The aftermath of the incidents proceeded favorably for Samantha and her realm. They made absolutely sure there were no methods of tracking or the like on the two goon captives, and basically stripped them of everything other than their clothes. Even that was stripped temporarily, just to make sure nothing sneaky was hiding.

They were brought to a special ‘abandoned warehouse’ that was all too common in the many-layered old city of Geirkos. At that point — by request — Sammy left the handling of the prisoners to Azure and her favored helpers such as Athos and Raphael.

Meanwhile, their people were all successfully evacuated out of the manor and away, leaving quite a bit of destruction in the wake, though few casualties other than a small army of gargoyles. Eremina was whisked away under the care of Orswyth, Bast, Constance, and others, presumably to be comforted and get some much-deserved rest.

Shortly after the extraction, Tashome had Dart blow his way into the room Eremina had found to straight up grab an entire chest of crap she’d sifted through in her search, since the protections had been so helpfully removed on it already. It had seemed like a treasure trove of magical stuff, including alchemical.

As for the tattoos in their secret compartment… such explosives with all the apparent remote detonation capabilities were just too scary to risk with whoever was behind the Nestaire weirdness still out there. So they blew it up instead. This did not trigger the tattoos to explode, but it hopefully destroyed them.

Still holding onto some paranoia, they took the loot to yet another disposable location out in the woods and had initial identifications done by Servitors only. Sammy mostly just ignored it… Tashome was going to Tashome, with his endless thirst for alchemical innovation. She knew he’d already done some questionable, weird shit with that cursed staff — worrying enough that she wished she hadn’t even given it to him.

A curse into some kind of bond. What the fuck? He’s already going through enough. He sure is resourceful, though.

As she reviewed details, she found that he’d designed some sort of invisibility potion that retained invisibility even after attacking. He’d apparently made a bunch of normal ones, experimented, and found some combination of potions, new ingredients, and spellcraft to engineer it.

He’s a mad scientist. He’s a literal fucking mad magical scientist!

It was enough to make her chew her nails about who to use the Tarot vision thing on next. But she would stay determined to drop it on Estara after they met. It was almost like a gift and seemed appropriate for something to share on such a great occasion.

So very soon, my cute little princess- er, I mean, priestess. Wow, Sammy…

First, she needed to get a rather important other matter out of the way. She dematerialized to the seat of her throne and called out, “Hey, hey System! Listen up! Are you listening?”

Yes, User Sammy?

“I’m going for the Domain of [Pneuma] for my available free slot. Make it so.” Though she stated it confidently, she held her breath afterward.

There was a tiny pause that made her heart skip a beat.

Sammy leaped out of her throne. “Fuck yeah!” Then she immediately cleared her throat, calmed down, and collected herself. “Anyway. Sys, how much FE do I need to collect?”

1500 FE (Pneuma) is required to unlock the domain.

“Fuck! That’s a metric shitton. But I guess I should’ve expected it when it was keyed to getting to 333 Followers, eh?” When she took a casual glance at her Follower total achieved in the last few hours, it had risen to 372. “Oh shit! Not even into the core of the day, either. I’ll get over 400 before reset for sure!”

She settled back down into her throne. Now that she had her domain target, she needed her Followers on board. For this particular one, she decided she’d open up to every Follower, but her message would have to contour differently for each persona. The core Followers would achieve majority belief anyway… if she could have it make sense to them.

Meanwhile, I barely understand it myself, but what else is new? I probably understand the concept better than I did [Illusion] when I made a bunch of shit up for that. Ironically, faking it is kind of the whole point of that domain…

[Fate] she was always discovering and understanding with time, and [Mirrors] was perhaps rather self-explanatory. [Light] was what she perhaps had the most grip on conceptually… particularly as it blended together with [Fate] to make for that Dawnbringer, Queen of the Future, Hope Made Flesh type stuff.

[Pneuma] was the Crown of Spirit and Creation, a raw building block to belief and the key to manipulating many varied processes before they became tangible matter. What all would it equate to? Mastery in the Spirit World? Likely. Power to make an Afterlife? Possibly, as such realms were composed of it, weren’t they?

And before mana becomes mana, it is pneuma in the spirit world. Perhaps it can be like a fuel for greater things.

Recalling principally the words of Azure, which in turn were her own words delivered to another of Azure’s incarnations, Sammy conspired to formulate a presentation and speech for the Followers of Samantha.

Alright, here we go again. She channeled many things together — from Azure, from [Goddess], from [Ascendant], and from the Fortuneteller herself. A stew of influences…

She sent out to her greater realm the image of Calrenazzod floating in a great, white fog that dwarfed it in comparison, the light of the sun behind and creating a silhouette. “Friends, compatriots, allies, agents of the new dawn of a unified and free world… I come to you again to enlighten and bring forth a momentous revelation.”

In the distance through the fog, the light of the sun became eclipsed by something further beyond it, or the sun transmuted into it, growing along with it. The light flared out and widened. “Beyond the material world, I have seen great wonders. I have lived them and I have beaten the darkness to its very core. So I encountered my reflection, saw the lies and made them dance to my tune… So I revealed the shadows cast and the source of all light…”

Like a beacon, a little dot flared on Calrenazzod and blossomed, a foci in the night of the silhouette. “It always comes from within, does it not? When it touches us and is bent back to the world, that is when reality exists, not before. To show what we hope, what we desire, what we see… and what we believe.”

The light flooded all around the world, the fog suddenly gleaming and sparkling, and the silhouette disappeared to show the familiar outline of the known world on the surface, cast in a mystical glow. Energetic flows of many threads came forth to swirl and wrap around the planet, their source from cosmic distances bending in an elaborate network, with many bends touching down to the surface in their endless currents.

It was like a new, inner reality being revealed. “Pneuma is the substance of things hoped for, the plasma of the divine carved and spun from Fate into the intermediary spaces. It is the unseen glue, the source of all cohesion and conjuration. The Spirit World is a fabric made of its threads and your world is merely the light, magic, and matter-casted side. The First Material, the Ultimate Element is the frame of all reality.”

The view of Calrenazzod ‘panned’ all the way around to the opposite side, and the Goddess Samantha’s crowned head was there, gazing upon the world that was hovering over her palms, her eyes glowing with power. All the threads danced from the cosmos down to her fingertips, to then concentrate and touch her chosen planet.

“I am the First Material’s mistress,” her suddenly intense voice declared like thunder and cold fire. “Where I flick my fingers the Strings of Fate play what tune I desire, down to the root and core. From my will the river of Belief and Change flows, and under my covenant is an eternal bond, for the heavenly spaces are my jurisdiction.”

The vision shifted again, to Samantha on her throne, clad in a new, resplendent dress of white and gold. She flung her crystalline scepter upward, where it gleamed with an eerie light pulsing outward with warping waves. “Pray to the Mistress of the First Material, pray to the Goddess of Pneuma! Enter a new world of power and truth and steal a spark of divinity! Our next leap forward begins today!”

Prayer was beginning even before she finished, as the aggregate faith of her believers hit her like a tidal wave. The voice of the Fortuneteller echoing across time had that effect…

Majority belief obtained. [Pneuma] tag unlocked. You must still expend the FE necessary to acquire the Domain.

Tashome was the first of her leaders to directly comment, a bit of awe mingled with jaded doubt mingled with an inner glee down deep. “Another fateful thing, no doubt. I’m glad you’ll unlock more knowledge about it, considering what it once meant to me. I can only imagine what it allows creatively. I promise you I will leverage it for all its worth to our enterprise.”

Orswyth was of course supportive. “The First Material! It seems you’ve found the right decision out of the ether once more, Your Majesty. In this case, it is the ether, haha! I’m sure it will deepen our understanding and access to the mysteries we must master. I will pray for it with all diligence, Goddess.”

Estara was mostly just awed and excited. “It sounds really rad, Your Majesty! Bitchin’! I can’t wait!”

Aww, she’s even using my lame lingo…

Crow was very soberly approving. “It’s interesting. Perhaps I can conclude my spiritual journey with an actual spiritual journey now. And if this can be used in the way I think, I believe I have some unique ways of serving the realm.”

Lucky was thinking about it as only she would. “Just think, Beauty O’ My Dreams: through the bloody untraceable Spirit World… trafficked goods! We’d be unstoppable!”

Hmm. Making a physical-transmuting route for mortals could be a thing. Not sure…

Finally, Azure literally appeared in her lap on the throne and hugged her. “Nicely done, Chestnut! Very convincing.”

Sammy laughed as she returned the hug. “Thanks. I think the Fortuneteller sold it the most, though.” She paused as she leaned back and eyed Azure sitting there. Then she released a giggle. “My girlfriend is sitting in my lap on my throne.”

Azure grinned and shrugged, still with two hands locked behind Sammy’s neck. “I thought you might like it, impropriety though it is.”

“Oh, I do. Improprietize away, Blueberry.” After enjoying it for a few more moments, she finally asked, “How did the interrogation go?”

“Oh, Udoz and Vegorios? They’re singing like a hungry bard for supper, love. They’re eating out of the palm of my hand, honestly. Right this moment, they’re answering someone else to record more nuggets of information, on the promise of being able to see and speak to me again.”

Sammy’s brow furrowed. “Uhhh… wha-? Come again? How?”

Azure shrugged. “I charmed them, my Sweet Cherry Blossom. Enchantment. It was child’s play in their case. They had exceptionally weak wills to my arts, like most men.”

Blinking a few times, Sammy finally laughed. “Ah. I forgot that was in your new skillset. Actually, hmm. I guess that’s fairly unique in my organization. Cool!”