***Noth - Mortal World, The Pantheon of Gods***

***Nazareth***

I rejoin the rest of my clique in the large observation room and greet the others who are eagerly awaiting my return after the hasty crisis-meeting which Sharid’s almost-death by freezing caused among the gods.

“So, you saved her. And spoke to her.” Nuin, High God of the Sun, asks while puffing on his pipe.

“Yeah...” I reply, knowing that it wasn’t really a question, but a statement. The others must have watched my encounter with the girl, which means that they saw and heard all of it.

I hope they won’t take my vanity too badly.

“Good.” Zenial, High Goddess of the Moon, nods while playing with the marbles around her neck. “It would be bad if we violated our duty of supervision. I don't want to imagine what Angrod would do to us if she dies before her time! I was there, you know, when he fought Myrm. Slew over two dozen gods single-handedly that day while laughing all the time. The guy is nuts!”

I roll my eyes, betting that she only survived because she was hiding under some mountain. “I was also there, you know. And I actually got sent to respawn.”

She turns on me, mercilessly poking her finger into the old wound. “Good for you. Your beloved brother wasn’t that lucky. He got a taste of soul magic. No more ‘respawn’ for him. I only want to know if you are really, really sure that it is a good idea to guide Sharid back to godhood. Angrod will have our asses if he ever finds out, and unlike in Miruliru’s case he won’t hesitate for a moment to stomp us.”

“We have to keep an eye on her around the clock!” Another member of our little group complains. “Nothing is allowed to kill her. The easy way out of her fate isn't allowed. I am getting sick of watching her bumbling through her life, clumsy as she is. It’s like having a baby who has access to entirely too many ways to kill herself. The fact that she is eye-candy doesn’t really outweigh the fact that she is trouble.”

Henrietta, his girlfriend, cuffs him from the side. “Don’t talk like that. Have you already forgotten the day when Angrod called all of us together to give us instructions?”

The god shrugs. “He was clearly drunk back then. I bet he doesn’t even remember what he said to us.”

“You mean threatened us.” Henrietta huffs. “Well. Nix, his daughter, was clearly not drunk and I bet she remembers. Have you forgotten what he implied to do to us? And what about that snow globe? He turned a fucking Council member into a snow globe! How off the rails do you have to be to even contemplate doing such a thing? I for my part don’t want to draw any of his attention, thank you very much!” She turns towards me. “Be sure to keep that little slut alive!”

Being reminded of that horrible day when Angrod dragged us in here, multiple gods look to the ground with depressed faces. Suddenly, the aura of looming doom is palpable throughout the whole room.

Nuin sighs and knocks some ash out of his pipe. “I actually think that Nazareth’s whimsical idea of guiding the young lady back to godhood actually isn’t so bad. Angrod forbade us to ‘mess with her’, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t give her helpful advice.”

He looks around the room. “It’s been over a decade of this world’s time since we started playing her guardian angels, but do any you have an idea of how long it might take her to actually die?” His eyebrow rises slowly as he allows us a short moment to think for ourselves. “She may be mortal, but this is a world with high background magic. As a spellsinger, Sharid has already proven that she has the capability to wield mana – and anyone who channels large amounts of mana has a naturally increased lifespan.”

I purse my lips, only now thinking about it. “Normally, mortal magicians bite the dust within a reasonable time-frame, since they can’t rely on millennia of knowledge. While normal magicians kill themselves sooner or later, either through combat or some magical accident, that isn’t really the case for Sharid, since we are looking out for her twenty-four-seven!”

We are so fucked! When I offered Sharid to help her, I did so because I would have to watch out for her anyway, not really believing that she would manage to ascend. This new viewpoint makes Angrod’s assignment even more malicious! “She could live for centuries! Maybe millennia!”

Nuin scoffs. “Glad that you realized that. No wonder that you are the god of Mountains and Travellers.”

I face him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He shrugs. “Only saying that your thoughts sometimes seem to move at the same pace as those of mountains.”

I frown.

The pipe-sucker turns to the others. “So who has to watch her for the next shift?”

“Ah! That's me. I am on my way.” One of our friends, a minor god, departs in all haste.

Everyone waves him goodbye and then we continue to mourn our fate… until it finally dawns on me that Nuin accused me of being slow. But by that point, complaining only would have made it worse.

***Chimera, A day at school***

***Seria***

“She really did it! I can't believe it! She sent us to school! A school! For us!” Aengus continues to rage about our newest... situation? Predicament?

I pat on Aengus's back, trying to comfort him. “I know that you were never keen on leaving home. This one is entirely my fault and I promise to make it up to you.”

Aengus drops his head onto the desk, wallowing in his misery. “And to think that she would even go as far as sending us to a boarding school!”

I groan inwardly. Why did my brother turn out to be such a pampered hikikomori? It isn’t as if our parents didn’t do everything in their power to make us independent individuals. “It will be okay, Big Bro! We will endure and pull through like we always do when they gang up on us! And once we are back at home Mom will have forgotten her anger and take us back.” I smile at him.

“Urgh! She will never forgive you that stunt you pulled on her! I would like to know why I have to suffer too! I did nothing wrong!” Aengus glares at me. “Even Dad didn’t want to touch the matter – and he is normally on our side. He kept his fingers away as if we are hot iron.”

“I already said that I am sorry, Bro! If there is anything I can do to make up for it, just tell me.” I take his hand and squeeze it. “The point of my plan still stands. The more children they have-”

“-the less attention they pay to us,” Aengus finishes my mantra and turns his attention to the front of the classroom. It's our first class and there are about thirty students, all of them with similar circumstances to us.

Children who, thanks to all of us being reincarnated gods, have entirely too much knowledge.

“I heard that the Andros quintuplets are also going to this school! Maybe we can meet them?” I try another angle to cheer Aengus up. He has a crush on one of the Andros girls, but I fear that he has no hope of winning her over because she never paid much attention to him during our play-sessions.

On top, they know our parents, which is a huge minus point in the dating world.

If Aengus ever wants to find a girlfriend, he would have to finalize the deal before she meets Mom and Dad.

Upon looking around, I judge that there are children of very different ages inside the classroom. It's a little strange. Shouldn't we be separated by age?

Then again, they probably don’t care so much about age in this institution as mental majority.

That's the moment when a teacher enters the classroom and everything goes silent – which strikes me as strange. It's an unexpected reaction for children of our age, but I shouldn’t forget that nobody in here is normal.

The teacher simply proceeds with introductions.

“Ahem. Hello, all of you! I am Samarin. I will be in charge of this class. Curse your fate!” He takes a meaningful look at Aengus and me, which tells me that Mom made sure that everyone knows who we are.

“Well. I don't like long introductions, so we will directly start with work. First, get the tables to the side and form a circle with your chairs.”

The teacher's instructions are followed without big complaints and less than five minutes later the whole class is assembled in a circle.

Everyone looks with expectant eyes to the teacher.

“Let me tell you that this is no normal school. Your teachers here are aware that you all are more than what you look. We know that it's hard to be treated like a child despite having all that common knowledge of your former lives. Even if you don't remember all of it.” Samarin takes a look around the circle.

“I would be happy if you don't think about this as a class. Think about it more like a support group! We will talk about our issues and everyone will listen. Then we will try to find a solution together. This is the primary purpose of this school, regardless of what your parents think. Of course, you guys can still work on your abilities too and every teacher at this institute will help you,” Samarin explains with a smile on his face.

My brother and I only look at each other, the true extent of our downfall only now dawning on us. How deep have we fallen to end up in a support group?

Samarin takes out a little notebook and a pen in order to take some notes about us. “So, let's start with you, little miss. Please tell everyone who you are and why you are here.” Samarin points to a little girl right next to him. Her physical age can't be more than five, given that she has troubles not to fall from her chair.

“Uhm, I am Maria. My hobbies are painting and reading books! I got into trouble with my parents because they always treated me like a child! After a while, I got so fed up with it that I started to behave like a real five-year-old. I showed them what it meant to leave dangerous equipment lying around and I – kind of – set the house aflame. They were unable to cope with it and so I landed here. Please take care of me.” The little girl waves at the class.

The introductions continue until it is our turn.

“Hi, I am Seria and-” But I get interrupted by silent whispers around the classroom.

“So they belong to that family?”

“They have that monster as a father?”

“Dad isn't like that! He just hit me once and I deserved it!” Aengus quickly replies.

“I pity them...”

“So the monster is hitting them!”

“Better to not get too close to them.”

“Poor guys!”

“At least they have a nice mother!”

“Yeah, the best and nicest mother.”

“And she is so beautiful! Have you watched the holo casts?”

“Mom isn't like that at all! Those public appearances with Dad are just for show.” Irked, I follow my brother’s outburst in an attempt to set things straight. “She is actually torturing us!”

“Yes! She is a demon! Don't fall for those rumours!” Aengus nods.

“Poor kids.”

“He already beat them so much…”

“... they started to believe it themselves.”

“Nooo! Hear me out! I will tell you guys the whole story!” Aengus jumps out of his chair, raising his hands.

And so we start to tell them the story of our lives so far. I tell them about Celes's whipping sessions when we… I did something bad. And Ireth's educational measures.

Aengus takes over from time to time to tell how Dad actually saved us from Mom’s punishments several times – that he is actually the nice and forgiving parent. And various other stories of him being nice, like regularly teaching us magic and science. And various other useful skills like handling torture instruments and breaking peoples minds.

Five hours later we are done and everyone looks at us with pale faces and frightened expressions.

“Puh... It was good to get that off of our minds and talk to someone about it. Right, Bro?” I look at Aengus with a relieved expression, glad that we finally managed to talk to someone.

“Right, Sis! I feel much better now. Especially after correcting all those rumours.” Aengus nods at me.

Then the whispers start once more.

“It's worse than I thought.”

“They are in hell.”

“How are they still alive?”

“They are monsters too?”

“Better don't get too close to them!”

“But we have to help them somehow.”

Samarin looks up from his notebook which was actually filled to the last page during our story. “You two, it seems like there is a lot of work before us. Your mother already informed us of you two being notorious liars, but I never imagined that it would be that much work to help you.”

Celes did what now?

My mind draws a blank upon hearing Samarin’s conclusion and I turn in despair to face my brother.

“I want to go home!”