1400 B.C.E, Earth

I walked through a lush forest of oak and ash. Vibrant colors shone from the dirt beneath my feet to the leaves high above. The trees of the ancient wood practically hummed with mana, a testament to the power of the beings who occupied it. My target happened to be one such being.

The inhabitants couldn’t sense my approach. I had perfect the concealment structures to mask my presence over a millennia ago but the sudden silence throughout the area may as well have been a declaration of my arrival.

The path led into an open area. In the center, a large lake sat still, a mirror for the full moon high overhead. Blue lights drifted through the air bobbing up and down at irregular intervals. None came close to me as I strode toward the lake. Once on the shores, I stopped, a thin barrier prevented my entry into the depths even as the cool water lapped against my feet.

“Let me in. I’d rather not force the matter,” I said. I waited there under the beautiful night sky in the hopes that I would not have to escalate to the use of force. I hated the idea of harming one of my oldest creations. The water's surface reflected my troubled expression laying bare the chaos within.

I had evolved significantly in the thousand years since my encounter with Sage yet in some ways, I remained the same. On the one hand, my relationship with mana had grown so fine that I could achieve a full range of senses from simple strands of mana, and on the other hand, I still walked the Old World in a hollowed-out human husk. I had interacted with humans more in the last several centuries than I had in my entire existence and through those interactions cemented a sense of calm and confidence in my social skills.

I was a power unmatched in the Physical and Astral, at least locally.

I had surpassed my companion a century ago with little fanfare, simply another event like any other. My relationship with her had been repaired but it was nothing like the times of old. We occasionally became close in the Astral to enjoy each other’s presence. I even visited her every hundred years or so and we talked about our lives among the humans varied as they were. Still, a distance existed between us that had nothing to do with our conception in the Astral or our positions in the Physical. Additionally, each meeting filled me with a sense of dread. I tried to dismiss the feeling as discomfort with the changes my companion underwent.

The first and most noticeable was the inactivity in her astral body. Mana flowed to and from her at the expected rate but she ceased losing and constructing structures from my perspective. I inquired about it and received a vague answer from her about internal structures deep within. Sadly, I decided not to pry trusting that she would explain when the time came. Secondly, she wasn’t “expecting” during most of our meetings in the physical realm. I rationalized the decrease in pregnancies as the end of her millennia-long obsession with breeding but I hardly believed it. Lastly, she ended each meeting, whether in the Astral or the Physical, with an intimate embrace before she distanced herself again.

All of it seemed very strange though, in her defense, we had lived a long time. If humans developed odd behaviors in their advanced age, the same might be the case for astral beings especially one who pent such a significant amount of her life integrated with humans.

Had I been more emotionally intelligent at the time, I could have foreseen what was to come.

A few years ago, I lost all contact with my companion. Strange wall-like structures appeared around her astral body cutting off our lifelong connection. At the time, I had been molding a king in Athens who had blood ties to one of my companion’s children while simultaneously maneuvering political events in Egypt for the rise of my most successful pharaoh yet. I forgot all of this and the astral structures in progress within my body as soon as she disappeared from my senses. I experienced panic for the first time, completely uncertainty and fear ruled.

I sent hundreds of signals to her and received no response. I moved close to her in the Astral conceiving the distance between us to be as small as possible. No amount of probing revealed anything behind the walls; I had been cut off from her and I had no idea why. Confusion, anger, betrayal: these are some of the emotions that stampeded through my being in the aftermath. Eventually, though, I came to my senses.

At first, I tried to rationalize what was happening. A new evolution of our kind akin to dreaming? I couldn’t bring myself to believe that since I had finally surpassed her in power and advancement. Another consideration relied on her assertion about internal structures; perhaps, she had discovered a new method of mana generation. That seemed unlikely as well. Of the two of us, I had the most intimate connection with mana and had investigated the means of its production the most thoroughly. I didn’t know everything, far from it in fact, but I believed I knew more than her. That left the most obvious answer.

She didn’t want me to know what she was doing with her astral body.

Objectively speaking, whatever she had planned shouldn’t have mattered to me. I had little to be concerned about concerning my well-being and nothing she did could affect my advancement. I tried to push her out of my mind, to find solace in the idea that she would emerge eventually. If it took a century or two or ten, what did it matter? I failed though. My focus withered on any diversions I used to fill my time, even mana generation and astral construction to advance my power. With my mind preoccupied, I did the only thing I could think to do.

I dreamt.

I spanned my awareness across the entirety of the Old World checking for her physical body. Months of searching yielded nothing. It was as though she ceased to be or…

Does she have concealment structures? The thought had hit me suddenly while combing the Amazon for her signature. I’m a fool. Of course, she has a way to hide herself. She dreamt of the others of our kind long before I. That must be it.

I had discovered upon completion of my concealment structures that they shielded not only one’s astral body but one’s physical form as well from astral senses. Additionally, a bit of mana would be enough to cover most supernatural senses as well, even less for physical ones. Nervous anticipation rippled through my being and I shifted gears.

I called to the mana that had become an intimate partner. In my dreams, I could almost hear it speaking to me. I beseeched it to guide me and wove fibers of it into my most basic of structures, the ones that handled my senses, reinforcing them.

Upon expanding my awareness once again, I saw something new. Not my companion, but faint traces of her mana across the world superimposed over the Physical like afterimages. I concentrated on the densest and thus, most recent then, set off to investigate in person.

The last four had been dead-ends, either leading me to nothing or garnering no information. I was still bitter about the last where I had found a so-called god whose response to my question was to mock me. Her tone hadn’t lasted when I began disassembling her body to force answers out of her. Instead of answers, I got laughter and madness. She continued jeering me until she passed out from the pain. I left her there, indifferent to if she survived or not.

I could’ve, no should’ve, handled the situation better but my state of mind had changed from a maker of kings to a man lost in the dark, flailing and shouting impotently. That regret fueled my patience as I waited on the lakeshore.

I had a good feeling about this location though. Unlike the others, this one wasn’t related to my companion. It was related to me, surely the sign of a clue left by her.

A short while passed until I sensed a shift in the air. Nodding to myself, I proceeded and found no resistance from the barrier. Instead of swimming, I kept walking on the ground completely submerging myself. The lake’s floor hosted an impressive variety of marine life, some of which glowed with obvious supernatural influence. I reached the middle of the lake and watched a shimmering door appear before me. I fed the door a small strand of condensed mana and it swung open.

Beyond, a glimmering hall of crystal and bark greeted me. I stepped through without hesitation paying no concern to the disappearance of the door behind me. I moved down the hall, a not-quite man on a mission.

The place was called the Otherworld by the local supernatural community. It was one of many demi-realms created within the Astral by the most powerful of mortals capable of wielding mana. Otherworld belonged to one of my oldest, still-living, fleshwarped.

I pushed the double doors open at the end of the hall without breaking stride making my way to the magnificent throne set into the back wall. The wall itself looked less like a wall and more like the side of a massive truck as though the room were built into a tree of ridiculous proportions. On the throne, sat my creation with two guards flanking her. She had changed significantly over the millennia but a few aspects were the same. Her four transparent insect-like wings, her green moss-colored skin, and her shimmering compound eyes all remained.

She watched me approach the throne; her expression was blank but her soul raged with hostility which didn’t bode well. When I made to step in front of the throne, one of her guards moved to intercept me but my creation raised her hand to stop him.

“Dismiss these two,” I said to her. “I wish to speak to you alone.”

“How dare you speak to my Lady in such a manner!” The guard growled gripping his crystal-tipped spear. The man had distinct features and the mana signature coming from him seemed familiar, likely he was descended from another one of my creations.

I kept my eyes on my creation ignoring the others. Her left fist clenched and unclenched before she sighed and waved a hand at the two guards.

“Leave us,” she said. As they began to protest, she added, “Now.”

I waited patiently for them to exit the hall before addressing her. “It has been a long time.”

“No,” she said, her tone enough to chill the air. “I do not wish to hear you play at humanity, monster. I know why you are here. She told me you would come.”

I considered her for a moment tilting my head to the side. I hadn’t been expecting a friendly reunion after several thousand years apart but her demeanor surprised me.

“Monster? I wouldn’t disagree but that is a harsh word to describe one to whom you owe so much,” I remarked.

Her face twisted into a furious scowl and she gripped the arm of her throne until it cracked. Her mana, the mana I had given her, flared throughout the hall. A mere human might’ve collapsed from the pressure but I felt no pressure from the outburst. Her episode lasted a few seconds before she took a deep breath and gave me a sickly, sweet smile.

“You’re right. Where are my manners? Welcome, oh great one!” She bowed her head for a moment. “I apologize that you traveled here for naught.”

I shook my head at her venom-laced tone. “I’d prefer we didn’t do this the difficult way. Tell me what I need to know and I will leave you be.”

“Oh, if only we could make this easy for you,” she said. I scowled at her sarcasm, unused to being spoken to in that way. “Unfortunately, I made a pact with her. I can only tell you what you seek if you give me something impossible for you to give.”

“What are you talking about? Why would the two of you make a pact?” I asked. Pacts were as permanent as soul bindings but they weren’t made lightly and could have severe consequences if broken. My ire bubbled beneath the surface but I kept it in check.

“I made the pact with her because unlike you, she is worthy of my trust and admiration. Unlike you, she gave me more than I could have hoped. Unlike you, she saved me from the depths of despair.”

“You are being nonsensical. If it weren’t for me, you would have starved to death on a muddy lakeshore or have been eaten alive by a roaming predator. Look at you. You have power, servants, and a home. Do not act as though I have given you nothing,” I scoffed.

“You gave solitude,” she said, her smile still upon her like a corpse that refused to fall. “You twisted my body for no reason other than you could. Then, you abandoned me with nowhere to go, no knowledge on how to survive, not even an explanation on what you had done to me.”

I sighed. It was ridiculous for her to hold on to so much negative emotion for so long. It beggared belief honestly, to hold a grudge for thousands of years. Then again, supernatural or not, humans always seemed to excel when it came to pushing the bounds of idiocy.

“Just tell me what it is you need to fulfill the pact,” I said, my patience wearing thin.

She giggled; a sound that pushed the borders of natural sound due to the mana raging within her. “Hm… I could tell you outright and watch you squirm but I want to maximize my enjoyment. Here’s a riddle for you, oh generous one! The answer will be what you require.” She laughed again, a chaotic mix of sounds, and her eyes shone with madness. “What is more common than gold but worth far more, weighs nothing but lasts a lifetime, that can be given to one or many?”

“Power,” I said, confident in my answer. I could see why she believed I couldn’t give another power if she viewed it from the perspective of my companion who weakened herself to strengthen others. “Exactly how much power do you—”

Her laughter interrupted me. She doubled over in her mirth, apparently unable to contain herself.

“Of course, you would think that was the answer,” she said, still giggling. “I almost feel sorry for you.”

Her words drained the last of my patience and pulled on the space in front of me. In the blink of an eye, I crossed the space between us and grabbed her face under the chin with one hand. Her laughter stopped and her eyes dimmed as she met my gaze, her eyes listless.

“Will you break my body or my spirit to get what you want? Or is one not enough for a monster like you?”

I ignored her. I made the mistake of letting her determine the pace of things and feel in control. I did so out of respect for her and what she had built but she pushed too far with her antics. I called to the mana within her and suppressed it along with her soul.

She only had time to gasp before she went still, not dead but in a sort of living stasis. My years of dreaming had taught me much about manipulating and interacting with the human psyche. I pushed my awareness into her soul but unlike when I ventured into a dreamscape, I didn’t go all the way. Once a connection to her soul was established, I used mana to probe her mind pulling forward memories one by one. I had only been able to manage this feat with those bound to me and my fleshwarped much to my chagrin.

There were so many memories of my companion, an alarming amount in fact, but none of them were what I wanted. How long has she been interacting with her? Has she made contact with any of my other fleshwarped?

It was a mystery to which the memories provided no answer. Thankfully, I found what I sought after a few hours. For safe measure, I had sealed the hall against any intruders while I searched. I scanned the memory paying close attention to my companion’s words.

“A pact? But why?” my companion asked.

“Because even though you wish to give that thing a chance. I have no faith in what façade of humanity it puts up. If I don’t make a pact, it may use a compulsion to force me to give him your location. I think you should just let it flounder. It’s what it deserves. But, if you insist on having the option available to him then a pact is necessary.”

My companion sighed. She looked haggard. “You don’t know him like I do. He can be difficult but he is changing. He just needs time.”

“‘It’ is very much known to me. Besides, if you wished to give him time, you would delay the ritual.”

My companion scowled. “It’s not that simple but fine. What kind of pact did you have in mind?”

“If it can give me that which I most desire, I’ll tell it about the ritual, the stone circle, everything. It will never be able to do that though.”

“Don’t underestimate him, dear child. What could you possibly desire that he couldn’t provide?”

She smiled at my companion. “Love.”

When I pulled back from her, a tight emotion that I couldn’t identify wreaked havoc on my mind. I had gotten the information that I desired from the memory. I knew where to go and what my companion was doing but I felt unsatisfied. I released her and saw her expression change from surprise to realization.

I couldn’t hold her gaze as tears began to form in her eyes. So, I walked away. I ignored the wretched sounds coming from behind me and pushed the doors open leaving the place to find my companion.