None of Legion’s reunions went particularly smoothly. Some people weren’t there; others weren’t happy to have an old flame show up when they’d moved on to another relationship. Even when everything worked out, Legion had decided to tell his or her partner or parents or child who Legion was now. Most didn’t really seem to accept what Legion said in one way or another; of the people who did, some seemed far more upset than Legion was.

Legion was very, very happy. So many of the reunions went well! This was so much better than Legion had feared. Better even than Legion had dared to hope!

Yes, there were some that were lost. Yes, there were some that rejected Legion, either because they had moved on or because they thought Legion was some sort of impostor. Those brought down Legion’s mood a lot, but they couldn’t remove the joy of the successful reunions.

Legion had waited so long! Carl missed Becca and Calen and his parents and he was not alone.

Legion finally decided: yes, the portions of Legion who had families or other people they needed to support on Earth would stay and try to pick up their former lives as best they could. That was something other people couldn’t or wouldn’t do, and they were all important to Legion.

Legion doubted most of the jobs would be waiting, but almost all of Legion could delve. Each body was faster and stronger than before the abduction and none was below Tier Two at this point; that should be decent for Earth, especially since Legion had more green guns than bodies. Hopefully that would pay well enough to support everyone. Legion started to look into what materials were needed and requested; that had to be a thing, didn’t it?

The rest of Legion didn’t yet have a goal. While Legion could simply support those Legion cared about, simply getting by seemed too small. Legion had hundreds of options now. Perhaps exploring them was the best way forward for now; it wasn’t like one goal was going to be enough.

Legion would support Serenity, but saving Earth was a starting point, not a goal. Legion lived on Earth, and so did the people Legion cared about.

Perhaps Legion should aim to be the best mage, the best swordsman, and the best enchanter on Earth? Or perhaps that was too much; there were millions of people on Earth. It would be better to leverage Legion’s strengths.

Legion decided to have a long talk with Kerr. Becoming the best mercenary company would take advantage of Legion’s strengths, but that meant Legion needed to know what that meant. On Asihanya, the mercenary guilds were basically groups of delvers; was that the norm or the exception? What did it take to be successful, and how could that be adapted to Earth?

Kerr wouldn’t be able to answer all of those questions, but she could definitely give Legion a starting point.

Serenity hung up after his discussion with Russ. It was strange to be back on Earth and even stranger to be using a cell phone again. Even odder was the fact that most of the people he passed ignored his purple hair and silver horns; he wasn’t the only person with eye-catching changes around when he went out in public.

None of that was as odd as being able to ask for help from someone who was more suited to solve a problem and also affiliated with the local law enforcement. On Zon and Asihanya, there was no real recourse, though the reasons were different. On Lyka and Aeon, Serenity fought against the authorities. Admittedly, Rourke’s aid, but that wasn’t the same as being able to hand a problem over.

Russ seemed like the right person to handle someone learning mind control. By Serenity’s standards, this seemed blatant and easily broken, but that made sense if the person was new to the Skill. Why be subtle if you’d never needed to?

Admittedly, that could happen with powerful people as well; they could get lazy and used to simply bowling people over. Vengeance had run into that a few times, but generally those weren’t so easily broken.

Whatever that was, it was handled for now. Serenity’s parents, on the other hand, were still missing. It was time for a phone call. One that he’d use his birth name for, however odd it seemed.

The phone rang twice before it was answered with a cheerful “Hello?”

“Oliver Davis?” Serenity didn’t wait for confirmation. “Baxter gave me your number; this is Thomas Rothmer. I’m told you flew my parents, Lex and Bethany, out to an island off the coast of Florida?”

There was a long pause. “Why don’t you ask them yourself?”

Thomas sighed. That sounded like Oliver was worried he was going to be blamed. “I’d like to hire you to take me to the same island.”

The pause this time was shorter. “We have an opening starting tomorrow, but you’ll have to be on the dock by six. I can meet you at the airport tonight if you can get the flight.”

Serenity smiled. He’d heard from his father that flights were down, but portals weren’t even close to being able to support everyone who wanted to be able to travel yet. The infrastructure simply wasn’t there, and wouldn’t be until people had a way to take their cars with them. On top of that, there simply wasn’t enough Etherium around - though its value had skyrocketed over the past year. “I’ll come by portal. Tell me which portal and when and I’ll be there.”

“Fine, fine!” Serenity threw up his hands. He never should have mentioned the Skill he’d recently unlocked to Ita. He didn’t really believe in the gods and it was still weirding him out that he was one now. The idea of having priests - or, in Ita’s case, a Shameless - was not really comfortable.

Ita, on the other hand, was absolutely thrilled. He’d warned her repeatedly that he didn’t even know what the Skill really did but she didn’t care. She wanted him to use it on her and eventually worn him down enough to get him to agree. He’d tried to put it off until after he retrieved his parents, but Ita had pointed out that it might make it easier for her to create a portal for him, to get him or his parents out of a bad situation.

The argument was specious but Serenity couldn’t deny it.

Appoint Intercessors

Priest, Shaman, or Shameless, almost all deities have mortals who act as the interface between the God and the Believer.

Serenity felt something travel from him to Ita and back again, but the only thing that he could tell was that Ita seemed a little brighter to his Detect Believers ability. “Do you feel anything?”

“No,” Ita said, with her mouth parted in a Sterath grin. “I didn’t expect to; you’re right in front of me and we already have a link. We can see if anything changes when we’re farther apart.” She gave him another wide Sterath grin and a wave before she hopped away.

Serenity was glad she could be less formal in private. That was an ongoing project.

Serenity turned to Rissa and gave her a hug. “I’ll be back soon, dear.”

“Don’t promise what you can’t do,” Rissa scolded with a smile and a short tight hug. “We’ll be here. Get your parents back and keep Blaze safe.”

“Hey,” Blaze protested. “I am capable of taking care of myself.”

Serenity nodded. “I know. You’ll probably be taking care of things I can’t do.”

Blaze shrugged. “You can heal, you know. You have a very good Affinity for it and plenty of knowledge and skill; you just need confidence.”

Serenity shook his head. He knew differently but it wasn’t worth the argument. “You ready?”

“Yes.” Blaze nodded sharply.

Serenity turned towards Aki’s portal node. He felt positively strange, almost naked, since he wasn’t wearing his armor-self; he had his Crystal Hilt in a backpack along with a few other basic supplies to make it look like he was prepared, but realistically he was going to depend on the gear he’d stashed in his Rift. It was a lot more than he’d had back on Zon; everything on his list that could be obtained in a few quick shopping trips, along with a bunch of impulse purchases.

He didn’t think he’d need a full dining room set or a large toolkit, but it was better to have them than not, just in case. The Skill he had to materialize items still couldn’t do anything complex or precise. Yet.

Aide was sulking. He’d placed orders for a lot of electronics the moment he synced with Earth’s internet through Aki, but very little of it had arrived. Serenity had gotten the best substitutes he could in the time he had, but it didn’t replace everything. Aide didn’t argue with Serenity’s urgency, but he wasn’t happy.

The Miami Dockside Node wasn’t portal-approved by the Miami Mayor, but that didn’t matter to Serenity; he simply overrode it for a one-time portal directly from Aki’s dungeon. Serenity stepped through the portal and looked around.

He’d expected to see commercial docks, but that wasn’t what surrounded the Dockside Node. Indeed, it looked like the area had expanded around the node because there was at least a hundred and fifty feet of unimproved beach between a pair of docks that looked like they had once fit together, possibly as a single piece.

There was a man standing inside the new greenspace, but he stared at the water instead of watching the node and hadn’t yet noticed Serenity and Blaze. “Oliver Davis?”

The man whipped around. “Yes. You must… wait. Wait. Thomas Rothmer. You’re Serenity? Lex is Serenity’s father? Baxter knows Serenity?”

Serenity couldn’t help but laugh at Oliver’s obvious surprise. “Yes, I’ve known Baxter for decades, and the other way around. I sometimes think he still thinks of me as little Thomas.”

Oliver stared for a moment, then shook himself. “I’m sorry, I try not to react like that. It was the surprise. It explains why you were able to come direct here; that’s definitely worthwhile compared to trying to go through the airport these days. You would have been noticed. Anyway, the ship isn’t far; follow me.”

Oliver turned away, towards the concrete. After a moment, he looked over at Blaze. “I didn’t catch your name?”

Blaze smiled politely. “My name is Blaze. I’m a healer; Serenity thought it would be helpful, in case his parents happen to be injured.”

Oliver nodded. “I’d heard that some of the heli-rescue groups have started carrying a healer as well as a paramedic. I know the healing’s useful, but I haven’t looked into which one’s better for what.”

“It depends on the healer’s skills and specialties,” Blaze answered. “I’ve been quite favorably impressed by Earth medicine, even in situations with limited supplies; at this point, I’d say that they complement each other well, with magical healing providing faster recovery times and mundane healing contributing to better outcomes. That will shift as the skill of the healers grows; many of your mundane techniques are directly analogous to magical techniques, while there are certain magical techniques that can allow for far easier application of your level of knowledge…”

Serenity groaned to himself. Oliver didn’t know it, but he’d just invited a lecture from Blaze that would last until someone interrupted him.

Lillene

I need to come up with a better way to say what I mean when I say Serenity "doesn't believe in the gods". He definitely believes they exist; he just doesn't ... what's the right word? Worship them would be (mostly) true but incomplete ... believe that they're worthy of unconditional worship? Argh.

In other news, yes, Serenity's actions at the end of the last arc pushed his Path far enough to unlock an extra Skill ... it wasn't mentioned in the text since there was no good place to mention it. I did show it in the post-arc Status, but this is the first time it's been in the actual text.