Ch.80

[Fredas, 2nd Frost Fall, 4E: 221]

Falion held the little Lilmothiit girl in his arms as he marched out of the cave system the last Great Anchor had been hidden within. Blood trailed down his right sleeve and he had a visible limp, but he’d had far worse before. He’d been Soul Shriven before, that was a tale he told nobody, but it was why he could so blatantly ignore so many rules Conjurers follow to avoid death or worse. The Daedra can’t do much to you if you had your soul elsewhere.

“Falion. When the Dark Anchors all imploded, we’d feared for a moment that you and the child were lost.” One of the Night Sentinels said from where he was guarding the entrance of the caves while another called their fleet in the ether above.

“Even if Coldharbour became too isolated to directly connect to Nirn; I could have walked the planes until I found one close enough to return. I just so happen to have arrived before the cosmic distance between realms widened substantially.” Falion calmly dismissed the concern and held out the young girl to the soldier. “Here, I am in need of healing. I may not age like normal people, but I was already middle-aged when that stopped, so my body needs time.”

“Do you not require medical treatment, sir?” The Crusader asked as he took the child.

“While it would be appreciated, I have my own means and I am not too injured that I won’t make my way to it. Besides, my healing bed will both heal me and give me such a good rest. It will be like I’ve slept, eaten, bathed and been to a temple all at once without drawbacks.” Falion replied and realm-stepped to his own demiplane of Oblivion, where he staggered to the absolutely lavish giant bed inside the house and flopped face-first onto it.

Before he fell asleep, he turned his head to the portrait of a young woman hanging on the wall and he sighed. “At least this time I did not fail, Agni…”

📜

“Oh my god~!” Brennie cackled in amusement after hearing the news from Hermais as clean-up and recovery efforts began.

“Yep~! He’s Meridia’s bitch for eternity. The Vampiric curse and all other things tied to Molag Bal have been corrupted by Meridia’s concepts of Purity and Light. The irony is the King of Corruption has had his domain perverted by his most hated enemy.” Hermais giggled happily while all in attendance besides the aliens and the living deities were gobsmacked.

“Yes, ironic, because you wouldn’t expect Purity to be able to even touch Corruption, but Purity in itself is a rather invasive concept.” Neethsi hummed with humor as she looked up from the list of requests for her mastery of Alteration to fix, specifically city infrastructure. Of course with the help of the Night Sentinels, it would be quick work even if she didn’t volunteer, but she is The Nerevarine; the Goddess of Sea and Sky who raised several archipelagos and a continent.

“Did someone say Purity?!” An oddly armored knight yelped. “I’ve explored the Demiplane of the Soul Cairn! Hermais, I have found all of the remaining entities for judgment!”

“Thank you, Alphonse.” Hermais said to the hulking skaven knight before the zealot vanished as disturbingly as he appeared like a Master Assassin or thief. “Welp, this realm is now stable. I’m lifting all the travel bans to here since the Daedra are now less of a threat than ever and actually appreciate what’s been going on, right?”

“Indeed lass! You’ve inspired such madness~!” Sheogorath cheered from a nearby portrait and all the mortals in the room promptly vacated, one or two even jumped out of the windows, preferring to try their luck landing safely than to suffer the whims of the Madgod. “Hmph! How rude! You didn’t defenestrate properly! You went feet-first! Not enough desperation!”

“It is for the best that weak-willed mortals not be here.” Uttered a malicious voice that Neethsi hissed at.

“Dagon. Of all the Princes, I would have thought you’d have taken another chance at invading Mundus with Molag weakening the veil further.” Neethsi snarled as she looked around with a wave of her hand causing the whole room to shimmer, then to focus in on one point.

“Nirn is no longer my right to rule. It has been taken, usurped twice-over. I have no interest in toppling it now that there is new management.” The voice echoed from a nearby axe hanging on the wall. “I am Change personified, even more so than my older kin. I’ve been sick of how stagnant Tamriel and Nirn as a whole have been. Now? It is different. Until it becomes stagnant again, I am pleased. Continue to bring such rampant Change to Nirn, make it grow, become more than it was and I will not bother invading.”

“But you represent Change through Destruction and Rebellion, don’t you?” Brennie questioned curiously and Dagon hummed.

“What do you think you’ve done? You may not have thrust the dagger, but you finally brought an end to the Empire. You have forced the people to Rebel against their old sensibilities by Destroying their preconceptions and enlightening them, causing even more Change to come as a domino effect. I could not have done better myself, take pride in my stating so.” Dagon said with vile amusement and enjoyment.

“Aw, I missed out on the action.” Came a whine from a suit of lion-like golden armor that entered through a portal. “Damn it Brennie, you never invite me to the fun anymore.” The golden figure huffed in annoyance while Brennie sighed.

“Urta, if I invited you, you would’ve started a whole crusade instead of a tactical strike force. You and restraint don’t exactly go together.” Brennie snipped at the newcomer and she groaned, but didn’t protest the assumption.

“Well, as helpful as that would’ve been, thank you for excluding her in that case. This would’ve gone on for much longer.” Neethsi commented as she looked at the lion-armored woman curiously. “You feel like Brennie, but both more potent yet less intense at the same time somehow.”

“That’s because I am Urta, my realm’s Goddess of Fertility, War and Power. Brennie and I both have War in common from our respective realms, but since I have Fertility and she has Ruin, well, that’s the big sticking point for us both. Even though we’re married.” Urta held up her left hand to point out the diamond band over her armor and Brennie rolled her eyes, but held up a matching ring on her own left ring finger.

“Anyway, you got suited up for nothing, Urta. I sent strike teams to find the last two Pinions with the help of a Redguard Conjurer named Falion and they rescued the kids while I kept Molag busy.” Brennie told her wife and Urta sighed in disappointment, but was clearly still glad that it got done.

“Oh well, it’s not like the Displacement Bureau doesn’t have plenty of conflicts for me to intervene in. I just wanted us to fight together like old times.” Urta said and Brennie bit her lip.

“Well, we may not get to fight together, but something about this realm causes me to get horny from conflict and I’m really wet under this armor. C’mon, I need a cuddle buddy. You’re invited too, Bravia.” Brennie leered hungrily at them and Bravia held up his hands.

“No thanks, I’ve got my own wife to get back to. Your rampant horniness is making her needy and I don’t want anyone taking advantage of her. Why not try out miss naturally-this-busty? Unlike most people we met, she was already this hyper-busty before Corruption or magic got involved in it.” Bravia thumbed at Neethsi, who visibly blushed over her white scales.

“Ah, uh, a-as fun as that sounds I should-eep!” Neethsi found herself being picked up by two horny goddesses of war and carried away towards a bedroom.

📜

Back in Akavir, the ritual was complete and every last soul of the Kamal was collected. Runner was basking in the afterglow once it was over, wanting to enjoy the feeling of the power rush. “Oh~, how I missed this.” How could she have forsaken this sort of thing? She may carry the Aspect of Life, but she was Death as well. The two were more intimately intertwined than anyone was willing to admit. “Ouch, that actually hurts. Was I really in such denial?”

“Yes.” The voice that spoke made Runner jump in fright because her Displacer, Lucy, was standing behind her. “You know I’m starting to think that, despite Brianna’s anger management problems, she’s the only one to truly see. I thought you would be the same as her.” She voiced her disappointment.

“It’s not my fault for being so misled by-fuck!” Runner roared out as she kicked a tree, shattering it into millions of splinters. “Fuck! Fuuuuuuck~!”

“Sheesh, took you long enough.” Lucy rolled her eyes at Runner’s dramatic theatrics.

“How?! How the fuck did Brennie managed to balance herself out?! I thought-!”

“Exactly, you thought! You never had any faith in her.” Lucy cut her off as she laid into her. “You ended up becoming the very thing you detested so much in Life: a neighsayer! Because of that you had blinded yourself, slowly but surely, to all other options! Other paths! You’ve become stagnant.”

The truth hurt, it really did, but that also meant it was true. How could she have fallen so far without realizing it? This should never have happened. “Why didn’t she tell me?” Runner whispered as her head lowered.

“Would you have listened to her?” Lucy retorted with her own question, which made Runner wince. “That’s what I thought. You would’ve gotten defensive and the two of you would argue to no end. I wouldn’t be surprised if you started making threats of civil war-.”

“No!” Runner quickly denied, shocked at Lucy’s accusation! She didn’t want that!

“Oh, but that’s one of the possible outcomes, all of which would’ve ended badly not only for your family, but your empires. Which was already underway, but not by any of your hands luckily enough.” The Goddess of Evil said nonchalantly with a shrug.

“Why would you tell me this? Isn’t it going against your nature?” Runner asked in fear.

“No, not really. You could say this interaction falls under ‘karmic justice’ because of how twisted your views were becoming with each passing moment.” Lucy explained as she lazed about in the air.

“So, the very thing I’m supposed to embody was being corrupted by my inability to...accept that Life isn’t so straightforward?” It was a lot harder for Runner to say that.

“Pretty much. Admitting to her flaws is what helped Brianna in the long run. For your sake, I hope you will take this time to reflect on yourself.” With that said, Lucy left Runner alone to her thoughts, as the Goddess of Life sat down and began to meditate.

Little did she know, she was doing Akavir a great service.

📜

“My babies!” I cheered and hugged all four of my kits in joy. The other two were a boy and girl also, identical to their brother and sister respectively. I had two sets of twins~! “Donnatello and Sasha. Welcome home.”

“Mama!” They cheered together while hugging me and each other. My heart was aflutter and all was now right with the world. My family was all in one place and now there must be nothing between me and getting married! I’m gonna have a happy ever after! In a world where those never happen! Yeah! I’m totally gonna die on this Aetherium project! No~!

“Where’s Fama?” Donnatello asked and I smiled sadly.

“Fama Palu is in her home dimension. She may not even remember us because of the monster who abducted us when the world collapsed.” I informed them bluntly, since they were more mature than most adults tended to be in my original world. Well, at least Americans. Americans are like adult children compared to people from places like here.

“Can we try to visit? Or send a letter?” Sasha asked desperately and I sighed in defeat.

“I don’t know, sweetlings. I can try to get help from your aunts and uncles to contact her, but in all likelihood if we try to reach out to her, it’ll only cause things to become that much more complicated.” I tried to reason, because while I would like to see her again or see her again, I’m also worried that she would try to spirit me away from here, from Shade, Neethsi and Rarity.

If not that, then spirit us all away. I don’t want that. Having an open invitation to go to Paradise is awesome, but I don’t want to just up and leave here. Lilmoth has become home to me as much as I initially didn’t want to raise a family in Black Marsh. I know people here now. I’ve participated in local celebrations. I’ve taught so many people. Home is where you make it, but I want it to be here.

“Please, mama?” Daniel pleaded and all four of them used a combined puppy-dog-eye assault! No~! I can’t resist one of you doing that! How dare you use a concentrated multi-shot strike?!

📜

“Uh, you want to do what? Um, well, Mom hasn’t really contacted cousin Palu...like ever. We know of her through Aunt Ava, but we’ve never really talked.” Hermais mewled uneasily. “We heard what she did in her world to other gods and figured it best to just leave her be and blacklist her dimension.”

“Oh no~.” I groaned as I rubbed my snout. “Then could you please talk to one of the Doomies? They have mentioned she’s their sister before.”

“Hm, they might be able to, but keep in mind that while I do steer time and see it, I can’t control it. Think in the 10th dimension chess that Palu is like a queen that burns the board the moment you try to touch her.” Eris commented and Dongoruas nodded grimly.

“I know, but they’re her kids too and it’s only right to try and at least send a message that we’re alright and stuff.” I sighed and the triplets looked at each other before nodding and vanishing.

“Yo.” I squeaked and jumped away from the person who appeared behind me! Damn it Hunter! “You called about contacting Palu?” Yeesh, Eris doesn’t waste time, but then again she’s a Time Lord.

“Yeah.” I mewled a little in fear.

“Let me get Wiatr over here. Her and Urta could keep Palu from doing whatever she likes. I think. Otherwise I may have to get Brennie.” Hunter said, but I stopped him from doing that by frantically waving my arms.

“It’s just a letter!” I quickly told him, not wanting things to escalate out of control.

“Oh, I see. Yeah, that would be for the best. Bringing her here would complicate things.” Hunter said since he clearly understood my reason for sending a letter and I let out a sigh of relief. “Hm, it seems Runner is finally finding balance within herself.”

“Well, that’s good. Now, I wrote it here. Maybe Eris should deliver it after you contact Palu and let her know she’s coming. Oh, try to give it to her at a good Time. Eris would know when.” I insisted and Hunter took the wax-sealed folded parchment letter gingerly, like just touching it would destroy it, before he vanished.

I can only hope that Palu gets back to us in the affirmative. If she has forgotten, my kids will be heartbroken and that would break my heart too. This moment of worry was ended by Eris appearing and handing me a letter made with modern paper and she left without saying anything else, so I hurriedly opened it.

Dear Meen-Rei,

I'll be honest, my memories of you are Fuzzy at best and are difficult to recall.

However, overall I welcome you to come visit. I don't tend to limit outsiders. As for coming to uproot you, well that would only be necessary if you weren't safe.

As for Samantha, Sasha, Daniel and Donatello; I won't abandon them. They are my kids and it is my responsibility to look after them and love them. In short I do care.

Yours sincerely
Palutena

P.S: Please ask Ava how Lumi and I’s kids are?

The surge of new hope filled me and I almost immediately went to write another letter when I was interrupted by four cheers of joy echoing through the house. Hm, maybe Palu wrote letters for each of us and the kids are celebrating.

Anyway, a letter won’t do any good. I’d be better off just sharing the post script with Eris or one of her siblings to give to their mother, who will get in touch with this Ava who feels oddly familiar to me. Yeesh. I feel like some sort of aristocrat who knows people who know people.

Well, I’ll do that later. After all, Eris likely already knows. Time Lords are like that.

“Hey Rei.” Penny said when she entered the room, now wearing a casual tunic and no longer quivering from a ludicrous fever thanks to Mellow’s potions. “So, this is a communal bedroom right? You didn’t exactly lay down the law and the other rooms seem to be taken.” Uh, right, Rarity’s home has become really crowded.

“Huh, I didn’t consider that. Rarity gave her room to the kids and moved into this one. It’s a bit difficult. It’s kinda a shared room for us because we’re engaged to be married, but that’s all moved into the Haven Box, which is Brennie’s. We have our own Haven Bags though, so I’ll ask her if she wants it back when I see her.” I patted the lid of the box and Penny looked at the bed of this room.

“So I can sleep on this bed without feeling guilty about it?” Penny sat on said bed and I shrugged. “Dibs! My bed now! I don’t have anyplace to go and I’m in no hurry! I wanna rest up and chill like the old days.”

“Um...so you remember the old days? From before everything?” I asked with hope, trepidation and curiosity.

“Yep!” Penny replied casually and I wrung my fingers together.

“So...I was a guy named Michael?” I asked and Penny groaned while she patted the bed.

“Oof, alright, sit down. This is gonna take a while.”

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