GODHey, it''s actually me, Ambrosia. And yet, it''s not me. If you somehow missed reading the first part of Oracle of Tao, you might not know about my quest to fight the demon Belial, how I collected Crests in the form of tattoos from the Oracles Apollo, Alexander, Chronos, Thanatos, the Four Gods, Lilith, Michael, and the Aiken Master. How I sat atop the Mountain of Fate with my beloved Nevras, as I mastered the power of the Tao. How I kinda sorta got pregnant on that same mountain.

    And yet, it''s not me. I was conceived by a union with God and my mother, Manna Leaven, who later became Manna Brahman as a result of marrying my dad. I dunno how to explain this, but after I defeated Belial, I was in a white room looking at myself, and everything got weird. This... other me explained that everything that existed was basically a dream, and she had to wake up now. But, well since I had a child and such, and wasn''t thrilled at the prospect of sitting alone in the universe and reading books or playing video games, most of which only were there as a result of my imagination sustaining the original authors, I suggested a better idea. And so, before I could become pregnant with Nevras''s child (who right now didn''t exist), I had to basically make everything real. I wound up becoming pregnant with something entirely different from a baby, the Universe Egg. And I know my explanation sucks, but you''ve probably already got a headache from that much, so that''s about as much recap as I''ll give.

    So, you know how it''s called conception when you start to have someone or something growing inside you? Well, it comes from the idea that we “conceive” or imagine a specific vision of what we want our children to be like. As you probably know if you''ve raised children, this doesn''t really pan out most times, but in this case, I did actually get to see how things would turn out. I began inside the Egg, Naming the things that I wanted to exist. The Earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the oceans. Phoenix. Opening. Galaxia. Ghobli. Zuran. Shoten. Aiken Monastery. Goji. Seikai. Gruumi. Yomi. Aquamundo. Atlantis. Kushiyama. Kirin. Heaven. Hell. Qurac. Christmas Village. Futanari. Momiji. Hotaru.

    And then I started Naming people. Nevras. Zoe. Yazim Jianne. Azrael. Lilith. Elias. Aqorm. Michael. Selqui. Sera and Phim. Other humans, elves, dwarves, angels, demons, and so on. I didn''t Name Jesus, since Jesus didn''t seem to need it, and I didn''t bother to mention the realm of Void, since I intended to remake it as the First Universe anyway.

    But I wasn''t done yet. You probably heard of the story of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and of the man named Adam and woman named Eve. But chances are, you don''t fully grasp what this fruit was. It is the ability to imagine things, both good and evil. And when I say that, I generally mean both. The problems of the original Earth were because human beings thought this was an or. That this person was good or that was a bad sausage so they couldn''t really get the concept of what they created being a mixed bag. Well, except for ticks. I can think of nothing good to say about ticks. So if I was to make the world that was real, I would need input. And so, I gathered to me the friends that I had journeyed with inside this Egg, and asked them, “What will you add to this world?” I knew, of course, that later I would have to erase their memories of the event. But still, it was valuable feedback.

    Nevras had a simple request, “To make the Egg able to restore this Earth (or itself) if destroyed.” This was a good wish. I could see someone like Belial try to ruin the vision of this world, and having a reboot option was really a must. I knew why I liked this guy.

    Elias said, “The ability to study forever.” I completely understood. Time still passed when someone like Elias read, and before he knew it, his goal to read as much as possible would leave him old and gray. I shrugged, and decided to grant this request as well. Whenever one was reading from now on, no time passed.

    Yazim Jianne spoke next, “The knowledge of ley lines to produce persistent magic and alchemy.” I wouldn''t have understood this wish while I still had been human, but now I did. Normally, sorcerers were the only people who understood how to make decent enchantments, while everyone else drew from their own mystic power. This meant gradually running out of mystic power as each flaming sword or magical lantern trapped portions of their ability, unless they undid some of their enchantments. While a sorcerer like him was able to tap into the renewable power of the land itself, the average wonder-worker did not have this knowledge. It was a risky proposition to have people able to conjure something that would last and last, but I decided it would be okay. Probably. I was a little worried that this might cause some sort of entropy collapse but then I wisely decided to shrug that probability off.

    Zoe volunteered, “The Tree of Life.” Hmmm, this was a bit problematic. God had originally forbade the Tree of Life once people had begun eating from the other Tree, because the skewed perception of the other one meant potentially a life of eternal suffering. After a great deal of thinking about this one, I finally arrived at the notion that this could be granted, only by placing these in a series of locations that would test if the person involved was ready for immortality. If they weren''t, the areas they were in would prove to be impossible to make it through, and they would be forced to turn back or die.

    Lilith''s request was far more reasonable, “I want demons to have beating hearts and real souls.” I could understand her concern. She had lived in a town where the bulk of demons were devoid of kindness and compassion. I wasn''t sure how much it would help, because even with a soul, demons had a disturbing fascination with sadism. But I reworked this world so she would at least be able to talk to others of her kind.

    Michael asked, “I wish to improve Earth so it is more like Heaven, and Heaven so it is even better.” I honestly could see that getting boring, actually, but I decided to grant this request. I did however use my own judgement. I basically wound up merging part of Zoe''s wish with Michael''s, since raising the vibrations of Earth would create issues with balance, I created a series of very lousy areas for people who needed some challenge or adventure to visit. I likewise decided to make Heaven have a number of really nice beaches and forests and other locales, while also creating places to be where it wasn''t all awesome all the time. In days to come, this meant that someone also succeeded in making Hell a tourist destination, since some people now wanted to tour to a place that they could get some real pain and suffering.

    Aqorm wished, “Could you also make Eladrin?” I had no idea how she knew about those, but I guess she must have read legends. Eladrin were a tier of elves above even the high elves, but I wasn''t certain the high elves would not resent them. As long as I made them small in population, right now I didn''t see why it would hurt. Of course, they were pretty powerful, but I''m sure having a group of elves running around with an insane level of magic would be fine.

    Azrael told me, “I want things more like Japanese myth, with spirits to govern the forests and rivers.” And so, I made the numerous dragon spirits for the sea, sky, and the land. I made the Sakuya (plant spirits who worked with dryads to help the forests) and the Kochou (butterfly spirits who guarded the forests against destruction).

    And Selqui said, “Let there be Sea Kings and Star Lords.” She was referring, of course to gigantic sea creatures and equally frightening creatures of outer space. The good news was that this meant I could create a world where travel outside of Earth was more a real thing, where the Earth wasn''t so flat. On the other hand, why would you do this?!? Giant terrifying beasts that could crush things whole weren''t on the list of things I thought would improve the world. But I shrugged, since I had obliged everyone else. I granted her request.

    AMBROSIA

    Our group of three obviously had to get bigger, before anything else. And so, the first thing we did was to scout for former members of our group. Shoten turned out to be unsuccessful, as both Elias and Aqorm had long since left the town. On the bright side, while Shoten still had a large drag culture, with the loss of Aqorm, the guards were gone from Delphi''s temple. The downside was that aside from a couple of streetwalkers walking the streets, the town seemed a bit hollowed out. There weren''t as many people here, and the excitement and energy of the town seemed gone. I guess it''s true about not being able to go back to places.

    Inside the temple, the windows and decorations were pretty much unchanged, but most of the priestesses had left. What had happened in this town?

    I was soon to find out. Delphi explained when I asked, “In the last nine years, new towns have gone up, one after the other. There wasn''t enough space for them in some cases, so they were built close to the nearby forests and meadows. That''s when the trouble started...” I asked, “What do you mean?” She said, “You remember Zobuu?”

    Ah yes. When the Council reformed, some of the rules got changed. One of them was a relaxing of the rules about building towns and such, which was now fine so long as they didn''t all incorporate. So some of the hengeyokai, and other critters just started building houses in certain areas, and those houses kinda gathered together in something shaped like a town. Although, in some cases it wasn''t like a town, such as when Nezumi or various types of fey tried to build. Nezumi “towns” were often a gathering of junk piles, and the grungier and more bug-infested the better. Those pack rats. Zobuu, on the other hand, was a planned community to try to kind of force several different races together in one town. Unfortunately, as any sane person could tell you, that wouldn''t work. The elves hated the dwarves, the humans tended to step on or trip over species of halflings or gnomes, and so on. I nodded, “Too many people forced to live together...” Delphi shook her head, “Do you remember where it was built?”

    I remembered, “They kind of had to build it right next to the Great Tree, didn''t they?” She nodded, “Yes, that was what started the trouble. You see, it, and towns like it that were built too close to the forests enraged the Kochou.”

    I cringed. The Kochou were fierce bug warriors. I didn''t know too much about them, except what I knew from being God (and I tried to forget some of that stuff anyway), but the males I guess they were had thick skin almost like armor, and the other ones were extremely beautiful with powerful magic and the ability to fly. The females specialized in the Wind spell, but their level of power was so insane that one flapping their wings in one area could cause a disaster across the world. Delphi explained that the Kochou had basically burned the town and some areas were now in a state of sectioned anarchy. She told us that many people were afraid they would come to Shoten next, so they left for parts unknown. At least Opening didn''t have to worry about that. When armies marched on many countries during the last major war, they quickly figured out that Opening had a natural barrier (by that I mean not rocks or streams, but like vines springing up from the ground and tossing them around). Azrael researched this shortly after we defeated Belial, and we discovered that the spirit of a soldier was actually guarding this area against harm. The Kochou didn''t even bother.

    “Anyway,” she said, “The problems of our little town don''t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Go to Tsukuyomi Mountain and talk to Lao Tzu.” A woman nearby said, “That''s what Delphi said to me, too! I asked her what gender my child would be, and she said, ''Go to Tsukuyomi Mountain and talk to Lao Tzu.'' What a worthless fortune teller!” Come to think of it, we kinda already knew where to go. But, well, we were only following orders. That never turned out badly.

    Once out of town, Tamashii dragged my arm, “We''re not going to the Mountain! Not now, anyway. We''re going to stop those Kochou right now, and that''s that!” It suddenly dawned on me that Tamashii was a much different hero than I was. While I preferred to just obey instructions and do the bare minimum, Tamashii was one of those types that wanted to raid a dungeon because of adventure, and believed in all of those stories about heroism and virtue. She wasn''t old enough yet to understand that many problems had multiple perspectives, and what seemed right on the outset rarely ever was. She just didn’t understand moral relativism like I did.

    I tried to struggle, but her telekinetic powers were pretty strong. When I ran, the force of her pressing downward was like a powerful force of gravity. And then she pulled the two of us until finally we surrendered. “Alright, alright!” I said, “But first, let''s go and pick up some allies! They''re too strong for just the three of us!”

    TAMASHII

    Before anything else, we needed a good healer. I mean, I had almost died because Mom was reckless and feckless and ruthless, and probably another few -less adjectives, allowing me to train without a proper medic handy. I mean, she did try her best to protect me, since she did have a large tent handy for procuring all manner or potions and elixirs from. And yet, if I were really struggling, by the time she got back from the store I would be dead! And it was a pain to revive me, after all.

    We also needed a source of exposition. Since someone in this story needed to tell us the historical background of every ruin we visited, we couldn''t get too far without him. Since he wasn''t in Shoten, I assumed some other library would be a fair guess, based on what Mom told me about him. I''d only met the guy a few times, since Aqorm tended to hang out with her “husband” more often. As godfather, Elias basically only showed up when all of us got together. He was working on some project.

    After trying first in the library of Kushiyama, and second in Futanari, we located him in the depths of the Great Library. When the Realm of Void collapsed, any matter than wasn''t First Material (including people) got shunted into this newer Earth, so Futanari and its interesting people were here to stay. Regardless, Elias was greatly absorbed in trying to apply something he just read, so matters of new towns was not his concern.

    “I''m studying Inner Alchemy,” he mumbled, with one hand on the book, and the other moving his arms and legs like the diagram explained. He apparently was trying to repair his meridian and reconfigure his circulation of dantian, in hopes of being able to use magic other than various clerical prayers and variations of Light or Dark. Before he could figure it out though, our presence distracted him and he had to quit for the day. One day, he could possibly manage it. But today, Mom''s persistent questions caused him to lose focus, as surely as a cat constantly crying to go out while someone is writing will totally break one''s focus. Poor Miss Kitty. I got to meet her later, thanks to time travel.

    He eventually looked up at us, “What are you two doing here? Could it be that you''re on another quest?” I said, “Got it in one try.” He had only noticed those two, because they were at eye level from where he stood, but now he looked down to notice a little pipsqueak like me. He nodded, “I see the resemblance to Ambrosia. And Nevras too. You must be their daughter.” I explained, “I''m Tamashii. I''m a Soulfire. Mom said you''d know what that is.” He looked at me with surprise now, “A Soulfire? You''re an empath? Ambrosia, how did she get like this?” I knew the reason for his surprise, people like me were rare enough that people thought we were possessed or something, seeing our incredible powers. I explained, “Mom always says it''s a side-effect of the Oracle powers she got.” Nevras added, “She was always a sweet and sensitive child, but one day, I got cut when I was chopping wood. She kissed the wound, and it healed right away. We kinda suspected it before that, as from birth she seemed to have some weird power. It took a few tests to confirm it though.”

    Elias went to another section, and began pulling out research books on the causes and side-effects of being a Soulfire. “I''ve read all about these people, but it''s more impressive seeing her!” he said. I was beginning to get annoyed at his attention, “ I''m not a... what was the word, Mom?” She reminded me, “Specimen.” “Yeah that!” I said, “You gotta treat me more like a person.” Elias apologized, but I eventually did decide that if he would go with us, he could occasionally study my abilities. He jumped at the chance.

    After picking up Elias, we returned to Mom''s old home. Opening had not changed much except for the addition of more streetlights, and something called a drone. They were metal bees animated by runes with a single large eye able to relay back images to elsewhere, and stingers capable of delivering a deadly poison. Opening was still the insane despotism it had always been, but now they could watch everyone''s every move. And any other town, this would be terrible. But Opening only seemed to care about people who broke the laws. What with some systems blackmailing people for their secrets or hunting down people who were different from a norm, to have surveillance only involved in police work was a relief, given how easily such things could be abused. Still, getting harpooned by a deadly stinger, and all.

    We did our best to keep a low profile, as we didn''t want to be written into the books as criminals and hunted down by the drones, so we made our way through town without talking to anyone or doing anything that might loosely be construed as suspicious. Mom had told me how the town used to have more guards proper, and charged a fare to leave, cutting people apart who tried to leave without paying. That''s right, leaving was almost a capital crime. They didn''t do that anymore, thankfully. Now the guard, at Mom''s advice, earned their money some other way. But she would never tell me what that way was...

    Mom suggested first to check the graveyard, but after finding it had been abandoned, we tried other things. The flower in Sarai Jianne''s grave had not been replaced recently, but then I couldn’t find her grave anymore. Her former husband had finally moved on since her death, I guess. Next, we went to Yazim Jianne''s mansion.

    The last time the group had visited, it had been a death trap from start to finish, despite Mom coming to forgive him and ask him to join the group. But surely now that he knew us, his mansion would be relatively safe.

    No such luck. Now there were a whole new set of challenges that awaited us. After suffering the slings and arrows of... well, a well-timed trap, we headed back outside rather than continue to stay in there and look like pincushions. It was time to go shopping. Mom provided me an allowance, and I quickly bought a fine vest of mithril. If it was good enough for hobbitses in that book to stop arrows, it was certainly good enough for me. With the remaining money, we bought pots and pans, and a spring-loaded grappling hook gun thingy. It was jet black and had a curious-looking bat design on the side. The shopkeeper asked us, “So where are you going, that you need all of this stuff?” We told her, and after a minute or so, she came back with a bunch of other tools, including sticks of dynamite and wire cutters. Just who was this old friend of Mom''s, that villagers suddenly panicked at the thought of entering his house? Sёar?h the N?vel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    YAZIM JIANNE

    After about nine years, I had begun to realize the foolishness of evil. When I was a mad scientist helping people, I had no major problems with other people, and few in general. And yet, scheming with the demon Belial brought me hardship, all because I failed to realize the simple elegance of doing things the honest way. I could have simply taken Sarai''s body to a priest and brought her back, or simply rewound time slightly to make sure that she didn''t repeat this tragedy. Instead, I had decided to help a demon when there was in fact no proper need to do so. His promises, sweet words at the time, proved foolish now.

    But I wasn''t the only fool here. Belial had thought to strike back at all that lived by forcibly colliding both worlds instead of letting them naturally become one again as God had done. He had almost ruined not only my plans, but destroyed himself and everything around him. And for what? Because a few people teased or rejected him? At least, that was the official story from reading The Demonic Histories: Volume XIII. From life with Selqui, I had begun to realize that evil was a sure way to hurt oneself far more than it was to gain anything of value. I had noticed that everything from sex (Sarai and Surrogate Lover # 2 had both preferred extremely rough sex), to the way my home was set up (the more “secure” I kept my house, the more dangerous it was to me), to the way I ate (I ate quite a bit of unhealthy sludge while plotting with Belial) was naturally causing me pain. So foolish, so destructive was evil, that it took a good woman (and by that I mean she was decent to me, not that she was good) to help me break some of these habits.

    Selqui was as messed up as I was, but she was a pragmatist. She would do anything no matter how depraved, as was the case for myself; however, her desires were tempered by the act of thinking things through. And so, one night she asked me, “...Why couldn’t you have just gone back in time to save Sarai?” I realized I couldn’t answer. That night, we set about to make things right. Selqui and I didn’t want to screw up our timeline, since my goal was a large portion of why I joined Ambrosia, so we went to a parallel dimension. However, while I was gone another dimension’s Yazim Jianne stole Sarai away from me. Roughly 50% of all parallel dimensions had unscrupulous Yazim Jiannes that went alone and married Sarai, taking her far away from this dimension. The other half were like mine, where she saw me and left in a huff before completing the experiment that would kill her. Time travel was safe because I entered at a moment where the native Yazim Jianne had taken a bathroom break.

    While Selqui did indeed break me of some of my more destructive impulses, the need to feel secure at all costs was a tougher habit than most to break. After the hospitality disaster of Ambrosia''s last visit, I made certain to have an easy way to enter my home. I installed a metallic knocker, that when knocked three times, would open the house without incident. Of course, anyone rude enough to just turn the doorknob would draw the attention of myself (through my viewing globe) and the house''s security system. Of course, there was still a chance that a thief or killer would knock before entering, so I made two other security systems. First, by the stairs an Eye of Truth was carved into the wood, determining the true goals of the person entering. Should it determine that they were a thief or scoundrel, they would be hit by a powerful illusion that would render them unable to notice anyone of value (by the way, there is no objective measure for morally determining whether someone is a scoundrel with magic, so not only did this not work, but I usually qualified under this standard, meaning that I usually stumbled around blind in my own house; I was planning on getting that removed). The illusion was so subtle that most people would be unable to notice it, because unlike most, it added nothing unreal but rather erased from view what was real. I also had a kamaitachi, a sort of critter made of wind with a dog-like howl. Like dogs everywhere, they were loyal and protective of their household against any who would enter with malicious intent, but this guy had dog DNA mixed with the cells of an air elemental. I figured I needed something which could ignore my many traps, since my chimeras from before tended to end up as meaty chunks as the traps periodically finished off months of work. Air was the best element, as neither the physical world, nor fire, nor ice could really put a dent in it, yet it was able to cut through trees and shrubs with its powerful strikes; also, its body was incredibly soft and fluffy to pet. But usually, someone who knocked were a pleasant characters who didn''t run afoul of these guys, so I trained it to respond well to that.

    Of course, Ambrosia had been raised in a barn and didn''t bother to knock. She entered once with her family and almost got impaled by my arrows, then came back with more supplies. They rushed in, this time with pots and pans to block my arrows as they came from all directions. My kamaitachi sniffed at them from all directions, then whined. It knew these people were no threat to me. Someone should tell my security system that. I had no way of shutting it off, and couldn''t go up to the lobby area once it activated, so I was with Selqui in the laboratory, working out how to automatically make cheese. I had a device which used dominoes, marbles, and all sorts of pulleys and ramps to mix the milk solids into curd. This was going to be the wave of the future, if I could keep the marbles from falling into the vat. “Hey Selqui,” I paused my experiment, “could you maybe go out there and tell the others where we are?” She edged across the room filled with piles of notes, beakers, and other obstacles. It would take her awhile, but she, much like the Wind Dogs, had an ability to stand up to those traps.

    In the mean time, the rest of them were having trouble. The layout of my house was similar to before, but with the addition of traps, some of these sections were like completely different rooms. The last time, someone had stolen food from the kitchen, so now it was trapped for the wall to close up and fill with acid. Of course, this made it tricky in the event that I sleepwalked to that kitchen to grab a midnight snack. To say nothing of the fact that the upstairs bedroom itself had traps of its own. Every night, in order to go to bed, I had to carefully move around the edges of my room, as I had set a series of pressure plates. One wrong step would cause the ceiling and the floor to meet unexpectedly. I loved how cozy and secure my bedroom was.

    Some of these traps could have been planned better, too. I had a swinging axe trap in the bathroom that got triggered if you sat on the toilet. I had to use a bucket and then toss it in, or risk losing my manhood. Another trap dropped a giant rolling boulder, but was in the dining room with the dining table, routinely running over porcelain, silver, and crystal with a huge rock. If not for my temporal magic, I would lose a small fortune every time someone sat down in the wrong chair. It was worth it to watch this happen though.

    In any case, it seemed like in the course of exploring, they triggered nearly every trap. Lilith even managed to trigger the kitchen one, as once again she helped herself to my food. What? I keep a nicely-stocked fridge. In any case, it didn''t do much good. Sure, the room closed off, and filled with acid, but this was sulfuric acid. It turns it from being around fire and brimstone all the time, demons had a biological resistance to sulfur. Not being able to breathe in a closed room might have been an issue, but it was actually fairly easy to bring down the wall, for the outside of the wall had a lever which read, ?In case of accidental imprisonment inside this wall, pull lever.? She made it out okay. But by the time that Selqui showed them to my laboratory, they were pretty bruised up.

    AMBROSIA

    A regular house has a number of spirits tied to it. Well, there are spirits in all things like rocks, trees, bodies of water, and so on. God ordained that this world be sustained by a complex system, and so everything became supervised by most invisible beings. I didn''t even know of it until I got a house of my own.

    I remember when we first got it. I had inherited it from King Charis as a bounty prize, but I didn''t actually claim it until after Tamashii began to get grief in Opening. I spent the whole day clearing land by turning my Conception fishing rod into various farming and mining tools. Then I spent most of the next few days making rows for the garden, organizing the house, and setting up our scarecrow, Mister Zuran, along with our beds and our stove, and our toilet. By the end of the week, as things started to settle, they moved in. Akanameand Kawaya were first, as my bathroom apparently needed help. Kawayaname was a blind man clutching a spear, and his role was to protect the toilet from things like frogs and snakes, but in return he demanded that I build a shrine nearby and cough whenever I was about to use it (he was blind after all). Akaname was a water elemental, but hideous to look at, and she was apparently attracted to untidiness. I tried to see as little of her as possible, but it didn''t really turn out that way. By contrast, Undine, our main water elemental who helped with all of our irrigation and our sink and stuff, was a downright attractive woman carrying a jar of water, but it took her the longest time to get here, second only to our nymph who only showed up after crops got planted. Somewhere in the middle, we learned of the domovoi after trying and failing several times to start a fire. This fire elemental declared himself master of the house, and even if it weren''t true we weren''t going to correct him since he could burn down the place. Nevras told me that houses typically had at least some of these, with more entering the more different facets there were in the house. People with big closets or a lot of them, for instance, tended to have something called zashiki-warashi. We don''t have any closets though, so that''s not an issue.

    But of course, Yazim Jianne''s “house” is not a regular house. He is rather insane, and has set up his house to such an extent of security that it can no longer be lived in. He was so paranoid that he couldn''t sleep in his own bed, enter the kitchen, or go to the bathroom without risking being maimed. Things kinda do have to be in balance, you know. In effect, he failed miserably at actually living in his place, so he had to hire or make creatures or set up traps. I felt like these things were mutually exclusive. There was no way he could have any such thing... or so I thought. He''d apparently enlisted the help of some sort of dog made from wind (Elias says it''s a kamaitachi), and his laboratory featured an actual Muse. Elias mentioned mostly patrons of the arts, with names like Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania. This one insisted she was a Muse of Mad Science, and called herself Enraptea or Entropia. Not that either of them noticed her as she supported her entire body with her hair. People unaccustomed to real house spirits tended not to notice them. Somehow or other, I got them distracted from their project just long enough to say hello to us.

    YAZIM JIANNE

    I exited the laboratory just in time to notice the usual entourage. There was Nevras, there was Ambrosia, and it looked they had kidnapped some purple-haired brat to show to me. I wagered after seeing her face that she was likely direct kin to them, but I honestly didn''t feel like asking. These people were a nuisance to my science! However, I knew if I told them to leave me alone, they''d likely come back much later with even more people.

    And so, begrudgingly, I talked to them. I noticed Ambrosia''s new kid first, so I addressed her, “Well, hello there little child, will you come play with me?” The little girl known as Tamashii raised an eyebrow. “Look Mommy,” said she, “this man is a pedophile.” She said this in such a strange combination of worry and snark, that it was difficult to tell if she meant it. My, what a precocious child. I certainly didn''t know such words until I was at least 11. Ambrosia glowered at me, then shook her head, “No he''s not, but he is gonna be beaten up for scaring any child of mine.” She rushed forward, and knocked me around a bit, hamstringing me, before punching my shoulder, stomach, arm, and eye. I didn''t mind so much. They were light punches, after all. I could tell she wasn''t really trying to hurt me, just giving me a warning to never actually be a pedophile around her kid. “Mercy! Mercy,” I said, “You spared me before!”

    All the same though, my current love interest was also fiercely protective of me, so this started a fight, and I finally had to touch Selqui and tell her, “Relax! Relax, I''m all right. She was just roughing me up a little bit because she was worried about her child. See? I mostly just have a black eye.” Looking at Ambrosia''s eye, it wasn''t much better.

    TAMASHII

    The adults caught reminisced about their previous quests, and filled each other in on the latest events in their lives. My parents gushed about me and their family friends. They talked about Aqorm, Lilith, and Michael, and how their children had grown up alongside me. Mom asked him about himself, and whether he was still mourning someone named Sarai. He explained the accident to me, and I was about to offer my condolences before he told me that had been “taken care of.” Mom asked him to join the old gang again, he also told about what he''d been up to with Selqui. How they''d tried to have children themselves, but there were issues with fertility. Something about them being different species. He talked about he attempts to experiment with other forms of reproduction being in the works, and several other inventions they had made in the last few years, including a key part of the cellphone I bought from Mom and Dad''s allowance.

    As they talked on and on about the last few years, I gradually longed for my own friends, and picked up this cellphone and called them. I may have talked for a few hours, but it was cool. Cell phones were a bit different than either my parents or previous generations knew. Unlike Mom''s phones they weren''t enchanted, so no magic users had their mystic power locked up. But neither were they electronic devices with hourly, monthly, or per minute charges. It was a high upfront cost though for a SIM card.

    My parents paid me 10 Gold a week in exchange for chores, and 30 Gold if I actually helped them save money on food for the week. The way phones normally were priced was that the phone itself was very cheap, only about 10 Gold. Unlike the older models, these phones worked without any sort of enchantment, but they did use alchemy to convert nearby runes into electrical energy. Without a SIM card, the cellphone could still use its basic functions and transmit sound but it was kind of like watching television with just a bunny ears. The signal was terrible, and the range was on par with a walkie-talkie. The SIM (Seismic Interconnection Material) basically aligned with nearby ley lines, allowing one to speak across incredible distances, provided you were on the same planet and in the same dimension. They had to be connected to a ley line by an expert though.

    As for the conversation, Portia told me all about the latest things going on in Heaven and asked after me for awhile. I assured her that I was fine, that I was just in a monotonous meeting with my mother and her mad scientist friend. After I hung up, I called Sastra, and explained where I was, but I didn''t get very far before Aqorm asked in the background who it was. “You spend too much time on that damned phone, Sastraneth!” she shouted. I heard Lilith call out, “Awww c''mon, dear, leave her be, she''s not hurting anything!” I heard heated shouting about how today''s youth ignored their parents and spent too much time on machines, and how someday people would probably have machines inside them or something. Sastraneth said she had to hang up early, but it was okay. Aqorm was probably right. I turned my attention back to my parents. It sounded like they were about ready to go anyway.

    Anyway, now about half of our group was found. The others might be tricky though, since Azrael and Zoe were wandering somewhere around the world last I heard, and the others had family to care for. I suppose getting to them might be a bit more difficult. Now that we had more of a group, we could peacefully visit the Kochou, and ask them nicely to stop bothering the poor humans.

    ZOE

    Each day during the last nine years, we explored the world. Each night, Azrael and I cuddled close to each other. We couldn’t do much about the fact that neither of us could become pregnant with each other’s child, but each night Azrael prayed to God. All of our friends were happily married, but we had nothing to show for our time together. I suppose it didn’t matter, but still it hurt feeling left out.

    MARIPOSA

    As it happens, that was the day our precious forest got ruined by that weird looking group of people. First came a girl with blue hair, who I''m convinced said something about squashing those bugs. Then there was a purple-haired girl who laughed maniacally as she proceeded to burn down our forest. And there was a blond who chopped down some bushes to make a path. Of course, I could have been imagining all of this. I''m told sometimes my fantasies take over. But I''m sure that''s what I saw!

    Uhhhh, well maybe not. The others tell me that I have a vivid imagination, and tend to see and hear what I want to be the case. In any case, because of what I imagined or was real, I attacked these humans. So it was totally in self-defense!

    I didn''t always used to be like this, after all. I started out as an egg, like all others of my kind. I was immediately enlisted into the army of caterpillars. I quickly rose through the ranks since I was brave and a good strategist. Yet deep inside, I felt something wasn''t right. I felt like there was a beautiful woman inside waiting to come out. Like most caterpillars, I knew that one day I would be a fabulous beautiful butterfly, and all eyes would look at me with envy. And here I am! With my long brown hair curled into neat ringlets, wide hips, narrow waist, perky breasts, a short green dress, and the blue-black wings of an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, you can hardly believe that a pretty butterfly like me used to be one of those ugly caterpillars. As I marched about in my green robe, carrying a spear and commanding others, I commanded fear. But now, my subordinates lust after me, knowing that I bestow favor to those who please me.

    “Oh my God!” said the blue-haired one, “What are you attacking us for? We just came to talk!” I answered, “That''s ''Oh my empress.'' Or ''Oh my beauty.'' But God? Nahh, don''t give me so much credit.” They looked at me like I was a narcissist or something. But that was ridiculous! In any case, I calmly explained that I couldn''t make any deals with the likes of them, since they destroyed my forest.

    “What are you talking about? We just entered to speak with you,” the human larva explained, “but then you went crazy and used psychic powers to burn down your own forest!” I would hear none of this madness! “Troops, begin your attack!” They raised their spears, preparing to charge this threat. Their group defeated some of my soldiers, but they did manage to give these interlopers some decent pokes and scratches. I decided to fight with the young one, as it seemed like she had some sort of dangerous power. Her blue-haired relative appeared angry at me for some reason, following this decision.

    Kochou are guardians of the forest with strong powers over nature. But of course this is only true after they emerge from their chrysalis. Before that, these lowly soldiers can only fight. But since I was a powerful and sexy butterfly, I could do all sorts of things like create wind storms, spread a paralyzing dust, or attack with powerful telekinesis. I could even help plants grow and bloom. And of course, I could make fire of my own.

    In fact, I tried to flap my wings and blow some toxic dust at her right at that moment, but instead it felt like there was a gap in the air. The venom got a certain distance from her, and then just dissipated. I decided if I couldn''t paralyze her, I might as well burn her. And yet, this too proved to be ineffective.

    The youngling extended her arms, and a bright flame appeared near me. This wasn''t how wizards or sorcerers typically used magic. There was nothing coming from her hands, there were no runes, and it appeared to have spontaneously ignited. She must be a psychic! Well, no matter. In addition to my powerful wings which made short work of that flame, I did have some psychic ability of my own. I sent an iridescent bubble towards her, bursting on contact. She stared at it with the typical curiosity of a child, until it touched her of course. I could use a few beams and bursts of psychic energy, some of which pushed things back, some which dealt psychic damage to one''s body or mind, and some which warped or destroyed objects. This one caused psychosomatic pain. I didn''t really wanna hurt her, I just wanted to make her feel my pain for destroying the forest, which my minions kept glaring at me like I caused.

    I was about to turn my attention to the rest of this group, when I saw her forcefully push herself up, saying, “I... will... not let... this... stop me!” She spread her hands apart and suddenly I felt my psychic effect shatter. We shot balls of energy at each other, flying about almost like some martial arts fantasy show and blasting, parrying and punching each other. “My name is Tamashii. Why are you attacking us?” the youngling asked while fighting. “You destroyed my forest,” I accused. “Me?!?” she countered, shocked at my words, “I saw you burn your own forest. What are you talking about?” Looking at the faces of my troops, I suddenly realized Tamashii was telling the truth, but I couldn''t deal with that now. I pushed her back with a wave of force, knocking her into a stone building so hard that a good chunk of rubble knocked loose. If she hadn''t managed a shield at the last second, she would be mush. As it was, she looked extremely bruised. Using nothing more than the power of her mind, she grasped the rock and slammed it into me. I went unconscious for a few minutes, and my troops spent their time trying to make sure I was in good condition. By the time I awoke, they were gone. But worse, she had made a paper-thin cut on my face, that would probably heal in a day or two. I will have my revenge! Nobody makes me temporarily look ugly and gets away with it!

    Time passed, as my army marched toward the town. They sang about a girl worth fighting for, and about what it meant to be a man. Memories flooded back to when I had been a man, and longed the attentions of a pretty woman. But now, of course, I was a pretty woman and I was cursed to only interested in one beautiful woman. Me, of course! What, you thought I had a lover?

    I caught sight of them rather quickly, seeing as how many of the people in town had either moved away or were in hiding after our last attack on their villages. As they saw us, they fled down the narrowest street that they could find. My troops were too numerous, so they quickly bottle-necked in the slim alley, cutting the amount of troops that could still move down to five besides myself. “Onward, my troops! We will rejoin the others later!” I commanded. Those remaining said, “Yes, sir!” I glared at them. “Yes... General Mariposa!” one of them corrected. That''s better. Seriously, did they just assume my gender? Another squad member, this one still in the early larval stages, asked of me, “What are our orders, miss? Are we to continue as before?” I shook my head, “Pursue the little girl, but leave the others alone. The others did not burn my home. But we need her captured. How dare she cut my face!”

    Our quarry knew tactics though. They headed straight for a pair of hanging clothes, and slipped under those to make a sharp turn, losing us for a second. Then one of the better looking men seemed to slow down, and one of my troops pursued him closely. It was all a ruse though, as he quickly got out of the way while one of his friends pushed some crates on my soldier. They couldn''t take even the five of my troops in single combat, armored with their tough green-black-white exoskeletons, so they pretty much needed to run. They moved to the right, swerving suddenly as a traveling merchant passed through. Our troops slowed down just enough for them to gain more of a lead, and they darted straight for a small shed near the temple. Our remaining troops followed, and it seemed the others finally made it out of that alley. I ordered them to split and surround that house. They climbed a ladder near the house. A sign on the house mentioned that it would be repaired soon, but this sign had been there the last visit. Knowing that my platoon of caterpillars were entirely too bulky to be on the roof, I ordered them not to follow, so they waited at the bottom. I followed the group up, yet light as my body was, there were too many on the roof. I heard something creak, just as the last of them made a desperate leap to the next rooftop. I was about to follow, when this roof gave out. I used my wings to slow my fall to a graceful landing, and surveyed the inside of the building.

    The room was a treasure room! It was filled with wigs, clothing, and cosmetics. I locked the door. My subordinates mustn''t see me like this! I stuffed my curly brown hair under a long blond wig, added some rouge and eyeshadow, and then slipped of my green dress to put on a red taffeta gown that extended to my knees. I wanted to try the dark brown wig with the pleated school uniform next, or maybe the short wig with the blouse and leather pants... Or perhaps...

    The troops knocked, “Is the situation okay within? You seem to be locked in. Should we knock down the doors?” I panicked, and collected my wits before I told them, “Negative! Be at ease. Return to base. I will rejoin you in 0700 hours.” I would let them go for today. I had more important things to take care of.

    SELQUI

    Leaping from building to building was hard. I''m a bit of a fish out of water. The group had trained me years ago on how to move like a normal human being, but I hadn''t moved around much when we were at home running all sorts of tests for my darling. I blushed, realizing my feelings. In any case, after years of only marginal activity, I just kinda felt like I had a ton of blubber. That wasn’t true though.

    The roofing held since our heaviest was probably Ambrosia at 5''8” and like 150 lb. Nevras, on account of his dieting to maintain his figure was rather lean in comparison, Yazim Jianne forgot to eat, Tamashii was just a kid, Elias figured out where we were heading in advance and split from the group, and I... well, I felt like a total fatty but I was probably 25 lb less that her. But I definitely was more clumsy than her. While she rolled gracefully after her jump to a standing position, I fell prone and had trouble jumping to the next roof. I never felt more like a half-seal than trying to leap from buildings.

    For some reason, Elias didn''t seem to have caught their interest anyway, and I suspected only Tamashii might be their target right now. And so, we made it to the end of town without getting caught by those spear-wielding bugs. But since our group was still incomplete, and we were unclear as to what to do, Ambrosia proposed we head to see Lao Tzu. I think she just got off on climbing mountains. There was a sense of adrenaline rush, I guess.

    The mountain had thawed for a change, so the climbing was fairly easy. The mountain was covered with vibrant grass, with flowers of purple or yellow flooding the cliff faces. That wasn''t the only thing “flooding” them though, part of the mountain covered with a waterfall. We sought shelter inside a cave, stopping to dry our clothes, then rest and eat before continuing with our climb.

    We made it to the top, but this time we didn''t even have to bother crossing over to that island (which was good, because it creeped me out) because Lao Tzu was sitting on our side. The cat, seeing us, decided to run away. But it was no good. Ambrosia broke into a run and tackled the poor kitty. She began to pet his ears, “Who''s a good kitty? Who''s a good kitty??? Who''s going to tell me exactly the best way of renewing my Oracle powers? Yes you are~! Yes you are~~~!” Lao Tzu purred loudly, before agreeing to help, “Your means of acquiring the Crest of the Oracle... is exactly the same as last time! There, now you know. So I''m going to sleep.” Frustrated at not having some kind of shortcut to quickly recoup her powers, she began to walk down, when Lao Tzu stopped her, “Just a minute! Even if I''m about to sleep, I don''t recall telling you to stop petting!” And so, three hours later, we finally headed back to Shoten, towards the port.

    Since our ship was elsewhere, we paid the fee to sail to Zuran and went below deck. Unlike most of the others, I''m not sure I''d actually been on a charter ship, since my first experience with riding on a boat began after they had already bought theirs. I know, it seems like all boats are the same, but this one I was pleased to see got us to our destination swiftly rather than being lost at sea. We made it. Today was the first day of the rest of our journey, and the next day of the first day of the rest of our life.