by Andur
“Fufufufu. It's true. Today is a really good day. A nice present and I found out that you can teleport me anywhere I want to go. That increases the amount of possible dating places by leaps and bounds!”
“...”
43 - Graduation party!
I have graduated! No more school! Well unless I decide to go for university too. Of course the tests weren't a problem. After all I have a few lifetimes of experience.
Right now we are celebrating in the same valley, I found a few months ago. I took some of my employees and ordered them to build me a nice little house of wood with a good view on the lake.
Then we created an electrical fence to keep out the wildlife. Right now this my own little hiding place. Though we invited some guests today.
We have everyone from the special class here. Teacher Tongord, Jeniva and Samarin joined us too. Rose and a few other maids are taking care of the food. From my parents side just Ireth and Katrine came. Nicosar and Arthur stayed in the palace to keep an eye on everything.
Everyone is having fun, while I am lying in the grass. I need to rest a little. Teleporting so many people in short order is a little straining.
The queens are talking with the teachers and Rose. The girls are playing volleyball, while Iris and Stephen seem to be in their own world on a bench. They surely hit it off right from the start? I never would have thought it would turn out like that.
Margerie is playing with her drone in a few meters distance.
“You found a nice place here.” Sven tells me from behind.
“Yeah. It's reminding me of a really nice time. I had to search for quite a while to find it.” I answer him.
“It's interesting that everything can seem so nice and normal while we are at war.” -Sven
“I don't think you really could call it a war. They are hiding behind their shield while we are constantly bombarding them with everything we have. The situation doesn't change in any way.” -Me
“Though we are still in a state of war.” Sven reminds me.
“It's not possible to mobilize the army otherwise. The laws are ironclad in that regard.” -Me
“Hmmm. It's still hard on the nerves to have it always on your mind. But I guess you can distract yourself soon with a pretty queen. The marriage will be next week? The whole world is already talking about it! Will you pop the cherry on the first night?” He grins at me.
Now you have done it! If you really want to play that game, you made a poor choice. I may be a little dense in terms of relationships, but I have still much more experience than you! I throw my hands up in the air. “What happened to the cute little shy boy I first met at my introduction party. I don't recognize him any more.....”
“Th.. That was years ago! I worked on my character since then.” He nods to himself.
I sit up. “But you still haven't told Tanja about your feelings. So you aren't that different after all.”
“Wh.. What are you talking about? Tanja is my cherished childhood friend.” -Sven
“Are you sure? I noticed that you always look at her when you think that she doesn't realize it.” I smirk at him.
“I don't do that!” He got red all over.
“Don't worry about it, it's nothing bad to like older girls. But you should be sure to tell her your feelings. Women feel it when you look at them. If you don't tell her your feelings, she will just think you became a creepy, lecherous guy.” -Me
His jaw drops. “If you want I can help you. I will set up a situation with you and her alone.” I offer to him. Just wait, I can be a horrible guy. Mwahaha. You will have the time of your life. Never accept my help without second thoughts.
“Huh? You would do that?” He asks hopeful.
I smile at him and he puts on a wary expression. Seems like I put on that face again? “Don't worry! I will take care of it, but the rest is up to you.” I jump up and put my hands on his shoulders.
“Whh.. when will we start. I have to prepare myself!” He asks.
I take a look at Tanja, who sits on a bench and is waiting for the next game of volleyball to start.
“Hmmm... How? …. About?.... NOW?” I teleport us both up to the hills above my woodhouse. His eyes become round and he looks left and right to get the situation.
I teleport again, before he can collect himself and appear right beside Tanja, who didn't move. She jumps a little at my sudden appearance.
“I need you for a second, care to join me?” I put a hand on her shoulder and teleport again. We appear right beside Sven who is still trying to get the situation.
“Have a nice time you two. The house is about half an hour away. Walk in this direction.” I point downward and smile at them. “If you walk at a normal pace you should be back soon. Bye!” Before anyone can say something I teleport again and reappear on Tanja's bench with a satisfied expression.
“Why did you just abduct Tanja?” Sandra asks me, while I get stared at by the volleyball players.
“I was asked by a lesser being to help him in an epic quest of love! So I decided to help. They should be back in half an hour, I just teleported them up the hill to be alone.” -Me
Everyone looks around and realizes that Sven is missing too.
“No way! He wouldn't?” Sandra smirks at me and Celes smacks her head. “That's why he always looked at her like a perverted old man!”
“I never would have thought that he would go for older ones, how bold! If I knew I would have eaten him up. I like the cute and silent type. Hopefully he gets turned down. Then I can console him and reap the fruit. Mmmmhhhh.” Everyone looks at Sandra, who just blurted out a pretty dangerous line.
“If you like younger ones, then how about me. I would be happy to end your loneliness.” Gabriel knees before Sandra and smiles at her. She looks down on him like she is considering it but... “NO. Sorry, but you are neither cute nor shy. So no fun there. I don't like red ones either, so you will have to search somewhere else!” Gabriel lets himself fall on the face and moves no more.
“But if you like, I guess I could introduce you to one of my seven little sisters. You are a decent fellow after all.” -Sandra
Gabriel jumps to his feet. “I am at your service! Of course I would cherish everyone of them.”
“I don't think you could handle all of them, you would be dead in no time.” -Sandra
“I will try my best!”
Who would have thought that Sandra has seven little sisters? She never talked about it. What about brothers! Her parents must be pumping them out like on an assembly line! They don't just look like rabbit-men, they are rabbits!
“Anyway, you have to play now Angrod! You abducted our fourth player after all.” Celes informs me.
“I will play with my queen then!” Before anyone can vocalize anything, I sprint onto her side of the field.
“Hoh, where does that enthusiasm come from?” She asks me.
I smile and point at the other side, where her opponents fought for their lifes during the last match. The whole field is packed with dents, which have the outline shape of volleyballs.
Playing against Celes isn't a game of hitting the ball back to her side of the playing field. It's a game to evade the ball in order to live another day.
“Hmmmmm. You are no fun!” After Celes's observation, we start to play. I have the honour to watch while Sandra and Gabriel fight for their lifes. Celes is too strong. Every ball she hits just disappears, followed by a rising dust cloud inside the enemy's field.
An hour later Rose calls us for dinner and we stop the survival training game.
“Didn't you say you teleported them just a short distance? They should already be back.” Gabriel asks me.
“I don't know. They could see the house, it's impossible to get lost like that. They are about ten minutes from here, I can feel their presence.” -Me
“Muuuuh... She must have eaten him on the spot. Maybe they are hiding under some bush and are very busy at the moment.” Sandra puffs her cheeks.
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Celes gets red and Gabriel looks like he is thinking very hard about something.
“Hmmm. We could go and check? ” I ask and smirk at them.
“No!” -Celes
“I am in.” -Gabriel
Sandra grabs my hand. “Teleport now!”
I put my hand on Gabriels shoulder while Celes jumps onto my back to stop me. “You can't just disturb....”
But I teleport all four of us and we reappear at the foot of the hill. In front of us is Tanja, which is being carried piggyback by Sven. Ohoho.
“Mmmhhh! See, I told ya! They even were so rough, the girl has to be carried now!” Sandra pouts with a displeased voice.
Tanja turns red. “N.. Nothing of the sort! I tripped and sprained my ankle! And I turned him down by the way. There is nothing between us!” Sven looks a little down.
“Really?” Sandra asks.
“At least you tried. It's better than eating it inside yourself for the rest of your life. I am proud of you.” I try to console him.
“I feel with you! It's hard to be sent packing one time after the other! But be strong my friend! After a few times it starts to hurt less!” Gabriel pounds Sven's shoulder with tears in his eyes.
How often did he already confess to get like that!?
“Haah, who cares. But it's nice that you guys are here. I may be fast, but I am already at my limits.” Sven's knees are shaking a little, while he is carrying Tanja.
“You two should have learned at least some basic healing spell! I won't complain about broken bones, but to be held back by a sprained ankle? That's like a bruise.” I heal Tanja with a wave of my hand.
Sven lets her down and she jumps a little. “Nice! Good as new! Oh by the way. We found something cool up the hill. You have to come and see!”
“We have to be back for dinner.” Celes reminds us.
“It won't take long! It's really interesting.” Tanja doesn't yield and leads us about five minutes back into the direction they came from.
At a scarp, flat rock face she stops and points at a particular area. It's volcanic rock and you can see footprints, like someone was walking down the vertical surface.
“Cool, Isn't it?” She asks us. “The Cygnus siblings would surely like to see that.”
“We left Margerie with her drone back at the house. She is in her own world as long as she can screw around with that thing.” Gabriel answers.
“You think it's some kind of fossil from the first humans?” -Sven
“Which idiot would walk through lava?” -Celes
“A God?” I ask and chuckle. The footprints surely look feminine in size and form.
Tanja's, Gabriel's, Sven's and Sandra's jaws drop and they look in awe at the godly footsteps. I take on a grim expression.
“Don't tell anyone! That was a stupid joke! If the idiots from the church knew about this, they would be here in no time and start to build some kind of shrine.”
44 - Interlude - A stolen world?
El Shaddai is sitting in front of me and looks very displeased at some documents. “Seria, Do you have any idea why I invited you into my office?”
It's not really an office. Just a white room inside a dimensional pocket. There is a desk and two chairs. That's all. It's located at an important cross-way of paths inside the river of souls.
“No?” I smile at him while playing with my long golden hair.
“So you don't know what happened to a certain world?” He lifts an eyebrow and looks at me accusingly.
“What have I done now? First Tjenemit with all those strange accusations and now you. I neither have an idea what you are talking about, nor a clue to guess anything.” I shrug my shoulders and pout.
El Shaddai sighs. “I am talking about the world of those two gods, who killed each other. The two, we gave to you, to supervise their punishment. By your wish. It was a big favour by the Council. But I am beginning to believe that you have a little too much freedom.”
I frown and arch my eyebrows. “What about that world? I haven't been there in years. Wasn't it destroyed?”
El Shaddai scratches his long earlobe and strokes his bald head. He looks like he is thinking hard about something. His golden skin reflects the light in painful way. If I wasn't a god, I would probably go blind just by looking at him.
I often try to imagine what would happen if he just sat down and stopped moving. Most people would think of him as some Buddha statue.
He leans back into his seat. “It wasn't really destroyed. Just a little damaged. But when a god of nature was tasked by the administration department to repair it...... Guess what he reported.”
“What?” -Me
“Gone!” -El Shaddai
“Gone?” -Me
*Wham!*
“The world is gone!” El Shaddai hits the desk with his fist and I flinch out of surprise.
“I hope you don't want to imply that I am stealing worlds now. First I am accused of stealing gods and now I steal whole worlds?” I ask him like I am insulted.
“Not just the world! The whole solar system just disappeared!” He screams at me. I guess he had a bad day. He is always a little itchy, but it's particularly bad today.
“Oh, that's fine then.” I let out a sigh of relief.
“F.... F... FINE!?” He looks seriously angry now. He doesn't like it when something happens inside -his- multiverse, that he doesn't know about.
“Oh you see. If the whole solar system is gone, it proves that I am not guilty for sure. I may be one of the mightier gods, but even I couldn't just grab a solar system, put it into my pocket and walk off with it.” I nod and smile, while looking relieved. Even if El Shaddai is a tyrant with dangerous mood swings, He is always logical.
“You -may- not have enough power for a stunt like this. But you are the only one who has access to a place where a whole solar system could be hidden. I ordered a little search for the system in question and there was no result for two months now!” -El Shaddai
“Oh, please.... there are a thousand other possibilities!” -Me
“Like?” -El Shaddai
“It could be destroyed. Ascathon was a god of magic and change with serious powers. The whole world was littered with his divine artefacts. I am sure he had some kind of doomsday device, which activated by default.” I smile at El Shaddai, who just gives me another suspicious look.
After a few seconds he waves to signal that I am dismissed. I bow and leave his office by directly using a path through the river of souls.
Everything is starting to move. I wonder if my house of cards will crumble above me or above the Council? I know of many rebellions which failed in the end.
The problem lies with power. The Council governs hundred thousands of gods. Those in turn have control over several smaller gods and deities. If some of them show too much resistance, they are hunted and dealt with by armies of loyal servants to the Council.
This system worked for an eternity till now. It became bigger and bigger over time. But this works in my favour. Bigger also means harder to control. That they found out about the missing world so late is proof that they aren't really in control any more.
The gears of their machine are becoming old and worn. So it takes them much longer to find out about the really important issues.