***The Crystal City***

***Seria***

*Slap!*

“Good morning!”

*Slap!*

“Rise and shine!”

*Slap!*

“Dawn has broken, Myrm!” I slap her another time, ignoring the fact that Myrm’s eyes are already open. Some people would call me vain for doing so, but that last slap was for my own sake. Stupid Myrm, she should have just listened to me!

“Wha- what happened?” Myrm sits up, inspecting her damaged armour and the ruined helmet next to her. There is still an imprint in the metal, shaped like a delicate female hand. We also had to take off her chest-plate, since the metal was dented inwards, making it impossible to heal her properly.

I volunteered a simple, white shirt from my own clothes to cover her up in the meantime.

“Where is everyone? And where is that bitch!?” She reaches up, inspecting her face for damage and feeling the strands of her short, straw-coloured hair. Her elven ears poke out from beneath an elaborately braided hairdo.

If it weren’t for my efforts, her face would still look like a mashed piece of meat, but now it’s back to its elvish beauty. Her cheekbones are no longer rearranged into a horrid copy of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The sharp angles of her face punctuate the image of a martial artist, giving Myrm’s features a special beauty which can be respected not only for female charm but also for health and athleticism.

A real shame that she is hiding behind that helmet and armour all of the time. Since she took on the planet’s local god of order’s identity, she stuck to the role like no other. I admit that by impersonating the image the locals had of their god of light, she has an easier time finding followers, but that’s not something I wanted her to do.

My plan was for her to get together with Ascathon and make him a little more pliable towards my plans. But I clearly made a mistake. Thanks to Tjenemit, their introduction went all wrong and like two combustible chemicals, they went up in flames, and not the lovey-dovey way.

The worst thing is that I can’t risk telling them the truth. At least not now. Their current personalities aren’t on the best terms with me, and who knows what they might do if they learn of my end-goal?

If push comes to shove, they might even end up fighting for the wrong side, and that’s something I have to avoid at all costs.

Having to fight them would be… bad.

That’s what I get for carefully guiding Myrm back to the path of godhood. I painfully selected the places of her reincarnations, making sure that the circumstances and locations of her various lives would ensure a quick ascendency. At least as quick as it can be. I still had to choose parts of the multiverse where time flows differently in order to accelerate her growth. That allowed her to achieve what normally takes millennia within mere centuries of subjective time.

Not to mention how difficult it was to snatch away her soul from beneath Ascathon’s watchful eyes. After a few decades, their relationship had gone down an unacceptable path, so I had to intervene in order to achieve my ultimate goal.

“Seria?” Myrm looks up at me after finally realizing that Studio 7 is empty, except for the two of us.

I sigh. “You fucked up!”

“Wha-”

“No!” I raise a finger, hopefully looking as angry as I am. “You were very lucky today. I dropped more than enough hints about the Council, yet you go and draw Tjenemit’s attention! We were just lucky that he was more amused by this farce than anything else. For the last time, the Council members are dangerous.

“Things aren’t as they seem. I know that the public propaganda machine says that the Council is managing the ascendancy of new gods for the sake of all, but you have to understand that everything in the Crystal City is about control. Fuck up, look like someone who is more trouble than necessary, and Tjenemit will end you. Permanently!”

Drawing a deep breath, I continue my rant before Myrm can speak up. “Turning Ascathon into an enemy also wasn’t the smartest move! Haven’t we warned you that he is a soul-mage? He is capable of playing around with things that even a god doesn’t want meddled with. Souls!”

“But you also know soul-magic,” Myrm interrupts like a petulant child. “Aren’t you-”

“And he knows even more!” I probably shouldn’t tell her that what I do know, I learned from him. That could raise a few questions I would rather not answer. “I am a taught dabbler, while he is a natural genius in the field. If you want to fight him, then you can do it on your own. I may not like him, but I certainly won’t throw myself between the two of you. That pretty lady who gave you the smack-down of the millennium was another body of his. When you killed him, he just switched to a different body. I don’t even know how many bodies he has.”

“I-”

“And just so you know, you made yourself an enemy! Ascathon isn’t the type of person who forgives and forgets. Unless you manage to reincarnate him often enough for him to forget about you assassinating him, he will harbour a grudge for centuries until he finds a way to pay you back! I had to pull him off of you or he would have taken your soul. And if Tjenemit hadn’t intervened, Ascathon wouldn’t have backed down. I am sure Tjenemit won’t do that again if the two of you get to blows.”

Myrm sets her jaw in defiance, telling me that I didn’t get through that thick skull of hers. Picking up her ruined helmet and the damaged parts of her armour, she gets to her feet. Then she bows to me, maybe in a little too formal manner. “Thank you for healing me and for stopping Ascathon. I’ll now go and find someone who can repair my armour… and I also have to apologize to Tjenemit.”

“Don’t!” I warn her. “In fact. Don’t seek any contact with any of the Council members until you've had time to learn what’s going on within the Crystal City. Just let it be and don’t draw any more attention.”

Myrm presses her lips together. “It would help me a lot if you just told me what’s going on.”

I shake my head. “You are too young to help. Once you have a few centuries of experience, you may be able to help me. But right now, the best way to help everyone is to keep your head down. Just follow the advice of those older than you. Go back to the world and develop your powers without drawing any attention.”

I don’t know whether Myrm will follow my advice or not. Without taking the risk of telling her too much, I can just hope for the best. Of course, I could involve Myrm in the plan, but she is too smart for that. Once she gets a glimpse of the whole, she would piece together that there is more to my actions than it seems. One question would lead to another, and everything might come apart before I am ready.

A proper explanation might also trigger some of her dormant memories, and only the universe knows what she might do then.

We hold eye contact for a long moment and finally Myrm nods. She turns away and uses a pathway to some unknown destination.

I remain in Studio 7, watching the pathway’s energies fade. These ley-lines of power which allow the gods to travel instantly throughout the whole multiverse are essential to my plan. A small smirk steals itself onto my face as I imagine the Council’s reactions to the final stages of my plan.

***The World***

***Karin***

“You are back!”

Having heard the familiar flash of electricity from outside the living room, I dash into the central hallway of Ascathon’s secret base. There, I stop dead, faced with an otherworldly beauty who is carrying Ascathon on her back.

After five hours of hunting dissidents and giving us personal training in Luxley’s castle, Ascathon was abruptly teleported away, leaving us alone with the disillusioned King Luxley who had regained his consciousness.

Not wanting to risk any more time out alone in the world, Willow rounded me up and used some special artefact to teleport us back to the hideout, leaving Luxley alone to deal with his problems. The king didn’t look too happy about his situation, although thanks to Ascathon he had an army of necromantic beings at his beck and call by then. In addition, Ascathon had given him detailed instructions to seek out the assistance of the Order of Chaos. So I think that Luxley must be fine, even if we left him out in the cold.

Willow follows me out of the living room, immediately recognizing the beauty. “Nova! What happened to your other body?”

That’s when I recognize the woman from the tube, Ascathon’s other body. I was about to say something really stupid to the stranger regarding her carrying around Ascathon, so Willow kind of saved me there.

“The idiot killed my body!” Nova complains. “Attacked for no reason at all!”

“Which idiot?” Willow’s expression turns wary. “Did it come to blows with Seria?”

“Not with Seria. Myrm, that bastard!” Nova shakes her fist. “He summoned me to a meeting with Tjenemit and when things didn’t go his way, he attacked, apparently to prove a point.”

Willow lets out the breath she held, making it clear that she wouldn’t have been happy about a fight between Ascathon and this Seria person. “I assume that you didn’t let the matter rest. Do we have to run?”

“Yes and no,” Nova grumbles, turning to walk down the hallway towards her laboratory. “I went back immediately and fucked up Myrm pretty good. Sadly, Seria and Tjenemit stopped me from finishing the job. They should take care of their own matters, and not interfere with my battles. I was the one who was attacked, so the least they could have done was to stand aside.”

“Didn’t you tell us that Tjenemit forbade any fighting?” Willow asks as we reach the lab. “I suppose that he doesn’t want to search for new job applicants.”

We reach the same operating table on which I woke up after I killed myself.

Nova snorts and slams her body down on the table, then proceeds to interact with some devices which are now – after I got a session inside the neural learning machine – a little less mythical to me. I still don’t know exactly how everything works, but at least the mystical element is gone since I know now that everything is based on magical and physical laws.

The medical scanner is in her hand and she proceeds by injecting Ascathon’s body with some regenerative nanites. I wince when she bends his head back into a normal position, causing the undesirable noise of bones grating against each other.

When she is done, she notices my attention and turns to face me. “Is there something you need?”

“I, ah...” I try to quickly find an appropriate answer, but my brain shorts out. What should I tell her? What’s the proper answer in a situation like this? I suppose her treating her other body is an intimate situation – his other. Do I use 'her' or 'his'? I am confused. This is so unexpected. I never expected that I would have to face her in a situation like this.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could hear a fuse sizzle and finally *pop*.

“I just thought that you are so beautiful. Why don’t use this body all the time? Not that Ascathon is unpleasant to have around, but having only women here somehow makes me feel more at ease,” I blurt out and my eyes widen when I realize what I just said.

Nova’s mouth opens and closes, clearly lost for words.

Willow’s snickering from behind me makes the awkward situation even worse and then she drops the ultimate bomb. “I think our little girl here has a mommy-complex for beautiful women. Didn’t you notice how doe-eyed she is since seeing you in this body.”

Nova forces herself to smile as she looks at me, but I can tell that her smile doesn’t reach her eyes. “I am sorry, but I prefer my male persona. Over the centuries I’ve learned to deal with being either gender. It comes with time and having to deal with multiple reincarnations. That doesn’t change that at my core I prefer to be a man.”

“Ah, okay.” Damn me and my mouth. How do I save this conversation? Oh, right! “How did you even get to have two bodies? Going by your earlier explanation, I thought that Nova is dead?”

Nova wriggles her hand in a so-so manner. “Willow can explain to you who and what the Council is, but the short story is that I wanted to get away from them. They have this whole control-shindig going on. Their usual mode of operation is to detect the awakening of new gods, thanks to the excessive mana outburst that usually comes with it.

“They then summon you to the Crystal City, a place only for gods, and give you the whole theatricals of how ‘they’ decided to elevate you to godhood. But all their summoning circle really does is to teleport the new god to them. You also get tagged with a sort of metaphysical homing beacon which allows them to find you.

“Usually, the new god is then sent back out into the multiverse until he or she gets used to their new state of being. They then slowly reel the useful ones back into the folds of the Crystal City and the Council. Unfortunately for them, I realized that they were toying with me. Something isn’t right with the Council and over the centuries I learned that some gods disappear from time to time. They just vanish, soul and all.”

“You mentioned something about lost friends.” I nod. “But what does that have to do with you having two bodies?”

“I had a theory. The only way their homing device can work is to sense a soul’s – I am making this easier than it actually is – specific quantum signature. My plan was to kill myself, but not to go through the usual reincarnation process. Instead, I attempted to change my soul’s signature while I was in a disembodied state. Sadly, it didn’t work out as I originally planned.”

“That’s when he/she became even more nuts than she already was,” Willow whispers from behind me. “Before that, she was just a psychotic bitch, but now he is a gender-confused psychotic bitch with a split personality and anger management issues.”

Nova presses her lips together, glaring Willow.

The silver woman shrugs, looking a little guilty. “What? It’s the truth.”

“I explained several times that a soul – per definition – has no gender! What you call a soul is just an abstract structure of energies that rearrange themselves according to a person’s experiences in life. They are energies. No gender! Maybe I should send you through a few reincarnation processes just to teach you. Come to think of it, you had a much too easy life over the last few centuries. When was the last time you died?”

Willow clears her throat. “A couple of centuries, master.”

I decide that interrupting them now might be a good idea. Before I become witness to Willow’s death and resurrection… I am getting way too used to this. “Ahem, regarding your experiment, I assume that something went wrong?”

“Yes and no,” Nova answers, still glaring at Willow. “I managed to disconnect my consciousness from this body.” She points at herself. “But I didn’t manage to change my soul’s signature.”

“When I found myself in Ascathon’s body, I realized that my initial plan failed. Apparently, it’s impossible to influence a soul’s signature to the extent I intended. What happened, though, is that I accidentally attuned two bodies to my soul. I can now switch back and forth without my soul suffering the shock of losing its tether to the material universe.”

“It’s actually pretty neat,” Willow interjects. “It means that he has one free death as long as he keeps both of the bodies alive. That’s why he always keeps Nova stored in that tube over there.” She waves her hand in the direction of the apparatus that held Nova’s body. “It’s a machine from an advanced world that was developed for coma-patients. It ensures that there is no muscle degradation or other ill side effects of long-term sleep.”

“I think I understand. Thanks for explaining.” I smile. “The more I learn, the more I doubt if it’s wise to become an immortal.”

“Hahaha.” Willow ruffles my hair. “Don’t worry! In time, we will turn you to the dark side.”