Roughly a month later, the Council had been called together for an all-hands meeting. Elenoa tapped the desk in front of her impatiently. Kali had called the meeting, and now everyone was waiting for her to show up so they could start. She was of half a mind to just start the meeting now, but the issue was that the airhead hadn’t actually told any of them what it was about.

Finally, the door opened and Kali walked in, taking her seat. “Sorry!” She said. “I was prepping for this and it took longer than I expected.”

“And would you care to tell us what is so important that you tore us aware from our work? Some of us are busy.” Elenoa said, not bothering to hide the distaste in her voice.

“Of course.” Kali replied, standing up. “I’m here to announce a large change in the way things will be going from here on out. You see–”

“And what right do you have to make this change?” Baern interrupted. “We’ll listen, and then vote, as always. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Kali smirked. “You misunderstand. The Council has no choice in this matter.” Elenoa moved to speak but was silenced by an overwhelming pressure coming from Kali. It was as if she had suddenly been transported to the bottom of the sea – it was a struggle to move a muscle, let alone speak. So, she did the only thing she could do, and stared daggers at Kali as the woman spoke.

“I am what you might call the system administrator for this universe. I’m the one in charge of magic and how it all works. Since the system I designed was awful, I’ve made a much improved one, which will be rolling out…” She raised her hand and poked the air. “Now.”

A window popped up in front of Elenoa, showing her a status screen, which she began to read. “You’re going to be weaker than you were before for a few months, while everything transfers over. I’ve made sure everyone’s growth is accelerated until they reach the level they were previously at, and by that time you should actually be significantly stronger than you were. For most people, I’ve given them a simple window explaining everything, but for the world leaders I’m holding a special conference tomorrow.” She dropped a piece of paper on the table in front of here. “Here’s the details. Lilith will be my enforcer and mouthpiece, so to get you used to dealing with her, she’ll be running everything tomorrow. I expect all of you to be there. Oh, and you can take this as my official resignation. So, have fun!”

She vanished, and Elenoa was once again able to move. As she read off the paper with the details, she thought. Lilith. She had completely forgotten about the girl, no doubt thanks to Kali. But, better her than anyone else. After all, she had hostages.

“I’m declaring a state of emergency.” Elenoa said. “Baern, get Isa and Winston immediately. We’ll be taking them to the meeting tomorrow. Gabriel, gather Carmen, her family, and her friends. We need leverage, so take them somewhere safe.”

“As soon as you’re all done, focus on getting your level up. We need to be as tough as possible going into this. Dismissed.” Elenoa didn’t wait to get a response from the others. They’d probably drag their feet, but there was nothing they could really do. The angels had the right to declare a state of emergency should something come up, and by exercising that the other’s hands were tied. There was finally a chance to break the deadlock she was in, and she wasn’t going to waste it.

---

Yamato grabbed Gabriel on his way out. “Gabriel.” He said, looking the angel in the eyes. “I know you don’t like how Elenoa runs things.”

Gabriel looked around conspiratorially before nodding.

“Do you want to get the Council out from under her thumb?”

Another hesitant nod.

“This is our chance. Given how turbulent the next while is going to be, I don’t think she’ll be willing to remove you from the Council. It would just make an already difficult time worse.”

Gabriel perked up at this. “You think?”

“Absolutely. Now, Elenoa wasn’t specific enough with how she told you to move the hostages.” He spat the last word, trying to make his disdain for the practice evident. “She just wants them somewhere “safe”. And, what’s safer than the presence of all the Council members and both of our Perfect Chimeras?”

Gabriel’s face broke into a smile. “Take her pieces off of the board, I like it. Alright, I’ll do it. Make sure to put a good word in for me with Kali, alright?”

Yamato clapped the man on the back. “Good. If we can get the backing of Kali and Lilith, we’ll have a strong case for making a change. And I’m sure Kali will be more than happy with your help.”

---

Carmen was jolted from her sleep by Alex slamming the door open.

“I remember!” She panted. “Everyone remembers! When we got the message about the new system, the seal came undone!”

Carmen got a sinking feeling in her stomach. “What message?”

Alex frowned. “You know, the explanation about how magic is changing?”

Carmen shook her head. “I didn’t get one of those. I’m not connected to Lilith, either. I can’t talk to her at all. I can remember her more clearly now, but that’s it.” She pounded a fist on the table beside her. “I was so close, too! I just had to find a way around that stupid barrier that was blocking teleportation and we would have been able to rescue her.” She stood up, a determined expression on her face. “It’s not over yet, though. It’ll be painful, but I can rebel if need be. We can still help her. Go gather everyone in the living room, we need to have a discussion.”

Alex hesitated, and then nodded, leaving to do as she was told. After she left Carmen let loose a frustrated growl. “This is not how I wanted to wake from my nap.” She hissed to no one in particular, just wanting to get the words out. She took a moment to regain her composure, and made her way to the living room, where people had already started to gather. In another minute, everyone was there. It felt…empty. Nashra had moved out a while back, as she was determined to be unnecessary for Lilith’s further education, and she was never very comfortable living with everyone anyway.

Lilith and Siph were…gone, and Kali was at some Council meeting. That left Carmen’s human parents, Judy, Alex, Vithi, and herself.

“I don’t have any contact with Lilith.” Carmen said abruptly. “I don’t even have this new system Alex was talking about. To me, this only means that whoever got their hands on Lilith finished whatever they needed with her.” She paused for a moment. “I don’t know why Siph was taken as well. I’m assuming she tried to help Lilith somehow and was injured or killed as a result. But I think we’ve still got a chance at helping her. Lilith’s resistance to mind altering effects is pretty low when she’s not connected to me, but I can help her shrug off any active effects when I get to her, and from then we just need to get her back and deprogram whatever was done to her. I–”

She was cut off by the front door opening. A tall angel man walked in, followed by Raphael, Thiala, and Emily. “My name is Gabriel, and I’m a member of the Council.” He said, grimacing. “Unfortunately, I have bad news. To make a long story short, Lilith is acting as a sort of enforcer in the new system, and Elenoa wants you all as hostages.” He held up a hand, stifling the outraged noise Carmen was making. “I know. It’s awful. But, we have an out. She told me to take her family and friends to a safe place, so I’m taking you to the safest place I can think of. You see, tomorrow we’ll be having a meeting with Lilith and Kali, and I can’t think of anywhere safer than somewhere with the entire Council and both of the Perfect Chimeras on our side.”

“Why is Raphael here?” Carmen asked warily.

“I’m a friend!” She said, puffing her chest out proudly.

“I know Elenoa didn’t mean Raphael too, but I thought it would be nice if you all had a little something over her.” Gabriel explained.

“And you’re fine with this?” Carmen said, raising an eyebrow.

“I trust Lilith!” Raphael said. “And it sounds like more fun than staying here and doing what grandma wants.”

Carmen grit her teeth. As much as she hated to just do what they wanted, it was her best chance at getting to Lilith. Probably. “And how do you suggest you bring us to this meeting?”

Gabriel waved a hand. “I’ve got a pocket space that I can keep you guys in. It’s not very large, but it should do the trick.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll, which he handed to Carmen. “Go ahead and read this. This is the array you use to open the portal to it, I’ll let you handle transport in and out, so you know I’m not trying to trick you.”

Carmen quickly memorized the Array using Decipher, then turned her attention back to Gabriel. “What’s your assurance that this’ll work from inside of your little area?”

This time, Alex spoke up. “It doesn’t work like that. I…think. It didn’t used to. Magic worked the same everywhere, and you would have to use some sort of anti-magic field to prevent it. He’d have to ward the entire space against magic to prevent an array, and if he did that the space would collapse, so we should be safe.”

“Even then, what’s to say he won’t just take us somewhere we can’t leave?”

“If we wanted to do that, we would bring a lot more force. Yes, I might be trying to talk things out first, but either way you wouldn’t be able to escape. This is your best chance to get to Lilith.”

“Fine.” Carmen growled, activating the array. “Everyone in, we’ll brainstorm on what our plan of action is while we wait.”

Gabriel shot her a grateful look. “Thanks. I know it’s sketchy, but it’s the best I can do for you right now. I hope this will help to patch up the negative image of my race that you surely had, given how you’ve been treated by us.”

Carmen raised an eyebrow. “We’ll see. If you can get me to Lilith, then you’ll have something going for you. If you’re lying to me…You can kiss any promise of future cooperation goodbye.”

Gabriel nodded. “I understand. I won’t disappoint you.”

---

Elenoa stood with the five other members of the Council and the two Perfect Chimeras, waiting for the teleport. They had been instructed to convene again in their regular meeting place at noon, and they would be teleported to where they would actually be holding the meeting. She was insulted that they wouldn’t just hold it in the Council’s meeting room, but unfortunately there wasn’t much she could do about it.

The teleport came at exactly noon, and the eight people found themselves in a wide area made to look like a courtroom. They were at a row of desks that had been set up towards the front of the room, in front of the benches. There were other people around, but Elenoa was too busy reading the window in front of her to pay much attention.

You have entered The Hall of Judgement! Dungeon Effects: Deathless The High Arbiter’s personal dungeon. Here, law and order reign supreme.

Elenoa snorted. The airhead was getting pretentious, and she wasn’t very good at it.

“Take a seat.” Lilith said, causing all eyes in the room to turn towards her. She was sitting where a judge would usually sit, and behind her was Kali, smiling faintly. Lilith waited as most of the assembled guests sat.

Elenoa didn’t bother. She wasn’t going to take orders from the child in front of her. Looking around, she saw that several others were of the same mindset. She wasn’t surprised to see Winston standing – she doubted he’d sit if she wasn’t. Among the others she recognized a few from the governments of Earth, and even a confirmed leader of the Society.

“I will ask you once more to sit.” Lilith said coldly, glaring at those who remained standing.

“Give me one reason I should.” Elenoa replied defiantly.

“Because if you don’t, I’ll make you sit.”

Elenoa rolled her eyes. “I don’t know why I bothered with this charade. Winston, we don’t need to go through her, just take her out. We don’t need to talk with a middleman.”

Ever the loyal follower, Winston nodded, and the air in front of him rippled. A wave of spatial distortion rocketed out from his position, slicing Lilith clean in two.

Well, that should have happened. Instead, the gathered people watched in horror as large chunks of Lilith’s flesh sloughed off of her body, and new flesh nearly instantly regrew, as did a tentacle which absorbed the discarded flesh before disappearing. She glared at Winston, and Elenoa gaped as his face paled and he instantly sat down, no, collapsed onto his chair.

“Any other objections? I’m trying to be diplomatic here.” Lilith said calmly.

Everyone else sat down. Elenoa would have remained standing out of the principle of the thing - she doubted Lilith would actually hurt her -  but Isa grabbed her shoulder and forced her down.

“Don’t be an idiot.” She hissed. “We have no idea what she did to Winston, and you’re just being needlessly stubborn.”

Elenoa grimaced. She’d have to have words with Isa later, but now wasn’t the time.

Lilith gazed out over the audience. “I may be a “middleman”, but that’s just something you’re going to have to deal with. My job is to oversee you all as everyone gets settled in and make sure no one abuses their power.” Her focus lingered on Elenoa for a moment longer than it did everyone else, and then continued on. “From this point until 10 years in the future, the countries of Earth and the countries of Haven are to remain separate entities unless both parties agree to an equal merger. Should I find evidence that either party has coerced or threatened the other with any form of military action within these 10 years, whether that action would take place now or in the future, I will personally deal with the offending party.” Her gaze hardened.

“Ever since the war, administrator Kali has chosen to keep magic out of the hands of the people from Earth, to allow their technology time to develop, and then provided Haven to give refugees a place to live. As far as anyone knew, it was a desperate ritual that allowed magic to be stripped and a portal to Haven to be opened, but I will inform you now that that was a farce Kali let happen to hide her existence while she worked to fix things.”

“I tell you this now so that everyone knows not to attempt to remove magic from the people of Earth again. If you attempt to do so, not only will it fail, but those responsible will be sentenced to death, with no room for argument.” She rested her gaze on Enna, face softening. “Kali would like to apologize for the state of Haven. It ended up being more dangerous than people could handle, and she did not intend for it to force the people to imprison themselves for their own safety.”

Enna looked smug, and Elenoa could already hear her gloating about how she was right, the job was too difficult for one person to reasonably handle.

“That being said, it is our belief that this new system will allow people to break out of their self-imposed isolation and fully explore the world beyond the three cities. To aid in this endeavor, we will be permanently linking Earth and Haven via a new network of portals. Travel between the two planes has been made far easier, and we will be constructing portals in every major city or settlement. Intentional interference with the portals or attempts to restrict their use is forbidden, and any attempts to do so will be dealt with accordingly.”

“The portals will require some mana from the users to operate, of course, and services that would provide extra mana to those who cannot do it themselves are legal. The environment of Earth itself will not immediately change, but it is important to know that with this type and magnitude of connection, it will eventually adopt the same conditions that Haven has now. Our current estimate gives it 15 years at the most before it will have become roughly as dangerous.”

“Before I open the floor for questions, I would like to give some background on myself so those questions are not at the forefront of everyone's minds. Should you want to know even more about me, you are free to stay after the meeting is officially dismissed, and I will be more than willing to talk with you.”

“My name is Lilith Clements. I was born on Earth, a human boy by the name of Lucas Clements. I was a college student who was studying computer science before I was turned into a Perfect Chimera, at which point I briefly studied under Councilman Tunem. I then agreed to help Kali make this transition as smooth as possible. Now it is my job to act as the defender of the weak and upholder of order, making sure that all are treated fairly.”

She took a breath. “And now I will answer any questions you may have. Please raise your hand, and I will call on you in the order they came up.”

The moment she fell silent, Elenoa opened her mouth to speak, but was instantly paralyzed by a wave of displeasure radiating off of Lilith.

“I did not call on you, Councilwoman Elenoa. If you attempt to disobey me further, I will be forced to remove you from the premises.” She said icily.

The pressure dissipated, and Elenoa grit her teeth and raised her hand.

“Yes, Councilwoman Elenoa?”

“What reparations will be made to the Protectorate, as we lose the most from this?”

“None whatsoever. You lose only an unfair hold over billions of people and stand to improve the quality of life for your citizens. As such, no reparations are necessary.”

Elenoa kept her hand up, and Lilith motioned for her to continue. She couldn’t help but give a small smirk as she continued to speak, happy to finally have something she could hang over Lilith. “Need I remind you that your family and friends are currently under our protection? Surely something could be done to make them…more comfortable.”

For the first time, Lilith tensed, and her eyes briefly flickered towards Gabriel before returning to Elenoa. “Is that a threat?” She asked stiffly.

Elenoa didn’t miss the lapse in attention, and nodded towards Winston, who stared intently at Gabriel.

“It does not need to be a threat if you care enough about them.” Elenoa said, ignoring Winston.

“That is extortion.” Lilith replied. “I will give you lenience now, as I had not yet explained, but be warned that attempting to bribe me, blackmail me, or otherwise unethically influence my judgement is a capital offense. My word is considered law.”

Their talk was interrupted as Winston slashed out at the air near Gabriel. Reality was torn asunder again, and this time nine people poured out of the rift.

Lilith smiled slightly. “Councilman Gabriel, thank you for bringing these people here. Come meet me afterwards.” She waved a hand, and before anyone had time to react, the nine people vanished.

Elenoa was still processing what happened as Lilith turned to her, gaze hardening. “You would use your own granddaughter as a hostage? Disgusting. I would recommend you keep your future conduct in check, or else I see my intervention being required in the future.”

Own granddaughter? Wait, she was right. Raphael was one of those people. Why?! Gabriel knew better than that, she was sure. She added him to her mental list of people to lecture when this was over.

“Next question, President Davidson?”

---

The questions and answers weren’t anything special. It basically boiled down to Lilith confirming that she wouldn’t involve herself with existing political relationships and was there only to ensure that people from the two worlds would get along, as well as some more explicit examples of when she would intervene.

To Gabriel, the highlight of the session was probably one of the Society members asked what would be done to their organization. The answer was nothing, unless they made a power grab.

Gabriel assumed that meant they’d be visited real soon. He’d never known them to do anything but make power grabs. But, he was distracting himself. He had to admit that he was nervous about meeting with Lilith. She hadn’t exactly been treated well by Elenoa, and it was no secret that he was essentially her underling.

He finally made it to Lilith, who motioned for him to take a seat on a chair next to her. He sat down apprehensively, and she smiled.

“Really, thanks. We were keeping an eye on things after Kali met with the Council, so we heard your conversation with Yamato. I appreciate that this was a huge risk for you, so I really can’t think of how I can properly repay you.”

Gabriel thought about that for a moment. He…didn’t really want Lilith in his debt. That seemed like a lot of trouble, given his position. Elenoa would probably try to leverage that in some way, and he did not want to deal with that.

“In that case, do you mind if I ask a few questions, and we’ll call it even?”

“Ask away.” Lilith said, crossing her legs in a businesslike manner. “I can’t guarantee that I’ll be at liberty to answer all of them, but I’ll answer what I can. I’ll answer as many as you want.” She paused, apparently thinking. “Alright, correction, I’m going to cap that to an hour. I’m afraid that, as much as I would like to, I can’t talk with you forever.”

“No, that’ll be plenty.” Gabriel replied, slightly taken aback. “Um, alright. First off…why? Why the change in magic?”

Lilith sighed and looked over to Kali, who nodded. “Simply put, the old one was crap. Society was stagnating and something had to be done to change that. We needed to give people a power boost, so we did.”

Gabriel paused, glancing back at the assembled people. “And I’m guessing you can’t selectively choose not to give bad people this new power, thus the need for you?”

“Got it in one. What’s your next question?”

“What do you plan to do with your time? Just sit here until you’re needed?”

Lilith shrugged. “We’ll see. For the next while I’ll be thinning out the powerful monsters around the areas with portals so people will have an easier adjustment period. After that I don’t know. We’ll see how things are then.”

Gabriel nodded in understanding. “Alright, last question, will we ever see Kali again?”

Lilith hesitated, and Kali stepped forward. “I’ll come say hi to my friends from time to time. I won’t just suddenly cut ties with everyone, don’t worry.”

Gabriel nodded, slightly relieved. He had built up something resembling a friendship with Kali over the hundred of years he had been working with her. He could only ever get so far in it, with Elenoa constantly on his back, but things would be different now. Probably.

“Alright, thanks. You don’t owe me anymore, got it?” Gabriel said, moving to leave.

“Are you sure?” Lilith said, raising an eyebrow. “I must say that I don’t think this was an equal trade.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Gabriel said. “I really don’t want Elenoa to have this sort of leverage. She’ll be constantly trying to find a way to hold it over me, and I just don’t want that. Other than that, friendly relationships are all I really need.”

“Very well then.” Lilith replied. “You may be on your way.” She turned back to the people waiting for her. “Next?”

---

Carmen groaned as she woke up. She was…connected with Lilith again. And she could see a lot of windows in front of her, almost completely obscuring her vision.

“Good, everyone’s awake.” Lilith said, clapping her hands.

Carmen tried to mentally move the windows to the side. Fortunately for her, it worked, and she found herself able to see once again. She found herself on a bed in a large room, surrounded by beds which held her companions.

“Is everyone feeling OK? No one hurt you, right?” Lilith continued, scanning the assembled people. “Because, if they did, I’m going to have to teach them a lesson they won’t soon forget.”

Carmen grimaced, sitting up. “I think we should be asking you that.” She replied. “You disappeared off the face of the planet for a month and you just expect us to be fine with it? I was worried sick!”

Lilith blinked. “What? Kali said no one would be able to remember until now.”

Carmen gave her an exasperated look. “That’s beside the point! Even if I didn’t remember you, which I did, that wouldn’t stop me from being worried once I did remember you!” She shook her head. “You’re acting different. You look different. Seriously, what happened?”

“I was training to prepare myself for this new role. Look, I’m just going to share our memories from the past month. You’ll be convinced then.” Lilith rolled her eyes, and before Carmen could protest, she felt a tingle in her head.

It didn’t knock her out like she was expecting it to. Her new memories informed her that this was because of the Hivemind Skill, but that barely registered to her, as busy processing all the new information as she was.

While she was distracted, Lilith continued to talk. “For now, I’ve got you all safe inside my dungeon. It’s going to be our base of operations for the time being, as it’s safer than just about anywhere else.” For the first time since meeting back up with her, Lilith looked slightly apprehensive. “Of course, if any of you want to leave, you’re more than happy to do so. I’m not going to hold you prisoner here.”

“With all due respect, mistress,” Emily said, “We don’t have much of a choice. With the exception of Raphael, the Council would work on capturing us immediately once word gets out that we’re not with you.”

Lilith tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I could set you up with some minor cosmetic changes and new identities, you could live your lives in one of Earth’s countries and no one would be the wiser.”

Judy rolled her eyes. “I don’t think most of us would want to go through that trouble just to live away from you. The children excepted, we’ve been living together for the past few months so it’s not that big a change.”

“I don’t want to leave you again, not with everything that’s been going on.” Mike said. “You’re my daughter, and I’d rather stay here with you than uproot our lives any further than they already have been.”

Jessica squeezed her husband’s hand. “I agree.”

Vithi shrugged. “You’re my lamp for the time being, so I don’t really have a reason to leave.”

“We don’t have to worry about that anymore.” Lilith argued. “We can get you tough enough to be on your own and then you can leave.”

Vithi raised an eyebrow. “I want security, and you’re telling me, in this time of upheaval, to stop being contracted to the most powerful and influential person I can trust, and to go off on my own? Yeah, no thanks.” She said, tone indicating that it was her final say on the matter.

“I doubt it’ll be me protecting you in the future,” Alex said, “but this still beats anything else I can think of.”

Lilith nodded. “Ah, yes, I nearly forgot.” She said, raising a hand. Alex suddenly lurched forward, gripping the sides of her bed.

“W…what was that?” She said, panting slightly.

“I broke the contract Carmen forced you into and undid all commands, including their residual influence on you. So, now that you are truly in an unmodified state of mind, free from even the ghost of the contract’s influence, would you like to stay the way you are now? “

“Yes.” Alex said instantly, not a trace of doubt in her voice. “I want to turn over a new leaf, put the past behind me, and I think a change like this is a great way to mark that. New body, new me. Plus…” she blushed, turning to the side slightly. “Well, never mind that. At the least, allow me to enter into the same contract that Raphael, Thiala, and Emily are in. I don’t want to be the only one left out of your mental uplink.”

Lilith nodded. “That’s acceptable. How about the rest of you? Do you want to stay?”

“I was going to be moving out soon anyway, mistress.” Emily said. “As soon as my apprenticeship was over, I would have been assigned to some family, so it doesn’t really matter to me. At least you’ve been nice to me and haven’t made me do anything ridiculous.” She gave Raphael a meaningful look, and the girl looked down.

“Sorry.” She mumbled.

“Um, I’m kind of scared, and I don’t exactly understand what’s going on, but if I try to go back to mama and papa people will come and take me away, right?” Thiala asked.

“Sorry.” Lilith said. “I didn’t want this either.”

“So…if I’m safe here I think I’m going to stay. At least until it’s safe to go back to mama and papa.”

“I understand. Do you want me to try and get your mama and papa, and I can set all of you up with a new life?” Lilith said gently.

Thiala shook her head. “Mama and papa can’t move, they’re too important to just leave. I can just wait here until it’s safe again.”

“Alright. Just let me know if you ever miss them too much, I can set up a meeting with them.”

“OK!” Thiala replied, perking up.

“And you, Raphael?”

“I chose to be here in the first place!” She said happily. “Of course I’m going to stay!”

“Alright then, but we have a little more to talk about. You said you wanted to stay a girl as long as I did, right?” Lilith said.

“Yup! I want to understand you as much as I can!” She replied.

“Well, I’m…stuck. Probably forever. Kali confirmed it for me, I can’t permanently change my base form, it’s locked into place to prevent myself from being torn apart by my own biology. So, I think it’s best if we just get you turned back now. I respect what you’re trying to do, but there’s no point in forcing yourself any longer.”

Raphael paused. “Can I…have some time to think about that?” She said.

“As much time as you need. You don’t have to– ”

“Are you kidding me?!” Carmen exclaimed.

“No, I think it’s quite reasonable to let her work this out on her own.” Lilith replied.

“Not that.” Carmen waved her hand. “You seriously haven’t gotten into a relationship with Kali yet? You clearly want it, she very clearly wants it, and it’s been a month! Just get on with it!”

“But that would be taking advantage of–”

“That’s an excuse and you know it. You didn’t have any problem offering to let her…relieve stress with you, so you’re just using this excuse because you’re scared to actually start dating. Get a grip!”

“Besides, it’s not like Kali’s just going to throw herself at anyone. She's perfectly normal around Siph. Her feelings are genuine, she just acts like that because of a difference in her species. She’s still totally in control of her desires. So, before you go do anything else, you’re going to go work things out, understood!”

Lilith scratched the back of her head. “Fine, fine.”

“That aside, you going to, you know, introduce us? We should really get that out of the way.”

Vithi tilted her head. “What do you mean? There’s no one else here.”

“I was getting to it, I swear!” Lilith said defensively.

Mae didn't bother waiting. Hello, everyone. My name is Mae, and I’m Lilith’s new parallel. Through a series of events, my main body is currently fused with Lilith’s, thus the appearance changes. I look forward to interacting with you all in the future.

“Oh, uh, hi!” Thiala said excitedly. “She can hear us, right? We don’t have to use telepathy?”

Correct. I have redesigned us so that we will be able to share senses with all other Parallels at all times. Once I make the necessary adjustments to Carmen, talking to any of us will allow all others to hear immediately, unless we specifically choose otherwise.

“But I think that’s enough for now. You can introduce yourselves more later.” Lilith said, cutting off any further conversation. “Take some time to look around and get used to this place, and tomorrow we’ll talk about what things are going to be like from now on. I apparently have to have a talk with Kali, so I’ll be back once that’s done. In the meantime, Carmen should be more than equipped to answer any questions.”

Carmen nodded in satisfaction. “That’s right. I, for one, am looking forward to being in a relationship, and I know you are too, deep down, so hop to it.”

“I got it, I got it!” Lilith said, leaving the room.

Carmen looked around. “If you were all wondering, she’s fine, nothing’s been done to her. She’s just had to learn how to stick up for herself. Now, let me show you all around, there’s some pretty cool stuff in here!”

End of Arc Three: Preparations