Prologue
Bob moved over to the door while everyone was distracted and raised his hands. A wave of power extended from him, silencing everyone in the room. “Everybody but Alaria leave now!” Only she would understand what was about to happen.
The gods leapt into motion, each trying to be the first out the door.
“Not you, you can stay,” Bob said reaching out grabbing Brigit by the arm, her red hair flowing out behind her as she tried to run with the rest of them.
Seconds later the room was empty save for the three gods. The door slammed shut and began to glow, preventing anyone from entering. The closed-door muffling the arguing voices of the other gods.
Brigit looked at the two other people in the room and swallowed nervously. “Why did you want me to stay as well?”
“I’ve been keeping a secret from the other gods for a while now,” Bob began conversationally as he walked around the table and stopped in front of the glowing corner. “I’m sure everyone in the room realized it when Alaria struck Hel, but she is a High-Goddess and not a simple god. Do you know what the difference is Brigit?”
Brigit swallowed thickly, unable to keep her eyes off of Alaria. “High-Gods or Goddesses are the creators. They are responsible for creating the worlds and beings that we gods have stewardship over. Regular gods such as myself or Hel are meant to guide the people of our world, we have no power to create a world or life itself.”
Unseen under his large shadow-filled hood, Bob smiled. “That is close enough to the truth, it’s passable. Now getting back to what I was saying before, I am also a High-God.”
Alaria nodded calmly from her position against the wall, while Brigit weakly fell to her knees.
“Stop that,” Bob demanded before she could say anything. “I am not the creator of Earth, nor am I actually related to this planet in any way. I only arrived here twenty-five or so years ago.”
“But I remember you from before then,” Brigit said hollowly, looking up at him with wide eyes.
“Fabricated memories, nothing more,” Bob said with a careless wave of his arm. “I needed you all to believe I was part of Earth’s pantheon of gods while I searched for my target.”
“Did you find your uh target?” Brigit asked as she slowly climbed to her feet.
“I did, but by that time she had already married a mortal and was expecting her second child. I was forbidden from interfering and instead asked to watch over her.” The glow in the corner of the room had continued to grow brighter as he spoke. “That woman was my sister, and they forbid me from ever going down and seeing her or my niece and nephew.”
Brigit frowned, crossing her arms as she thought. “How much of what we did was planned by you?”
Bob chuckled but didn’t turn away from the corner where the light had begun to coalesce into three separate forms. “Nearly all of it, I wanted to see my sister again and meet my niece and nephew. To do that something had to change, I couldn’t risk going against the orders of people above me.”
“But you said Charles's parents died that first day!” Brigit cried in exasperation, her hands balling into tight fists.
“They did in a way,” Bob said mysteriously, but not sadly. “Now quiet, they’re about to appear! Don’t say anything, for now, there is much I have to explain to him and little time to do it in. Brigit take Kira into the corner and keep her occupied,” Bob requested of the two women left in the room with him.
Brigit looked up sharply at the God’s words remembering everything she had been told to tell Charles that day. It was becoming clear that Bob had orchestrated a great many things and downright lied about a lot more. And she wanted to know why, unfortunately, those were not questions she could ask him.
“Just hurry,” Alaria said, leaning against the wall with a worried look on her face. “When I fell, I lost control of my powers for a few moments. It will take some time to find any damage that may have caused.” Her eyes lowered in embarrassment. “Besides it is clear that you have more experience in these matters than I do. I haven’t spent much time away from my world since my husband and I created it.”
Bob sighed and stepped even closer to the corner where three different figures had begun to form in the light. “I am going to have to explain much to the gods of this world after this,” He muttered under his breath in annoyance.
The light around the three different figures brightened and then vanished, revealing two humans and a massive dog. Their bodies sucking in the last of the light as they lay unmoving on the marble flooring.
The cloaked and mysterious looking Bob stepped closer to them and nudged the male with a soft-shoed foot. “Now then, I think it’s about time we had that little talk,” He said as Charles blinked in confusion, his hands springing to his chest. A sigh of relief could be heard as he realized that while his clothes were torn, all his injuries had been healed.
Charles looked up at the ceiling for several seconds, calming his racing heart. He had been sure he was going to die, and he had been alright with that, he had managed to protect those most important to him. He looked around the room skeptically. “I’m not actually alive, am I?”
“Oh no, you died,” Bob said happily.
Next to Charles, Alli stirred and sprang to her feet. “He is not dead, he can’t be!” She growled at the unknown being in front of her.
“He is, the two of you aren’t however,” Bob continued carelessly.
Next to Charles, Kira had opened her eyes and was refusing to look at him, her face completely red. “Why are Alli and I here as well then?” She managed to ask while not looking at anyone.
“Simple, Alli is now tied to Charles on a deep and incredibly permanent level, whereas you just got pulled along for the ride.”
“That’s not how death works,” Kira stood, glaring at Bob as she spoke.
“Okay fine, I admit I may have had a hand in helping. I can’t be blamed for that, I really needed to talk to Charles, face to face,” Bob held up his hands defensively, but the mocking tone in his voice was obvious.
Behind him, Brigit cleared her throat.
“Right, sorry, Brigit take Kira. I need to talk to Charles, alone.” Bob slowly tugged the hood from off his head, revealing his face for the first time in years. A head full of shoulder-length white hair and sharply pointed ears was revealed as the cowl fell across his back. The skin that was visible went through different shades of the spectrum, sometimes dark, sometimes golden. It didn’t matter if his skin was blue or white though, it always seemed to have an unearthly glow. The only parts that didn’t have this glow, in fact, were those hidden by his cloak.
Alli remained in position, guarding Charles while Kira found herself staring at the red-haired goddess walking towards her.
“You did well to stay alive as long as you did Charles,” Brigit said to him as she stopped in front of Kira. “If you don’t mind, I need to take my champion and talk to her for a few minutes.”
Charles nodded dumbly while she reached out and took Kira’s hand, pulling her along as they moved to another corner of the room. “Bob?” He asked numbly, his mind beginning to work again after seeing the familiar goddess. Her presence assuring him that this was real.
Bob scowled and ran a hand through his hair. “Why did you have to name me that? All the other gods laughed at me.”
“Who is he?” Alli asked, not taking her eyes off him for a second.
Bob tilted his head and looked at the large silver dog. “I’m the one who granted your desire to never be apart from Charles. I’m the one who made you his ‘Soul Companion’.”
Charles held onto Alli as he stood, his hands questing across her fully healed stomach as he did. “You healed her?”
Bob sighed and motioned to the table and chairs. “Sit first, the explanation for what has happened is not as simple as one might think.”
Alaria closed her eyes and began looking inside herself to where her power lay, listening with half her attention.
“Alli, let me pass,” Charles said in exasperation after several seconds of pushing futilely against her side.
Alli humphed and finally stepped aside, allowing him to pass and sit at the table.
“Let me see the back of your right hand before we start,” Bob requested as he sat next to his nephew for the first time ever, the chair morphing into a plush leather one-seater as he did so.
Charles looked down at his gloveless right hand as he held it up for Bob to see the two runes that remained. When the glove had disintegrated, two runes had been left behind. Both runes had merged with his skin and had become part of the back of his hand. “I assume you’re the one that sent Brigit to give me that glove?” His eyes flicked to the corner where the goddess was talking to Kira quietly.
Bob grinned slightly and reached out to touch the runes. “I am, and I must say, it is rather astounding that you managed to destroy it. Not only that, what you managed to make the glove do to you and for you. I shouldn’t need to say this, but that glove was never meant to inscribe runes on your body or help your mana control. It was a tool that was meant to help you learn magic quickly and had lightning element spells built into it. Nothing more.” He traced the runes with the tip of his finger and inhaled sharply his eyes going wide.
Charles felt a trickle of power invade his body from the runes.
“Incredible,” Bob whispered as he pulled his hand away. “Both runes are now fully part of you, they’ve merged with your mana channels and everything. I dare say, they are going to have interesting benefits when you return to Earth.”
Charles leaned forward at that. “Then I will be able to return to Earth?”
Bob looked at him curiously. “Of course you can, why wouldn’t you be able to?”
“Uh, because you said I was dead?”
“I made sure you had an ability for exactly this occasion in case you have forgotten.”
Charles closed his eyes and thought, “Second Chance?”
“Indeed, now we’re wasting time and there is much we need to discuss. Quit distracting me,” Bob ordered as he leaned forward and got serious for the first time.
Alli looked away from the corner where Brigit was waving around Kira’s hammer and focused on the conversation in front of her.
“First thing you have to know. I am your uncle on your mother’s side, and she is not dead, neither is your father. They disappeared when the world changed, and I haven’t been able to find them since.”
“Then how do you know they aren’t dead?” Charles asked, ignoring the part where he was related to a god.
“It’s simple, my sister and I are true Gods, High-Gods if you will. We are different from the lower gods that you are familiar with, we don’t die that easily. Your father is human, but if he is still with my sister, then there is no reason to believe he isn’t alive as well.”
“What does that make me and Charlotte then?”
“I don’t rightly know, normally High-Gods are forbidden from mingling with mortals. Unlike the lower gods, I have never heard of someone doing what my sister did.”
Charles thought back to the stories he had heard as a child. “So, what? Charlotte and I are demi-gods, High Demi-Gods?”
Bob shrugged. “As good a name as any, for now, the potion you were given along with the glove was meant to help awaken that side of you. Since Earth didn’t have any mana when you were born, that side of you was buried and needed to be awakened. When you return, you will have to give Charlotte the flask. I’ve already changed the permissions on it and tell her not to worry about Scott. Thanks to the wedding ceremony, they are now linked forever, similar to you and Alli.”
Alli jerked her head at that. “Wait, Charles and I are married?”
Bob gave a short bark of laughter and leaned back in his comfortable chair. “I hadn’t thought of it in quite those terms before, but you actually kind of are. That could be awkward.” He looked over to Alaria, seeing her brow growing more furrowed with every second. “We don’t have much time left, so we need to hurry. I had wanted to tell you a lot more, but we have to cut this short so pay attention and don’t interrupt.”
Charles nodded, his own eyes drifting towards Alaria, wondering who she was.
“This is what you need to know, things have gone wrong. When we, and by we, I mean the gods, decided to change Earth we had a plan. Unfortunately, certain unknown elements have appeared and caused that plan to become unviable,” His eyes pointedly not looking at the goddess leaning against the wall.
“What does that have to do with me?”
“It’s simple really, by coming to a higher dimension like this you have fully awakened to whatever,” Bob waved a hand at him, “Powers you may have as a whatever Demi-God.”
“I don’t feel any different,” Charles countered.
“You will when you return to Earth, all three of you will, actually. Normal mortal bodies cannot exist in the higher dimensions, so each of you has been changed.” Bob slammed his hand down on the table before Charles or Alli could say anything. “Quit distracting me.”
Charles looked at Alli mutely before nodding in resignation.
“Good, now as I was saying I have a feeling I am going to be very distracted soon. The gods of Earth are liable to take the opportunity to wreak further havoc. Now that people are beginning to remember them again and there is mana once more on Earth, their powers are returning. I’m sure you know how they used to behave in the past. I don’t expect many of them to do this, but some likely will and it is going to be up to you to keep them in line.”
“You expect me to take on a god?” Charles scoffed.
Bob waved away his concern. “Their powers are reduced in the lower dimensions, with your status as a High Demi-God you should be able to stand toe to toe with whom ever appears.” Bob looked nervously at Alaria before turning to look Alli in the eyes, his own full of sorrow and regret. “I’m sorry that you have been changed so much from what you once were. I need you to understand that it wasn’t malicious in nature. A simple animal cannot be the companion of a normal Demi-god let alone someone like Charles. As more of his powers awakened, you needed to change in order to stay with him. Even then I could feel how strongly you cared for him, regardless I am sorry for acting without asking you first.”
Alli shook her head. “No, you did the right thing if I had been able to have the choice I still would have chosen to change and stay with him.”
Bob looked relieved and stood clapping his hands once as he did. “Good, I believe that is all we have the time for. Charles do not forget what I have told you. I’ll try to send you a message in the future with more information if I have the time. Alli, I have something special in store for you as thanks for being so understanding,” He told her with a wink.
Kira and Brigit hurried over to them. “Are you finished?” Brigit asked with a smile, she had unexpectedly enjoyed her time with her champion.
“Yes, it is time to send them back.” Bob waved his hand and Kira, and Alli vanished in a burst of light, leaving Charles behind. “Just focus on activating your ‘Second Chance’ ability. This was a onetime thing, so don’t go dying again in the future nephew. One last thing, I have two spells that will come in handy. You won’t be able to use one for a while though.” With that said he stepped forward and tapped Charles on his forehead instantly imparting the information.
Charles looked around the room one last time and activated the ability. His body turned translucent over the course of several seconds, and then he too vanished.
Bob turned to where Alaria had slowly collapsed onto the ground with a grim look on his face. “There was a lot I still wasn’t able to tell him.” He muttered unhappily and hurried over to the Goddess.
Alaria opened her eyelids as she felt him near, dark bottomless pools where her eyes should have been. “A crack has appeared in the tunnel, and without the help of the God who created Earth I can’t close it.”
Brigit was the first to speak. “I’ll gather the other gods, maybe together we can do something. We are the guardians and protectors of Earth. It is time we acted like it.”
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