and drags me off! And I have no idea what's gotten into him!” This is strange in every way!

“You are funny. First you complain about his lack of interest in you. And now you complain about his attention! You are the kind of woman, which can't be pleased. No matter what.” -Sandra

“But.... I don't know, I hate it!” -Me

“Then let's try to think about it logically.” Margerie slides into another position in her chair. “How do men work sexually? They either do it to relieve their build up …. stress?”

“Angrod never does that....” -Me

“...” -Margerie

“Or they get turned on!” Sandra interrupts happily.

“I didn't try to seduce him! I already did that many times! He never reacted that strongly to it!” I have to deny that.

“Then you did it unknowingly! What were you doing that at the moment.” -Margerie

“Errr... I was... educating the brats!” I nod.

“And by educating you mean?” Tanja slides closer.

“Erm.. just a little whipping...” -Me

“Whi...?” -Margerie

Sandra spurts her drink on the table. “You can't do that to children!”

“It's okay! They deserved it! Thank you!” Tanja shakes my hands with starry eyes.

“It's not like they are babies, who aren't aware of their actions! They have the memories of several lifetimes and use their physical age as excuse to torment those who look older!” I have to defend myself.

“Hrm... well what does that tell us about Angrod?” -Margerie

“He is a serious “S”! I knew that already, but to get off from having his children whipped is on another scale!” -Sandra

“Wha! That can't be! I turned him on because I hit the children!? And he isn't a sadist! Even if he is a little wild in the bed and it hurts at times, but he doesn't do anything like that!” -Me

“The whole world knows that he is a Sadist! Don't you know the rumours?” -Sandra

“Rumours?” -Me

“If you throw a shady glance at him, you will wish you were never born! He is a wild beast, who will hit you a hundred times while you are on the ground. Grinning even wider with every punch, which distorts your mashed up face even further!” -Margerie

“In school he single handedly took on a hundred hooligans and destroyed their gang, only because they threw a lusty look at his princess! None of them are able to talk about the event even till now. And if you ask them about it, they crouch down in a fetal position and start to shiver uncontrollably! The healers are still unable to treat it, even to the current day!” -Sandra

“When you try to take stuff which belongs to him, he will rip out your heart and eat your soul! Never letting go of it again, you will suffer till judgement day!” -Tanja

My jaw drops at those claims! “What do people tell about me then!?”

“The beautiful gentle flower. The only one who is able to calm the beast and shows no fear.” -Margerie

“Everyone should fear the day, when the princess is no more. As the only one who can stop the beast will have ceased to be!” -Sandra

“Screams of pain and lust will sound from the palace, when the gentle flower tames the wild beast. As she is the only one who is able to be in it's presence without shuddering in fear!" -Tanja

“NOOO! You are playing with me! That can't be true! I will enlist a secret police to stop those rumors!” I can't let this go! Are we really seen like that by the public?

“Nothing you can do. It's already common knowledge. But back to topic. You know your husbands savage grin yourself. He is a big “S” for sure. He was turned on when you “educated” the kids.” -Margerie

“It really can't be, he isn't like that!” I won't believe it! But it makes sense in a horrible way!

“Maybe it's half as bad. Celes get your tools and show us the scene! Maybe we find another clue!” -Sandra

“Huh? I don't need tools! I have my tail!” -Me

“...” “...show us!” “...whip that couch!”

“Hm. Okay. I guess it won't hurt.” I stand up whip the couch in the corner of the room. After a few slashes, I turn around again. “See? Nothing over which he should loose his cool.”

“.....naturally gifted!"

“.....she isn't even aware of it! So unfair!"

Sandra walks up to me and grabs me at my shoulders.

“Celes! If you want to be dragged off to bed the next time!”

“....Yes?”

“Turn your back to him" "and whip something!" "ANYTHING!”

64 - Rebellion?

“Get off, Seria!” This is too much! I am becoming a laughing stock!

“I don't wanna! I have to enjoy every moment while I am still able to do it!” Seria is riding on my shoulders and uses my horns as a driving wheel.... again.

Several people are looking at me. They are having a hard time holding back from laughing. I am inside the command centre of the Ragnarok. It's one of our three flying fortresses. The others were named Guardian and Nomad. Nomad will join us on this trip, while the Guardian will stay behind.

“I still can't believe that Celes allowed you to join this campaign!” -Me

“Maybe I'll remember something important! And I have to greet Lada!” -Seria

“You are really sure that Lada is on our side?” I still doubt it. She is a Council member after all.

“I am sure! The memory is very recent and she was always a good girl and a friend.” -Seria

“Your word in my ear.....     Communication. Tell the Nomad to fire up their engines. Planned flight time: nothing!” I grin while I give the orders.

The first thing I did when I designed the fortresses was to give them the ability to use the pathways. Those things would be pretty useless otherwise. They would be stuck on this world. Nobody needs a tank that can't move.

I feel the faster pulsing of energy through my command chair. This technology is really marvellous, even for a god. Before I came across the mana-crystals, I felt like a barbarian without a stick. The crystals are to us, like metal to mortals.

“I am still concerned about the Sphere of Sight. They will be able to know every step we take once we are outside the void.” -Seria

“Knowing about their capabilities is a big help to us. Just remember to keep your mouth shut about vital information. And even if they can spy on us, it's no problem. Our course of action won't change. First we will visit them and take a look at their strength. If they are far weaker, we will crush them. If they are fortified too strongly, we will hop around the multiverse and stir up trouble. With enough information, their reign should end pretty soon.” I take a deep breath to clear my thoughts.

I am on board of the Ragnarok with Seria. Nicosar and Celes are on board too. The Nomad is commanded by Arthur and he has Drem, Tanja and Sven with him. Both ships are manned with strong and trustworthy people.

“You realize that all of this is your fault! Seria?” -Me

“Booo. It was the former me, who set this up. And if I didn't, you all would suffer in a dark and cruel place. So you should be happy for the chance to change your fate!” -Seria

I tilt my head while I look at the big screen before me. Both fortresses are rising to a higher altitude. If we would jump out of the atmosphere above midpoint, we would destroy our own city.

Imagine a volume of several million tons of air would just disappear, leaving behind vacuum? A god is able to use a pathway in a more refined manner. But the fortresses use the barbaric method of just exiting one reality, to enter another one.

All three of our fortresses look the same. They are long sleek structures of multiple crystalline formations. They don't look natural, but at the same time you can tell that they aren't pure technology either.

The fortresses are about six kilometres long, one in height and two in width. Both are manned with a crew of about twenty five thousand people. Besides shields and weapons, the most important part of the fortresses is their damping field.

When we realized that we would have to fight a war between gods, we were at a loss. How should almost indestructible beings with teleportation abilities fight each other?

Will it be a brainless chaos of one on one fights? Everyone is able to teleport into the enemy's formation at will.

Margerie saved us from such a fate with the dampening fields. They are the same technology, which enables us to use a pathway with the fortress. But instead of using a pathway to get from one point to another, the dampening field closes the pathways.

Now we have a nice little space around our fortresses, which is safe from enemy teleporters. If Margerie hadn't invented something like that, our fortresses would be useless. The Council could just board our vessels and we would have to fight them the traditional way.

Neither will they be blown out of the sky, like my old fortress.

Of course we thought about many other scenarios too. To tell the truth, I think we are still greenhorns. We never fought a war between gods. I have almost no idea how the reality will look like.

Probably the only ones who have an idea how to fight is the Council. They have an experienced army, unlike us. Of course our people aren't inexperienced either. We fought ourselves for long enough. But we never fought a war as gods, that's new territory for us.

I hope the Council's army got rusty during the eternity of peace under their rule. They shouldn't have had much chances to train their skills.

“We are ready to shift, your Majesty!”

A technicians voice wakes me from my thoughts. “Activate the engine.” I order with a cold voice.

After a short feeling of zero gravity, both of our fortresses reappear above a certain planet.

This place is called the Centre of all things. A blue sun is dancing with a black hole. Around them travels a world of Crystals. And on this world is the Council's city.

We appeared right above their heads. Perfect!

“Begin to descend and start the bombardment to wake them up.” I lean back in my chair to watch the inferno. Our fortresses are unleashing incredible powers. Lances of energy stab down into the atmosphere and orbs of light howl down to the planet.

Unfortunately, it will be nothing more than a greeting. I know from Tjenemit that the Council possesses the technology to shield their city. Combined with their mana-crystals, they should have more than enough energy to stop our attack.

On the other hand, we have a hidden card. Nobody is allowed to talk about it until we had the chance to discuss the situation with the Council.

Descending through a layer of clouds, I get a nice view at the Council's city. It's marvellous to behold.

Smaller towers of crystal intertwine with each other and in the middle, a single slim crystal tower almost stabs the clouds.

Like I assumed, our weapons aren't doing much to their shield. It's lighting a little. That's all.

***

The Council's city:

“Where did those things come from!” El Shaddai screams with all his might, while the ground shakes a little under our feet.

I look up at two beautiful ships. They are made out of mana-crystals like our city. Weren't it for the shaking ground under my feet, I wouldn't believe that their purpose was a deadly one.

Seria. What have you unleashed?

“Marvellous! They copied the crystal-tec! They are even able to build ships!” Amaru's eyes sparkle like he just found a new toy.

“At this rate, they will never get through the shield.” Enyo tilts her head while she is looking up. “Send the infiltration troops. They are stupid to build something like this.”

A General at Enyo's side nods and starts to give orders to others.

The others aren't inside the city. There is much work to do if you have to govern the multiverse.

I look down to my feet. I will have to decide soon....

Suddenly a rather big explosion dents the barrier above us, but the barrier is instantly restored. Our city has almost limitless mana reserves.

In fact, Amaru explained to me that the city is somehow able to tap into the mana flow of the planet itself. That's an immense power.

A few minutes go by, then Enyo's general receives a new information. “We lost the infiltration troops.”

“What? How?” -Amaru

“Apparently all pathways to the ships are blocked. Our troopers tried to get there, but they lost their connection to the pathway and reappeared a few kilometres from the ships. They were immediately taken under fire. Only a handful could escape.”

“Incompetence!” Enyo screams at the general.

At this moment the bombardment stops and a loud voice booms over the city.

“We are the Void. Come out of your city and hear our terms. If you don't resist, this won't have to end with your reincarnation..... No dear! It's not like I want to scare them..... No! I am trying to make an impression!..... No! You can't have the micro....schrrccrrrcrrrr ......... ........Meet us five thousand meters above your city. NOW!”

I turn and look at El Shaddai, who is taking all shades of grey and silver.

“Is this is a joke? Are they not  taking us serious!? They are giving terms? TO US!” -El Shaddai

“We should go and speak to them.”-Amaru

“I will go!” El Shaddai spits on the ground. “I will go and tell them what will happen if they don't surrender now!” He blinks away.

I concentrate too and search the airspace above our city. When I encounter a strong source of mana, I teleport too.

I reappear in the air. Amaru and Enyo are already besides El Shaddai.

Across from us are two people. A man and a woman.

The guy has a staff of crystal in his left hand. His menacing slit pupils seem like they are looking right through us. He is wearing a strange armour, which makes him look like a mixture of knight and mage. On his head is a crown and the short black hair emphasizes the golden metal. Two black horns grow from of his head, heading backwards to complete the look of a devil!

The woman besides him has fiery red hair, which is pinned up with several ornamented hairpins out of crystal. She looks like a succubus and has a very alluring figure. Just the wings are missing. She is wearing a female version of the guys outfit. A slit skirt shows one of her legs and a tail slowly waves from left to right behind her. On her head are branching out horns, which encircle it like a tiara.

But the strangest thing is the little girl, riding on the guys shoulders. She looks like a little version of the succubus. And then the girl waves at us and speaks.

“Hi Guys! Did you like our little greeting? Lada! Long time no see! How are you doing!?”

65 - Diplomacy!

It's humiliating to carry Seria on my shoulders during a diplomatic meeting! But the faces of those people are priceless.

The Buddha-guy should be El Shaddai. The guy with the monocle is Amaru for sure. And the walking armour could be Enyo.

“Hrm. You are right, I am Lada. Should I know you?” The woman starts to speak.

“Boooh! Don't you remember your best friend? I am Seria!” The jaws of the Council's members drop.

“I should have brought a camera. Those faces are priceless.” I whisper to Celes.

“S...Seria!? Why do you look like that?” -Lada

“B..Blasphemy!” -El Shaddai

“Gods having kids? Yuck!” -Enyo

“Tjenemit killed me and I reincarnated. I have to introduce my parents! That's daddy, his name is Angrod, formerly Ascathon.” Seria pats my head. “And that's mom, the name is Celes, formerly Myrm.”

“Are you joking with us? First this message and now this? WHO DO YOU THINK, YOU ARE!” El Shaddai screams at us.

“Hrm. I am Angrod. I am the king of a world inside the void. It's populated by a few hundred million gods. All of them are behind me. We are all people, who were rescued by Seria. And now, we are here to fulfil her wish.” I smile while I tell them the story.

“And that wish is?” -Amaru

“To crush the Council. So would you be so nice and disband today!? We will make sure to keep things in order for you.” Celes smiles at them.

“Are you out of your mind? Lay down your weapons and surrender now! Do you think we ruled this long because we would cower down before a joke like you!?” Enyo's voice is really poisonous.

“Well... we already found out that you aren't almighty. Tjenemit was a tough bastard, but in the end he lost. It would be smart if you give up now. I would hate it to damage the city under us. It's a valuable historic artefact. Maybe the only one, we will ever find.” I give them the facts.

“What did you do to Tjenemit?” -El Shaddai

I grab into one of my pockets. Then I pull out the Tjenemit globe and show it to them.

“DEEMONS! DON'T BE MISLEAD BY THEM! THE ARE DIRECTLY FROM THE INFERN....”

I shake the globe a little and Tjenemit bobs up and down inside. “Shut up. Prisoners don't talk. They answer questions!”

“HEELP MEEE! NO MORE SHAKING! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE! WHAAAHAAA.......”

El Shaddai gapes at the Tjenemit-globe. “H... W... This won't be over fast! I will tell you how this will work! You will lay down your weapons within five minutes, or we will crush you!” El Shaddai vanishes.

I put the annoying globe back into my pocket.

Amaru and Enyo disappear too. Only Lada stays behind with a concerned look in her face.

“Hey Lada. Wanna come with us? It will become very uncomfortable down there soon.” Seria points down to the city.

“I still can't believe you pulled a stunt like this. This feels unreal. And you even got a new life? A new body? How does it feel?” Lada looks down to the City.

“Don't worry! I am still me! Though I lost a few memories and if you ask my parents, they are of the opinion that my character is a little different too. But if I look back at my memories, I think that my old self would do it again.” Seria gives Lada a thumbs up.

“You are a little different. But in a good sense. The old Seria wouldn't have felt so earnest, while saying that.” Lada smiles at us. “Then I will come with you now. It's the best time to desert, the others didn't even think about me.”

I grab Lada's shoulder and teleport us back to the command centre of the Ragnarok. Arriving there, Seria hops off of me, runs up to Lada and hugs her.

“So you are Lada. The other Council members are really trusting you. Getting you out of there was easier than expected.” I sit down in my command chair while the bombardment starts again.

Rays of energy start to stab upwards from the city now. Our shield takes care of them. The floor is shaking a little, but it's manageable.

“It's less an issue of trust and more one of undervaluation. They ignore me, as long as I don't get in their way.” Lada smiles bitterly at me. “You should retreat. The city under us has the energy resources of a whole world.”

“Well, some of my smart tacticians expected that. We are just bombarding their city to find it's energy core or something similar.” -Me

Lada tilts her head. “If you mean the main-grid for energy distribution, it's four kilometres to the west of the Council's tower.”

“Hoh? That's interesting.” I wave for a technician to search the area. “How do you know about this?”

“Once I took a tour through the city with Amaru. He is our technology geek and he talked about nothing else than the marvellous process of draining mana from the planets core.” Lada shrugs her shoulders.

“The enemy's army is on the move! They have created a shield together and are moving in our direction. About fifty thousand.” An officer informs me.

“Increase the distance. The Nomad can hold position and continue to search for a weak point.” They are really insane to try this against us.

It's like running barehanded into a tank! “Can we see any big weapons?”

The technician shakes his head. “Nothing we can identify.”

I start to hum while I think about the situation. “This is far too easy. Did the Council really not bother with creating some big and nasty god killing devices? All those years and they just leaned back?”

“I never saw something like this ship before. During the great war, everyone fought with their own power. We captured the crystal city in the war's final stages. The previous owners didn't even know how to control it. Amaru invented those laser-cannons, which they used to counter attack. He hasn't created anything ever since. I don't know why. And on top we had the black hole to seal uncomfortable individuals.” Lada gives me some vital information.

Another clue that Amaru never knew how to create seeds. He just used the existing ones. Though I don't understand why he never managed to find it out? Hmm. The seed is pretty complicated and it requires soul-magic. But that's still no reason. He had so much time!

The globe of energy approaches us. Maybe they used the sphere of sight and went directly for me? “Seria, go home.”

“What? But I want to stay here!?” Seria complains.

“Your powers are unstable and I don't know our enemy's capabilities. You will go now, or you will be punished!” I glare at her.

“No? All this is my responsibility!” Seria continues to refuse.

“Your responsibility ended when you died. Celes! Help me.” I look at my wife. And Seria looks at her too.

Celes looks down at Seria and forms a voiceless word with her lips. Seria's eyes become big and round. A second later she is gone.

“What did you tell her? That was effective!” -Me

Celes smirks at me and crosses her fingers in front of her chest. “That's a secret between mother and daughter. Men have no right to use this technique.”

“She has changed for sure. I never knew someone, who could get her to obey that easily.” Lada smiles at Celes.

“Like I said. It's something only mothers can do to their daughters.” She smiles at us.

“The enemy is closing” -Technician

I concentrate on the screen again. “Then start to show them our weaponry.” Beams of light stab into the enemy formation, but they pass right through.

“No damage! It's as if they aren't there!?” “It has to be an illusion!” -Technician

“Use our energy weapons to search for them! Fire blindly!” -Me

“That's a favourite tactic of Enyo. She will set up such an illusionary decoy and approach hidden from another direction.” -Lada

“Any idea how to break the spell?” I ask her hopefully, but she shakes her head.

Sigh. Yep. I already said that this was too easy. So I give the vital order.

“Prepare for being boarded!”

66 - Victory?

I watch in silence, as the beams of our energy weapons continue to lance out into all directions. Waiting for a battle to start is pure torment. During the battle you have no time to think about your actions.

It's just before and after the fight when you start to question your decisions.

“You have any idea how they will attack? Will they come from all sides or use a single direction?” I ask Lada, who is standing beside me with a complicated expression on her face.

“I am sorry. I just remembered Enyo's strategy because she used it in the last battle of the great war.   I am sorry for not being of any help. Maybe we should run? Can't this ship teleport away despite blocking someone from boarding with teleportation?” -Lada

“It's okay. I don't really want to run away. We might just have a crew of twenty five thousand, but we have the advantage of being the defenders. Nullifying any unauthorized teleportation is another great advantage to us.”

It should be a great advantage. We can use the fortresses system to teleport people from one location to another. The attacker will always face the optimal number of defenders, no matter from which direction they enter the fortress.

On the other side. As long as we can keep the forces of El Shaddai occupied, the Nomad can continue to search for a weak point in their city.

I push a button on my chair to activate a communication link to Nicosar, who is coordinating our forces. “Tell me immediately if there are problems anywhere. I want to go there myself.”

“You can't! You are the king! What if something happens to your?” Nicosar's voice comes back with a shocked tone.

“I and Celes are the only ones who have a complete memory. Almost everyone else is just a novice in wielding their powers. So tell me if you spot an extraordinary strong foe!” I insist on this. We may be the defenders, but we are still fighting two on one.

“As you wish, I'll inform you.” Nicosar cuts the line.

Then I look at Lada. “I suppose the god of love and harmony is a bad fighter?”

Lada nods with a pained expression, but suddenly she lightens up. “But I could try to convert them to our side. I am a well known figure after all! If I beg them to stop, some will surely listen.”

I tilt my head while I think about it. “And how will you talk to them?”

“She can use the fortress's speaker system.” -Officer

I nod. “Okay. It wont hurt.”

Then we have to wait another five minutes until we receive the expected message from Nicosar. “We are being boarded at multiple points. Somehow they managed to break some of our air locks!”

The voice out of the communicator sounds disturbed. I have to admit that I don't like it either. We designed the fortress with something like this in mind. The regular entrances should be very secure. To break the seals without much problems is disturbing.

A technician gives us a schematic of the fortress and I watch the tactical view. The enemy chose four points to enter the ship. One is close to the command centre. Another is near the engines. The other two are distributed evenly over the fortress.

“Set the energy weapons to fire on the entry points. Fire the plasma cannons too and set the trigger to the minimal range. All at once.” -Me

“But we will damage our own fortress!?” -Officer

“We can repair it and the hull should be able to take the blast. If we manage to take out a few of them it will still be a win for us. Don't forget the we are fighting a superior force.” To tell the truth, I don't care about losing this fortress.

If we manage to take out a good number of the enemy's fighters while keeping our own forces intact, it's a win for us.

The fortress is shaken by explosions and it feels like an earthquake. “Maybe it's time to start your speech Lada.” I nod to her and a technician shows her a console.

Then I take a look at Celes, who is standing beside me. “Why are you so silent? Something wrong?”

“The whole situation feels fishy! I am thinking about our position. Isn't it unreasonable for the Council to throw all their forces at one fortress and ignore the other one?” -Celes

“They operate under the assumption that their city is protected well enough by their shield. So there is no need to split their forces between both vessels.” -Me

The room is shaken another time.

“Nicosar requests aid at the breaking point close to our position.” -Officer

I grab my staff and stand up. “It's reasonable. They sent their strongest force for the enemy command centre.”

Then I walk out of the room, followed by Celes and Lada. While I walk, I take a look back to Lada. “Given up already?”

“They are too occupied with fighting! They don't listen at all. I have to be there myself!” Lada answers with an angry voice.

Shrugging my shoulders, I continue to walk down the corridor. Suddenly a wave of heat hits me. Any mortal being would have been charred to a nice black crisp. But the aura of energy, which is unique to an ascended being protects me.

I turn around a corner and witness some of our warriors in a tight situation with a few enemy soldiers.

My men wield weapons out of crystal and are clad in a similar black and white armour as me. The enemy's armour is white and they wield weapons of pure light.

Another stolen technology?

The effectiveness of their weapons is proven when one of my men gets impaled by a long spear. I don't stop walking and enter the fight with a wave of my staff. A flash of light sends the enemy soldiers flying.

One of the enemy soldiers is hit pinpoint by the energy and gets folded up like a sheet of paper. My men immediately use the chance to finish them off while I walk past the scene.

Farther backwards should be an observation platform. Probably the enemy entered through an air lock there. After a few metres, I arrive in a big room. Heavy fighting is taking place here.

Many of the combatants use close combat weapons. But others rely on magic. Spells are flying back and forth inside the big observation hall. Someone actually summoned an elemental, which is shooting icicles at everyone who gets too close.

Our forces are trying to keep the enemy from advancing. It's clear that we are too few. An enemy soldier, who just struck down one of our people, comes running into our direction.

But he suddenly goes limb and drops to the floor. A crystal hairpin is embedded between his eyes.

“Oh! Those work better than expected.” Celes skips to the dead body and retrieves her weapon.

The crystal weapons are able to penetrate almost every mana-based defence. They are a mass of highly concentrated mana after all.

I enter the fight and smash my staff at the next available enemy. The runes of my staff glow and the soldier is sent flying.

Another one tries to get me from the side, but suddenly Lada throws herself at him and clings to his feet. “Nooo! Peace! Love each other! Stop the senseless fighting!”

The startled soldier is stunned by the mesmerizing beauty, who threw herself at him. I use the chance and give him a lesson in fighting. I wield my staff in an arc and hit his head.

The soldier goes down and I continue to my next target. With a short glance, I witness Celes victimizing a soldier with an acupuncture. She is using one of her hairpins very skilfully and gives extra care to his joints and vital areas.

Some of the enemies are already starting to retreat. They obviously fear to be her next target.

After a few minutes of fighting, we manage to establish something like a fortified position. After a while some reinforcements are teleported to our position. It looks good and we start to push them out of our fortress.

It feels like hours went by. But it should have been just minutes. Slowly the fight relocates to the surface of our fortress. Everyone is using shielding spells now.

The air is very thin and I have to cast a support spell to ease my breathing. The surface of the fortress is ravaged by our own attacks.

Cracks are running through the crystal surface of our once wonderful fortress and it seems like some structures broke off. The power outside must have been a little more than I imagined to cause such damage.

Immediately the fight evolves into a three dimensional battle with the defenders at the surface of our fortress and our enemies trying to get a foothold.

Suddenly a golden figure and an armoured woman enter the scene. El Shaddai and Enyo! My people are sent flying by them and they radiate an enormous power.

I fight my way through to them and Celes follows me. El Shaddai wields a spear of light and Enyo has a one handed sword and a shield.

“Look who we have here! The king decides to enter the fight.” El Shaddai grins at me.

“Unfortunately I will have to deal with you myself. I wonder how long your forces will keep fighting after you are gone?” Oh the hell? Why do I need to have a third class villain-conversation with this guy?

“You are very conf..” *Clink*

I didn't wait for him to finish his sentence and jumped at him. Unfortunately he somehow managed to divert the force of my attack and a few combatants to our side get blown away instead.

A quick succession of blows follows while Celes takes Enyo as her opponent. While I have my duel with El Shaddai, the fight between our factions is becoming intense again.

El Shaddai is a fearsome opponent. To every one of my tricks, he has an answer. Celes isn't in a favourable situation either. Enyo's armour is impressive and her hairpins just glide off.

Suddenly El Shaddai flashes forward and I just barely manage to evade the tip of his spear, which scratches across my chest piece. It leaves a deep scratch behind. It's like my armour is nothing more than paper to that light-spear.

I try to counter attack, but El Shaddai's spear seems to be everywhere at once. Stabbing to my face, I barely manage to evade it, but then the other end hits my leg. That's going to be a bad bruise!

If my staff wouldn't help me with a constant flow of power, I would lose this in no time. The staff is my greatest invention. It's a unique mana crystal, which is able to convert its dense mana back to normal mana.

When you don't use it, it starts to collect mana from it's surroundings and stores it. On top it assists in spell casting and empowers the users abilities through the countless runes.

But this fight seems to be decided by pure close combat abilities. It's a shame. I can't use my long range abilities properly!

“Finally becoming aware of your mistake? We didn't rule the Multiverse for no reason!” El Shaddai has a savage look on his face.

“I had hoped I wouldn't need it. But it seems to be necessary to use incantations for you.” -Me

El Shaddai jumps at me, but I emit my full power towards him, using additionally the energy within my staff. The old god is thrown backwards like a doll and smashes into a group fighters.

He is right. If this fight continues much longer, he will win. It's not a matter of power, but one of skill. He is far better in a close combat situation and it's just a matter of time until he gets me.

This calls for a savage solution.

“Nier lus vrei oust neben, Nashok!”

A small ball of red light forms above my hand. It emits an unfriendly feeling and the space seems to distort around it. I smile wryly at the little magic spell, that took me so long to invent it. “Hello. Long time no see.” I talk to the little red ball of energy while I walk towards El Shaddai, who is on his feet again.

While smiling at El Shaddai, I provoke him. “How interesting. I never would have thought that I could send the mightiest being in the multiverse flying.” El Shaddai's face distorts in anger and he jumps at me.

I block a stab to my chest. Avoiding mortal wounds is vital during a duel. But if the opponent is more skilful than you, he tends to take every opening you offer.

You should never forget that only vital blows count. El Shaddai stabs towards my abdomen. But instead of jumping backwards, I jump forward and get stabbed through my side.

Feeling the fire of pain, I cut my nerves. Taking another step his spear impales my body further, but by doing this I seal his movements.

El Shaddai's eyes go wide as I sweep him from his feet with a blow of my staff. He doesn't let go of his weapon, even as my right hand with the red orb impacts his chest.

The spell activates and a howling tornado of red energy erupts out of El Shaddai's chest, ripping my hand apart.

I jump backwards while the burst of power carries me with it.

El Shaddai just looks at me with an unbelieving expression, while the unleashed spell shreds his body and soul to tiny pieces.

I get grabbed at my shoulders and some of our soldiers pull me out of the fight. Seeing El Shaddai's end, some of the enemy's warriors start to flee, while our soldier's intensify their pressure.

Trying to activate a healing spell, it fails me. The mana somehow disperses before I can form the correct pattern.

Looks like those light weapons have the ability to stop you from using healing magic. That sucks! If  I had known that, I wouldn't have jumped so willingly into that spear.

“The king defeated El Shaddai! Go forward and drive them off!” Lada's voice carries over the battlefield.

Two healers immediately start to take care of me while I start to laugh like mad. “Did you see that? What a worthless bunch! They are the rulers of the multiverse and die such a pathetic death.”

The healers and soldiers around me look really worried while I lose consciousness.

Little did I know that I just caused another weird rumour.

Celes

I see my husband being pulled out of the fight by a few soldiers. El Shaddai's spectacular death dealt a heavy blow to the enemy morale.

But I have to concentrate on my own fight. Enyo is a tough bitch. Her armour seems to be indestructible. My new daggers can't even scratch it. Angrod insists on calling them oversized hairpins and I have to admit that I use them in such a manner.

It's convenient and I don't like big weapons anyway.

Enyo and I seem to be natural counterparts. While I concentrate on offence, Enyo favours defence.

It's lucky that I am faster than her, so she isn't able to deal any damage either. I am just worried how to end this.

We exchange another series of blows and Enyo tries to bash me with her shield. But I use the shield as stepping stone and jump over her, while I slash at her eyes. Enyo quickly averts her gaze and my daggers just scratch her helmet.

During the whole fight she has a satisfied grin on her face. She surely like battles.

Her sword is a little long, so I force her into an even closer battle, trying to get through her defence. I parry a strike by her sword and tackle her while wrapping my tail around her ankle.

Stepping back, she tries to regain her balance, but I jerk at her foot and she falls on her back. While I am above her, I thrust my hand downwards and release my inner mana with my full force.

Our auras waver for a second against each other and then I suddenly concentrate my energy on a single tightly focused spot.

Her chest-piece vibrates and a spray of blood erupts from her mouth. Another swing of her sword forces me backwards.

I see. I may not be able to damage her armour, but attacks based on pure power seem to pass through it.

Having found the weak point, I start to support my normal attacks with outbursts of mana. Angrod's wondrous weapons assist me by adding their stored up power to my attacks.

A minute later Enyo is on her knees and I am panting heavily. I am not sure if I can take this much longer, but Enyo is in a very bad shape.

Enyo tries to get up, but I jump at her and stab into a shoulder joint of her armour. The dagger slides smoothly between the protecting layers and Enyo drops her Shield.

Now being even slower, one of my kicks connects with her head and Enyo falls to the ground like a log.

I wait for a few seconds, but she doesn't get up. So I strive forward and call for our forces to advance. “The Council's leaders are down! Advance and drive them off of our fortress! Show no mercy!”

Looking back at Angrod and the healers around him, I walk forward to lead our troops. One of the healers nods to me and I realize that the wounds aren't fatal. I know that he was was wounded, but I have to play my own role.

Having lost their leaders, we got a unique chance to break their forces. If we show our presence to our people and the enemy, the psychological effect should be on our side.

67 - Waking up to reality?

“Daddy! Wake up!”

…...mhmhhh just five minutes longer. Let me have my peace just five minutes longer.

“Wake up!”

Someone pinches my cheek and I open my eyes. Two faces look at me from above. “Oh. Aengus, Seria. What are you two doing here?”

Looking around, I see a small room in white. I am lying on the single bed inside the room. This has to be the sick bay.

“We were worried when we heard that you got wounded!” -Seria

“Yes, They said you even lost an arm!” -Aengus

“That couldn't be avoided. The spell I used, wasn't intended to be used from a distance.” I smile at them.

“That's a pretty inconvenient spell, if it blows your own hand off!” -Aengus

“Yes! The healers couldn't even regrow your arm! They had to take one of El Shaddai's and attach it to you!” -Seria

“WHAT!”

I jump out of the bed and take a look at my arms and my body. But it's all normal. No golden arm! I turn around to take a look at my children.

“That was effective, sister!” Aengus scratches his cheek.

“Like I said. I can get him out of the bed with one sentence.” Seria nods her head with a proud voice.

Urgh! She had me! “Why are you two even bothering your injured father!?”

“The healers said you are fine and mom wanted you to come to the command centre!” -Aengus explains happily.

“Here daddy! Kings shouldn't run around naked.” Seria offers me a set of clothes.

I snatch them out of her hands. “We will talk about this joke later!” I sent them a menacing glance. With a few fluent motions I dress myself and rush out of the room.

I walk into the direction of the command centre. Aengus and Seria follow me in silence. “How long have I been out?”

“About two days. The healers said the arm would regrow faster if you kept sleeping!” -Seria

“That long!?” Oh my god! Did we win? Did we loose?

After another corner, I arrive at the command centre. Celes and Nicosar are there, they are looking at a strategic map.

At my arrival, they turn around and greet me. “Look! The great king, who defeated the ruler of the multiverse!” Nicosar jokes at me.

“Had a nice sleep darling?” Celes smiles.

“I am sure you had a better time than me. So can you inform me on what I missed?” I want to know what's going on!

“After you blew El Shaddai up, I defeated Enyo and proceeded to lead our forces. We repelled the Council's army after the Nomad sent us aide via the fortress-teleportation. It seems like the Council enlisted warriors from the younger gods. When they saw El Shaddai and Enyo defeated, they turned around and ran.” Celes takes a break and Nicosar continues.

“Without the younger gods, the Council's troops were at a big disadvantage. Both in numbers and position. They fought almost until the bitter end. But at a signal, they suddenly retreated and used the pathways as soon as they were out of range. They fled in all directions, so we couldn't follow them.”

“They fled?” I ask baffled. “Why didn't they retreat to their city?”

Celes shrugs her shoulders. “Who knows. In any case, we did some analysis on El Shaddai's remains and the smart heads told us that he wasn't a living being before he became a god. Enyo is sitting in our brig and the healers tell us that she has some serious mental issues.”

“Now I understand nothing.” I sit down in a chair before the tactical display.

A technician takes up the explanation. “We analysed the pieces of El Shaddai and found no traces of organic matter. He consisted of something like animated metal. From all what we know: A god is born when a mortal's soul ascends. But a soul can't exist inside something that doesn't live! On the other hand: We all saw El Shaddai's power. That was the power of a god.”

“So you want to tell me that somebody created a golem, stuffed the soul of a god inside it and used him as a proxy!?”

The technician nods.

Someone else steps forward and starts his explanation. “We also took a close look at Enyo. From all we can tell, she isn't herself. And if I say that she isn't herself, I mean it. Someone or something messed with her mind. I doubt that she can make her own decisions. From what I can see, it's more like a setup of if-then orders. She just follows a pre-set set of orders and can't deviate from it.” The healer ends his explanation.

“Lada?” That's the first thing coming to my mind.

“We immediately checked her when we became aware of Enyo's situation. Lada seems to be as sane as someone with her age can be. She has a serious mental issue with love and happiness, so she couldn't hurt a fly. I found it really fascinating! Besides our little princess, Lada is one of the oldest beings in the multiverse. It's fascinating that you can stay sane over such a long time. But otherwise she is fine. We are keeping her in the medical bay and are having an eye on her. Just in case.” -Healer

I rub my temples while I think about the situation. “So Lada is fine? But El Shaddai and Enyo were some kind of brainwashed proxies?”

“That's what we wanted to ask. We tried to find El Shaddai's soul, but we found just some bits and pieces. What the hell did you do with him!?” -Nicosar

“In retrospect I think that I may have overreacted. I used a spell on him which attacked the soul.” I explain.

“From what I have heard, it attacked a little more than his soul. The guys who were close to the event talked about a portal to hell itself opening and taking El Shaddai.” -Nicosar

“Pah! Don't spread weird rumours!” I don't like this! Rumours are bad.

“So anything else?” -Me

“While we were repairing our damage the Nomad found the energy junction, Lada had told us about. We used a pathway to teleport a bomb directly into the energy junction and the city's shield dropped. We gave them a few warning shots and they surrendered. It was rather boring. Afterwards we dropped off troops and the Nomad made a few trips to the homeworld and shipped another twenty thousand warriors here.” Celes waves her hand to indicate that she doesn't trust the situation either.

“We had to replace our losses. From the fifty thousand people who joined us on this campaign, we lost about ten thousand. We are currently catching their souls in order to set them free at home again.” -Nicosar

“And the other Council members?” I can't believe this. We may have paid a high price, but it still feels too cheap.

“Gone. They packed their things and ran. There is no trace of their troops either. The guys who fled just vanished.” -Celes

“So what about this Sphere of Sight? Couldn't we use it to investigate them?” No. That's a stupid idea. They wouldn't leave something valuable like that behind.

“It's still there.” -Nicosar

“Huh?” -Me

“We asked Lada about it and she specified it's location. So we took a look and it was there. I sealed the room and every other important place inside the city. Then I gave orders for everyone to touch nothing that looks out of place and to report even the smallest irregularity. All people who come up from the city will have their minds checked.” -Nicosar

“I guess it's reasonable, but aren't you overdoing it?” I need some time to cope with the situation.

“No. Think about it. We have two Council members who seem to be someone else's puppets. Except for Lada, all the other Council members are missing. We have no idea who is behind all this, nor how he has done it.

Someone ruled the universe with El Shaddai as a doll on strings for who knows how long. He managed to take over the ruling gods of the multiverse. I think we have reason to be paranoid about everything and everyone.

Our only advantage is that this Mr. X couldn't get his hands on us until -now-.”

“You seem to have thought about this already very long and hard.” -Me

“It's obvious if you give it a little time. It wasn't within our enemy's consideration that we would take Enyo alive. With El Shaddai's remains alone we may have thought about someone using him from behind the scenes. But we wouldn't have thought that we could be a target too.

Enyo was conditioned to fight until death. It was lucky that we took her alive. I and my staff think that this is a giant trap to lure us out of the void. X offered us the city without a big fight. He obviously intended to keep it intact, so he attacked us despite unfavourable odds.

Then we take the city and become his next puppets. He already managed to mind-wipe the rulers of the multiverse once. Why not a second time?”

Nicosar takes a deep breath after his long speech.

“So we know now that we know nothing.” -Celes

I knead my fists while I look down at the floor. Then I explode! “AARGH! Why does everything always just become more complicated!

68 - If there is light?

I am wandering through the Council's city. It's a beautiful place, I have to admit it. But I am still tempted to nuke it to oblivion.

Nicosar's fears are going through my mind. My grandfather has a point if he doesn't trust the peace. After an exhaustive talk with Lada, we know one thing for sure.

Lada almost never touched any of the city's installations. First, she doesn't like technology and doesn't really understand it. Second, she never stayed inside the city for long.

She has various places throughout the multiverse, where she spends most of her time with mortal people. The healers think that's the reason for her sanity despite her age. So she never felt the urge to stay in the Council's city, where just gods who were removed from the real world resided.

After the fight, various gods from throughout the multiverse turned up and we are still trying to sort out the mess.

At the moment we take the position that everyone should continue to have an eye on their own world. We took the previous government completely out of service and threw them inside a void zone. It's the perfect prison for the moment. Some people from home will take care of them one by one.

After I investigated the Council's sealing method within the black hole, I completely dismissed it. The device which was used for it, is a baleful looking room, belonging to the city.

You have to stand on top of a platform, while numerous crystals face their tips towards you. By channelling the planets mana-flow itself through your soul, you are sent directly into the black hole with unbelievable force.

It's just a description from the city's occupants. I dismissed the idea because there wasn't a possibility to get someone out again. Who knows what happens to a soul inside a black hole?

The whole machine didn't look very nice to me either. I can't explain it, but I had a bad feeling while I was looking at it.

Of course Arthur and everyone else wanted to come down to the city too and take a look at it, but I forbade it.

Only experienced soul mages and the absolutely needed guards are allowed down here. If Nicosar's suspicions are true, nobody without knowledge about mind-magic should be in this city.

I also inspected various other installations and weapon storages within this city. The light-weapons are one of them. There is a whole complex of facilities, which are producing them non-stop around the hour and storing them in underground storages. Those seem to be endless by now, although the process of creating a light-weapon takes an enormous amount of time and mana.

The light-weapons seem to be a very advanced part of the crystal-tec. They are concentrated mana too, but they have no seed.

Of course I took a look at the Sphere of Sight too. But when I took a step into the room with it inside, I made a step backwards and closed the door again. Nicosar's warnings don't leave my head.

Wouldn't the Sphere be the perfect place to set up a mind-wiping trap? Wouldn't it be logical for us to use it to search for the missing Council members?

Am I too careful? Lada wasn't influenced and she visited this city regularly. So you are safe if you just look and don't touch?

Hah! Could this bad feeling of mine be fear? I didn't feel fear for an eternity, I don't remember how it feels to fear something. I guess it's normal to loose this emotion if you already know that you will just reincarnate again.

But this situation isn't like that. Having your mind mashed up like Enyo's is equivalent to dying. No fun! No fun at all!

But why am I feeling fear? Is there something to fear? I had a fulfilled life. I did everything I ever wanted to do and I lived longer than any mortal could ever dream of.

Why do I fear death? I there any logic behind that? Hmmmm.

I turn in a circle and look around. This is a big plaza. There are no people around. All this sucks big time. Not even the inhabitants of this city were of any use in uncovering its secrets.

First of all, I want to know where the seed is! The seed is the core of every crystal technology. Like with my palace and my fortresses, the seed is something like the central computer core. It focuses the mana and enables the mana-crystal to grow and develop.

But there is no seed in this city. That's impossible. It should be a big pulsing crystal with enormous energy. How can someone live for millennia inside this city and not know of something remarkable like that.

This whole thing makes no sense!

So I will have to try it? Take a look at the Sphere? I guess there is no choice. I look up at the fortresses above the city and concentrate.

-Arthur, can you hear me?-

-Yes?-

-Send ten of our best mind-mages to the room with the Sphere of Sight. I want to take a look at it and they have to check me as soon as I come out of the room.-

-.... understood.-

I cancel the connection and step on a pathway which leads me directly in front of the room with the Sphere of Sight.

It doesn't take much time and ten people arrive one by one at the meeting place. They are all people I saw on an earlier meeting. Back then we set the rules for investigating the city.

“I want to take a look at the Sphere and you guys have to check on me afterwards to find out if something went wrong.” I give them the short version.

“And what if something is wrong?” A young woman in blue robes asks me.

“Then you hold me down and call for help.” I wince at the thought.

“But what if we don't manage it?” Someone else asks.

I sneer at them. “You are ten people and I will be alone. You still want to tell me that you wouldn't be able to restrain me?”

All of them look at me with doubtful expressions.

“Whatever! Get Celes and Nicosar down here if you have so little trust in your own abilities.” I turn around and enter the room.

Inside, I slam the door shut and turn towards the Sphere of Sight. It still gives off an ominous feeling.

Slowly I circle around the thing without coming too close. It's a solid sphere made out of mana-crystal. It's constantly spinning while it stays perfectly centred inside the room.

Are you supposed to touch it and see something on its surface? Or do you have to connect with your mind to it? According to Lada the Sphere was a mystery to her. She just saw Amaru standing before it for hours and days.

When he suddenly moved again, he would have the information he was looking for. So it's a mental connection?

I brace myself and sit down cross-legged to concentrate. Doing this right can't hurt. After my mind is clear, I start to set up my defences.

A good mental blockade has to consist of multiple layers and insurances in case something goes wrong.

After spending another whopping twenty minutes with setting up every trick I know, I slowly stretch my mind for the sphere.

At first it feels unhealthy and cold. But then I get used to the Sphere. It's a gigantic conductor for sight-magic. This particular type of magic can be used to search for something lost. But I never heard of it being used on such a scale.

The Sphere channels my magical power and forms it into a pre-defined spell. Suddenly my perception increases drastically and I have to gasp. It almost overwhelmed me but slowly I am getting a grip on it.

Is that what omnipresence should feel like? I know it isn't real omnipresence, but it comes very close to it. I can see the people in front of the room. They really called Nicosar, Celes and even Arthur. Such low self esteem.

Above me are other worlds. By focusing on one, I can search it in seconds. And there are sparks of pure power everywhere.

After concentrating on one of the sparks, I realize that I am watching over the shoulder of a god. He is playing an immoral prank on a mortal. Seeesh. Is that everything an ascended being can do to kill time?

Carrying on I return the focus of my attention to the Council's city to watch its inhabitants. Then I focus outward again in an attempt to find the missing members of the Council.

But there is no way to distinguish all the sparks from one another. Where should I start? Do the Council members know each and every spark? So if a new one turns up, they know that it's a new god?

Then I become aware of a heavy presence. It's watching me. And it's close. I search for it and find its origin within the black hole.

It's ominous and dark. The same feeling I got from the sealing room and the sphere. Suddenly I feel a strong pull on my entire being and I am jerked towards the black hole.

-Who are you?-

I try to resist, but my soul falls towards the black hole and every resistance is futile.

-Come!-

Something black and slimy grabs for my mental body and I strike it mentally. It shudders in pain but it still keeps enveloping me while I fight. I am being pulled down! Down towards the darkness!

And there are teeth!

-Fresh!-

The thing claws into my mind and starts to eat! All my defences fail or are blown aside like smoke.

And all I can do is scream.

...

-NOOOOOOO! BETRAYAL!-

69 - Work for the next generation?

-NOOOOOOO! BETRAYAL!-

I watched with curiosity, as the thing inside the black hole tore the mirror mind apart and ate it. I had set it up in case something went fatally wrong.

Obviously the -thing- inside the black hole wasn't happy when it realized that it didn't catch a real soul.

The first rule in a duel of minds is “Don't fight openly”. The real me hid inside my mirrors shadow. Of course if you set up something like this, you are out of control. The mirror mind will do as it sees fit from it's point of view and you will just tag along.

But it's perfect as a decoy. Learning the enemy's abilities is important. I retract my mind from the sphere and look at with disgust.

Did everyone who used the sphere get eaten? The thing seems to have a direct connection to the black hole.

So the thing inside the black hole reprogrammed the Council members and they started to feed it with the souls of gods? That's a horrifying thought. Does it get stronger with every soul it eats?

I stand up and walk to the door and open it. Outside are quite a few people looking at me with worried expressions. Those guys should ease up a little. The other mind-mages immediately try to scan me.

“Bow down before the ruler of the mult-” *SLAP*

*Blergh!*

“OwOwOwOW! It was a joke! Stop it!”

Celes immediately slapped me without hesitation while Arthur took me into a choke-hold and Nicosar jumped onto me to hold me down.

I let my defences fall and the mind-mages verify my identity.

But what they see in my memories doesn't make them happy and everyone goes either pale or pulls a grimace.

My family's expressions turn sour as they already fear the worst.

“He is fine.” One of the older guys announces after a minute. “Just a little messed up in the head. I can't believe that someone like that is our king!”

The mind-mages nod without fail.

I smile and wave for them to listen. “Have we recovered all souls of the people who died during the fight?”

“We are fairly certain that we got all of our people because we put priority on them.” One of the mages informs me.

It takes quite some time for a soul to drift to a new world and reincarnate. So everyone should still be near this system. Souls shouldn't go towards a black hole by themselves.

A free soul is attracted by every living being which is able to contain it. The black hole shouldn't have any attraction at all. I still don't want to feed that thing any more even by chance.

“Clean the whole system of free souls. Even our enemies. I want a complete soul-free space around the black hole.” Two of my subordinates bow and disappear. They don't have to ask any more questions because the scanned my mind.

“Can you explain what's going on?” -Arthur

Arthur and Nicosar get off of me and pull me to my feet.

After thinking for a second I answer. “It looks like there is -something- sealed inside the black hole and the Sphere of Sight is set up to connect the user's mind directly towards it. This thing took great pleasure in eating the mirror mind, I had set up.”

I wait for a second to let the information sink in. “So at the moment it looks like the Council was manipulated by that thing to feed it. They threw meals into it's maw for who knows how long.”

“We could have been it's food too if it weren't for Seria.” Arthur mutters to himself.

I nod. “We can't be sure of it, but it could very well be that Seria's actions were responsible for keeping the thing on a low diet.”

“We should destroy the Sphere of Sight. It's useless to us. And then we smash that room too. Maybe crushing the whole city would be better.” Celes thinks aloud.

“I think you are right in destroying the sphere. But we may still need the room.” -Me

“Are you insane? All you could do with it is feeding this ominous being.” -Nicosar

“I don't want to feed it. I want to have the room in case one of those things is still outside the black hole!” I drop the bomb on them.

“That possibility is.... not....” But Arthur gets interrupted by Nicosar.

“Unfortunately he is right. We have to work with the worst case scenario. So if we assume that the culprit didn't belong to the Council. There still has to be someone unknown in this equation!”

I nod. “The next thing I want is that everyone who returns to our home has his mind checked twice! The last thing I want is that we carry something unwanted with us. Then I want this whole system off limits! Just the guards. And at home we will construct a few more fortresses to set up a permanent watch here.”

Then I wave my hand to materialize my staff. “And the Sphere will be dealt with here and now.” I turn around and walk back into the room.

Before the sphere, I take a stance and strike it with all my might. I invoke a shield, as the sphere shatters and shards of it are spraying around the room. Slowly dimming, the room goes silent and a little less bright than before.

Celes looks inside with a curious expression. “I thought you wanted to break the sphere and not the city.”

I turn around. “What?”

“The city just lost all energy.” Arthur gives his observation.

But then the light slowly returns and a female voice booms through the room in a strange language.

~Jegme'nod. Mjerk'sod'lemef~

“I don't understand a single word. What about you guys?” -Me

But everyone shakes their heads.

~Adjusting language to current citizens. Restart complete.~

~Contaminated systems recognized. Removing contaminated systems.~

~There is unauthorized personnel inside vital parts of the city. Identify yourself.~

Celes gives me an accusing look.

“Holy shit! What did I break now! Since when can this city talk?” I can't believe this. Has this city something like a super computer installed?

~I am not a city. My name is the Warden. I was created to see to the continued imprisonment of the great calamity, which plagued the multiverse. Identify yourself! Or you will be removed!~

“Hold it! We are on your side. I think you aren't entirely up to date!” -Nicosar

~Calculating time difference according to star movement.~

I hold my breath and Celes whispers to us. “That thing was obviously meant to guard the black hole but failed miserably. We should make a run for it in case it isn't alright in it's cpu or whatever it uses to think!”

~I can hear you. And you don't need to have such fears. My creators intended me to be able to keep my watch even after their return to the cycle of life and death.~

“So how long have you been out and why?” -Arthur

~....~

“Hello?” -Nicosar

~My calculation tells me that it has been four billion years since I tried the restart.~

I whistle and take a look around. “So I guess you can't tell us who manipulated the Council either?”

~I know nothing of a Council. There isn't a faction like that within the Ascended Ones, who rule the multiverse.~

“Give me a complete version of history, as far as you know it.” -Me

~You are not cleared for this information.~

I purse my lips while I think about Warden. She seems to be a highly advanced AI. But a little literal minded too. “Warden. Your creators are gone and you failed your mission until now because you slept! The society inside the multiverse underwent a series of changes. We are the closest thing to the highest authority at the moment. So it would be really smart if you tell us how to proceed with the thing inside the black hole.”

A few seconds of silence follow while Warden considers the situation.

~You first. What's the history of the multiverse from your point of view?~

Celes jumps in and gives Warden our version of history. At least as far as we pieced it together. After half an hour she goes silent and Warden starts to speak.

~I see. Some things went seriously wrong while I slept. As far as I know, the Ascended Ones are..... were the highest advanced beings in the multiverse. Their society spanned everything and it was their goal to lead all inferior life to a status of perfection like themselves.~

~But even though their bodies would last forever, their minds couldn't take the eternity. Many returned to the cycle of life and death, which all inferior lifeforms have to go through. They firmly believed that they would ascend anew in the distant future to regain their birthright. But it wasn't enough for some of them. A few researched possibilities to endure the eternity.~

~They found the answer in an experiment to meld their souls together. But the result wasn't stable. The ones who underwent the experiment went insane and started to crave for more souls. Melding with each other and every soul unfortunate enough to fall into their hands, they became what we called the great calamity.~

~A being which only aims to eat each and every soul within the whole multiverse to merge with it.

The lesser beings aside from the Ascended Ones had no chance to defend themselves against something like that.~

~So the remaining Ascended Ones stood up to fight the first and last war in their history. They created powerful weapons to defeat their foe. But all their efforts were in vain, as the great calamity spread like a plague.~

~For every incarnation of the great calamity slain, two more would split up from it and continue their horrible thirst for souls. The Ascended Ones decided to seal their foe inside the black hole above us. Not even they knew how to escape a black hole.~

~And so they hoped the great calamity would stay sealed until the end of time. Maybe it would even starve to death with time. But after the great hunt for the calamity had ended and all it's pieces were thrown into the black hole, the Ascended Ones realized that there weren't many of them left. And time wasn't on their side.~

~They were old enough to know that someone had to keep a keen eye on the prison.

So they created me, the Warden. They intended me to guard the prison for the rest of eternity.~

~With time the Ascended Ones faded away and returned to the cycle of life and death. In the last of their days, when their numbers were just enough to fill this city, other ascended beings started to arise.~

~They were wild and impulsive, much like the Ascended Ones in their youth.~

~The Brightest One of the Ascended created a globe to watch the new beings in their struggles. He intended to guide them on their path after he would understand their quarrels. But to install the globe, he had to connect it to my system. So he ordered a complete reboot. Which I did. …..... not waking up again until now.~

“So the globe, which was connected to the black hole, halted your reboot. And after we destroyed it, you could complete the reboot and woke up.” I conclude.

~It looks like it. But if that's true, something of the calamity survived the hunt and infiltrated the Ascended Ones. It shut me down with the globe and somehow managed to deal with the last Ascended Ones. Otherwise they would have repaired me.~

But Celes has her doubts. “Did they even know how to repair you besides that Bright One you mentioned? Who would have known that the globe is at fault? Wouldn't they have been brainwashed like the Council?”

~Although I don't want it to be true. That's a possibility. And if the great calamity got control of the Bright One, there is a big chance that it could divide and crush the remaining Ascended.~

“But if something of this Calamity is still outside the black hole? Why didn't it eat the whole multiverse until now?” -Arthur

~The great calamity was able to plant a part of itself inside a host. The poor soul would become a mere servant, bent on feeding the great calamity. The servant however would be unable to merge with other souls and continue to long for something it could never get.~

~It's unlikely that a core part of the great calamity survived. The multiverse would be gone by now like you said. It's more likely that we overlooked one of its servants and he invaded us or corrupted others with the help of the globe.~

“You know that you are a real harbinger of bad news Warden?” I ask the voice while I contemplate about the whole story.

~I am just the Warden.~

70 - A new sport?

It has been a month since Warden's awakening. We have settled in and took over the government of the multiverse as much as we could.

Though it didn't work out all that well. The Council is still hiding somewhere. They know the multiverse far better than us. After all we were confined to our worlds by our occupation as gods while the Council could travel around as they pleased.

I would really like to know why they aren't taking action. It has to be obvious to them by now that we avoided their trap.

With Warden's help we were able to clean the city of anything dangerous too. So the safety rules are a little more loose by now. We still don't let civilians come here and I doubt that we will do so for a long time.

On the other hand Warden is helping us with governing the multiverse. I wouldn't know what to do otherwise. But Warden can keep track of almost everything.

We are of the opinion that the Council's approach wasn't all too bad, so we set some rules for ourselves and the other gods.

Rule number one: Do what you want as long as you don't break the rules.

Rule number two: Don't mess too much with mortals.

Rule number three: Don't mess with the other gods.

Rule number four: Report everyone who breaks the rules to the city in the middle of all things.

Rule number five: Report new gods and tell them of the rules.

By now we had some cases in which we had to stop gods on a rampage. But it was manageable. We just show up with one of our fortresses and gently inform them of their errors.

The really problematic cases are either thrown into a void zone to repent for a few years or mind wiped. Of course we use the last option just for the really insane guys.

By now we have the Ragnarok permanently stationed above the city to guard the black hole. The guardian still keeps watch over our homeworld and the Nomad is used for missions throughout the multiverse.

I am currently inside my office in the city and reading reports. Celes is here too and helps me. Travelling back and forth between the city and our world isn't that hard with the help of the pathways.

“We could really use an official name for this city and our world. It's inconvenient to call them city and world all the time.” I muse to myself.

“How about Chimera?” Celes throws a suggestion at me. “Seria played around with our worlds ecosystem so much, it's a big mesh of ideas and people. Our biology is fucked up too. It's a fitting name.”

~The correct name for this city is Asheim. Which means home of the ascended.~

Warden gives an explanation.

“It doesn't sound too bad. I will recommend the names to the ministry. If it's about our world, I guess the population needs a word in it.” The names don't really matter to me.

“Do you have the new reports ready Warden.” -Celes

~Oh, I am sorry. I forgot them. I will do it now.......     Done. On your console.~

I irk my eyebrows. “Warden? What took so much of your almost infinite calculation power, that you couldn't finish a few reports? That took you less than two seconds.”

~I had all of my abilities concentrated on two strange individuals within Asheim. I conversed with them for quite a while now. But I am unable to understand their behaviour. They are completely irrational at one moment and the next they sound very sane.~

~I also don't understand why their bodies are so different from the other gods. I already understand that your group is made up by many different races. Though those two are not matching the pattern.~

~After a few scans of their bodies, I am not smarter than before.~

I rub my temples. “Are you talking about Aengus and Seria?”

~Exactly. You know them?~

“They are our children and you misunderstood the racial traits of our bodies. We all belong to the same race.” Celes explains.

~Children?~

Omg. Do we have to explain the flower and the bees to Warden? You are a godlike supercomputer with a crystal core and you don't know such basic stuff?

“If a man and a woman.....”

~I know that! I was just shocked that an ascended being would have children. The Ascended Ones never had children because their children's souls would always belong to a mortal. It's pretty depressing if your child dies after a few years and you go on for eternity.~

Yeah. That's the problem of ascendancy. Any beings lifespan is influenced by their mana pool. A being with a limited mana pool has a limited lifespan. There are mortal beings who live very long like elves. Their mana pool is large enough to believe that they are almost immortal. They die of accidents and illness more likely than of old age. But compared to a god who has almost unlimited access to mana it's still nothing.

~Though they just tested their courage and jumped off the central tower of Asheim. They shouldn't have survived that if they were mortals.~

“They did WHAT!?” Celes jumps up and runs out of the room.

~I said that they are acting really irrational at times. But if they are children, that explains their irrationality.~

I really feel a headache forming. “Warden. You remember when Celes explained about our homeworld and how it came to be? First of all, we are a little different from other gods. Our bodies and minds are closer to mortal beings than those of the gods who ascended the normal way. Secondly our world is within a void zone and filled with the latent souls of gods, so it's no problem for us to have children. They will always be reincarnated gods like Seria and Aengus.”

~Oh. That makes a totally different society possible. I already asked myself why you were so different from the other ascended beings. So they prefer to follow you because their old personality isn't dominant.~

“Exactly. Though I don't know how long it will stay like that.”

~Probably forever if nothing really dramatic happens. Your society already survived the shock of becoming gods after a long period of being mortal. If it didn't break due to this, it's unlikely that another event can shake it enough.~

~But it's really fascinating that a society like yours came to be. In a way, you are everything the Ascended Ones yearned for. A normal god always chooses to return to the flow of life and death at some point because his mind can't deal with the eternity any more.~

~But your society will probably go on forever because you can just decide to reincarnate and drop the burden of some memories in order to lift the stress.~

~From what I see, you are already immersed in the process by collecting the souls of your fallen comrades to release them at your homeworld.~

I nod my head. At that moment Celes enters the room with Aengus under an arm and Seria wrapped up in her tail. “They really jumped off the tower just to see how long they would fall! They gave the guards a panic attack!”

I smirk at them. “Who won?”

“Aengus impacted one second before me. It wasn't fair! He is heavier!” Seria complains with a moody voice.

~I told you that Aengus would hit the ground first. Physics never lies.~

“Booh... Why should we trust in something like that if we can test it!” Aengus tries to wriggle himself out Celes's embrace, but she doesn't let go.

“You two are grounded for two days! This place isn't a playground.” Celes sits down and wraps Aengus and Seria together with their backs to each other. Her tail is the rope....

“That looks like you roped up two criminals....” I give her my impression.

“They ARE criminals!” -Celes

~I see! So that's the motherly instinct to protect their young. Very interesting. I had never hoped to being able to study those interactions.~

“You shut up too! Because of your talks about calculations, they jumped in the first place!” -Celes

~...~

~I will try to learn how to interact with children.~

What a noble thought. Unfortunately not even parents themselves are able to interact with their children properly most of the time.

~An ambassador just arrived and wants to speak to the highest authority.~

“Ambassador? From what? There is nobody you could negotiate with!” I almost fell out of my chair.

~He probably belongs to one of the newly forming powers.~

“Newly forming powers? Why don't we know anything about this?” -Celes

~Oh I forgot to tell.... Well I can make up for it. I foresaw that the disappearance of the Council leaves a big power vacuum. Obviously such an oppressing dictatorship like the Council can't just disappear over night without consequence.~

~The formerly oppressed people will start to form their own communities. Ascended beings are social and they yearn for contact with others on their scale of power. The multiverse contains enough gods for seven to eight societies of the average size of yours.~

“Well.... I anticipated that something like that would happen, but not so fast.” I tilt my head and look at the ceiling.

“Should we suppress them? We have enough troubles with the Council! What if they get influenced by them or already are? Multiple powers within the multiverse could lead to the same situation we just escaped from!” -Celes

I sigh. “You are right but how should we suppress them? The Council had the Sphere and we can't watch the whole multiverse at once. Maybe our best chance is to tell them everything we know about the current state of affairs and wish them luck.”

~The multiverse is big enough for everyone. There is no need to step on each others toes. The ambassador is waiting at the plaza in front of the central tower.~

“Tell him to come to the throne room. I will talk to him there.” I teleport and reappear on my throne. It's located in a big room in the central tower. There is a nice 360° view on the whole city. All walls are windows to ensure the best view.

There are no doors to enter the room. It's an architecture that would only come one to someone’s mind who could teleport around like taking a walk.

I didn't adopt the Council's idea of a floating table above the city. There has to be something under my feet, otherwise I feel uncomfortable!

Celes appears in a chair beside me and I nod to the guards.

A pair of guards with a person between them appears before me and I wave for them to step aside.

The ambassador has black skin and very long earlobes. His clothing consists just of a single robe. And there are more accessories on him than I can count! Rings, amulets, pearls, chains. Whoa! Are you a god of female adornments?

“Greetings. I am ambassador Mawu. I am here to greet you in the name of the Perseides Alliance.” Mawu nods to me and smiles.

I smile back at him. This guy is lucky that I told my guards to forget about the etiquette. Normally nobody speaks to the king first, so the old school guards would have dragged him out of the building by now.

“Greetings too. What's this Perseides Alliance of yours?”

“We are a big society of gods. Our aim is to protect the worlds under our supervision. In order to do this, we chose to form the Perseides Alliance. After we managed to establish our group, we thought that we should introduce ourselves at the very least.” - Mawu

“Then I welcome you to Asheim and I wish you luck. As long as you don't commit any atrocities, we will not bother you.” I continue to smile at Mawu who arches an eyebrow. Obviously he didn't expect my reaction.

Then he speaks. “It's nice to hear that you don't feel offended by our community. Good that the ones who kicked the Council from their throne seem to be reasonable people.”

“No, we could never keep order in the multiverse by our own. It's wonderful that others are willing to take up the task! So we will have to talk for a long time about the current state of affairs. How about joining my family and me for dinner? Do you want to set up an embassy in Asheim?” I throw my thoughts at Mawu without waiting for an answer.

Mawu just stares back at me with curiosity in his eyes.

71 - Gods and their children.

“I see.... Your story is... disturbing. To say the very least.” Mawu frowns over our revelations. We are sitting together on a couch in our private quarters at Midpoint.

The ambassador was really surprised by our society. To say the very least. “Walking through an entire world, populated by gods of all ages. I never would have dreamed about something like that.”

“Cool idea. Don't you think?” Seria dangles on a chair while she grins at Mawu.

“I must admit that some aspects of your society are very compelling. On the other side you seem to be a little hyperactive. I hope that not all kids are like you.” Mawu smiles at Seria.

“Oh! You should meet Sandra's quintuplets! You won't call me hyperactive any more. I will go and get them.” Seria jumps out of her chair and disappears.

The ambassadors smile drops. “I will have to go. If you could escort me outside the void zone, I would be very thankful.” He looks at Celes and me with a pleading expression.

I grin at him. “I understand. I will take you outside. Do you believe that your Alliance will adopt our way of living.”

Mawu purses his lips while thinking. “I am not sure. But there will surely be people who would long for this world. How do you intend to deal with them?”

“If they aren't troublemakers, there will be no big problems. This world isn't heavily populated. And it would be no problem to duplicate our world. You just have to drag a solar system into a void zone and fill it with the souls of gods who don't want to go on.” -Me

Mawu nods. “Though finding such individuals would take some time. But I guess it would be manageable. Gods aren't really under the pressure of time.”

I pat Mawu's shoulder and take us back to Asheim.

Somewhere else in the endlessness of space

“New entry into the log book: This is the HMS Explorer of Dolaria! We have tested our infinity drive and managed to jump directly to a star system just a few light years from our homeworld. We are now preparing to jump directly to the next star. We believe that it has a world with life. Finally we will be able to answer our most important question. Are we alone in the universe?”

“The complete crew of twenty people is doing fine. The ship took no damage from the first jump and we will proceed to our next destination.”

“We will also have proven the concept of the infinity drive! Riding on top of the energy junctions of the universe enables us to travel anywhere with instant speed! It's a revolution without comparison. For the prosperity of our great race and our world. End of log entry. By Captian Warner Hernei.”

“We are ready for the second jump sir.” -Technician

“Jump!” -Warner

Space distorts for a second and the HMS Explorer exits reality to re-enter it again in another solar system.

“Jump complete! We are exactly where we wanted to be.” -Technician

Warner enjoys the view on a foreign sun and a new world beyond them. There are many places to go to. The Dolarians will boldly go where nobody else ever went before! The great age of star travel was upon them. And he, Warner was the captain of the first ship to see those new worlds!

“Good! Start with our schedule. There are many scientific questions to be answered.” Warner stands up to leave the bridge. But that's the moment it happens.

)(WHO ENTERS MY DOMAIN!)(

The bridge shakes with a booming voice.

“What was that?” -Warner

“I don't know!” -Technician

)(Mortals! You trespassed where you shouldn't set your feet! Bow down and cover in fear before a superior being! And maybe the great Bobo will let you live.)(

“Get us out of here!” -Warner

“The ship doesn't even budge! We are stuck!” -Officer

Suddenly a flaming monster appears on the bridge. )(What Bobo wishes happens! Mortals shouldn't try to go against my wishes.)(

An officers draws a handgun and shoots at the monstrosity while others are trying to gain their distance. But the bullet just gets repelled and strikes the shooters knee. “Aaaah!”

Bobo gives off a crazy laugh. )(The weapons of mortals are amusing. So how do you intend to repent?)(

“What are you!?” -Warner

)(I am the great Bobo! What I wish happens! Entertain me. So dance!)(

One of the Technician starts a really weird dance while waving his hips and shaking his arms. You can see in his eyes that he isn't acting of his own free will.

“Why are you doing this to us!” -Scientist

)(Get undressed and make a handstand!)(

The scientist promptly follows the order.

“Give an emergency alarm and seal all decks!” Warner jumps for a red button on a console. But an invisible force holds him up and still in the air.

)(And now. We will have a little fun!)(

...

...

...

Several hours later

“The great crew of the HMS Explorer lost the last of its dignity!” -random crewmember

“I will never be able to face my wife again!” The officer is lying on the ground. Some improper tools are lying besides him. They are usually used by women to pleasure themselves.

“This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening.” A scientist is cowering in the corner of the bridge. Sheets of paper with complicated formulas are spread out around him. Bobo solved a few of them for the poor man.

Faced with the solutions to all his questions, the poor man couldn't bear to be faced with the reality of the multiverse. Mortal beings should never dabble with something they simply cannot comprehend.

“I want hooome to my mommy.....” A young stewardess is hiding under a console and nibbling on her thumb. Bobo forced her to tell her greatest secrets to the crew. She told everyone that she had a crush on the captain, who was almost twenty years older than her......

)(Hmpf. Mortals! They can't even take a little punishment for the errors of their ways.)(

“We don't even know what we have done to you!” The once proud captain Warner kneels before the great demon Bobo with tears in his eyes.

)(You desecrated the pathways between the stars with that flying garbage can of yours! Isn't it obvious?)(

“But how should we have known? Please let us go. We promise to go home and never look for the stars again!” Warner crawls towards Bobo.

)(We still have much time. You will... )( *WHACK!* )(Hurgh!)(

“What the fuck is going on here?” Another strange being had materialized on the bridge of the HMS Explorer. It had horns and evil slit pupils.

As soon as it appeared it hit Bobo on the back of his head.

)(Ow. Daddy why did you hit me? I was just playing around a little.)(

“I look away for a few seconds and you are gone. And look where I find you! Playing around with mortals!” -Daddy?

)(But they had to be punished!)(

“Drop that act! And what's with that stupid costume? Get back into your real form!” -Daddy

)(Yes.... Dad.”

The great demon Bobo disappears in a puff of smoke and in its stead just a little boy remains. He has horns and slit pupils like his father.

“And now for the explanation!” -Daddy

“I took a look around! I didn't go far I promise! On my way home, something bulldozed over me while I was on the pathway! They were really rude and used almost the whole path! I was thrown off and re-materialized over a planet, dropping directly into a puddle of mud! When I took a look at whom had thrown me into the dirt, I found them!” The child points at the crew of the Explorer.

The daddy nods his head and smiles like he would understand his sons troubles.

*WHAM!*

Daddy gave his son a phenomenal slap to the face. The boy goes down and the metal floor dents in, leaving a human shaped dent with the size of a child.

“Mortals aren't toys! And if you get bulldozed by one of their tools, you should reflect on your own failings!” Daddy screams at the child, which doesn't even twitch and stays still on the ground.

Massaging his temples Daddy walks over to Warner and pulls him to his feet. “I am sorry. It's not good manners to torture mortals like that. Are you okay? I failed as a parent! I shouldn't have let him run around in the garden alone. Do you have kids?”

Warner slowly shakes his head while Daddy straightens Warner's jacket.

“It's hell I tell you! Kids are a mistake of nature! Don't ever make one. It's especially hard if you can't even let your eyes off them. The kids of mortals at least can't cause such troubles. Imagine your kid crushing planets torturing mortals because it has emotional problems! And on top I have my hands full with the fate of the multiverse!” Daddy pats Warner's shoulder and smiles at him.

“I hope you can forgive Aengus? He is still young and sometimes he looses control of his reason. I will try to keep a better eye on him in the future. Maybe I will sent him to your world in order to repent for a little while?” -Daddy

“NONONONO! We forgive him! Nobody got really hurt besides a bullet to the knee! But that was our own fault! And we are perfectly able to heal something of that scale. No permanent damage done! Please just take him home, wherever that is!” -Warner

“You sure? Well I will punish him anyway. You guys look really battered.” Daddy walks back to his son and pulls him out of the metal floor. “Oh, and sorry for the dent! You should build your ships a little sturdier! There is much dangerous stuff out there in the multiverse. For mortals at least! Have a nice flight home!” -Daddy

With a flash of light the nightmare ends for the crew of the HMS Explorer. Afterwards they flew straight home and took their ship apart. After learning of the powerful beings who used the energy junctions of the universe, the Dolarians passed on their great destiny under the stars.

The crew of the HMS Explorer had to undergo a serious rehabilitation treatment and after months, most of them were able to lead a normal live again. But some were changed forever....

The Dolarians would henceforth always fear the godlike beings who where somewhere out there. Just waiting to claim their sanity.

So we will never be able to hear of the great adventures of the Dolarians in their first space ship, the HMS Explorer.

And somewhere out there, in a puddle of mud on a lifeless planet. A new evolution of life started.

72 - The daily life.

~Wohooo! This world is surely interesting!~

Warden's annoying voice echoes through my throne room in Midpoint. “Can you explain to me why you are here Warden?”

~That's easy! I asked your flying fortresses to give me access to their systems and now I am using them as extended eyes and ears. Their instant communication abilities are convenient. When one of them flew back to Chimera I realised that you have another big palace here. So I asked Palli to give me access too! He was reluctant at first but the I managed to convince him!”~

“Palli!?” I almost choke on my drink while I hear that.

~Yes. Your palace. You didn't give him a name yet. But names are essential, so I explained to him that he would need one. Palli is very literal minded and not very talkative but after a while he got the idea.~

“I intended him like that. No need for overly clever research labs! And stop polluting him Warden!”  This thing is worse than a computer virus!

~Booh... Consider the rights of us crystals too!~

“If you tamper with my fortresses and my palace any further I will consider my rights and clean my tools from your influence!” I snap back.

~Mmhmmm Freeedom!~

“And that's it! Palace! Remov...”

~NONONO I apologize. I wont tamper with the fortresses and the palace! Please let me watch and talk through their systems.~

“If I ever get the sligthest idea that you do something else than that..” -Me

~Understood!~

I sigh. “Give me the latest reports if you are here. I don't want to go to Asheim for that.”

~Ah, yes! Seria and Aengus tried to towerjump again. They are really fast learners. This time Seria removed her princess dress to reduce the air resistance and....~

“SHE DID WHAT!?” -Me

~No Problem! I learned my lesson after a long talk with Celes and informed her on time. So she stopped the two of them from committing a major social blunder.~

“Oh... so Celes got them....” I don't know if that's any better. Are my children still alive? “Wait a moment! I meant for you to tell me about the political state of affairs!”

~Ah? Ok. Regarding the Perseides Alliance. Everything is in order. We have set up a place for them in Asheim. They promised to keep a few people there at all times. And they are having an eye out for the Council. There isn't much more we could ask of them.~

~Then we still have the issue with the ambassadors from the other powers. You still haven't talked to them.~

“I wasn't sure if I should talk to a group of people who don't have more than a few hundred members. Wouldn't I upset the power between them and others if I talked to such small groups?” I am not sure what to do in this case.

“Why don't we invite all of them to an informal party here?” Ireth's voice comes from behind me and I jump out of my throne.

“Mother! You gave me a fright! How did you manage to sneak behind me?” I really didn't realize that she was there.

“Hahaha. I teleported directly behind you. I didn't sneak at all.” -Ireth

“That's almost as good as sneaking. But a party for everyone would be a good idea. I wouldn't favour anyone and they would have a chance to talk to us.” I muse over the possibility.

“I will inform Rose to prepare something. Tomorrow would be fine right? Those ambassadors don't have anything to do anyway.” -Ireth

~That's a great idea. They are pestering me almost every hour for a possibility to speak to us. I will inform them!~

“Hah, Wait! That will be a busy day for me!” I have something planned for tomorrow! I wanted to take a hike in my woodhouse and relax!

~Too bad, I already informed them.~

“What? So fast?” -Ireth

~I am able to have several thousand conversations with different people at the same time. There is no problem with my performance before that.~

I go to my knees. My hiking tour! All the books I could have read!

At that moment Celes enters the room. She is dragging two... bodies behind her. Aengus? Seria? Are you alive?

“Oh. Ireth I wanted to ask you if you could take care of the kids. I have matters to discuss with my husband.” -Celes

“Oh, sure! I always have time for my grandchildren.” Ireth's smile becomes wide.

“Don't be too nice to them! They were naughty!” -Celes

Ireth gives Celes a thumb up. “What? Who do you think I am? Did you forget who educated you two?”

A shudder runs down my spine and Celes looks a little uncomfortable. “Celes! How can you abandon the kids like that?”

“She intended to jump naked from the tower! When she died, I vowed to myself that I would drive that nudist behaviour out of her! At ALL COSTS!” Celes hisses at me.

“Ohhh? Naked you say? That's not the proper behaviour of a princess with my bloodline.” Ireth's eyes become small slits while she looks at the two unconscious bodies.

Then she grabs both of them at their collars and smiles at us. “I will help you. After a little training with me, there should be no more problems!” With a flash of light she vanishes.

“NOO! Celes what did you do? Don't you remember what we had to go through!!!” My cute little Seria hasn't done anything to deserve this!

“Hmpf! Some sacrifices have to be made! Now come with me! I have to show you something.” Celes grabs my hand and teleports us.

We reappear in her lab. She invested quite a lot of her time here. I have no idea what she was researching. We are gods now. Our huge mana pool makes it almost impossible get sick or old. There should be no need to research biology and medicine.

But Celes does it anyway. It's like a hobby for her.

“Look! My newest creation!” She holds a vial with a green liquid to my face.

“Ah. That's a cool green goo. Does it glow in the dark?” I smile at her. Why does she always assume that I immediately recognize the effect of her drugs? The only thing I know for sure is to not eat chocolate she offers me for no obvious reason.

“Muh.. It doesn't glow! But it forcibly anchors a soul to it's body by synchronizing the cell's......” Oh shit. She became aware of my absent look. “.... For biological idiots: It could make our souls more resistant to that black hole monster and its minions! When you mentioned that it tore down your defences like nothing, I thought about a solution.”

“At least this should give someone enough time to run away and call for help if we introduce it to everyone.” Celes offers the vial to me. “Drink!”

A few drops of sweat are forming on my forehead. “This is tested right?”

“Are you not trusting me?” Celes's expression becomes fearsome.

“Nono. Of course I trust my wife. It's just that this green goo doesn't exactly look tasty.” I take the vial and take a look at it while holding it before a light at the ceiling.

Celes turns around and searches for something in a chest.

My eyes go wide while I look at the stuff. “Celes? It's moving.... is that normal?” I shake the vial and the goo actually collects itself together and tries to open the plug!

“Now it's trying to open the plug!” I look shocked at Celes.

“That's normal. It's a modified slime. I manipulated it to act as a symbiont. Just swallow it and don't chew!” -Celes

“I am not doing this!” Never. I will never swallow something that's still alive!

Celes turns around and takes the vial from me. “Say Aaaa.”

“No.”

Suddenly Celes jumps at me and locks me down in something like a wrestling move. “Don't be a little kid! You just have to swallow a slime! There isn't even a needle!”

“Needle!?”

I have to resist this! I try to wriggle out of her lock-down and manage to get an arm free. Twisting her little pinky, I manage to get from the floor.

But with this a full blown fight evolves between us...

…...

…..

….

…

..

.

I have been humiliated! She forced that thing down my throat! “I wish I could puke now.”

Celes is sitting on top of me with the empty vial in her hand. “Don't puke! If you do, this whole procedure will have to be repeated!”

“I need to reincarnate. This memory has to be discarded at all costs!” I try to wriggle out from under her but she hugs me. “You can't do that either! This is a treatment that affects the body!”

“F.. Fine then make up for this!” I suddenly have an idea. Could this be a chance?

“How?” Celes eyes me suspiciously.

“You have to follow one of my wishes!” -Me

“If it's not too strange. I guess it won't hurt?” -Celes

I teleport us both into our woodhouse and run for the wardrobe. After a few seconds I find a really hot undergarment.

When I made a little tour to another planet, I somehow stumbled over this in the red light district. Of course this happened out of pure coincidence! The planet is famous for it's lingerie items.

I had to do some research in order to defeat my wife!

Hehehe. Mwhahaha! She will die of shame!

I turn around to Celes. “Put this on and dance for me!”

Celes just looks at the thing in my hands and turns red.

73 - More than one Party?

On an unknown world, there was...

Blasius Alronde is the greatest artificer of his time. His genius is said to match the gods. But his fellow craftsmen just look down on him in pity.

This was for one reason. Blasius invested all of his genius on only one thing. And that was a device to spy on the gods. Blasius wanted nothing more than to know what moved the beings who were so far out of everyone's reach.

He was in pursuit of knowledge, which wasn't meant for mortal ears. He wanted answers for existence itself and all the other impossible questions which burdened every living being.

So after years of studies and failures, he finally activated the device which would answer all his desires.

*Crrrck*

“And he was so bold! Look at this thing! I had to wear it and dance for him!”

“Whoa! That's dangerous Celes! Where did he get that! You should have a closer eye on your husband!”

“I know Sandra, but he finally becomes more active. I am not sure if I should stop him.”

“That's definitely dangerous. I think I saw that thing in a place of suspicious purpose!”

“What were you doing in a place like that Margerie!”

“Even I have to research this stuff in order to get someone. I feel the burden of taking care of my house. My brother ran off and dropped all responsibilities on me after all.”

“I heard he settled down with the wolf girl somewhere in the north. They are making children like crazy. The latest reports endanger Sandra's position as the top breed..ugh....cough... cough...that wasn't called for!”

“Shut up! I don't even want to know what you intended to call me Tanja!”

“Anyway! Have you seen Celes's head maid lately? I met her in town and she either fattened up quite a lot or..:”

“Rose is on pregnancy leave. My help with the chocolate worked a little better than expected with her boyfriend.”

“I heard he actually wasn't her boyfriend -yet- at that time!!”

“What? So she used the baby trap on him!? Your head maid is a fearsome woman Celes.”

“Hrm. It wasn't entirely her fault. I may have forgotten to tell her what my chocolate exactly does and she was unprepared.”

“So it was your doing?”

“I fear so. I didn't think about what would happen if she actually managed to land the big hit with Drem. You only start to appreciate someone else's work if she is gone. Luckily it's just a leave.”

“Hoho. That's the most important thing then isn't it?”

“Yeah. If I have learned one thing over the years then it's to hold those dear to you close. Enjoying every moment is important.”

“Don't speak like your maid is gone forever.”

“If you had a maid like her you would understand me....”

*Crrrck*

Blasius deactivated the device and started to search for the mistake in his theories. Listening to the bickering of a group of women was never his intention.

He was after the wisdom of the gods and not interested in the worldly problems of other people.

While taking his device apart, he started to search for the mistake. Not knowing that he already got all the important answers about life and it's meaning from the gods.

Blasius never found out that he had actually succeeded and tried different approaches on the matter for the rest of his life.....

Midpoint, Palace

“A nice party...” I smile while I greet the guests together with Celes.

There are multiple factions which formed in the recent weeks since the Council disappeared.

First we have the Perseides Alliance. Those guys are purely a group of convenience. They all share the opinion that other gods should stay away from their worlds. So they formed a contract to help each other in order to keep peace in their sphere of influence. From what I have heard it already became quite a big group and they are actually thinking about duplicating our planet in order to have a base of operations.

Then there is the Gaian Pact. When I heard about their goals, I had to think about Green Peace! They wish to preserve the nature of the multiverse. At first I didn't understand why a god should be interested in something like that. But then I realized that their members mostly worked as gods of nature under the Council's rule.

The Council assigned everyone to a specific world in a specific role. This wasn't for the purpose to keep the world in order. They just needed a reason to assign us to a specific world. They didn't really care if the god did his job or not. At least they never checked for me or Celes while we worked for them.

Having all gods covering every planet of the multiverse has the benefit of being able to hunt more effectively for new gods. Back then I didn't think about it that much, but now it's clear to me.

After having used the Sphere of Sight I realize it's weak point. If there are too many gods in one place it becomes useless. In order to track someone you had to concentrate on a spark of power. I guess if there are too many in one place it would become difficult to focus on an individual.

Then we have the Arcane Community. They formed from similar circumstances as the Gaian Pact. Celes's impression of them was something like this. “A bunch of weirdos and insane scientists.” I found her judgement a little too hard. There are some interesting people among them.

They are only concerned about their studies and experiments. They don't care much about anything else. Their association formed in the first place to exchange their theories among themselves. They just present a united front to others in order to show them to mind their own business.

The Path is another big group. They are trying to form something like a religious church. I am a little wary of them. The first discussion with them was very strange. I had the feeling to talk to some kind of priests who were trying to convert me to their religion.

Their doctrine is to value a gods worth on the number of his mortal followers. I already have a bad feeling about them. Celes and I had a fight over something useless as that in our previous lives. I am now of the firm opinion that religion should be left to the mortals.

The Unity was inspired by our world. A few of the gods who came to Asheim heard about our world from the guards and other personnel stationed within the city. They immediately picked up the idea. By now they are on the best way to their own version of our world. I am very curious about their future.

At last we have the Carne Empire. It's lead by a very charismatic guy who is called Carne. Oh, wonder. He somehow managed to smooth talk a considerable amount of people into his idea of government.

I am not against a dictatorship. My world uses one too, with me as the ruler. But I fear that the Carne Empire is the most likely candidate to become the Council's puppet.

Of course we already informed everyone of our concerns regarding the Council. We decided it would be best to make all circumstances behind the recent events public knowledge. The Council didn't even twitch till now.

I am still concenerned. They have to be planning something. I am sure of it!

The rest of the people at the party are from smaller groups, which aren't worth mentioning yet. Maybe they will fuse with others or dissolve. Or grow enough to be worth mentioning.

As of yet they are too small to be taken into consideration.

Looking around, I see that the party should start soon. There are only a few people missing.

“Oh I hope this party will have no major fuck ups!” -Me

“I wouldn't put too much hope in that. If you think about our party history..... we have a really bad history!” -Celes

74 - Party, Ambassadors, Harem, Children and Wine?

Right now I am sitting together with Carne and Mawu at a table. We arranged a big hall in my crystal palace for about sixty people. Mostly just ambassadors and their confidants.

I was concerned about Carne. But not any more. Looking at him I believe it's very unlikely for him to be manipulated by the Council from behind the scenes....

“We are fellow rulers aren't we? So why do you have just one woman!? Isn't there a whole world of them for you?” Carne takes another sip of the expensive wine, while trying to hold onto the four girls, who are his confidants.

Carne has steel blue hair and looks like an average human in his thirties. Strangely enough he could be some guy from next door, if it wasn't for his gaudy clothes.

He is an idiot! His community should be called the Carne Harem and not the Carne Empire! Why do these girls stay with him? It can't be because this alcoholic is a prince charming.

“But I have to admit that your wife is quite the hot device if I found someone like her, I could go monogam for a little while too.” -Carne

I smile at him. “If you even look at her, you will wish yourself back to the times when you were a mortal.” Why did I say that?

“Aw! Come on. Don't be so bound up!” -Carne

“It's rude to say something like that to your host.” -Girl number one

“Yes honey, don't make a ruckus here.” -Girl number two

“Yes. Yes. My lovely birds! Carne would never do something to make a woman sad!” -Carne

“Maybe your girlfriends are the true rulers of your community in reality.” Mawu takes a sip of his drink and closes his eyes to savour the taste.

“THAT! Can't be ruled out!” Carne points to the sky and takes a comical pose.

“Back to the topic. Are you sure that the Council members, who fell into your hands don't know what's going on?” -Mawu

“It's unfortunate, but it's true. Enyo's mind is toast. After looking at her for quite a while the healers are sure of that. It's the same for El Shaddai's soul. That I blew it to pieces didn't really help. After we pieced it back together, there wasn't much more to do than releasing him as a mortal again.” I shrug my shoulders.

“Hoh? You released him!?” -Carne

“He was reborn in a medieval world as a female slave.” I take a sip of my drink while the others stare at me.

“I am sure you had a hand in that?” -Mawu

“Karma is a bitch. Making me angry doesn't help either.” I grin viciously at them. “As for Tjenemit.” I take out my Tjenemit globe and show it to them.

-I told the master everything, I swear!-

-This unworthy one doesn't know anything more than he already told-

-The trash is ready to be redeemed by reincarnating as a mortal.-

-The grace of god would be limitless if this one was allowed to die and reincarnate as a mortal.-

-Forgetting this one's path to salvation would be the greatest mercy.-

-This one awaits the end of his …...

I put the globe back into my pocket. “As you can hear, he isn't really helpful. He wasn't influenced by this black hole thing. His mind is still intact. Though I don't understand the reason for it.”

“You, mister! Know some evil spells! I never would have imagined to see a Council member begging to return to the cycle of life and death. And we really need a better name for that black hole thing. Calamity doesn't really strike it either. Those Ascended had a bad naming sense.” Carne salutes me with his glass.

“That didn't sound like his mind is still intact. But I understand your point. And about the name, how about Mind Fuser?” -Mawu

“Too complicated.” Carne scratches his cheek. “How about just Fusion? It's a conglomerate of souls, which are fused together.” -Carne

“I don't really care about the name. As long as we have the same opinion about how to deal with it.”  -Me

“Crush on sight!” -Carne

Mawu nods and enjoys another sip of his wine. “I could get addicted to this wine. Where did you get it.”

“It's a pretty expensive creation from a very well known winery on this planet. Drinking it every day would make even me a poor guy in no time.” -Me

“I still have to get some of it for my collection.” Mawu takes another sip.

Looking around, I find Celes with the ambassador for the Gaian Pact, who is an old cranky woman with white hair.

They are together with the ambassador for the Unity, who is a strange fellow. He decided to alter his physique to the point where you could think that he is on the brink of starving to death. The blue and red stripes of veins are visible on his almost white skin.

Gods are often an eccentric bunch and they like to express it by using spells to change their appearance, but this guy tops most of the extremes I know of.

Probably they are talking about the best approach to create another planet for gods.

The ambassador for the Arcane Community is disinterestedly listening to them. He looks like a cyborg out of a bad movie. His right arm is completely mechanical and steam puffs out of two exhaust pipes on his back.

At least the rest of him looks relatively normal.

The girl who is speaking for the Path is talking to some guys who belong to various other, smaller factions. She looks very young. Just twelve or thirteen at most. Many gods like it to hide their age but she overdoes it.

Suddenly someone tugs on my sleeve and I turn around.

“Daddy! Can I go to Sandra's place and play with the quintuplets?” Seria looks up to me.

“Kyaa! So cute! Is that one of the rumoured children?” -Girl number four

“Carne! I want one too!” -Girl number two

Drops of sweat are forming on Carne's forehead. “That's not so easy...”

“How old are you?” Girl number three bends down to Seria.

“Next month I will be eight and my brother is nine!” Seria gives them her cute little princess smile. Of course I know that it's completely fake! She is still a false snake. When she is grown up I will have a lot of trouble with her boyfriends. That's for sure.

“Kyaa! Carne! We need one like that!” Girl number one

“That's not so easy!” Carne's face distorts a little.

He sounds like a broken gramophone record. Did the mentioning of kids fry his brain?

Kukuku.... A harem is very desirable as long as you don't have to deal with kids, right? Well surprise! On this planet children are included in the relationship! That's what your stupid talk about me and more women is worth hmm?

“Actually it's very easy! You just have to forget about birth control and do him. Afterwards you stay for about two weeks on this planet. That should be enough time for a soul to catch hold of the fetus.” I smile at the ladies, whose eyes are beginning to sparkle. “And if you want to make sure, you should look for my wife and get some of her chocolate for him.”

Carne looks at me like I just hammered the last nail into his coffin.

Then I turn to Seria. “And where is your brother?” I look around with a concerned expression.

“He went for that girl. He said he likes the older ones!” Seria points towards the ambassador for the Path. The ambassador is looking with a troubled expression at Aengus who is talking to her unconcernedly. Maybe she will think over her appearance in the future?

“Maybe you should join him and the girl. She is a strange one and a little lonely at this party. It would be a big help Seria.” I pat my daughter's head.

“Really? No problem daddy! We will show her how to have fun! And I will introduce you to the quintuplets some other time Mr. Mawu. The last time I tried to, you just disappeared for no apparent reason.” Seria runs off into the ambassador's direction.

“You... are an evil man.” Mawu smiles at me while the left half of his face twitches a little. Seems like he still remembers his long and through discussion with Seria about gods and the world and where the children come from.

He didn't realize that Seria was just playing with him and perfectly knows the answers to those questions. Mawu fell into the assumption that Seria and Aengus are like normal children of mortals.

Then I avert my gaze from Aengus and Seria, who are pestering the ambassador for the Path.

“Huh? Where did Carne go?” The ruler of the Carne Empire is gone!

“While you looked away his four confidants carried him off like a cow on its way to the slaughterhouse.” Mawu shrugs his shoulders and takes another sip.

“Hah! We won't see him before tomorrow then.” I grin while I see one of Carne's girls skipping towards the exit. She has a very familiar small box in her hand and is humming something.

“You are an evil man. I am repeating myself... . Do you think he will start to curse his harem?” -Mawu

“That's for sure. That's for sure.” I grin while I think about it. “Maybe one or two of them will have twins or triplets?”

“You are drawing a very dark picture of his future.” -Mawu

We continue to drink wine and talk about everything of interest throughout the multiverse....

75 - Party, Ambassadors, Children and Wine?

“No! I tell you two, I am an adult!” Miruliru tries to explain her age to the kids for the third time. “And I am the ambassador for the Path!”

“You don't look like an adult.” -Sister

“Is this a game? We can pretend to be very adult too!” -Brother

“I don't pretend to be an adult!” Miruliru turns red and waves with her hands.

“Hah? I don't get it.” -Brother

“I think she means that she is pretending to be a child.” -Sister

“Why would anybody pretend to be a child?” -Brother

“Because you are an adult?” -Sister

“Why should an adult pretend to be a child.” The boy looks disturbed at Miruliru.

“Urgh. That's.... You will understand once you are old enough!” Miruliru smiles and nods at her wonderful solution to the situation.

“She took the easy way out...”

“It's true... only an adult would say that! And there go my dreams of making a cute childhood friend for my first experiences with the other gender.”

The girl pats her brother's shoulder.

“It's okay. Little sister will find someone for you. Maybe the quintuplets are willing to help out.”

“By the Path! If I had known this I would have refused the job.” Miruliru stares at the ceiling with dead eyes.

“What's the Path?” The little girl in front of her asks with big eyes. Her brother, who tried to pick up Miruliru nods too with a questioning expression.

“We are trying to bring the rightful order between gods and mortals back to the multiverse. We firmly believe that the gods should be measured by the numbers of their believers. After all that's how religion should work.” Miruliru gives a proud explanation.

“But what if a god with many believers gets trashed in a fight with someone who has just a few?” The boy raises his voice.

“Wha? Of course that wouldn't happen. If a god with much power would invest it in gathering believers, he should have always more than a god with less power.” -Miruliru

“But dad trashed the evil overlords and nobody believed in him. Everyone believed in the evil guys and now everyone is happy that they are gone.” -Sister

“The people fear daddy. Does that count too?” -Brother

“Of course it doesn't count if the people fear someone!” -Miruliru

“Yeah. This is complicated brother! Does that mean that mom is stronger than dad? Everyone says that she is a beautiful and gentle flower. Everyone loves her.” -Sister

“Mom is surely stronger than dad! But I don't understand why she is called gentle by the people.” -Brother

“Yes. Her whipping isn't gentle at all.....” The little girl looks down to the floor and massages her butt.

“Whip....” Miruliru almost chokes on her drink.

“But that's nothing against grandmother!” -Brother

“Yes. Grandma is the strongest. Even mom and dad bow down to her. She nailed me heels over head naked on a wall and threw itching powder at me. It went on and on and on.... and then....” The cute little girl starts to tremble. “Bro. I will never again run around naked. Not even to defeat you in tower jumping.”

The brother presses a tear out of his left eye. “Next time I will give you two seconds head start. If dad doesn't smack me into the floor first. My cheek still hurts from that time when I played with the mortals.” The boy rubs his cheek.

“Who are your parents?” Miruliru arches an eyebrow at the two annoying kids.

“Daddy is the king of all gods! He is right there with Mr. Mawu! He told me to entertain you because you seemed lonely.” The sister points at the king of Chimera and the guy waves back at them with a broad smile.

Bastard! Miruliru strangles him in her mind.

“And mom is the horned S&M Que... ” *MUFU*

The little girl jumped at her brother and silenced him. “Pssst! What will you do if she hears you?”

Miruliru just stares at the horned woman behind the children. She was introduced as the Queen of Chimera earlier. Does that mean those two are the prince and the princess?

The Queen sneaked up on them a little while ago and started to listen from behind to the weird conversation.

“Aengus and Seria?” The woman smiles down at the kids.

Both of them turn around like clockworks. “Yes?”“Yes?”

“I think you two should go bed. We will have to talk tomorrow.” -Queen

“Hiiiii. It was brother! HE tried to pick her up!” -Princess

“Sis! Is that all your brother is worth to you?” -Prince

“Bed. Now.” -Queen

Miruliru feels a dangerous aura emanate from the woman and the two kids disappear with tears in their eyes. Miruliru can perfectly imagine this woman with a whip in her hand while tormenting some innocent victims.

“I am sorry. Children and their strange fantasies. Sometimes their imagination is running wild.” The Queen smiles at Miruliru and she forces a smile onto her face.

“Ahahaha... . Children sure like it to create stories and the like. Everything gets blown out of proportion.” Miruliru doesn't want to cause a conflict by offending the Queen.

“Don't you want to join our discussion group. We are talking about the possible strategies in attempting to duplicate Chimera.” -Queen

Miruliru nods with a forced smile and follows the S&M Queen to the group of ambassadors.

76 - Party, Ambassadors and Wine?

I smile at the four ambassadors before me. There is Gwalonna from the Gaian Pact. She has the appearance of an old woman.

Then there is Chiffre. He is from the Arcane community. The strange guy looks like he attempted to fuse with a machine. While he isn't very talkative and just seems to kill time with us, he already made some very smart suggestions in our discussion.

Zanders from the Unity is a sickly looking fellow, who went a little too far with his body modifications. He is very interested in my suggestions on how to create a second version of Chimera.

Miruliru from the Path has a forced expression on her face after I rescued her from my children. I became aware that they caught her alone a little too late.

“I can only apologize for the behaviour of my kids. They shouldn't have disturbed you like that.” -Me

“It's okay Queen. I have relearned an important lesson on the naivety of kids. While I chose this appearance, it looks like I am not cut out to interact with them.” Miruliru answers with a distorted face. Obviously she was very troubled by the situation.

“It's not your fault. Those two like it to use their size against other people. But they are perfectly fine with understanding everything. After all they have some of the memories of their previous lifes. Plus a throughout foundation in common knowledge.” I bow a little to Miruliru.

Miruliru's expression becomes deadpan. “They played with me?”

“That's why I said that I need to apologize. It's not easy to keep them in check.” I smile wryly at her.

Miruliru starts to whisper something incomprehensible to herself but catches her thoughts again. “It's okay. I guess they have enough problems of their own by trying to cope with such a flood of memories. I find it strange that they are composed enough to use their knowledge against others instead of going insane.”

“That's right. I haven't thought about it yet. How does your society cope with this? Aren't there any children who get overwhelmed by their previous life?” Gwalonna arches her eyebrows at me.

I start to fiddle with my thumbs. “Well. For better or worse. When the whole population regained their memories at once, we were a little swamped. To avoid the issue we decided to seal the memories of our kids. They just have the common knowledge of an adult and maybe a few other fragments of their previous lifes. We plan to release the seal once we believe that they have a strong enough personality of their own.”

“Don't you think you are stealing something important from them by doing that?” Chiffre gives me an accusing expression.

Zanders jumps in and helps me unexpectedly. “It's the right decision. From what I heard those memories aren't a complete personality, but more like an image of it. The Chimeran's found a new way to revive yourself. If a god dies and revives in a new body you just wake up with a new body. Everything else is the same.”

He takes a deep breath. “But reviving inside the void without the special help of soul magic seems to separate your memories from your personality. In our attempt to recreate Chimera, we already conducted serious research in this field. The memories remain but the old personality is lost. You are able to rediscover the world anew because your memories don't feel like your own. It's a good precaution to stop a little kid from accessing too much of this knowledge.”

“I see... So it's more like a reset than being reincarnated?” Chiffre arches an eyebrow and looks at the floor while thinking about it.

“There are many moral questions on how to deal with the souls of someone who died against his will. What did you do with the people who died in the battle against the Council?” -Miruliru

“We created an agency, which is dedicated just to that question. They sort the souls into those who prefer a real reincarnation and those who would like to start anew. We have no shortage of souls on Chimera. Seria was quite excessive in her ….. collection habit. There is no need to force someone into a personality reset. Unfortunately we can only do this for those who died while they were gods.” I explain our circumstances.

Miruliru nods and takes another sip of her wine.

Zanders smiles at us. “There is still much to do. But it looks manageable. The biggest problems are about the society. We decided against a dictatorship. There will be many very free-minded individuals among us. Currently we are thinking up something like a voting system which includes every member of the society into the decision.”

“History already proved that something like that doesn't work. Democracy is just a tool for the fools to drown the few smart people in their combined voices.” Chiffre looks like he bit into something sour.

“That may be true for mortals. But we are gods. Everyone in our society has tons of knowledge and life experience. With the use of magic there should also be no problem in informing everyone of the situation and asking for their vote. We will try it first. We can always decide on another system later on.” -Zanders

“It sounds nice. Maybe we will try to adopt it if it works.” I smile at him.

“And that out of the mouth of a Queen who governs a whole planet of gods! Why would you ever think of giving away all that power?” -Gwalonna

I shrug my shoulders. “Because it's a pain in the ass to solve other people's problems? My husband and I are constantly stressed with solving small issues which could be handled by any sane person. Dictatorship isn't that much fun either.” I shake my fist at the heavens.

“But there are surely some interesting rumours about you and your husband.” Miruliru takes a look into Angrod's direction. “And I am not entirely sure if those rumours are really just rumours.”

I scratch my cheek with cold sweat forming on my forehead. “What rumours did you hear?”

“Oooh. Just something like an infernal demon opening a portal to hell itself, which consumed El Shaddai. Then laughing crazy while having his blood all over him and making a horrible prophecy for the future.” Zanders smirks at me.

“Oh I heard something strange too! Is it true that you throw offenders naked from the highest tower in Asheim? That's really disturbing if you ask me.” -Chiffre

“I heard that some minor god had really big troubles with his mortals after they ventured out into space and met a being which had great similarity with your husband. His mortals abandoned all the technology and open mindedness he had put so much effort in creating inside them.” -Gwalonna

“I heard rumours that El Shaddai got reincarnated into a female sex slave and your husband was seen a few times at the red light district where he/she is working now.” -Miruliru

*SNAP*

Ah damn! I broke my glass.

“Fufu... mwahaha...” Rumours are surely scary. Even more so if you are a famous person. “Kukuku...” I wonder whom I will have to shut up in order to stop them. ”Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Um... nothing.” -Miruliru

“Let's drink and have fun.” Gwalonna starts to fill a new glass for me.

“Let's talk about duplicating Chimera.” -Zanders

“Your expression just looked like we would be able to witness some executions tomorrow.” Everyone looks at Chiffre with a fearsome expression, but the ambassador for the Arcane Community just continues to sip on his glass of wine.

77 - Party and Wine?

The party has quieted down and the big officials are sitting together at a circular table. Well.... everyone except for Carne.

Celes is unusually clingy and was glued to me since she came back to me and Mawu with the other ambassadors.

She has linked arms with me now and her expression is …. scary.

“So why don't we have another round of wine.” Miruliru opens a bottle of wine and starts to fill another round of glasses with the expensive stuff. Ugh. After we are done there will be a sizeable dent in the palace's wine cellar.

I take sip from my glass. “So you had fun?” I whisper to Celes.

“Sure my honey bear!” Celes answers with a strained voice.

That didn't sound very convincing. Did something happen while she was talking with the other ambassadors?

But Gwalonna stands up to make a speech. “I think I speak in the name of everyone if I express my high hopes for the groups, which are represented here. May our future be blessed with cooperation, peace and freedom. Let's reshape the multiverse together.”

Everyone nods and raises their glasses.

“Mwaha. Yeah! Right it iiiis! Peace and loooove for everyooone. Childreeen sure have high hooopes. But take goood care of your castle ooof ssannd.”

A drunken female voice sounds from under the table. I slide my chair backwards and take a look beneath it. The view was previously obstructed by the tablecloth, but I shove it aside.

“LADA! What are you doing down there!?” -Me

Lada is lying under the table with seven bottles of wine. It reeks like she was bathing in the booze.

“Juuust drinking and bathing in my misery. I aaam one oof theeee oldest beings in tha multaverssse. Buuut doeees aanyoone give a shit bout my opinion or needs me? Nope! Theey alll creaaate their sooocieties and roll forward.”

Lada waves her glass to me and spills half of it over the floor.

“Whooo neeeds a god of loooove. I willll juust take a look frem the shaedows.... on the kids....”

“Come out there Lada. You sure went down the gutter since I last saw you.” Miruliru climbs under the big table to get Lada outside. Looks like she knows her.

On the other hand it's not strange. Everyone should know a former Council member. And Lada was the nice face of the Council.

“BOOZE OFF! Littlee kids looking after grandmother's. It shoullls be tha otha way around!” Lada struggles against Miruliru, who had underestimated Lada's drunkenness.

Celes's tail reaches under the table and grabs Miruliru, pulling her out while she kept clinging to Lada.

“Puh! Thanks. Lada you could have helped a little... Lada?” Miruliru pats Lada's face a little but gets no reaction.

“CHRRR....RgRg.....ccChRR....” The goddess of love is lying on her back and snores like a lumberjack.

“For real?” Chiffre shakes his head at the situation.

“Looks like we should take a little better care of the previous generation. Who would have known that the great Lada would let herself go like that?” -Zanders

“It should be fine if we give her a proper job. Having nothing to do gives you too much time to think about yourself and the multiverse.” I give my suggestion to the people.

“How about president of the multiverse?” -Miruliru

“What's that supposed to be?” Celes asks with a curious tone.

“Not a bad idea. We may need a neutral person if there should ever arise any disputes between us. Lada would be a perfect candidate. And the job would surely come without real power because she would just be an intermediary between our governments.” -Gwalonna

“I like the sound of that. And it's surely a pain in the ass to do something like that.” -Mawu

Miruliru takes Lada's hand and forms a thumbs up with it. “Lada says she will do the job.” Miruliru folds Lada's hands on her chest and covers her with a tablecloth from a nearby table.

After that's done we continue to drink and talk until late in the night.

Next morning

Uhhh... I have a headache. My head is going to split. I take a look around and witness a battlefield. Looks like I am still in the party hall.

I am lying on top of the bar and Celes is lying on top of me, using me as a body pillow.

Mawu is lying on his belly face down in a pool of booze on the floor.

Lada is wrapped up in the tablecloth like a pupa. She is hanging heels over head from the ceiling and still snores loudly.

The tables and chairs are all stacked up into two small but still impressive castles on either side of the room.

Broken pieces of glass are lying concentrated around both castles. Miruliru is hanging at two metres height on the leg of a turned over table, which was used as a castle wall.

The other castle has a crumbled wall and I see a mechanic arm looking out from a turned over table. Probably it belongs to Chiffre?

But then I see Chiffre with a missing arm dangling from the candelabrum in the centre of the room.

Zanders and Gwalonna are lying together in a compromising position in the corner of the room.

I try to get up but the dizziness and Celes's weight stop me. Everything is spinning. Whoa. Shit. I will never drink this stuff again.

“What the FUUUcck happened here?”

I turn and see Carne in the entrance to the hall. I weakly wave to him and he strides into my direction. He has bloodshot eyes and is a little pale.

Looks like doing four girls at the same time is a little exhausting.

“You guys seem to know how to throw a party. If I wouldn't have been set up with my whole entourage, I would have had a great night!”

Carne jabs an accusing finger to my face. *Whip* “Ow!”

A sudden slash of Celes's tail lets him jump a step backwards and yelp . I can't help it and grin at him.

“Get your wife off and we will talk about this like real men!” He waves a fist at me but underestimates Celes's reach. *Whip* “Fuck!”

I start laughing at him.

“Mwahaha! Never understimate the automatic defens....”

“Mmmine! Munha....”

Celes hugs me tighter and the grin leaves my face as my bones start to give off a crunching sound.

Now it's Carne's turn to grin at me. Then I hear voices from beyond the entrance.

“Caaarnee?”

“Deaaaar?”

“Maybe the hall?”

“Carne, you can't run away from your duties!”

Carne's expression becomes haunted and he turns to the entrance and then back towards me. “We will speak about this later!” Again he jabs a finger towards me.

*Whip* “FFF..:”

This guy is surprisingly resistant to learning by experience.....

Carne turns towards the windows and runs. *Crash!*

Seconds later I see the four lightly dressed girls running through the entrance and towards the windows.

“Did you hear that?”

“Must have been him!”

“Get him!”

“Daaarling!”

78 - Red light district?

I survived the diplomatic endeavour! Everyone was safely sent home and I am inside my personal working room in the palace.

After everyone had regained their consciousness, we took a magical oath. Everything which happened that night will be a national secret. If someone should ever talk, all the other nations will band up and crush him.

Yes. This is for the best..... though nobody really remembered what happened anyway. The implications provided by the aftermath are bad enough.

*Knock*

“Honey? We have to talk.” The door opens and Celes intrudes into my room.

I turn around and smile at her. “Yes?”

“I heard some rumours on the party and they don't let me calm down.” -Celes

I continue to smile at her while my head tries to find possible routes of escape. Rumours about us are never good.

“There is this rumour that you were seen in a certain red light district.” Celes gives me a forced smile.

“Hah?”

“Where did you get that!?” She shoves the lingerie I bought for her into my face.

“Uhm...”

Think, think? What if she doesn't believe me that I were there purely for research? Oh gods! This will be my doom!

“And that rumour said that El Shaddai is also working there..... as a woman!” Celes fumes right now!

“Ehm... why don't we talk later?” I need time. Time to run to the other side of the multiverse.

*WHAM!*

Celes smashes the lingerie onto my office table and the table dissolves into splinters! That was handmade!

“I think. I will postpone the interrogation and advance directly to punishment!” Celes has a dangerous look in her face.

“Please do the talking first!” I get to my knees and bow to her.

Celes takes the chair, which is still alive and sits in front of me with her legs crossed. “Why were you there?”

“To do some research!” -Me

“About what?” -Celes

“I wanted to make sure that El Shaddai is properly punished!” -Me

“SO HE IS THERE!?” -Celes

“YES. BUT I DIDN'T TOUCH HIM! …. HER!” I don't look up from my position.

“.....Explain!” -Celes

“Maybe I got carried away after we decided to release his soul as a mortal. I wanted to make sure that he doesn't have it too easy. So I fiddled -just- a little with his reincarnation. I let him revive as the daughter of the manager of a famous brothel. It's a family business with strict rules and a system of forced inheritance. So it won't be easy for her to get out.” -Me

“I was just there to see if everything went it's proper course.”

“Continue.”

“El Shaddai. I mean, his name is Sharid now, was properly born and is a baby right now. So I couldn't have done anything to her! I am not into babies!” Hah! Yes that's the solution! She is still a baby! So the rumour has to be bullshit!

“There are quite a few other girls there.....”

Shit! “I just went in and out after confirming the situation! I didn't even look left or right!”

“LIAR! I investigated the source of the rumour and you were there for over an hour!” A nice little creaking comes from the chairs armrest while Celes's hand tightens down on it.

“Ah.... I may have gotten distracted by this and that....” Oh no! Please don't let her find out! But she looks really scary! More like a demon than a succubus! I shouldn't have looked up!

*SNAP*

The armrest of the chair gave in.

“Hiii! On my way back I got a glance at the costumes of a few girls and I got carried away and and It was like the pent up frustration of a few hundred years was set loose. I just happened this once. I never lost control before. It really hurt my pride to give in to my instincts.”

Celes's face becomes a little pale.

“Then I somehow had to get hold of one! And then I found another nice one! And before I knew it I had collected a whole set of costumes and lingerie!” I cover down and await my end.

“You.... collected a set..... of costumes? .... and why should a brothel sell that stuff!?” -Celes

“Erm.... They didn't exactly sell it.” Damn!

“Oh? Then how did you collect the costumes? And why isn't that another rumour?” -Celes

“Hrm.... err.... I guess it isn't exactly good reputation for a brothel if a guy isn't interested in the girls and just strips them of their working dresses.....” There you have it! She will throw me into the black hole!

“..... and where are those costumes to prove your story?” -Celes

“They are in our wood house. Inside the chest I got your red lingerie from. It has a double layered ground plate!”

Suddenly our surroundings shift. Aw! Celes teleported us! We are inside the bedroom of our wood house. She turns to the mentioned chest and opens it.

Celes carelessly wipes away my camouflage of normal clothing. I hear another *snap* as the fake base plate is broken out of the chest.

You didn't have to break it! It could have been opened perfectly fine!

“Hmm. Let's see... bunny suit... cat ears... a tiger tail? No way I stick that into my... lots of panties and bras ... a rope? ….. handcuffs.... did he rob the entire brothel?...... so much stuff, did he cast a dimensional spell on the chest to get it all inside?..... There is still more!”

Celes picks the chest up and pours the content in a pile onto the floor. She is right with the dimensional spell....

When the pile reaches her waist, the flood of items stops and she looks at my collection with a suspicious expression.

Oh, I am so screwed... if she regains her composure, she will skewer me with something sharp. Or she will use her fists. Urgh.. I wanted to see the children grow up....

After a few seconds she bends down and picks a red leather outfit from the pile and holds it before her in front of the mirror at the side of the room.

Yes! Exactly like I imagined it on her! It perfectly gives off that sadistic dominatrix aura! She doesn't even need a whip!

Then she turns to me. “You should see that face of yours..... Fine! We will let those dreams of yours come true in order to stop you from assaulting poor little mortal girls. And to punish you we will start with this.”

Celes pulls a set of handcuffs out of the pile and sends a vicious grin towards me.

“...O.... Only if I get to use the rope in turn!”

On another world in a brothel, a few years later

“What's that statue mommy? It looks like a devil!” A little girl tugs at a woman's skirt. The woman is the manager of the brothel.

After taking a look at the statue above the entrance to the brothel, the woman turns towards the child.

“That's the greatest disaster which ever happened to our business! That demon appeared someday shortly after your birth and robbed us of most of our inventory! It took me weeks to get a replacement for everything. I paid a hefty sum to a wizard, so he would put up this warding statue. Make sure to keep the statue safe at all times, Sharid!” The manager turns back to her papers.

“Why would he steal our inventory?” The little girl looks at her mother with big eyes. She already was taught the most important stuff as the successor of the brothel. As a matter of fact, her mother doesn't believe in keeping a child ignorant of the world.

Sharid already perfectly knows what men want from women and how to give it to them. There isn't anything the manager would ever hold back under the assumption that it would be bad knowledge for children.

“Do you remember our discussion about perverts and their value for the business?” -Manager

“Yes?” -Sharid

“That demon belongs to the worst kind of pervert! They aren't after women! They only yearn for their belongings! Those perverts are bad for the business! See to it to never let them enter the house!” -Manager

“...mm okay!” Sharid turns toward the statue in order to burn the image into her mind!

Bad for business! Worst kind of pervert!..........

“Ah! I totally forgot! You are old enough for your status plate. We don't really need one and the church doesn't give it to people like us. But it's useful if you ever have to travel. And without one you aren't recognized as a proper citizen.” -Manager

The manager takes a metal plate out of a pocket and holds it towards Sharid. “I bribed a priest to get one. The whole ceremony by the church isn't needed anyway. Put your hand on it.”

Sharid shivers and imagines the possibilities. She heard that those plates give you a glimpse of your true potential and fate . Sharid had always felt out of place. Like she was destined for more than being the manager of a brothel. Maybe this was her ticket to the world?

She follows her mother's order and as soon as she touches the status plate, it starts to shine and letters appear.

Name: Sharid

Age: Seven

Titles bestowed by the gods:

Cursed:

(In your previous life you awoke the ire of a divine being. You are cursed.)

~~~~~Angrod, King of gods. Divine ruler of the realm of Chimera:~~~~~

(Take that up your cute ****!! Next time try not to mess up the multiverse!)

Divine Beauty (All men will turn their head after you)

Fertile Mother (You are sure to have twins or triplets)

Flexible Snake (You are able to move in wondrous ways)

Siren's Voice (Your voice is too beautiful to behold for every man)

Man among Males (Your mentality is male) (cancelled),

Blessed:

(A divine being took pity on you and gave you its blessing.)

~~~Miruliru, Divine Goddess of the Path:~~~

(Sorry, i can't help more. You aren't under my jurisdiction.)

Limitless One (You may change your fate with hard work)

Woman among Females (your mentality is female) (cancelled)

~~Mornale, Local Deity:~~

(Poor one. Maybe Angrod will forget his grudge if you do some proper prayers. I am just a small deity so I can't do much.)

Psychologist (You may unravel the problems in your mind and those of others)

Potentials:
-Deleted Potential (unknown)-
-Deleted Potential (unknown)-
-Deleted Potential (unknown)-
-Deleted Potential (unknown)-
-Cursed Divine rank Belly Dancer-
-Cursed Divine rank Eyes of Lust-
-Cursed Divine rank Songweaver-
-Cursed Goddess of Lust and Sex-
-Eternal Beauty-

Sharid just stares at the plate with big eyes. Then her mother takes a look at it. “KYAAA! You are the perfect successor! And to be in the favour of three gods! I don't know who Angrod and Miruliru are, but maybe we should start to pray to them?”

79 - A god calls for help?

“I need help! Immediately!” The god goes to his knees before us. I am together with Celes in our throne room in Asheim.

A few minutes ago this guy arrived in Asheim and cried for help like mad. The guards brought him before us after considering to throw him into a cell.

Luckily they were instructed to watch out for uncommon events and to immediately report them.

The guy has blue hair and looks like an elf. His magic power feels a little dim for an ascended being. He seems to be extremely shaken by something.

“I would suggest you gather your thoughts and explain the situation.” Celes answers with a calming voice.

“Ah... Yes. I am Evenguar. I am the god of a small world at the fringe of the multiverse. I never had any problems with anyone and I am happy with taking care of my world. So I never saw the need to join any of these new big communities. But a few days ago something like demons appeared on my world. At first I didn't pay much attention to them. I thought they were just some new kind of prank, a neighbouring god had played on me. Or the failed experiment of some archmages.”

He takes a breath and continues. “But then the demons became more and more aggressive. They destroyed whole cities on my world and plagued the mortals like nothing before. So I took a closer look at them and realized that they aren't just a prank! They are eating the souls of the mortals they kill. I tried to stop them, but they are a serious danger even to me.“

Evenguar rolls up one of his sleeves and shows a blackened bite mark on his upper arm to us.

“I never encountered something like this before! I slayed them by the dozens, but their numbers don't decline. I am at the end of my wit short of cleansing my world completely. The mortals have no chance against these beings and I would rather kill them all than seeing their souls eaten.”

He bows down to us again.

“But before that I hoped that someone from the big societies would help me. I can't save my world alone.”

I stand up and walk towards Evenguar. “Show me that wound.” Evenguar does as instructed and I hold my hand above it while I try to feel for his energy. His soul is weakened. It looks like he fought the demons to his limits. And a part of his soul is injured. Like something tried to rip a piece out of him.

~That wound looks like it was inflicted by a familiar of the great Calamity.~

Wardens voice echoes through the throne room.

“I thought they can't create more of them without a piece of that thing.” I grumble at the unforeseen turn of events. Are they trying to flood the multiverse with those soul eating monsters?

~As far as I know the familiars of the great Calamity weren't able to create offspring when the Ascended fought them. We already assumed that one or more familiars of the great calamity survived the hunt. Given how much time it had. It's possible that it learned how to reproduce.~

I gnaw my teeth at the new situation. We have to contain this outbreak at all costs. “Send the Nomad with Evenguar to his world and try to save it if you can. Inform everyone of this turn of events.”

~They are informed.~

I turn around and look at Celes. “Should we go and hunt a few monsters? I need some new test subjects.”

Celes smiles at me and stands up from her throne. “You should always try to keep your training up.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” Evenguar suddenly hugs me from behind and gets pulled away by the guards.

He wriggles in their grasp while thanking us. This fellow is creepy...

I don't know what he expected. Did he think we would look away while soul eating demons rampaged through the multiverse? “Don't thank us too early Evenguar. We don't know what we are dealing with. If worse comes to worst, we may have to destroy your world.”

Evenguar drops his head. “I already prepared myself for that after I fought those things.”

Elhort, Domain of Evenguar

After our warriors were ready, we came here with the Nomad and found the planet like that. Tanja and Nicosar joined us on this campaign.

I look down at the planet beneath us with curious eyes. It's one big forest with lakes and mountains. There are no oceans. It's still a beautiful world.

The main population of Evenguar seems to consist of elves, dryads and everything that's somehow connected to nature. I suspect Evenguar had a hand in it and built his own little paradise.

It's currently night and the cities are clearly visible by the little specks of light. The sight would be mesmerizing if it weren't for those dark spots on the map.

There are several cities with nothing left alive. We can sense it with our mana detection system.

Looking onto the screen, I see something like an epicentre from which the dead zone is spreading. “Someone else thinks the same thing as me?”

“There seems to be something like a source.” Tanja speaks my thoughts.

“Then let's wipe it out with our weaponry and clean up the rest.” Celes tilts her head while she's looking at the screen.

“I suggest to go down there and investigate with a small team first. If we use the heavy arms first, we may not find the cause behind this. We would be as smart as before.” Nicosar gives us his thoughts.

“You may be right. Information is always important. And if we use the big guns first, there could be not much left to investigate afterwards.” I scratch my cheek while I think about the situation.

Saving the world isn't as important as getting a clue what the Council is up to. It may be harsh, but one world of mortals in exchange for the possibility to get a clue on the Council's whereabouts?

“Then how about we go down there and investigate it.” Celes grins at us and corrects her combat armour.

“Hmmm. Yeah. We have to go down there and gather information. Just nuking the planet would leave us as clueless as before.” I start to give orders for a small team of elites to gather.

Meanwhile the Nomad starts to bombard the ravaged cities. To the mortals it must look like Armageddon.

It's a vain attempt, but maybe it will slow the demon's progress.

I take my staff and get out of the command chair.

Five minutes later we are on ground zero in our combat gear. There is me, Celes, Tanja, Nicosar and five guards. All of the guards are close combat specialists.

The forest around us looks dead and dry. We landed just a few hundred metres from the supposed epicentre. There aren't any demons here. By Evenguar's description they are partly humanoid, but oddly deformed with many claws and teeth.

They weren't very strong compared to a god, but there were many and they always attacked in groups, not caring for their own existence.

If killed, they would slowly start to regenerate and rise again after a few minutes. The story sounds like a bad horror movie.

“We have to head into this direction.” One of the guards takes the lead and stomps off towards our destination.

Our group advances at a steady pace through a dead forest. There is brushwood, but the guard is clearing it with long heavy cleaves of his two handed crystal sword. I never would have imagined that one of my godly weapons would end up as a gardening tool!

“RWARRR!”

“Kyaaa!”

*BOOOOOOOOOOOM!*  ~Sizzle~

Suddenly three -things- jumped out of the crown of a tree and landed close to our group. They started to storm into our direction while waving their claws. Claws and teeth everywhere....

They came directly out of one of my nightmares! Before I knew, I had waved my staff at those somethings which shouldn't exist. Incinerating them and a *Huuuuge* area behind them.

“What was that?” Celes arches an eyebrow at me.

I steady myself and try to regain my composure. “I changed my mind. I don't need those things as test subjects.”

“I think she meant that girly scream of yours.” -Nicosar

Shut up Geezer! “Since I fell into that pit with the Razor Claws inside, I may have a little phobia of things with too much teeth and claws.”

At that moment another bad rumour about me was born as the guards started to whisper to each other.

In the distance a huge tree crumbles to the ground and the fire slowly starts to spread.

“That was when you were a little kid!” Tanja answers shocked.

“It was still a formative experience for me! …... One moment! Why do you know about that! We didn't even know each other at that time and I never talked about it!” I make an inquisitive look at Tanja, who starts to fiddle with her fingers.

“Um... you see... My family wasn't completely uninvolved in that. But your mother found out and we changed sides afterwards. Please forgive me for not telling. I thought your mother informed you. It was just a badly paid assignment at that time. And when your mother suddenly turned up at our main house and went on a rampage we learned which side was the right one!” Tanja bows down to us with pearls of sweat on her forehead.

Just what did mother do to them? If I think back to those times, she was pretty protective of me back then. Didn't she say once that any assassin who touched her family would wish to be never born?

“Anyway. Your spell saved us the time to search, your majesty. It looks like you wiped out the guards for the entrance.” One of the guards points towards a big hole in the ground. It was freed of the brushwood by my spell.

We carefully walk closer to the ominous hole and I throw a glance down into it. It's a long tunnel and the end is not in sight. After a few metres, it looses itself in darkness.

“Whohoo. That feels like a dungeon! Aaah. Those good old times when you went on quests and tried to save the world.” -Celes

Is that her viewpoint on the matter? When I was a normal reincarnating mortal and ended up in a fantasy world with dungeons and heroes, I always almost puked.

Who in his right mind would crawl down into a dark and dangerous maze out of his own free will?

“Can't be helped. Let's go down there and see for ourselves where the demons come from.” Nicosar jumps down into the hole first.

One after the other we follow.

80 - Dungeon Reward: ****?

We walk forward into the darkness. I light the way with a few spheres of light. It's a very easy spell.

The tunnel is relatively broad and leads us at a steady angle down into the earth. From the left to the right wall, there are about ten metres.

The walls look like they were scratched out of the stone by claws. It gives me shivers if I think about hundreds or thousands of those creatures digging this tunnel with their claws.

After a few minutes of walking the tunnel splits into two. “Great. Now we can choose to split up.” Celes's complain is right.

I don't really want to split the group down here.

“What disturbs me more is that there is nobody down here. Just those things at the entrance.” -Nicosar

After looking down both tunnels, I think about the smartest possible solution.

“Psst. You hear that?” Celes points a finger down the tunnel to our right. I concentrate and after everyone is silent, I can hear it too. Are those screams? Of people?

I start to walk into the direction. “The right tunnel it is.” The others follow me without objections.

We walk for another five minutes when I suddenly see demons coming out of the darkness. I ready my staff and send a fireball into them as a greeting.

But they just strive forward undisturbed by the death of two of their comrades. It's an unending wall of claws and teeth!

The others make a stance beside me and seconds later those things are all around us. I strike one of the things to the ground while another starts to gnaw at my shoulder. But the armour is protecting me.

I cover my left hand in magical energy and strike it into the thing where the heart should be. It lets go of my shoulder and starts to wriggle on the ground. But it's still alive.

One of the guards gets torn to the ground by five of the monsters at the same time and I jump to his aide. Luckily the armour is protecting him from any serious injuries. It's enforced by mana crystals and shouldn't be penetrated that easily.

Swinging my staff, I wipe one of the monster off of him. He kicks another away and casts an ice lance spell at a third, nailing it to a wall.

I try to invade the mind of the things, but I slip off like from a solid wall of glass. Either they aren't thinking at all or their magical resistance is extraordinary.

Kicking the fourth demon, his chest dents in with an unhealthy crack. Having just one opponent left, the guard grabs the demons head in a contest of strength and twists it off like plucking a flower

Something jumps at me from the side and I go down. A huge jaw is suddenly in front of my face and I grab it in order to stop the thing from biting my head off.

Then I realize the hole in it's chest. It's the same one I skewered just moments ago! They heal that quickly?

“Try to dismember them or they will get up again immediately!” Tanja's voice echoes through the tunnel.

Great! I redirect the flow of my mana to empower my muscles and tear the jaw of the monster apart.  That done, I start to twist it's head off like the guard did seconds ago.

“Arrgh!” A scream from Nicosar echoes through the hall but I have problems of my own. Another three of the things are before me. I don't have a clue if they are new ones or if they are injured ones that healed up already.

They jump simultaneously and I grab all three of them out of the air simultaneously. It should be an easy task, but it feels like a huge effort.

Activating my mana sight, I realize that those things feed off the mana around them. Every ounce of mana I use to hold them in place just adds to their food. They themselves are gleaming brightly in all possibly shades of mana.

I grab my staff tighter and instruct the runes on it to rearrange. The staff doesn't use it's mana offensive now. Instead it will use it's passive function of the mana crystal and absorb mana.

Swinging it in a wide arc, I behead all three demons, which are still immobilized by my telekinesis.

Letting go of them, they drop to the ground. I eye the dead bodies suspiciously but it doesn't look like they regenerate.

The absorb function of my staff robbed them of their mana. “Switch your weapons to mana absorption instead of using it offensively! We are just feeding them the energy to repair themselves!”

Then I get jumped by a new pack of demons and the fight continues.

A few moments later there are no demons left and I look around to check on our state. One injured guard, an injured Nicosar and an almost dead guard is the price we had to pay in order to learn a lesson against the demons.

I kneel down beside the guard who got jumped by multiple enemies earlier. The things had time to find some weak points in his armour and bit and stabbed into them. I try to cast healing magic on him but it doesn't work.

The wounds inflicted by those things seem to directly affect the soul. “Doesn't look good for me eh?” The guard tries to smile but spurts out blood instead.

“You don't have to worry. We won't leave your soul in a place like this.” I concentrate and anchor his soul to his body.

Then I wave to the other injured guard. “Take him back to the Nomad and report the current situation. They can only use the weapons which have nothing to do with mana. Just pure physics! Everything else just feeds those things!”

The guard nods and grabs the heavily injured one to teleport away.

Then I take a look at Nicosar who is curiously eyeing the evil looking cut on his left thigh. One of the demons managed to break through the armour. Luckily it seems to be just a flesh wound. The demon didn't get deep enough.

“It isn't healing?” Nicosar stabs a finger into the wound like not believing it really exists.

“No way! The immortal geezer got damage by a critter!” Tanja smirks at him.

I purse my lips at the sight. “I suggest you are more careful with those things. They injure not only the physical world with their claws. You need to go back too?”

Nicosar shakes his head. “It just looks nasty. The armour did it's job, it's just a surface wound. It just surprised me because it hurt so much. I never felt pain like that before.”

“Then we go on and conquer this stupid tunnel. Now that we know how to keep them down it will be easier.” Celes walks forward and we follow her.

This time we advance more carefully. Getting jumped by such a large group of demons wasn't funny even though they were individually weak. There were about five or six of them for everyone of us.

And they don't have the good manners to wait for you to finish the fight with the first demon. They just came at us like a pack of rabid dogs. Or would starving be a more fitting term?

After another curve of the tunnel, we arrive in a big open cavern. There are dozens of demons and in the middle of it is a shiny spinning sphere.

Multiple elves, dryads and other mortals are held in stone prisons at the walls of the cavern. An elven male is lying twitching under the sphere while spikes and claws break through his skin and he slowly turns into one of the demons.

Probably we heard his screams earlier when we had to decide for a direction.

“By the gods! -Nicosar

“That's a second Sphere of Sight!?” Tanja exclaims flabbergasted.

I ready my staff with a grim resolve and walk forward while I ready my spells. “They connect to the Calamity through the sphere to create those monsters in order to gather souls!”

As we enter the cavern, the demons start to rush us and Celes jumps into a group of them. Waving her open palm two monsters are blown apart by the shockwave.

I don't waste time and throw my staff at the new Sphere like a spear. It impacts and the Sphere is blown apart into thousands of shards.

For a second the demons waver like they just lost something important. At a gesture the staff returns to my hand and the remaining demons continue their charge.

Another wild melee fight evolves. But this time we already know how to keep our enemies down.

Celes jumps into the centre of the action and I support her with assisting magic. Then I realize that Tanja is in a tight situation with multiple demons surrounding her.

At a gesture of my hand a blue arc of lightning lashes out at three of the demons. I know that this wont kill them but it will paralyse them long enough for Tanja to solve the situation.

Another demon jumps at me but gets cleanly cut in half by the guard with the two handed sword. I nod at him while I concentrate to clean the area with a wind cutting spell.

This time the fight isn't as tight as before. The demons may have superior numbers but now they don't get up like stand up dolls any more.

The fight concludes with a cavern of minced demons and a few mortals staring at us with big eyes.

There are about twenty prisoners left. Though the cells throughout the cavern should give enough space for hundreds of people.

“Thank you so much for saving us lord.” An elven male bows to us.

“What happened here.” -Celes

“I did my everyday work, when I suddenly found myself in that cell. And then this nightmare started. People were turned into monsters by that sphere and left the cavern. From time to time the monsters would bring new prisoners. At some point no new prisoners were brought and our numbers started to dwindle.” An almost naked dryad gives us her story.

“Probably they couldn't bring in fresh material when we started our bombardment, my lord.” One of the guards gives his assessment of the situation.

I kneel down beside one of the dead demons, but I feel nothing from it. It's like earlier just an empty shell. Probably they really are just agents for the Calamity to gather souls.

“Fair maiden! Could I hear the names of our saviours.” The elven male from earlier turns his attention to Celes with a sweet voice. She almost bursts out into laughter.

Fair maiden.... I guess it's normal for mortals to mistake us. Celes stopped her ageing process somewhere at twenty five. Nicosar preferred to keep his geezer appearance even as a god.

The elven male gets disgusted looks by the female prisoners.

“Don't even try. You aren't even worth the dirt on my shoes little mortal.” Celes waves at the guy.

“Only the high god Evenguar would call an elf a mortal. From which race are you guys by the way. I have never heard of people with horns before.” The dryad raises her voice again.

“We are gods like Evenguar. He begged us for help in order to save this puny world.” One of our guards lets his tongue loose again and the prisoners eyes go round.

“Let's get going, I don't want to camp down here over night.” Tanja urges the group towards the entrance we came through.

On our way to the surface the mortals keep pestering Celes with their gazes. Even the female prisoners join the fray.

Half way to the surface Celes can't keep calm any more and snaps at the mortals. “What's up with you!? Never seen a woman before!?”

One of the women blushes and apologizes to Celes. “We are sorry. But you are all so different from what we always imagined about gods. And you look so beautiful!”

“Yes! I would actually like to go out with you! You are the finest woman I have ever seen.” One of the male prisoners joins the fray.”

….

*Blleeergh*

After three seconds of watching the guy, Celes turned towards a wall and barfed at the floor.

All prisoners watch her stunned.

“What? Never seen a pregnant woman before?” After her retching had stopped, she threw another shocking comment at the mortals.

Just that it wasn't only shocking for the mortals.

I jump at her side. “What are you saying honey!? Why didn't you tell me? And why do you go down here in that state?”

“Shut up and carry me, husband. I only found out recently and being pregnant isn't a sickness, where you have to refrain from moving and stay inside!” Celes snaps at me.

I know better than to object to her and take her piggyback.

“Pregnant?" One of the disillusioned prisoners breaks their silence.

"A God?"

"Husband?….”

“Sush! Idiots! Where do you think little gods come from! Did you think they just pop into existence! Stupid mortals!” Celes starts a tirade at them.

Actually they really do just pop into existence. It's just recently that gods are born like that. But I don't care to explain that to the shocked prisoners.

Evenguar will have quite some explaining to do after this. Based on how complex his religion is.

I carry my wife with watery eyes towards the surface.

81 - Saving a world?

We are back on board of the Nomad and I watch the tactical display in unconcealed dismay. The demons which got created until now are still on a rampage.

“Our weapons don't work. Even by using completely non-magic projectiles, the demons don't get killed. It only takes them longer to regenerate.” A technician informs me of the situation. “The only thing that worked so far was to slay them with a mana-crystal weapon in mana absorption mode.”

I nod at the explanation and think about the situation.

“Going down and fighting them hand to hand will cause us quite a few causalities for sure.” Nicosar points out one of our options.

“Destroying the planet would just set them adrift. But at least they wouldn't be able to continue to feed on mortals.” Celes mumbles to herself

I think back to the moment when I looked at these ghastly things with my mana sight. They looked similar to a soul. An artificial soul. What's the reason for their existence. I have to get a look at one of these things up close. I just saw the newly made ones, which hadn't fed yet. I need to see one of those things while feeding.

What actually happens to the soul?

The prisoners told us that from time to time a group of demons would return to the cavern and pray to the sphere. Were they bringing back the souls they caught? It's a creepy thought but were they acting as gatherers?

A shiver runs down my spine when I think back to my own experience with the sphere.

I open the command menu for the plasma weapons of the nomad and lock everyone else out of the system. Then I restrict the settings to my command chair.

“Your majesty?” The weapons officer turns around to me with an inquiring but polite voice. I just locked him out of his console.

“It's just an experiment and I don't want anyone to know the magic for this.” -Me

After ensuring that I am the only one with access to the plasma weapons, I call up the magical casting devices, which are used to create the containment field for the plasma.

The plasma weapons are a combination of magic and science. A stream of superheated plasma is caught by a magical barrier and then ejected with movement magic.

In principle the casting devices of the cannons could cast any other spell too. I tune down the amount of plasma, which frees one of the casting devices for another purpose.

Then I change the magical system within the device to interact with the plasma. The wonderful blue orb of runes which displays the magical system turns into a red one with sickening swirling interactions on its surface.

“Give me a target which is beyond saving and has a high concentration of demons.” I give the command and a technician zooms the screen on a city. There isn't much to see on that scale, but there are many red dots and a few blue ones. The red dots obviously represent demons and the blue....

Being sentimental won't change the situation.

I input the coordinates and press the button to fire the cannon. A swirling maelstrom of red energy is sent down towards the surface. It's a doomsday magic without a name. I never bothered to give it one and I only use it if I really want someone dead.

It acts like a shredder on all levels of existence. Even souls are hacked to so many small pieces that it would take an eternity for them to heal on their own.

Everything happens in silence, as the maelstrom hits the surface and the screen blackens out for a second.

After it comes back and shows a wasted city with a crater in the centre, the technician gives his assessment.

“No demons...... no anything. The place is dead like the surface of a moon.... your majesty.”

“Give me the coordinates for other high concentrations of demons.” I urge the Technician to continue.

Over the next twenty five minutes I fired the plasma cannons on thirty four different targets.

Nobody said a word during the entire time. Everyone was aware that I was wiping out quite a few innocent mortals together with the demons. But their souls may heal after an eternity, to them it wouldn't make much difference if they reincarnated after a hundred years or a few thousand..... or so I told myself.

At least they would reincarnate, compared to those who were thrown into the sphere.

After the last big concentration of demons was wiped out, I gave orders for our warriors to go down and take care of the rest.

Then I deleted my changes to the plasma cannons and made sure that they couldn't be restored. I don't feel comfortable with trusting anyone else with this spell. It crushes mortals and gods alike. There isn't much difference.

I left for my private quarters afterwards. In my room, I take out a bottle of wine and fill a glass with the content. It's not like I am mourning for the innocents, who were caught up in the crossfire. I am a pragmatic person. What has to be done, has to be done. My own people are my first priority, I would be doing a bad job as a king otherwise.

It just leaves a bad aftertaste if I think about the future. I may have to do it again. And what will the other powers do if they learn what we are capable of.

Do they realize that this weapon would have made no difference between a planet populated by gods and a world of mortals? I hope not.

The door opens and Celes enters the room. “I said good bye to Evenguar. He thanked us for saving his world.”

I arch an eyebrow. “I wonder if he will still be of the same opinion, when he becomes aware of the damage and the casualties.”

“He already knows that it doesn't look pretty at all. But he already foresaw the end of his world. So this outcome is still better than his apprehensions.” Celes hugs me from behind and I pull her onto my lap to embrace her.

We sit there in silence for a few minutes until I speak. “I am still a little mad that you didn't tell me about this new whirlwind, that's been added to the family.”

“Like I said, I found out only recently and I am not sure if I should have it.” -Celes

“What's the problem?” I ask her with a surprised voice.

“I have no idea who it will be. And having a random soul as a baby creeps me out.” Celes tenses up.

“Aengus was like that too? I could search for a nice one? It should be no problem, we did the same thing with Seria.” I am a little confused, but I won't force Celes into this.

“Aengus was already there when it happened. And Seria was Sofie. It's different.” -Celes

I smirk at my wife. “Why don't you ask Lada. She is still a little down despite her new job. Or Enyo she would be a real baby because she is completely wiped. We don't have any idea what to do with her besides rehabilitation.”

“You creep me out! No way! Enyo is complete out of question! And Lada is the president of the multiverse now!” Celes goes stiff and objects to my idea.

“Well, you could ask her. It's not like she still couldn't do the job. And she would get to be Seria's little sister. As for the time while she will be a child, there should be a replacement.” -Me

Celes elbows me into the side. “I knew that you are useless in this matter. This is a delicate field for a woman!”

“Hrm. Anyway. I humbly await the Queen's decision in this matter until she decides to make one. You know, it's been a long time since you sat on my lap. I didn't remember until now because you drugged me, but I really like this.”

I grab her chest with my right while I slip my left between her legs and bite into her earlobe.

“Hey!” -Celes

“What's wrong with it. I can't do any more harm than what's already done. Or do you want to tell me that it would turn into twins if we did a bit more.” I pull Celes from behind into a tight embrace.

“hhgn! That's not the issue! Haah!” Celes tries to get away but I attack her weak spot, which is her neck.

“I always wanted to try the cat costume on you! You know, the one with the tail!” I whisper into her ear while she starts to shudder under my arms.

“hhhhnn? Tail? … no! Not that one! No you won't stick that into..... I already have a tail! NOOOOoooo” Celes tries to resist but I already pull her onto the pathway to our wood house.

82 - Revelations and a goddess's vacation?

“This looks troublesome.” Mawu comments our tactical map of the multiverse on the table. There are several zones which are marked red.

We are in Asheim and are holding a meeting regarding the new appearances of the Spheres and demons. All ambassadors are present including me.

There are many different opinions on how to represent the multiverse. It's a little hard to make a map of different realities which overlap with each other in some areas. I like the twisted spiral which forms a circle with itself best.

It may be a very simplistic description of the multiverse, but it's the easiest to point out a specific location in it. The whorls of the spiral are different realities with different physical laws. Each representing its own universe.

In some points they a folded into each other and in others they are farther away. In reality the spiral doesn't form a circle, but it's more like a knot. For this meeting, we chose this representation.

“These Spheres pop up all over the place and cause havoc! My community already had to deal with seven of those incidents! We need to stop this!” Miruliru foams of anger.

“It's true. It's like those fuckers pull terrorist bombings at us. Just in this case whole worlds go up in flames.” Carne folds his hands together.

“They are trying to feed the Calamity.” Chiffre tightens a bolt on his mechanical arm.

“Feed it? They didn't have to feed whole worlds to it until now!” Zanders inquires further.

“They fed it with gods. Now they don't have that many gods available and have to use the souls of mortals. I guess the Calamity is on a pretty harsh diet right now. Otherwise they wouldn't go on a rampage like that. Being that active increases their risk to be found out.” Chiffre continues his assessment and places a drop of oil on the bolt.

“So the Calamity could really starve if we destroy all spheres?” -Gwallona

“It's a possible interpretation of the situation.” I look at the ceiling and purse my lips while I think.

“By the way. I heard that you saved the planet of that little god who begged you for help? How did you do that? We had to wipe our planets completely and sort the souls from the demons!” Miruliru asks me the dreaded question.

“I heard about that too! Give us that intelligence. It's needed at the moment!” Carne follows up and everyone gazes at me.

“For various reasons the magic we used for that purpose is a secret of mine. And a fortress like ours is needed for it. I would be of no help to you. And our fortresses are already occupied with these incidents. So it wouldn't change the situation.” I put on a firm expression.

“Fortresses can be built. If one is needed to save a world from demons, we shouldn't spare the effort to create them.” -Chiffre

“Explain your reasons.” Miruliru tries to get a higher position in order to make an impression, but fails because of her body.

I continue to stare at the map while I contemplate on how to handle the situation.

“You should place at least that much trust in us. Why don't you want to share that magic? If you can't give us at least an explanation, this group has failed its purpose.” -Gwalonna

She has a point.

I decide to go with the truth. “It's my personal magic. I developed it long ago in order to kill myself. The magic is a disruption spell, which interacts with all levels of reality. It minces everything to pieces, be it physical or ethereal. It doesn't matter if the soul belongs to a mortal or a god.”

After a short silence I continue. “I don't want it spread. I don't like the idea of it being used like I used it. It's better not to use it at all. Saving the planet of Evenguar was just a test to see if it works on demons. I won't use it again unless the situation is dire.”

Mawu leans back in his chair. “I see. It would be a horrible weapon against gods in the wrong hands.”

“But the test proved its value. How can we not take advantage of something like that when whole planets are dying?” -Carne

“Can you promise me that the spell won't spread if Angrod gives you the magic system for it?” Miruliru looks at Carne but he shakes his head.

“Everything can be stolen at some point in the future if it's widely enough spread. It would be foolish to give such a promise.” -Carne

“I am with Angrod in this. As long as it stays in his head, it's relatively safe. The Chimeran's fortresses are also a relatively secure place at the moment. I don't want some maniac to use that magic in order to wipe one of our planets.” Zanders takes my position.

“Just tell me. Why did you develop that spell? You said you intended to kill yourself?” Chiffre glares at me.

“A long time ago I lost something very precious to me. And when I realized that I wouldn't get it back, I wanted to end it once and for all. I wanted to be sure to forget the endless cycle of hell I was caught inside.” I answer him.

“But even if a soul is minced like that it's possible to restore it relatively completely with some effort.” -Chiffre

“Not if nobody cares enough about you to do something like that. I wasn't a god at that time.” -Me

“Impressive.” Chiffre furrows his eyebrows at me.

“Haaah. Where is Lada when you need her? The president should be here for cases like this and give us her moral judgement of the situation.” Gwalonna complains loudly to us.

“I was at her office earlier. But there was just this sheet of paper at her desk. Seems like she really needed a time out after her time with the Council.” Miruliru throws a letter at the table and I start to read.

Dear Children!

This old nanny of love and peace will go on a vacation! Sorry for letting you guys down but I need a little timeout. From what I've seen, you are doing it the right way anyway.

But be careful not to loose the right path or I will have to come back and haunt you! I have planned my vacation to last for at least twenty years, so don't bother looking for me!

You wouldn't guess where I went anyway, myahaha!

Sincerely yours,

Lada – LOVE ME. HUG ME. I am your ONLY one Goddess of Love and Peace!

PS: Find someone else for this boring job!

Pearls of sweat are forming on my forehead as I read the letter. They wouldn't have done that? It was a joke! A joke I say!

But the style of the letter looks so familiar! I can't help myself..... Seria?

“:.... so irresponsible!” -Chiffre

“..... Aw... and there I hoped we found the right one for this! I wonder where she ran off to?” -Gwalonna

“Let her have her vacation. She could go for a few thousand years too for all I care. Think about how long the Council ruled.” Carne waves his hand at the letter.

“I guess it makes no sense to look for someone who is an eternity ahead of us.” I smile at the group.

I am very silent and compliant during the rest of the meeting. Trying not to show that I want to jump up and run out of the room immediately.

As soon as everyone is gone, I grab the letter and teleport towards Celes's laboratory. I find her at a big machine with Seria tugging at her skirt and Aengus looming in a corner of the room.

“What's going on here? And has anyone seen Lada?”

Aengus jumps up and runs towards me, hugging my leg. “Dad! We have to stay united! It's more important than ever! They are multiplying!”

“What's multiplying?” -Me

“The little sisters! I am not against women! But four on two is unfair!” -Aengus

I walk towards Celes while pulling Aengus after me. Celes is looking at the screen of her machine and continuously mumbles to herself silently.

“Not planned. It should be three. Not planned. It should be one boy. Not planned. I have to recalculate everything. Not planned. The budgeting for the next thirty years! Not planned. So much work! Not planned............”

“Honey? What are you doing?” I smile at Celes, who is looking at an ultrasonic scan with two little bodies.

Seria turns towards me with a wide grin on her face. “Ah! Daddy! Look! I will get two little sisters!” She points at the screen. “This one is Lada! And we could call this one Arianne! But it's just a suggestion, I don't know her so well. But I figure she will be a nice little sister.”

“OW!OW!OW!OW! OWIE! I AM SORRY! I WON'T DO IT AGAIN! MY EARLOBE WILL WEAR OUT! NO WORSE! IT WILL RIP OFF!”

Suddenly Celes grabbed Seria's ear with two fingers and actually lifted her half a meter off the ground like something really dirty.

“I WILL TEACH YOU! TO IMPLANT THE SOULS OF OTHER PEOPLE INTO ME WITHOUT CONSENT! YOU DID IT WHILE I SLEPT DIDN'T YOU! PREPARE FOR HELL!”

83 - A new perspective.

“I think it's time for them to go to school.” I continue to polish my nails while I wait for Angrod's answer.

“Do you really think that's necessary? They already know everything that's important. And if they regain the rest of their memories....” Angrod answers me with a complicated face.

“You are too soft on them. It will be good for them to be together with others of their age. And the teachers there are doing nothing else than helping children with too much knowledge.” I smile at my husband. Yes. They will go there and learn a little lesson.

“KYAAA!”

“That sounds like you bribed the teachers there.” Angrod scratches his cheek.

“I did nothing of the sort. I just met some old faces and gave them detailed instructions on how to handle the situation.” I smile a heart warming smile while I think about the future.

“You totally told them to be as strict as possible! Who is working there!?” -Angrod

“Oh... people like Samarin, Jeniva and most important Tongrod!” I answer cheerfully

“AAARRGH!”

“The raccoon geezer is still working as a teacher? .......Celes, don't you think you are going a little overboard with this punishment?” -Angrod

“NYAAA!”

I bathe in another of Seria's screams. They are a little muffled because she is in a soundproof room. But they are clearly audible. “No?”

“Those screams are disturbing! What did you do to her?” Angrod has a few pearls of sweat on his forehead and looks a little jumpy.

“If you go and help her, you will be next! And by pulling that stunt on me, Seria volunteered to test a new drug of mine.” -Me

“MYAHAHAAAAAA!”

“That sounds like it was a failure.....” -Angrod

I think about it and answer. “No. I tried to find something to stop the pain during the metamorphosis-process. I didn't find anything. But I found a drug which induces the phantom pains alone. I used it on Seria while monitoring her brain waves. Maybe I will get a hint on how to stop the pain.”

“You are using our daughter as a lab rat?!” Angrod looks shocked at me.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

“Seria lost all her advantages with me by pulling that stunt. From now on she is on the short leash! And by assisting in this project, she has at least a little value for the future of our society.” I glare at Angrod, but he looks away.

“And why are you punishing Aengus too?” -Angrod

“It's a lesson to prevent future mistakes. If they both know that I will punish them both for the mistakes of one, they will try to stop each other from causing mischief.” I nod at my words and give my fingernails the last touch.

“MAAAMAAA!”

Yes! Perfect!

“I see the logic behind that.” Angrod stands up to leave the laboratory.

“Where are you going dear?” -Me

“Back to work. Those screams are disturbing.” Angrod turns around and vanishes.

I shrug my shoulders while I listen to the music of my educational methods. If that won't teach them respect. Nothing will.

“NyaHAAAAAA!”

Maybe I should cover my hairpins with the drug? It seems to work fine on gods......

Somewhere else on a nameless planet

“Hihihihi.” Mortals are surely stupid! You can play so many tricks on them as a god.

“Oh great Eris! Goddess! Tell us how to deal with these demons!” The knight bows down in front of my statue.

“Dance the Hokey Pokey! Stand up, wiggle your butt, raise your hands above your head, and shake them wildly as you rotate 360 degrees. If you do this before each fight, no harm shall befall you!”

The knight gives the statue a dumbfounded look. Obviously he didn't expect an answer. “Yes! My Goddess! Thank you for answering my prayers!”

The knight stands up and rushes out of the cathedral. I go to my knees while i laugh and crawl out from behind the big statue. Just imaging him doing something like that makes me to hyperventilate.

Although the demons become a real bother as of late. I already heard about the new powers trying to control the outbreaks.

Seriously! Lada was right in betraying the Council. I always knew that the others had some serious mental issues which became worse and worse over time.

I always had the Sphere in suspicion. Amaru, El Shaddai, Enyo and Elohim were the ones who invested the most time in using the cursed thing.

Spying on my fellow Council members was one of the few things I did to kill time. I soon realized that the Sphere made the users addicted somehow. So I refrained from using it.

If the information provided by the new powers is true, then the Sphere was really at fault for the change in their behaviour.

My friends with whom I founded the Council were dead for a long time without my knowledge. It's disturbing me a little that I never found out.

I guess I have no right to call them friends if I didn't manage to sense the change in them. I was always a loner anyway. I like it much more to cause mischief and create trouble for others. So I am not really liked by others.

I am the puppeteer behind the curtain. Never would I take up arms myself. So I ran away when the rebels turned up.

Or Chimerans. I guess they aren't rebels any more.

While skipping happily towards the exit of the cathedral I warble a little melody. It was a very fruitful day for me. I stirred up a war between two kingdoms. I made a young couple of a prince and a princess break up and I played that trick on the knight.

All in all you can say that I accomplished much today. I think I fulfilled my duty as a goddess of strife and discord. Maybe I will use the rest of the day to help someone, who is really hard working.

But it's hard to find people like that. It's much easier to break bonds than to create them. As I leave the cathedral, I become aware of fleeing people. They are all fleeing out of town in the same direction.

“What's wrong? Why are you running?” I stop an elderly guy and he looks at me like I would be from the moon.

“Haven't you heard? The demons are coming to the town! You better run for your life too!” He walks onward and leaves me behind.

Then I feel an aura of panic from behind me and I see smoke rising from the city. A step through a pathway takes me towards the area and I reappear on a battlefield.

No, battlefield is a too nice word for it. It's a one sided massacre as spiked monsters are killing the city's guards and civilians alike. I get an ominous feeling about this creatures. Did I end up at a world which is attacked by the Council?

Then I become aware of the knight from earlier. He is dancing the hokey pokey in front of a demon, which is looking at him with a dumbfounded reaction. Obviously the demon has no idea how to deal with a maniac.

Just when the demons starts to raise a claw in order to strike the knight down I teleport and step in, sending the monster flying with a flip of my hand. It's harder than expected.

“The goddess appeared! You will save us from these creatures!” The knight falls to his knees behind me.

Just as I turn to the idiot a huge crystal fortress appears above the city. It's beautiful and I look up in awe. I would have never imagined to see one up close any time soon.

The Chimerans do have style. I doubt that any of the other powers can represent themselves like that.

But suddenly a red maelstrom of energy leaves the fortress and I realize that those guys mean business! A feeling of dread and impending doom emanates from that red energy and I grab the knight's collar and jump on a pathway with him in tow.

I already believe myself safe, when the pathway suddenly distorts and falls to pieces. A sickening feeling befalls me and I erect a barrier around the mortal, whose life would be likely lost otherwise.

Everything starts to turn upside down and I try to adjust myself. It's in vain and I lose control. I enter reality again and fall hard into the dirt.

Everything is still turning and the unconscious knight is lying beside me. I get to my knees and see that I managed to get us out of the city in the nick of time.

The city is a ravaged and a burning inferno. What's wrong with the Chimerans? I thought they were the good guys! Doing something like that to the mortals? Are the demons really such a threat?

I collapse back to the ground as a group of people appears around us.

“It's true. There really was a god inside the city.”

“She looks like someone from the wanted posters!”

“You are right! We will earn a big reward for this!”

“What's with the mortal?”

“Let him be. The area is safe now.”

I get picked up by the strangers while I lose consciousness.....

***

A few hours later Sir Edward, the third from the family of Thornwind awoke and looked at the ravaged city before him. Believing in the goddess divine intervention, he became a firm believer in the goddess Eris.

He started to travel the lands in order to spread the true faith. Unnoticed by others, he was a powerful knight and didn't really need the help of a god for his travels.

A few years later he should be known from close to far as the “Knight of the Hokey Pokey!”......

84 - The Choice?

I wake up in a white place. It's just a white plane in all directions. There is nobody there. Am I dead? For real? The great Eris died because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time!? Fuck!

“AAAHH!”

While I scream my frustration into the nothingness, I wave my fists at my fate. “Is anybody here!?”

I get no answer so I sit down to think about my situation. There were the demons and that mortal. Then the crystal fortress shot this red maelstrom at the city and I tried to run.

I used my power to shield the mortal. Could it be that it was a mistake to save him? Should I have shielded myself?

What was wrong with me in that moment? Did I feel guilty that it was my fault that he waved his ass at those monsters?

It's a waste of time to think about it. I can't change the past any more. Just what the hell is this place?

After getting up I start walking. It feels like an eternity but I arrive nowhere. There is just endless white.

Hours later I drop to my knees and start crying. Is this really the end? Is that the retribution for my life as a Council member? If I had known I would have tried harder to change something!

While crying, I fall asleep.

…..

….

…

“....Up!”

*Splash!*

“HIIIIIIIIIIIII! Gggurrrgle....” I awake as ice cold water hits me and I am suddenly under water! I try to differentiate up from down and swim upwards, reaching the surface with just two strokes.

I am inside a little pond! It can't be bigger than two square metres. Around me is still the endless white plane.

After crawling out of the ice cold water I start to shiver. What's this shit! Am I in hell? Will something unfortunate happen when I try to sleep?

“You are awake now?”

I turn around and see a person behind me on the other side of the pond. He has horns and golden snake eyes. They look creepy and they give me the feeling that he isn't looking at me, but directly at my soul!

“I will take your stare as a yes and assume that you don't sleep with open eyes.”

The pond disappears and he sits down. Just as I assume that he will fall on his ass a comfortable chair appears under him.

He stretches his legs and leans backwards with an apparent relaxation in his face.

“Aaah. I guess this will take a while. So where should we start?”

“How about what happened and who you are? And where am I?” I glare at the supposed master of this endless plane.

“Hmm. Well I guess it won't hurt. I will stay civilised as long as you answer my questions. I will give you those answers as a free bonus.”

“You are Eris, a Council member. You were in a city which was attacked by demons. One of our fortresses showed up and cleaned the menace up. You were caught in the crossfire and heavily wounded.

Your body and your soul. Fortunately or unfortunately for you my men became aware of your presence when you tried to avoid the attack by using a pathway.” He scratches his cheek while thinking.

Then he takes a breath and continues. “They picked you up and brought you to me. My name is Angrod and I am the king of Chimera. Unfortunately for you, I have to inform you that your body was damaged beyond help. But I was able to repair your soul. And now you are here. This is something like my personal soul space. It's similar to the river of souls.”

Shit. I was caught. “How is this possible? If my soul is all right, why is my body dead? Repair it and put me back inside!”

“That's not possible. A body has something like astral connection points to create a connection with its soul. My magic attacks all levels of existence. Though the physical world is affected less strongly, the astral plane is damaged very heavily. I don't know how to repair the damage to your body. You will have to reincarnate.” -Angrod

I bite into my lip at his words. If he is telling the truth, I am fucked and at his mercy.

“Now tell me everything you know about the Council, the Spheres, where you hide. ~Everything~” He looks straight into my eyes and it sends shivers down my spine.

But I wont give up that easily! “Why should I cooperate with you!? I have no guarantees that you will let me go.”

“Oh? But you will cooperate. This whole place exists for cooperation. If you don't talk you will get a new perspective on the word ~pain~.” A long row of torture instruments appears to his left. It stretches to the horizon until I loose sight of it. I see everything I can imagine. From an iron maiden to things I never even heard of, nor can I imagine how they are used!

“And if you still won't talk... then we will work on the word ~humiliation~.” A row of BDSM toys and strange costumes appears to his left. He looks at me with a smug grin.

This pervert! Never! “B...B... Bastard!” I jump at him and swing my fist into his face with all my might. He doesn't even twitch as it impacts.

I feel my fingers breaking at the impact! It's like I just hit solid steel without any help of magic and with a simple mortal body.

*~~THUNDER~~*

While I stare shocked at my broken fingers and realize that my powers are gone, a thunderbolt strikes at my position out of the white sky. It came out of nowhere!

I am flung into the air and hit the ground hard. While trying to get up, I realize that my leg is bend in an unnatural way. And my skin is charred and burnt. It's hurts! Oh it hurts so much! I look with an open mouth at Angrod in his chair.

He sighs. “I think I already told you that this is my personal space. My word is absolute here. You are nothing. If I wish it you burn. If I wish it you drown. If I wish it you die a thousand deaths while I have a nice evening with my family. So why don't we try this anew?”

Suddenly I am across from him in a chair and a table with tea and cookies is between us. I check my body, but everything is fine. I am unhurt and my clothes are back in their original state.

“You see. I gave Tjenemit this chance too and he didn't take it. It had something to do with his pride. But believe me, if I tell you that you will talk anyway sooner or later.” He takes a cup of tea and a cookie. Then he places them before me.

This guy isn't right in his head! “B... B... But it will take you time. And you will never be completely sure if I don't withhold information!”

He tilts his head. “Oh, they all talk. And they talk about everything. But you are right that it's less troublesome if you talk on your own.”

“Then.... you will give me benefits if I tell you everything on my own!” I have to get a deal out of this somehow!

“Hm. What benefits?” -Angrod

“I want to reincarnate into a new body without being tampered with. Then I want to walk my own path.” I look him into the eyes and hold the contact. It's hard with those eyes but I manage it.

“You are a wanted criminal throughout the multiverse. Even if I did that. The other powers would get you sooner or later. I could give you a mortal life without your memories. El Shaddai got that too.” He takes a sip from his tea.

“El Shaddai? How is he doing? Where is he?” I sit up straighter.

“She is doing fine. No problems.” He smiles at me.

“She....” Oh no... I don't want this pervert to tamper with my reincarnation!!!!!!!

“I want to keep my memories. I didn't have anything to do with the demons! The rest of the Council got influenced by the Sphere! I realize that now! But I am not involved in this demon and soul eater business!” I really didn't know!

“Hm. If that's true. What help are you to me?” His tone became dangerous and I remember a few of the rumours I heard out of Asheim!

“I know locations! Places the others always went to. Hideouts, personal places and habits! I know way more than Tjenemit! I often trailed them when they didn't look. Otherwise I couldn't do my job as goddess of strife and discord.” A few anxious moments without answer follow.

“Why where you in that city with the demons.” -Angrod

“It was pure coincidence. I planned to go into hiding and lay low. I didn't want to be involved because I always work from behind the curtains! But my habits got the better of me. I started to tamper with that world. I didn't talk much to other gods in fear that they would recognize me. And then I was in that city when the demon attack came and your fortress appeared! It was pure bad luck on my side!” Better I talk than getting fried by lightning bolts!

“And why did you save that mortal?” -Angrod

Why is he asking such stupid questions? Isn't he interested in the location of the Council? “I... I don't really know. It was kind of my fault that he was there and tried to fight the demons. And then that red maelstrom came down from your fortress. I didn't think and just grabbed him. And then I shielded him instead of me.” I look down onto the table.

“Why?” -Angrod

“For no reason! I had no time to think!” I stare at him with defiant eyes.

He furrows his eyebrows and puts his legs on another chair, which appeared out of nowhere. Then he waves for me to continue.

I talk to him about everything, while I drink tea and eat the cookies which for some reason don't lessen, but reappear after some time. They are really good...... especially the ones with chocolate flavour.

It feels like I told him my entire life story and everything I knew about the Council.

After hours I stop talking. I don't know what else to say.

“Hm. I can't let you go completely unscathed. Even though you cooperated and gave some valuable information. It was just plain unlucky for you to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. But such are the workings of the multiverse.” He takes a cookie and eats it.

I sink back into my chair and start brooding. So my gamble was for naught.

“Do you want to join my society?” -Angrod

“Huh?” I look at him with the most dumbfounded expression ever.

“You will reincarnate, but your memories will be sealed until you are eighteen. That will result in a new personality and a new life. And a new family. You will still be a god instead of a mortal. That's the best I am willing to offer you under the circumstances.” Angrod looks into the white sky.

Um. It could be worse I think? I have heard a little about the Chimeran society. There could be a lot worse fates than that. Like the one El Shaddai got! I shudder. “I accept!”

Angrod smiles at me with a devilish grin. “Good. Welcome to the family! My ~darling daughter~.”

“Daug...”

But suddenly everything goes dark and I fall into a dark abyss without being able to ask for an explanation!

Why does it feel like I just made a very bad decision!? Why does it feel like I enlisted for a one way ticket to hell!!!!!

85 - I want more children!

I walk at a brisk pace towards Celes's laboratory. She had barricaded herself inside it since she discovered that we would have twins.

While I walk, I hum a little song and balance Eris's soul marble on my fingertip. It will be hard to convince Celes.

But I was moved and a little amused when Eris told me her life story. She isn't a bad person at heart. Just a little cowardly! Although she got very far by manipulating people. That's a very valuable skill for managing a kingdom.

As I arrive, I open the door and take a look inside. The room is a little dark and Celes is kneeling on the floor inside a mountain of papers. She just has a little desk-light at her disposal.

I sigh and switch the lights on. “Honey!”

“What? I have to recalculate this!” Celes grumbles at me.

“Look! I found a very valuable soul! Could we have triplets instead of twins?” -Me

Celes scratches with her pen across the sheet of paper and tears it apart. Then she looks at me with an angry expression. “What's this nonsense?”

“Um... like I said. I want this one as a child.” I smile at her and hold the soul marble before her.

“Do I look like a breeding oven to you?” Celes looks at me like I would be scum. “Who is that by the way?”

“A nice girl.” -Me

“No. I won't recalculate this again!” -Celes

“Then how about exchanging her for this Arianne?” -Me

“NO!” Celes kicks my knee and I almost drop the marble.

“Oi! Careful! I almost dropped her. Come on. I will do something for you. How about you get to be in charge of the bedroom activities for the next month? We will only do stuff you like.” I grin at her.

Celes already turned back to her work but now she freezes for a moment. “No second tail? No cat costume?” Celes arches an eyebrow at me.

Ugh! It will be hard but I guess... “No second tail.”

“No tail ever again and I will consider it!” Celes crosses her arms before her chest.

“What!? No. Not never again! I can't bear that! You are so cute in that costume!” Nooo! I can't make this deal! Sorry Eris. “Can we still use it at special occasions?”

“OK! Very Rarely. On very special occasions!” Celes snaps the marble out my hand like sealing the deal.

“Ugh! I didn't agree yet!” I need more time to think about this!

“So who is it?” Celes ignores me.

I pound my fists together. Well it could have become worse if she knew beforehand. “Okay. It's a deal. It's Eris.”

“WHAT!” Celes holds the marble towards me like something dirty.

But I step backwards. “Sealed Deal! No return rights included!”

Celes forms a fist around the marble. And her expression twists into something evil. “Fine! You wanted it!” She turns around and walks towards a close table. After grabbing a big mean syringe with an absurdly big needle and a bottle, she turns around and comes back into my direction.

“!!What's That!!” I take two steps backwards an Celes stops in front of me.

“Come on! Even you aren't as clueless as that about biology. The other two are already a little too big for it to work the natural way. We have to help nature a bit. And for that I need the raw materials!” Celes starts to clean the syringe with the clear substance inside the bottle.

“Noooo...nonono! You won't stab that into my b...” Suddenly Celes jumps at me and I jump backwards.

“Kyaaaa!”

I turn and run! This wasn't such a good idea after all! But something grabs my foot and I fall flat on my belly. By turning around, I realize that Celes got me with her tail! I try to claw my fingers into the ground while I get dragged back into her direction but it doesn't work! Damn crystal floor!

“Men are such whimps! How did you think how this would work? If I have to get them out with this method, you will suffer the same! And what was that scream again!?” Celes has the needle ready now.

I get to my knees and hug her around her waist with tears in my eyes. “You won honey! No tail! Not even on special occasions! Just get what you need the natural way!”

Celes sighs and pats my head. “I know how much you like those plays. I really would like to change our agreement. But a deal is a deal. Trust me. In the long run, this will hurt me more than you.”

***

…

….

…....

“KYAAAAAAA!”

…....

….

…

“Did you hear that Seria?” -Aengus

“Yeah, sounded like it came out of mom's laboratory.” -Seria

“Something could have happened to her! We should take a look.” -Aengus

But Seria grabs him and holds him back. “NO! Are you insane! She is still edgy because she has to recalculate everything! She is a control maniac. What if she wants to relieve her stress by testing drugs on us!?”

“..... You are right. She is pregnant and her emotions are going wild. She is probably just frustrated. No good reason to take a risk by looking after her.” Aengus nods with a relived expression and returns to his duties.

“And we need to get those calculations for the next year done! Otherwise she will lynch us! So type faster!” Seria urges her brother to continue and he nods with pearls of sweat forming on his forehead.

***

I have been defiled! It wasn't supposed to turn out like this! What did I think I was doing!? I will never get it up again. I never would have imagined that I would make another traumatic experience at my age.

The Razor Claws were bad enough! Now it's needles!

“Come on Angrod! You have been brooding in that corner for two hours now! It wasn't that bad! And you already used healing magic several times. It won't get healer than healed!” Celes is done with her work.

“You have no idea! This isn't a physical issue, but a mental one! You can't just stab that into....” Oh god! Just by thinking about it, everything starts to turn.

“~Little One!~ Turn around and look. Just once!” -Celes

“No! I can't look at that horrible tool!” It's too cruel! I don't even have something like that in my arsenal of torture instruments!

I hear a sigh from Celes and suddenly I feel her hugging me from behind with something soft on my head.

“~I thought I would heal your Little One in another way.~”

I look around and realize that Celes is in a tight fitting nurse outfit. Wow!

“~Doesn't this fit the occasion?~”

“My Goddess!” I hug her and draw her into a kiss while we tumble to the ground. She locks her legs around me and starts to giggle.

“~Look I have a new variant of the aphrodisiac.~” Suddenly she has another syringe in her hand. I grab it and throw it as far away as possible.

“I don't need that!” Then I teleport us to our wood house. Just away from this cursed laboratory!

On another world a few years later

“Sharid! I can't believe you are doing this to me! What will become of our family business!” Mother bugs me since I started packing.

“It's enough mom! I am going! You have my two little sisters as heirs anyway. I have to travel and find myself! I need to find out why this god cursed me!” I won't become weak now! I have trained my body and my mind until I bled! Nobody can stop me from this journey!

“But it isn't a curse! It's a blessing! Your sisters are nowhere as talented as you! The income goes up just because you look out of the window!” Mother doesn't want to realize my issues.

It's good that my power surpasses hers by now. She would stop me with force otherwise. “I am gone now! Bye, Mom. Thank you for everything. I will stop by once in a while!”

“Shariiid!” Mom hugs me but I don't let my heart waver. “Be careful on the road. And remember... a good kick between the legs sends every pervert to heaven!”

Then I bend down to my two little sisters and hug them too.

“Bring me something from far away!” “I want a present too! Come back fast!” I love both of them, but that doesn't change my feelings of unrest.

With that I nod to them and draw a hood over my head and put on the big trenchcoat. It's the only way possible for me to move around in public.

Otherwise I am permanently ogled by perverts and followed by stalkers! These abilities of mine are a curse!

I sneak with tears in my eyes outside the city and set off on the road to the north. From a few travellers I heard about a famous magical academy!

Maybe they know something about gods and their curses! I will research this matter with all my might!

I am just sixteen and had already more marriage proposals than I can count! If I ever meet that pervert god face to face I will kill him! I will rip out the thing between his legs and feed it to him!

With a grim determination I walk along the road at a steady pace.

“~~Nyahahaha! Just wait pervert god! I will climb the ranks to the top and then you will take this curse off of me!~~”

A few merchants on the road turn mesmerized into my direction. SHIT! I start to run while a hoard of merchants and other travelers chase me.

“~~DAMN! SIREN'S VOICE! I HATE THIS FUCKING ABILITY!!~~”

86 - Searching and a damsel in distress!

“So it's decided. We will start to investigate all those locations and determine if we can find a trace of the Council.” Miruliru nods with a satisfied expression.

“And you are sure that Eris told you the truth?” Carne grumbles while he is flipping through a stash of papers.

“Sure as much as it's possible. I kept Eris close just in case.” I smile at the group at the table. We are in Asheim to talk about our future actions.

“You kept her close? Don't tell me you did something unreasonable like with El Shaddai!” -Chiffre

“Nonono. It's nothing like that. You don't have to worry.” I keep smiling. Hmmm. But the talks about El Shaddai remind me of something.

It feels like I forgot something. Hmmm.

“I see, you don't want to tell. Well it's the same in any case.” Gwalonna shrugs her shoulders.

“We will check all locations within our territories and report back as soon as we find something.” Zanders nods at the group and vanishes.

One after the other, the rest leaves too until I am alone in the room. Hah. It still feels like I forgot something.

Whatever. I will remember it sometime. While I hum a tune, I step onto a pathway to take a look at our newest project.

I reappear on a panorama platform above Chimera. To be more exact it's on the moon. To deal with the rapid appearance of new Spheres, we decided to massively invest in our fleet of flying fortresses.

By stepping closer to the big window, I get a good view on a long row of crystalline ships. Well I will call those things ships. They are smaller than the fortresses with long and sleek forms.

We decided to do it that way because they are easier to build. Or grow in this case. And using a whole fortress is serious overkill to deal with small incidents.

The other powers don't have something like that yet. But they are playing with the thought. The Arcane Community already launched a few of their prototypes.

The fortresses and ships offer protection if nothing else. It's not that easy to crack open a crystal armoured shell. And in case of fights, they are perfect rally points of strategic value.

“I see you came to take a look at my work.” Margerie's voice reaches me from behind.

I turn around and smile while hugging her. “I got curious how far your project has evolved.”

“The first few ships will fly within the next month. We concentrated all our efforts in developing the moon as a shipyard so far. If we face no unforeseen problems, we will start to finish a ship every three days.” Margerie smiles proudly while she crosses both her fingers in front of her.

I arch my eyebrows. That's more than I bargained for. “Do we even have enough people to man them?”

“They have smaller crews than the fortresses and there are many security features to the systems. We could even lend them to the other powers if we run out of personnel. Of course only in exchange for a little fee.” -Margerie

I smile wryly at her. “I wouldn't be too confident that guys like the Arcane Community wouldn't be able to work around those security features. They have some very crafty people.”

Margerie snorts at that comment. “I doubt that they would have the guts to dabble with my security features. I linked any security breach directly to a complete energy conversion.”

“Energy Conversion?”-Me

“The mana which makes up the mana crystal will completely convert directly into energy, if a foreign power would take control of the vessel.” -Margerie

“ARE YOU INSANE!? IT WILL BLOW THE WHOLE SOLAR SYSTEM APART!” I scream up. That's dangerous! Never release the energy of a mana crystal uncontrolled!

“MUAHAHA! It will be fine! It's all within my calculations. Half of the mana will be spent to create barriers. The destruction will be restricted to a small space around the vessel.” Margerie pats my shoulder with a confident smile.

“I still haven't a good feeling about something like this above Chimera.” -Me

I keep talking to Margerie about her security measures for half an hour until I feel relatively assured about the safety of this project.

Afterwards I set out to get back to my family for dinner. It became a custom for the whole family to eat together at least once a week long ago.

I reappear inside the dining room where Celes is already waiting with the kids. Arthur, Katrine and Ireth are there too. Just Nicosar is missing?

I sit down at the table. “Where is the geezer?”

“Nicosar took one of the fortresses to investigate possible hideouts of the Council.” Ireth gives me the short version.

He could have let others do such a boring job. Checking out all the places someone could hide within the multiverse is a hideously boring task. Even if you can move at instant speed from one location to another.

“Well. He could have taken the time and came here for dinner at least.” -Me

“You know him. If he is on a task, he doesn't stop until it's accomplished.” -Arthur

“Dear. I wondered lately. But have you released Tjenemit like we decided?” Celes asks me while Rose serves her a plate of food.

I hit my fist into my open palm! “That's IT! I knew I forgot something!” I grab the globe out of my pocket. I carried it around for so long! It felt completely natural to have it in my pocket and somehow I forgot about it's existence.

“LIIIGHT! THE LIGHT IS BACK! AT LAST THE DARKNESS IS GONE! THE GREAT DIVINE MASTER FINALLY DECIDED TO.....”

I grin at the Tjenemit globe. Somehow I don't want to give it away. This little gabble is very amusing, and relaxing too. It's a real treasure trove of entertainment.

Suddenly the globe gets snatched out of my hand! “HEY!”

“That expression on your face was creepy! I will deal with this. You are obviously too reluctant to throw used and old stuff away!” Ireth glares at me.

While trying to object, my words get stuck in my throat. I can't go against mother. What's wrong me!? I am the King and I can't go against my mother! I have to stand up against this!

“Yes, mother.”

Damn! I wanted to say no! I will never get rid of this conditioning!

In another world, at another time

Nyaaa! This is the worst outcome ever! My journey to glory and salvation! I only got halfway to the north when slave traders captured me!

Now I will be most likely sold as a lust slave! I wanna cry! Stupid life! Stupid curse! Stupid chains!

*Kick* *Kick* *Kick*

“Miss! You are going to draw the slaver's attention.” The little girl beside me is chained to the same tree as me.

The slavers started a camp when night fell. There are twenty of them and about fifteen slaves. Mostly women and small children.

I heard that they are from a nearby village. The slavers attacked it while the capable men were on a hunt. While plundering everything, they captured everyone who couldn't run fast enough.

“Who cares! They will do horrible things to us. Does it matter if it happens sooner or later?” I grumble at the little girl.

“You are a gloomy one, Miss. Why don't we hope for the best and trust in our abilities and the gods?” The little girl smiles at me.

I start to chuckle. “Abilities and gods? Curse them all! I was on a journey to get rid of my abilities! And gods? The only thing I received from them so far are curses!” I spit on the ground to make a point.

“It looks like you had a hard life until now Miss. Care to tell me about it? Maybe I can help?” The little girl sits cross-legged besides me and pats my shoulder.

“You are a little girl! Younger than me! How old are you? Twelve? Thirteen? How do you want to help me? You can't even imagine what I went through!” I snap at the girl for no good reason. I just want to vent my anger!

How could I have been so stupid to believe that I would manage such a journey alone! The world is much different from a town.

“I may not look like it but I lived in a monastery and received the best schooling possible from the monks. They thought I was too cute to be left on the streets. I read many books in my short life. So if you tell me your story, I may be able to lend a few wise words.” -little girl

I sigh. “My story isn't worth telling.”

“I want to judge that by myself. And we have nothing better to do.” -little girl

After a few seconds I conclude that I can't do anything else anyway. So I tell her about my life as the heir of the biggest whore-house in town. And about the curse by that pervert god!

How I couldn't even leave the house without cloaking myself. I would be hunted by hoards of morons in no time otherwise.

Never being able to talk to the opposite gender normally. They would always get charmed by my eyes or my voice.

And how I made up my resolve to search for a cure and trained my ass off. But I never found any clue about the gods who were involved in my curse besides the local deity of our city. But the deity didn't matter anyway. Her meddling didn't affect me.

Then I made my resolve to travel and search around the world for answers. Just to find out that I was easy prey for a few slavers with ropes and sticks! I was lucky that they didn't rape me on the spot.

When I am done, I look gloomy to the fire a few metres away. Aaah. It surely has to be warm there.

“You are a stupid little damsel Miss. To think that you lived your live like that until now is truly hilarious.” The little girl chuckles and insults me.

“What? How dare you to say something like that?” I hiss at her.

“Miss. You lived your entire life without ever trying to control your powers or using them to your advantage. You just bathe in your own unluckiness and pity yourself.” -little girl

I open my mouth with a shocked expression. Is that her wise advise?

“Miss. After hearing your story, you only complained about the gods. The gods are unfair and cruel. But in fact you got blessed by two gods and cursed by one. Two greater ones at that and one lesser are involved in your fate.” The girl tilts her head at me.

“Do... Do you know anything about Angrod and Miruliru?” I try to crawl closer to the girl, but the chains stop me.

“Hmm. Let's see. Angrod is the god-king of the Realm of Chimera. Your soul seems to be under his jurisdiction. If I remember right he is a very very powerful being, although he isn't widely known because he normally doesn't concern himself with mortal beings. He is a god of magic and change.”

The girl takes a breath.

“Miruliru is a benevolent and nice goddess. She is wise and helpful. And very kind. She is a goddess of faith and determination. You should thank her. Obviously you did something very nasty in your previous life for Angrod to play with your soul like that. But Miruliru took pity on you and averted the worst. Imagine your life if your mind would have been male?” The little girl chuckles at me.

My mind still isn't functioning after she started to talk about the gods. “You know how I can get rid of those curses?”

The girl shakes her head. “Idiot. Didn't you listen? Angrod is a king among gods. A magical being beyond imagination. And he dabbled with your soul very very thoroughly. I doubt that all the gods of this world together could take those curses off of you. Miruliru is a very strong god too and she could just help a little.”

I let my head fall. My hope is gone. My dreams. All futile..... then the girl kicks me. “Ow!”

“Don't let your head fall! That's your problem! You just accept your abilities as curses but they are more! They are given by a divine being and you got a list of them, longer than most mortals besides heroes could ever imagine! Use them! Learn to control them! Try it! Call one of those slave traders and tell him to loosen the chains and let us go!” -little girl

“What are you saying? They would be idiots to do that.” -Me

The little girl snorts at me. “If your mind is locked in a cage like that you may deserve your fate. Don't you have an ability to change your fate? Use it! Use Angrod's powers! They came from the king of gods! They are bound to be powerful!”

I think about it for a second and then I decide to try it. Maybe she is right and I looked at this from the wrong direction.

“~~~Hello? Guys? I am so alone here. Doesn't anyone of you want to come over here and talk?~~~”

Four of the slavers actually get up and come into our direction. Damn! I just needed one of you! Don't come here with your friends!

“Look! The Cutie is feeling lonely. Maybe we should entertain her a little?” A fat slaver starts to scratch his crotch while standing before us.

“No! I will take her alone! A fine girl like that isn't meant for fatsos like you.” Another not really handsome skinny slaver insults his colleague.

“What did you say?” -fat slaver

The others just stare at me with lecherous eyes.

“~~~Uuum. I guess if you would prove me your worthiness, I could show you heaven? I like strong men!~~~”

“I will show you!” Suddenly Skinny draws a dagger and slits Fatso's throat.

I watch in horror as the blood sprays everywhere. Skinny must have hit an artery. I have never seen someone killed before!

“~~~KyAAAA!~~~”

I scream in horror as the fat slaver collapses before me and all slavers jump up at my scream. Another guy stabs Skinny from behind while the fourth draws his sword.

The other slavers reach the combatant's and try to stop them but one thing leads to another while someone gets shoved and stumbles into his own sword!

“~~~AAAAIIIIIIII!~~~”

I scream with all my might and tears in my eyes! Why are they doing this!?

A wild close quarters combat breaks out with everyone against everyone! I don't even understand why they suddenly start to fight each other after taking a look at my horrified face.

Seconds later everything is over and a field of corpses is before me. “Oh gods! So much blood! Oh gods! They killed each other!”

The other slaves watched in silent horror, as the scene unfolds before their eyes.

“I said you should call -one- of them over. Not start a fucking slaughterhouse!” -little girl

I shake my head while I look horrified at her. “How should I know that this would happen!” I look back to the corpses which are lying close to us. But still too far away! “How should we get the keys now!? Did I kill us?”

The little girl takes a deep sigh. “Well. At least you finally saw what you are capable of. Maybe you will learn from this and start to look at your powers in another light. Guiding mortals sure is rough. I will give you a little bonus since you are just a young dumb damsel in distress for now.”

Huh? Her voice and her aura changed? Something heavy is in the air and it's hard for me to breathe. It feels like something far bigger than me is all around us.

The little girl stands up while her chains suddenly melt and pearl off her skin like water. A nice cute dress instead of the rags appears on her and she starts to skip towards one of the corpses.

I think that was the leader. The girl grabs a set of keys from his belt and throws them before me on the ground.

“Don't forget to offer some prayers to the gods from time to time. Especially towards ME! I will be mad otherwise! Helping someone twice without a thanks isn't my style.”

I look up, but the little girl is gone.

“Miruliru?”

As if to confirm my question, my handcuffs suddenly click open and fall to the ground.

“Smart mortal! Try to get a grip on your -blessings- until we meet again.”

87 - Things to find out and stuff to hide?

It's been a few months, but we finally found a clue on the rest of the Council. One of Eris's hints led us to the right location.

I arch an eyebrow while I look at the planet under us. It's one big factory in fact. And it's producing nothing but those hideous Spheres!

When we entered the system with everything we got, we met heavy resistance. All of the bigger societies immediately dispatched a force to deal with this threat.

It wouldn't be an understatement if I call our reaction overkill. From our side, we invested the Nomad and twelve of the new ships. The other forces sent troops and the Arcane Community actually came with a fucking moon!

They converted a whole moon into a giant ship. Chiffre commented that the crystal technology is very useful, but it's still more efficient to bring the best source of mana directly with you. And that's a planets core.

I just frowned at this logic.

Right now we are bombarding the hell out of the planet while trying to keep it intact as much as possible.

The moon of the Arcane Community is actually doing the most work by launching a steady stream of magical energy at the planet which results in earthquakes and rising temperatures. I never saw boiling oceans before....

Good that the planet wasn't colonized by mortals.

“We are detecting that someone is trying to use a pathway in order to escape!” A technician informs me.

“Location?” -Me

“They are on the central continent.” -Technician

I nod. “Inform the other powers and get someone down there. I want them captured for interrogation.”

An officer nods and gives the required orders. I turn back to the screen and continue to watch the scene.

“To think that they have something like this and use it for building Spheres? Please give me an estimation on how many Spheres they were able to create on this world until now.” -Me

“By assuming that every one of those facilities on the ground can produce a handful of Spheres a day...... several million Spheres..... of course just if they started their production since they went into hiding.” -Technician

I massage my temples. There were far too few incidents compared to the number of Spheres they create every day! Are they placing them on different planets to wait for an activation signal!?

“Sir. If they have these numbers of Spheres and each of them is on it's own planet we wouldn't be able to contain this. Even with all our forces combined together.” -Officer

I close my eyes. “Do we have any idea how they could be activated?”

“I don..... Sir. The team on the surface encountered problems. There is a very strong individual down there.” -Officer

After grabbing my staff, I stand up. “Send me down.”

Seriously. I still have to do everything by myself. The world shifts around me again. I reappear on a barren wasteland with craters and a mountain range in the distance.

Above me is the moving moon of the Arcane Community shimmering in a blue light. It's clearly visible because it's so close to the planet.

There are destroyed facilities everywhere. Just in the nick of time I realize that something is flying into my direction and I duck.

I get an after-image of Carne's face with the imprint of a fist and then the something is past me and impacts a little further behind me. A gust of wind blows over me and covers me in dust.

“Look! The king of gods pays us a visit.” An elf-like figure with plants sprouting from everywhere greets me. Such a creepy fellow. His look fits for Elohim.

“I see that you showed Carne the power of your fists?” I smile at the figure while I take a look around. There are quite a few soldiers and warriors from different factions around here.

Right off the bat, I recognize my own people, a few guys from Carne, and a few of Zanders's people. There are also quite a few guys who belonged to the Council.

They are all on the ground and don't move. Carne and Elohim were the last two standing? Looks like I am coming late for the party.

“You worms are nothing to me! I shouldn't even recognize you as dirt on my feet! The only thing you are good for, is to be fed to the great almighty lord!” Elohim lifts his arms like in a prayer and smiles at me.

This fellow has a few screws loose.... is he brainwashed like the others? Most likely. I guess wasting time to talk to him isn't worth the effort. I lift my arm at Elohim and bolts of pure energy leash out at him.

But his aura diverts the energy and I stop the attack. It's pointless to continue an attack which your enemy has a defence against.

“Kukuku..... Do you realize my power now worm?” Elohim starts to walk with confident steps into my direction.

I guess it's futile to hold back against him. There is nobody living here, so who cares? I thrust my open palm towards him but he twitches suddenly and rolls off to the side.

A mountain behind him is blown to pieces. “Tch!” How annoying! The stupid bugger has survival instincts!

Elohim turns around to take a look at the wasted mountain. “You aren't as concerned about this world as the others.” He turns back towards me and smiles creepily.

“Why should I?” I wave my hand again and a shimmering disk of light shoots towards Elohim, but he disappears before the disc hits him.

He appears directly in front of me and I erect a barrier in order to protect myself.

Elohim touches the barrier with his left and sparks of energy skim over the thin layer between me and him.

He starts to grin while a few cracks appear in my shield. “That's a commendable spell. Do you power it with this staff? But it will be no problem. Soon it will break and then I will take your soul to offer it to the lord.”

Elohim is strong. I never would have imagined that a god could put a few cracks in my barrier. I am using a sizeable amount of my power in order to maintain it and another big portion comes from my staff, which is charged to the maximum. But I also feel that his soul is strange. His whole aura is strange. A single god shouldn't have that much power.....

“What are you planning to do with those Spheres?” I try to smile at him while he doubles his efforts and the cracks in my barrier spread further.

“Isn't it obvious? We will activate the Spheres and they will consume everything within the multiverse. All will be one with the great lord!” Now a few drops of sweat appear on his face.

“How is this possible? This barrier should be gone by now!”

I grin at Elohim. “You are not the only one with cheats. I already realized that you are using multiple soul-spaces. Whom did you eat?”

Elohim doesn't answer but licks over his lips. Yes. Definitely a creepy fellow. I guess even with my staff I can't hold the status quo forever.

*ZZZZZIIZZZZZzzzzzz*

A disk of light suddenly whisks through between us. Elohim looks after the disk, which slowly disappears in the distance.

I frown while I look into the same direction. “It finally decided to come back! But it had bad aim. I will have to change the spell a bit. It's a little embarrassing. Looks like I messed up the aiming function of -highest above the earth- with -closest to me-.”

*Thud*

Elohim's left arm got severed in the middle of his forearm. It dropped to the ground with a sad noise. Elohim looks with big round eyes at the bleeding stump of an arm.

“That looks nasty. You should take care of it.” I grin at Elohim.

Suddenly something hits Elohim from behind and his face smooches onto my barrier while sparks of energy start to sizzle Elohim's face into a brown and crispy mass.

Now I realize that Carne came back from the dead and used his chance to grab Elohim's head from behind. He is pressing the poor guy against my barrier.

Elohim is twitching and trying to get out of Carnes grasp. But it looks like it's futile. Carne is too strong!

“You got back from the dead! Nice one! But why are you suddenly so strong? I wouldn't have come down here if I knew that you were holding back.” I greet Carne with a cheerful voice.

“Shut up! It's my ability! As long as I can keep physical contact with someone I can switch powers with them. The fucker just didn't give me an opening to grab him until now!” Carne smacks Elohim repeatedly with an angry expression into my barrier.

*WHAM!*
“And the sucker!”
*WHAM!*
“Ruined!
*WHAM!*
“My!”
*WHAM!*
“Beautiful!”
*WHAM!*
“Face!”
*WHAM!*

My barrier breaks and I jump backwards in order to avoid being sullied by the bloody lump of flesh dangling from Carne's hand.

Wow! I didn't realize that Carne is such a beauty fanatic. I guess it's important if you have a harem like him? Even though he looks just average. “That's interesting! That means that right now you are as strong as him and he is as strong as you? Bwahahaha!” I start to laugh.

“What's so funny!?” Carne glares at me.

“You are actually really weak Carne, aren't you? For someone like that to be the leader of a big society....” I smack my thigh while I almost go to my knees.

“So what!? I am the strongest while being the weakest! I just have to grab my opponent! And if you don't stop laughing I will pay you back for what you did to me! Five kids! One night and I will have to deal with five kids for at least a decade or two! I should do some really horrible things to you!” -Carne

Now I really fall to my knees and laugh while Carne shakes his fist at me.

“ARRGH! DAMN!” Carne throws Elohim into the sky during a moment of pure outrage.

*WRROOOOM*

The Council member disappears at an unbelievable speed and a shockwave flattens our surroundings. I cling to the ground in order to not being blown away.

The air calms down and I look up. "Hey! We still need him as a prisoner! You can't throw him into the orbit!"

“Ups.” -Carne

I stopped laughing while I looked upwards. Above us is the moving moon of the Arcane Community. Everything is silent and I count the seconds.

Will it really happen? I know that Carne didn't aim for it. He couldn't be so unlucky could he?

Suddenly I see the moon changing it's form while a sizeable chunk of it dissipates into the surrounding space and the full moon becomes a half moon. The cool blue shimmering flickers a few times and then stops.....

Of course this happened in absolute silence because there is no noise transmission in space.

Carne starts to gnaw at his fingernails. “Do you think I can pay by instalments?”

I shake my head while I still look up. Chiffre was so proud of that thing. And it got busted in its first battle! “Nope. Chiffre will dissect you!”

“Then we have to cover it up! Elohim jumped by himself in order to headbutt the moon! He wanted to show his power! You are my witness!” -Carne

I scratch my cheek. “That story might be a little hard to sell......”

Carne grabs me at my shoulders.

“You... owe... me!”

88 - How to climb a mountain?

In another time on another world

I did it! It was my first time! I have taken a huuuuge step forward! Today was the first time I talked to a group of men! And guess what!? They didn't try to rape me!

Hell, Yes! Maybe my life will really take a turn for the better! I am so happy that I could almost cry! If I wasn't in the middle of nowhere. On a mountain. And lost.

So right now I am crying out of fear and insecurity. This world is so unfair! And cold! Too much ice and snow all around me!

I sit down on a rock and try to think about my situation. After I met Miruliru, I travelled further south while trying to get a grip on my abilities.

The villagers went in another direction, but their village was very close. So they shouldn't have had any problems.

Somehow I managed to arrive at the Academy. I was very well supplied because I looted the slavers and had no worries with equipment and money.

The Academy was a little disappointing. It was very troublesome to find female teachers to learn from. Furthermore they didn't have any hard information on the gods.

They just had those esoteric books which sounded like some guy had made them up. They didn't have any information about Miruliru and Angrod. It's like those gods don't even exist!

After reading up on multiple gods and smaller deities, I reached the end of their library. That's what I would call a big fuck up!

All the way to the north and no further clue about my curse at all. Well it wasn't a complete waste of time.

I spent a year at the academy and researched magic and spellsongs. My female teacher was most impressed with my abilities as a songweaver. A special type of mage who concentrates in casting spells and buffs by singing.

This really made me happy! It was the first time I learned something which wasn't directly connected to doing something improper.

Unfortunately my curse is heavily involved in this ability. It's infuriating! I really like singing and my proficiency in it is directly related to my curse.

After a year of studying and learning everything which looked useful, I decided on a new plan. If I couldn't find a hint on the gods from my own kind.... then I have to ask them directly!

I already managed to talk to Miruliru! Unfortunately she didn't give me a chance to ask questions. She never showed up since.

Then I made my way further north to the highest mountain in the world. It's said that adventurers who manage to climb the mountain and meditate on it's peak will be able to talk to Nazareth.

Nazareth is the god of the mountains and travellers. If you pray to him, he will see to your well being during your journey.

“Kukukukuku!”

A mad laugh escapes my lips. This mountain is so high and rocky! I will never reach the peak to pray! It feels like I was walking for days while not getting any closer.

Then I tried to walk back but everywhere are cliffs and impassable terrain! I will die up here. The next adventurer coming this way will find my frozen body and commit a necrophilic act!

Shivers shake me and I am not sure if it's the idea or the cold. I am tired and too weak to go on. Maybe I will sing a last song in order to fall asleep....

“~Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.......

I sing and sing until I finally slide from my rock and fall asleep. At least this end won't hurt.

….

….

….

Something shakes me and I shoot up. I am still on the mountain, but a small area around me is green like when it's spring. The flowers bloom and it's warm! Further out I still see the icy landscape of the mountain.

“Is this the afterlife?” I talk to myself in wonder.

“Hell no! The afterlife won't be much different from this one, hot little babe!” A voice is raised behind me.

I whip around and crawl backwards. A small little green kobold is sitting on my stone and looks at me with expectant eyes.

“Who are you?” I ask the creature with a wary voice.

“What? Don't you recognize me!? I am Nazareth! The god of mountains and travellers! For a bombshell like you to not recognize me. It hurts my feelings!” The little gnome wipes his eyes like wiping away a tear.

Huh? “B...But the texts describe you as a little man in a cloak.”

“Bääh! The texts, the descriptions and your stories! You mortals make up so much on your own about the gods.” The green kobold shakes his head and makes a dismissive gesture.

“So what brings a hot babe like you to my sacred mountain? Originally I didn't plan to talk to you, but your devotion and your song moved me..... and those breasts. Do you drink milk everyday to get them like that? I must admit that I never would have imagined to meet a mortal goddess like you!”

This little green kobold is bad news! “I wanted to talk to the gods! In order to lift the curse on me. And what about this devotion?”

The little green kobold raises an eyebrow. “Well. Usually the mortals march up to my preferred vantage point and pollute the air up there until I talk to them. It's the best view up there you know? And who would curse such a beauty like you? Oooh, Wait! Don't tell me! Violet hair. Perfect skin. Blue eyes. Unbelievable body and two huuuge mountains as....”

*Whack!*

“.....Hey! What was that for!?”

Ohhh! Nooo! I went and did it! I hit him without thinking!! I throw myself to my knees and bow down. “I am sorry! It was a reflex! Please don't smite me! It just infuriated me to hear how the gods see me!”

Nazareth rubs his red cheek for two seconds while staring at me. “Well. Never mind. I didn't think that you are actually so pure at your heart, Sharid.”

I look up. “You know me? Then can you answer my questions?”

The little kobold looks a little embarrassed. “I am sorry. Nobody can help you. You got cursed by Angrod.”

“Then tell me why!? I will assemble all the gods if necessary! Even the major ones. This Angrod cursed me and never even bothered to explain why! And he didn't even show up for my whole life!” I glare at Nazareth. Yes! I will gather them all!

“BWAHAHAHA!”

The gnome starts to laugh with tears in his eyes. “Sorry kid. I hate to pop your cherry bubble. But all the gods on this world aren't enough to go against Angrod. When you were born, he dragged all of us together and explained to us that you are off limits. He did that in very clear words.” The little gnome shudders while I look at him agape.

“He is stronger than all the gods assembled? It's hopeless! I am lost.” I let myself fall into the dirt. There is no hope for me.

“Well. What do you expect of a king of gods? All gods of this world are just flies compared to him. He is a soul mage on top! And if you learn one thing as an immortal: Never mess with a soul mage! You just have to take a look at yourself to see what happens if you step on a soul mage's toe. Be happy that he is busy with the war and doesn't have time to play around with you any further.” -Nazareth

“War?” -Me

“Well. We gods have some problems with demons and soul eaters and so on. The higher realms have their own troubles. Nothing that should concern you mortals. Just be happy that you are on your own.” -Nazareth

It doesn't help. I am still lost.

“Don't be so down! I will lend you a hand! Such a devoted follower should get some help. To actually walk fourteen times around the mountain until you almost drop dead. Such faith has to be rewarded!” -Nazareth

“I walked fourteen times around the mountain?” Fuck! Why!?

“You didn't know?” -Nazareth

“Well! I was so happy when I managed to convince the perverted monks at the foot of the mountain to show me the way. I just had to do a little dance for them and they looked so happy! They didn't even try to rape me! It was the first time that I managed to control my abilities that well! I just walked forth, but at some point I lost the path....” I bite at my fingernail while I think about it.

“...... your sense of direction is the worst! How can you walk around the mountain fourteen times without finding the trail to the top! There are signs everywhere! This is a well visited holy place!” -Nazareth

“What?” -Me

“Never mind. I will help you to get those abilities of yours under control. Angrod forbade us to lay hands on you. But I guess a few guiding words from time to time are ok.” -Nazareth

“Really!? Really? Really? Oh thank you!” -Me

“Call me master!” -Nazareth

Eh!? I hope I make no mistake here. “Yes. M..m...Master!”

“Oh... and one more thing about those perverted monks at the foot of the mountain.....” -Nazareth

“Yes?” -Me

“..........They are eunuchs.”

“...”

A higher realm. Some time later

Multiple gods are assembled for a crisis-conference.

“So did you go and save her?” -Nuin, High god of the sun

“Yeah...” -Nazareth, god of mountains and travellers

“....Good. It would be bad if we violated our duty of supervision. I don't want to imagine what Angrod will do to us if she dies before her time!” Zenial, High goddess of the moon

“We have to keep an eye on her around the clock! Nothing is allowed to kill her. The easy way out of her fate isn't allowed.” -random god

“He threatened us with THIS and THAT! Be sure to keep her alive! If I just think about those costumes!” -random goddess

Multiple gods look to the ground with depressed faces and an aura of looming doom over them.

“*Sigh*. So who has to watch her for the next shift?” -Nuin, High god of the sun

“Ah! That's me. I am on my way.” -Some minor god

Everyone waves goodbye to the minor god and then the group continues to mourn their fate.

89 - Support group and aftermath?

Seria's and Aengus's first day at school

“She really did it! I can't believe it! She sent us to school! A school! For us!” Aengus continues to rage about our newest.... situation.

I pat on Aengus's back while I try to comfort him.

“And to think that she would even go as far as sending us to a boarding school!!” Aengus drops his head onto the desk.

“It will be okay big bro! We will endure and pull through! And when we are back at home, she will have forgotten her anger and take us back.” I smile at him.

“Urgh! She will never forgive you that stunt you pulled on her! I would like to know why I have to suffer too! I did nothing wrong!” Aengus glares at me.

“I am sorry big bro! If there is anything I can do to make up for it, just tell me.” -Me

Aengus just sighs and looks to the front of the classroom. It's our first class and there are about thirty students.

“I heard that the Andros quintuplets are going to this school too! Maybe we can meet them?” I am trying to cheer Aengus up. He has a crush on one of the Andros girls. But I fear that he has no hope of winning her over because she doesn't even consider him.

On top they know our parents from our stories. If Aengus wants a girlfriend..... he would have to finalize it before she meets mom and dad.

There are children of various ages inside the classroom. It's a little strange. Shouldn't we be separated by age?

That's the moment when a teacher enters the classroom and everything goes silent. It's a completely strange reaction for children of our age if you think about it.

But the teacher doesn't seem to be disturbed and simply starts his introductions.

“Hrm. Hello, all! I am Samarin. I will be in charge of this class. Curse your fate!” He takes a meaningful look at us, but nobody raises his voice.

“Well. I don't like too long introductions. So we will directly start with the work. First get the tables to the side and form a circle with your chairs.”

The teacher's instructions are followed without big problems and less than five minutes later the whole class is assembled in a circle. Everyone looks with expectant eyes to the teacher.

“Well, first let me tell you that this is no normal school. Your teachers here are aware that you all are more than what you look. We know that it's hard to be treated like a child despite having all that common knowledge of your former lifes. Even if you don't remember everything of it.” Samarin takes a look around the circle.

“I would be happy if you don't think about this as a class. Think about it more like a support group! We will talk about our issues and everyone will listen. Then we will try to find a solution together. This is the primary purpose of this school, despite of what your parents think. Of course you guys can still work on your abilities too and every teacher at this institute will help you.” -Samarin

Samarin takes out a little notebook and a pen in order to take some notes about us. “So let's start with you little miss. Please tell everyone who you are and why you are here.” Samarin points to a little girl right beside him. She can't be older than five and has troubles not to fall from her chair.

“Uuuhm..... I am Maria. My hobbies are painting and reading books! I got into trouble with my parents because they always treated me like a child! After a while I got so fed up with it that I started to behave like a real five year old. I showed them what it meant to leave dangerous equipment lying around and set the house aflame. They were unable to cope with it and so I landed here. Please take care of me.” The little girl waves at the class.

The introductions continue until it's my and Aengus's turn.

“Hi, I am Seria and....” But I get interrupted by silent whispers around the classroom.

“So they belong to that family?” “They have that monster as a father?”

“Dad isn't like that! He just hit me once and I deserved it!” -Aengus

“I pity them...” “So the monster is hitting them!” “Better to not get too close to them.” “Poor guys!”

“At least they have a nice mom!” “Yeah, the best and nicest mother....” “.....and beautiful!”

“..... mom isn't like that! She is actually torturing us!” -Me

“Yes! She is a demon! Don't fall for those rumours!” -Aengus

“Poor kids.” “He already beat them so much ….” “.... they started to believe it themselves.”

“NOOO! Hear me out! I will tell you guys the whole story!” And so we start to tell them the story of our lifes so far. I tell them about Celes's whipping sessions. And Ireth's educational measures.

Aengus takes over from time to time to tell how Dad actually saved us from mom once. And various other stories of him being nice. Regularly teaching us magic and science. And various other useful skills like handling torture instruments and breaking peoples minds.

Five hours later we are done and everyone looks at us with pale faces and frightened expressions.

“Puh.... It was good to get that off of our minds and talk to someone about it. Right bro?” I look at Aengus with a relieved expression.

“Right, sis! I feel much better now. Especially to correct those rumours.” Aengus nods to me.

“It's worse than i thought.” “They are in hell.” “Why are they still alive?” “They are monsters too?” “Better don't get too close to them!” “But we have to help them somehow.”

Samarin looks up from his notebook, which was actually filled to the last page during our story. “You two... It seems like there is a lot of work before us....... your mother already informed us of you two to be notorious liars. But i never imagined that it would be that much work to help you.”

"I want to go home!"

Former factory planet of the Council

I kick a crystal shard on the ground. “This is frustrating! A whole fucking planet of evidences and we can't find out where they took the Spheres!”

“We are as smart as before. But we got a few valuable informations about the production process of a Sphere.” Chiffre looks up into the sky with a pained expression.

The Arcane Community's moon is clearly visible. It's surrounded by debris, creating an interesting view. It could take a few years until some of the parts will drift out of sight or fall down onto the planet.

After the battle and securing Elohim's body/remains, we decided to hold an emergency meeting.

“I hope you don't plan to play around with a Sphere!” I hate to play the motherly character, but those things are just flat out creepy.

“Of course not! But just looking at the factories gives us all the information that's needed. Like building processes and blueprints. We don't have to risk our souls by playing around with the real thing!” Chiffre answers with a flat voice.

“And by analysing the data we already found out that the Spheres are all linked together and controlled by a hierarchical command structure. There is a central controlling device somewhere. Our people are currently working on a method to tab into this network to find the enemies command centre.” -Chiffre

"Wouldn't it be much easier to interrogate Elohim." Carne asks an obvious question.

“He isn't in a good condition at the moment. And I doubt that we would get any useful information out of him. He is most likely mind wiped like the others.” Chiffre makes a dismissive gesture. It was the Arcane Community which captured Elohim after the fight. He was drifting in an orbit around their moon after the headbutt.

“That doesn't mean that he will get away lightly. To destroy my moon with a headbutt! Kukuku! I will take my time to dismantle him piece by piece. And after I am done with his body, I will work on his soul. There are quite a few experiments to be done. I always wanted to try to disassemble a soul. Kukuku. Looks like he ate the souls of a few of his followers to fuse with them. I will take my time to restore the natural order........ and maybe go a little further. Kkukukuku....” -Chiffre

“Ehm... Yeah, right. Do your thing.” Carne looks a little pale.

“So we will ready the fleet and wait for your guys to finish the device Chiffre.” I smile at the mad member of the Arcane Community. Hopefully for Carne the truth will never come out......

90 - War and leaving the mountain?

I look at the screen and try to think of a solution. But I can't think of anything.

“That's a formidable defence they got there.” Chiffre looks at the screen with an annoyed expression.

You could call this an emergency meeting. I have the ambassadors here. Nicosar and Arthur. Celes, Tanja and Sandra. Fuck, I simply called everyone with the slightest bit of battle power from Chimera.

The tracking device of the Arcane Community worked perfectly and led us towards the enemy base. I call it base but it's more like a gigantic fortress composed of multiple planets.

There is a huge planet in the centre of the configuration. This planet is surrounded by dozens of smaller planets in a very tight and complex gravitational dance.

It's something completely unnatural and so we can already guess that this construct was most likely made by Amaru.

There is just one problem. The planets are infested with countless demons. And some of them seem to have the ability to use pathways!

We already lost a scout ship to those things. They kept appearing around it until the crew had to abandon the ship.

“I say we go in there with all hands and crush everything! No need to hold back!” Celes waves her fist at the screen.

“Hold it! What if we somehow set off the Spheres by doing that!” Miruliru doesn't seem to like the idea.

“They will be set off either way. Our enemies aren't using the Spheres as a threat. It's rather a question of why they didn't activate them. The only reason could be that they aren't ready yet. So by going in earlier, we may stop them from using them on a large scale.” Chiffre explains his thoughts to us.

I close my eyes to relax. Millions of worlds gone, just because some type of epic fools had to play with fusing souls. Every idiot should be able to tell that something with multiple personalities is bound to go mad with time.

“So the only question is how to utilize our forces and abilities!” Nicosar puts up a stance while looking at the screen.

“We should go in with all our forces together. Those demons could overwhelm smaller groups very easily by using pathways.” Zanders shakes his head.

~May I make a suggestion?~

“Oh? Warden. It's unusual for you to talk on your own.” I answer Warden's voice which interrupted our conversation.

~I am sorry for being rather simple minded in following my purpose. But the current situation is directly connected to my orders. So to get to my suggestion. I will take Asheim there and destroy those planets.~

“Could you repeat that?” -Miruliru

~I will take Asheim through a pathway like the Arcane Community did with their moon. Then I will utilize my weaponry to destroy those planets.~

“You can destroy planets? And you are talking about it like it's no big deal?” -Gwalonna

~I am the Warden. I am tasked to stop the great Calamity from ever emerging again. It would be pretty stupid if I didn't have the abilities to do so. I was created by the Bright One after all.~

“Oooh. If it's like that! Come here and smash that planetary fortress!” Carne waves at the screen with an expectant gesture.

~It isn't that easy. I need to get close enough to do it. Otherwise I can't guarantee the eradication of the demons.~

“How do you intend to get rid of the demons?” I ask Warden with a curious voice.

~By using the same magic which you used to stop the earlier incursions.~

“Warden! I thought we had an agreement in terms of spying through my ships!” I shout with an angry voice.

~I am sorry. Your anger isn't justified. I didn't break our agreement. The magic you are using was known to me for a long time. It was developed by the Bright One to stop the Calamity and return the eaten souls to the great cycle.~

I squint my eyes. “That's hard to believe. I developed that magic by researching the affinities of my own soul. The bright one must have had a soul very similar to mine in order to create that magic.”

~Then the answer is obvious.~

“Hah?!” I am at a dead end. But Warden doesn't seem to realize that further explanations are needed.

“Explain that in detail, Warden!” -Chiffre

~If the magic was developed twice by researching a specific souls affinities. Then the soul in question has to be the same one. Souls are like fingerprints. Some may be similar, but every one of them is unique.~

~So Angrod has to be the Bright One.~

I smack my head hard. This whole reincarnation shit is becoming too complicated.

“But Angrod is Angrod! He doesn't remember anything of being an Ascended?” -Celes

~All remaining Ascended returned to the great cycle of life and death. Like I said. But I never said that they couldn't rise again. And that's what they believed would happen after enough time. Most likely many of you have the soul of an Ascended.~

~It's actually funny to see that you gods seem to be caught in an endless wheel. Even if you think that you managed to escape your fate...... you end up in your old positions again.~

“That's not funny Warden! Fuck you! I would disassemble you if we wouldn't need you.” I scream out towards the ceiling. This is frustrating!

“That's not funny Warden! Fuck you! I would disassemble you if we wouldn't need you.”

~Funny. That's a translated recording of the Bright One. He said the exact same words once, if you overlook the grammatical language differences.~

“Argh!”

I start to type at my console but moments before I can press the -delete- button, multiple ambassadors, family members and friends jump on me like I would carry a football and just entered the death zone.

At another world in another time.

“So you will now walk into this city and concentrate on the things I taught you Sharid.” Nazareth is standing beside me at knee height with crossed arms.

“Yes, ~Master!~” I am so excited! After a year of training under him and secluding myself on that mountain, I am finally able to come back to civilisation!

“Don't use your ability on me! I am still a god and you are just a mortal! Don't forget that!” Nazareth snaps angry at me.

“I am sorry master! It wasn't intentional! I am just so excited!” I actually jump a little up and down. A bed! Real food! A warm room! No rocks! No snow! No nuts and mushrooms for dinner!

“Do we have to train another year? You know what happens if you lose control like that?” Nazareth gives me a sharp look.

“Nooo! I will manage! Absolute control! I wont fail! Please let me try.” Calm down! Breath in, breath out! Cool and calculating thoughts! Don't let go of your voice. Always the right expression. No accidental arousing smile.

My thoughts are logical and cold. I have my body under control.

“Hmm. Kay. Then let's try this. It's morning now. You walk down into that city and do your business. You are a normal adventurer! After you took care of your clothing, you buy supplies and entertain yourself until evening. Maybe you even manage to find a party in order to go your own path from now on.” Nazareth looks up to me.

“I will stay here and look from afar. In the evening you come back and I give you my judgement. If you pass this test you can go. Otherwise it's the mountain again!” He points at the cold and icy peak of the cursed rock!

“I wont let you down!” I turn and run towards the city. Freedom!

“Don't forget about your clothes!” Nazareth calls after me.

That's when I look down at my body and realize the torn rags I am wearing! A year in the mountain wasn't beneficial on my equipment. Uwaah! I look like a lightly dressed barbarian! And I am dirty! First stop is a clothing shop!

After a few minutes of walking I arrive at the city gates.

“Stop! Barbarians and beggars aren't allowed in this city!” A city guard stops me from entering

“I am sorry. But I was on a long journey and that's why I look like this. I am certainly no barbarian and no beggar! I have many valuable materials. Just give me the chance to sell them.” I try to reason with the two guards who are now blocking my way.

“Hell no! Fuck off! We know your kind! Surely you will sell your body to get money!” -Guard One

“There are laws against scum like you in our town! No entry! Try at the next city!” -Guard Two

Bastards! Who do you think you are? And what if I am a barbarian or a beggar? Does that make me less human? So I am not even allowed entry to the city!?

“~I would really appreciate it, if you two would make an exception for me. Who knows? If you show up at the inn in the evening, I may have a little surprise for you.~”

“Ah...” -Guard One

“S... Sure go ahead.” Guard Two steps aside and I stroll past them while waving my hips.

“W... we will be waiting!” Guard One calls after me.

Kukukuku. This was too easy! Maybe those abilities of mine aren't so bad after all? I make my path through the city until I arrive at a good looking shop for clothes.

“This one looks exquisite!” I talk to myself while I enter the shop. “Hello? I need a full set of clothes!”

A snobbish looking vendor turns around to greet me. His face distorts in disgust as his eyes lock onto me. “This shop doesn't have charity handouts! Leave or I call the city guard! Beggars are thrown out of the city without questions!”

Wha!? Another one? What's wrong with this place!? Is it normal to be treated like that if you are an average person? “Ah. I am no beggar! I am an adventurer and had a hard time alone in the mountains! I can pay! Here look.” I grab into my pocket and wave a nut sized golden nugget before him.

“Where did you steal that! Now I will call the guard for sure!” The vendor tries to get past me but I actually feel a vein popping on my forehead.

“~Aaahn. You can't be so cold to a young lady who only tells the truth! I am sure you can sell two of your best sets of clothes to me.~”

The vendor stops in his tracks and turns around with expecting eyes. “Please follow me miss! I am sorry that I was so rude.”

After twenty minutes of choosing his best and probably most valuable outfits, I am ready to depart.

“How much does this cost? I will pay in gold nuggets.”

“Ten gold nuggets for those two outfits will be enough, miss. You look gorgeous!” The vendor smiles at me.

That's thievery! Ten gold nuggets! You could buy those clothes for two of them! No wonder this shop looks so nice!

“~You are sure you couldn't make a little exception for me? If you give me the real price I may have a little surprise for you at the inn tonight!~”

The vendor loosens a bit at my words. “S.. Sure! That would be two gold nuggets!”

I smile at him and give him his payment while I walk past him and out of the shop. Well, that's done. What next?

Hmm. I will get this dirt off of me! Best to get a room at the inn for that! After asking a few people, I arrive at the towns inn. The town isn't very large and so it's hard to miss it.

Is it a problem that I still had to ask twelve people? Whatever! As long as I have someone to ask it's no problem!

I enter the inn. I then get greeted by a fat old barkeeper, or should have been at least. If he wasn’t so busy to hitting a servant.

The poor girl has bruises all over her face! And the fat geezer actually uses a wooden stick!

~Hellooooo? Mister? I would like your best room with a bath! And fast!~

The barkeeper snaps to attention at my voice. “Of course! The servant will lead you to your room. Payment is in advance!”

I drop a raw diamond into the waiting hands of the barkeeper which makes his eyes pop out. Greedy bastard. I am sure he doesn't even think about the exchange money!

After the servant girl led me upstairs and arranged a nice hot bath in a very nice looking room for me, I can finally relax. But before the girl leaves the room, I stop her.

“Does he hit you often?”

“N.n.no! The owner just uses his fists in cases of serious failure!” The girl bows down to me.

“Tell me the truth. You have too much bruises to believe that.” I don't let her go like that.

“E.. everyday miss. It doesn't matter if I make a mistake or not. He likes it to hurt others, but I can't just leave. If I lose this job, they will throw me out of the town!” The girl looks at the floor.

I grab one of my bags with gold nuggets and throw it at her. She barely catches it. “Take that and get someone to give you a good education! Don't be here this evening.” I wave at her with a dismissive gesture.

The girl looks into the bag with round eyes. “Thank you, Miss! Thank you so much!” She leaves the room with tears in her eyes. At least she is smart enough to instantly take a chance in her life if it is given to her.

I continue to enjoy my bath for a while. Afterwards I set out to get supplies and have a decent dinner.

Then I take a long stroll through the whole town. I eat good food and have some decent conversations with other people. Unfortunately I find no group of adventurers to hook up to.

While buying equipment at the market and in various stores, I get stopped by a noble looking guy with guards at his side. It's already evening and the sun starts to disappear behind the horizon.

“I am sorry to interrupt your business, miss. But I heard that a very rich adventurer entered the town and pays with valuable diamonds and gold, like as if they were copper coins. So I asked myself if you would be interested in a little deal?”

Omg. What now? Is this town full of bastards and assholes? “And you are?”

“I am the governor of this wonderful town. It's thanks to me that this city is free of filth! So about our business. I want to know where you got all those riches from. If the source of those diamonds and gold becomes known to us, it will increase the wealth of this entire region!” The feisty bastard tries to take my hand and kiss it but I pull it out of his grip.

“That doesn't sound like there is much for me in it? And what makes you think that the source of my wealth would be of any interest to you?” I smile at him.

“Because all of that stuff consisted of unrefined goods. So you most likely found it close to this town. Maybe I could send a few workers in order to help you mining it? It would be much faster and you wouldn't have to dirty your own hands.”

I grin at the smart bastard who is responsible for the laws in this town. “Ohh. You are right! How about we talk about this while eating dinner at the inn? I wouldn't be able to carry ~all that stuff~ by myself anyway.”

The eyes of the governor sparkle while he offers me his hand and I link arms with him. Hoh! I didn't even need my voice for this! Somehow I instinctively knew what to say! Is that the effect of psychologist? Maybe I should try to develop that ability a little further.

After a short walk we arrive at the inn and go inside. I soon see a few familiar faces while the drunkards undress me with their eyes. What's wrong with them! The sun isn't even completely down and this place already reeks like a barrel of beer!

The barkeeper looks very stressed with drops of sweat running down his forehead while he serves alcohol to the people. Serves him right!

The governor leads me towards a table and places himself on a chair. But I don't show any intentions to take a seat myself.

“~Actually! I like really strong men! If you could prove me your worthiness, I could show you heaven!~”

After a second of complete silence, the whole inn explodes in furry of fists and thrown chairs! Tables get smashed while the participants of the brawl try to beat each other into bloody lumps of flesh.

While humming I skip through the middle of it all. On my way to the exit I pass the bar. I ~accidentally~ knock over one of the candle-holders. Then I grab one of the bottles of alcohol with a high percentage.... and drop it.

*Crack*  *WhooOOOSH!*

Ups! That was totally an accident! I smile a wide grin while I exit the inn and leave the town in measured steps and in a high mood.

Ah! The world is becoming a little brighter day by day! I feel like I am in control of my life for the first time!

After a few minutes of walking, I end up outside the town. I then climb my way up the small hill, where I left Nazareth in the morning.

I find him sitting on a small rock. He has his elbows jacked on his knees while he covers his face with his hands.

“Hi, Master! I did well, didn't I? That was the best day in my life!” I call out to him with a cheerful voice.

“THEN...... What's THAT!” He points towards the city behind me and I turn around.

It's getting dark, but the city is bathed in the light of flames. The inn is burning while people are running left and right while trying to save the neighbouring buildings. I guess there is no hope for the inn....

“That was.... an ~accident!~” I nod and look at master with an earnest face.

The little gnome covers his face again and starts to mumble. “I honestly don't know if I should reward you for your control, or punish you for it!”

“Nyaaa! Master! Not the mountain again! Please teach me somewhere else!” I drop to my knees and bow to the little gnome who saved me from my personal hell. “I used it just to punish bad people!”

The little gnome jumps from his rock and sighs. “Well. I hope I didn't create a monster. Get up and listen to my last piece of advice!”

I shoot upwards! “Last piece!? You won't teach me any more!?”

“I can't help you any further. You know all the techniques and meditations to get a grip on your powers. Train them and perfect them. You don't need me for that.” Nazareth scratches his chin while looking at the rising moon.

“The last piece of advice I give you concerns something completely different. Something nobody can help you with! And that's how to become a god!” The gnome looks into my eyes with a grin on his face.

I am frozen. “A god!?”

“Yes. You have the potential. That's for sure.” -Nazareth

“I have?” I ask and Nazareth nods. “How? Will I be able to meet that pervert god and give him a beating?”

Nazareth tilts his head. “Yes. Most likely you will meet him if you manage it. But I doubt that you will be able to beat him. After all he wiped the floor with you the last time.”

“Last time?” I arch my eyebrow.

“You want to hear the method or not!?” -Nazareth

I bow down again. “Yes, master! Please enlighten me!”

“Look up!” The gnome starts to wander left and right before me. “First, forget your body! Forget the flesh! What makes you a god is here!” He points to his head. “And here!” Then he points towards his heart.

“Find the one thing you really love! The one thing you are good at! And then perfect that skill! Refine it to heights above your body. Being a god is a state of the mind! By reaching heights beyond the flesh, you will acquire access to unbelievable power.” He folds his hands before his chest.

“Open your mind. That's something you can only do on your own. Nobody can help you with it. Find yourself!” Then master is suddenly gone.

I am alone on the little hill.

91 - To Oblivion?

“And I still don't like it!”

I grumble while a formation of my battle ships and two of our fortresses advance towards the enemy.

There are multiple prototype ships of the Arcane Community in the mix. Asheim with Warden in control is in the centre of our fleet. Of course we took our time to evacuate it completely.

The other societies mainly provided fighting forces. They don't have ships like us yet. Even the Arcane Community can't match our raw output of crystal ships. They aren't interested in mass production anyway.

They build their ships just out of curiosity and for the fun of it. So their ships are an insane mix of different forms and sizes.

“What else can we do? This is a battle on a ridiculous scale. There is no sneaking up from behind.” Celes is standing right beside me on board of the Nomad. Arthur and Nicosar are on board of the Ragnarok.

“I know. But you realize that we will get very bloody noses by doing something like that? Head on assaults always end badly for both sides.” I look to the side.

Celes nods. “That's true. But if you can stop even greater bloodshed by causing it on a smaller scale, it's worth the price.”

I nod while I wait for the formation to advance to our destination. It's quite certain that Amaru has seen us by now.

Then I grab my staff to reassure myself of my determination. It really sucks to be on this bridge right now. Will there be someone to look back at this moment and judge us?

Hah. If we fail this there will most likely be nobody to look back. If a few million Spheres start to generate demons, we are fucked. We don't have the people to deal with those amounts of demons.

“Our forward ships report demons which try to invade their ships.” -Technician

I nod but I say nothing. We anticipated that. The plan is to hold out until we got warden close enough to start in picking off the enemy planets.

We will have to pay the price for getting closer in lives. The problem with directly going closer through a pathway lies with the enemy main planet. It emits an extremely strong field of mana which disrupts pathways.

It's a crude version of our own dampening fields, which we use to stop enemies from directly entering our ships.

We can't get Warden any closer than we did. Our people can still use the pathways though. The effect is weaker on small objects.

I watch in silence while our fleet starts to pick off demons which start appearing close to our ships. They are too small to be seen and so it looks like our ships start to fire blindly in all directions.

The scene continues while we advance. It will take us forty minutes to get close enough to the enemy central planet for a decisive shot. Warden will start firing at the closer small planets at the five minute mark.

But we don't even get as close as that. Four minutes after the start of the engagement two of our ships suddenly disappear from the tactical map.

“What happened?” I sit upright in my chair.

“A serious hull breach in both vessels. They reported a very big demon with huge claws. It cut the hulls open like paper. Then the vessels were boarded by the smaller versions. Both captains decided the situation to be hopeless and activated the self destruction after fighting back became impossible.”

I nod. Our smaller ships have a serious problem in this type of engagement. There aren't enough crew members to fight a big boarding party. I refrain from instructing everyone to look out for those big demons. They know that themselves.

At minute five Warden takes her first shot. A small red line of red energy shoots out of the central tower of Asheim and slices into one of the enemy orbiting planets. The planet disappears in an explosion of red energy.

It's a clean and complete annihilation. That spell seems to be a little more refined than mine! I have to get the details for it out of Warden later.

The fleet continues to advance while losing ship after ship. Warden is relatively safe because the planet is surrounded by us. We act like a net to keep the bugs away.

Then it's our turn and the warriors are ordered to defend the hull. The whole engagement is one big chaos and everything I can do is sitting in my command chair.

It's the fate of someone who commands a military battle. You make your plan. Think of strategies and counter tactics. Then you lean back and wait for something unexpected to happen. Otherwise you aren't needed any more.

“The Ragnarok's defence was overrun! They are fighting but it looks bad!” -Officer

When I focus my screen on the Ragnarok, I see a carved up ruin, which was once a beautiful flying fortress. Those fucking things are actually scratching off our hulls inch by inch!

I feel Celes grabbing my shoulder. “Tell them to hold as long as they can and move the ships to cover the hole in our formation.”

Suddenly the Ragnarok blows apart and I grab the armrest of my chair tightly! “What was that! Report!”

“We don't know. There was no communication about it. We just got the information that the enemy was close to the crystal core!” -Officer

I hit my fist at my armrest. We can't move our positions and everyone has their own troubles with holding off those pests. We aren't even at the twenty minute mark yet!

Hopefully Arthur and Nicosar got out. They will have to report to another ship first. But couldn't they have come here?

My useless thoughts are suddenly interrupted as the whole command centre bucks downwards and I am slammed into the ceiling.

The whole room is thrown into a small chaos while people try to get back to their positions.

“Something took out one of our plasma cannons! We have a gaping hole there!” -Officer

I get back into my chair and look at our time table. Eighteen minutes! There is no chance that we will make it at this rate.

“Someone strong is fighting his way free to our crystal core.” -Technician

~You have to stop him. The defence can't be upheld without the help of a crystal fortress. Asheim would be open to attacks.~

Warden's voice echoes through the room.

I lean backwards and inhale deeply while closing my eyes.

“I will go and see what I can do to defend the crystal core.” Celes stomps out of the command centre.

While looking at the ceiling, I wait until the door is closed behind her. Then I turn towards the main screen. “Defend the engines and the crystal core. Abandon the rest of the fortress. Break the formation and advance at full speed towards the enemy main planet. Signal the retreat for everyone. They have to use a pathway as soon as they are able to.”

“Your majesty?” An officer looks at me with a dumb expression.

“You heard me! We won't make it.” I point at the timer which is displayed at the main screen. “We haven't even reached the twenty minute mark and our most valuable assets are out of commission! Sound the retreat and get everyone out of here.”

I stand up and leave the command centre without looking back. Then I walk at a leisure pace towards the control room with the crystal core of the fortress.

~What are you planning?~

“Get everyone out of here Warden. This plan backfired on us. They will have taken the fleet apart long before we reach our destination.” I turn around a corner.

~That wasn't my question.~

“Try to take it easy Warden. You almost sound pissed off. I will just attempt a little experiment before I lose this fortress.” I smile while I enter the control room.

Celes is there with a good amount of other defenders. They started to set up barricades. She is looking with expectant eyes at a door which leads to surface of the fortress. Something is hitting the door from the other side and a few cracks started to appear.

“Is this a bad horror movie?” I ask her with a light smirk on my face. Celes just shakes her head while I walk towards the big crystal core in the centre of the room.

The crystal cores are the focus points for mana in all applications which use the crystal technology. Without it the fortress wouldn't be able to grow or release the absorbed mana.

I place my hand at the crystal core and start to give it instructions through my mind. Margerie's hideous security measures cost me quite some time. But then I am done.

-Full Energy Conversion activated. Fail-safe deactivated. Silent Countdown started-

The cool voice within the room startles the defenders beside me and I turn around to face them. “Everyone. Please evacuate now. The dampening field will turn to full power within a minute. Afterwards you will be stuck here.”

“What are you doing? Who will defend the core if everyone is gone?” Celes looks at me with an awkward expression.

“Nobody. We will all retreat now.” I smile at her and hug her. A few seconds later I feel her relaxing. Her defence drops for a second and I invade the mana flow inside her body. Normally it would be impossible to do something like that.

But I know her mana pattern from inside out. She slept beside me for years and the feeling of her soul is very familiar to me. It's like dabbling with my own body.

A few cuts and the damage is done. She probably didn't even feel it as she goes limp in my arms. “Sorry sugar cat. But I can't have you fighting this time. Not with the kids.” I whisper into her ear.

After taking her into a princess carry I become aware of her betrayed expression. But I pay it no heed.

I fixate one of the defenders which are looking at us. “You! Take the queen out of here. I will defend the core alone. Try to be not too close to her when the healers fix her up. It will be a true mayhem.”

Four guards take Celes and immediately enter a pathway with her. Then I turn towards the door while one defender after the other starts to disappear, using a pathway.

A few stay and I raise my voice again. “Get out! Fast! I don't want hindrances locked up in here when the dampening field activates!”

The last of them vanishes a moment before the dampening field activates. Well, at least I will have nobody besides myself on my conscience.

Another crack appears in the door and I ready myself. Suddenly the door shatters into thousands of shards and multiple demons storm into the room.

But they are the small fry versions and I don't intend to hold back. A short chant leaves my lips and a torrent of red energy sparks forth from my hand.

The first wave of demons falls victim to my new adapted version of the soul shredder. Pretty stupid name. I will try to find a better one in the future.

But there is no second wave of monsters. Instead a person with a monocle steps into the room. He is wearing something like an exoskeleton and looks like a scholar from a university.

“So no defenders this time? How boring. At least they tried it the first time.” Then his eyes fall onto me and I wave at him. “If it isn't the king!”

“If it isn't the mad scientist.” I answer Amaru while I take a look into the corridor behind him. It's filled to the brim with demons.

“You are quite brave to stay behind alone. What do you intend to do? Self destructing the ship? You think you can stop me after I took down the other fortress?” Amaru gives me a devilish smile.

“No. I don't think that I can stop you. Looks like you ate your subordinates and are using their power.” I can't think of any other reason for his strength.

“Then step aside and don't waste my time. I will eat your soul later.” Amaru starts to walk into my direction, but is stopped by a barrier.

“How cute. The others tried that too.” Amaru pokes my barrier with his fingers.

I frown at that comment. “Others?”

“Nah. Just an old geezer and someone who looks similar to you. Their souls tasted very good!” The maniac licks over his lips.

I grab my staff tighter. “I guess I will have to rip their souls out of your guts. My wife won't let me be otherwise.”

“Ahahahahaha!”

“You are funny. I guess we are done talking for now!” Amaru waves his hand at my barrier and shatters it like nothing.

I immediately invoke a fury of red energy bolts, but they just bounce off of Amaru. With a step he is before me and a strike wipes me off my feet.

While falling I grab his collar and try to connect to his soul. A wild fury of elemental power starts to dance between us while I try to rip the mana out of him. But instead it's my mana that's sucked away! It's like I am fighting multiple people at the same time in this duel of minds.

Before I lose my power completely, I try to kill us both by disconnecting my soul from my body and taking him with me. It's a dirty trick, but a kick sends me flying and I land at the console before the crystal core.

“Fuck!” I spew blood onto the floor. Something important broke. I can't feel my legs. How many people did that bastard eat?

“See? You aren't even worth the effort.” Amaru starts to walk into my direction again. But then the crystal core starts to pulsate and emits pure raw power and magic.

“Ahahahahaha...:”

This time it's my time to laugh which startles Amaru. “What are you laughing for?”

“You are such a bad villain. You see? I rigged the crystal core for a direct energy conversion and you are inside a dampening field! Even if you start running now you won't get out of here in time. For you to come here personally! I couldn't have wished for more! I will not only blow all these worlds to quantum dust! I will get the head of the monster!”

Amaru's eyes go wide while he turns to run. “I will rise again! You won't get my soul with a cheap trick like that!”

The demons follow their master in a vain attempt to escape what's coming. I don't even understand why he is trying to run. There is no way to run from this.

I pull myself into an upright position by grabbing the console. Haah. I can't feel my legs. I pull myself upwards and try to touch the crystal core, but my grip slips and I fall. Fuck! It's pulsating even faster now. Somehow I manage to touch the pulsating crystal core at the second try and open my mind to the raw power.

This searing light and raw power! I was foolish when I thought that I could control this. But I still try to connect to this immense pool of mana.

It's pressing down on my mind like a gigantic weight.

And then the pulsing stops and there is.... just....

WHITE!

…..

…

..

I am flowing. I can feel this power. A gigantic flash of energy wipes the fortress and the demon planets out of the multiverse. Somehow I am aware of it. I am this power. My body is gone and I exist as pure energy. My soul is riding this wave of destruction. It's life should be measured in milliseconds.

But to me it feels like an eternity. I can use this power. Within the boundaries of this eruption of mana, everything should be possible. As long as there is a guiding will!

I imagine a white plane. It's my soul space. Here I am god. Yes.

A white plane appears around me. Reassured I sit down and a chair pops into existence under me.

“Mwahahaha!”

I wave my hand and Nicosar and Arthur appear before me with dazed expressions.

“What? What happened?” -Nicosar

“Angrod? Did you save us?” -Arthur

I smile at them with a sad expression. “Unfortunately not. We are dead and you were eaten by the agent of the Calamity. But I self destructed our remaining fortress and used the power to create this.” I wave my hand at the white plane around us.

“You could call it a pocket-universe. It's my very own river of souls.” I nod at that explanation. It's fitting somehow.

“Can you save the others too? And what about the demons?” -Arthur

I shrug my shoulders. “That remains to be seen. But first we will have our fun with someone!”

After another wave of my hand Amaru appears in the air and lands flat on his belly. He immediately gets to his knees and looks upwards.

What he sees are three smiling faces with unimaginable expressions!

…..

….

…

..

.

I drift in a sea of darkness. Around me are the stars.

So it worked. Somehow I came back from oblivion. If there wasn't empty space around me I would laugh.

In my left I hold a marble with everyone I could save during that second of being almost all-mighty.  In my right I hold a marble with a very special soul. I will take my dear time with this one. That's for sure.

He already suffered for an eternity for his mistakes. But one eternity isn't enough in my opinion.

But I will have to get back to Celes...... or is that actually a bad idea? I guess she will be happy to see me?

Hmmm! I stretch my mind to sense my surroundings. To my surprise I have no troubles with it. Did my abilities actually increase from this experience?

I guess I never handled such a huge amount of power before. Maybe I will try to train my abilities in the future again.

After concentrating on the fleet of ships, I see Celes crying in Ireth's arms and the kids are sitting with a crying Katrine depressed at a table. Better not to let her wait any longer.

I step on a pathway and appear right beside them. “I am sorry sugar cat! I will never do it again, I promise!”

The room goes silent and Celes looks at me agape with bloodshot eyes.

*WHACK!*

She jumped up and gave me a sounding slap in the face.

“Hell! No you will never do that again! I will make sure of that! What are you hiding in your fists?” She jumps at me and claws the soul marble with our saved people out of my fingers.

“Those are Nicosar and Arthur.... and others.” I rub my cheek with tears in my eyes. The slap didn't hurt my body! But her whole reaction hurt my soul.

“And the other!?” Ireth gives me a piercing stare.

“The last Council member!” I snap back! I can't hide anything from mother!

“Mine!” Katrine snatches the soul marble out of my other hand from behind. “Kukuku. I will take my time with you for hurting my husband.” She has a mad expression in her face.

NOOO! Thaat's miiineeee!

92 - Old memories?

*Smash*

“Aengus! Aengus! Get up! We will miss the graduation ceremony!” Seria's shriek wakes me and I shoot up.

I am inside my room at the dormitory. After a sleepy gaze around the room my eyes lock onto the door. “What did you do to my door!”

Seria grabs my clothes and shoves them into my hands.

“Fast! Forget the door sleepyhead! The Ceremony!” -Seria

Ceremony? “Oh, right!” I struggle to get dressed and follow Seria out of the room.

It has been a few years since the final battle with the Council. I had the first real downtime in my life when I thought that father, grandpa and great grandpa got killed.

That would have made me the only guy in a family with five women! Well seven if I count grandma Katrine and Ireth too! I saw my life going down the gutter by constant nagging.

But luckily dad showed them who is the boss! Sometime I want to be as powerful as him! He saved A bunch of people which made him the hero of the day.

Though mother performed an even greater wonder by cloning bodies for grandpa and uncle. Isn't she on an even higher level than dad? Just growing a few bodies in a tank like doing kitchen work.....

Unluckily for us the Spheres which were spread by the Council are still dormant. They didn't get activated. Though from time to time one of them gets set off by a foolish mortal or a god by accident.

That's when the big societies have to rush in and save the day!

But right now that's of no big concern to me! Because I will graduate! Freedom! Nineteen Years and Freedom! I will get full access to my memories!

That's what the ceremony today is all about. Luckily Seria woke me up. If I had missed it I would have had to wait for another year!

“What will you do, when you have your memories back big bro?” Seria asks me from the side.

Actually I already put a lot of thought into that. “I think I will travel the multiverse for a while! Make a name for myself, have a lot of fun! Maybe I will find a nice girl who is willing to take me!”

Seria pats my back with a pitying expression. There are not many women on Chimera who are willing to marry into the royal family. Too many bad rumours about the male side of our bloodline.

Even people close to us are repelled, because they could be involved into the rumours.

On the other hand, there are tons of guys who have an eye on Seria or our three little sisters. Though the triplets haven't had any marriage proposals since their introduction party.

It was Mayhem! Pure Mayhem! They are like an explosive with three compounds. Each of them alone or two together are harmless. All three are the end!

“On the other hand. I find it strange that you will get your memories too, Seria. Aren't these officials a little too lax with their rules?” I scratch my chin while I walk towards the old church on the school ground which is used for the ceremony.

It's a big and comfortable building. To reuse it in this manner isn't so bad.

“Hmpf! I am just eleven months younger than you! And despite the age difference we always attended the same class! It would be unfair if they kept me a year longer!” Seria puffs out her chest while her tail waves left and right.

She evolved into a splitting image of mom. If it wasn't for the finer and a little more girlish face I would have troubles to tell the difference. On top of it she is almost half a head smaller than her.

“What did you think about the graduation party yesterday?” Seria smirks at me.

I shrug my shoulders. “It was okay I guess. Though I drank a little too much.”

“How did it go with that girl! I know that you confessed to her.” -Seria

“Ah. That. She turned and ran.” I let my head drop at the memory! I didn't even manage to talk to her! She already blurted some kind of excuse into my direction when I tried to strike up a conversation.

“These rumours aren't fair! The guys in our family are actually less dangerous than the females!” I shake my fists at the heavens.

“Hey!” Seria cuffs me into the side. “They aren't that far off! Don't you remember when you played with those mortals? Their society fell apart!”

I fold my hands before me. “I admit it, it was a mistake of my youth. Though they provoked me, I realize that I overreacted and I reflect on my actions.”

“And when you dismembered that guy because he tried to force himself on me?” -Seria

“I was nice. Father instructed me to make an example out of the first guy who would mistreat my little sisters. I was very lenient within the boundaries of his suggested …. punishment.” -Me

“They carried him in eight parts to the infirmary!” Seria gives me an accusing look. “I didn't get a single confession since that incident!”

“Father told me to hold a public execution and take his soul in order to demonstrate my power. So I think I was very nice to just temporarily separate his soul from his body.” I frown while I think back to that moment.

“Actually I just gave him a gentle greeting. When I took his hand it suddenly came off. Then I tried to reattach it and his jaw dislocated.......”

“Nanana! Stop it! I don't want to remember it! Fortunately I had no clear view and saw just the blood spraying left and right.” Seria sighs. “In other words you killed him. How lucky that a soul can be reattached to a dead body if it's healed fast. Seriously! That brutish strength! You are so similiar to mom!”

I shake my head. “I can't help it. I am not on dad's level of soul magic, yet. So you tell me that I shouldn't have done anything that day? He was too weak. He would have been a disgrace to our bloodline. Coming apart because I shake his hand. He wouldn't have survived a single day in our family!”

“Gods no! I was about to rip out his balls off and force feed them to him. You showed up just the right moment! That would have been a serious blow to my reputation!” Seria pats my back again while we enter the church and join the rows of students.

The ceremony wont be a big deal. There will be no names and no big talk. The church is under a barrier which stops anyone who isn't allowed from entering.

They will hand out a soul marble which is able to unseal our memories. Then it's our choice. Either we want to continue to live like we did before or take a look at our past life.

There have been cases of serious depressions after getting those old memories back. But I already decided that I will try it.

“So what will you do with your soul marble Seria? Will you take a look at your former self?” I smile at my little sister while we wait with the other students.

“Kukuku....” Seria points at the big statue of -Seria- in the middle of the dome which makes up the old church. “Take a look at that and tell me. How could I resist to take a look? I already have quite a few of my memories, but I want all of them!”

I nod. Probably there is really not much to think about. Then a teacher starts to walk past the rows of students and hands out a soul marble to everyone.

Most people take it and instantly use it. There are very few who resist the temptation. I see happy and sad faces. Some look a little disturbed. But no big breakdown until now......

Then it's Seria's and my turn. She instantly uses her soul marble as she takes it out of the basket. I just take mine and wait to see the effects on my little sister.

After a few seconds she turns red like a tomato. “Nooooo!” She starts to wriggle in disgust.

“W.. What!?” I hope she isn't one of the mental breakdown cases.

“In my previous life I was a nudist! And a pervert!” Seria falls to her knees.

“That bad? I guess that's why mother was so strict in bringing you up as a proper lady.....” Ehm. That raises some interesting questions. “I guess I will refrain from taking mine....”

Seria jumps to her feet. “No! You have to take yours!”

I raise an eyebrow at her feverish expression. “What do you know?”

“You have to! I took mine! Fair is fair!” Seria bulldozes into me and pushes the soul marble into my chest!

The glowing marble disappears.

…...

….........daefakefpiaefnsavsvar pictures sdfowerbvwertbo knowledge sfdiubeiprbeipgep righteousness adflabrgezbrguoerbgip hero sldfuiebvsirbv laws apurebgapizerbdjfdfg equality aisrbaeuraeu peace eiuflewrzgbewrvzg..........

…...

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

*Whisper*

“P.. Prince! Stop hitting your head into the ground!”

“Dangerous!”

“His previous personality is worse than his current one?”

“The tile is broken...”

“Those are no tiles, that's solid rock!”

*Whisper*

“Big Bro! Stop it! It's bleeding! I am sorry! It can't be that bad!?” -Seria

I look up to my little sister and scream. “I was some kind of disgusting peace loving and righteous, nice guy hero type character who never got a girl because they all left me for other guys!”

*Whisper*

“He has a reaction like that because he was a hero?”

“As expected of a villain!”

“So he was the exact opposite in his previous life.”

"He has to make up for something..."

“Would have been nice if his previous personality took over.”

*Whisper*

“...... your nose is broken, big bro....” Seria fixes my face with healing magic.

I get up and take a serious look at Seria. “My travels through the multiverse will take a little longer. I have to find my true identity first!”

93 - Ascending!

“~Travelling is Sharid's lust. High over mountains and deep through valleys......~”

Nyahahaha! I had the best time in my life since master is gone. I decided to follow his advice and chose spellsinging as my preferred skill. It's directly connected to spellweaving which is my profession now.

With the delicate age of sweet nineteen, I am wandering the world and join various groups of adventurers as a spellweaver. A magician with this profession lacks offensive power because his spells have the nature of enchants or curses.

I didn't stay in any group for too long. The male members tend to become too pushy over the time. Even though I have pretty good control over my abilities now. I can't hold serious conversations with guys.

But by assisting others I am able to hone my skill which relies on allies.

Right now I am using a spellsong to increase our groups endurance. Back in a small village I joined four adventurers on their journey through the dark forest.

Joining up with other adventurers eliminates my biggest weakness. And that's my sense of direction! If there is no big road to follow, I am lost. It's as simple as that. I don't know why.

Once I started my journey in the high north and lost the road because I camped a little further away from the path. The next morning I didn't find the path any more and started to walk through the wild nature.

When I finally found civilisation again, the village people told me that I was far in the south!

So since then I followed a few rules. First, always follow other people. Second, always camp on the road. Third, Never take a leakage out of sight of the road.

As for my current group. There is a swordsman named Ron with a two handed longsword. Then we have Maxime who is our priestess. Sondo is a skilled marksman with a bow and daggers for close range combat. Iris is a knight in heavy armour. I don't understand why a woman would want to engage in close combat. But everyone is different.

Our current goal is to cross the dark wood, which is a dangerous forest. We want to get to the western coast behind it in order to find employment.

Walking around it would take us thrice the time than simply crossing through. The only problem are the wild monsters and orks which haunt this place. I hum my melody while our group walks past big forest trees.

“You are the most cheerful person I have ever met Sharid. Do you ever stop singing?” Iris notices my most valuable trait.

“Not really! I sing whenever I can and as much as I am able to. My dream is to become the best singer in the world!” I raise my arm to point towards the sky! Of course I want to become a god, but saying that loud would only be understood as a joke.

“I think you are already the best singer in the world, Sharid. I never heard a voice like yours. You could make unbelievable sums of money by working as a singer in a big town.” Ron joins the conversation.

“Oh, please. Stop the flattery! Besides, I wouldn't get to see the world! What's life worth if you always stay in one place!” I correct the grip on my backpack while I avoid a root on the path.

“It wasn't...” -Ron

But Sondo interrupts him by raising an arm to signal the group to stop. “We are surrounded. There is something in the bushes ahead and to our sides behind the trees.”

“Can we turn and run?” Iris takes the shield from her back.

“I don't think that we would get away, but....” -Sondo

The sound of an ork-horn interrupts him. With the signal thirty armed orks jump out of the thick underwood twenty metres in front of us.

Eight orks leave their hidings to our left and nine to our right! That amounts to fourty seven enemies! We are hopelessly outnumbered!

But Maxime keeps her cool and immediately throws a binding spell onto the enemies to our right while Sondo throws a big smoke bomb at the main group. It's immediately followed by a set of different other grenades. Then Sondo draws his daggers and enters the smoke screen.

While flashes of light throw the main group into disarray, Iris and Ron make a stand against the attack from our left.

I start to sing a hymn of strength and defence to assist my comrades. Four orks stop their advance in order to deal with our close range fighters while the others simply run past them to attack our rear guard.

“Sharid! Maxime!” -Ron

“I can't bind them and defend myself!” Maxime has a frightful face while the shackles of light on the group to our right start to flicker.

I step before Maxime while I continue to sing. The first ork arrives with a raised axe and I jump forward to kick him in the groin while I catch the axe which was coming down at me.

The ork is lifted two metres into the air while I throw the axe at the second ork. The axe enters his rusty chest plate with a satisfying *Thud*.

As the third ork arrives, I evade the first swing of his rusty blade and give him a back handed slap to the face. His head bends backwards into an unhealthy angle and I grab the rusty sword out of his limp fingers.

The fourth ork wields a mace at me but I use the rusty sword to redirect it and the mace buries itself into the ground. A quick kick to the ork's shin snaps the bone with a crunching sound and the monster falls backwards.

Before he can get up his skull is crushed under the sole of my foot. Haaah! I like it to ~crush~ bad guys.

Picking up the mace, I turn to finish off my first opponent / ~victim~. He is still on his knees while the mace comes down on his neck and ends his miserable existence.

Having dealt with the disturbance, I concentrate my full attention on singing again. With the enhanced strength and agility our close combat fighters manage to deal with their enemies rather easily.

Then they advance towards the shackled group and start a bloody execution.

I turn my attention to the lifting smoke screen and realize that something bad happened on Sondo's side.

There are orks emerging out of the smoke. I switch my aria to a song which weakens enemies. The orks fall to their knees with strained expressions on their faces.

Spellweaving is a very powerful art, but it comes with a price. Spells which affect such a huge area come with a hefty consumption of mana. Mana is a power within ones soul. It's directly connected with your ability to concentrate and your life force.

And I feel my reserves dwindle! Singing so many powerful spells is using almost my entire power. The last song is especially difficult because I have to suppress all enemies affected by it.

I feel my concentration wavering while I try to use every ounce of power within me. I have to do this! Thirty enemies at the same time are too much for this group!

Pearls of sweat are forming on my forehead while I feel the last of my power disappearing. But there has to be more! I continue to sing while I search within myself for anything besides my own life force.

But scraping a bit off of my own life is better than dying? Isn't it? I continue to sing while my comrades finish the last of the shackled opponents and advance towards the main group.

My voice starts to waver while my life diminishes with each word. But I have to hold on.

When my life is almost gone, I suddenly realize a small spark of power within myself. It is so small. I would have never felt it if I hadn't drained my reserves to that extend!

Like someone dying of thirst, I grab for that small spark of power and suddenly an unbelievable force floods through my entire being!

There is so much mana! More than I ever felt before. It shakes my entire being. A white nothingness of pure power is all around me and I become aware of streams of pure energy through all my surroundings.

I never felt them before. I never realized that there was so much power everywhere all along! Then I am overwhelmed by this new realization of reality and everything goes dark.

..

…

….

…..

A slow swaying motion wakes me up and I open my eyes. A slight pain stings into them, as I am blinded by the light. “Ouch! Too bright!”

“Sharid? You are awake? Thank the gods! Ron, set her down!” Maxime's voice reaches my ears.

“What happened?” I blink as I am helped off of Ron. Looks like he carried me on his back.

“You were out cold for a day. We are almost out of the forest!” Sondo looks at me with a worried face. He has a pretty big bump on his forehead. Did he run into a tree?

“Ngh! I am so sorry! You guys had to carry me all the way?” I get to my feet. Somehow I feel light!

“Careful! You don't have to apologize. You saved us all with that last song. To hold down that many orks. I am sorry. You even used your own life force! Are you sure you are able to stand?” Iris gives me another worried look.

“It's okay! I never felt better! What's wrong with you guys?” I smile at them.

“Um... your hair...” Ron points at me with an awkward expression.

I pull my hair into my view and become aware of a pure white strand. It seems to origin from my left temple. “Hm. Does it look cool? It gives me a villain look doesn't it? Can you tell me what happened?”

Iris takes the lead in explaining things. “After you started that last song, we hurried to deal with the paralysed orks. We realized that you started to burn your own life to keep them in check and worked as fast as we could.”

She takes a breath.

“But when we were halfway done, you suddenly emitted this light and your whole body started glowing. You sang and sang. It was like a messenger of the gods came to the mortal realm. And then you suddenly dropped to the ground and were unconscious. Nothing we did could wake you up and so we carried you all the way here.”

“Ah. I see.... thank you guys. Looks like I was a burden in the end.” I bow to them.

“No way! Without you we would have been goners! When those orks broke our line of defence you stepped in front of Maxime. From which spell did you get that barbarous strength!?” Ron bursts out.

“Barbarous?” I pout my lips and Iris cuffs Ron into the side. “I was just training in the mountains with my master. He didn't allow me weapons and so I had to deal with various wild beasts just by using my fists. There were snow pumas, bears and mountain gorillas. But especially the most problematic ones, which are the cave trolls. Those are really strong fellows! Dealing with an ork is like kicking a child compared to them.”

The group stares at me with astounded expressions. “And it's good if a supporter can take care of himself in case something gets past the front lines!”

Iris shakes her head. “I thought she was the delicate type. From tomorrow on, I will fight a bear bare handed every day!”

“I will go and train alone in the mountains after this.” Ron kicks a pebble on the roadside.

“I will join you!” Maxime calls out towards Ron.

“Next time I will prepare more smoke bombs!” Sondo is the only one who makes the smart choice.

With this our group parts at the next city. They still thanked me quite a few times for saving them till we parted.

Then I start to stroll in awe through the town. I am bewitched by my new senses and those streams of power everywhere.

If I concentrate, I can sense them. They are everywhere! They run through the earth, the air and the sky! A gigantic endless network! And this limitless power I feel within myself!

Out of curiosity I try to grab one of the small and weak streams of power. Before I know it, I stand on the grassy field in front of the town. How did I get here? I was inside the town a second ago!

“Feels cool to be a god, heh?” Nazareth's voice comes from my left knee and turn towards him.

“~Master!~” I grab the little gnome and hug him tightly. “Did I make it!”

“Gah! That's enough! Let me down! I will suffocate!” Nazareth wriggles out of my grasp.

Is he embarrassed? Oh, now I know how to deal him a blow!

“Listen! Young god! I suggest you travel through the multiverse from now on and learn everything of interest.” -Nazareth

“Multiverse?” I arch my eyebrows.

“Oh. You see those strings of power everywhere? By grabbing one and holding onto them you can travel to different worlds and realities. It's a unique ability of us gods. Like that huge mana pool. But be careful! You can still die if you take a fatal wound. But by emitting your mana as an aura you can become almost invincible.” -Nazareth

“Invincible?” I feel like a fool to ask like that.

“Yes. But don't overvalue it. Other gods can still hurt you. Oh, and thanks to that huge mana pool, you have an effectively limitless lifespan now. And now for the rules!” Nazareth points a finger at me.

“Since when have gods rules?” I am completely baffled now.

“There are! First. Don't fight with other gods! It always ends bad! Second! Don't play too much with mortals! If you mess with them too much the big societies will punish you. Third! If you ever meet a newly born god, you have to give him directions.” -Nazareth

“Societies?” Aw! I fell back into that shema!

“There are multiple big societies of gods. They are similar to nations.” Nazareth sits down on a small rock. “The biggest ones are as following. First the Perseides Alliance, they created their own world for gods and like it to keep to their own kind. They protect the planets under their jurisdiction like bloodhounds. Don't mess with one of their toys or you will have a bad time.”

“They created their own world!?” I have to see that!

“Yeah. But access isn't free. You have to be a member of their club.” Nazareth shoots me immediately down. “Then there is the Arcane Community. They have their base on an artificial moon. They are all science nerds. If you don't talk in formulas, you shouldn't waste your time with them.” -Nazareth

“There is also the Gaian Pact. All of them are nature freaks. They want to keep the multiverse healthy or something like that. I am a god of nature myself, but they are on another level. I can't really associate with them. They are all around the multiverse. You are sure to run into one of them sooner or later.” Nazareth folds his hands.

“The Unity is also a group of oddballs with their own world. They are shutting themselves in their world and try to live normal lifes. As far as it is possible for gods.” -Nazareth

“Is there a problem?” I look into his disturbed face.

“Well that brings me to rule number four. It isn't really a rule but you should follow it for your own good. Don't have children. They will be mortal and grow old and die under your eyes. Pretty depressing if you make that mistake too often.” -Nazareth

“Ow.” That's a disturbing thought.

“Unless you join one of the big societies of course. Those with planets have a way to have children who are gods too. But like I said, you have to join the club.” Nazareth shrugs his shoulders.

“The Unity is another group with their own planet. They keep to themselves for most of the time. Though they are always trying to find new gods to join their ranks.”

“The Carne Empire has a planet too. It's lead by some kind of legendary harem king. Keep away from there for your own good!”

“That one was a pretty short introduction?” -Me

“So you want to join a harem? I didn't realize that you swing that way. You will have no problems then, he takes....” But Nazareth gets interrupted by me.

“Continue! What about Angrod!” He is right! I don't want to hear it! I want to know where I have to go to give him a beating!

“You should go and contact Miruliru from The Path first. She told me to give you her invitation to visit her for tea. The Path is the next big faction. They are firm believers that gods should try to get as many mortal worshippers as possible. It's their opinion that gods should guide the mortals under them” Nazareth ignores my question.

“So this world belongs to The Path?” This is getting really complicated. I should pay Miruliru a visit. She saved me twice.

“This world is neutral. But it's under the supervision of the Chimerans. Angrod is their king and if you would have to put them into a power ranking with the other societies, they are the strongest force. They also have their own planet and are a closed society. In case that a demon outbreak occurs, they will come and interfere.” -Nazareth

“That brings me to to the last point. If you ever come across a crystalline sphere, blue, about a metre big, levitating in the air and spinning like crazy. Crush it immediately with all your power. It's a gateway for soul eating demons. They can eat gods too. They are remnants from a long war against a great evil.” Nazarath smiles at me while my jaw drops.

“Now for directions. See that very big fat pathway in the sky? That one leads to Asheim. It's a place for all powers to meet and talk. If you get lost, that one always leads there. So it's very convenient for you!” He grins at me. “But the Chimerans are in charge of Asheim, just for the information. And that other big one left on the horizon to that mountain? That one brings you directly to The Path! And you don't have to touch a pathway in order to use it. Just concentrating on it is enough.”

Nazareth folds his arms behind his back and looks at me with expectant eyes.

“Uuh. I guess it's time to thank you for everything then?” I smile at master.

“No problem. It's an honour to help the finest twin mountains I have ever seen.” The gnome grins at me while my expression drops.

“In the name of everything you have done for me. I will not ~execute~ you for that remark.” -Me

After a last wave at my master, I turn around to take a look at this ~multiverse~!

Another realm and a group of gods

“You have done it! You are a genius Nazareth! To lead her back to godhood within a few years! Freedom!” -lesser deity

“And now she is gone and we are free!” -Nazareth

“PARTY! Three years of guarding her every step from dying of hunger in the wild.” - minor god

“Why do you look so sad Nuin?” -Zenial, High goddess of the moon

“I just thought that I would have to peek on lesser girls from now on...... it's lucky that I took a few pictures before she left.” -Nuin, High god of the sun

“I get your troubles.....” -Nazareth

“All the years I had to look at those superior tits of hers!” -minor deity

“PERVERTS!” -Zenial, High goddess of the moon

“Anyone thought about what would happen if Angrod ever remembered about her and asked us where she is?” -minor goddess

“...” -Silence

“Find her!” “But she is out there in the multiverse!” “Impossible!” “She will get lost at the first corner!” “Save her!” “AAAAH!” “We are doomed!” “Don't burn my pictures!” “Because of them you didn't do your job!” …..

….

…

..

.

94 - Being a daddy! And teatime?

“He ran away!? Why didn't you stop him Seria?” Dad calls out in a surprised voice while sitting on his throne.

“Geez! Don't call it running away. He just wanted to travel the multiverse and have a little bit of fun. It isn't like he won't come back at all.” I try to calm dad down.

“Hmpf. I wanted to give him a few jobs. Maybe retiring completely if he proved to be a good leader.” Dad seems a little down.

“Maybe it isn't so bad if he takes a good look at the multiverse first.” I smile at dad.

“Haah. There goes my vacation. Well, I am willing to let him run amok until it gets boring. It can't take more than a few years.” Dad leans back in his throne with a grumpy expression.

“Ahaha. Don't be so negative! If it gets out of hand I will drag him home.” I am confident to set him right if the need should arise.

“At least my cute little daughter is reliable! How about trying your luck as an envoy in Asheim?” Father has a dirty expression on his face!

“Dad! You have that grin again...... what's the other side of the coin?” I have to probe for more information.

Dad slumps down on his chair. “You will have to deal with all those pests from the other powers.”

I grin at Angrod with a bright expression. “Then I will have to show them who the boss is!”

“.... actually. It might not be such a good idea. Do you want to have a political marriage instead? *Urgh* *Cough* *Cough*” -Angrod

I immediately jumped at that idiot father and gave him a flying knee into the belly. “What day and age are you from!?”

“Thanks to you, your parents had also a political marriage! It would be fair to have you experience the same fate!” -Angrod

“I am a different person now! It would be unfair to hold me accountable for the actions of my previous perverted self!” There you have it! Now a few tears! By combining mom's control of the inner mana flow and dad's telekinesis you can achieve some pretty convenient things.

“Huh?” -Angrod

And now the finishing strike! “Don't you think I have enough issues on my own! All those perverted memories of the old Seria, meddling with other peoples love life! And the peeking! I should have never taken that soul marble! You are a horrible father!” I turn around to run toward the exit.

“W... Wait! I am sorry! Of course you can do what you want!” Angrod calls after me with a troubled voice.

I stop. “Really? *sniff*” Okay! The snot out of my nose may have been a little too much. That's disgusting.

Angrod comes to me and hugs me. “Of course! You can go for whatever guy you like! And if he doesn't treat you correctly, dad will have a little conversation with him under two eyes.”

Wait a moment? “*Sniff* Just two?”

“Yeah! Someone who disrespects my daughter doesn't need useless organs.” Angrod strokes my head while failing completely as a parent.

I hug dad in order to have an excuse for not looking into his face. Scary! What else do you deem useless? “Okay.”

“Why is big sis crying?”

My little sisters suddenly appeared around us! Oh so cute! I always wanted to be a big sis! All my dreams came true! Big Sis and little sister in one! “It's nothing! Big Sis got just a little agitated.”

I bend down to hug the little Lada. Mwahaha! It will be the best once she regains her memories! Especially how she lost that bet and had to become my little sister! She will never find out that I cheated her with Aengus's help.

“We want to play with you! You promised to teach us a few tricks!” Eris grabs me from the side and links arms with me.

“Yes! Or we could go tower jumping again!” Arianne starts to jump happily. “I found a really big cliff with a sea under it! And there are no guards who could disturb us!”

“I don't want to get wet!” Eris starts to pout her lips.

“You could try to take a pathway right before impact! That would be a new challenge!” -Lada

“Oh, YESS! Cool idea! Whoever gets closer to the ground wins!” -Arianne

“Don't do weird stuff!” Angrod snaps at them.

“Daddy is mean!” “Scary dad!” “We aren’t allowed to have fun...”

“Please don't jump from high places! If Celes finds out we will all be in trouble! Promise!” Angrod makes a stand before the triplets.

“If you take us somewhere cool?” “Like the zoo!” “Mnn. Fine...”

“Ehm... Do what you want! I have work to do!” Angrod vanishes by using a pathway.

“Does anyone know why daddy always runs away when we ask him to take us to the zoo?”

“Nope.”

“But it's the perfect magic word to get rid of him.”

“Though we need a word to make him appear to!”

“That would be too convenient.”

“He would be the perfect daddy.”

“Always there when you need him.”

“Always gone when you don't need him.”

The tails of the triplets swing in perfect synchronisation from left to right while they contemplate about Angrod's peculiarities.

Then they turn in perfect unison towards me. “Now we can play!”

The Path, Headquarters!

“Ahahaha. I would have never thought that you would manage to reclaim your godhood that fast!” Miruliru takes a sip of her tea.

“Well, I guess I had a lot of help.” I eat another one of the delicious cookies.

“So what do you plan next? Do you want to join the path and work for me?” Miruliru gives me a heartwarming smile.

“I appreciate the offer, but I need to learn a lot of stuff first! Everything is completely new to me.” I bow a little to the goddess before me.

“Hah. I know! I suppose you have great plans. Like getting back at Angrod?” -Miruliru

“Yes! That's for sure! So can you help me taking revenge?” I grab her petite little hand.

“Forget it!” -Miruliru

“What? Why!” I slide to the floor.

“Because revenge means just bad karma. And besides. The current you is very weak. You don't even have basic knowledge about your new environment.” -Miruliru

“Then can you tell me at least why I was punished?” I go my knees and bow to Miruliru.

“Does it matter? Well I guess you will find out sooner or later anyway. You were a puppet of the great Calamity and did some pretty bad things as El Shaddai.”-Miruliru

“That name sounds male......” I can't help it. Somehow it sounds familiar.

“Tch! She noticed....” Miruliru turns to the side with an unhappy expression.

I sit up! “Oh. Nonono!”

Miruliru starts to grin.

“NOOOO! YOU WANT TO TELL ME THAT I WAS A GUY!” Somehow everything is swirling a little. “What kind of extraordinary pervert is that Angrod?”

“The kind who harnesses very long grudges. You should be happy. There are individuals who are worse off than you. So do you still want your past back? I don't think that the current you would be very happy with those memories.” Miruliru places another piece of sugar in her tea.

“NO!” I won't manage to cope with that! “I am a woman!”

“~Without a doubt.~” -Miruliru

“You are making fun of me!” I cover my face with my hands. This is too much!

“Don't fret over it. If you would have become a god the normal way you would have had a few gender switches anyway. The multiverse isn't so nice as to place your soul in a fitting body during every reincarnation.” -Miruliru

“Haaaaah?” What is she talking about.

Miruliru sighs. “You know what? We will get some soul-mages and they will force feed you some basic knowledge! That makes talking much easier!”

“Force feed?” I don't like the sound of that!

“Don't worry. It's tested and reliable. There are very few cases of fried brains!” Miruliru takes me at the hand and leads me out of the office.

That's when her words hit me.

“?!Fried BRAIN!?”

…..

….

…

..

.

My head hurts! All that knowledge! “I feel like I was a barbarian before...”

“Comes close. Don't worry. It's the case for almost every mortal. Even those who have a few reincarnations behind them.” Miruliru has a happy expression now.

“Even so... am I not at a permanent disadvantage now? Other gods have thousands of years more life experience than me. Not counting the really old ones.” -Me

“It isn't so bad. There are very few of those. And there are always some new arrivals. Think of yourself as a newborn.” Miruliru claps her hands together. “By the way. You should go to Asheim and get yourself registered as a neutral god.”

“But isn't Asheim controlled by Angrod's faction?” I am worried about that.

“No problem. Nobody besides the rulers of the big societies knows who you are. Angrod has to protect his reputation. And those minor gods who had an eye on you while you were mortal are sworn to secrecy. If they wouldn't keep their mouth shut, Angrod would burn their world to cinders.” -Miruliru

“Hey!” That's my world too! And my family lives there!

“Ahaha. Sorry about that. And afterwards you could take a look around the multiverse. Seeing everything for yourself is better than just knowing. You know? Mwahaha!” -Miruliru

“I still don't know how to thank you for your guidance.” I hope she doesn't want payment later.

“It's fine. I was just a little disturbed by Angrod's grudge. It's not okay to relieve your stress on someone who doesn't even know why.” Miruliru signals me to follow and leads me outside onto the balcony.

“You remember? The biggest pathway leads to Asheim. It's better if you get yourself registered as a god. You have to know your divinity if you want to improve your power.” Miruliru looks into my eyes and immediately understands that I don't get it.

“Your divinity is the mental state of your mind which is responsible for your power. I suppose you already realized that being a god is purely a state of the mind. The further you are able to dive into that ….. feeling, the more power you get. My divinities are faith and determination. I draw power from the knowledge that many people believe in me.” Miruliru smiles at me.

I think about it for a moment. “So you don't get stronger because they believe in you, but because you believe that they believe in you? So if you would manage to believe that everyone in the multiverse believes in you.....”

“..... I would be the strongest god in the multiverse. Yes. And if you register yourself, you will get tested for your divinity. Spares you the time to find it out on your own.” Miruliru offers me her hand and I shake it.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. I did it for my own amusement after all.”

The little goddess leaves with a dirty grin on her face and walks back inside.

95 - Asheim!

Then for Asheim! ~Shanana!~ If all this new common knowledge is true then it should be a breathtaking sight to behold!

I concentrate on the big pathway and from one second to the next, I stand on a big platform made out of crystal. Around me are blue crystal towers! Wow! Everything is sparkling!

So dizzy!? Why? It's beautiful but everything is spinning....

*Flop*

Ah! I fell on my back. “HhhhHHh!” Why is it so hard to breathe?

“Ah... another newby! And a hot one at that! Do you want to go on a date?” A male guard comes into my view.

*Smack!*

“Don't you see that she is suffocating!” A female guard instantly hit her co-worker. “Hey, newby! Concentrate on your mana and release it through your body. The air on this world is toxic. You have to heal and enforce yourself by strengthening your aura!”

“Geh! Why do you bother? Most of them suffocate anyway. We patch them up and it's done. Teaching newbies is a waste of time. Even if they are hot chicks! And it's easier to hit on them if they think that they owe you a favour.” -male guard

My power! That bastard guard! I search for the power within myself and start to release it through my body. “Haaaaa! That feels much better!”

The female guard pulls me to my feet. “Don't take it too serious. It's a joke amongst the gods to send the new arrivals here without telling them about the environment. That's why we are stationed here. It's too bothersome to deal with the dead bodies of newbies.”

The guard smirks at me. Are those Chimerans? Idiots! Station a healer here! What if someone doesn't get the trick in time!

“So? What about the date newbie?” The male guard asks me with lecherous eyes.

“~~If you run a hundred thousand laps around this platform within the day I might consider it~~”

“Really?!” -male guard

“~~YES!~~”

The guard starts running. No chance in hell that he will manage it. Mwahaha! Punishing evildoers is the best! I love it!

“That's a neat little trick newbie! But don't do it again or I will throw you into the prison! Disrespecting the law is heavily punished. I will overlook it this time because he is an idiot.” The female guard smirks at me.

Oh, no! I didn't even think about this! This could have ended badly. “Oh... Thank you! I guess I was carried away. Can you give me directions? I am completely new to this god-business.”

“Sure. You see the big central tower? At it's feet is a big plaza with stores and the evaluation centre. You can get yourself registered there. Have a nice day.” -female guard

I wave at the female guard and start to walk towards the central tower. No need to rush! There is so much to see! A town out of crystals! Now that's what you call a place for gods!

Not bad at all. Who knew that the Chimerans had such a sparkling taste? While I walk, I realize that this town is very lively! There are people... uh.. gods.. people... well I guess we are still people? Anyway! There are so many people here!

They are trading goods or talking. And they all look different. There are so many different races, I rarely see more than one or two individuals who look similar.

After a while I arrive at the plaza. Ha! I am proud! I didn't even get lost! But I suppose it would be sad to lose your direction with a really big tower bathing the city in it's shadow.

Now I just have to ask someone for this registration thingy! I choose a shop owner, who doesn't look very busy.

“Excuse me! Can you tell me where you can register yourself as a new god?” I decide to be blunt.

“Over there at the foot of the tower miss!” The shop owner points out the direction.

That's when my eyes fall onto the price tags on his goods. The goods are all made out of crystal and the finest materials I have ever seen.

“What is GP?” I am looking at a fine looking mirror which is tagged with fifty thousand GP!

“Those are guildpoints young lady. A guildpoint is equivalent to a decent meal.” The shop owner gives me a short answer and I thank him while I turn to leave.

Those things are fucking expensive! But I guess that gods would only trade luxury items to each other. What a bother. So I probably can't afford anything in this city!

“AAAAAAAA!”

“HAHAHAHA!”

“HOHOHOHO!”

“KYAAAAA!”

Hmmm? What's that voice? Is someone in danger? Strange. Nobody is paying any attention to the screams?

“Miss! Above! Evade! They are jumping again!” The shop owner from earlier calls out to me.

Huh? Above? WaWaWaWa! Falling bodies!

“AAAAAAAA!” *Thud*

Waa! So close that almost.... HIII!

“HAHAHAHA!” *Thud*

There are more!

“HOHOHOHO!” *Thud*

“KYAAAAA!” *Thud*

“I won! I WON! HA!” “Again!” “Sis.... you got one!” “Nice! It's hard to hit one!” “Hn! They get better at evading every day!”

“Owie! That hurt!” They fell on me! Two of them!

“Miss are you okay?”

I look up and realize that a red haired demon is holding her hand towards me. A real demon! With horns and tail! I thought those exist just in fairy tails and as statues above my mothers house!

“Um. Thanks. I guess I am not injured. My name is Sharid and I am new here.” Ugh. Why do the eyes of that demon sparkle so suddenly?

“I am Seria! You are a new god? Welcome to Asheim! Those are my little sisters. Lada, Eris and Arianne!” The red haired beautiful girl introduces me to the other three members of her party.

The family resemblance is outstanding. Horns, tails and faces. Just that the little sisters have black hair instead of Seria's blood red colour.

“Um thanks. I was just about to get myself registered when you fell on me. Why did you even fall from the tower! Did someone throw you?” Is this some kind of punishment here?

“It's a game!” “You have to jump and hit people!” “Wanna try?”

The little sisters answer my question in an unexpected way. “Um. Sorry. I will pass on that!”

“You could be the target!” “The others here got too good at evading!” “Wanna try?”

“I have to register myself first! Maybe we can play when I have an idea of my situation.” Or NEVER! I won't jump, nor will I be a target!

“Then we will continue.” “You know where we are!” “Just wait down here if you want to train evasion!”

The three kids disappear and Seria gives me an apologetic look. “They are a little to enthuiastic about this game. Please don't be mad at them. Want me to give you a little guided tour? There is much to see in Asheim!”

I bow to Seria. “That would be very helpful, but I can't reward you!”

“Hahaha! There is no need for a reward! Come to the registration first! That will take some time. I am also curious about your divinities!” Seria grabs my hand and pulls me along.

Soon after I am before a female examiner who is taking my information like name, gender, age, political alignment.....

“So, that's done then. Welcome as a new god, Sharid. Here is your identification crystal with all your data and 1000 GP as a starting capital.” -Examiner

“1000GP!” I shout out in surprise.

“It's nothing. You will need it. Even very powerful and lucky newbies need two to three years in order to find employment in a guild.” -Examiner

Oh! Should I have taken Miruliru's offer to join her society? This sounds very harsh!

“So what about that test for my divinity?” I ask with a curious voice. This didn't take long at all.

“That's five hundred GP to take it at the next big examination please. Nine hundred If you want to take it immediately!” -Examiner

“That's stealing! You Chimerans are money grubbers!” I have to call out at that price! They give you money, just to take it back immediately!

“Hahaha! I will pay for you Sharid. Buy yourself something nice with the rest of the money. It should be enough for some decent equipment if you search for the cheap stores.” Seria waves a crystal at the examiner.

“Y... You can't do that! How will I pay you back!?” I can't take money!

“No problem! No problem! Actually I am filthy rich! Those are peanuts to me! I am aiming for a position in the government.” Seria waves at me while the examiner pushes a big stash of papers into my hands.

“Answer those questions completely truthful! If you lie and the examination fails.... NO MONEY RETURNED!” -Examiner

…

..

.

Half an hour later I am done and wait with Seria before the examiners test. “Kuh! That felt more like a psychological test than anything else.”

“It is a psychological test!” Examiner answers while ticking off some things on my papers. “And finally! We are done! Welcome in the ranks of gods! Sharid, goddess of lust, ~masochism~ and ~sadism~!”

“OOOooohh! Three divinities! Like my brother! You are very gifted Sharid. Three divinities are rare!” Seria pats my back.

“Waaait! Whyyyy! I am neither of those! Something is definitely wrong here!” I make a denying gesture at the examiner.

“I am good at my job! I don't make mistakes!” -Examiner

“Then how? I am not like that!” There has to be a mistake.

“Your divinities are strongly influenced by your mental state at the moment right before your ascension. If I could take a look at your memories, I could explain it to you.” -Examiner

“Uum! That's a little...” Can I do that?

“I won't look at anything else. Just the moment you show me.” -Examiner

I nod and the examiner grabs my hands. A few moments later she lets go.

“Hmm. Very interesting. You remember when you crushed that ork's brain? You felt lust and satisfaction by hurting those orks. It turned you on in a sexual way!” -Examiner

“Urgh! I don't want to believe it! Then why masochism!” -Me

“Because you decided to stop the rest of the orks at the cost of your own life-power. You continued to hurt yourself while doing the thing you love the most and that's singing. You felt the pleasure of singing and the pain of losing your life at the same time.” The examiner gives me a dirty smirk.

I drop to my knees while Seria pats my back. “It will work out! You actually have the best matching set of divinities I have ever seen. HahaHAHAHAAHAHA!”

96 - Signing your fate!

By the time we left the registration office I was completely destroyed. How could something like that happen to me. It's cruel!

I never realized that I had those kinds of feelings. “No matter how you look at it. This is my social end! How can I face other people with a straight face while having those kinds of divinities!”

“Don't be so hard on yourself. Look at me! I am a goddess of life and death! Guess how I felt when I found out that I get stronger by committing mass murder or granting life by hooking people up as couples!” Seria makes a dismissive gesture and smiles at me.

“And your boyfriend will be on cloud nine when he finds out!” Seria gives me a stupid smirk.

“Yeah... I guess. If I ever find a decent one after this revelation.” It's not fair! I wished for a real romantic romance, marrying and living happily ever after.

"Heeh. So you don't have one.... unexpected." -Seria

We leave the building and I become aware of a commotion on the plaza.

“Seria! Where are you!”

A really pretty high grade demoness is standing in the centre of the area. She looks very similiar to Seria, just a little older. Two limp bodies are hanging in each of her arms! A third one is held at the ankle by her tail and hangs there without moving.

“COME OUT!”

She is shrieking like crazy with a really angry expression on her face. The people on the plaza don't react to her. It's as if they are deliberately trying to pretend that they have neither seen nor heard anything.

“I will disown you!”

A really dangerous aura starts pressing down on me and I have problems staying upright under the pressure. That's when I realize that Seria is hiding behind me. “Who is that?”

“That's my mom! She caught my little sisters. May the gods have mercy on their souls! She hates it when we play tower jumping.” Seria pulls me into a side alley and peeks around the corner.

“Your mom! But she can't be much older than you! She is twenty five at most!” I arch my eyebrow.

“Sharid. We are gods. Do you think that our outer appearance has to reflect our age?” Seria snickers at me.

Then I realize how stupid I am. Miruliru looks like a child while she is actually an old granny. “So? I guess you will have to hide.”

“What are you saying! We still have to take a look around the town!” Seria grabs my hand and pulls me away from the plaza.

…..

…

..

.

Afterwards she gave me a guided tour through the whole city. Haaa. I feel like I know every shop and clothing store now. Right now we are having a small rest in a coffee shop.

And why does it seem like Seria is a very well known person? She said that she is filthy rich, so her family is probably well known.

But this goes beyond being popular! Almost everyone on the street made room for us. Some people even bowed to her. “Seria? Are you some kind of superstar?”

“Bwhahaha! Nah! Nothing like that. I am just the first Princess of Chimera!” Seria proclaims something insane which makes my mind blank out.

She is the princess? And Angrod is the king? “That means the frightening woman from the plaza was the Queen!?”

“Yup! That was mom.” The strange princess confirms my thoughts with a happy look on her face.

But what should I do from here? Wouldn't it be a good opportunity to get revenge on Angrod by using her? But she is such a nice person! And she helped me! I can't use her like that for such a petty reason.

Even though my grudge runs very deep. Involving others in my problems is still bad. Haaaa.... and if my new knowledge about history is true... I … somehow... deserved... NOOO! I didn't deserve it! My current personality doesn't even have any memories of the past me!

And we became friends! Somehow? I think we are friends now! I can't do something like that to a friend.

This is a great problem! What if Angrod suddenly shows up and recognizes me!? Bad! Bad! Bad! ~Super Final DEAD End Situation!~

“You don't have to be so shocked about it! I am not like those princesses out of a bad movie. Just relax! And mom isn't as dangerous as she appeared either.” -Seria

“Then why does your face look like you just told me the biggest lie ever!” That wasn't serious at all!

“Okay! Mom can be a little frightening. But she has a righteous heart. Jumping onto people is an absolute ~no go~ for her. Even though it's fun!” Seria slams her hand onto the table.

“I don't get how it should be fun. But as long as nobody gets injured I guess......” It's hard for me to justify something like that as funny. If you would jump onto a villain..... but those were random people. On the other hand I am a villain in disguise so.....

“Why do you have a lecherous grin like that on your face? Did you see a good guy? Tell me!” -Seria

I immediately get my expression back under control. “Sorry. I just thought about something really stupid. Nothing to share with others.”

“Mu... you are no fun! So tell me at least what you plan to do next?” Seria tilts her head and looks at me.

“Next?” I blink my eyes.

“From now on. You are registered as a neutral god now. Will you join one of the big societies? Or will you work for a guild? Or try to play god for the mortals. You could create a really hilarious religion.” Seria's expression becomes really creepy.

“~NOOO!~ I won't, I will never, ever create a religion! I would die of shame!” Haaaah. That's the least of my intentions! “I thought about wandering the multiverse, to see a few different places. Maybe find somewhere to settle down. Looking in on my mortal family from time to time.”

“Oh. So you still have those kinds of bonds. I am sorry. It will be hard to watch them grow old while you continue to live on.” Seria has a sad expression on her face.

I know that it will be hard, mentally. But on the emotional side, I guess that I don't fully realize the consequences of my situation.

“Don't think too much over it. If you want to enjoy yourself, I have a really cool recommendation for you!” Seria grabs my shoulders and starts to jump with a bright face.

“And that would be?” Don't taunt me like that and give me the full story!

“Okay! There is a world named Amor. It has a fantasy setting with a demon lord and a hero! The god who is in charge of the world made a guild request to assist the hero from the shadows to create peace!” Seria nods after thinking for a second.

“It's the perfect playground for a new god! You could go there and have some fun! From what I heard that place has some really awesome landscapes! I will go and snatch the required documents! Wait here!” Suddenly Seria winks out of existence.

Huh? I didn't even give my confirmation! How irrational can someone be?

Then Seria reappears before me and presses a stash of papers into my hands. “That's the complete contract! You just have to sign. There is no hidden trick to it.”

“F... Fast!” I take the papers to have a look at them. This is suspicious.

“Hahaha. I have some connections! Originally I intended to sign the contract myself to have some fun. So I had them ready for signing.” -Seria

“If it's like that..... isn't it bad then? It feels like I am stealing your vacation!” If the situation is like that I can't sign this.

“No problem! And if you work there for a while, I know where to find you. I will come from time to time and play! There is no need to have a contract with the god of that world. If he has something against me, I will send my dad to have a word with him!” -Seria

She might be more dangerous than I thought! How much influence does she have on her father!? “I guess?”

I take the offered pen to sign the papers. But a second before I write my name a really bad feeling crawls down my spine! Something is fishy!

Suddenly Seria's hand encases my hand with the pen! It's like a steel vice! I can't even budge!

“~It's really no trick behind it! Just sign!~”

Seria's hand guides me slowly and deliberately while creating a !perfect! copy of my signature! From where does she even know it!?

AH! The registration process from earlier!

“~No matter how you look at it! This is just wrong!~”

“~It's going to be all right.~”

97 - The mistakes of youth?

GYAAA! How can this be!? This stupid job! I was charged with creating peace! Why is my party preparing for the final battle of this war!? NYAAA!

Ok! Think about it! When I visited this world for the first time I started to gather information. There is a big continent which is formed like an hourglass lying on its side.

The west is controlled by the darkness faction. The east is under the supervision of the light faction. Both of them are stuck in an endless war because of their ideologies. But nobody could get the upper hand till now because the narrow land bridge is a perfect geological barrier between them.

Even if one side is momentarily weakened, it's very easy to defend because the land bridge is rife with fortresses.

The light faction is made up of humans, elves, fairies and dwarves. The darkness faction consists mostly of beastmen, demons, orks and goblins. Though the last two aren't as bad as I know them from my world. They have a highly evolved society and cities of their own.

First I tried to interfere just with small actions. But somehow everything I did went wrong. I found a super strong trainer for the hero and ~convinced~ him to train the hero.

Then I organized a really strong weapon for him and had him learn about ethics from a peaceful monk.

Afterwards I had him gather a group of really strong allies.

But the moment my hero started to fight in the war, an equally strong character named -the demon king- appeared on the darkness faction's side.

From there, everything went out of control. Originally I wanted the light faction to win and create peace. But now it got bloodier than ever because they didn't manage to defeat the darkness faction.

Then I decided to take action personally! I disguised myself as a wandering spellweaver and joined the hero-party.

From then on I tried to influence them into starting peace negotiations. But nothing worked! Nyaaa! How can anyone be so stupid!

And on top the hero is a really nice guy! Friendly, righteous, noble and smart! For short, he is the perfect gentleman who would never misbehave.

So why are we now standing in row with the light faction's army to crush the darkness faction once and for all!? Why is the darkness faction's army lined up in neat rows before us!

“You look really disturbed, Sharid. Don't worry! We will win this and create ever lasting peace!” The hero calms me from the side. "And... And afterwards, I have to tell you something."

How little does he know.... just do this right and negotiate a peace treaty!

At least there will be one last negotiation attempt before the fighting starts! I will use that moment to reveal myself. Then I will force them to sign a peace treaty!

And if they decide to fight anyway.... I will ~crush~ them!

“Don't worry Royce! I will do ~fine~.” The hero smiles at me and starts to march with a group of representatives onto the open area between the two armies. There are about ten of us.

The other side is sending their own delegation. A group of demons and beastmen comes into our direction.

The group is led by the demon king. We already know him from previous battles. A big vile looking red demon is following him! He is towering above all the others.

As our groups reach a distance of about five meters, the demon king starts to talk. “Surrender! If you don't, my army will crush you! The great demon god Bobo is on our side!”

“You have to surrender! The goddess of light will not bow to misguided creations like you!” Royce follows in the demon king's footsteps.

“No you will disarm right this second!” “Why should we?” “You...” “No! You...”

Noo! You have to be peaceful! Like you would treat humans! They continue to talk past each other! Why? I tried with all my might to give you a proper world-view Royce!

That's when my eyes fall onto the big red monster. It has an unusual aura! So strong! I am not that good at reading auras yet. But isn't he a god!?

So that's why all my attempts to tip the balance of power failed! ~NYAAA!~ I could have thought about that sooner! The other side has the assistance of a god too!

That's when our eyes meet and the demon looks down to the ground. What's that? Is he embarrassed?

“That's it! Bobo! Smite those heretics! There is no other way to deal with them!” The demon king urges the big red demon forward and the people in our group take a step backwards.

They feel that the big red one is dangerous. Eh!? Why am I suddenly in the front? Even Royce took a step backwards. Stupid coward!

The big red monster comes forward and stands in front of me. Uwah! So big! I will never beat this guy! I am not experienced in fighting gods! Ah! But isn't there a rule to not fight with other gods? So I am safe! ~Lucky!~

Suddenly the red monster falls onto one knee. It's still almost at the height of my eyes! Then he takes my hand. Huh? Isn't this a strange pose? What are you thinking!

“My goddess! I was struck by your beauty from the first moment I laid my eyes on you! Would you give this unworthy one the honour of a date?”

“Haaah?” The creature spoke with a really gentle and educated voice! This didn't match at all! You need a brutal and rough voice for a body like that!

“Just one date would be enough! I would give you anything! You are the only one for me. I felt it down to my bones when I saw you. You, or nobody else in the multiverse!”

A confession! By such a thing? Kuh! I could spew blood! Did my abilities go out of control? No I don't think so. Ehm. Let's think. I have to be diplomatic!

“Ah! I am ~sorry~ Bobo. But I think that we don't really match. Of course we could have a little talk to learn about each other. You shouldn't put your hopes up too high though....”

“Oh! Of course! Where are my manners! To confess my feelings while being in disguise! That was just rude. I am sorry!”

*Poof!*

With a small cloud of smoke the red monster suddenly became a really handsome guy! He looks familiar. Somehow he is similar to the statue on my mothers house. Uwaah! If it weren't for the horns and those menacing eyes! But he has black hair and a neat face! ~He is totally my type!~ I think I can overlook the horns and the eyes.

“Please! Go on a date with me!”

“But I have to bring my job here to a peaceful conclusion.....” That's right! I signed that contract.

“No problem! I will wipe this world clean of those fools and then we can talk! I shouldn't take more than a few seconds!”

“Take your hands off of Sharid! You monster!” -Hero

“Bobo! Don't get bewitched by that vixen!” -Demon King

I almost see a vein popping on Bobo's forehead while he keeps a perfect smile towards me. He doesn't even look at them and flicks his finger into their general direction.

*WOOOOOOOOSH*

A shock-wave blows Demon King and Hero away while throwing the soldiers of both armies to the ground. At the same time a barrier appeared around me and protected me from being affected. Was it raised by Bobo? You are overdoing it!

The representatives were somehow able to take cover behind some small rocks. By now they are taking frightened looks at us.

Then Bobo turns towards the representatives.

“You heard the goddess! Sign a peace treaty right this second and honour it! Or I will clean this world of you ~filth~.”

Some representatives immediately start to write a peace contract while others start to give their signatures on a separate paper. That's just wrong! The contract isn't even done yet!

Then the handsome guy turns back towards me. He didn't let go of my hand the entire time.

“Let me reintroduce myself again! My name is Aengus and I fell in love with you at first sight!”

Oh! This becomes worse every time he has to repeat himself. “I guess I will let you choose the location for the first date?” I have to get him away from here. He is capable to massacre both armies!

“I know the perfect place!”

“Shaarriiiid!” -Hero

“Boobooo!” -Demon King

I hear Royce and the Demon King in the distance. Then our surroundings change and I am sitting at a table with luxurious silverware. Aengus used a pathway to take us away!

Above us is a wonderful starlit sky and a strange broken moon. It's hanging above us and a belt of its fragments crosses from one side of the sky to the other while a constant shower of falling stars lights the sky. It's a magnificent view!

“I am happy that you like it, Sharid!” Aengus smiles at me and my face becomes hot. This is unfair! I was totally seen through!

A waiter interrupts us and takes our orders. It feels so unreal. There are other people around us too. Is everyone here a god? Most of them seem to be couples?

I smile at Aengus. “~So why don't you tell me a little about yourself?~”

“Everything you want to know, Sharid.” -Aengus

….

…

..

.

Aengus

I know it! This goddess is meant for me! I felt it when I first saw her! I almost couldn't make up my resolve to talk to her. Luckily the stupid demon king forced me to take action. It would have been stupid if I had just kept admiring her!

So I took her to the best restaurant I know of! Her name is Sharid and she just recently became a god. Luckily for me it looks like she hasn't heard any rumours about me yet!

Maybe I landed the really big hit with her! And she is super cute too, my heart actually skipped a beat when I saw her.

I gave her my life-story while staying as close to the truth as possible. Somehow I managed to avoid telling her that I am the first prince of Chimera. It would be nice if she started to like me without thinking that she could make a really big catch.

Her body is perfect! And her face is top class! That dark brown hair with the white strand just adds to her charm! I could look forever into those hazel eyes.

And she has quite some skills as a spellweaver! She loves singing and magic. It feels like we talked for hours about magic and different spells.

Right now, I am taking her for a walk on a lonely beach on the other side of the planet. Seria suggested it to me. If I ever found a nice girl, I should take her here. She said that the scenery is very romantic! I don't have any clue about romance myself.

So I completely trust in my sisters guidance on nice places throughout the multiverse.

“That moon was something else!” Sharid has a pleased voice and walks shoulder to shoulder with me.

“Ah, yes! I think it was damaged in the war a while ago. Some idiot decided to show off his power and gave it a headbutt.” At least that's the official version. If father didn't lie to me, the truth isn't less funny.

“A headbutt!?” Sharid starts to snicker.

Then our eyes meet and I somehow lose myself while looking at her. Is it okay? I softly touch her cheeks and kiss her.

“Aengus.... there... is... something... ~nya!~”

Before I know it, I have her on the ground with me on top! Oh! This is bad! That wasn't gentleman-like at all! What if she hates me now!

“You don't have to look so troubled Aengus. Could it be that you are actually quite innocent? That's cute!” Sharid grabs my head and pulls me into an embrace while kissing me.

“Sharid..... I … haven't told.... you …. something.” I still have to tell her that I am a prince! But she is moving in a way which drives me mad!

“~Nyhaha~. I don't care any more! It's stupid to do this on the first date! But I think I fell head over heels in ~love~ with you!” She starts to open my trousers with a red face!

“I really have to tell....” Another kiss shuts me up.

“I have a big secret too! But maybe we can work it out later! Please don't kill the mood now.” Sharid looks into my eyes while grinding against my body. Whoa!! How does she do that! And how did she undo her clothes!

After a few minutes of kissing and touching each other, I grab her hands and force them to the ground while my hips start to move on their own. I don't even remember how I got inside her.

Her screams drive me mad. I would kill anybody who interrupts us right now. Then I realize that there's blood where we are connected? How can someone like her be a virgin! I hope I didn't hurt her too much.

But I can't pull out because she has her legs locked around me! Her tongue is inside my mouth and a fiery pulsating wave of pleasure shoots through my entire being.

Then I fall onto her and start to regain the control over myself. She is still shuddering under me.

After a few seconds she calms down. “Haaah... It felt magnificent! So what was your big secret Aengus?” Sharid smiles at me while I rest panting on top of her.

Well I guess the shit will hit the fan sooner or later anyway..... “I am the prince of Chimera.”

Sharid's face becomes expressionless from one moment to the next. “Oh..... shit.... I guess that explains things..... and that makes everything a lot more complicated. I am an idiot.”

I squint my eyes. “And your secret?”

Sharid starts to play with her fingers in front of her chest. She still has her legs locked around me.

“~~Apparently, I am the reincarnation of El Shaddai. Though I don't remember my previous self.~~”

Now my face becomes expressionless.

“Oh....”

“~Oh....yes... that explains it pretty well.~”

98 - Discussion?

Aengus is watching the ocean with a gloomy expression. He hasn't talked since that moment! What did I do!? I should have thought about my actions beforehand!

But somehow, I got caught up in the moment and the atmosphere! I am totally at fault! Not thinking for a single second!

I know for myself that I am female! But Aengus knows me just as a male character! And I just told him that I was El Shaddai in my previous life, isn't it practically telling him that he just did a guy!?

No wonder he went instantly limp when I dropped that line on him! I am such a horrible woman! Will he get it up ever again?

For most males that should have been a one hundred percent fatal mental blow! Why did I do something stupid like that?

I wave my hand before his face. No reaction!

~Bad~!

I am such an idiot! The right way would have been to build a relationship in order to reassure him that I am female. Instead I go and give him the full truth with the sledge hammer!

And we didn't even know each other longer than a day.....

Of course his true identity was a shock for me too! I didn't think because of that. My mind blanked out for a moment. But it had less impact. In fact, I already had a feeling that the outcome would be like this. But I didn't want it to be true!

I didn't lie when I said that I fell for him! I am such a worthless woman! Giving my first love interest a serious trauma right after the first action together.

“Aengus talk to me! You don't have to be so down!” I grab his hand but he shows no resistance.

“I am sorry! You have to understand that I am a one hundred percent complete girl! And I will stay that way! I have no interest in my old self!” I place his hand at my cheek.

Ah! He is rubbing his temple with his other hand! I didn't give him the death blow! ~Lucky!~

“I am sorry, Sharid. It isn't about that. Well. It was a shock. But it isn't about that.” Aengus mumbles in his usual gentle voice.

“You can do everything you want to me. I am so sorry. It's okay if you are as rough as before. Actually I like it rough! The pain wasn't an issue! It even turned me on! ~Gehehe~, is there a way to restore my virginity?” Aaahhn! Just remembering, I never felt like that before!

“The pain when you ~stabbed~ into me transformed into pure pleasure and I couldn't get ~enough~ of it. Haaa. Haa. Maybe you are even up for a little rougher play? Of course just if it doesn't turn you off.” I draw a little circle on his chest while I look downwards. I can't look into his eyes right now. What if he hates me for that new side of mine?

Aengus smiles wryly at me and wipes something out of my face. Eh!? I didn't drool, did I? Then he pulls me towards him and positions me between his legs while hugging me from behind. “Sharid? What are your divinities?”

“Ehm. It's embarrassing. I am a complete pervert. I got lust, masochism and sadism. I am so sorry that you fell for someone worthless like me!” I hope he won't hate me now.

But instead Aengus starts to giggle. “That matches with my heroic, torment and zeal. Do you ever tried to use some ~instruments~?”

“Nooo! You were my first time! How could I have had the chance! But you seem to be fine now. Why were you so down if it wasn't about my previous self? I assure you that you screwed a woman! See?” I grab his hand and place it on my chest.

Aengus sighs but doesn't remove his hand. “I was just thinking how to tell my family about my fiancée.”

“F... ~Fiancée~?” I grab his hand tighter.

“Of course! You don't want to tell me that you don't like the idea?” -Aengus

“Haah? It's not like that. It's just.... don't you think this is evolving a little too fast!?” I start to fiddle with his fingers. This is really going out of hand.

“I am the prince of Chimera. And while our society may be a little lax in regards to royalty, I can't have a relationship with someone without commitment. I am the first prince after all.” Aengus hugs me tight.

“I.. I see. Ugh. Your father will kill ~meeeee~. First I had to endure all those curses for my entire life as punishment. And now I will turn up as his daughter in law! He will execute me on the spot!” I start shivering when I think about what that guy will do to me.

“Father isn't the problem.” -Aengus

“Huh?” Why is the king of gods no problem?

“I can deal with father. I don't think that he has that much of a grudge against you anyway! He just gave you a few strange curses and tampered with your reincarnation. He is an oddball and a bad winner. Do you want to know what he did with the guy who was responsible for his fathers death?” Aengus chuckles a little.

“Ehm. Okay.... but I thought we gods are immortal?” I am sure that I will regret this.

“Well. His father was mortal at that time. So his soul lost all it's memories and that's equivalent to dying for real. Anyway. He caged the poor guys soul in a crystal ball and tortured him for years while always carrying him around in his pocket. That's what I call a grudge from his side. He would be still carrying him around if grandma hadn't put an end to it by taking the crystal ball away from him.” Aengus ends his lengthy explanation.

Okay.... If the king is capable of something like that.... I got away with a little scratch. “One moment. What happened to the crystal ball after your grandma took it? Isn't she the wife of...... doesn't she have an equally big grudge against the guy inside the crystal ball?”

Aengus doesn't answer. “Actually I have never seen the crystal globe ever after....”

“~Waaaa!~ So you tell me that your father isn't the problem?” I will hit the dead end!

“I am more worried about the reaction of my mother and my grandmothers! They are a little strange and I don't have anything to say against their opinion. I may have to get the help of my little sisters.” Aengus scratches his cheek.

“Actually Seria owes you a favour anyway! She gave me the guild-job on that planet! So if she knew that you were there too....” But Aengus finishes the sentence for me.

“.... she set us up! Well I expected that already. Normally I thought that she was guiding the other side. We took that contract together to have a little match against each other. So I was a little surprised about you.” -Aengus

“You have a strange way to have a match against one another. You know that, don't you?” -Me

Aengus stands up and takes my hand. “We will go and have a look at her place!”

Suddenly our surroundings shift and we are in a small room with a table and a set of chairs around it. Three people are playing cards at the table. “Seria! Miruliru? Nazareth!” I can't help but scream out their names.

“Hehehe. Everything went as planned.” Seria smirks at Aengus, who is holding my hand.

“Here is your payment Nazareth. You did a good job.” Miruliru flicks a crystal towards master.

“Ho! Always a pleasure! It was a long job after all.” Nazareth takes the crystal and stows it away.

“~NYAAA!~ You are all in cahoots with each other!?” I can't believe it! This is an epic set up! “How long did you plan this!?”

Miruliru makes a thinking pose. “Well.... I was following your growth since your birth for my part. And I always paid Nazareth to have an extra close eye on you. I thought about using you in one way or the other against Angrod. I don't like his demeanour.”

“But the plan to set both of you up came from me when I met you. I pitied my idiot brother for a long time. He has almost no chance with women from the Chimeran society after all. And then you come along.... young, beautiful, without any knowledge about the multiverse! ~Perfect!~” Seria starts to snicker.

“Of course it became even more hilarious when Miruliru started searching for you and I learned about your history. Sorry big bro! She is just a perfect match for you, so I couldn't stop myself.” Seria smiles carefree at us.

“Little Sis. I hope you know that I will have to use you to take the blame. Of course this situation is perfect to draw mother's anger away from me and my ~fiancée~.” Aengus puts an arm around my shoulder and draws me close.

Seria freezes.

“My cruel little sister played the worst trick of all times on me. She set me up with our former arch enemy without my knowledge and now we are stuck in the same boat!” Aengus's tone suddenly became really cruel and dangerous.

Huh? It sent a shiver down my spine. Where is the gentle and educated voice?

Seria jumps up and falls to her knees before Aengus. “Big Bro! Let this stupid sister assist you in explaining the situation to our parents! I even have detailed ~video documentation~ of your commitment to your ~fiancée~!” Suddenly a flat device appears in Seria's hands.

It shows a certain scene on a beach with Aengus and m..m... ME! “~GYAAA!~” I snatch the device out of Seria's hands and smash it onto the ground.

*STOMP* *STOMP* *STOMP*

“That won't work. I have the data stored away in various ~safe locations~. So let your little sister try to assist you without taking all the blame! That video would destroy your last chance with women Big Bro. Just in case it won't work out with Sharid in the end. I never would have imagined that the well behaved big brother of mine would actually forcefully push down a girl and rob her innocence!”

Seria puts both hands on her cheeks and starts to wriggle while on her knees.

“If.... If I am not satisfied, I will take you down with me ~little sister~.” A few veins become visible on Aengus's forehead. “So where are mom and dad at the moment?”

99 - This is my fiancée!

Another planet, Vacation-Paradise

“To think that mom and dad would take their time to go skiing.....” Aengus pulls me with him towards the small wood house. There are mountains all around us and the stars and a big moon are above us. It's already dark on this world. Everything is white from the snow.

Seria is right behind us and is humming a little song. She must be very happy because of the imminent bloodbath!

Aengus knocks on the wooden door and a blonde elven woman opens it. “Hi, Rose! I need to see mom and dad.” Aengus hugs the elf. She is in a maid outfit and smiles at seeing him.

“Of course. They are in the living room.” Rose leads us towards a spacious room. I see Seria's little sisters playing cards on the ground. An older version of Seria is writing something at the table in the middle of the room.

I recognize her as the queen from Asheim's plaza.

A guy which is looking a little older than Aengus is sitting in a comfy chair while reading a big book. He looks very relaxed. So that's Angrod! Just wait! I haven't completely given up on revenge! I will be the worst daughter in law you can imagine!

~NYAHAHAHA!~ I will claim both! Eternal ~love~ with Aengus! And eternal ~revenge~ against Angrod!

“Mom, Dad. I want to introduce someone to you!” Aengus talks with a calm and smooth voice.

Uwah! Now they look at us! And both are fixating me like prey! Then I get grabbed at my shoulders and Aengus shoves me in front. “This is Sharid. I love her and I confessed to her! We want to marry!”

*Rip* *Crack*

Angrod ripped the book! How much strength does he have to rip a book like a sheet of paper!?

And she broke her pen! ~Uwah!~ It was golden and looked precious!

I smile and bow to them. “Nice to meet you! My name is Sharid. ~I hope we can get along with each other.~”

Angrod jumps out of his chair and stomps before us. “!Do you know who that is!” He screams at Aengus while waving a part of his book at me. ~Bad!~ He immediately recognized me!

“The reincarnation of someone you gave a petty punishment. But I am glad that you did it. Because I love the person she is now.” Aengus answers his father with a straight face which makes me blush.

“NO! Nev...”

*Snatch* *Smack*

The queen took the broken book from Angrod and smacked it onto his head with full force. He is wriggling on the ground in pain, but not a sound comes over his lips! ~Serves~ you right!

“Rose, get Ireth and Katrina!” The queen crosses her arms while looking at me.

“Sharid isn't a bad person mom! She is my friend!” Seria hugs me from the side which causes raised eyebrows from the queen.

The queen doesn't say a word which is actually very scary. She just points at the table and we take a seat. Then she sits down in from of us and stares at me. Nobody says a word.

The silent staring continues until two other female demons arrive. I guess those are Ireth and Katrina? They have an old geezer and another guy with them.

The queen mumbles a few incomprehensible words to them and then they take a seat in front of me. One of the new arrivals just gives a single command to me.

“Talk.”

“Uhm... about what?”

…

..

.

This is exhausting! I had to describe my entire life towards the female members of Aengus's family.

I am sitting across Celes, Ireth and Katrina. At least Seria is beside me. The triplets are looking at me from the side with curious expressions.

Angrod is sitting in a corner of the room with a gloomy expression. He didn't get to say a single word during the entire discussion. Aengus is patting his back while talking to him.

The two guys who got introduced as grandfather and great grandfather are sitting on another table and are playing cards.

Could it be.... that this household is completely dominated by the female members?

“This will be a scandal!” -Ireth

“Impossible. She isn't even from a royal bloodline.” -Katrine

Celes just tilts her head while looking at me. “So you say that you love my son?”

“Yes!” I bow to her. Looks like I don't have good cards with the grandmothers.

“Then you have to prove it!” Celes whispers a few sentences with the grandmothers and after a while they nod. Then Celes disappears.

“Huh?” Did she teleport? I look at Seria who has an equally perplexed expression.

After a few seconds of silent standstill with the unhappy grandmothers, Celes reappears again. She has a big syringe with a needle in her left. An evil smirk is on her face.

“If you manage to survive this, I will let you have my son. This is a test! If you are too weak, then I am rid of you!” The syringe is skilfully dancing around in her fingers while she holds it before me.

“Mom! That goes too far! Not one of your weird experiments! Sharid, you don't have to do this!” Seria holds my hand. “It's my fault mom. I set them up!”

“I know that you had a hand in it! You always have a part in things like this! You will be punished separately!” Celes shoots a deathly glare at Seria.

Seria drops from her chair and takes a foetus position on the ground? ~Nyaaa!~ My only ally was defeated by a gaze!

Uwah! What to do? Will I even get out of this alive if I refuse? Why is the world never easy on ~meee~! Aengus I hope we can be together. If not in this life, then in the next. And for ~revenge~!

I hold my arm out and close my eyes. Then I feel the needle peeking me.

“If you want to give up, I will administer the antidote to you. Of course you will have failed the test in that case....” -Celes

….

…

..

.

Aengus's POV

“~NYHAHAHA!~” …. “~HAAAHH~” …. “~YEESSS!~”

Screams of lust and excitement are coming from the room next door. “Mom! What did you do to Sharid?” I was forbidden from entering the room after mom used one of her strange medicines on Sharid.

Celes is sitting on a couch while chewing on her nail. “This is strange. It should hurt!”

“What should hurt? Shaarriiid!” I run towards the door but Ireth blocks my way.

“Sit!” Ireth gives a single command.

I immediately fall to my knees. Grandma is scary! I can't oppose her!

“~MOREE!~” “~AahhhhnNNN!~” “~HIIIAAAHAHAHA!~”

Ugh. This hurts my pride! What did she give to her. She didn't scream like that when I screwed her! And it has been hours now!

“This is totally unexpected. She might be really good material.” Ireth is talking to herself.

“I will take a walk outside.” Angrod leaves the room with a grumpy expression. Dad! Stop them!

~”MAAGNIFICCIEEENT!”~

I wait with Ireth in front of me until the screams calm down. It felt like an eternity. After a while the door knob turns and Sharid stumbles into the room. She is covered in sweat and looks tired.

“That was the ~best~. Did I pass the test?” Sharid smiles at me.

There are red and black strands added to her hair! Two horns are crowning her head like a tiara and a long black tail is curling cutely behind her.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Something behind me?” Sharid looks behind her. “~GYAA!~”

*Snap*

Sharid broke the door knob when she got surprised by the tail waving behind her. Not being able to hold the balance with the new addition, she falls backwards on her butt.

Sharid immediately gets on all fours and crawls to a close mirror. “~NYAARRR!~ Tail! Horns!? My hair! I look like a striped zibra!” Then she turns red and tries to cover her perfect butt where the tail ripped her trousers. “What happened to ~meeee~!”

“Whatever a zibra is... this should have hurt! Of course you failed the test! I have to rework this serum. Something went seriously wrong!” Celes calls out to us with a sulky voice.

“Mom.... One of Sharid's divinities is masochism....” Seria is giving Celes a vital information while Sharid is trying to stand upright but failing miserable. I jump to her side to assist her.

“What?” -Celes

“That explains it.” -Ireth

“Anyway. There is no problem with the heritage now. We can just say that she is from a small branch family.” -Katrine

Celes pulls a device out of her clothes and holds it before Sharid's head. “Hmm. Everything should be fine. Nothing abnormal.” Then she waves it downwards towards her tail.

*Beep*

“Is something wrong with me?” Sharid looks up at Celes while sitting on the floor with tears in her eyes.

Celes holds the device towards Sharid's belly.

*Beep*

Suddenly Celes's body blurs and she grabs my earlobe to force me down to the ground beside Sharid. Ow! Strength freak! I could swear that her eyes are glowing red.

“Why is she pregnant!”

Sharid turns white. “Huh?”

I feel a little dizzy. “We.. we did it just once!”

“Twins!” Celes screams at us.

Ohh... damn. I thought I could enjoy my youth for a little longer.

Ireth smacks her forehead. “This offspring of mine. They became too fertile since our days.” She looks at Katrine and Katrine nods.

Angrod is coming back into the room. He freezes for a second after taking a look at Sharid. Then he turns and walks back outside again. Dad! Say something!

“Get up Sharid. I will help you into the chair.” I pull Sharid to her feet. She has a shocked expression and doesn't resist at all.

Somehow I manage to settle Sharid on a chair. “Aengus! Do you still like me if I look like this? It feels like have been defiled. And what about this!” She points at her belly.

Then she hugs me around my waist. “It's fine! I love you no matter how you look! Actually it suits you! Of course it's okay! They are ours!” I pat her head while I glare at mom.

“Tch! Fine! The pervert will just get more excited if I tune the serum. Welcome to the family! ~Daughter!~” Celes gives us a forced smile.

Suddenly a deep vibration shakes the entire building.

“What was that?” Sharid clings to me with a scared expression.

“Daddy is outside!” “Yes!” “Lookie!”

The triplets storm out of the room.

Everyone follows to find Angrod with a relieved expression on the veranda. He is doing some minor stretching exercises.

“What happened, dear?” Celes walks up to him.

Angrod turns around and looks at us with a surprised expression. “Nah. Nothing happened. I just had to relieve some stress. This whole situation got me a little worked up.”

“The moon....” -Ireth

Angrod turns and looks at the sky. “Which moon?”

“Where is the moon, daddy?” -Seria

“Did this planet have a moon? I wonder....” Angrod turns and walks towards me. “SON!”

Sharid jumps and hides behind me while grabbing my clothes. “You said he isn't dangerous! ~LIAR!~” She can't keep the balance with her new tail.

Suddenly Angrod holds a package towards me. “You can put it to better use than me!”

I take the package with a suspicious look. There is a headband with cat-ears on top of it. “What's inside?”

“It's my highest quality cat costume! It's a legendary equipment. I even enhanced it a little with magic! First I didn't want to admit it, Aengus. But when I heard her screams I had to give up. You found the perfect wife, son. Put it to good use!” He puts a hand on my shoulder and smiles at me.

Then he starts to snicker. “On the other hand we shouldn't expect less from one of my creations. Be thankful son! I ~ENVY~ you.”

“~GYAA!~ Can't be! Those are from mom's best set! She described them at least a thousand times to me! The income went down by ten percent since they were stolen!!” Sharid wobbles behind me.

~~~Filthy Thief! Die a thousand deaths!~~~

Angrod just smirks at her without an ounce of shame. “You should know better than to use Siren's Voice against me. I bestowed that skill on you after all. And I took those as payment in exchange for your abilities.”

“Has that something to do with those girlish screams of yours? Talk!” Celes looks at Angrod like filth.

“I may have picked up one or the other skill during my female reincarnations. I bestowed all my best powers which I brought to perfection during those times onto her!” Angrod spreads his arms and smiles at us.

“~Honey bear?~” -Celes

“Yes, sugar cat?” -Angrod

“Just shut up and follow me.”

Celes leads Angrod inside the house while the rest of the family stares after them with perplexed expressions.

“Why did daddy make the moon disappear?”

The triplets look at us with disturbed expressions.

100 - This is my fiancé!

Sharid's homeworld, a certain red light district.

“~Uwah!~ Everyone is looking at us!” I hold tighter on Aengus's arm. He is walking me down the street towards the brothel of my mother.

“Are demons somehow shunned on this world?” Aengus takes an interested look around, but everyone who is looked at quickly averts his gaze.

“Not to my knowledge. Though they are a rare species without a country of their own. But there were no ill feelings towards them from my knowledge.” Though I wasn't here for quite a while.

“We should have disguised ourselves. Like I said.” Aengus shoots another glare at a few thugs and they disperse into a side street.

“Maybe you should do something about those menacing eyes?” I look into his snake-eyes which are actually very attractive to me now. Did my changes involve my mind too? I don't mind the eyes and the horn now.

“I don't want to. Those perverted lechers who are looking at you can shudder in fear under some stone for all I care.” Aengus throws another annoyed glance at a shopkeeper.

So nice! He such an envious guy!

That's the perfect type of man! Good looking, lovable and easy to be manipulated. If it weren't for that family of his.

The triplets are far too smart and devious for their age. Not cute at all! I couldn't get to terms with them at all. And it's frightening when they start to talk like one mind would control all three of them. How do they do it? I have no idea.

The queen and the grandmothers are a few levels above me. Everything I can do in front of them is smiling and confirming their orders.

I don't fear physical punishment by them. Actually I liked the queen's ~test~ ~Haaa...~. I have to get  my hands on that medicine.

Angrod was worse as I thought. He ~is~ a pervert and a maniac! And too fucking strong! I am actually afraid to do anything to him now. This wacko obliterated that moon like nothing because he felt like it!

What happens if I play a nasty trick on him and flip his switch!? It will be my end!

The other male members of the family didn't say much to me. They just congratulated Aengus on catching a nice woman. ~Mnnn~ I don't want to admit it, but it felt like I was treated like a pet!

Then the brothel of my mother comes into view. Nothing has changed. We stop at the door to take a look at the statue above it. Aengus just grins and I enter with him through the main door. A lightly dressed receptionist freezes at our sight for a second.

Then she turns and runs while screaming. “He is here! The demon is back! To your arms! Hide the dresses! Lock away the tools!”

“What was that about?” Aengus gives me an inquiring look.

“Haaah... I forgot that mother personally trains every employee to instantly take action in case that the ~Thief~ turns up again. I never thought that their indoctrination would run this deep.” My tail starts to twitch a little.

We are alone inside the spacious room now. Normally the customers would be sent through various doors towards different rooms to be served.

Then all doors burst open simultaneously and my mothers employees storm inside. They are armed to the teeth while being very lightly dressed. Some are just in their underwear.

“Sharid... are you sure your mother manages a brothel? Looks more like an Amazon mercenary guild.” -Aengus

“They are just alarmed because you look like your father.” I whisper back.

An older woman walks past the armed employees and takes a look at us. I immediately recognize my mom! Then an expression of recognition comes over her face. “You are the One! Thief! But this time we are prepared! There is nothing for you to steal here!”

Mooom! You recognize him before me? “Mom! He isn't the one from back then!”

“Sh... SHARID!?”

“~Hi, Mom.~”

*PLOMB*

Mom swooned!? The employees throw disturbed glances towards their leader, who dropped to the floor like dead. I jump to mother's side and pat her cheek. “Mom? Mom? Wake up!”

Everyone is looking at me with disturbed expressions. Some of them know me because they are long time employees.

“Sis?”

I look up and see Soel, one of my little sisters. Oh, so cute. Before she can react, I hugged her and lifted her from the ground. “~Uwah!~ So nice to see you again! You got so big. It isn't possible to cuddle you any more.”

“Mmmhtommbigmmm.”

“Big Sis can't understand you if you talk like that. ~Nyhaha!~” I dance a small circle with my little sister.

Suddenly Aengus pats my back. “You should ….”

Then I spot Niel, my other little sister, hiding behind a wall. So ~~cute~~! I drop Soel and charge for Niel who tries to escape. “Too ~slow~!”

“Kyaaaaa!”

The employees just watch me with shocked faces.

….

…

..

.

We are in mom's private living room. Mom is stretched out on the couch with a cold towel on her forehead. I admit that I overdid it with my little sisters. Soel is still out cold while Niel is hiding behind the couch.

“How could this happen.... how.... my daughter got possessed by a demon.” My mother starts talking again.

“Mom... I am not possessed. And I have to introduce my fiance. This is Aengus, first prince of Chimera. His father may be better known to you as ~The Thief~.” I take Aengus' s hand while I drop the bomb on mother.

Now mother shoots up and looks at us big eyes. “F...Fiance? Prince? The Thief's son? No! Not even if he is the king of the fucking country! I never even heard of Chimera!”

But Niel's eyes go big and she starts to search for something in mother's documents. “Mom! Look! Look!”

Niel shoves my old status plate into mother's face. “Angrod, King of gods. Divine ruler of the realm of Chimera”

“Actually I am not the prince of a puny country. I am the prince of a realm of gods. And this whole dirtball is under my father's jurisdiction. So please accept that I love your daughter. You can visit the marriage ceremony. Or not. It's up to you. I don't care.” Aengus gives mother a sadistic smile.

“Uh.... What does a god want with my mortal daughter! Have mercy! I need her as an heir!” My mother doesn't want to give up.

“Actually I am a goddess now mom! And I wont take the job! Having a family with Aengus is much better. The additions are already on the way anyway. And we want to go on a long journey together to have some fun before it's time!” Uhm. That might have been too hard on her.

Mother lies down again and puts the wet towel back on her forehead.

Then Niel jumps out from behind the couch and grabs my hand. “How do you become a demon, Sharid? What do I have to do to get out of here?”

“~Nyhahaha!~ Nothing big! You just have to learn everything you can and travel the world. Then you need to get the favour of a god. Then you climb the highest mountain and pray there until you almost die of hunger and cold. Afterwards you need a god as your trainer. And then you have to almost die to ascend to godhood! When you managed that you are almost done. The last thing left to do is to fuck a demon prince and fall in ~love~ with him! Surviving the introduction to his family is just a piece of cake from there.”

101 - Bad awakening?

Sharid's homeworld, a certain red light district.

I scratch my head while I look at Sharid who is playing with her younger sisters. They are treated like toys by her. Does she even realize her own actions?

Sharid's mother is still on the couch while mumbling some incomprehensible stuff.

Abruptly, Sharid turns towards me. “That's right Aengus! Do your thing! You know? The present!”

Aaah. I almost forgot. “Sharid, I still don't think that this is a smart idea. Father said that he enchanted it. Who knows what abilities the thing has now.”

I summon the box with the legendary cat costume anyway. I don't care. Whatever will happen, happens. They will learn soon enough how dangerous Angrod's toys can be.

Unfortunately, I personally know that fathers magical and technological toys can be quite a problem if he didn't intend them for common usage.

“Look! Mom!” Sharid grabs the box out of my hands and presents it to her mother. “We got our family heirloom back!”

The eyes of the older woman show surprise and then pure bliss. “That's wonderful! I don't mind losing one heir if I get the heirloom back!” She grabs the box from Sharid. What a cruel mother! Casting aside one of her children for a piece of cloth!

“The Sacred Treasure is back in our hands! Look kids! Can you appreciate that craftsmanship? The fine fur?” Mother shows the headband on top of the box to Soel and Niel.

Soel recovered a while earlier from almost suffocating between Sharid's huge mountains.

“I want to see it!” Niel reaches for the box, but Soel is faster. “No! Me first! I suffered the worst at the hands of big Sis!”

Niel has an unhappy expression but doesn't object to her sister. There seems to be a silent understanding on that matter.

Soel opens the box and extracts some arousing pieces of cloth with tiger stripes and cat paws. A tail with a dubious method of attachment is also included.

“What's this?” Soel looks at the tail with an innocent expression.

“Oh my. Looks like the set was modified by the Thief....” Sharid's mother has a troubled expression now.

After looking at the thing with my own eyes, I have to admit that I am starting to get doubts about my father.

But from one moment to the next, the tail comes alive in Soel's hands and starts wriggle like a snake. “Wah! Creepy! Is it supposed to do that?”

Then the tail finds an entrance into Soel's sleeve and starts to crawl inside. “Kyaaa! Get it off! Get it off!”

“W...Wait! I will help! Wah! It's strong! Hold still!” Niel jumps to her sisters aid.

I watch in awe as the tail vanishes completely inside Soel's clothes. Their mother and Sharid also join the fray in an attempt to remove the legendary equipment.

“IIIIIIIIIIEEEEE! HELP!”

“WHAT'S THIS THING!”

“KYAAAA!”

*PLUG*

“NYAAAA!” “HOLY SHIT!”

*RIP*

“Nyar! Get it out! Nya!” “I am trying, but it's wriggling too much!”

*WHIP*

“Ouch!”

*WHIP*

“Stop that!” “I cyan't control it. Nya!”

*WHIP* *WHIP* *WHIP*

“NYAARR!!” “Ouch! Nooo! No whipping!” “It does that on its own! Nya! Or do you think I would whip myself intentionyally! NYAA!”

“THEN LET ME GO! IT'S HOLDING ME TOO!” “NYAA! I CYAN'T!”

…..

….

…

..

.

I turned around and decided to look the other way when Soel's clothes were ripped apart by the tail, which had conquered her...... well... father... what can I say? Your creation defiled those young women....

I am ashamed of you.

Did you even attach some sort of mental control to that thing? Soel suddenly started to speak with strange noises when it claimed her...

What did mother do to him in order to deserve that kind of punishment?

The screams and moans lasted for a little while longer. I steeled my mind and watched the wall during that time.

“Aengus, you can turn around again! I got it off.” Sharid informs me of the successful removal of the tail.

Niel and Soel are sobbing in a corner of the room. “I have been defiled by a toy!” “But it felt good sister. I am ashamed of myself.”

Probably someone should try to calm them down. Sharid has the wriggling tail in her hand and a strange expression on her face.

Her mother is giving me a mournful look. “Take that thing back! It has no place on this world!”

“~Gehehehe...~ Then I will take this legendary piece! You can have the rest of the suit.” Sharid stores the tail away inside her magical bag.

I hope this won't become a problem later on, but I can guess why she wants to have it. “Sharid... you are drooling again.” I step towards her and wipe the drool out of her face.

“~Do you want to rent a room?~” Sharid gives me a mischievous smile and pulls me after her.

*********

It's morning and Sharid gave me the best night of my life. We reserved a room of her mothers brothel especially for us and went wild.

Haaah... to do it in a place like this. I have fallen deep. Even if I had my fiancée as my partner.

I look out of the window while lying on a comfortable bed. Sharid is right beside me. She is sleeping and when I watch her sleeping face it's hard to imagine her true character.

“KYAAA!” “NOOO!” “MONSTERS!”

A few screams from outside the window draw my attention and I get up to take a look. What's outside freezes me for a second.

The street is a scene out of hell. People are fleeing for their lives while being attacked by demons and being devoured like cattle.

“Sharid! Wake up! Demons!” I scream at Sharid who shoots up with a drowsy face.

I get suited up while I ready my resolve and grab the sheathed crystal sword which I got from my father. But something comes crashing through the window.

It's one of those monsters! Why is there a demon outbreak here? Did someone find and play around with a sphere? Why now!

The monster jumps at a dumbfounded Sharid. But I jump towards the thing and cleanly slice the head from it's shoulders while unsheathing my sword in a smooth motion. My sword hums with satisfaction as it sucks the mana out of the creature.

“Sharid! We have to get out of here!” I point towards her clothes and she hastily gets dressed. But instead of using a pathway to escape, Sharid runs out of the room.

“We have to save them!” Sharid is around the corner before I can stop her. But I follow anyway.

We can't stop the demons without crystal weapons. And my sword is the only one which is available at the moment.

At the next corner, I catch up to Sharid who is watching horrified at the lifeless corpse of the receptionist. She is lying in the corridor in a pool of her own blood.

I grab Sharid's hand. “Stay with me! Those things are dangerous! They can kill gods.” I start into the direction of her family's rooms while I pull her with me.

“But what chance do the people of this town have if they can hurt gods!?” Sharid asks with a shaken voice from behind.

I don't answer the question. It should be obvious that the mortals don't have any chance of resistance.

Another demon blocks my path and I take the mindless creature out. It's okay as long as they don't show up in big groups.

As I reach the door, I kick it and storm inside. Two of the monsters are inside and they jump at me with bloody claws.

But Sharid storms past me while kicking the first enemy with pure physical force. It's blown apart in a shower of red blood and organs.

I slice down the other creature and take a look around to assess the situation. The room is a mess but there are no more enemies.

Then I see Sharid kneeling over the bodies of Niel and Soel. Her mother is lying beside the door. I wasn't aware of her when I hurried inside.

This is the worst outcome ever. But just when I am about to grab Sharid's shoulder to get out of here, the door bursts open and a flood of the horrifying things spills into the room.

I fight the reflex to blow them apart with attack magic, but it wouldn't be of any use. So I forcibly pull Sharid onto a pathway with me. Just away from here!

To Chimera! To get help! If I ask father, I am sure that a whole army would be dispatched to deal with this issue! Maybe we can even save the souls of Sharid's sisters and her mother.

But it's useless, since they are mortal. They won't be the same people any more! Sharid offers no resistance while I pull her with me.

Something snaps and I am pulled from the pathway! That shouldn't be possible! Since when do those monsters have the ability to interrupt someone from using a pathway!

My stomach heaves as I am forced back to reality. Being forced off of a pathway like that is by all means unpleasant!

I am in a dark place now. This isn't Sharid's home any more! As my eyes adjust to the darkness, I become aware of eyes. We are surrounded by demons!

My sword! Sharid is left to me, she is unconscious. To my right, the sword! I reach for it, but a foot kicks it away.

“Ssssooo, Who do we have here?”

“If it issssn't a niccce little prrrrey which my minions brrrought me?”

102 - An envoy?

Asheim, Embassy

“This is not enough Angrod! We need more forces!” Gwalonna screams at me. This is irritating me a little. It's true that the Chimerans are the most powerful force at the moment. But even we can only do so much as we can.

“What do you want me to do? Every Chimeran who can fight is fighting. I won't sent our civil population out there to fight.” I answer Gwalonna's outbreak with a calm voice.

Gwalonna thinks that we Chimerans can do more than we do. This whole mess started a few hours ago when the dormant Spheres throughout the multiverse went active.

Planets are being devoured out there while we speak and there isn't much we can do. We don't have enough fighting power to cover every planet. Unfortunately we are already taking severe measures by wiping one planet after the other.

The Chimeran's fighting power comes almost completely from our crystal technology. We have very few warriors compared to the other societies. And that's what Gwallonna has problems with.

She thinks that I can order my whole planet of gods to walk out there and smite the demons like the other societies did. So it looks like we are withholding forces.

But most of our people are civilians. Even if they regained their memories, they don't have the fighting spirit to use their powers correctly. You don't just remember your previous life and are a perfect warrior from one moment to the next.

“You are welcome to go to Chimera and take a look at the people who are left there. I already asked everyone who has the confidence to take on a demon for help. The people who are left on Chimera would be just victims in front of those things.” I try to keep a calm voice.

“Gwalonna, you forget their history. You can't expect the same rate of militarisation from the Chimerans as of other societies. Most of our people have lived as gods for thousands of years. The Chimerans regained their powers only a few years ago. It could take another few centuries until they are on the same level as us. And aren't they doing more than enough with their crystal ships?” Mawu makes a calming gesture.

“That's right. I went for a walk through their cities when I was on a visit there. Most of those people are as harmless as mortals. If you put them in front of a demon, they would freeze up or run away. They are chickens. Sorry to put it like that, Angrod.” Unexpectedly Carne speaks against Gwalonna too.

“No offence taken. It's the truth. Our power comes mainly from our crystal ships. And they are all out there. We even gave those which had no crew to the Arcane Community. They had the most people who would be able to use them without much training.” I smile wryly at Gwalonna.

Chiffre scratches his cheek with his mechanical arm. “That's true. They are very interesting pieces of technology. And they are all deployed.”

Gwalonna leans back in her chair and says nothing. It seems like she just needs something to vent her anger. But we are all feeling powerless before the current situation. There are between one and ten gods per world with a population of a few milliards.

So depending on the fighting power you need to save a single world, you have to give up quite a few others.... ranging in the hundreds to thousands.

The problem lies with the sheer number of Spheres. We grew too lazy when we thought that those things couldn't activate on their own. Now we pay the price.

Then a guard appears in the room. “I am sorry to interrupt, but there is something that wishes to talk to you. It looks like one of those demons. It says that it has a message for you.”

“Where is it?” Zanders jumps out of his chair.

“On the plaza in front of the central tower. It just appeared there. Apparently it can use pathways......” The guard has a worried expression. No wonder. Even the lowliest guard in our society has an education above any mortal king. He can think on his own about the implications.

“If all of those things can use pathways we are in deep shit!” Miruliru disappears. She didn't wait for the obvious answers.

One after the other we follow Miruliru. So I teleport to the designated destination.

I find the plaza empty. Earlier it was buzzing with life and now there isn't a single soul to see. Except for a single demon and a group of guards around it. The demon holds a crystal sword. Probably it was looted from a fallen warrior. The demon is a little bigger than the normal ones. And it looks a lot meaner!

As our group walks closer, the demon starts to speak. “Wonderful! Everyone is here. So we can tell you how this will work.”

“Why should we listen to a creature like you!” Carne shoots out a very undiplomatic question.

But the demon isn't irritated. “It's easy. To save your puny multiverse! If you don't comply, we will continue to eat and corrupt the mortals until there aren't much of them left. Afterwards I will come for you!” It points at us.

“So what are your terms? And who are you?” Gwalonna asks the dreaded question.

“We are the Calamity. And It's easy again. I retread with our forces back into the black hole if you start with the monthly sacrifice of a god. Mortals aren't as filling as the Ascended. And as a bonus we want him!” The thing points at me.

“This thing is a little confused. It can't decide if it's a single entity or multiple ones....” Carne whispers to us.

“Why?” I ask while I ready myself to summon my staff.

“Because you stood in our way for long enough! Bright One! Your soul always interferes with me throughout all of your reincarnations! You are a menace! First you banished us into the black hole where we had to starve! And then you interfered with our food source until now! This will end!” The creepy thing smiles at me.

I don't like it. It looks too much like a razor claw. “So you do starve inside that black hole? Thanks for the information! I guess if we manage to wipe your agents and familiars from the multiverse, it's your end.” This time I smile at the creepy thing.

“You hope for too much. My main-body may not be able to leave the black hole. But these familiars of us will be more than enough. We have anticipated that you won't throw your life away for others! You always sacrificed someone else in order to escape me until now. But this time we have captured something precious to you!” The thing throws the crystal sword to my feet.

It's a thin blade which is a little longer than the standard version and covered with runes. I recognize this work. I made it especially for Aengus.....

“We caught the one you call 'son' in your current reincarnation. His fiancee is in my hands too. Funny that she is one of our former agents. Maybe she will like it if we use her as a tool again. BUT..... If you sacrifice yourself, we may consider to let them go. I wonder if you have enough feelings for th...”

*STAB*

Slowly the demon looks down to its chest, where the sword embedded itself. It took me only a moment to close the distance and ram the sword into the creature.

“I will come for you. Just wait there in your safe little black hole. I will tear you apart and find the insane personalities which are responsible for your actions. Then I will create a new world for you! And there, the word HELL will take on another dimension!”

Before the thing can answer I rearrange the blade and move it upwards, splitting its chest and head apart. The body stood another second and then it drops to the ground like a doll with its strings cut.

“You just killed the envoy.....” Carne comments my action from behind with a slightly affected voice.

I don't answer and concentrate instead. If this thing said the truth I might be able to get Aengus back. Wasn't he supposed to visit Sharid's home world? They should have been able to run if there was an attack there.

No matter. I have a spy with them. If I act fast I may be able to find them in time.

“Angrod. We have no idea where to search! Why did you kill that guy?” Miruliru nags me from the side.

“I will find them. There is no problem. I just need a few strong guys to go in and out without giving them time to act.” I wave at a guard who heard the conversation and he nods, vanishing immediately.

“If my wife finds out that something happened to Aengus I am dead meat! Kukuku.... No worse! I will be the only guy in the family!” I start to hack with the sword at the dead body. This is frustrating!

“S.. Stop it. You need an anger management course! You know that?” Miruliru stops me.

“Haaah...” I turn around and walk back into the direction of tower. “I wish I could have those times as an evil scientist back! Nobody you care about! Everyone is just a resource for the next experiment. Those were good times. But nowadays you have to be nice and play by the rules. It's infuriating!”

Yes! It's important to choose your priorities wisely. Otherwise you end up like me. I have to take care of the whole multiverse now and the evil guy goes for my family! It's obvious that I messed up somewhere.

“Let's continue this in the conference room.” I teleport back to our previous location. The needed fighters should arrive shortly. Time to gather some information.

I activate a big screen at the wall and enter a security code. “Warden, I need a secure connection with the mobile personal spy Enyo. The codeword is -spank-!” While I am at it, the rest of the ambassadors arrives.

~Excuse me?~

“You heard me Warden. Connect us now!” Come on. It isn't hard to understand.

~As you wish.... you should choose another codeword later. It's inappropriate and you had listeners.~

I sigh. “Thanks Warden. Now the connection.” It's annoying but the positioning signal of my spy is very weak. It's almost not there.

The screen goes dark. Huh? A malfunction? “Enyo? Enyo!”

“Ssss... Masster! Why do wake me up at sssuch a time?” A snake-like voice answers.

“Where are you? I need you to send a signal on your position.” I have no time for this.

“I am inssside Sssharid'ss magical bag. Ssshould I get outssside?” Enyo answers immediately.

“Get out and give me their position.” Simple minds are surely a bother. I hear a fizzling sound and then the screen finally shows a picture.

It's a first person view of Enyo's vision. It looks like she is in a dark cave. By looking back, we see that Enyo's body looks out of a magical bag. It looks like a furry snake like thing...

“I am outsside. Sshould I ssend my possition?” Eyno takes another look around, but there is nobody in the cave.

“No. Find Aengus and Sharid first!” I hope Enyo wasn't discarded in the wrong place.

Enyo starts to sidle along the ground. It seems like she chose a direction at random, but I know that it's not the case. I equipped Enyo's new body with the latest technology available before I gave it to Aengus. Vision, sound, smell. Enyo is the perfect spy.

Then I become aware of the silence in the room and turn around. Everyone's eyes are stuck on me. Some in fear, some in disgust, some in curiosity. “What?”

“Is that really Enyo?” -Miruliru

“Yes?” I don't get the problem. I was so nice to repair her broken soul and give her an honourable occupation.

“And her body....” -Gwalonna

“Is a tail for a cat-suit with an anal plug.” I still don't get the problem. It's the perfect cover. Nobody would suspect a high end spy in such a disguise.

“Fascinating!” -Chiffre

“T... That's worse than I thought! Sharid! And now Enyo! You are forbidden to choose the divine punishments from now on! You are the worst!” Miruliru explodes in my face. The majority of the ambassadors nod.

I shrug my shoulders and turn back around. “I just followed Seria's wish..... she was worried about her brother's love life. How could I turn down a wish from my cute daughter. And Enyo should be thankful. If i hadn't repaired her soul, she would stare into a wall for another few million years.” I mumble to myself while I watch Enyo's progress.

After a long tunnel Enyo suddenly slides into a crack in the wall of the cave and becomes silent. A few demons pass her without taking notice. After a few seconds Enyo starts to move again.

She reaches a big cavern. And there it is! A Sphere. Demons are sacrificing people to the accursed thing while a slightly bigger variant is in a praying position before it. It looks like the monster I just slew at the plaza!

There are people waiting in rows to be sacrificed. And on an altar slightly elevated above the others are Sharid and Aengus. They are displayed like a big trophy. Their clothes are torn and they are unconscious.

103 - Rescue mission!

Asheim, Embassy

Enyo starts to sneak forward while I put my armour on. The armour was brought by the small group of warriors which will accompany me on this rescue mission. There are ten of them. Together with me we have eleven people.

When I am ready, I turn towards them. “You all know what to do? Enyo has an emitter which is able to rupture a pathway. She will place herself right next to Aengus and Sharid. As soon as she activates it we go in, take them and take a pathway to get away. No heroic deeds.”

“I will go with you.” Miruliru hops out of her chair.

“You are not armed!” I won't take responsibility if something happens to her.

“I don't need to be! I will just crush that Sphere. It's a golden opportunity.” Miruliru draws two crystal daggers.

“Then I will join too! I can't let a young maiden onto a battlefield without protection.” -Carne

“Tch! Creep!” -Miruliru

“If it's like that I have to join you too.” Chiffre gives us a confident smile.

Suspicious.... If they all want to go into the lions den then ….

But my thoughts get interrupted by Enyo. “Massster! I am under the altar. Ssshould I sssend the sssignal.”

I turn towards the group. “Everyone. Line up and touch me. I will recognize Enyo's signal the easiest. Just follow me onto the pathway.” After a few seconds everyone is ready and I turn towards the screen. “Send the signal Enyo.”

Then I concentrate. A few seconds later I recognize the right pattern on a pathway in the direction of Sharid's homeworld. It's like the pathway is vibrating in a certain frequency.

I enter the pathway and from one moment to the next, I am besides Aengus and Sharid inside the cavern.

The others also appear around me.

I lose no time and grab a bag from my belt. It contains small mana crystals. They are especially made to absorb mana as fast as possible. Each of them has the size of a finger and there are about fifty of them.

By tilting the bag, I pour the content into the air where the crystals start to float. They are held by telekinesis and they are my new ammunition against those things.

The first demon who starts to move after our appearance gets a crystal directly between the eyes. It drops like having it's strings cut. Mwahaha! No more instant healing!

“We can't use the pathway!” A guard with Aengus over his shoulder gives me an alarming information.

“It's a trap!” Carne kicks a rock into the maw of an approaching demon which starts to get a couching fit.

“The Sphere has to be the source of the dampening field! There are no other possible sources here!” Chiffre points at the Sphere and starts to charge into its direction.

I send two of my crystals at the sphere, but they get blocked by the bigger demon while a flood of smaller ones starts to pour into the cavern.

The big monster must be some updated version. It smacked the crystals out of the air like nothing.

Two of my guards start to attack the accesses to the cavern with attack magic. They know that the demons won't be hindered for long by it. But killing the demons wasn't their intention. With a rumble, the entrances cave in and stop the flood of demons.

Chiffre reaches the big demon which is guarding the Sphere and gives it a thundering blow with his mechanical arm.

But again, the monster is unimpressed and sends Chiffre flying with a swipe of it's claw.

Everyone is occupied with at least five demons. I never wanted to be in such a melee fight again, but there is no choice.

I deal with the small fry by sending my crystals via telekinesis into them and advance towards the big monster.

We have to deal with the Sphere and escape fast. Sealing the exits can be only a temporary solution.  If the demons free them of the rubble we will be overrun.

And there is still the possibility of a cave in. It's not like ….... yeaaah... why... not? I look up towards the stalactites at the ceiling. Previously they didn't enter my mind.

The big demon has its full concentration on me now. But I don't need to alarm it by using my crystals.

A little push and *Crack!*

*CRUSH*

I loosened a stalactite above the demon and it was compressed into an ugly looking mush. I may have added a little too much power while the big chunk of rock was falling downwards. Without any further hindrances, I crush the Sphere with my crystals.

Throwing a stalactite at the sphere would have had no effect. The crystals are harder than any metal. It would have been like throwing feathers at a rock.

“It's gone! Get out of here.” I scream through the cavern.

My group starts to disappear one by one. The guards with Aengus and Sharid make their exit first while the other guards grab every mortal who still looks alive and take them with them.

“Yyyou won't beee so lucky forrever! We will eat you!!!”

The crushed demon to my feet gives me a few nice parting words? Eeww... it's already starting to heal. “Sorry. Maybe some other time.” I send a crystal between it's eyes to kill it.

After I confirm that everyone is gone and nobody is left inside the cavern, I take a pathway back towards Asheim.

***

“It's mine!”

“No! We have to free her!”

“This is a technological wonder! A soul inside non-living matter! This has to be researched!”

“It's a person! And no research object!”

“You don't understand! This is the greatest discovery since the dawn of creation!”

“Ask the perverted creator!”

“It's against the pride of every scientist to be taught by someone else!”

“Let go!”

“Never!”

“Massster! Ssssave me! I will rip!”

I watch with a bored expression while Miruliru and Chiffre are using Enyo to play pull the rope. For real... they are like little children. “Did you two ever think about asking Enyo what she wants?”

“Massster! Give me permission to ussse the Ssssecret weaponssss!”  -Enyo

Whatever. It's only self-defence. “Fine....”

*Splurt*

*Slip* “Waaah!” “Eewww!”

Suddenly Enyo sprayed Miruliru and Chiffre with an oily substance and slipped out of their grasp. Chiffre fell on his butt while Miruliru barely managed to keep standing. Now she is sliding hastily towards me and wraps around my left leg.

“Massster. I didn't believe it. But the lubricant isss a very ussseful sssecret weapon!” -Enyo

“Come back here Enyo! We have to get a proper body for you. I will search for a good reincarnation.” Miruliru stretches a hand towards Enyo.

“I am fffine. No need for another body. Massster made very good work.” Enyo flatly refuses Mirulirus offer.

“Why? How can this be!” Miruliru slides to the ground besides Chiffre.

“Like I said. Enyo's soul was ravaged and twisted like nothing I have ever seen. If I wouldn't have helped, it would have taken a few million years until she starts to work properly again. But even for me it was hard to repair something with so many parts missing. I spliced the soul of a snake into her for stabilization until she heals on her own. That's why she prefers this body for the moment. And before you ask. I used a snake because I needed a weak soul which couldn't overpower Enyo. And because it was fun.” I give them a short explanation while grinning.

“You managed that with two souls...” Chiffre starts to drool on the floor. That guy is becoming creepier with every invention of mine he gets to see.

“What? Like the dem....” -Miruliru

But I interrupt Miruliru “Nooo. Not at all. I am not an idiot! I know my handicraft. The souls aren't fused together. They just complement each other. When Enyo's soul is healed properly they will divide on their own.”

“I like my body. And ssserving the missstresss.” Enyo confirms my explanation.

Miruliru drops to the ground as if she has given up while Chiffre starts to write some notes.

I turn back towards the tactical situation on the screen. At least I could save Aengus and Sharid. From the looks of it they took no permanent damage.

But if I look at our situation.... “I wonder if the multiverse will take permanent damage....”

104 - Inevitable?

Asheim, Embassy

Everyone freezes up. “What are you talking about!?” Chiffre stops to take notes about Enyo.

“Errr.... nothing. Forget what I said.” I don't want to explain it. Too much of a hassle.

“No! What's this talk about damaging the multiverse?” Gwalonna doesn't let go of the matter either.

“It's just an obscure theory of mine. I have no proof and if it's true.... then we are screwed anyway.” I turn my seat towards the window.

“Don't talk bullshit and tell us what's going on.” -Carne

I tilt my head while I think about a smart way to explain it. “What's a soul? How comes it to be?”

“An energy body which gathers information? It interacts with the multiverse through a physical organic body. Namely us. Souls don't come into existence, they simply are.” Chiffre gives me an out of the book answer.

“That's true. But to be precise. A soul is a quantum wave that interacts with the whole multiverse through observation. What's the state of a quantum particle which has an observer and a particle which has none?” I fold my hands while I try to lead them to the right question.

“The state of a quantum particle that's observed is defined. One that's not observed is undefined.” -Chiffre

“So a soul defines the multiverse by observing it. By the presence of an intelligent observer, our mutliverse is stabilized in its current state. That has always been that way. As far as we know. And the number of souls seems to be finite. Even souls which seem to be very young are just old ones which have lost their memories, or rather their gathered information.”

“So what happens to the multiverse if there aren't enough observers left to define it? The calamity is forcing all observers into a single being by merging everything into one.” I stretch my legs to have it a little more comfortable.

“Esoteric bullshit....” Zanders mumbles to himself.

“So if there aren't enough observers, the multiverse goes back to an undefined state? But that theory is strange. The size of the multiverse should be defined by the number of souls, if that's true. We should be able to see some kind of effect while the Calamity eats the observers. Without a proof such a theory is on very wobbly legs....” -Chiffre

“Why should we see a continuous effect and not a sudden collapse? The multiverse is always trying to keep the stability and correcting the logical errors. If there are not enough observers, it smooths the mistakes over. Why are there stars in the sky with no intelligent life? Shouldn't they vanish?” I continue my train of thoughts.

“There are such stars. Aren't you rebutting your own theory?” -Miruliru

“No. I am strengthening it. Those stars are there because people have always looked up to the sky and saw them. They remain there because they have to be there, or otherwise there would be just a mostly black sky for most planets. The other proof that strengthens my theory are the remnants of the first outbreak of the Calamity.” I wave towards the sky. “Tell them Warden. Were there always void zones throughout the multiverse?”

~The void zones are a recent phenomenon that started to appear during the first big fight against the Calamity. The Ascended couldn't explain the expanding zones, where the natural laws of nature aren't followed. But the void zones stopped growing when the Calamity was sealed away, or at least the speed of their growth became very slow.~

“So the multiverse isn't in its best shape as we see it?” Miruliru has a concerned voice now.

“Unfortunately.” Seems like they get the idea. “The void zones are just the first sign that the number of observers is becoming too low. I ask myself what the undefined state looks like. Will it go *poof* and everything ceases to be? Or will the multiverse just dissolve into a big void zone with strange undefined physical laws? That brings me to the last proof of my theory. The void zones are areas which don't follow known rules. Yet the space around our planets is perfectly fine. Why is that?”

“Because there are enough observers there to stabilize the space....” Chriffe's voice sounds very convinced now. “So we have to increase the number of observers in order to avoid an unknown outcome.”

“How? They are in the belly of that thing above our heads!” Gwalonna waves at the ceiling.

“We have to find a way to stop the Calamity.” Carne walks towards the window and takes a look outside.

“I will go back to my society and tell them what's going on. We will think about possible solutions.” Chiffre disappears without further ado.

I continue to think about the possibilities on my own, but there are no definite answers. The others keep talking for a while. Then they start to leave in order to inform their societies.

While I watch the setting blue sun, I think about my possibilities. Everything we could do is bad. But I don't like bad endings. I despise them.

The only good ending that comes to my mind could also be the ultimate bad end. The question is.... am I mad enough to throw a coin to decide the fate of the multiverse?

The others surely wouldn't like that. I stand up and walk with leisure towards the private quarters of my family. Celes should be done with her work. Surely I can find her there.

Our private quarters are at the top of the central tower. The small walk gives me time to reach a decision. And it is not an easy one.

I find Celes inside our living room. She is taking care of Aengus and Sharid. Both of them are lying on the big couch to the left side of the room. When I left them, they had serious headaches.

Celes looks into my direction with a furious expression. “Why didn't you tell me!? Aengus is in grave danger and you don't even give me a notice!”

As expected. I will get some harsh treatment for this. But I didn't want her to risk her life.

“I am sorry, but there wasn't enough time. I had to be as fast as possible.” Yes! Perfect excuse!

Celes snorts at me and turns back towards Aengus. So I walk over and hug Celes from behind. Aaah, having a last feel before the end is surely nice.

“What else have you been up to? I feel that you are hiding something.” Celes's tail starts to wriggle around me in order to stop me from escaping.

I swear it. The instincts of this woman are too good! “Nothing, my love! We just had to talk about so much heavy stuff at the embassy. It really put a dent into my good mood.”

So I start to explain my theory to Celes who nods now and then with an unhappy expression. At the end I just sigh and hug her again.

“So you have any idea how to solve this?” -Celes

“More or less. But it's a secret.” I grin at her.

“Tell me!” Celes grabs my left earlobe with finger her like a vice and pulls me down to her level. “You won't pull a self sacrifice again? I forbid it!”

“No! Nothing like that sugar cat. By the way.... look what I got back!” I pull Enyo from my left leg where she was holding onto me since the embassy.

Until now she didn't come to Celes's attention.

Celes's expression becomes shocked while Enyo starts to wriggle in my hands.

“Isss it time for action massster?” -Enyo

“Where did you get that thing from!? I though you had disposed of it!!” Celes takes a step backwards while I take a step forward.

“You really thought that I would permanently get rid of the only weapon which is effective against you? I thought I would lend it to Aengus for a few years but he doesn't need it at the moment....”

“Noooo.... I already have a tail!” Celes turns and starts to run while I follow her with a wriggling cat tail in my hands.

Haaa. Being the husband surely is the best.

105 - A call for death?

Asheim, Royal Chambers

I cuddle myself into the arms of my sleeping husband. The accursed tail is bound to a tight knot onto the armrest of a nearby chair. I swear, I will use that thing on him one day!

The revelations from yesterday were very scary too. The whole multiverse is at risk? And I almost lost Aengus! I don't want to lose my family ever again.

Hopefully the Arcane Community will find a solution. They have many smart guys after all. So there is still hope? Maybe Angrod will find a solution. Though he didn't sound hopeful towards me.

I get up to make some breakfast for me and Angrod. Ah, I could take a look at Aengus and Sharid while I am at it. They were pretty banged up by the Calamity when they got caught.

So I set out towards the living room after getting dressed. But in the living room I just find an empty couch. Sharid and Aengus are gone! I turn around and run back towards my chambers.

“Angrod! Angrod? Have you seen Aengus and Sharid?” I jump onto Angrod and start to shake him out of his sleep.

“Hmmm... no.... why.....”

Stupid sleepy head! “They are gone! Do you know where they are?”

Angrod sits up straight and looks at me. “What do mean? Gone?”

That's when I hear a siren from outside the window and the light inside our room shifts towards red. It should be controlled by Warden, so it doesn't really amaze me.

~We have a security breach. Agents of the Calamity are trying to gain access to my crystal core. It seems like Aengus and Sharid are with them.~

“What?” I scream at the ceiling while Angrod pushes me off and starts to get dressed. He has his armour and weapons here because he didn't change since saving Aengus.

“It looks like they were taken over. Though I checked on them, but obviously the meddling of the Calamity was concealed better than I thought! I have to get something first! Go and help to stop them.” Angrod vanishes by using a pathway!

Bastard! He didn't tell me about his plans again! But I have no time to worry. I have to save Aengus! What if he is killed by the guards?

The room with Warden's crystal core is heavily protected. Nobody has access except for a few selected individuals. Namely Angrod and me!

I use a pathway to get directly towards the royal armoury. Going into a fight while being unprepared isn't smart at all. So I will take a precious minute to get equipped first!

After pushing a guard to the side, I choose my armour and two short crystal swords. I have my daggers which are concealed as hairpins too. But for dealing with those demons I would prefer something with a slightly longer range.

Doing something like getting prepared for a fight feels like it takes ages while it actually takes only a few moments.

By using another pathway, I appear directly at the bottom of the central tower. The chamber with Warden's crystal core is beneath the tower and protected by a dampening field. All of our vital installations are protected like this.

Otherwise anybody could just teleport in and out as he pleases. I appear directly in a fight between my royal guards and some people who look like normal citizens. Are they random gods who were caught by the Calamity?

Damn! We were too lax in our security. There aren't any restrictions on visiting and leaving Asheim. They were able to walk directly in front of our tower before starting their attack!

A random looking guy runs towards me and tries to stab me with a crystal spear. But I evade with a pirouette while one of my swords lashes down on his neck and claims his head.

I won't die here because I show mercy towards controlled people. But how will I be able to stop Aengus and Sharid without hurting them?

They are weaker than me. That's for sure. But I am not confident that I can stop them without causing injuries.

“Queen! You have to go inside! Some of them got through before the reinforcements arrived! Some of the ambassadors went after them.” A guard informs me of the situation and I turn to run inside the tower.

Some of the ambassadors are here? They were fast! Even if they heard the alarm at the same moment as me. But I did waste some time with Angrod and to get prepared.

There are some employees lying on my way, but I have no time to check on them. After a few corners and short corridors, I arrive at the stairway which leads into the basement of the tower.

I take them with big steps and soon I hear the sounds of a battle before me. The basement's arrangement isn't complicated at all. There is just a big long hallway at the end of the stairs.

From the big hallway should spread some smaller corridors to the left and the right. They are connected to a few rooms which are used as offices and store rooms.

At the end of the big hallway is the door towards the control room with Warden's crystal core.

I step into the hallway and find a few guards and Carne, Miruliru and Chiffre in a battle with several agents of the Calamity. Gwalonna is lying on the ground and Zanders is taking care of her.

Aengus and Sharid are under the attackers. They outnumber the defenders by a great margin. Good that they are turning their backs towards me, so I jump into the fight while I cut and hack my way into Aengus's direction.

Hopefully some reinforcements will arrive soon. But now some of the attackers start to take notice of me and three agents turn towards me to block my path.

This is bad. I have no time for this! I channel my mana into my dagger to activate reinforcement magic and jump at them.

My appearance took the momentum out of the enemy attack. So the defenders start to form a closed front while protecting the entrance to the central control room.

I evade one of my enemies while I take a stab at the second and run past the third! My aim is Aengus.

“Aengus!” I scream at him while I run closer and he gives me a smug grin while readying a crystal sword.

“No worries mother. Everything will end soon enough.” He slashes at me and I block the attack with one of my swords.

“Fight it! Did you forget who you are!? You aren't like this!” I try to appeal to him but there is no sign of bewilderment in his face.

After trading a few blows with Aengus, I realize that he got much better with a sword all of a sudden. The battle heats up around us and I try to find an opening in Aengus's defence.

Suddenly my feet are wiped away from under me and I fall on my back while losing one of my swords. By turning my head I see that Sharid took a blow at me from behind.

Aengus kicks my second sword out my hand and raises his sword above me in order to end it. This can't be! I want to scream but no words come out. Everything happened so fast!

His sword stabs down towards me and suddenly the room is filled with shimmering blue lights. One of them punches a hole into Aengus's forehead and his sword stabs into the floor right beside my head.

His limp body crumbles onto me while my mind went blank. The agents of the Calamity start to drop to the ground all around us, sharing a similar fate.

“Aengus? Aengus? Talk to me!” I roll his body off of me and look into his dead eyes which stare up into nothingness.

I try to heal him, but it doesn't work. It's like his soul already left his body. By looking up I see Angrod in the entrance to the hallway.

The little blue lights are starting to gather around him and I recognize them as small crystals. He has his staff in his left and a fist sized blue crystal hovers above his right hand while pulsing in a blue light.

The fighting starts to die down as he begins to walk forward with a sad expression on his face. The little blue crystals are still circling him like deadly small knives.

“What did you do!” I scream at him with tears in my eyes.

“Just the right thing. I always do just the right thing, but it always ends in pain and suffering.” Angrod answers with a pained expression.

I jump up and run towards Angrod while passing Sharid's dead body. A huge hole is in her chest. “AAANNGROD!”

But a little small crystal lashes out and punches through my left leg. It was so fast, I didn't even see it. While I try to take a good punch at him my fist impacts a blue force field half a meter before Angrod.

He attacked me!? How could he? I fall to my knees in front of him. I can't stand with the wound in my leg. Somehow most of the mana inside me is gone! I can't even stand properly any more.

“Just rest here.” Angrod walks past me towards the central chamber.

“What do you think you are doing?” Carne blocks Angrod's path.

*THUNDER*

A blue flash of light strikes at Carne and throws him several feet backwards into a wall. He just drops to the ground and moves no more. Weapons are readied all around and turned towards Angrod.

“Palace! Hack and delete Warden. She isn't needed any more. Then take control of Asheim.” Angrod gives an insane command.

~Affirmative!~

A voice out of the blue crystal in Angrod's right hand confirms the order.

~What do... you.. think... I … NOT!... PROTECT... Why?~

“You are not under my direct control Warden. And I fear that you would resist my next commands.” Angrod continuously walked forward while doing all that.

Miruliru steps in front of the central chamber and erects a barrier. “I don't know what has gotten into you but it will stop here! I always disliked your creepy attitude, but this tops everything so far!” Others start to join her while pouring their power into the barrier which stops Angrod's advance.

He places a hand onto the barrier and sparks of energy start to leash back and forth between them. “Nothing has gotten into me. I just realized that doing the right things won't accomplish my desired result. I tried to always do the right thing, but the multiverse doesn't seem to recognize it. So I will do all the wrong things for once. It's a gamble.”

“I don't understand what you are talking about!” -Chiffre

“You don't need to understand. You just need to die.” Angrod gives them a wry smile while he starts to push forward.

“~Everyone. Has to die.~”

106 - Omega?

Asheim, Central Tower, Basement

I press forward with grim determination while the barrier of my opponents steadily grows weaker. I am sure that I could have done this in a smarter way. And more sneaky.

But by waging my power of against theirs in a final battle, I hope to harden my resolve for what's to come.

The biggest hurdle is already taken. I killed my first son and his fiancee in cold blood. Even if they were influenced by the Calamity, it was no easy action.

Right after the alarm, I went to Chimera and took control of the central core of my palace. It has a reasonably smart A.I. too. But unlike Warden, Palace is under my direct control. He isn't able to refuse my commands.

Afterwards I channelled the mana of the entire planet through me. Ever since the incident with the crystal core of my flying fortress, I trained myself. That event made me realize that there are no limits for gods.

Most gods tend to forget that they are using just their own power when they awaken. They are awed by their sheer force.

But there is still more. After you get control of your own power as a god you can still aim for something higher. Controlling the power which doesn't belong to you. The raw natural energy that's provided by planets and stars.

Once you get rid of the walls within your mind, you realize that there are no limits. A mind is power. Why shouldn't it be able to influence and shape any other power with enough training?

I must admit that using the mana of Chimera had some unhappy side effects. Like blowing up the entire planet. But at least that little test warned me of the possible dangers. Asheim shouldn't blow up before I have set everything into motion.

Mother's face was pretty aghast when she entered the room with Palace's crystal core. Maybe I should have told her that I love her before the end? No. I can't loose my determination. I have set my mind on doing this.

“Angrod! Have you lost your mind?” Chiffre snaps at me.

“No. I am perfectly sane. I just decided to wage my willpower against the multiverse. I will tip the balance and kill the observers until just I remain. Then... if there is just one observer left, the multiverse may bend to his desires.” I take another step and a few cracks appear in their barrier.

“You are mad! Didn't you say that you don't know for sure what will happen if there are not enough observers!” Miruliru starts to double her efforts.

“That's why I called it a gamble. But I have a hunch that the multiverse is trying to please it's observers with a reality that's appealing for them. Unfortunately it's impossible to incorporate the wishes of everyone into the same reality. So I hope that if there is just one being left..... it will be able to realize everything it wishes for.” That's my hope.

“Even if it works! What crazy universe will you dream up! It's impossible to control your wishes. You are opening the box of Pandora!” Zanders answers me with a shocked expression.

“Unfortunately you are right. But! I am a soul-mage. I meditated and thought for very long about this aspect. I searched my mind and my soul. There is just one thing I wish for. To be together with my family. In this reality. And without the Calamity.” Now he will ask if that includes everyone else.

“And what of the others! What will you get by only wishing for your family!” -Miruliru

I smile. “I don't know. But I wish for them to be happy. I guess that's not possible without some other people and a little excitement.”

Even my former guards join the ambassadors efforts to strengthen the barrier now. I guess they aren't happy with an uncertain future either. But it shouldn't matter. The crystal core in my hand holds the power of an entire world and more.

It's the central piece of my palace. It did nothing but gather mana for a very long time. Together with the distorted time inside Chimera's void zone it counts up to quite some power.

Suddenly someone grabs my shoulder. I turn and see that Carne got up again. He gives me a winning smile.

“You forgot....gah....”

His expression turns shocked while he incinerates completely in a flash of light from one moment to the next. I look sadly at the remnants of ash which were once my friend.

“CARNE!” Miruliru screams. “What happened?” Chiffre gives me a shocked expression.

“He switched his power with mine for a mere moment. But he wasn't able to control my power....” I give the barrier a final push and it shatters.

Miruliru jumps at me but I wipe her out of the air with my staff while I walk forward. Carne was the only one with a reasonable chance against me. If he had been able to control my current power.... I guess the multiverse doesn't have that much determination after all.

A guard tries his luck but one of my smaller crystals brings him an unfortunate end.

Chiffre unleashes a shock-wave of power against me which actually stops me for a second in my tracks. Commendable. I will have to ask him how that was possible if we see each other again.

With a wave of my hand I raise the gravity within the area dramatically and everyone is sent to their knees. So I walk forward without further hindrances. At the door to the central chamber I stop for a second.

“Angrod!”

I turn around and see Celes crawling towards me with a pained expression.

“You don't need to do this. We can solve this together! I am happy as long as we have each other!” She raises her hand towards me.

You are surely trying really hard to test me. But my decision is made. I turn and step through the opening door. Beyond it is the big crystal core of Asheim. So I raise my hand and Palace flies up to fuse with it. So that's done.

~Connection established. The core is under control.~

“Raise the space and time barrier around this room. And prepare the wave-front.” I tighten my hand around my staff.

~Done.~

Suddenly everything turns silent, as my special barrier is erected. It will protect me from the end by separating this room into it's own little universe. There won't be any possible interaction with the outside any more.

But first it has to become fully active. Before it locks down completely, it has to emit the wave-front. I especially created this magic to wipe out most of the multiverse. Once the critical limit is achieved, the multiverse should collapse on its own.

The wave-front is an adaptation of my own soul magic. Just with the difference that this version will have a self replicating effect. That's why I was always afraid of sharing my magic. It's actually just a little step from the red maelstrom towards the wave-front.

Like a wave inside a pond, it will spread into every direction and obliterate everything. While doing that, it will be fed by the very own energy it unleashes by breaking down even the smallest atom into the most basic components. Not even the black hole and the Calamity will be spared.

I turn around and realize that Celes actually crawled till the entrance where the new barrier stopped her. She is pressing a hand against it while tears run down her cheeks.

While smiling I bend down and touch the barrier from the other side. “Don't worry. We will see each other again soon.”

“Palace. Activate the wave-front and completely activate the barrier as soon as you are ready.”

~Affirmative.~

I kneel down and hold both my hands against the barrier while smiling at Celes. Yeah. "I won't take long my love." It just happens that the multiverse has to end in order for something new to begin. Something without soul eating monsters.

Then the other side turns black and I stare out into an endless black nothingness.

~The wave-front has been sent. We are disconnected from the rest of the multiverse.~

“That was pretty anticlimactic. Huh?”

~It had the expected effect. There should be nothing left in existence behind the wave-front. So it would be strange if there could be anything of interest observed.~

I nod. “So the multiverse should have collapsed by now. Can you confirm it by reconnecting us with the multiverse?”

~Reconnecting.~

The black nothingness turns into a white plane. And on the other side of the barrier, I see a demon.

“Hi. So we meet again.”

107 - Alpha?

Nowhere

“How the fuck can you be here?” The Calamity survived while everything else vanished? That can't be! Did I make a mistake?

“I am tired. I see that your current self doesn't know anything of the true nature of this whole affair....” The monstrosity before me starts to speak with a gentle and sane voice.

“What do you mean? How can you even be here? I destroyed the fucking universe!” I scream at the thing beyond the barrier.

It nods. “Yes. You destroy the universe. Then you recreate it. Then you destroy it. Then you create it. It's an endless self repeating cycle which was set in motion by your first incarnation. Everything just to destroy me.”

The thing starts to walk back and forth in front of the barrier. “It's just here, in this almost starved state that I am sane and we can hold this conversation, Bright One. Otherwise the other personalities would be suppressing me.”

“You are one of the first souls that attempted the fusion?” My mind goes blank. Did he survive by using the other souls as a shield? Somehow?

“Yes. I am the first. I wished for true eternity. And see what I ended up with.” The monster waves at the endless white plane. “Your spell is truly devious, Bright One. I wish I knew how you did it! You aren't even aware of it but you created this whole situation. Just to punish me! I don't need to be here you know? I could be out there in the nothingness. I could hide and you would recreate the multiverse. Then I will give in to my hunger and eat until you destroy the multiverse again. And so on and so forth. I lost count of it.”

The thing stops in it's tracks. “And the funny part is this. You aren't even aware of it! And yet you always stop me again and again without fail. You can't even go insane because you don't remember all those iterations. A truly marvellous spell! A spell that can end something like me that's meant to be eternal. Or maybe it wasn't you? Maybe you are just a tool of the multiverse to achieve balance? Maybe something like me isn't meant to be?”

I frown. “You are an idiot. What would you do all alone with yourself. It would be boring like hell!”

The demon shrugs. “Maybe. And maybe not. Who knows?”

“So why aren't you hiding? If it's true that you are weak? Your story is strange. From my theory I shouldn't be able to restart the multiverse if you still exist. You are an observer too.” I squint my eyes while I think about the motivations of the monster before me.

“I am here because I want to end it. And I don't count as an observer since a long time ago. In order to attain eternity, I disconnected myself from the multiverse. Do you know why your spell is so devious? It's because I can't run. Even if I run, I end up here! I can't escape! And while I am alone and conscious, I can't deal with this endless white eternity! And you will go on to bring me here. I am going mad!” The thing beats the barrier with a clawed fist and starts to rattle on.

“It doesn't matter if your next reincarnation is an angel. A dwarf. Male or female! Big, fat, muscular, thin, young, old. You just appear here every time to mock me! You show me all the different lives you lived in order to punish me for what I tried to give up! And you don't even know why. That's the funny part. Ohhh. What would I give to meet your first iteration again and ask him how he did it!” The thing spreads it's arms and smirks at me.

“So! Come out of there and let's have a last fight to the death! Just you and me!” The thing taunts me.

I frown again and smirk while I scratch my cheek. “Why should I? Now that I know that you are out there? I guess you used the other souls as a shield.... somehow. I just have to invoke the wave-front a few more times until the multiverse is completely wiped. You are like an artefact that survived the first wipe. Maybe the multiverse keeps resetting itself because of your continued existence. Palace, invoke the wave-front again as soon as you are ready.”

The Calamity lets it's hands fall. “Yeah, well. I expected that it wouldn't work to taunt you. Maybe I would have won?”

“Who knows?”

Then the other side of the barrier turns black again. After a few seconds, Palace returns us back to the previous state. This time there is no monster outside. But I don't trust the peace. “Palace, repeat the process until your energy reserves are depleted. Then drop the barrier.”

I sit down on the ground and watch the process for some time. After a while the other side stays white and I can hear the voice of Palace.

~Done.~

I get up with a burning sensation in my feet and walk outside. I hope the Calamity is gone for real this time.

So what to do now? I thought that everything would work out just by wishing for it. But nothing happens? Should I try to use my mana too? Feeling for energy?

“Turn back! Exist! And there is light!”

Graah! How stupid! Trying to give commands with your voice! Ok. Then what if I need a really exact image of what I want? Maybe using self hypnosis? I turn to watch the room behind me. It's just a big box made out of crystal now.

The easiest way to imagine everything should be from the inside. I should be able to imagine the universe going back to its previous state outside the room.....

So I walk back inside and squat down to take a comfortable position. Meditation! How do I want the multiverse to be.........

….Minutes...curiosity...

….Hours....bewilderment....

….Days.....FRUSTRATION!....

“Graaaa! This doesn't work! Why doesn't it work!?” I start to hit the ground. Did I make a mistake? Did I break the multiverse? I will be caught here forever?

Forever alone! “Hahahahaha....” This is too funny. Did that demon trick me in the end? Did I condemn myself by wiping him in that manner?

No... my spell shouldn't have that effect. It just decomposes everything down to it's most basic state. Even souls. It doesn't have a permanent effect.

“Maybe Massster hasss to try harder.”

I freeze up.

Then I look down and check my ankle, where the voice came from. “GRAAAH! YOU!” I rip Enyo from my foot and throw her onto the ground while I jump up.

*STOMP*

“Who!”

“Mass....”

*STOMP*

“Told!”

“....sster!”

*STOMP*

“You!”

“....ssst!”

*STOMP*

“To!”

“....op!”

*STOMP*

“Stay!”

“....miss!”

*STOMP*

“Alive!”

“....ssstake! Sssssss....”

Haaaa... That stupid snake! When did she even get onto me! Now that's dealt with. Time to do this right.

I kneel down again besides Enyo's remnants and start to meditate. Full concentration! I want the multiverse like it was when I left! Just with the difference that everyone is alive and healthy! Just the moment before I wiped the multiverse. All the worlds which were destroyed should be restored! And their inhabitants alive!

And there is no black hole and no Calamity! That monster simply doesn't exist. It's my universe, so no soul eating monsters.

Just imagine it! Creation!

I see a flash of light through my closed eyelids and open my eyes to see Celes lying just outside the room. She has a bewildered expression and is touching her face like not believing what just happened.

“YES!” I jump up and hop over her like a prima ballerina. Then I turn in a circle and smile while other previously dead guards and former agents of the Calamity are trying to grasp their situation like Celes.

“Bow down and worship me fools! Because -I- am the ~creator~ of the multiverse!” I see Carne on the ground while counting his fingers and touching his own body. So I kick his guts lightly while laughing.

“Get up you fool! I spoke there should be light! And therefore there is!” Then I run towards Aengus and Sharid who are hugging each other.

“Give daddy a hug too!” I hug both of them and turn two circles with them before letting go.

Suddenly Sharid's eyes fall onto Enyo's remnants inside the control room. “~Whahaha! Noooo! The family heirloom!~” She dashes forward and grabs the crushed cat-tail with the broken anal plug like a loved pet.

“No worries! I will repair her.” I call after Sharid. “Why shouldn't the creator of the multiverse be able to repair an.... Ouuuf.”

Suddenly Celes appeared before me and gave me a flying knee directly into my guts. I actually spurt out a little blood while I go to my knees.

“Hi, sugar cat! Honey bear saved the multiverse like you wanted! Shouldn't you reward me?”

I just see the after-image of an open palm and everything goes dark.

Celes

I slapped the stupid idiot without holding anything back! Right now he is unconscious to my feet. What did he even think he was doing!?

What if it hadn't worked! And attacking meee! There clearly wasn't enough education from my part! And he killed Aengus and Sharid! Even if they are alive and well now!

“Mhmffufufufufu.... I will teach you some manners! You will learn a few ~new things~ tonight. Mwhahaha....”

Then I take a look around and realize that all eyes are fixed on me. “~There is nothing to see! Just a wife that hands out some reasonable punishment!~”

I grab Angrod at the collar and pull his unconscious body after me. I have to get out of this dampening field to use a pathway..... And then! And then!

“Mwahahaharharharhar......”

- END -

108 - ~Epilogue I~

A certain cellar

Two crystal globes are resting beside each other in a dusty cellar. The noise of a big party can be heard from above. It sounds like a really big and happy festivity.

“What do you think this whole fuss above us is about Amaru? Do you think the Masters are preparing to free us?”

“Shut up Tjenemit! I swear! I won't be able to endure you for much longer! Don't call them Masters! Those Monsters came from hell itself! Nobody should know so many torturing methods!”

“The paths of the Masters are unfathomable..... though I wish that the first Master would take us back. His mothers are so much worse than him.”

“You are right. While I was in the Monsters grasp I still had thoughts about betrayal. His mothers taught me true obedience.... and for the last time! Don't call them Masters!”

“But I can't. They imprinted this into me. It's so deep in me! Even if I try to call M.. them... something else. It simply comes over my lips.”

“Whatever.... And No! They aren't preparing to release us! They are having a marriage ceremony above! A member of this breed took El Shaddai as his wife!”

“Wife?”

“Apparently he was reborn while we were locked up in this cellar! As a woman on top of it! Don't you listen to those two old hags when they are done with tormenting us?”

“I wisely plug my eyes and ears. Nothing good comes of too much knowledge. But for the Masters to grant El Shaddai absolution in such a mysterious way.....”

“I wouldn't call it absolution! Haaah.... Just a single opportunity of escape. I wouldn't even think about revenge. I would just hide somewhere and live a humble life.”

“Such a life would be surely a great gift by the Masters....”

*~Crreeeaack~*

“What was that!?”

“The door! Be silent and pray! The Masters are coming! They don't even grant us peace during the marriage ceremony of their offspring. Hard and Thorny are their paths....”

Three young girls enter the room in a sneaky manner and start whispering to each other.

“Come in! They won't find us here!” - demongirl A

“Yes. Yes. God! This basement is dusty!” - demongirl B

“At least we got away from them. For Sharid to bring her mortal family to the party. Her little sisters are so annoying!” - demongirl C

“Yeah... they ask so many obvious questions. What's this. What's that. Even I got sick of playing the escort.” -demongirl B

“It can't be helped. They are mortals.” - demongirl A

“Playing tricks on them would be seriously bad manners. Unfortunately.” - demongirl C

“And too easy! Ah! Look! Two glowing orbs! Cool!” - demongirl B

All three of them come closer and surround the dusty pedestal with the two glowing orbs.

“I didn't know that we had such thing down here. Oh, there are little people inside! Freaky!” - demongirl A

“We aren't little people! We are Djinns! And if you crush our Orbs, we can grant you a wish!”

“It spoke!” - demongirl C

“What are your names little Masters?”

“I am Eris! And that's Lada and Arianne.” Eris introduces herself to the Djinns.

“That's strange. Shouldn't you rub an oil lamp for a Djinn to appear and grant wishes? And why are they kept in this dark and dusty basement?” Arianne squints her eyes at the two little figures.

“Who cares!? Two wishes! Hurry up and think of something cool!” Lada starts to hop while shining with her entire face.

“I really think that we should ask....” But Arianne can't complete her sentence any more.

“I wish for Sharid to have two little boys to tease them!” Eris grabs the first glowing globe and smashes it onto the ground.

*Crush*

“Are you out of your mind!? And what's with that strange wish Eris! Sharid likes cute little girls on top! Didn't you see how she adores her two little sisters! You are cruel!” Arianne gasps at the broken globe on the floor. It stopped shining and went dark.

“I … I don't know. It was a sudden impulse? It felt like the right thing to do?” Eris looks at the broken ball to her feet with a disturbed expression. “It was like a past self of me suddenly took over?”

“I will correct your mistake! I wish for both boys to be lovable and cute little girls! So that Sharid can shower them with love!” Lada grabs the remaining globe and throws it to the floor.

“FREEEEEE!”

*Smash!*

“That was strange.” Eris scratches her cheek.

“Didn't I tell you!? What did get into you to make such strange wishes? Are you a goddess of mischief Eris?” Arianne smacks Eris.

“Like I said.... Why are you tapping us Lada. Stop that! First we have to think about a possibility to conceal this mess and blame someone else!” Eris waves at the crystal shards on the floor.

But Lada persistently continues to poke her sisters from behind. Eris and Arianne turn annoyed around towards Lada.

“Aaaahh.... Hi! Grandma Ireth! How are you doing.” -Eris

“Strange to meet in such a dusty cellar granny Katrine. We surely weren't hiding if you think that...” -Arianne

One year later

Two babies are lying side to side in their cute pink cradle.

-That's my babysoother!- Anja snatches her belonging out of Amelia's mouth by using telekinesis.

-Sorry. I tend to mix them up. Yours and mine look so similar.- Amelia apologizes and grabs the other soother which belongs to her.

-I swear! All those years in that Cellar with you. And now this cruel fate! Your drool is on my belonging! And to be the sister of an airhead like you!- Anja starts to wave her cute little arms into the air.

-I am not the one who came up with the Djinn story! You are at fault here! I always told you that Karma and Fate exist! And for someone like us to try to escape righteous punishment... THIS HAD TO HAPPEN!- Amelia snaps and starts a tirade.

-How should I know? How big was the chance for this to happen? A trillion to one!? At least they will seal our memories today. I already hid a note in my soother to never try to remember my past. Stupid airhead!- Anja continues her ranting.

-I will start to cry! And then SHE will come!- Amelia threatens Anja.

-Airhead!-

“UWAAAAA!”

-Stop it!-

“WAAAHAAAHAHAAAA!”

-I give up! Peace! Just don't call her! She is too doting and loving! If she starts to take care of us she won't stop until she falls asleep! I will never call you airhead again. We are in this together. S.. Sis..-

-Say it!- Amelia looks deep into Anja's eyes.

Anja puffs up her cheeks. -Sister! Please, don't cry. We have to stand united against mother's love. At least until they seal our memories.-

-Note down in your soother that you love me and that we are the best sisters forever! And that we absolutely never ever get back our old memories! I will do the same!- Amelia shows a winning grin that doesn't fit her baby face at at all.

-That's...-

Amelia starts to draw breath.

-OK! Ok! Just be quiet!- Anja concentrates for a short moment to scratch the message with telekinesis into her soother. -There? See?-

-Hmpf... Ok!-

Then steps are heard and the door flies open. Sharid storms inside and snatches both babies out of their cradle and presses them to her chest.

“~Mommy is here! You don't have to cry! Are you hungry already? Or did you make poopoo? Need some baby powder? Or a toy?........~”

109 - ~Epilogue II~

Royal Chambers

I did it! Call me saviour of the multiverse! Forget that! I am the fucking creator of the multiverse! I even retrieved my father's memories and revived him!

Almightiness was in my hands! I had it! I revived everyone for gods sake! I even took care of some physical laws which caused problems.

It was the perfect idea. First, Revive father and give him his job back. Then, Do what you want and be a sloth!

So why did I get told that I am the perfect king and a change of power isn't necessary? Father grabbed mom and both of them ran away to enjoy their time together! Fuck! Fuck!

I am the creator of the multiverse, so why do I have to be the king!? They should all obey me and kiss my feet!

Aengus and Sharid are happy with each other and live a life of their own. They even have two cute little daughters! But they aren't willing to take any responsibility either.

I thought of everything. I thought..... but..... in the end I failed!

While recreating the multiverse I should have wished for complete obedience! Yes! But I was an idiot! The multiverse played the greatest trick on me!

At least I should have changed Celes's personality! But nooo, I completely missed that subject. So that's what I get for a moment of idiocy.

Right now I am tied up and used as a body pillow! The creator of the multiverse! A BODY PILLOW!

My body is still sore from the beating I got from Celes.

Could.... Could it be....? Naaah... never! But on the other hand? Was this situation a subconscious wish of mine?

Am I a masochist like Sharid? Just with the difference that I am not aware of it? That can't be. But she is one. A masochist and a sadist.

I was sure that her soul didn't have those properties when I reincarnated her. I just dabbled with her sex drive to make her a wild nympho. But she didn't turn out like that at all.

That's strange! Contrary to her potentials, she has actually a quite faithful personality. And it looks like she would never go for someone else besides Aengus.

What else did I do to her soul. Well. I edited the thirst for power out of her to keep her down. But she still rose back to godhood.

Then I gave her a few of my ~abilities~. Could that be the problem? Passive abilities have an indirect link to someone's soul.

So did I copy more than my abilities? Did I give her some of my subconscious desires and wishes too? That's entirely possible now that I think about it! And I dabbled with her soul very heavily! So that has to be case!

Whahahaaaaa. I am the lowest of the lowest. A sadist. And a subconscious masochist! And a pervert!

I fell so deep since I was a monk on earth!

“Mmnh... stop moving or I hit ya!” Celes mumbles while being half asleep.

I have to find out where I lost my path. I was always a sadist! I accept that! Even as a monk I enjoyed the pain of others. Keeping it hidden was just natural.

But my other issues can't be from my previous lives. C... Could it be that I started to enjoy the torture lessons of my parents? Are they at fault?

And then that time when I got turned on because Celes was punishing the kids? Did I wish for myself to be in their place?

Urgh. I want to spew blood. The multiverse was created by the worst lowlife in existence.

At least I created a nice warm place for the worst souls in the multiverse. Their tortures should last long enough to reform them into nice and obedient people.

That's one thing I got right.

Credits

Author | — | Andur
Publication platfom | — | RoyalRoadDl.com
Book designer | — | Armaell

Table of Contents

1 - Kicked by a Goddess!

2 - I see the light!

3 - All my relatives?

4 - A visit at the temple!

5 - Matchmaking and Assassins!

6 - Tied up conversation?

7 - Headaches and a new educator?

8 - Training!

9 - A formal dance between the two?

10 - Conclusion and new education!

11 - Interlude - Another judgement!

12 - Choosing your lesson?

13 - A new rumor!

14 - Interlude – A broken world?

15 - End of the first schoolday!

16 - The ominous notebook?

17 - Prototype and special class?

18 - Another raccoon geezer!

19 - Interlude - At the centre of all things!

20 - A new form of art!

21 - The end of the second schoolday!

22 - The End?

23 - Reunion or restart?

24 - Interlude - Henchman?

25 - Training and mistakes?

26 - I want my own toys!

27 - Failure and an abandoned child?

28 - What to do?

29 - A mad scientist in my lab?

30 - An angry ex-god?

31 - A light at the end?

32 - Interlude - Neither black nor white?

33 - It is the first ....?

34 - The past always returns?

35 - A nice greeting!

36 - School life continues?

37 - Interlude – A certain god's hot spring?

38 - Plan or no plan?

39 - Coronation!?

40 - A Dream?

41 - A bad prophecy?

42 - A picnic in the woods?

43 - Graduation party!

44 - Interlude - A stolen world?

45 - Until death?

46 - The day after..... ?

47 - My daily life?

48 - New life at the end?

49 - Striking back!

50 - Interlude - An ocean of clouds?

51 - To the north!

52 - What a god can do.

53 - Who you really are?

54 - Where it all starts anew?

55 - Between father and son?

56 - Interlude - The Sphere of Sight!

57 - Sorting out the mess?

58 - A mount for a goddess?

59 - Remember, remember....?

60 - Hide and seek?

61 - Sending a message?

62 - Preparations!

63 - Discussions?

64 - Rebellion?

65 - Diplomacy!

66 - Victory?

67 - Waking up to reality?

68 - If there is light?

69 - Work for the next generation?

70 - A new sport?

71 - Gods and their children.

72 - The daily life.

73 - More than one Party?

74 - Party, Ambassadors, Harem, Children and Wine?

75 - Party, Ambassadors, Children and Wine?

76 - Party, Ambassadors and Wine?

77 - Party and Wine?

78 - Red light district?

79 - A god calls for help?

80 - Dungeon Reward: ****?

81 - Saving a world?

82 - Revelations and a goddess's vacation?

83 - A new perspective.

84 - The Choice?

85 - I want more children!

86 - Searching and a damsel in distress!

87 - Things to find out and stuff to hide?

88 - How to climb a mountain?

89 - Support group and aftermath?

90 - War and leaving the mountain?

91 - To Oblivion?

92 - Old memories?

93 - Ascending!

94 - Being a daddy! And teatime?

95 - Asheim!

96 - Signing your fate!

97 - The mistakes of youth?

98 - Discussion?

99 - This is my fiancée!

100 - This is my fiancé!

101 - Bad awakening?

102 - An envoy?

103 - Rescue mission!

104 - Inevitable?

105 - A call for death?

106 - Omega?

107 - Alpha?

108 - ~Epilogue I~

109 - ~Epilogue II~

Credits