Elenoa tapped the desk in front of her impatiently. Kali had called an emergency meeting, and now everyone was waiting for her to show up so they could start. She was of half a mind to just start the meeting now, but the issue was that the airhead hadn’t actually told any of them what it was about.
Finally, the door opened, and Kali walked in, taking her seat. “Sorry!” She said. “I was prepping for this and it took longer than I expected.”
“And would you care to tell us what is so important that you tore us aware from our work? Some of us are busy.” Elenoa said, not bothering to hide the distaste in her voice.
“Of course.” Kali replied, standing up. “I’m here to announce a large change in the way things will be going from here on out. You see–”
“And what right do you have to make this change?” Baern interrupted. “We’ll listen, and then vote, as always. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
Kali smirked. “You misunderstand. The Council has no choice in this matter.” Elenoa moved to speak but was silenced by an overwhelming pressure coming from Kali. It was as if she had suddenly been transported to the bottom of the sea – it was a struggle to move a muscle, let alone speak. So, she did the only thing she could do, and stared daggers at Kali as the woman spoke.
“I am what you might call the system administrator for this universe. I’m the one in charge of magic and how it all works. Since the system I designed was awful, I’ve made a much improved one, which will be rolling out…” She raised her hand and poked the air. “Now.”
A window popped up in front of Elenoa, showing her a status screen, which she began to read. “For a couple of months, you’re going to be weaker than you were before all this. I’ve made sure everyone’s growth is accelerated until they reach the level they were previously at, and by that time you should actually be significantly stronger than you were. For most people, I’ve given them a simple window explaining everything, but for the world leaders I’m holding a special conference tomorrow.”
She dropped a piece of paper on the table in front of here. “Here’s the details. Lilith will be my enforcer and mouthpiece, so to get you used to dealing with her, she’ll be running everything tomorrow. If you have anything you want to say, then you can say it then. Oh, and you can take this as my official resignation. So, have fun!”
She vanished, and Elenoa was once again able to move. As she read off the paper with the details, she thought. Lilith. She had completely forgotten about the girl, no doubt thanks to Kali. But, better her than anyone else. After all, she had hostages.
“I’m declaring a state of emergency.” Elenoa said. “Baern, get Isa and Winston immediately. We’ll be taking them to the meeting tomorrow. Gabriel, gather Carmen, her family, and her friends. We need leverage, so take them somewhere safe.”
“As soon as you’re all done, focus on getting your level up. We need to be as tough as possible going into this. Dismissed.” Elenoa didn’t wait to get a response from the others. They’d probably drag their feet, but there was nothing they could really do. The angels had the right to declare a state of emergency should something come up, and by exercising that the other’s hands were tied. There was finally a chance to break the deadlock she was in, and she wasn’t going to waste it.
Yamato grabbed Gabriel on his way out. “Gabriel.” He said, looking the angel in the eyes. “I know you don’t like how Elenoa runs things.”
Gabriel looked around conspiratorially before nodding.
“Do you want to get the Council out from under her thumb?”
Gabriel gave another hesitant nod.
“This is our chance. Given how turbulent the next while is going to be, I don’t think she’ll be willing to remove you from the Council. It would just make an already difficult time worse.”
Gabriel perked up at this. “You think?”
“Absolutely. Now, Elenoa wasn’t specific enough with how she told you to move the hostages.” He spat the last word, trying to make his disdain for the practice evident. “She just wants them somewhere “safe”. And, what’s safer than the presence of all the Council members and both of our Perfect Chimeras?”
Gabriel’s face broke into a smile. “Take her pieces off of the board, I like it. Alright, I’ll do it. Make sure to put a good word in for me with Kali, alright?”
Yamato clapped the man on the back. “Good. If we can get the backing of Kali and Lilith, we’ll have a strong case for making a change. And I’m sure Kali will be more than happy with your help.”
Carmen was jolted from her sleep by Alex slamming the door open.
“I remember!” She panted. “Everyone remembers! When we got the message about the new system, the seal on our memories came undone! You remember too, right!”
“Ah, good. That’ll make explaining things easier, then.” Carmen said, standing up.
Alex stopped. “Wait…you know about this?! For how long?! Why didn’t you tell us?!”
Carmen shrugged. “Yes, the whole time, and we agreed there was less chance of things getting out this way.”
“What? Less chance of what getting out? This new system or whatever?”
“Go gather everyone in the living room, it’ll be easier to explain all at once.” Carmen said. “I don’t want to have to repeat things.”
Alex hesitated, then nodded and left. Carmen took a moment to get dressed before walking out into the living room, where her parents, Judy, Alex, and Vithi were waiting.
“You know something about this?” Vithi said, narrowing her eyes. “Explain yourself.”
“Simple.” Carmen said. “Kali wanted our help getting this new system up and running. And, at the same time, we’re reintroducing Earth to magic. So, we’re acting as enforcers to make sure no one like Elenoa tries to make huge power grabs.”
She shot a look at her parents. “And Siph’s with them, don’t worry. They’re all perfectly safe.”
Jessica let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good.” She said. “We were getting really worried. I–”
She was cut off by the door opening, and Gabriel striding in, Emily in tow. “I’m sorry about this,” he said, “but I’m going to have to take all of you into,” he grimaced, “protective custody.” He held up a hand, forestalling any comments. “I know, it’s awful, but Elenoa wants you all as hostages. But I’m not going to stand for it. So, I’m taking you to the safest place I can think of; later today we’ll be at a meeting with Lilith, Kali, the entire Council, and both the other Perfect Chimeras that are with the Protectorate.”
Gabriel waved a hand. “I’ve got a pocket space that I can keep you guys in that’s anchored on me. It’s not very large, but it should do the trick.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll, which he handed to Carmen. “Go ahead and read this. This is the array you use to open the portal to it, I’ll let you handle transport in and out, so you know I’m not trying to trick you.”
Carmen quickly memorized the Array using Decipher, then turned her attention back to Gabriel. “What’s your assurance that this’ll work from inside of your little area?” Kali hadn’t contacted her about a change in the plans, so she assumed this was probably fine, but it couldn’t hurt to make sure.
This time, Alex spoke up. “It doesn’t work like that. I…think. It didn’t used to. Everything worked the same everywhere, and you would have to use some sort of anti-magic field to prevent it. He’d have to ward the entire space against magic to prevent an array, and if he did that the space would collapse, so we should be safe.”
Good enough. She trusted Kali would have said something if this was something she should avoid, so she drew and activated the array. “Alright, everyone in, we can talk more in there.”
Gabriel shot her a grateful look. “Thanks. I know it’s sketchy, but it’s the best I can do for you right now. I hope this will help to patch up the negative image of my race that you surely had, given how…poorly Elenoa treated you.”
Carmen raised an eyebrow. “We’ll see. If you can get me to Lilith, then you’ll have something going. If you’re lying to me…You can kiss any promise of future cooperation goodbye.”
Gabriel nodded. “I understand. I won’t disappoint you.”
Elenoa stood with the five other members of the Council and the two Perfect Chimeras, waiting for the teleport. They had been instructed to convene again in their regular meeting place at noon, and they would be teleported to where they would actually be holding the meeting. She was insulted that they wouldn’t just hold it in the Council’s meeting room, but unfortunately there wasn’t much she could do about it.
The teleport came at exactly noon, and the eight people found themselves in a wide area made to look like a courtroom. They were at a row of desks that had been set up towards the front of the room, in front of the benches. There were other people around, but Elenoa was too busy reading the window in front of her to pay much attention.
| You have entered The Hall of Judgement! |
Elenoa snorted. The airhead was getting pretentious, and she wasn’t very good at it.
“Take a seat.” Lilith said, causing all eyes in the room to turn towards her. She was sitting where a judge would usually sit, and behind her was Kali, smiling faintly. Lilith waited as most of the assembled guests sat.
Elenoa didn’t bother. She wasn’t going to take orders from the child in front of her. Looking around, she saw that several others were of the same mindset. She wasn’t surprised to see Winston standing – she doubted he’d sit if she wasn’t. Among the others she recognized a few from the governments of Earth, and even a confirmed leader of the Society.
“I will ask you once more to sit.” Lilith said coldly, glaring at those who remained standing.
“Give me one reason I should.” Elenoa replied defiantly.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll make you sit.”
Elenoa rolled her eyes. “I don’t know why I bothered with this charade. Winston, we don’t need to go through her, just take her out. We don’t need to talk with a middleman.”
Ever the loyal follower, Winston nodded, and the air in front of him rippled. A wave of spatial distortion rocketed out from his position, slicing Lilith clean in two.
Well, that should have happened. Instead, the gathered people watched in horror as large chunks of Lilith’s flesh sloughed off of her body, and new flesh nearly instantly regrew, as did a tentacle which absorbed the discarded flesh before disappearing. She glared at Winston, and Elenoa gaped as his face paled and he instantly sat down, no, collapsed onto his chair.
“Any other objections? I’m trying to be diplomatic here.” Lilith said calmly.
Everyone else sat down. Elenoa would have remained standing out of the principle of the thing, but Isa grabbed her shoulder and forced her down.
“Don’t be an idiot.” She hissed. “We have no idea what she did to Winston, and you’re just being needlessly stubborn.”
Elenoa grimaced. She’d have to have words with Isa later, but now wasn’t the time.
Lilith gazed out over the audience. “I may be a ‘middleman’, but that’s just something you’re going to have to deal with. My job is to oversee you all as everyone gets settled in and make sure no one abuses their power. Attempts to bribe, blackmail, or otherwise unethically influence me will be met with immediate retribution, so don’t even think about it.” Her focus lingered on Elenoa for a moment longer than it did everyone else, and then continued on.
“From this point until ten years in the future, the countries of Earth and the countries of Haven are to remain separate entities unless both parties agree to an equal merger. Should I find evidence that either party has coerced or threatened the other with any form of military action within these ten years, whether that action would take place now or in the future, I will personally deal with the offending party.” She said, gaze hardening as she continued.
“Ever since the war, administrator Kali has chosen to keep magic out of the hands of the people from Earth to allow their technology time to develop, and provided Haven to give refugees a place to live. As far as anyone knew, what was done was a desperate ritual that allowed magic to be stripped and a portal to Haven to be opened, but I will inform you now that that was a farce Kali let happen to hide her existence while she worked to fix things.
“I tell you this now so that everyone knows not to attempt to remove magic from the people of Earth again. If you attempt to do so, not only will it fail, but those responsible will be sentenced to death, with no room for argument.” She rested her gaze on Enna, face softening. “Kali would also like to apologize for the state of Haven. It ended up being more dangerous than people could handle, and she did not intend for it to force the people to imprison themselves for their own safety.”
Enna looked smug, and Elenoa could already hear her gloating about how she was right, the job was too difficult for one person to reasonably handle.
“That being said, it is our belief that this new system will allow people to break out of their self-imposed prison and fully explore the world beyond the three cities. To aid in this endeavor, we will be permanently linking Earth and Haven via a new network of portals. Travel between the two planes will be made far easier, and we will be constructing portals in every major city or settlement. Intentional interference with the portals or attempts to restrict their use is forbidden, and any attempts to do so will be dealt with accordingly.
“The portals will require some Mana from the users to operate, of course, and services that would provide extra Mana to those who cannot do it themselves are legal. The environment of Earth itself will not immediately change, but it is important to know that with this connection, it will eventually begin to adopt some of the same conditions that Haven has now. Our current estimate gives it 15 years before monsters and dungeons begin appearing, so I would advise preparing well.
“Before I open the floor for questions, I would like to give some background on myself, so as to prevent any of those questions from being asked. Should you want to know even more about me, you are free to stay after the meeting is officially dismissed, and I will be more than willing to talk with you.
“My name is Lilith Clements. I was born on Earth, a human boy by the name of Lucas Clements. I was a college student who was studying computer science before I was turned into a Perfect Chimera, at which point I briefly studied under Councilman Tunem before I agreed to help Kali make this transition as smooth as possible. Now it is my job to act as the defender of the weak and upholder of order, making sure that all are treated fairly.”
She took a breath. “And now I will answer any questions you may have. Please raise your hand, and I will call on you in the order they came up.”
The moment she fell silent, Elenoa opened her mouth to speak, but was instantly paralyzed by a wave of displeasure radiating off of Lilith.
“I did not call on you, Councilwoman Elenoa. If you attempt to disobey me further, I will be forced to remove you from the premises.” She said icily.
The pressure dissipated, and Elenoa grit her teeth and raised her hand.
“Yes, Councilwoman Elenoa?”
“What reparations will be made to the Protectorate, as we lose the most from this?”
“None whatsoever. You lose only an unfair hold over billions of people and stand to improve the quality of life for your citizens. As such, no reparations are necessary.”
Elenoa kept her hand up, and Lilith motioned for her to continue. She couldn’t help but give a small smirk as she continued to speak, happy to finally have something she could hang over Lilith. “Need I remind you that your family and friends are currently under our protection? Surely something could be done to make them…more comfortable.”
For the first time, Lilith tensed, and her eyes briefly flickered towards Gabriel before returning to Elenoa. “Is that a threat?” She asked stiffly.
Elenoa didn’t miss the lapse in attention, and nodded towards Winston, who stared intently at Gabriel.
“It does not need to be a threat if you care enough about them.” Elenoa said, ignoring Winston.
“That is extortion.” Lilith replied. “Do not try that with me.”
“Bold words coming from someone who kidnapped my grandson.” Elenoa snarled. “Speaking of which, I’ll be taking him back, thank you very much.”
Lilith shook her head. “I heard some things from Raphael and did some digging on how you treated her. I determined that you have abused her, and as such, have taken her away for her own safety. I–”
Their talk was interrupted as Winston slashed out at the air near Gabriel. Reality was torn asunder again, and seven people poured out of the rift.
Lilith smiled slightly. “Councilman Gabriel, thank you for bringing these people here. Come meet me afterwards.” She waved a hand, and before any of the seven had time to say anything, they vanished. She turned back to Elenoa, a scowl on her face. “I would advise you don’t try anything like this again. I’m granting you leniency now, as I have given you a lot to process and you were not aware of the rules when you took them into custody. If you want to talk more about Raphael, that can happen another day. For now, just know that she is safe.”
She turned her attention away from Elenoa and back to everyone else. “Next question, President Davidson?”
As Gabriel walked up towards the podium, he reflected on the meeting. The questions and answers weren’t anything special, the whole thing basically boiled down to Lilith confirming that she wouldn’t involve herself with existing political relationships and was there only to ensure that people from the two worlds would get along.
The highlight of the session was probably one of the Society members asked what would be done to their organization. The answer was nothing, unless they made a power grab. Gabriel assumed that meant they’d be visited real soon; he’d never known them to do anything but make power grabs.
But he was distracting himself from what was to come. He had to admit that he was nervous about meeting with Lilith. She hadn’t exactly been treated well by Elenoa, and it was no secret that he was essentially her underling.
He finally made it to Lilith, who motioned for him to take a seat on a chair next to her. He sat down apprehensively, looking at her uncertainly.
Lilith smiled. “Really, thanks. We were keeping an eye on things after Kali met with the Council, so we heard your conversation with Yamato. I appreciate that this was a huge risk for you, so I really can’t think of how I can properly repay you.”
Gabriel thought about that for a moment. He…didn’t really want Lilith in his debt. That seemed like a lot of trouble, given his position. Elenoa would probably try to leverage that in some way, and he did not want to deal with that.
“In that case, do you mind if I ask a few questions, and we’ll call it even?”
“Ask away.” Lilith said, crossing her legs in a businesslike manner. “I can’t guarantee that I’ll be at liberty to answer all of them, but I’ll answer as many as I can.” She paused, apparently thinking. “For up to an hour, anyway. I’m afraid that, as much as I would like to, I can’t talk with you forever, I have some other appointments.”
“No, that’ll be plenty.” Gabriel replied, slightly taken aback. “Um, alright. First off…why? Why the change in magic?”
Lilith sighed and looked over to Kali, who nodded. “Simply put, the old system was crap. Society was stagnating and something had to be done to change that. We needed to give people a power boost, so we did.”
Gabriel paused, glancing back at the assembled people. “And I’m guessing you can’t selectively choose not to give bad people this new power, thus the need for you?”
“Got it in one. What’s your next question?”
“What do you plan to do with your time? Just sit here until you’re needed?”
Lilith shrugged. “We’ll see. For the next while I’ll be thinning out the powerful monsters around the areas with portals so people will have an easier adjustment period. After that I don’t know. We’ll see how things are then.”
Gabriel nodded in understanding. “Alright, last question, will we ever see Kali again?”
Lilith hesitated, and Kali stepped forward. “I’ll come say hi to my friends from time to time. I won’t just suddenly cut ties with everyone, don’t worry.”
Gabriel nodded, slightly relieved. He had built up something resembling a friendship with Kali over the hundreds of years he had been working with her. He could only ever get so far in it, with Elenoa constantly on his back, but things would hopefully be different now.
“Alright, thanks. You don’t owe me anymore, got it?” Gabriel said, standing up.
“Are you sure?” Lilith said, raising an eyebrow. “I must say that I don’t think this was an equal trade.”
“Yeah, I’m sure.” Gabriel said. “I really don’t want Elenoa to have this sort of leverage. She’ll be constantly trying to find a way to hold it over me, and I just don’t want that. Other than that, friendly relationships are all I really need.”
“Very well then.” Lilith replied. “You may be on your way.” She turned back to the people waiting for her. “Next?”
Carmen groaned as she woke up. She was…connected with Lilith again. And she could see a lot of windows in front of her, almost completely obscuring her vision.
“Good, everyone’s awake.” Lilith said, clapping her hands.
Carmen dismissed the windows, and took a look around. She was on a bed in a large room, surrounded by beds which held her companions. And…actually, she could see from Lilith’s eyes too, now that she was paying more attention. Mae must have fixed her up so that she could share senses with them.
Which reminded her, she had memories from Lilith, Mae, and Nuwa to go through. So, she paid half attention to what Lilith was saying, and began to sort through the memories.
“Is everyone feeling OK? No one hurt you, right?” Lilith continued, scanning the assembled people. “Because, if they did, I’m going to have to teach them a lesson they won’t soon forget.”
“We’re all fine.” Judy said. “But …how are you? Carmen said you were fine, but we’ve all been kind of worried, as I’m sure you can imagine.”
Lilith gave her a smile. “Perfectly fine. Better than ever, in fact. Now, I’m sure you’re wondering where we are, and for now, I’ve got you all safe inside my dungeon. It’s going to be our base of operations for the time being, as it’s safer than just about anywhere else.” Lilith began to look apprehensive as she scanned the assembled people. “Of course, if any of you want to leave, you’re more than willing to do so. I’m not going to hold you prisoner here.”
“With all due respect, mistress,” Emily said, “We don’t have much of a choice. The Council would work on capturing us immediately once word gets out that we’re not with you.”
Lilith tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I could set you up with some minor cosmetic changes and new identities, you could live your lives in one of Earth’s countries and no one would be the wiser.”
Judy rolled her eyes. “I don’t think most of us would want to go through that trouble just to live away from you. Emily excepted, we’ve been living together for the past few months so it’s not that big a change.”
“And I don’t want to leave you again, not with everything that’s been going on.” Mike said. “You’re my daughter, and I’d rather stay here with you than uproot our lives any further than they already have been.”
Jessica squeezed her husband’s hand. “I agree.”
Vithi shrugged. “I’d love to go see the world, but Emily’s right. I can’t afford to go be out and about when people are hunting me down.”
“Again, I can set you up with a brand new identity, no one will have to know it’s you.”
Vithi raised an eyebrow. “Not really worth it.” She said. “I’d rather just wait out this whole business with the Council and then go out as…me.”
“If you say so.” Lilith replied. “Alex, what do you think?”
Alex shrugged. “Sure beats anything I can think of. I’m in that contract with you anyway, so might as well ride it out.”
Lilith nodded. “Ah, yes, I nearly forgot.” She said, then raised a hand. In response, Alex lurched forward, gripping the sides of her bed.
“W…what was that?” She panted.
“I broke the contract Carmen forced you into and undid all commands, including their residual influence on you. So, now that you are truly in an unmodified state of mind, free from even the ghost of the contract’s influence, would you like to stay the way you are now? “
“Yes.” Alex said instantly, not a trace of doubt in her voice. “I want to turn over a new leaf, put the past behind me, and I think a change like this is a great way to mark that. New body, new me. Plus…” she blushed, turning to the side slightly. “Well, never mind that. At the least, allow me to enter into the same contract that Raphael, and Emily are in. I don’t want to be the only one left out.”
Lilith nodded. “That’s acceptable. How about the rest of you? Do you want to stay?”
“I was going to be moving out soon anyway, mistress.” Emily said. “As soon as my apprenticeship was over, I would have been assigned to some family, so it doesn’t really matter to me. At least you’ve been nice to me and haven’t made me do anything ridiculous.”
“Are you kidding me?!” Carmen exclaimed.
“What?” Lilith replied, taken aback.
“You seriously haven’t gotten into a relationship with Kali yet? You clearly want it, she very clearly wants it, you’ve been sleeping in the same bed for over a month! Just get on with it!”
“But…those are just her instincts, she’s just…”
“That’s an excuse and you know it. If she had a problem with what was happening, she would have said so a long time ago. You’re just using this excuse because you’re scared to actually start dating. Get a grip!”
Lilith scratched the back of her head. “Fine, fine.”
“That aside, you going to, you know, introduce us? We should really get that out of the way.”
Judy frowned. “What do you mean? There’s no one else here.”
“I was getting to it, I swear!” Lilith said defensively.
Hello, everyone. Mae said. My name is Mae, and I’m one of Lilith’s new Parallels. I’ve fused my body with Lilith’s so as to increase her capabilities, so I do not have one of my own, unlike Carmen. I look forward to interacting with you all in the future.
And I’m Nuwa, I’m in charge of the dungeon in these parts. If you have any questions regarding it, please ask Mae, I’m probably going to be busy doing other things.
“And by other things, she probably means reading or something.” Carmen said. “Right now she’s mostly just stockpiling resources, so she doesn’t have a ton to do.”
Hey! Nuwa whined. You didn’t have to tell them that!
“Anyway,” Lilith said, clearing her throat, “Mae’s helped make it so we can share senses at all times now. Just talk to one of us and any of us will hear.” She paused briefly, thinking about that a bit more. “Well, if you talk to Nuwa she’ll have to relay things telepathically. We haven’t quite been able to get dungeon senses to our bodies yet, but it works perfectly fine in reverse.
“But I think that’s enough for now. Take some time to look around and get used to this place, and tomorrow we’ll talk about what things are going to be like from now on. I apparently have to have a talk with Kali, so I’ll be back once that’s done. In the meantime, Carmen should be more than equipped to answer any questions.”
Carmen nodded in satisfaction. “That’s right. I, for one, am looking forward to being in a relationship, and I know you are too, deep down, so hop to it.”
“I got it, I got it!” Lilith said, leaving the room.
Carmen looked around. “If you were all wondering, she’s fine, nothing’s been done to her. She’s just had to learn how to stick up for herself. Now, let me show you all around, there’s some pretty cool stuff in here!”
Fighterman481 Most changes here aren't too drastic, but the biggest is just making Carmen be fully aware of everything, since she wasn't before. Other than that, this is mostly untouched compared to the original.
It's honestly kinda surreal getting to this point, since it's been in progress for so long, but...here we are. The gateway to the 'more recent' era of the novel, as I like to think of it. If I was publishing things, this would about the end of a first book (and it's about 100,000 words, too, that's longer than the Hobbit!), and makes up almost half of the original (which is just under 250,000 words, barely shorter than Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. And just over half the length of any given book in my favorite series, The Stormlight Archive. They're excellent books, but, aside from the first, they all easily top 1,000 pages, so they're for people who really like to sink their teeth into books).
So...uh, as always, thanks for reading, I guess.
Elenoa tapped the desk in front of her impatiently. Kali had called an emergency meeting, and now everyone was waiting for her to show up so they could start. She was of half a mind to just start the meeting now, but the issue was that the airhead hadn’t actually told any of them what it was about.
Finally, the door opened, and Kali walked in, taking her seat. “Sorry!” She said. “I was prepping for this and it took longer than I expected.”
“And would you care to tell us what is so important that you tore us aware from our work? Some of us are busy.” Elenoa said, not bothering to hide the distaste in her voice.
“Of course.” Kali replied, standing up. “I’m here to announce a large change in the way things will be going from here on out. You see–”
“And what right do you have to make this change?” Baern interrupted. “We’ll listen, and then vote, as always. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
Kali smirked. “You misunderstand. The Council has no choice in this matter.” Elenoa moved to speak but was silenced by an overwhelming pressure coming from Kali. It was as if she had suddenly been transported to the bottom of the sea – it was a struggle to move a muscle, let alone speak. So, she did the only thing she could do, and stared daggers at Kali as the woman spoke.
“I am what you might call the system administrator for this universe. I’m the one in charge of magic and how it all works. Since the system I designed was awful, I’ve made a much improved one, which will be rolling out…” She raised her hand and poked the air. “Now.”
A window popped up in front of Elenoa, showing her a status screen, which she began to read. “For a couple of months, you’re going to be weaker than you were before all this. I’ve made sure everyone’s growth is accelerated until they reach the level they were previously at, and by that time you should actually be significantly stronger than you were. For most people, I’ve given them a simple window explaining everything, but for the world leaders I’m holding a special conference tomorrow.”
She dropped a piece of paper on the table in front of here. “Here’s the details. Lilith will be my enforcer and mouthpiece, so to get you used to dealing with her, she’ll be running everything tomorrow. If you have anything you want to say, then you can say it then. Oh, and you can take this as my official resignation. So, have fun!”
She vanished, and Elenoa was once again able to move. As she read off the paper with the details, she thought. Lilith. She had completely forgotten about the girl, no doubt thanks to Kali. But, better her than anyone else. After all, she had hostages.
“I’m declaring a state of emergency.” Elenoa said. “Baern, get Isa and Winston immediately. We’ll be taking them to the meeting tomorrow. Gabriel, gather Carmen, her family, and her friends. We need leverage, so take them somewhere safe.”
“As soon as you’re all done, focus on getting your level up. We need to be as tough as possible going into this. Dismissed.” Elenoa didn’t wait to get a response from the others. They’d probably drag their feet, but there was nothing they could really do. The angels had the right to declare a state of emergency should something come up, and by exercising that the other’s hands were tied. There was finally a chance to break the deadlock she was in, and she wasn’t going to waste it.
Yamato grabbed Gabriel on his way out. “Gabriel.” He said, looking the angel in the eyes. “I know you don’t like how Elenoa runs things.”
Gabriel looked around conspiratorially before nodding.
“Do you want to get the Council out from under her thumb?”
Gabriel gave another hesitant nod.
“This is our chance. Given how turbulent the next while is going to be, I don’t think she’ll be willing to remove you from the Council. It would just make an already difficult time worse.”
Gabriel perked up at this. “You think?”
“Absolutely. Now, Elenoa wasn’t specific enough with how she told you to move the hostages.” He spat the last word, trying to make his disdain for the practice evident. “She just wants them somewhere “safe”. And, what’s safer than the presence of all the Council members and both of our Perfect Chimeras?”
Gabriel’s face broke into a smile. “Take her pieces off of the board, I like it. Alright, I’ll do it. Make sure to put a good word in for me with Kali, alright?”
Yamato clapped the man on the back. “Good. If we can get the backing of Kali and Lilith, we’ll have a strong case for making a change. And I’m sure Kali will be more than happy with your help.”
Carmen was jolted from her sleep by Alex slamming the door open.
“I remember!” She panted. “Everyone remembers! When we got the message about the new system, the seal on our memories came undone! You remember too, right!”
“Ah, good. That’ll make explaining things easier, then.” Carmen said, standing up.
Alex stopped. “Wait…you know about this?! For how long?! Why didn’t you tell us?!”
Carmen shrugged. “Yes, the whole time, and we agreed there was less chance of things getting out this way.”
“What? Less chance of what getting out? This new system or whatever?”
“Go gather everyone in the living room, it’ll be easier to explain all at once.” Carmen said. “I don’t want to have to repeat things.”
Alex hesitated, then nodded and left. Carmen took a moment to get dressed before walking out into the living room, where her parents, Judy, Alex, and Vithi were waiting.
“You know something about this?” Vithi said, narrowing her eyes. “Explain yourself.”
“Simple.” Carmen said. “Kali wanted our help getting this new system up and running. And, at the same time, we’re reintroducing Earth to magic. So, we’re acting as enforcers to make sure no one like Elenoa tries to make huge power grabs.”
She shot a look at her parents. “And Siph’s with them, don’t worry. They’re all perfectly safe.”
Jessica let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good.” She said. “We were getting really worried. I–”
She was cut off by the door opening, and Gabriel striding in, Emily in tow. “I’m sorry about this,” he said, “but I’m going to have to take all of you into,” he grimaced, “protective custody.” He held up a hand, forestalling any comments. “I know, it’s awful, but Elenoa wants you all as hostages. But I’m not going to stand for it. So, I’m taking you to the safest place I can think of; later today we’ll be at a meeting with Lilith, Kali, the entire Council, and both the other Perfect Chimeras that are with the Protectorate.”
Gabriel waved a hand. “I’ve got a pocket space that I can keep you guys in that’s anchored on me. It’s not very large, but it should do the trick.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll, which he handed to Carmen. “Go ahead and read this. This is the array you use to open the portal to it, I’ll let you handle transport in and out, so you know I’m not trying to trick you.”
Carmen quickly memorized the Array using Decipher, then turned her attention back to Gabriel. “What’s your assurance that this’ll work from inside of your little area?” Kali hadn’t contacted her about a change in the plans, so she assumed this was probably fine, but it couldn’t hurt to make sure.
This time, Alex spoke up. “It doesn’t work like that. I…think. It didn’t used to. Everything worked the same everywhere, and you would have to use some sort of anti-magic field to prevent it. He’d have to ward the entire space against magic to prevent an array, and if he did that the space would collapse, so we should be safe.”
Good enough. She trusted Kali would have said something if this was something she should avoid, so she drew and activated the array. “Alright, everyone in, we can talk more in there.”
Gabriel shot her a grateful look. “Thanks. I know it’s sketchy, but it’s the best I can do for you right now. I hope this will help to patch up the negative image of my race that you surely had, given how…poorly Elenoa treated you.”
Carmen raised an eyebrow. “We’ll see. If you can get me to Lilith, then you’ll have something going. If you’re lying to me…You can kiss any promise of future cooperation goodbye.”
Gabriel nodded. “I understand. I won’t disappoint you.”
Elenoa stood with the five other members of the Council and the two Perfect Chimeras, waiting for the teleport. They had been instructed to convene again in their regular meeting place at noon, and they would be teleported to where they would actually be holding the meeting. She was insulted that they wouldn’t just hold it in the Council’s meeting room, but unfortunately there wasn’t much she could do about it.
The teleport came at exactly noon, and the eight people found themselves in a wide area made to look like a courtroom. They were at a row of desks that had been set up towards the front of the room, in front of the benches. There were other people around, but Elenoa was too busy reading the window in front of her to pay much attention.
| You have entered The Hall of Judgement! |
Elenoa snorted. The airhead was getting pretentious, and she wasn’t very good at it.
“Take a seat.” Lilith said, causing all eyes in the room to turn towards her. She was sitting where a judge would usually sit, and behind her was Kali, smiling faintly. Lilith waited as most of the assembled guests sat.
Elenoa didn’t bother. She wasn’t going to take orders from the child in front of her. Looking around, she saw that several others were of the same mindset. She wasn’t surprised to see Winston standing – she doubted he’d sit if she wasn’t. Among the others she recognized a few from the governments of Earth, and even a confirmed leader of the Society.
“I will ask you once more to sit.” Lilith said coldly, glaring at those who remained standing.
“Give me one reason I should.” Elenoa replied defiantly.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll make you sit.”
Elenoa rolled her eyes. “I don’t know why I bothered with this charade. Winston, we don’t need to go through her, just take her out. We don’t need to talk with a middleman.”
Ever the loyal follower, Winston nodded, and the air in front of him rippled. A wave of spatial distortion rocketed out from his position, slicing Lilith clean in two.
Well, that should have happened. Instead, the gathered people watched in horror as large chunks of Lilith’s flesh sloughed off of her body, and new flesh nearly instantly regrew, as did a tentacle which absorbed the discarded flesh before disappearing. She glared at Winston, and Elenoa gaped as his face paled and he instantly sat down, no, collapsed onto his chair.
“Any other objections? I’m trying to be diplomatic here.” Lilith said calmly.
Everyone else sat down. Elenoa would have remained standing out of the principle of the thing, but Isa grabbed her shoulder and forced her down.
“Don’t be an idiot.” She hissed. “We have no idea what she did to Winston, and you’re just being needlessly stubborn.”
Elenoa grimaced. She’d have to have words with Isa later, but now wasn’t the time.
Lilith gazed out over the audience. “I may be a ‘middleman’, but that’s just something you’re going to have to deal with. My job is to oversee you all as everyone gets settled in and make sure no one abuses their power. Attempts to bribe, blackmail, or otherwise unethically influence me will be met with immediate retribution, so don’t even think about it.” Her focus lingered on Elenoa for a moment longer than it did everyone else, and then continued on.
“From this point until ten years in the future, the countries of Earth and the countries of Haven are to remain separate entities unless both parties agree to an equal merger. Should I find evidence that either party has coerced or threatened the other with any form of military action within these ten years, whether that action would take place now or in the future, I will personally deal with the offending party.” She said, gaze hardening as she continued.
“Ever since the war, administrator Kali has chosen to keep magic out of the hands of the people from Earth to allow their technology time to develop, and provided Haven to give refugees a place to live. As far as anyone knew, what was done was a desperate ritual that allowed magic to be stripped and a portal to Haven to be opened, but I will inform you now that that was a farce Kali let happen to hide her existence while she worked to fix things.
“I tell you this now so that everyone knows not to attempt to remove magic from the people of Earth again. If you attempt to do so, not only will it fail, but those responsible will be sentenced to death, with no room for argument.” She rested her gaze on Enna, face softening. “Kali would also like to apologize for the state of Haven. It ended up being more dangerous than people could handle, and she did not intend for it to force the people to imprison themselves for their own safety.”
Enna looked smug, and Elenoa could already hear her gloating about how she was right, the job was too difficult for one person to reasonably handle.
“That being said, it is our belief that this new system will allow people to break out of their self-imposed prison and fully explore the world beyond the three cities. To aid in this endeavor, we will be permanently linking Earth and Haven via a new network of portals. Travel between the two planes will be made far easier, and we will be constructing portals in every major city or settlement. Intentional interference with the portals or attempts to restrict their use is forbidden, and any attempts to do so will be dealt with accordingly.
“The portals will require some Mana from the users to operate, of course, and services that would provide extra Mana to those who cannot do it themselves are legal. The environment of Earth itself will not immediately change, but it is important to know that with this connection, it will eventually begin to adopt some of the same conditions that Haven has now. Our current estimate gives it 15 years before monsters and dungeons begin appearing, so I would advise preparing well.
“Before I open the floor for questions, I would like to give some background on myself, so as to prevent any of those questions from being asked. Should you want to know even more about me, you are free to stay after the meeting is officially dismissed, and I will be more than willing to talk with you.
“My name is Lilith Clements. I was born on Earth, a human boy by the name of Lucas Clements. I was a college student who was studying computer science before I was turned into a Perfect Chimera, at which point I briefly studied under Councilman Tunem before I agreed to help Kali make this transition as smooth as possible. Now it is my job to act as the defender of the weak and upholder of order, making sure that all are treated fairly.”
She took a breath. “And now I will answer any questions you may have. Please raise your hand, and I will call on you in the order they came up.”
The moment she fell silent, Elenoa opened her mouth to speak, but was instantly paralyzed by a wave of displeasure radiating off of Lilith.
“I did not call on you, Councilwoman Elenoa. If you attempt to disobey me further, I will be forced to remove you from the premises.” She said icily.
The pressure dissipated, and Elenoa grit her teeth and raised her hand.
“Yes, Councilwoman Elenoa?”
“What reparations will be made to the Protectorate, as we lose the most from this?”
“None whatsoever. You lose only an unfair hold over billions of people and stand to improve the quality of life for your citizens. As such, no reparations are necessary.”
Elenoa kept her hand up, and Lilith motioned for her to continue. She couldn’t help but give a small smirk as she continued to speak, happy to finally have something she could hang over Lilith. “Need I remind you that your family and friends are currently under our protection? Surely something could be done to make them…more comfortable.”
For the first time, Lilith tensed, and her eyes briefly flickered towards Gabriel before returning to Elenoa. “Is that a threat?” She asked stiffly.
Elenoa didn’t miss the lapse in attention, and nodded towards Winston, who stared intently at Gabriel.
“It does not need to be a threat if you care enough about them.” Elenoa said, ignoring Winston.
“That is extortion.” Lilith replied. “Do not try that with me.”
“Bold words coming from someone who kidnapped my grandson.” Elenoa snarled. “Speaking of which, I’ll be taking him back, thank you very much.”
Lilith shook her head. “I heard some things from Raphael and did some digging on how you treated her. I determined that you have abused her, and as such, have taken her away for her own safety. I–”
Their talk was interrupted as Winston slashed out at the air near Gabriel. Reality was torn asunder again, and seven people poured out of the rift.
Lilith smiled slightly. “Councilman Gabriel, thank you for bringing these people here. Come meet me afterwards.” She waved a hand, and before any of the seven had time to say anything, they vanished. She turned back to Elenoa, a scowl on her face. “I would advise you don’t try anything like this again. I’m granting you leniency now, as I have given you a lot to process and you were not aware of the rules when you took them into custody. If you want to talk more about Raphael, that can happen another day. For now, just know that she is safe.”
She turned her attention away from Elenoa and back to everyone else. “Next question, President Davidson?”
As Gabriel walked up towards the podium, he reflected on the meeting. The questions and answers weren’t anything special, the whole thing basically boiled down to Lilith confirming that she wouldn’t involve herself with existing political relationships and was there only to ensure that people from the two worlds would get along.
The highlight of the session was probably one of the Society members asked what would be done to their organization. The answer was nothing, unless they made a power grab. Gabriel assumed that meant they’d be visited real soon; he’d never known them to do anything but make power grabs.
But he was distracting himself from what was to come. He had to admit that he was nervous about meeting with Lilith. She hadn’t exactly been treated well by Elenoa, and it was no secret that he was essentially her underling.
He finally made it to Lilith, who motioned for him to take a seat on a chair next to her. He sat down apprehensively, looking at her uncertainly.
Lilith smiled. “Really, thanks. We were keeping an eye on things after Kali met with the Council, so we heard your conversation with Yamato. I appreciate that this was a huge risk for you, so I really can’t think of how I can properly repay you.”
Gabriel thought about that for a moment. He…didn’t really want Lilith in his debt. That seemed like a lot of trouble, given his position. Elenoa would probably try to leverage that in some way, and he did not want to deal with that.
“In that case, do you mind if I ask a few questions, and we’ll call it even?”
“Ask away.” Lilith said, crossing her legs in a businesslike manner. “I can’t guarantee that I’ll be at liberty to answer all of them, but I’ll answer as many as I can.” She paused, apparently thinking. “For up to an hour, anyway. I’m afraid that, as much as I would like to, I can’t talk with you forever, I have some other appointments.”
“No, that’ll be plenty.” Gabriel replied, slightly taken aback. “Um, alright. First off…why? Why the change in magic?”
Lilith sighed and looked over to Kali, who nodded. “Simply put, the old system was crap. Society was stagnating and something had to be done to change that. We needed to give people a power boost, so we did.”
Gabriel paused, glancing back at the assembled people. “And I’m guessing you can’t selectively choose not to give bad people this new power, thus the need for you?”
“Got it in one. What’s your next question?”
“What do you plan to do with your time? Just sit here until you’re needed?”
Lilith shrugged. “We’ll see. For the next while I’ll be thinning out the powerful monsters around the areas with portals so people will have an easier adjustment period. After that I don’t know. We’ll see how things are then.”
Gabriel nodded in understanding. “Alright, last question, will we ever see Kali again?”
Lilith hesitated, and Kali stepped forward. “I’ll come say hi to my friends from time to time. I won’t just suddenly cut ties with everyone, don’t worry.”
Gabriel nodded, slightly relieved. He had built up something resembling a friendship with Kali over the hundreds of years he had been working with her. He could only ever get so far in it, with Elenoa constantly on his back, but things would hopefully be different now.
“Alright, thanks. You don’t owe me anymore, got it?” Gabriel said, standing up.
“Are you sure?” Lilith said, raising an eyebrow. “I must say that I don’t think this was an equal trade.”
“Yeah, I’m sure.” Gabriel said. “I really don’t want Elenoa to have this sort of leverage. She’ll be constantly trying to find a way to hold it over me, and I just don’t want that. Other than that, friendly relationships are all I really need.”
“Very well then.” Lilith replied. “You may be on your way.” She turned back to the people waiting for her. “Next?”
Carmen groaned as she woke up. She was…connected with Lilith again. And she could see a lot of windows in front of her, almost completely obscuring her vision.
“Good, everyone’s awake.” Lilith said, clapping her hands.
Carmen dismissed the windows, and took a look around. She was on a bed in a large room, surrounded by beds which held her companions. And…actually, she could see from Lilith’s eyes too, now that she was paying more attention. Mae must have fixed her up so that she could share senses with them.
Which reminded her, she had memories from Lilith, Mae, and Nuwa to go through. So, she paid half attention to what Lilith was saying, and began to sort through the memories.
“Is everyone feeling OK? No one hurt you, right?” Lilith continued, scanning the assembled people. “Because, if they did, I’m going to have to teach them a lesson they won’t soon forget.”
“We’re all fine.” Judy said. “But …how are you? Carmen said you were fine, but we’ve all been kind of worried, as I’m sure you can imagine.”
Lilith gave her a smile. “Perfectly fine. Better than ever, in fact. Now, I’m sure you’re wondering where we are, and for now, I’ve got you all safe inside my dungeon. It’s going to be our base of operations for the time being, as it’s safer than just about anywhere else.” Lilith began to look apprehensive as she scanned the assembled people. “Of course, if any of you want to leave, you’re more than willing to do so. I’m not going to hold you prisoner here.”
“With all due respect, mistress,” Emily said, “We don’t have much of a choice. The Council would work on capturing us immediately once word gets out that we’re not with you.”
Lilith tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I could set you up with some minor cosmetic changes and new identities, you could live your lives in one of Earth’s countries and no one would be the wiser.”
Judy rolled her eyes. “I don’t think most of us would want to go through that trouble just to live away from you. Emily excepted, we’ve been living together for the past few months so it’s not that big a change.”
“And I don’t want to leave you again, not with everything that’s been going on.” Mike said. “You’re my daughter, and I’d rather stay here with you than uproot our lives any further than they already have been.”
Jessica squeezed her husband’s hand. “I agree.”
Vithi shrugged. “I’d love to go see the world, but Emily’s right. I can’t afford to go be out and about when people are hunting me down.”
“Again, I can set you up with a brand new identity, no one will have to know it’s you.”
Vithi raised an eyebrow. “Not really worth it.” She said. “I’d rather just wait out this whole business with the Council and then go out as…me.”
“If you say so.” Lilith replied. “Alex, what do you think?”
Alex shrugged. “Sure beats anything I can think of. I’m in that contract with you anyway, so might as well ride it out.”
Lilith nodded. “Ah, yes, I nearly forgot.” She said, then raised a hand. In response, Alex lurched forward, gripping the sides of her bed.
“W…what was that?” She panted.
“I broke the contract Carmen forced you into and undid all commands, including their residual influence on you. So, now that you are truly in an unmodified state of mind, free from even the ghost of the contract’s influence, would you like to stay the way you are now? “
“Yes.” Alex said instantly, not a trace of doubt in her voice. “I want to turn over a new leaf, put the past behind me, and I think a change like this is a great way to mark that. New body, new me. Plus…” she blushed, turning to the side slightly. “Well, never mind that. At the least, allow me to enter into the same contract that Raphael, and Emily are in. I don’t want to be the only one left out.”
Lilith nodded. “That’s acceptable. How about the rest of you? Do you want to stay?”
“I was going to be moving out soon anyway, mistress.” Emily said. “As soon as my apprenticeship was over, I would have been assigned to some family, so it doesn’t really matter to me. At least you’ve been nice to me and haven’t made me do anything ridiculous.”
“Are you kidding me?!” Carmen exclaimed.
“What?” Lilith replied, taken aback.
“You seriously haven’t gotten into a relationship with Kali yet? You clearly want it, she very clearly wants it, you’ve been sleeping in the same bed for over a month! Just get on with it!”
“But…those are just her instincts, she’s just…”
“That’s an excuse and you know it. If she had a problem with what was happening, she would have said so a long time ago. You’re just using this excuse because you’re scared to actually start dating. Get a grip!”
Lilith scratched the back of her head. “Fine, fine.”
“That aside, you going to, you know, introduce us? We should really get that out of the way.”
Judy frowned. “What do you mean? There’s no one else here.”
“I was getting to it, I swear!” Lilith said defensively.
Hello, everyone. Mae said. My name is Mae, and I’m one of Lilith’s new Parallels. I’ve fused my body with Lilith’s so as to increase her capabilities, so I do not have one of my own, unlike Carmen. I look forward to interacting with you all in the future.
And I’m Nuwa, I’m in charge of the dungeon in these parts. If you have any questions regarding it, please ask Mae, I’m probably going to be busy doing other things.
“And by other things, she probably means reading or something.” Carmen said. “Right now she’s mostly just stockpiling resources, so she doesn’t have a ton to do.”
Hey! Nuwa whined. You didn’t have to tell them that!
“Anyway,” Lilith said, clearing her throat, “Mae’s helped make it so we can share senses at all times now. Just talk to one of us and any of us will hear.” She paused briefly, thinking about that a bit more. “Well, if you talk to Nuwa she’ll have to relay things telepathically. We haven’t quite been able to get dungeon senses to our bodies yet, but it works perfectly fine in reverse.
“But I think that’s enough for now. Take some time to look around and get used to this place, and tomorrow we’ll talk about what things are going to be like from now on. I apparently have to have a talk with Kali, so I’ll be back once that’s done. In the meantime, Carmen should be more than equipped to answer any questions.”
Carmen nodded in satisfaction. “That’s right. I, for one, am looking forward to being in a relationship, and I know you are too, deep down, so hop to it.”
“I got it, I got it!” Lilith said, leaving the room.
Carmen looked around. “If you were all wondering, she’s fine, nothing’s been done to her. She’s just had to learn how to stick up for herself. Now, let me show you all around, there’s some pretty cool stuff in here!”
Fighterman481 Most changes here aren't too drastic, but the biggest is just making Carmen be fully aware of everything, since she wasn't before. Other than that, this is mostly untouched compared to the original.
It's honestly kinda surreal getting to this point, since it's been in progress for so long, but...here we are. The gateway to the 'more recent' era of the novel, as I like to think of it. If I was publishing things, this would about the end of a first book (and it's about 100,000 words, too, that's longer than the Hobbit!), and makes up almost half of the original (which is just under 250,000 words, barely shorter than Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. And just over half the length of any given book in my favorite series, The Stormlight Archive. They're excellent books, but, aside from the first, they all easily top 1,000 pages, so they're for people who really like to sink their teeth into books).
So...uh, as always, thanks for reading, I guess.
