ZOE

Huh. I didn't see any signs of teleportation. They just kinda showed up in front of us. I guess this must be some kind of new trick the group had learned.

Azrael and I had decided to tour the world lately. Having lived together for quite some time, we had fallen into the same old dull routine. But then, I saw this ad in the paper. «See the world! Follow me, and the two of us will unlock the secrets of the universe together, traveling from the farthest reaches of the globe in search of cosmic truth!» It sounded romantic. It sounded exciting. And above all, it sounded like something Azrael would write, down to the references to the secrets of the universe and cosmic truth, and the knowledge known only to sea captains that the New Earth had recently become a globe when before it was flat. But nah, it couldn't be her. Azrael was a stick in the mud. So I took out my own ad in the paper, and wrote back.

I arrived at the meeting place, and I knew my partner immediately. It was her. I could tell by the shape of her body, and the curve of her face. “Azrael!” I called out to my own lovely lady. I had never known that she wanted to escape, so bogged down were we with our mundane lives. And she definitely liked making love at midnight, as I found out.

We explored the upper continents first, traveling by foot and by rowboat. It was all so fun seeing new sights every day, but this was a fairly leisurely pace that we were only just now drawing to a close in our travels nearly two years later. All of the oceans, mountains, jungles, and swamps that we had seen, and all of the towns we had visited were part of this great adventure. Now all of a sudden we were wandering in the middle of a desert and our companions suddenly appeared. I decided it must be a mirage, and I walked right through. I know that those voices shouting at me to stop stepping on them were also a mirage. As was being beaten over the head by Ambrosia's fishing pole.

“Oh, you're actually real,” I said, after helping to heal the group. Peeved Ambrosia was peeved. She said, “Yes, of course I'm real. More real than you...” I didn't quite catch that last bit, but decided to let it go. As we were kinda in the middle of the desert, the next few hours were spent getting back to civilization. Apparently, Ambrosia already had the Alexander and Apollo Crests, and it looked like Lilith's too, so the temple near Goji was probably next. It was nice to see the gang again!

AMBROSIA

Apparently, they had just finished exploring Qurac, because the desert we were in was fairly out of the way. The town itself had a domed garden thingy that was fairly new, but we didn’t think to pick up any goods while in town. So instead we wound up having to forage for food and water, since that Buddha sent us far away from our own gear. I knew enough about cactus to avoid the obvious poisonous ones, but some of the stuff that I drank made me see elephant-sized caterpillars and glowing colors, so I probably wasn't quite as good at survival as I thought. The dust and sand bruised my flesh and tore my clothing, or would have if it hadn't been a gift from God so long ago. The others weren't looking so good. The cactus juice was (for the most part) sweet and refreshing, but we were all tired of drinking it. We were possibly also tired of hallucinating.

Somehow or other, we made it to town. While many of the towns had commercialized and/or industrialized, Goji stayed traditional. Goji's philosophy was that each town has a spirit, and its own had built a tourist industry on exorcism, so they liked the old world charm of their town. Besides, it was rumored that ghosts could actually interfere with the more modern Glow Orbs, and cause all kinds of flickering lights. Goji had not changed at all in the nine years since our other quest. We rested and ate, since we had nothing for days but cactus. Goji's food was coastal cuisine with large amounts of fish and eel and seaweed in their diet, since Goji, while surrounded on all sides by desert, was nonetheless only a few miles from the water. Better yet, they had long ago discovered and exploited underground reservoirs, so while most of the nearby area was barren, Goji itself was capable of rice, wheat, soy, and leek cultivation. And because their town was modeled after traditional Asian aesthetic, Goji favored food such as sushi and sashimi. Since they had no livestock, beef and pork had to be imported, and chickens were considered nuisance creatures. They had a number of fish stews, and a dish called carimpeel which was basically the turducken of seafood (giant peeled shrimp stuffed inside an eel stuffed inside a deboned carp), but honestly, their specialty was olgoi khorkoi. These worms were found everywhere that had soft soil or sand, but the majority of the New Earth was not desperate enough to eat it. Living near the desert as they had, Goji had created an art form of catching the giant worms, and keeping them in porous cages where they were made to throw up any soil they had consumed, and then fed nothing but grains and vegetables. The result was a taste very much like snail, but its sheer size meant that a single worm could be cut into huge strips and broiled or sauteed, with a yellowish meat. Last night, they apparently caught a big one too, so while we drank some water and rested at the inn, we enjoyed a four course meal. There was natto and pickled vegetables, sashimi and grilled eel on a plate of rice, a khorkoi rolled and stuffed with leek and rice with tofu, and they had some fish-shaped pastry stuffed with some sort of sweet filling. They called it taiyaki. It seemed so odd for it not to taste at all like fish.

We headed east in order to meet with the Oracle of the Four Gods, but it turned out to be anticlimactic. No sooner did we reach this spot from the desert exhausted and thirsty from our journey than we noticed Kodama standing outside the large building. She looked peeved. And the building itself looked like someone had smashed it with some sort of strange weapon. Fist-sized indentations surrounded by large shockwaves riddled the building, and the entrance had apparently collapsed. Noticing us, she blushed, “Sorry. After my stronghold just got broken into by you guys last time, I got kinda upset and knocked the place around a bit. Hope you don't mind or anything.” I gaped at the building, “A bit upset...? There are several cracks in the tower!” She nodded sheepishly, “Sorry... Here I'll make this lesson quick. It is the nature of all things to wear away. That tower would have developed those cracks without my help. That my freakish strength managed it in one day is beside the point.” She gave me my Crest, and shooed me away before I could insist that in fact it was not besides the point. I kind of wondered where she would live now, but she was probably the type to sleep outside. It was all good, then.

Uhhhh, then we headed back to the village of Goji to board our ship. We were shocked to find that entering the town right now was more difficult than I thought. An army of Kochou awaited us. How would we escape?

In the face of such a huge army, I remembered my Console, that device I got from being God part-time. I rarely used it because on an average day I made my bed, did some farming, looked after Tamashii when Nevras was too busy with housework, caught fish, sold extra crops, and did my laundry sometimes. While I could use this power to suddenly make my house a mansion or something, or to make my farm incredibly productive, there didn't seem to be any point to such power. The only times I used it was to make money fall from the sky when we were short (okay, I used that one a few times, because I sucked at farming), to make it snow when Tamashii was feeling lonely or bored, to revive pet goldfish, and whenever I decided to act as God because a meteor was going to hit the Earth and wipe out humanity or something along those lines.

The thing is, I discovered a side-effect. The more I used it, the more that I was erased from my own life. That is to say, in the beginning of using it, I disappeared for a fraction of a second into the white room which I now know as the Debug Room. Everyone forgot about me (except Tamashii, who can't explain her own existence) while I was there.

When I first started using this, it only took away fractions of seconds, but the last time that I used it, it was an entire week where they forgot I existed. And before that, a whole day. It isn't that there is some sort of inherent problem with the Console, this is probably time spent resolving glitches. And the more I use it, the more these glitches stack. I guess I could compare it to telling a small lie, then having to make more and more lies to conceal the first. To resolve the fact that a goldfish died and I didn't want to tell her, the goldfish would now still be alive when I used it. But, having to revive it and extend its life well beyond the limits of what it can actually live creates more and more problems. And that's just a stupid fish. When I tried to avert a meteor, there were issues that their absence caused, such as excess kinetic energy and momentum that wasn't attached to anything, and so on. It was a mess. I had stopped making money since it did create inflation and instead worked harder at farming, I had stopped trying to force snow or raise pets and simply tried to be around my family more, and in general only used the Console for an emergency. You know, like a credit card only used for emergencies.

And this was an emergency. But... I thought of my family without a mother, and realized the only proper way to use this was correctly, and that would involve fully becoming God. I suspect, if I were really honest with myself, it wasn't actually glitches that lengthened my stay here. It was me. If God were using this Console, everything that God used it for would probably be free of any serious glitches. But I used the Console to impose a reality that was different from the one I was willing to face. The more I tried to hide myself from things like death, suffering, and poverty, the more I effectively locked myself in a room away from other people. Such a thing was little more than a toy to me, since I couldn't use it properly. I was only human (when it was convenient).

I put it away, intending to give this stupid thing to God one day. To let God deal with the meteors or floods or whatever, not me. Even though technically I was God, God knew what he (ummm she) was doing. She would be able to use it without paradox. Again, an army of Kochou awaited us. How would we escape?

MARIPOSA

I had eventually come to the realization that in fact Ambrosia and her group were not in fact responsible for my problems. However, one way or another, we were losing land to the humans with their constant drive to have apartments in the middle of nowhere, and since that group kept showing up on places that we sought out, they kinda sorta still did manage to annoy me. And frankly, I just needed someone to blame.

I brought with me a platoon of basic L troops and a row of P troops. Our armies were divided into five categories: L(arva), P(upa), M(ales), F(emales), and Q(ueen). Like humans, the Kochou had sexual dimorphism (I was abnormal, in that I changed my sex upon metamorphosis), but at the larval and pupal stages, it wasn't terribly great. Unlike actual butterflies, Kochou had a queen, but they weren't like bees, with a queen and her drones (with only her mating, I mean). Rather, the queen appeared much like a female except for being taller and more beautiful with antennae atop their head, and she had the ability to issue psychic commands to the other Kochou. Queens seldom appeared in battle, instead acting when complex strategy was required. I often wondered if in fact I was a queen, since I had a talent for leadership, but so far I had no antennae. I was getting headaches lately though...

Typically, the larvae were our basic infantry, while the pupae learned more specialized skills as ranged units or medics. My troops had a few infantry, but the pupae were rather new. Most of these were my older females, and they were promising fighters, so I had high hopes for them in the future. I would train them as my elite troops.

I had made a decision that because this village was on the coast of the ocean and was otherwise surrounded by desert, it must have become this way through mismanagement of resources. I was convinced that once we destroyed this town, the land around it would return to a lush forest. I had no proof of this notion, and any superiors that still had hopes of me obeying their commands repeatedly told me that this was incredibly stupid, but I was convinced. Once we took this land, our forests would massively increase, and we would be able to settle in this land and help the Sakuya regrow themselves here.

Apparently though, we weren't the only standing army in this area. A group of demons were also standing outside the gate, demanding asylum, and claiming that we were oppressing them! That was outrageous! We met them only moments ago, and already they were trying to exploit our presence.

ASMODEUS

As it turns out, corrupting regular citizens is far more difficult than that of state officials. All it takes to sway a leader of most countries is money. Bah, worthless paper, and people compromise their principles over it. Should this fail to have the desired effect, having a few thugs threaten them is usually all it takes to have them abandon their principles. But regular people? That is an art.

I saw these troops of Kochou were blocking the way into town, and I had an invasion army of my own, but since I had no desire to fight, I hatched a plan. Many of the townspeople had gathered outside because two groups of people camped outside the city was a curiosity, so I searched around for some scraps of wood and set them neatly in a pile. The wood apparently was from discarded crates for hauling soap, since the clean smell assaulted my nose. Demons liked filthy smells like rotting food, grime, and blood.

I climbed the makeshift podium and orated, channeling some of the worst speakers ever. While it may sound at odds with practical advice, the worse the speech, the more it sticks in the audience's head. I wanted to polarize the town between people who remembered my speech and hated me for it, and the poor saps that bought it. There are five tips for making a horrible speech: (1) start over the top, (2) forget authenticity and if possible get to sex and violence fast, (3) insult the audience's intelligence, (4) give the same speech to every audience or basically quote someone else, and above all (5) bribe the audience with some sort of gift after the speech. Keeping this in mind, I said, “Townspeople! Townspeople! Look at me! Look at my beautiful demonic body.” I wasn't as attractive as demon females, but my appearance was nothing to sneeze at after all. They predictably rolled their eyes, but their attention was now on me so I continued, “As you know, we demons are often considered to be harbingers of destruction and sexual depravity...” I continued with in-depth description of orgies and violence perpetrated by the demon race. The audience groaned.

“However!” I interjected, “All of this is just a misunderstanding, honest! I think this is an opportunity to give voice to all those voiceless demons out there that couldn't be here today. There's been some distressing things to think about lately with all of the demonic invasions and new cities popping up, and all of us feel as though we're different. We think of ourselves as elves, dwarves, humans, demons, and all the rest but when I see you folks I see nothing but untapped potential. You've got potential! And you've got potential!” I pointed random people before continuing, “And more importantly, I see how all of us are at heart the same, and should be treated equally. No matter whether we are talking about racism or sexism, all of us are exactly the same and should be treated the same because our needs are the same. That's right, not only should demons be treated the same as humans, but men and women should be treated the same. Men should be wearing pads and be on the pill. And not only that! Humans should be living together underwater with merfolk! Too long has this oppression of humans gone on underwater.”

Before the humans understood that my speech implied that I drown all humans, which I actually intended once they let enough of us in, I kept on with more nonsense speech, “We are talking about dispelling this notion that one race, one nation, one species has the right to dominate or exploit another with impunity. For long, I have watched how cattle are treated. Fed with hormones and antibiotics, made to produce milk on demand, with their poor children stripped away from them. All of us need to allow cattle to be left alone. You see, many of us are egocentric, and we don't think of the poor feelings of these innocent beasts. We take the milk intended for the calf and put it in our coffee!” I glossed over the fact that with a totally vegan culture, there would be no dairy market and people would stop raising cattle for milk or meat. What would happen to cattle? Why they would be put down, of course! We'd stockpile the meat for ourselves, saving a small portion of cows by claiming we had a special carnivorous diet, while the humans got weaker and more malnourished. And if they really wanted meat, we'd sell it at inflationary rates, and demand they pay extra for the injustice of the murder of such beautiful creatures. But it was okay for us to perform the same injustice.

“And I think many of us are afraid of change because we think it means we have to sacrifice something,” that's because it does mean exactly that, as I was about to demonstrate, “which is why you need to utterly change your culture immediately, to allow total acceptance of demons into this country. We expect you to open your doors and indeed even give up your house for us. It is not fair or just that demons are treated like outsiders wherever they go. If we use love and compassion as the guide, we can build a better world. A world without sexism or racism, where housing is free to all demons, and where cows never have to suffer the indignity of being milked.”

All of this sounded like utopian crap on paper, but it was calculated to get the more intelligent listeners to feel like they were being treated like idiots, while the rest of the crowd ate it up. And to add to the divide, I asked who was with me. Everyone who agreed with the speech was rewarded with soul cakes, a sort of spice pastry, while the others were scolded for being racist and sexist and part of the problem.

Contrary to the view of jaded individuals, the average person is neither racist nor sexist, but for the most part decent. They work hard at their dreams, they love their friends and their families, and are okay with strangers within reason, after all wanting more friends. Yet I have no use for these things. To manipulate people, you first have to undermine these very relationships. You first work on people's ability to trust each other, by accusing people of being racist or sexist or some other evil. You work on them with their priests too, who can also be bribed or convinced they are doing the right thing (priests are not only greedy, but also idealists). You tell them that they should do more to welcome the stranger and care for the poor, and ironically it distances them from those who are fine just hanging out with their friends. Those who listen to such message get sifted into those who harden their hearts, and those who get concerned about how they would look morally. You cut them off from their friends by fear of how they might be seen. When people are more concerned with their image than their loved ones, you've got them. The next step is to simply push the idea that accepting demons will enrich lands through tourism and cultural exchange.

Seeing that the audience had mostly become receptive to my speech, I decided to make a scapegoat for all of their tension. I pointed to the Kochou army over there, “Look at that huge army of bug people out there. Now, you may think they have merely come to defend their homeland, but actually they are here to pillage and destroy this fair city. And we are just poor refugees trying to make a home for ourselves, and to escape from their hostility. Now, won't you join us, in stopping this menace?”

Within the town, the commotion continued due to the protests, not just requesting but demanding more demon tourists. Other towns have them, they insisted, why can't we? Others fought those people, knowing what I was about. And then there were those who fought the Kochou. In the confusion, we managed to infiltrate the general population, bypassing the border gates and securing homes for ourselves that probably used to belong to other residents. And so it was that while outside there was an army, these useful idiots allowed outsiders be brought in, and Lilith's group managed to escape along into the crowd. We would deal with them later.

AMBROSIA

We took the ship, seeking to continue our quest. It was a long boat ride with a very grumpy captain. He had seen his home town get invaded by demons, and while it wasn't yet destroyed, he'd traveled a bit more than some of the “tolerant” rubes in town, and had seen the wreckage of those places. At least, that's what he told us when we asked why he looked so grumpy. For the most part, we hadn't seen many demons at this point, as we were distracted with our hanging out with friends, talking to Oracles, and staying out of towns for the most part except to exit a boat or enter one. And we could bypass towns entirely, on account that we had a dragon and stuff. But I was sure this might be a problem. So we made a note to investigate this later.

We arrived in Galaxia, and marched ourselves towards where Chronos was. He appeared to be getting “old” this time, as his aging was beginning to break down. Before, he had generally been able to cycle from old to young and back again, but this time, he appeared to be stuck at a young age and getting younger. I imagined in only a few days he'd manage to wipe himself out of existence. It was a good thing we made it in time!

Time is a funny thing. You seldom know how much you've got left. One day, you're young, and you think you've got all the time in the world to work on books or movies, or finish art projects. The next day, you might drop dead from eating fast food, and the thing you thought would get finished easily is now another thing taken away from you. If I had time like Aqorm, I'd probably waste so much of it, and before I blinked I'd have wasted it at least as fast as if I only had 80 years. It kind of made me think, looking at this Oracle who looked about to de-age himself to death, what was the best way to spend my own life? Should I try to meet people? Should I just concern myself with my friends and family? Should I focus on hobbies, or leaving something behind to remember me by? What really was the best way to use my time?

I decided for now, the best thing was simply to talk to this guy. “Hey there,” I said to Chronos, “you okay?” He looked at me blankly, “Have I met you before? Strange... I seems like there's something I should know.” Tamashii waved to him, “So, then, who am I?” A flicker of recognition showed in his face, even though he had never met her in his life. “Ah yes,” he said, “Tamashii! Who could forget such a cute smile? It's been so long!” I sighed, “Your stupid temporal magic made you forget me, didn't it?” It figured. He remembers Tamashii, not me, after all my adventures. Chronos faced me, “Then refresh my memory. Tell me about what I am going to talk about.” What an odd question.

I told him that he was gonna talk about time. It seemed a safe bet, after all. “At no point have I ever talked about time,” he said. I responded, “ Wait, how is that possible? You're the Oracle of Time!” My husband shook his head, “Don't sweat it dear, these Oracles just keep getting stranger and stranger.”

I mentioned dreams. He said, “At no point have I ever talked about dreams.” But last time... Tamashii saw my look of confusion, “Hey Mom, get with it, if it's already happened, it hasn't happened to him yet.”

Fair enough. Next, I tried mentioning goldfish. After all, this was probably something he had never talked about before... He agreed with me, “ At no point have I ever talked about goldfish.” I shrugged, “Tamashii, you ask him.”

And so, my little girl gave it her best shot. “You asked about... destiny,” she said, “Am I right?” Chronos nodded, “This is correct, I was going to mention Fate, and how it relates to Time. You see, all things are changes by time, they grow, age, die, and possibly are born again. Not even I am immune.” The atmosphere suddenly felt sad. Nevras asked, “Why does it sound like he's leaving us? I'm worried.” But I refused to accept this, “But how can someone who keeps aging and reversing ever die? Shouldn't it keep up?” After all, it seemed like a stable time loop. He shook his head, “Before I die, I wish to face you in battle.” This guy was already irritating me so I accepted.

Yazim Jianne cut in, “Wait everyone, I'll take care of things. You just fight.” Our mages tried various effects on him, but he seemed to cancel them out readily. Then they appeared behind us. “Hold up,” he said, and opened a small portal into the Realm of Void. I guess it still technically existed, even though it was no longer able to be visited. In any case, Yazim Jianne had gotten better with Silent Spells. After that display, much like that guy from The Matrix stopping bullets, the lot of us decided that ranged attacks were probably no good. So we charged at him with our weapons drawn, but suddenly found ourselves in our original position. We tried it again, and skipped back to start. It wasn't a reversal, so much as a feeling that our location had saved and was now being loaded to a previous one. Yazim Jianne had a solution, drawing what appeared to be a Star of David on his own arm before he sketched it on ours. Periodically, the symbol would glow faintly, showing attempts to revert our positions, but it made little difference.

Chronos changed his tactics, attempting to stop time. The symbol on our hands gave us a little protection, so we could see time as it stopped, but not move. I suppose it was a relief not to just have a gap in time, since it prevented us from being caught completely off guard when he moved or attacked, but it was also frightening watching him try to throw rocks or whatever at us. Thankfully, his brand of time freezing didn't allow things like momentum to function, so we had a brief window when time started again to dodge his attacks. Yazim Jianne finally arrived on a solution of transporting us to a parallel dimension. This meant that another us was sent to our dimension, he explained, and the same would be true on several other dimensions. Surely this wouldn't cause problems later on. In any case, because it wasn't stopping our time anymore, we were free to move in the frozen time. It was kinda cool walking around like this.

Chronos had a few other tricks though, as we advanced towards him. He opened portals to hot or cold dimensions, hoping to catch us in the blasts of air. He sent cosmic energy at us. He even tried to mess with our speed. Thankfully, Yazim Jianne knew his stuff about time/space magic. And so, he tried one last trick. Right as we were about to close in on him, he advanced our ages. Suddenly, my hair was kinda gray and I had all sorts of aches and pain. I was hunched over, about fifty pounds heavier (I needed to watch my diet from now on), and a lot more wrinkly. Nevras on the other hand, was kind of hot. He was still healthy, having a bit of salt-and-pepper hair that he'd apparently grown out, and his body was fit if a bit arthritic. “Hey you, ummm... Yaz-whatever-your-name-is,” I pointed to that guy, “Change us back!” He shook his head, “That spell? I forgot it long ago. But if he dies, it should be okay.” Aside from Aqorm (who would have aged but now was a real elf), Selqui, and Lilith, most of the rest of us were involved in the slowest battle of all time. We'd forgotten most of our spells, and we were hobbling toward him at a snail's pace. Finally, Lilith put everyone out of their misery by rushing up and beating the crap out of the Oracle, and the battle was over. Our bodies returned to normal, as Chronos coughed and “All cycles need to eventually be restarted, or else they fall apart eventually. The same wasn't true of a stable time loop like mine, but I knew you guys would hurt me too much... so time fell apart,” he explained, “Soon, a new Oracle of Time will be born. I have been alone for many years, but after I finish instructing you, I will have completed my task on Earth, and I will never have existed.” Everyone cried, and then he wiped himself out of most of our memories, so we stopped mourning, wondering why our faces were so salty. I said, “Typical. He dies with a paradox too. How did he teach us if he didn't exist?” As my new Crest glowed, I told the others we needed to get a move on. We rushed back to our boat.

From Galaxia, we sailed our ship to Ghobli. We could have easily headed to the Divine Border next, or nearby Kirin to where Thanatos was at. And indeed these places were our destination. And the Aiken Master had told us that he insisted his Crest must be done last. But fuck that. He was closer, and I would be damned if I was traveling around the world just to fulfill some stupid sequence. So we sailed due northwest, narrowly avoiding crashing into Phoenix as we navigated toward our destination. We veered a bit to the west and headed to the island. Then we climbed up that tower again, which I desperately wished I had done when I was also there to get Lilith's and Alexander's Crest. In any case, I had to rest after climbing all those steps and my legs hurt. The residents of the Aiken monastery were annoyed with us, as we weren't permitted here but demanded we be let in. The Aiken monastery had history behind its decision to close its borders, have seen State control when the Plague was spread during open borders, only to force quarantines as a sort of house-arrest. They lost their jobs, their rights, and their freedoms. After this event, those who remembered built this place. It was safe to say that they deeply resented the idea of people barging in without any kind or screening, but these folk had already seen Lilith tear down the door earlier.

Anyway, I finished resting, and I approached the Aiken Master. “What are you doing here?” he asked, “Aren't you supposed to still be completing your quest?” I stood my ground, “I demand to be tested by your now!” I fully expected him to shoo me out of the place, and leave us to the people who we'd managed to piss off. Instead, he behaved as though it was exactly the right time to see him, “Now the final test. You will need to face yourself.” I asked, “What do you mean?” He barely explained as he took to battle with us, “I have taught you about Nature, Love, & Family. These things are Bonds. Now, I have decided to teach you about Boundaries.” He paused meaningfully, as though to emphasize that I'd basically ignored such boundaries when I barged into the town, regulations be damned, “Listen closely, if you will. In this world, people will take what they want from you. They will use excuses, like guilt, martyrdom, or outright convincing you that that you are evil for refusing. But you must always stand behind what you need in this world. For if not... terrible things will happen.” At this, I was curious, “What things?” He explained perfectly, “Terrible things.”

The battle started easily enough, but we quickly found that he had some sort of perfect shield against all attacks. Not even Hellfire could defeat him! As for us, his powers were overwhelming! He had some sort of technique that drained us of all of our energy, after which our healers desperately tried to keep us healthy. If that wasn't enough, he had a powerful attack that beat us half to death called the White Cloud Punch. We struggled mightily against him, but then Nevras said, “Hold up, hold up! Something's weird here...” Then I noticed it too. It was indeed very weird, but Nevras let me explain it.

I said, “I noticed two things while fighting. First, you defend yourself pretty completely. Your own life is important to you, right? Also, my life is off-limits, since none of your attacks could kill me. You're holding back so you don't hurt me, right?”

He nodded, “Very good. I concede the match.” After the battle came more mind games, “The purpose of your second quest is to defeat a great good, not an evil force as before. And so I ask you, what does that make you?” I smiled, “It makes me a villain. But I'm okay with that. When the righteous can't do what needs to be done, it's up to the likes of vigilantes and anti-heroes. It's okay.” He didn't object, and suddenly I had his Crest as well. We had to rest for some time though, as Elias had used Regeneration on us, and the constant healing and wounding had taken its toll on our bodies.

Back when the world was divided into the New Earth and the Realm of Void, it was possible to sail off the edge of the world, making travel to the other side of the world significantly more difficult. Now, however, the Earth was round. Probably.. Sailing west instead of east, we managed to make it to Kirin in a matter of days, when before it involved sailing east for weeks. From there, we made it to Isis Temple. The same creepy interior greeted us, as we passed the cultists, and made our way to the Oracle. “No matter what, you must always face Death,” mentioned Thanatos.

This battle was a bit different with a different group, but this time was actually easier. Azrael sealed away his undead, no sweat, while Lilith and Selqui cut at his arms. Nevras and my daughter used their best moves to punch holes in his undead flesh, while the two of us with temporal powers basically held him in place before he could even attack, until he just declared defeat. Considering how hard the battle was before, he looked sad.

He sighed, “You have done well, and yet... The Chain of Harm continues. You have changed nothing.” I asked, “Is there any way to break the cycle? I don't want this pain to continue.” He explained, “Love can soothe the pain, but the origin is Free Will. To take that away, would be stripping them of what makes them human. If you were okay with that, you might as well be my servant. I know you mean well. But another has already chosen that path. You must find your own.” After some thought, I realized that he was talking about Estheriel. Was I really making such a bad decision?

We ditched our boat to head to Heaven directly. I didn't want to get bogged down with all this extra travel time, as this second journey was increasingly making me edgy. It seemed like all of the Oracles were telling me that there was something terribly wrong with this quest. But how could that be? I had received this quest directly from God, why would God steer me wrong? Well, there was the whole Yin and Yang thing, where God sometimes brought bad fortune. But still!

Apparently, Bahamut felt the same, because she said that she was having wing strain and parked us in the desert in the island just south of the Divine Border. Oh sure, she said that her wings hurt, but I knew. While she took on human form, she set a fire, and talked with us about our dreams after this was done. I could tell she was judging me. Still, I answered, “The three of us are probably gonna go back home and stuff.” Nevras raised an eyebrow. I suppose we should have more ambition after an ordeal like this, but honestly I just didn't feel like doing anything dramatic. After a long moment, he shrugged and nodded. “Not me!” said Tamashii, “I still haven't gotten adventure out of my system. Besides, Mom met Dad on her journey. I was hoping I could find a boy that I like somewhere along the way.” Zoe and Azrael just looked at each other and grinned. Elias said something about becoming a master librarian, and Aqorm and Lilith had largely found their place already. As for Yazim Jianne and Selqui, I didn't want to ask them, but they volunteered. “We plan to make a baby,” Selqui said. I was surprised, it was something so normal! But it turned out as they explained they meant actually make a baby. You know, like in a test tube. Finally, Bahamut spoke, “I've watched all of you while I traveled. I was originally just gonna take a long nap back in my cave, but I kind of want to live among humans for awhile.” We talked around the campfire a little longer, as we fished fresh eel from the nearby water. Unlike the people of Goji and the nearby area, we didn't really know how to prepare eel, so after having a tough bit of eel jerky, the rest got tossed into a stew. It was passable, I guess. In any case, we were ready to face the day after a night of desert camping. Bahamut flew us to the outside of God's tent and then flew away for now.

MICHAEL

Throughout the Bible, it mentions numerous times that God's relationship with humans is like a marriage, and it mentions numerous times about the unfaithfulness of God's chosen people, and how God basically acted like a spurned lover until getting used to this shit. Looking at it from this perspective, that the life of Jesus is not reported by most Jews suddenly makes sense, as it means God kinda told them they weren't special anymore. The sort of rejection always hurts, even if the real reason for it is to extend the gift from the few to the many. Human nature is somewhat envious, even of sharing the same thing. Think about all those celebrities who want to tax carbon but be exempt, and drive their Porsche everywhere they go. It’s fine for others to sacrifice, after all.

All these passages about unfaithful relationships... and suddenly I knew how it felt. I have become pregnant from that night in the pub, yet after that, Lilith treated me like a secret that had to be kept. And from viewing events in Heaven, I discovered that Lilith had also given Aqorm a child. But while Lilith eventually came back to visit and support her, apparently I was the “mistress” and my pregnancy didn't matter to her.

After nine years away from her, I had gotten past the heartbreak of her rejection. After all, while she hadn't visited in all that time, I had gotten to bond with her daughter. I kinda forgave her, even though it still hurt. But I loved her, even if I wasn’t special.

Anyway, a great deal had changed in Heaven. Unlike the others, I remembered the time when Ambrosia made the Universe Egg, and she asked everyone what they wanted. I had said, “I wish to improve Earth so it is more like Heaven, and Heaven so it is even better.” Now, I knew I didn't expect much from that wish, but unlike the others which involved creating new species, it seemed like her lack of experience as God really showed with regard to good and evil. The physical state of the Earth didn't substantially change except to become more realistic. But the balance of good and evil kinda broke. For instance, not wanting people to be killed by random encounters, she moved all creatures inside dungeons. And the Earth was now round instead of flat and rotated, but this caused problems with periodic dizziness for people who got motion sick. To say nothing of the upside-down people in the southern hemisphere! And not wanting extreme weather, she took away all seasons and sudden storms or earthquakes. Rather than improving the Earth, she made it less desirable. It was safe for her child, but it was a bit too sheltered and sterile. I would have to talk to her when we met her next, and discuss some amendments to my original idea, especially since Heaven was now terrifically boring. Instead of the vast number of trippy plants and animals there wasn't much here anymore. I suppose I would get to tell them sooner than I thought. I heard their voices outside the tent. Ambrosia entered with the others, then as the others were distracted by the sights of the inside of the tent, she slipped outside.

As an archangel, I was more clued in to the nature of God than mortals were, so I understood. Before, God was a separate consciousness from Ambrosia, so she and God could talk to each other, and appear in the same room. However, now that she was God, she had to consciously split this part off or it would appear that she was doing a sort of puppet show. Typically, this meant that for most of the time, God couldn't be in the same room as her unless she somehow made it happen. And more importantly, she probably had to take a nap right now for God to show up.

I had noticed this not because it was common knowledge, but because when I returned to Heaven after Ambrosia claimed to have spoken to God, suddenly God was absent from his tent for most of the day, only present about eight hours. Since God was omnipresent, there was no reason for God to disappear, but since this was about the time that people would got to sleep in her area, I pretty quickly figured this out. I have no idea if the other archangels even knew. If they did, they never said anything in the last nine years.

In any case, the group came in like bad tourists and the little girl Tamashii talked to all these angels. I showed them around the tent which always looked more impressive inside than outside. Then suddenly God appeared, just as I heard snoring outside.

TAMASHII

“Grandpa~!” I shouted. I had entered the tent where God often dwells in Heaven. Well, when God isn't wandering the Earth, that is. Ambrosia had slipped outside to use the bathroom, and God only just now appeared, having been somewhere else before this. The back of the tent had a thick curtain, in the tradition of the ancient Temple, but all around inside the tent, the space was impossibly vast, as though we had stepped outside rather than entering a tent. The area in front of the curtain shimmered, and the Triune form of God phased through like a spirit. Ah, God said without using any quotations, nice to meet you again! It has been a long while since last I we met. God's still small voice echoed inside my head. While the others motioned to Michael to quietly exit the tent to go find Mom, I was to keep God distracted during all of this. But it was like God could see everything or something, because God barred all the windows and doors, so to speak.. Not so fast, God said, Who told you that you could escape? And so, they were held captive while I had a conversation with my grandfather on my mom's side.

Since I had my grandfather as God, and I finally got to see Him again, I decided to ask all sorts of questions that humans have when they encounter God in person. Plus I was his grandchild who I had all sorts of questions about that too. But first I needed to ask one very important question. “God?” I asked. Answered he, Yes? I requested, “Could you, maybe, stop speaking that voice directly inside my mind? It's kind of hard to hear.” The giant floating triangle in the air nodded, and immediately shifted to a more human form. The transformation was impressive, as God kinda reconfigured atoms.

Sort of. God had no properly defined features so much as being a white silhouette against a whiter space, almost as though someone had painted a white background with layers of paint, then erased them around this area. Somehow I could see God just fine, but could not pick out any physical features, besides noting that God was naked, and yet somehow this form appeared familiar to me. Like, I had seen it almost every day of my life. Like God was... But that was not true, that was impossible.

The voice of this version of God was greatly changed from the still voice that I had heard before. It was an androgynous voice. It sounded like a female voice trying to sound deep, or a male voice that sounded slightly higher. I wasn't sure.

So, anyway, I asked my other questions. “Grandpa,” I asked, “I've heard that you send sun to shine on the evil and the good, and rain for the just and the unjust.” The silhouette nodded, “That is correct.” I continued, “I also heard that you brought the Law to the Jews as salvation, but the Christians say the Law is a curse. Can you help me make sense of this?” God saw the confusion in my face, and did not hesitate to explain.

“Human beings live according to the dictates of the Tao,” God said, “and as such everything they do is both good and evil, but they have an inability to see it this way, focusing on one or the other. There are three types of people: the sinners, the righteous, and the justified. The justified are those who believe that following rules and living up to certain standards is enough to save them, much like the Pharisees. I forgive them for I admire their earnestness, but when they impose their standards on others, they cause great injustice. Worse, some of them believe they have no sins, creating a hypocritical system. Still, these people suffer from their own standards so I forgive them while giving them tough love. Then there are the sinners, which make up not only much of the church but much of the secular world. These are people with definite flaws, who spend much of their lives pretending to be normal. I forgive them, but getting them to accept my Grace is often difficult, because they feel like they have to measure up. And lastly, there are the righteous, those who understand my Grace. These people, I try to build a relationship with, and I encourage them to help out the other two. But all are saved. What matters is that people in this life can create misery for themselves or others, well before the Afterlife.” I wasn’t sure that I understood all this, as it was kinda confusing.

I asked another question. “What exactly is a Soulfire? I mean, what is my power, really?” But instead of telling me, he showed me. I stood in a room with various copies of myself. One looked angry, and I remembered the time when I almost lost control and hurt Mom and Dad. Another looked afraid, and I remembered the townspeople before we had to leave. Another looked happy, and I remembered my best times with my friends. Another looked sad, another looked lonely, anxious, and still another looked calm, all of them making me recall memories. “So, my power is my emotions?” God shook his head, and then manifested images of Lilith, Nevras, Elias, Aqorm, Zoe, Azrael, Selqui, Yazim Jianne, and Michael. “These people,” he said, “you think you know them, right?” I nodded, “They're Mom's friends. And her husband.” He nodded, and then shook his head, “Yes, but what they really are... is me.” As he said this, I watched as one by one all of them became silhouettes like God. “You see,” he explained, “Everything that I created is part of who I am. Yazim Jianne is my desire to invent and my regret. Selqui is my sense of unbounded lust. Elias is my sense of knowledge and curiosity. And so on. Each of these people are characters. Personas. Parts of the whole of me. They are given form from my power of existence, almost like I'm the author of a book. The power of the Soulfire is not inherited, your grandmother Victoria has it, but plenty of families seem to acquire it at random. It is a consequence of having a unified self, and the ability to question and reshape reality. Yes, your emotions do make your powers stronger, just as they do for your mother. But they can also distort your sense of self. Your power... it's similar to sorcery. Far beyond moving objects and creating fire, you can change the local reality. But, unlike Yazim Jianne's power, there is no sense of disciple, it is not governed by rules or spells or anything like that. It isn't countered as magic would be, since it isn't cast. But this is also its greatest weakness.” I was confused now, so I asked, “What do you mean?” God explained, “Child, do you know what a delusion is?” I nodded, “So you're saying...” God split me into several bodies of Tamashii, “Each of these is an emotional aspect of yourself. As you know, your power can work on yourself, and the world immediately around you. Your power works on three principles, a firm sense of self, some amount of control over your emotions, and a good grasp on reality. But some people have tried to alter the world outside their territory before, the world they can only imagine. The problem is that this creates illusions. Illusions of unseen enemies, illusions of fear, grandeur, or hope. And there's another problem. You've heard, I gather, of Newton's equal but opposite reaction, correct?” I nodded. “Well,” God continued, “it applies to the power of the Soulfire as well. When some people imagine great prosperity and joy, others see division and violence. Yin and Yang. Sometimes, it's even the same thing. I remember the 2016 election. For several years, liberal policy had been pushed down the throats of people. Most people are content with their daily lives. They just wanted to mind their own business. But increasingly, their small towns were becoming filled with Whole Foods, trendy shopping districts, and PC Principals. They couldn't take all of the changes. And the stress and angst awakened their latent powers. Unlike thaumaturgy, the powers of the Soulfire have always existed among a few of the population. So, contrary to the Russian hacking myth, it was really Soulfires that decided the election. But it was also other Soulfires that created its aftermath.” I asked God for clarification. He explained, “There were a number of people afterwards that were in a state of fear. They were convinced that the new leader would bomb Denmark or that the internet would collapse, or any number of things mostly dreamed up by South Park. And then people began to declare that the current president was #NotMyPresident. Only, when Soulfires begin to resist consensus reality, it creates distortions. The breakdown of other common sense was everywhere. Why, people were eating Tide Pods! Because people were literally trying to fight their own reality, the basic state of perception became distorted, and people were literally not seeing the same events the same way. They called it 'fake news' but the truth was far more horrifying. These ripples were creating a schism where reality almost broke down entirely.” God paused for dramatic effect. “Look again at these other aspects of you. One in particular,” he said, pointing to the calm one, “what's different about this one?” I looked at the others. The rest were happy, sad, afraid, angry, and so on, various shades and types of positivity or negativity. The calm one alone was completely neutral. As if reading my mind, God responded, “Yes, this one is completely at balance. This state... it was never a natural emotion, but rather a gift from the original Buddha, and again from the Miroku. The ability to remain calm, to reject both good and bad reality, in exchange for consensus reality. Suppose you were invaded by aliens tomorrow, or someone on the weather had announced that a massive tidal wave was coming. Your fear could create an awful situation, but after calming down and convincing others to see the event as unlikely using the power of the mind, the entire event would simply fade away to nothing.” He went on to explain that this was essentially the plot of a Happy Science film known as The Rebirth of Buddha, which involved a creepy cultist pretending to be the New Buddha, and the real Miroku, who was entirely too sharply dressed for a holy man. I resolved to watch the film later.

“So one last thing,” I asked, “if I control my personal reality, and everyone that I meet is potentially a fragment of my own personality, then how can I be sure anything is real?” God groaned, as apparently this was something that going to take some explaining. “You've heard,” God asked, “about the Evil Genius theory?” I vaguely remember Mom telling me that that was a thing, but she didn't go into any detail, probably because she wasn't very familiar with it. But I knew about it, because I was a genius and studied all sorts of things from a very young age. “Sure thing,” I responded, “There's a genius that basically invents a sort of illusory world for you to look at so it's never clear whether that world, and by extension, the world we live in is real or an illusion.” But even though I had studied this, I failed to make a connection. Hey, I'm just a kid! I may be a prodigy but I'm kinda ignorant about some things. Anyway, God saw my confusion, so he asked some Socratic questions, “So what do you think is real? What exists?” Hmmmm... After some thought I concluded, “I guess whether the world is real or not, it still has to exist if only in your mind, even to be fooled. This also means that I have to exist, in order to experience that world. And it means that this God, or evil genius, or whatever needs to exist in order to fool me. But... I feel like there's more to this?” God nodded, “Yes, the possibility exists that you and this genius are actually the same. That is to say, your power warps reality in the same way that Ambrosia's Oracle powers alter how things are, or my powers change the world. Only the appearance is different.” My mind was blown. The realization that I could create anything out of my imagination made me lose control of things for a second, and random objects started to appear. God spent some time teaching me how to chill, how to dispel my own stray thoughts and counter other psionic abilities, how to prevent other people from controlling my reality with their illusions. And then God disappeared for awhile. Mom apparently had finished whatever she needed to, as she opened the back curtain of the tent. “What did I miss?” she asked. Well, pretty much everything. Geez, where was she all this time?!?

AMBROSIA

While I was resting and God was talking to them, I heard Michael's prayers. Bring back weather and seasons, get rid of the round Earth that spun too fast and made motion sick people throw up and oppressed the southern hemisphere, and well... I could do the thing with random creature encounters, but my poor daughter. How could I possibly let her get hurt? Oh wait, didn't I have her fight centaurs earlier?

The Earth I tried to make was similar to the “waffle iron” model that God had created before, when you know, God wasn't part of my consciousness. Unlike the previous model that God made while She was dreaming (and you know, not part of me directly), this one I gave birth to, so it was mostly real. But I was having real trouble with the model, and had to reshape it entirely. In order to imagine something that is fully real yet able to be reshaped at a moment's notice, I want you to think of oil-based clay that is able to stay in shape without ever being fired, is very solid before heating up, doesn't break down in water, and is just really fun to work with. I was a part-timer now, which meant a lot of this stuff had to be done during my down-time, and God couldn't do miracles as often as before. When I knew that God was in me, it meant I had to take responsibility.

While this dual-hemisphere flat Earth was easy to manage, there were definite changes I had to make. For one, apparently, at about 7076 AD, the same year had been cycling over and over, and God just messed with people's memories who noticed. To make sure my daughter grew up, that was like the first thing to fix. I even dug up an old calendar and adapted from that, renaming the months and weekdays back to their old ones. Sorta. Saturday was still the Day of Rest in regards to magic and in general, and Sunday was still a Holy Day so these last two names were interchangeable with their new ones. And since I didn't know exactly how the months worked, I just set all months to thirty days, and dealt with the excess five days each year by piling them up until later. After every 50 years, I'd just have a kinda Jubilee for that extra 250 days where all debts got forgiven, prisoners couldn't be held, and farms produced enough food for parties everyday. Basically, I had to balance out all that lost time and long parties is the only way to do it. Also, in the old model of the Earth, there was nothing actually outside the firmament except me. That is, the Earth was like a terrarium that had a screen, which during the day was covered by a blue sheet while the night was like a black sheet with pinholes. The “stars” in essence were pinholes showing the white area beyond the Earth, and to a large extent travel through space involved entry into the empty space where God lived. In any case, when I made everything real, the firmament instead became a porous layer of water and air and ozone, and the outer space and stars became real. I was unsure what to do with the sun and moon with this model, so I made them circle around the double hemisphere in an infinity pattern, rising in the north, and setting in the equator, then rising in the south. The problem was, people living near the equator tended to get incinerated. Eventually, I just nixed the physical model of Earth and let Jesus handle it.

While I was sleeping and creating, I got a memo from Jesus (who I guess now that I think about it, is probably my cousin). It was written in basically some sort indecipherable math or physics language, but somehow, I understood exactly what he wanted me to do. Rather than the old model of a split hemisphere flat Earth, or a round Earth with its own issues, Jesus proposed merging the two hemispheres into one hemisphere with a single dome. The Earth now had an atmosphere centered around the North Pole, moving the Council where at where anyone could travel to them, moving the (formerly) Eastern Continent where Kirin and Kushiyama were around the edges in a circle, and moving the other islands in a circle between at different latitudes based on climate. The Earth was still flat, since it had to hold water (I had experimented with the round Earth but it didn't work), but instead of having a mostly flat base, now its sides were all surrounded by rock to make it like a basin. North was toward the center, south was toward the edge in any direction, and east and west appeared to be straight left and right but were actually clockwise and counterclockwise. Because of spatial curve, this meant that going south would eventually lead around the Eastern Continent but because this curved at the poles, going south eventually meant curving clockwise around the Earth which made it impossible to fall off the Earth. It was also impossible to dig through the Earth, because I had piled up countless layers of soil from ages past with fossils and rare artifacts, finally ending in a lava core and firm rock below it. On the other hand, since the atmosphere was less curved it was now possible both for aliens to visit us, and for spacecrafts to leave Earth. This meant that now it was technically a sphere, but one with a top of atmosphere and a bottom of lithosphere (you know, rock layer) and without the problems of gravity being really strange in the southern hemisphere. The lithosphere formed a rim of rock that held any water near the edges inside, but while people at the edges could see the start of the atmosphere and this rock wall, they couldn't touch it.

Compasses now would always point north, since north was the magnetic center, and south was away from the center. This also meant that the sun would orbit the Earth clockwise, rising in the east and setting in the west while appearing to be traveling in an arc due to human angle of viewpoint. The sun typically circles the equator, one of many concentric rings, moving north towards the center during summer and moving south in the winter (in the northern hemisphere). The moon as went from east to west but at a different pace, and its shadow caused the phases of the moon until at last it was full and gave off its own sort of light. Eclipses happened semi-regularly as they were just a matter of the two catching up for a few seconds with their different timing. The stars were aligned around the planet but both the north and south hemisphere could see the same group of stars since there was one dome. That this was now a more realistic planet allowed me to retain my design of other planets and stars outside of Earth. I even made planets for all those space aliens that were previously only in different dimensions! Needless to say, since I was doing all of this while I was supposed to be dreaming, I woke up very tired and was not much fun to be around for the next six days.

As a result of Jesus's proposed edits, we had the Presence shining on us. Unlike the sun, it was not too bright to look at. And unlike the moon, it was never too dark to see. In fact, Jesus's Presence helped balance the extremes of the sun and moon, being a kind of third light in the sky. While the sun's light was a warm reddish color and the moon glowed with a cooling yellow, this presence was a healing tone of green. Yup, like traffic lights. These three tones worked together well, each having a specific role in how the world worked. At any time, we could simply talk about our problems and have someone there immediately, for this is what I mean by Presence.

As for creatures, there were random encounters, but much like an “Deer Crossing” sign of course told the deer exactly where to cross (this is totally how these signs work), creatures would now appear only in areas with tall grass. I figured while I personally didn't want Tamashii to get hurt but plenty of people did want to hunt critters, so I told her that she'd be safer if she just stuck to the path. Tamashii listened to me, of course, because she totally isn't an adventure addict. Well, maybe a little.

Anyway, I met with Michael, and begged the angel to join, gaining Michael's Crest in the process. We still had other stuff to visit, and Michael was kinda psyched to be spending time with the friend whose daughter had told so much about. As we left, some of the old flora and fauna of Heaven came back, so I wanted to leave before Tamashii was bitten by a lobster bug. What horrible creatures!

At last, we had received all of the Crests again. We had only to go to the Mountain of Fate again and... Wait... I asked God, “How exactly do we get to the Mountain of Fate again? I mean, there's still a portal but it leads to the First Universe. A lot of other places aren't... exactly there anymore.” He shook his head. “You don't,” he said.

I began to sweat. “But... how...?” I stammered. He advised me, “Go to Lao Tzu. He will be able to complete your quest.” Wait, I just petted that cat not long ago. Why didn't he mention anything? Maybe I should have given him some milk?

JESUS

I was going to interrupt,but I decided it might be rude. Sorry to impose. Theologically, I'm actually her Son. Sorry, incarnation makes this confusing. Ambrosia is a personification of my Father. Some of you here don't understand the Trinity, so here goes: there are three Persons of God, each of which is distinct yet of the whole of God. They aren't each other, but all of these Persons are God. When we talk about God, we usually talk about my Father, but I'm also God, as is the Holy Spirit.

But what about the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is a Soul consisting of all living souls. In theory, the Holy Spirit could become a person, but uhhhh it involves merging all bodies and souls together into a singularity. This was the case in the Beginning, but to try to do it right now would involve a lot of gore, violently colliding into a single entity. Yeah, let’s stop thinking about that disturbing image, you humans will have nightmares.

Ambrosia as an incarnation of God the Father is completely human but also completely God. Since Ambrosia's a bit less... restrained than God normally is, typically in her human form she has relative amnesia about her powers, being no different from other people. She would otherwise not have been incarnate, as didn't happen through the Bible or most of Earth's past (I became incarnate, but my Father was Creator and thus needed to remain as he was), but she wanted to experience life as a human. And discovering that Earth wasn't as real as it should be, she became pregnant with the Universe Egg to make the Earth real. She became incarnate to accomplish the Oracle of Tao's duty, of course. Including her other task. But let's not give too much away.