Transcendence?

by Andur

  “He created yet another strange thing.” Jazira looks with interest at the crystal.

  “I am not a strange thing. I am Warden. The perfect companion. Lifesaver and soothing to the mind.” The crystal answers.

  “Why is the voice female?” I growl as I look at the crystal.

  “Why should I be male? It would be much more awkward if Master had to deal with a guy. Besides otherwise there couldn't be a deeper relationship than friendship.” The crystal glows up.

  I snatch the thing from his hand.

  “Hey!”

  “That's confiscated!”

  “It saved my life. Whatever it is.”

  “You don't even know what it is!? Do you create your inventions in some kind of delirium!?”

  “Sometimes. No! I meant that this one was an accident! I have to find out what led to its creation.”

  “Do that in a safe environment! Preferably behind several layers of barrier spells. You created something strange.”

  He keeps looking at the crystal with eyes full of yearning, so I pull at my collar and drop the crystal into my cleavage. “~You'll get it back after I've had a serious word with it.~”

  86 - Training session.

  Norfolk, Sarn

  Sera

  “Ouf!” I am on the ground again! I am dirty and everything hurts. Is this the end? Will I really die at the tender age of ten? All my hard work and effort. I want to cry!

  “Get up! We still have time to train.” Celestial's voice comes from above me. She is displeased with my development. According to her I could be much stronger if I would put more effort into it. But to be honest I don't see how I could compete with a goddess!

  Mother is trying to raise me and Arran to godhood. Although I don't see how that should be possible. As far as I understood you need to fulfil certain criteria to reach godhood. Like being very good at your own field of expertise. I doubt that being beaten up by mom is a help in that regard.

  I would be far more eager to train spells with dad.

  “Don't look at me like that. You are too old for the puppy-eye-attack!” Celestial doesn't budge. “There is no way to tell how long we'll have peace until that stupid god revives.”

  Damn! I get to my knees and ready myself again. “Why don't you guys band together and catch Charon and Wynne.”

  “They are still much stronger than us. We can't control our power completely. According to Lidith we have about half of their fighting power. So that means that I, Ascathon and Jazira could take on one of them. With Lidith on our side we may be able to win. But there would be casualties on our side for sure. If Aneth reincarnates and they decide to work together, the advantage will be on their side.” Celestial starts trading blows with me.

  I pout. “But dad dealt with him very easily. Don't his new weapons count for something? Can't we just abandon this stupid world and travel somewhere else?”

  Celestial sighs. “Ascathon managed to lure Aneth into a trap. Aneth didn't expect that any weapon could hurt him. Now they know that we can kill them. It won't be so easy to stick a blade into them now. And do you really want to go somewhere else after living here for so long? We have a whole country working for us here.”

  Now it's my time to sigh. “No. I guess you are right.” The other countries lost most of their military powers during the great battle over the northern sea. They still haven't recovered and it doesn't look like they will anytime soon. My parents don't want to bother with the subjugation of other nations since they aren't a threat any more.

  We continue to train for another hour until Celestial finally decides to give me a little breather. I curse Arran for ditching me to train with Lidith.

  “I'll go and take a look at what Ascathon is doing. Don't run off, I'll be back right away!” Celestial walks off and leaves me behind.

  Freedom! Now I can finally try my new spells! Just a few feet separate me from the stall with the training dolls and as I turn to go there, a huge magical circle appears under my feet.

  Everything dissolves into light. A swirling feeling wells up from my intestines and then I am suddenly standing in a big hall. There is a huge magical circle on the ground around me and dozens of people who seem to supply the glowing circle with power.

  I am standing on a small podium. The magical circle disappears and several people collapse. I take a look around. The people around me don't look like they are from Sarn.

  Then my eyes fall onto a group of people who are approaching me. There is an old wizard-like fellow, a white haired bearded guy and a blonde woman. Behind them is someone who looks like a knight and a priest.

  I stagger from the podium and take another disoriented look around.

  “It's a child! I wanted to summon a great hero! Wasn't I clear enough in my description.” The bearded guy points at me while screaming at the wizard.

  The wizard shakes his head. “I don't know what went wrong. We used enough mana for the summoning to call forth a demigod.” He turns towards me and smiles. “What's your name little girl? Where are you from? This world is called Jateria.”

  The gears in my head slowly start to work again. So I was summoned to another world? Crap! Mother will come back any moment and she'll surely be pissed when she gets back and I am not there.

  “Look at how dirty she is. Probably some kind of peasant! The summoning must've failed.” The blonde woman snorts in disgust.

  “That can't be, those are fine clothes. Were you training?” The knight kneels down and smiles at me.

  All eyes are resting on me. They are waiting for the first sentence from their new summoned hero. Introductions are important, I have to think carefully of my words. They shouldn't get a wrong impression of me.

  “~My name is Seraphim Asceron, first princess of Norfolk.~ And you are all screwed once my mother finds out that I am gone!” I wave my fist at them.

  The bearded guy starts to laugh. “A princess? Maybe I should marry her to one of my sons. She could develop quite nicely.”

  “Unfortunately there is no way to go back. We don't even know from where we summoned you. So there'll nobody come to get you.” The wizard looks down at me with a sad expression.

  “That may be true if mom and dad were normal people, but they are gods. And you guys are all going to have a bad day when they show up!” I cross my arms in front of my chest and smirk at them.

  “Ahahahaha!” The bearded guy got a laughing fit and can't stop any more.

  The only one who looks concerned is the wizard. “So you are a god? That would explain why we needed such a huge amount of mana to summon you.”

  I frown. “Not yet. I am still in training.”

  The bearded guy is finally able to catch his breath again. “It's fine! You are funny. I'll marry you to my youngest son. Then I can always have you close to me as an entertainer.”

  “Don't tell me that this idiot is something like the king?” I turn to the knight in front of me.

  “Y... you can't call the king an idiot.” The knight's expression drops.

  “I am the princess of Norfolk! When I say that someone is an idiot, then he is one! Or do you want to call me a liar?” I try to look imposing and stand up straighter.

  The stupid blonde woman starts to say something when a cracking sound comes from behind me. I turn and look at the distorted space at the place where I had been summoned. The distortion widens for a moment and then disappears. Ascathon is standing there with his back to us.

  He has beeping device in his hand and points it in different directions while not caring about his surroundings. Then he scratches his head and hits the device.

  “~Daddy!~” I run towards him and hug his leg.

  “Ah! Sera! How the hell did you get to another world? Did you awaken your powers?” He turns and bends down to take me under one arm. “Anyway, we don't have much time. Your mother gave me a tight time limit on finding you.”

  “They summoned me to be their hero!” I point at the group of people.


  Ascathon ignores them and the space around us distorts. Just at that moment the bearded guy calls out to us. “Stop! You can't abduct the wife of my son! We put too much effort into this summoning ceremony!”

  The space distortion around us stops and everything returns to normal. We are still in the big hall with the group of strange people. Ascathon turns towards the group like seeing them for the first time.

  “What did you say?”

  “They summoned me as their hero. But that bearded idiot laughed at me and said that he would marry me to his son instead!” I give my father the short version.

  Ascathon blinks while looking down at me, then he looks up at the group in front of us. “You want my daughter?”

  “She called the king an idiot repeatedly! I think it would be more suitable to use her as a concubine.” The blonde woman blurts out.

  Ascathon sets me down, so I can stand on my own. Then he takes a look at his wristwatch. “I have just half an hour before I have to report back with you.”

  I realize what he is thinking about and give a helping hand. “~I think Mom would forgive you if you are ten minutes late. Especially if you explain the circumstances. And if you don't stop this for good there could always be other unexpected summonings.~”

  “It might be just enough time to destroy this country.”

  87 - Parents...

  Jateria

  Ascathon

  “It might be just enough time to destroy this country.”

  I release my aura and raise my hand against the fools before me, when a guy who looks like a wizard throws himself on the ground in front of me.

  “Forgive us! We were desperate! The forces of humanity are making their last stand against the elves of Westwood. This is our last stronghold, so we decided to try our luck with a summoning ceremony!” The wizard calls out while crouching on the ground.

  “I see your problem. And I think I know the main reason for your troubles.” Sera smirks and directs her gaze at the king and the queen.

  I snort and release a shockwave at the leaders of this useless country. Cracks appear in the walls and the floor tilts to my left. People are thrown over each other like dolls until they come to rest at the far side of the room. Then I step over the wizard who is crouching on the ground and approach the groaning pile of people.

  The king's foot is sticking out from under the pile of knights and servants. Bending down, I grab his foot and pull. The release of my aura enhances my strength, so this task isn't much more straining than lifting a fly to me.

  The poor excuse of a king lost his consciousness. “That's no fun at all! Hey! Wake up!” I electrify the king with a thunder spell while applying healing magic to keep him alive.

  A pitiful scream echoes through the hall while the remaining people press themselves to the walls. Most of them seem to be magicians, so they can judge by my aura that any resistance is futile.

  I drop the king when I realize that his pants are getting wet. This became quite ugly. A fire spell should fix the problem! A torrent of flames shoots out from my hand and envelops the king.

  Ah. Damn! Now he is charred all over. There is no choice but to apply another healing spell. Tch! His clothes burned. Now he is naked. That's unsightly.

  I cast an earth spell and the stone floor starts to move. It flows around the king's arms and legs to restrict his movements and covers him like a second skin. A wave of my hands forces him into a standing position. The layer of rock is holding him firmly while he is screaming for his guards.

  But nobody attempts to help. All of them are trying to gain as much distance to me as possible.

  The king is squealing like a pig while I crack my knuckles to loosen up my fingers. It's too bad that I am under time pressure. One carefully placed punch after the other distorts his face while I carefully limit my power in order to not kill him outright.

  “Hahahahaha! That will teach you to abduct other peoples children! What even makes you think that the filth you call your offspring is worthy of marrying my daughter?” Each one of my blows cracks his face while I apply just enough healing magic to keep him alive and conscious.

  Sera is a little farther away, patting the wizards back while talking to him. In the meantime I enjoy my little workout. It's good to do something for your body from time to time. Back in Norfolk I don't get much chances to practice since the war ended.

  Well, it didn't really end. Technically we are still at war with Mislow and the Nation of Mist. But since we don't know how Charon and Wynne would react we left both nations alone. It's not like they pose any threat to us.

  A few minutes pass until I am interrupted by a new arrival. I actually felt this person's power before he appeared. Probably a god who calls this world his home. The space distorts and a figure in shining plate armour stands in the middle of the room. He has light brown hair and a muscular body. His face is harsh and hard, a real warrior. A freaking huge sword is on his back and he wears an annoyed expression.

  “What the fuck is going on here?” He looks around and then he turns towards me.

  I wave a hand at him and smile. “Hi! If you would wait for a little while? I am not satisfied yet.”

  “Who are you! This is my world! I don't want any upstart gods wreaking havoc in my realm!” He stomps towards me while stabbing his finger at me.

  “That's actually no problem. It just so happened that this guy abducted my daughter. I followed her to bring her back. We will be gone after I have dealt some punishment. My name is Ascathon by the way.” I smile and offer him a hand.

  The god looks down at my hand and pulls a grimace. It's just now that I realize that my hands are bloody all over. “Aw, crap.” I look at the king. “Look what you have done. You spilled your fluids everywhere!” By controlling the adhesive forces of the blood I clean myself and offer my hand once again.

  The new arrival looks at me with a wary expression. Then he looks at the king and squints his eyes. “It's hard to tell, but is that Zerniel, the human king? And what's that story about a daughter? Since when do gods have children? Are you a masochist?”

  The wizard crawls towards Gemesh in a creepy manner. “Oh great creator god Gemesh! Please save us from our own foolishness! We summoned our own doom to this world. The elves were bad enough, but now we opened the door for something that doesn't belong here!”

  Sera follows him with a sad expression. “I think he is broken daddy. You shouldn't have released your aura with such force.” She looks around at the people who are hiding under tables or pressing against walls.

  “Yes! That's why I came here. You can't do that with mortals close by. Don't you know anything of being a god? The whole population of the fortress and the city around it is frozen stiff. They are even too afraid to move! The elves who besieged the city broke off their camps and retreated! Their seers foretold that the humans summoned a great evil and that nothing good would come of coming into contact with it!” Gemesh is furious.

  “Damn! So I saved them? Ah. I have to level the city myself now.” I wanted to break the city walls after I am done with the king. But those weakling elves ran away.

  “No! I wanted the humans of this world to learn their lesson properly! You ruined it!” Gemesh screams.

  Sera walks over to him and tugs at his arm. “Mr. Gemesh? Haven't you ruined it yourself by not keeping an eye on them? They summoned me, which led to my father following me. If you had stopped their attempt to solve the problem by summoning a demigod, then there would be no issue.”

  Gemesh looks down at Sera for several seconds and then at me. “Is she always that smart mouthed?” He looks at her. “You are talking to a god! I could blow you away with my little finger!”

  “Mom is much scarier than you. And then dad would probably have a problem with you doing that.” Sera answers with a smiling face.

  He looks back to me and realizes that my smiling face vanished and was replaced by an expressionless mask.

  “Meh. Whatever. Just get off
of my world. You had your fun. Take that king with you if you want to beat him up further. I need to clean up this mess.”

  “I can have him?” Well that solves a few problems! I turn back to the beaten king and ram my hand into his chest through the layer of stone. A drop of blood forms in the corner of his mouth and then he is still.

  “What the fuck? Why did you kill him? I thought you want to punish him!?” Gemesh gestures to the dead king.

  I pull my hand out of the king's chest while I concentrate on the shining green orb of light between my fingers. “It's much easier to transport him that way. Souls are handier than the actual bodies.”

  By closing my hand around the soul I store it away. “Gemesh? Before I forget! I didn't meet many other gods until now. You don't happen to know someone named Lidith, Aneth, Wynne or Charon?”Gemesh looks at me with his mouth hanging open.

  Then he closes his mouth. “Yeah. Those freaks are playing with a world not far from here. They have some screws loose if you ask me. Aneth even asked me once if I would help him to chase away his competitors.”

  “I see.” I continue to look at him with an obvious question written on my face.

  He snorts. “Do I look like a mercenary?”

  “No?” You look like some strange combination of a knight and a barbarian. But I don't voice my thoughts loud.

  “Then you have your answer.” Gemesh growls.

  I turn to Sera and grab her hand. “We'll be off then. It was nice to make your acquaintance!” While I gather my power to step back home, the space distorts close to us and Celestial appears.

  She has one of my locators in her hand. Her eyes wander immediately to Sera who hid behind me. “You! I said you should stay at the training ground!”

  “Shi...~Sugar cat!~ It's not her fault. They summoned her like some kind of handyman and expected her to solve their problems.” I try to explain.

  “Who!” Celestial calls out.

  “Him!” Sera points to the corpse of the king.