***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***

***Magnus***

I watched the great tidewalls of Venice in a daze, as I was caught in a rare moment of tranquillity while the sun slowly set. It painted the horizon in a red hue and announced the nighttime for the visiting tourists who explored this living museum of a city.

The walls had been built over a thousand years ago to counteract the increasingly unpredictable weather which came along with global warming. They protected the city from disappearing beneath the ocean's waves and were considered one of humanity's architectural wonders.

But why was I here, sitting at a café and watching the ocean? Wasn't I supposed to meet with another agent of the organisation?

A waiter came along and placed a coffee and a salad with turkey breast in front of me.

My mouth watered at the sight of real food and I picked up the fork.

Real food? No, I wasn't supposed to eat uncooked food. Too dangerous. Especially when the meat had been fried haphazardly!

Then I remembered, and the fork fell out of my fingers.

Out of nowhere, a red-haired beauty was in the chair across from me. With a dazzling smile, she leaned over and took my hand, stroking it lovingly. Her tight business dress fought to restrain the generous bosom which desired to spill out of the dangerous v-cut.

“We finally meet again,” Gaia, or Gestalt, tittered. “I already feared your moment of lucidity was a one-time thing.”

I quickly used my free hand to sign the Catholic cross by touching my forehead, sternum, and shoulders. “Light, dear light. Dissolve, this night...”

Gaia frowned but kept smiling. “Is everything alright?”

Okay, a prayer from St. Peters didn't help, so maybe Buddhism? I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to remember what I had looked up in the Frost's library. “May I be a guard for those who need protection. A guide for those on the path. A lamp in the darkness...”

When I peeked with one eye Gaia was still there, but her smile had turned forced. “Are- are you trying to banish me?!”

I let out a sigh full of disappointment and dropped the act. “I guess you are no demon or ghost after all-”

“Get away from my man!” someone screamed hysterically.

Suddenly, a chair blocked my field of vision as it slammed into Gaia's beautiful face. It had enough momentum to force the Gestalt's avatar backwards, tilting her over together with the chair she was sitting on. Because of the table, she disappeared beneath my line of sight, leaving only two perfect legs in high heels and black stockings for me to admire.

The banishing ritual worked!?

A teenage girl, no older than thirteen, stepped up to follow her victim. She brought her chair up and down, causing Gaia's still visible legs to twitch.

I had no clue what was going on.

But I knew what had happened the last time Gaia had been hit within my dream world.

“Stop it!” I shrieked in abject terror and jumped out of my seat, barely managing to disarm the teenager before her improvised weapon could descend a third time.

“What are you doing, Magnus!?” the girl complained and went for another chair. “She dared to touch you illicitly! She was trying to seduce you by showing off those melons of hers! And the way she held your hand!”

“Astra?” It was a little late, but together with the girl's words and her resemblance to my wife, I managed to piece some things together. This was probably how Astra saw herself while she was still on Earth.

I quickly stopped her from picking up another chair and we entered a tug of war. “That's because she has a few screws loose. J- just don't hit her. Bad things happen when you hit that woman! And why do you look like a child?”

“You don't exactly look like your real self either.” Astra let go of the chair and poked a finger into my belly. “And what is this place? Are we caught inside a mindflayer's illusion?”

I looked down at myself, realizing this was the old me. The one who had a little inbuilt lifebelt.

“What's wrong with you people!?” Gaia screamed suddenly, drawing both of our attention as the Gestalt's avatar floated up into the air. She righted herself, emitting a golden halo as fire surrounded her like a burning rosebush. Apart from her bedraggled hairstyle, she was completely fine. “The first time, he hits me. The second time, he tries to banish me like some demon of lore! And now the other tries the same!”

I stepped in front of Astra, hoping that blocking Gaia's line of sight might appease her somewhat. “You can't blame us if you are the one haunting our dreams! How do you expect us to react? The first time, I thought the mindflayer had gotten us, or I had gone insane. I am still not one hundred per cent convinced. Makes much more sense if someone is messing with my head. Or some parasite causing hallucinations.”

Gaia's face scrunched up as if I had hit a sore spot. “I am not a parasite!”

Astra stepped around me and linked arms with me – which felt all kinds of wrong, given her current appearance.

“Why don't you explain what's going on, lady? Besides...” Astra gestured, trailing Gaia's outline with a finger. “... you have to work on your performance. It isn't as imposing if you are still sitting in a chair while you go all floaty-floaty.”

The flames winked out of existence and the halo disappeared. The next moment, Gaia landed on the ground and turned back to the table while correcting her hair. “Sit.”

“Why should we-”

I interrupted Astra by quickly pulling a chair next to where I had been sitting previously. Then I picked my partner up, which was easily possible thanks to her new appearance, and placed her in the chair.

The people around us had paid the whole interaction no heed, proving this wasn't the real world.

Astra was indignant about the treatment, but I didn't care as I sat down next to her.

Gaia clapped her hands together and smiled. “Wonderful! Why don't we start anew? Astra, you are currently sleeping next to your husband and having a lucid dream. Both of you are in the hospital after you received the magnificent news of becoming parents. Magnus had a little cardiac arrest because he remembered our previous meeting where I prophesied something like this to happen. It was a little overwhelming for him. Follow so far?”

Astra blinked. “Okay.”

“Now to me. I am a part of the Gestalt, an energy consciousness that lives off the energy field produced by all living things connected to me. Some might call me a god, but Magnus doesn't like it, so we may as well go with non-human sentient energy entity. You can call this iteration of me Gaia and I am in charge of managing Tirnanog's humans. I like to think of myself as a guardian angel. The Gestalt has always existed alongside life – with humans only being my most recent creations. I am currently having a philosophical disagreement with some other energy beings who are using natural energy fields to support their consciousness. They think I am an abomination and are trying to kill me. So they created Tirnanog as a research and test facility to find a permanent solution for me, since eradicating all life on Earth already failed several times. But now they found a troublesome solution and are using the Thich to test it. Which is why I employed Magnus to wipe out those abominations.”

Astra blinked again and opened her mouth, then closed it, but finally managed to come up with a response. “I have a few questions.”

It took the better part of what felt like half an hour of back and forth until Gaia managed to get both of us up to date, which included a retelling of my first lucid encounter with the dream whisperer. Only Gaia herself knew whether it was true that she had been whispering into my ears since I had been a babe.

“So, Gaia is like a ghost,” Astra concluded in the end. “She can mess with people and whisper stuff into our ears when we sleep, but she can't change anything physical in the world. And whether people truly follow her 'suggestions' is mostly up to the person.”

“Have you forgotten about her making babies inside you!” I hissed. “That's a darn dangerous superpower if you ask me!”

Both women looked at me.

“As I understood it,” Astra pointed out in a measured tone. “Gaia wouldn't have been able to do anything if I hadn't provided fertile soil and someone else hadn't sown the seed.”

I looked between Astra and Gaia and realized I was the minority here. A man had to choose battles he could win. “I retract the argument.”

Astra returned her attention to Gaia. “But he is at least partly correct! Three!? Do I look like a breeding tank to you?”

Gaia twiddled her thumbs. “I am sorry, but your mutations are... beneficial to me.”

“Ooh,” I laughed and pointed a finger at her. “Didn't you want to say tasty? Or nourishing? Do you want to start a new breeding farm?”

Gaia looked exasperated. “Fine, I want to ensure your phenotype spreads. Go forth and multiply and all that. Please, stop thinking of me as something evil. I am connected with all life. You are the cells. I am the mind. It's highly unorthodox for me to be able to hold a conversation like this one.”

Her expression turned troubled as she muttered to herself. “It's like arguing with two of my brain cells. Is this what humans call schizophrenia? Am I turning insane by allowing this? Maybe having more of you is a bad idea after all...”

This felt like a dangerous avenue of conversation, so I thought it best to divert the topic to other matters.

I pointed an accusing finger. “Whatever! It didn't stop you from threatening me with my sister's continued well-being should I not follow your agenda. Don't think I've forgotten.”

She rolled her eyes. “You have to admit, your life's history confirms you are stubborn and despise higher authorities. Without an incentive, you would try to find a way to finagle out of the deal. I had no choice but to offer you a bargain once you became lucid.”

“You threatened to cut my sisters loose because they are corrupted or something! Which you still didn't explain in detail,” I hissed. “That's not a bargain. It's blackmail!”

Astra touched my shoulder. “Magnus, calm yourself. I know you would do anything for your sisters. Sadly, it seems like in this case your emotions are getting in the way.”

I leaned back and crossed my arms. “What sort of cooperation could we even have with a creature like Gaia, assuming she's telling us the truth about this corruption which is cutting her off from the Thich. She is vastly more powerful and intelligent than us. She is negotiating with ants to deal with an anthill.”

“An apt comparison, but maybe not entirely correct.” Astra smiled. “Maybe it's because I am more used to thinking in terms of biological dependencies, but I firmly believe no matter her power, Gaia is desperate. This is the first time she's sick.”

I scowled but allowed Astra to go on. Not only because I valued her opinion, but because Gaia's expression had turned slightly annoyed.

Gaia sounded almost omniscient. Our only hope was for this being to be unable to play us like instruments.

But no. If Gaia hadn't lied about us being the first humans she could talk to directly, then her social abilities should be beyond abysmal.

Anyway, my paranoia would change nothing at the moment so I returned my attention to Astra.

“This alien administrator introduced a genetic sequence into clan Thich which cut them off from Gaia. Try to imagine it from her point of view. This isn't just about two ant-hives fighting each other. This is about you learning you have cancer, and nobody has an affordable treatment. Or like losing a limb. Only, it isn't just that. It's like your hand suddenly going rogue and attacking the rest of the body.”

I looked towards the Gestalt's avatar.

“Gaia has to stomp out the Thich infection before it spreads to the rest of her body,” Astra concluded. “Which means, our cooperation is worth a lot to her. Maybe we should see her more as a symbiont. A partner. It looks like we want the same thing after all.”

Gaia sighed. “What do you want? And please stop treating me like some symbiont or parasite.”

Astra turned her attention to the Gestalt's avatar. “First, I need you to be more respectful towards my body. I had the intention of having a lot of kids if it turned out to be possible. But having three at once is a bit much.”

I nodded enthusiastically. Exactly what I was saying earlier!

Gaia rolled her eyes. “If you are concerned about the dangers of childbirth, I have corrected that little evolutionary mistake with you two. You don't have to worry about the process. Let's just say your fertility has been adjusted to the zippers. Which means you will be fertile during the winter.”

“How else can you assist us?” Astra asked, apparently quite pleased with what she heard.

I shook my head, wishing she had sued for a reduction in numbers.

The avatar shrugged. “I am doing what I can with your mutations, but you are the ones who have to use them correctly. Apart from that, you are on your own.”

“Any hints?” Astra asked.

“Let's just say,” Gaia raised both index fingers and touched them together, “Both of you now have extraordinary mental abilities combined with control over electricity. Why aren't you already abusing this?”

I narrowed my eyes at the avatar. She was a little cryptic, but I could see a few ways in which this was meant to play out.

“Can you give us information about the Thich?” I asked. “You must be the perfect spy.”

Gaia slowly shook her head. “Like I said, almost the whole clan is corrupted by now. I can't touch them, or your sisters. The problem is, the corrupted people are like non-entities to me. I am blind to them. To put it into human terms, I guess it's like being paralysed.”

“Then how are you going to save my sisters?” I asked.

“I can cleanse Iv of the corruption once she partners up with someone who isn't corrupted, now that I have my attention on her. I can take charge of her partner's side and try to fix things.” Gaia's lips curled in disgust. “And even if she can't be cured, I might be able to ignore the corruption in a few selected people as long as it is ensured it won't spread.”

My expression darkened as I thought of the implications. Thankfully, this wasn't an immediate issue. “What about Evanne? What if she is forced to 'partner' with a corrupted Thich?”

The avatar shrugged. “There's nothing I can do about that. It only emphasizes you are on a clock in more than one way.”

“What do you mean?” Astra asked.

Gaia raised an eyebrow. “The Thich have been running these experiments since the Gestalt retreated from Tirnanog. I am nought but a mere remnant that remains to monitor the situation. Sadly, we only noticed within the last few decades that something was seriously wrong. It took some time until the Gestalt became aware of a few thousand people who weren't connected to it anymore. Normally, I would have noticed earlier, but the regular opening of the wormhole between Tirnanog and Earth dulled my senses.”

She gestured towards me. “And given my limitations, it also takes time to steer people towards certain dispositions. Magnus's lucidity within the dream is something utterly unprecedented. It's the first time for me to be able to tell someone clearly what I need. Till now, the Gestalt was forced to split off shards like Gaia to appear in people's dreams and 'preach' to them in hopes of influencing their waking decisions.”

Gaia stopped herself and thoughtfully touched her cheek. “In any case, the Tates already uncovered some of the boons which the corrupted mutation is bringing the Thich. You just haven't followed the logic chain to its conclusion.”

Astra tilted her head. “Thalia and Sienna think it enables two partners to choose certain combinations of mutations which would be ill-advised otherwise. It gives the Thich a lot more flexibility and means access to more combinations.”

“Which allows for a wider variety of selection,” Gaia continued. “All the clans are experimenting with new mutation paths. The goal everyone is looking out for is to find something powerful which can still breed viable offspring. In the Thich's case, more variety allows for more viable combinations once they are found. And more viable breeding pairs result in a population boom.”

Astra's eyes widened in shock. “How many Thich are there? How many people do they have?”

The avatar tilted her head from one side to the other. “Right now, not too many. You would have heard of a population boom from the Caravaners if the Thich had already succeeded. As I said, it's been a generation at most since I lost track of the Thich's actions. But humans can breed fast if they need to. Give it another forty years and they might be able to overpower any of the major clans with numbers alone.”

My partner let out a sigh of relief and looked at me. “Gaia is right. If more viable breeding pairs are a side effect of the corrupted mutation, then Clan Thich might be able to take control of Tirnanog within a few generations. What held the clans back so far are our low numbers. We are barely able to keep our populations up. It's the only reason why we are still recruiting promising exiles.”

“What about the other clans?” I asked. “Can you influence them in our favour?”

“I will do what I can.” Gaia made a helpless gesture. “But you are aware of my limitations. I can't take away their free will and have them join you on a crusade.”

Astra suddenly reached over and stole the turkey breast from the plate with salad in front of me. Without hesitation, she bit into it. “Oh, it's so good!”

“Astra!” I exclaimed in shock.

“What?” My wife spoke with a full mouth. “This is a dream, so nothing can happen. Gaia, you have to visit us every night from now on.”

The avatar's lips curled. “I am not your chef!”

“From now on, you are,” Astra affirmed. “There is a lot to talk about. More than we can manage in a single night. You have to explain how the Thich are connected to Earth. And at the very least you can inform us about what's going on within the other clans.”