Pov Nadia:

*Diiiiinnng Dooooonng!*

Groaning, I opened my eyes and checked what time it was.

 

Seeing that it was 2:45am, I internally grumped, 'Nope, fluff it. Whoever it is can wait.'

 

Closing my eyes and hoping they will go away, I was bound to be disappointed.

 

*Diiiiinnng Dooooonng!*

 

I growled at the doorbell in frustration.

 

*uggg*

 

With a grunt, Zoey got up, flipping the blanket off of us.

 

*Waaaa*

 

Cold, I teleported next to her, snuggling close to her for warmth.

 

Giving me a pat on the head, Zoey slowly made her way to the intercom, struggling more than she needed to with me clinging to her side, refusing to let go of her warmth.

 

Looking down at me and amusedly shaking her head, she pressed the button and barked, "Who is it?"

 

After a short pause a Female voice answered, "I am Agent Truman with Agent Warner from the A-H-A. Is this Zoey?"

 

I whispered, "What does A-H-A stand for?"

 

Zoey softy replied "Affairs Handling Agency."

 

Finding the name funny, I couldn’t help myself.

 

In fake epiphany, I hit my palm and exclaimed, "Aha! So that is what that means!"

 

Zoey snorted, then started laughing. In between giggles, Zoey amusedly reprimanded, "Nadiaaaaa, *hehehe*, this, *ahahaha* is not, *tehehe* a good time for jokes! *wahahaha!*"

 

Calming down after a while, she wheezed tentatively, "Sorry about that. Yeah, this is Zoey."

 

Agent Truman emotionlessly replied, "It's fine, we get that a lot."

 

Soldiering on, she continued, "We have been sent on a diplomatic mission. It is important that we meet or send a message to the deities as soon as possible, however,  before we do, we need to speak to Nadia and You about them so that we don't accidentally offend them or leave a bad impression."

 

Huffing, I pouted and folded my arms. 'Too late for that'

 

Zoey looked at me, and smirked at the irony of the situation, then shook her head in condolences.

 

Unamused with how early it is, she asked, "Couldn't this have waited until later?"

 

Agent Truman replied, "Unfortunately we can't. The other dimension has sent a small platoon of soldiers guarding a Mage, who was trying to get in contact with a deity using some sort of ritual. 

 

Because of that, the Governor has lost his patience. He wants to ensure that we are the first ones to make contact. His exact wording was, The deities must stay in this world, no matter what cost."

 

Mulling it over for a sec, Zoey whispered exasperatedly, "This is a very complicated situation. Any ideas on what we should do?"

 

Struggling to not nod off against Zoey, I took a couple of seconds to ponder and quickly gave up. 

 

Yawning I sleepily replied, "I don't know. It's too early to think."

 

Slurring on, I added, "I'll leave it up to youuuu." while going limp against Zoey and slowly drifting off.

 

*snap snap*

 

With a couple snaps from Zoey, I bolted back into focus.

 

"Come on, I need you here."

 

Pouting, I whined, "So sleeeepeeey."

 

Patting my head softly, Zoey consoled, "I know, but this needs to be taken care of."

 

Grouchy and irritated, I folded my arms again and grumbled, "Fine, let's just get over this… Just let them know that there is a very good possibility of me snapping."

 

Giggling, Zoey commented, "I can see that, especially with you bearing your cute canines, not to mention your claws."

 

Looking down at my hands, I saw that I did indeed have shadow claws extended.

 

Quickly I dissipated them, acting like that never happened, trying to drop the subject.

 

Seeing Zoey giving me a raised eyebrow, my face heated up in embarrassment and I covered my face with my tail.

 

Rubbing my back, Zoey chuckled and gave a peck on my forehead. 

 

Caught off guard with her surprise attack, but still enjoying her affection all the same, I buried my face into her chest and murmured pitifully, "Unfair."

 

Snickering, Zoey teased, "Your wagging tail says otherwise."

 

Glaring at my tail, I growled, "Traitor," causing Zoey to giggle.

 

*cough*

 

Hearing the cough, we realized we left the intercom on.

 

*awawawa!*

 

Zoey's face turned a vivid shade of red while I hugged her tighter, refusing to show my face to the world in my humiliation.

 

Coughing into her hand, Zoey awkwardly muttered, "Why don't you come in, where we can speak in a more relaxed setting."

 

With that she pressed the button to unlock the gate, and we quickly got dressed and headed to the front door, awkwardly waiting for them.

 

Through the door, I heard Agent Truman warning her partner as she made her way up the path, "We need to be careful this time. I want you to be ready in case this conversation falls apart. We are dealing with an ex S-ranker and by the sounds of it an irritated nature kin."

 

Sighing she muttered under her breath, "Why are we always assigned the difficult jobs."

 

A man's voice, which I assumed was Agent Warner, replied. "Copy that."

 

Hearing their steps on the porch, Zoey opened the door as I hid behind her.

 

Peeking around her side, I warily examined the agents.

 

Both of them were wearing black military clothes with A.H.A. boldly printed in white on their chests. Looking closer, I slightly relaxed seeing that they were unarmed.

 

Agent Truman was probably in her 30's, and had long brown hair tied up in a ponytail, expression kept stoic as she kept up her professionalism. 

 

Agent Warner also looked on the younger side, his blonde hair neatly combed over, his bright smile giving him a vibe of friendliness.

 

"Come on in."

 

At Zoey's invitation, we headed to the study room.

 

Heading to the corner of the room, the agents took one couch while I squirmed behind Zoey warily on the other.

 

Placing my hands on her shoulders protectively, I softly growled over her shoulder, letting them know that I was watching them closely for any funny business.

 

Reaching over her shoulder Zoey gently patted me on the head a couple times, then shook her head slightly.

 

Coughing into her hand, Zoey inquired, "So?"

 

Given the reins on the conversation, Agent Truman muttered under her breath "What is this world coming to? First mages and now deities. I haven't been trained on how to deal with this madness."

 

Clearing her throat she uncomfortably shifted and began uncertainly, "I honestly am at a loss for what we should do. We were just ordered to come here and somehow contact the deities and convince them somehow to stay here and not make any deals with the invaders."

 

Staring off into space, she continued, ranting in frustration,  "If these deities are as powerful as the higher-ups are making them out to be, I want to be more prepared before meeting them. There are so many things that could go wrong and the legends and myths I just skimmed on the way here aren't any help."

 

Shivering, she rubbed her arms and went on, "I mean being cursed or destroyed for a slight offense, is not how I want to go."

 

Curiously, Agent Truman rhetorically asked, "Can deities even be bribed?"

 

Not waiting for a reply she finished her rant.

 

"We don’t even know if there is anything we can even offer! Honestly, this is above my pay grade!"

 

While she was huffing, Agent Warner nodded in agreement at her words.

 

I teleported in front of her and patted her on the head and consoled "There there, everything will be alright." before teleporting back to Zoey's side, squirming to get more comfortable.

 

Agent Warner rubbed his eyes while Agent Truman was rebooting.

 

Snapping back into focus, Agent Truman leaned over and whispered into Agent Warner's ear, unaware that I could hear, "Did you check if Nadia was an awakened?"

 

Agent Warner shook his head in negation, and softly replied, "I didn't get the chance, we were more worried about how to approach the deities. It happened too fast to see, so my guess would either be super speed or some other method of instant travel."

 

Agent Truman nodded at his conjecture and mumbled under her breath, "Just great, one more thing to worry about."

 

Shaking her head, she focused on her mission and asked towards Zoey, "Is there any information you can give?"

 

Looking at me, Zoey smirked evilly.

 

Knowing what was coming next, I quickly shook my head no furiously.

 

Zoey grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted me onto her lap while replying "Don't look at me, the expert you want is this one."

 

*waaaaa!*

 

Face heating up, I hid behind my tail, embarrassed. 

 

Agent Truman kooed at my cuteness while Agent Warner looked warmly at the scene, causing me to bury my face into Zoey's chest.

 

"Whyyyyyyy!" I whined indignantly at being thrown under the bus.

 

Zoey whispered in a singsong voice, "Becauuuse, you are the deity!"

 

Smirking, she quietly added in an amused tone, "Also it is more entertaining this way."

 

Pouting, I muttered, "Fine!" then added ominously, "But I will get back at you for this!"

 

Before she could protest, I turned to Agent Truman and shyly asked, "What would you like to know?"

 

Pausing for a moment, I quickly added as Agent Truman was lifting a finger, "Also I can't guarantee that I will be able to answer all your questions."

 

Freezing for a second, she then pinched her chin as she pondered on a question to ask.

 

Nodding her head, she softly asked, "What can you tell me about them?"

 

Thinking of what to say, I thought it would be best to mislead them using the truth. After all, the best lies are mixed with the truth.

 

I began, as if telling a story, "As you probably already know, there are two deities that I know of. One-"

 

Agent Truman cut me off. "Wait wait wait. You are speaking as if there are more than two deities."

 

"Certainly." I confirmed.

 

Groaning Agent Truman held her forehead and murmured "This is a nightmare."

 

She asked rhetorically, "How come the invaders are so desperate for a deity if there are so many out there?"

 

Mulling for a sec, I answered, "It is probably because they don't have a deity currently overseeing their dimension. The multiverse is so large that I doubt everything can be covered 24/7.

 

As I was about to say earlier, one of the deities I know is in a different dimension while the other resides in this world 'in front of you'."

 

Double taking that I had an actual answer for that question, Agent Truman inquired, "So you're saying that we only have one deity here, and the invaders want to take that one away from us so that they could keep them to themselves."

 

I nodded in confirmation. "Pretty much."

 

Agent Warner piped in, "What are the chances that the other world can contact one of these deities?"

 

Shrugging my shoulders, I honestly answered, "I don't know."

 

Hearing that, Agent Truman sighed.

 

Shaking her head, she asked, "You don't mind if I step out and make a quick call, do you? There is some information that the higher-ups need to hear."

 

Zoey motioned, "Go ahead."

 

She stepped out of the room. Hearing her summarizing our conversation, I quickly lost interest.

 

I turned and stared awkwardly at Agent Warner, causing him to shift uncomfortably.

 

Trying to break the tense atmosphere he asked, "So, you are an actual priestess?"

 

"No," I flatly replied.

 

"Oh."

 

Soldiering on, he asked curiously, "So how did you end up meeting a deity?"

 

My face paled as he asked that question. Heart rate rising, my vision faded as memories of drowning in blood flashed through my mind.

 

I curled up in fear, as I held my hands to my neck, gasping for air.

 

Losing grasp on reality, I looked around, seeing blood leaking from the walls and ceiling.

 

Seeing that I shrieked in fear and covered my eyes, not wanting to drown again.

 

"-ia … NADIA!!!"

 

Feeling myself being violently shaken, I fearfully peaked an eye open to see Zoey's concerned face.

 

Peaking around and noticing that I was safe, I hugged her tightly and started sobbing.

 

As Zoey held me to her, gently stroking my hair, I heard heated whispers, but at the moment I only cared about Zoey's presence as she softly hummed.

 

Inhaling her scent to reassure myself that she was really there, my heart rate slowly calmed down.

 

Fearful of nightmares, I did not fall asleep.

 

Instead, I opened my eyes, and basked in the sight of Zoey’s beautiful face.

 

Seeing me coherent, Zoey whispered, "Are you doing alright?"

 

I just nodded.

 

Sighing in relief, she relaxed back on the couch, dragging me with her.

 

"What was that about?"

 

Tensing up, I relaxed as I realized that it was Agent Truman, who was making her way back to the couch.

 

I flinched as the couch creaked as she sat down, my fight or flight instincts still in hyperdrive.

 

*hwow!*

 

My tail floofed up as I teleported under Zoey's arm and growled at the source, only to be embarrassed as I realized that it was the ductwork warping as the air-conditioning kicked on.

 

Trembling, I hugged her tightly and curled up with my tail defensively hiding me, warily peeking over it and looking around for danger that was not there.

 

I flinched as Agent Warner whispered to his partner, "She is showing signs of PTSD, just be careful when talking about her past."

 

Face softening in pity, Agent Truman nodded.

 

Softly, she revealed the verdict of her call with the higher-ups to Zoey.

 

"There has been a change of plans. Now that we know that it is just a matter of time before the invaders find a deity, the higher-ups want me to ask you something."

 

Tentatively, Zoey asked "What?"

 

"They want me to ask if you can train a Mage Force for-"

 

Zoey instantly cut her off with a solid "No."

 

Cautiously, Agent Truman asked, "Can you tell me why?"

 

Ticked off Zoey seethed, ranting off her built up frustrations.

 

"For one, magic takes years to learn. It takes at least 5 years of studying to be proficient, and even then it will be weak, around D rank power. Yes, with mana increasing, training time will decrease, however I don't have the patience for that.

 

Secondly, we will have to manually search for those with the aptitude for learning magic, and that will take forever. We can’t just open random people's magic circuits because that secret died off with my parents!"

 

Huffing, Zoey finished her rant. "And finally, I am done dealing with politics. They were never there for me, so I will return the favor and tell them to stuff it. Learn it yourselves. I am sure that the knowledge is locked somewhere. Just leave me out of it!"

 

Having made her point, Agent Truman and Agent Warner looked at each other.

 

Sighing, Agent Truman stated, "Well I guess this is mission failed. You don't mind writing the report?"

 

Agent Warner nodded in affirmation.

 

Groaning agents Truman and Warner got up. 

 

Nodding at us, Agent Truman gave her farewell. 

 

"Well, it was nice meeting you." 

 

As they left the study room she teased, "I will get out of your hair now so you two can get back to being all lovey dovey." then quickly made her escape.

 

Zoey and I blushed as we looked at each other, though blushing Zoey was really cute in my eyes.

 

'I should really try to get her to blush more.'

 

Zoey whispered, "That just happened, anything that you would like to do?"

 

Thinking for a moment I rubbed my hands mischievously as I gave an evil smirk.

 

"I still have not gotten back at you for abandoning me to come up with an explanation."

 

Seeing that, Zoey's face became worried. "Oh no, what are you going to do?"

 

"This!" I exclaimed as I teleported behind Zoey and started tickling her armpits.

 

*wahahaha* "Wait!" Zoey shrieked.

 

Not listening, I continued.

 

*hehehehe* "Mercy!" " *ahahaha* "Stop, Mercy!" *tehehehe!*

 

I went on until she was gasping for breath.

 

Satisfied that she has been punished enough, I nodded my head.

 

*uuuuuu* "Not fair!"

 

Regaining her breath she put her hand on my shoulder to steady herself, then dangerously whispered in my ear, "You know what this means, Right?"

 

Before I could protest or escape she exclaimed "Tickle war!" as she started tickling my sides.

 

*fuahahaha* "Don't!" I yelped between laughs, pleading for mercy myself. *kehehe, hahaha!*

 

We continued our war for a while which evolved into a pillow fight at some point.

 

After calming down with a truce and cleaning up our mess, we spent the entire day watching comedies and joking around.

 

Exhausted, I snuggled in with Zoey. Giving her a peck on the forehead, I whispered "Nighty night."

 

Returning a kiss on mine, Zoey whispered, "Goodnight, my little sweetheart."

 

Zoey reached around my head and affectionately stroked my hair.

 

Content and safe in her loving arms, I purred as I drifted off.