by Andur
And even if Elona finds a solution to the medical aspect, we would still have to bend his mind into shape. Would that even be a proper form of healing? Or would we simply recreate him according to our wishes. Maybe it's better to keep him in a mental ward until he recovers, or send him on to his next life. It may be kinder. I visited him this morning and now I am not even sure for how long he was playing the family. If I interpret his fragmented hints correctly, then he must have gone over the edge soon after my father took Clarity as his new wife.
Which means that the person I knew as Perseus never really existed. That's a lot to deal with. Especially since I have to take care of my own responsibilities.
I promised to act as a spokesperson once we get involved with the other factions who are affected by the war. Right now several of our agents are trying to contact the other realms. We've sent them to each of the locations which were identified as probable spying targets of the spirits. Of course the agents won't report back right away. That means I have limited time until I'll have even less time to think about Perseus. Once they return we will have our hands full.
“It's unusual that you are so gloomy. Did something happen that I should know about?”
Seria's voice startles me, but I don't open my eyes. “I visited my brother. It wasn't pleasant.”
She snorts and gets onto the bed, making it creak under our combined weight. Then she gets on top of me, straddling me between her thighs. “So simply feeding them meat didn't work? I am sure that we can arrange for better treatment once all the shit has settled down.”
“Thanks. It's just that I've a feeling that I never really knew my brother and the visit this morning was like a slap in the face. Maybe we've to break his mind and rearrange it, but would that even be my brother? I am not sure if turning him into a walking doll solves anything.”
She draws in a deep breath. “That probably requires a lot of philosophical thought and I am not the right person for that. I am far too simple minded in my world-view. For example, I never understood why some cultures don’t allow suicide. It’s an insult to a goddess of death. Everyone should be allowed to do with his own life as he or she pleases.”
I laugh. “I bet I know where that comes from.”
“I bet that I know how to distract your thoughts from our messed up families.” She reaches for my hands and pulls them out from under my head. Then she guides them to her bottom and I get to squeeze her soft skin.
“See? Lecherous bastard. All it takes to forget your brother, is to remind you that you are the one who got the woman. You are grinning from ear to ear.”
“You call me lecherous, yet you are the one who throws herself naked into my arms. Which man wouldn't grin at that?” I squeeze her just for the heck of it.
“This is my apartment and my bed! I can be naked all I want. Did I mention that I dislike people who lie down fully clothed in my bed? You didn't even take off your shoes,” She grumbles and starts shifting on top of me, unbuttoning my shirt.
I smirk. “I hope you will change the state of affairs without throwing me out of the bed.”
61. ~Welcome
“Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.”
The Journey to the Afterlife
Kingdom Newerth, Capital City
Seria
“This is a circus!” I slowly step back from the crowd which gathered in the palace's courtyard. All my instincts tell me to run and let others deal with the madness. It's been a few days since our agents were sent to make contact with other realms. They succeeded, mostly, and in various degrees of success. As a result we are now flooded with ambassadors and, worst of all, merchants who want to trade! I think some people didn’t hear the bells of war.
Unfortunately, Marcus senses my displeasure and reaches out as I step backwards, catching my hand in his. “You are not going to leave me alone with these idiots! And where the heck are your parents!”
I shrug, remembering my mother's mysterious request to be present today. She played me and never showed up, but those clowns in front of us did! “I think my parents decided to hide in the lowest levels of their underground research lab. Where are your parents?”
“Disappeared for some urgent business right before we were supposed to attend this meeting,” Marcus mumbles and steals a look at my official wardrobe. “Isn't this outfit a little too showy?”
Pouting, I decide to answer. “I wanted to look my best. This is an official first meeting between all the parties who have to suffer from spirit attacks, though I have a feeling that we need a dedicated building to house all of our guests.” There are at least thirty people who followed our invitation. Sadly we've no clue how influential they actually are. Our only hope is that our agents did a good job in contacting the right persons.
On an impulse, I look down myself to check out the tight fitting, blue and red dress. The colour clashes a little with my hair, but I chose a pair of black gloves to counter that. Maybe the deep V of my neckline is indeed a little too much. I wanted to make the right impression, but not that impression. If that makes any sense.
There is nothing that can be done about it now. I return my attention to our guests. From what I learned, at least seventeen other realms answered our call. Four of them are capable of multidimensional travel. Well, actually all of them are. Creating portals isn't that difficult when a whole civilisation of immortals put their minds to it. But only those four found a way to hide their portals from the spirits' attention. Most of the other realms ended up in a similar situation as Newerth, trying to ban the use of portals as much as possible. I've to admit that it's a far easier way to deal with the whole issue.
So the assembly in front of me is a mad mix of dress-codes, cultures and languages, hence I called them a circus. As least we seem to have the language problem under control. The ambassadors seem to have no trouble at shouting at and insulting each other.
Marcus steps forward and claps his hands as loud as he can. Which is very loud, given that he is using a little magic to enhance the effect. “Please, if you would allow us to lead you all to a little less public locality? We've prepared a hall which should suit our purpose. There we can discuss our situation in a more civilised manner.”
An imp-like creature steps forward. He must be from one of the realms who embrace their spirit form. His size is close to mine, so calling him an imp may be a little exaggerated on my part. Though the rest of his body fits all the criteria. Batwings, a pointy tail and ears, claws instead of fingernails, and a body that's just a little too disproportioned to call it a standard human configuration. His baggy, grey robe doesn't really hide the strangeness of his body. I wouldn't want to run around like that.
He smiles, showing me a set of red, pointy teeth. “And why should we listen to people who aren't even able to use their spirit forms? Your city is also pretty banged up. It looks like you are in more need of help than us. Why should we burden ourselves with you?”
I feel the smiling expression on my face cramp up. This behaviour is totally unfitting of an ambassador. But if they really want to compare sizes, then who am I to deny them the opportunity? The muscles on my back shift as I feel my wings bursting out of my back. Luckily the dress was made with that possibility in mind, so I don’t end up naked in front of the crowd. They probably wouldn’t have cared anyway, as their eyes are transfixed on the wings of shadow and light behind me.
My horns grow from my forehead and I feel my pupils turning to slits as I step towards the imp, allowing him a good look at the sea of stars in my eyes. “I hope you aren’t mistaking the fact that we are fighting our enemies as weakness. Who of you can claim that they took out an enemy base and fought them on their own ground?” Ok, they didn’t put up much of a fight, but I don’t have to mention that.
The imp takes a step back, his eyes on something slightly above my head. He points towards the door which I indicated earlier. “You said the prepared room is that way? I suppose we’ll at least listen to what you hav
e to say.” Turning, he hurries to create some distance between us and follows one of the guards who takes the lead. The other ambassadors fall in line behind him like good, little school kids. Not that they were the ones who tried to provoke us.
I turn around to find out who stole all the attention from me.
What I find standing directly behind me is a monster! He is at least three heads taller than me and has red skin. Two burning horns of white fire crown his head and his eyes are two holes of pitch black emptiness. A bona fide devil! Only the sword of light gives me a hint at the identity of the newcomer. He is carrying it in an easy going manner on his shoulder. And there is the fact that someone else was standing there just a few moments ago. He is also clad in the same grey robe as Marcus.
“Marcus?”
The devil smiles, revealing a set of sharp fangs. “In the flesh.” He answers, puffing out a small cloud of smoke as he speaks. “I asked your father for some advice and shape shifting lessons, given that he is a shape shifter too. He managed to give me some directions on how to control this new skill of mine.”
I step back and try to take in his new form. In my initial confusion I didn’t recognize it, but his facial features are still the same. It’s just that he amplified his entire frame by a few numbers. “So you can shift into anything? And your clothes change with you. That’s handy.”
“Yep.” He coughs. “But I think I’ve overdone it with the smoke. Feels like having a smoker’s lung.”
“Hmm.” I let my eyes roam from his horns to his impressive chest, which is totally fake. I liked his original form, but I won’t say no to a few muscles once in a while. Then my eyes fall to his hips. “Once this shindig is over, we’ve to explore all the options. Does your whole body change size? The important parts included?”
He smiles.
I decide not to let his self esteem go overboard. “Just get rid of the teeth. And the smell of your breath is intolerable. Kissing is out of the question until you’ve solved that little problem.”
That wipes the stupid grin right off his face and returns him to reality just fine.
62. ~Friends.~
“Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends.”
The Journey to the Afterlife
Kingdom Newerth, Capital City
Marcus
Just let it be over. Why are we the ones who have to talk to these people? They want to have treaties, trade agreements, jurisdictional agreements... nothing of that is important right now. Upon taking a look at my wristwatch, I realize that I have been listening to their bickering for three hours. In my opinion there are better activities to kill time. We could talk about possible ways to fight our enemies. Or I could have some alone time with Seria.
We’ve led our guests to one of the conference rooms. Looking up, I survey the room. All of us are arranged around a large, round table. The rest of the room is empty, except for two huge guards at the door. The two of them are somehow managing to still look threatening instead of bored. Professionals. I bet they could stand around for a whole day and still look like they are performing the most important task in the world.
An ambassador from the realm of Hoo is talking about something, but I am zoning out his voice completely. He is a large, wiry man and normally that would draw attention and impress his audience. Sadly, his voice and manner of speaking create the strong wish to take a nap. He is also one of the idiots who would rather speak of everything except taking the fight to the enemy. It seems like he is more interested in the relationship between the realms, than in the spirit problem.
I've my bets on three other people whom I identified as the main players in this conference. Of course it's hard to judge the power levels of the various realms. All we have so far, are some vague impressions from our agents and the word of the ambassadors that they represent a significant power in their realm. So what I am trying to do right now, is to judge the attitude of our guests. That means that the guy from Hoo is a total let-down. He honestly seems to think that the spirits are some kind of weather phenomenon.
The first guy of any importance is the imp who provoked us earlier. If he is a prime example of his people, then they are up for a fight. I don't like his attitude towards us, but it's far better than having to deal with a merchant. It's too bad that the spirits did such a good job in painting themselves as some kind of natural fact of life. Half of the assembly seems to think that we intend to stop the weather from changing.
Right now we are interested in short term assistance, so I am inclined to take all the help we can get and kick out everyone else. It feels like a waste of my time to open their eyes. I am sure that we have a lot of unimportant people who have all the time in the world to listen to our guest’s verbal outbursts. Once they realise that the spirits are a real threat, they will come around fast enough.
Then there is Nahal's ambassador. She is a real feast for the eyes with her curvy body. A whole head shorter than Seria, she is still a nicely shaped woman with chestnut hair. But wilful as heck. She even managed to glare down the imp when he tried to cut into her speech time by overrunning his own time limit.
The last person who we should look out for is an average looking, blonde guy who didn't say much so far. He doesn't show off his spirit form either. All I can use to judge him is the fact that he sneered at several of the ambassadors who are on the merchant side. He is clearly not of their opinion, which means that he is at least neutral. Our agent also reported that Blond's realm is a high-tech civilisation. Apparently they chose to protect themselves by advancing as rapidly as possible. They live in mega cities which are protected by high walls to keep the spirit plague outside.
There must have been a point in their past when they didn't manage to stop a spirit invasion in its first stages. So the spirits are now roaming most of the land while the people are hiding in their artificial strongholds. A similar scenario happened to Dedessia, just that their realm seems to have more than enough resources. Luckily my realm didn’t have to share their fate.
When it’s clear that the current speaker said everything he had to say, Seria gets up and claps her hands together. “Wonderful.”
Was that that sarcasm I heard in her voice?
“I think now that everyone voiced his or her opinion, we can finally take a break. We’ve prepared quarters for all of you. And you can send messages back home if you wish to do so. If you still have questions, we can talk about it in the next room where we’ve food and drinks for everyone.”
Perfect! It’s as good as over. I get up and follow Seria with all the others to the neighbouring room where the staff has prepared a buffet. Only, someone is already there, her plate loaded with the best treats the buffet has to offer.
Elona turns around and scans the incoming crowd, chewing on a meat-stick. She smiles and waves the stick upon recognizing us. “I’ve made it! Aren’t you two glad that I decided not to leave you two to the wolves?”
Seria approaches her mother with quick steps and hisses, “Mom, where have you been? We had to listen to all of their problems while you hid somewhere. And where is Shade?” Before Elona can answer, Seria turns around and addresses the crowd, “Seems like another person of high rank managed to make it. Let me introduce my mother, Elona, queen of Dedessia.”
Nobody says a word while Elona lets her eyes wander over the ambassadors. Then her expression turns smug. “Some of you might know me as Celes. And I know at least one of you. I am so glad that we meet again.”
Most of our guests look confused, but some gasp, remembering the name. Only one person tries to slowly flow away from us to hide behind the others. It’s the small bombshell from Nahal.
Elona purses her lips, faking a hurt expression. “Lidith, why are you hiding, aren’t we friends? We could have a big reunion with Jazira.”
The busty bombshell from Nahal shoves the two ambassadors apart who she used as a shield. Then she stalks towards Elona, her blue skirt swaying with each step. “You! How
did you recognize me!? I never mentioned my identity to anyone and I was extra careful to hide my aura! Oh, by the gods! He is also here, isn’t he? If you are here, then he has to be! He already invaded my mind or something like that. Is he searching my memories or what? Am I already bound to some operating table? Is all of this an illusion? I hoped I would be rid of you two!”
Elona soothes the agitated woman by petting her head. “No. Don’t worry. I watched the whole meeting over the security cameras and your skittish behaviour was familiar, so I used some of his devices to verify my suspicions. He doesn’t know, yet.” Then Elona ruffles the woman’s long hair and rearranges it with both hands. “You know… I really miss those cat ears of yours. They really suited you. Do you mind if I change that?”
… and that led to our first diplomatic incident. Busty jumps at Elona, both hands at her throat in an attempt to choke her. Of course Seria and I hurry to pull the two of them apart, but it turns out that it isn’t that easy, given that both opponents are divines.
At least the others don’t add to the problem by joining the fray.
63. ~Three.~
“People have an annoying habit of remembering things they shouldn't.”
The Journey to the Afterlife
Kingdom Newerth, Capital City
Seria
“So Jazira is also here? That’s no good. I still can remember her first attempt at using the pathways. She gathered so much energy that she almost ripped apart a whole continent. Using brute force was always her method of choice. I hope you managed to steer her towards a different path this time.” Lidith eyes the ceiling with a gloomy expression. It took us five minutes to separate her from Mother.
