Lilith’s studies were interrupted by being unceremoniously transported to the party once again, her comfortable pajamas having morphed into a party suit. This time, however, instead of it just being her and Kali, Eve had joined the two of them.

“Oh, sick, I get to come too.” Eve said. “This is gonna be interesting.”

“Well, I suppose we should start by meeting up with everyone else.” Kali said. “And…it’s making more sense why we were paired up the way we were before.”

“Yeah.” Lilith agreed. “Though, again, that calls into question the nature of this party…”

“Eh, just let it be.” Eve said. “It’s not like we’re gonna get answers if this place doesn’t want us to get any.”

“Believe me, I’ve tried for a long time.” Jerry, who was, surprisingly, female, said. “Maybe sometime in the future when you’ve grown stronger we can actually get real answers, but until then we’re going to have to just wonder. I mean, I’m not going to stop trying, but –”

A trolley bumped into Jerry’s legs, and she let out a theatrical sigh. “I know, I know.” She said. “I’m here to drop off the squad, as usual. Unlike me, these four are from a few years back, so they’re not caught up to date with current events. Anyway, I’m going to go wander around until I find where I’m supposed to be, I trust you can handle these four?”

Behind Jerry was Lia, Rose, Amelia, and Connie, in varying moods. Connie and Rose were pretty relaxed, Lia was nervous, and Amelia was grumpy.

“We’re not kids.” Amelia harumphed. “We don’t need handlers.”

“T-though, um, I won’t say no to being watched over.” Lia said. “It’d be nice for my peace of mind.”

“What’s this about being watched over?” Tess asked, walking up to the group with Ellie and Maven following close behind. “Oh, more people this time, nice to meet you!”

“Ah, you were so cute when you’re young, I forgot!” Connie said, smiling at Tess. “What are you three up to at this point? What year is it for you?”

“We are in the middle of our final exam for our training with The Rumors.” Maven said. “I presume you are from our future, like the other members of your group?”

“Oh, right, I forgot how stiff you were back in the day.” Connie said. “Yes, everyone else here is from fifty to sixty years in your future.”

“Why does everyone feel the need to comment on how cute we are?” Ellie asked. “We’re basically fully grown, we can’t have changed that much.”

Eve chuckled. “Physically, maybe. I think it’s just the contrast between the you in our time and the you from your time being so big that people can’t help but notice. And yes, you’ve changed a little physically, but it’s mostly attitude and how you hold yourself that does it.”

“I guess.” Tess said. “Anyway, who are the new people?”

“Ah, I’m Jerry, if you couldn’t tell.” Jerry said. “Things are happening in the future, you’ll understand in a while. But really, I should be going, Kali, are you coming with?”

“No, I feel like my place is here today.” Kali said. “You go enjoy, though!”

Jerry nodded, then left the group alone. There was a moment of silence, then Eve spoke. “Well, you guys met me briefly during that sparring session last time, but I’m Eve, one of Lilith’s Parallels. Dunno why I’m here today, but I’m not gonna complain about a free party.”

“Um, I’m Connie.” Connie said. “I’m the girlfriend of these three, and god of commerce for Jerry.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Amelia, and after a moment she sighed. “I’m Amelia, and we don’t need protecting. I’m more than capable of beating any of you, so don’t test me.”

Eve snorted. “That’s what you said when we met in real life. You were…just about the fourth weakest person in the room, then. And yes, you were fully unbound, and even more powerful than you used to be.”

“Fourth weakest?!” Amelia said indignantly. “I find that hard to believe.”

“U-um, who was in the room?” Connie asked.

“Everyone who’s here now plus Jerry, Amy, and Fortune.” Eve said. “It took Lilith about five seconds to kill Amelia. Or…effectively kill, we kept it nonlethal.”

“As if!” Amelia said. “There’s no way I’d lose that fast!”

“Um…sorry, Amelia, I think you might.” Connie said.

“I wouldn’t be taking my chances with her, unbound or not.” Rose added. “I could see myself having a chance at beating you, I can’t see myself having a ghost of a chance against Lilith fighting all-out.”

“Y-yeah.” Lia said. “You didn’t see her fight, she’s…different.”

“More different than we thought.” Lilith said. “And Eve, stop antagonizing Amelia, you know how she gets.”

“You don’t know me.” Amelia said flatly. “I don’t know who you met, but it couldn’t have been me.”

Connie sighed. “Amelia, they’re literally from our future.” She said. “There’s a possibility that they’ve met you.”

Eve snorted. “We haven’t just met her, we’ve been spending hours every day studying with her and attempting to make friends. While I will admit she’s a little feistier now than she is in our time, it’s still definitely Amelia.”

“S-so, we do get to know you in a few years?” Lia asked. “How?”

Lilith, Kali, and Eve shared a glance. “Probably best not to say.” Kali said. “But it’s under friendly terms, don’t worry.”

Lia let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good to hear.”

“Why don’t we talk about this over food?” Tess suggested.

“Good idea.” Eve said. “I’ll go save the table.”

“We’ll see you all in a bit, okay?” Kali said, linking arms with Lilith and dragging her towards the buffet tables. “I’m so excited to be here with you instead of with the other Administrators.” Kali said, giving Lilith a happy smile. “I’ve been really curious what you guys get up to without me, and it’s not like we have an opportunity to chat about it after.”

“Well, we’ve mostly just sort of chatted and tried everyone’s hobbies.” Lilith said. “It’s not particularly exciting, to tell you the truth. The only kind of exciting thing that happened was last time when Tess and I sparred.”

“Oh?” Kali said. “How’d that go?”

Lilith launched into a retelling of the fight while they gathered their food. Meanwhile, at the table, Maven found her way back far before everyone else, a nervous look on her face as she sat across from Eve.

After a few moments of watching her, Eve spoke up. “You don’t need to be so nervous around me.” She said. “We’re family, and I happen to rather like you.”

“The, um, future me.” Maven said slowly.

Eve waved a hand dismissively. “Same difference.” She said. “You’re just less stiff in the future, that’s all.”

Maven squirmed in place for a moment, looked around, then leaned forward. “Um, is it true that in the future I’m married to Tess and Ellie?”

“What brought this on?” Eve asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, Aunt Lilith made a joke about it last time, but lately I have been…questioning myself.” She said. “And it’s really thrown me for a loop these past few weeks.”

Eve sighed. “You’re not gonna enjoy this party unless you know, are you?”

Maven shook her head. “I will likely spend most of it thinking about the future.” She said.

“Well…I guess, in that case, it’s fine to level with you.” Eve said. “Not like you’ll remember this anyway. Yes, you get married to them, and pretty soon after where you guys are, too. I think a year or two?”

Maven stared at Eve. “But…but…I’m…”

“Not attracted to women?” Eve finished. “You’re not.”

“Then –”

“Not sexually attracted.” Eve said. “Romantically, you’re bi. Or…pan? I don’t know the word, but the point is that romantically speaking you don’t care about gender. And, once you made that realization, you decided to get some magical help to make those orientations match. In your case, you determined that you would rather have your sexual orientation changed to match your romantic orientation instead of the other way around.”

Eve could practically see the gears turning in Maven’s head as she processed the information. “And…I am happy?” She said.

“Incredibly happy.” Eve confirmed. “And you’re a lot more confident, too. After Kali helped you through this the two of you got close, and you even ended up being the maid of honor at our wedding.”

Maven’s eyes widened. “I’ve got a meeting with her about this tomorrow.” She whispered. “My life’s going to change from that, won’t it?”

Eve got up and walked over to Maven, aging herself up so she could pull the girl into a hug. “And you’re going to love it.” She said. “Believe me, the future is incredibly bright for you.”

Maven let herself rest on Eve’s chest. “Thanks, Aunt Eve.” She said. “I appreciate it.”

Lilith and Kali arrived a couple of moments after that setting down their food next to where Eve had been sitting. “What’s going on here?” Kali whispered, looking at Lilith. “Some family bonding?”

“Last time we were here I jokingly told Maven she was married to Tess and Ellie in the present. She said there was no way back then, but apparently, she’s been questioning herself lately. Eve decided to clue her in on things so as to lift her mood for the rest of the party. Apparently, she has a meeting with you scheduled for her tomorrow, and she realized that her whole life is going to change from it.”

“Oh, the meeting where we first met!” Kali said brightly. “I remember it fondly. Yeah, she’s going to have a confusing few days, but you know how it ends.”

A few moments later, Lia and her group arrived at the table. “Woah, Eve?” Lia asked. “Is that you?”

Eve separated from Maven, giving Lia a quizzical look. “Of course it’s me.” She said. “Who else would I be?”

“Eve, you’re older right now.” Kali reminded her.

“What? Oh, right, sorry.” Eve aged back to her usual age, walking back over to her spot. “I was giving Maven a hug and needed to be bigger so I could give a better hug.” She said. “So, I made myself older, no big deal.”

“How?” Amelia demanded. “You didn’t use any magic, and if you actually know me, you know I can tell.”

Eve smirked. “Sure didn’t. I’ve got full and complete control over my form, to an extent you can’t even imagine.” She jerked a thumb at Lilith. “Most of Lilith’s body is composed of brain matter, pretty much everything that wasn’t the heart and the lungs was removed for it. And, the best part is, we don’t even have to use Mana to do any of this, and whatever we turn into is our base form. You were quite confused when we showed it to you for the first time.”

Lilith grew another set of arms, her suit morphing to allow for the extra appendages. “Hit me with your best dispel.” She instructed. “That should clear things up.”

 “Grow another.” Amelia said. “How do I know that you don’t normally have four arms?”

Lilith shrugged, growing yet another set of arms. “Suit yourself.”

“Woah.” Tess said, stopping next to Eve as she and Ellie arrived at the table. “What’s happening here?”

“We’re explaining to Amelia just how different we are from everything she knows.” Eve said. “Watch.”

Lilith could feel as Amelia marshalled some Worship, collecting it into a spell that she fired at Lilith. The dispel, of course, did nothing, just as it had when Amelia had tried it in the real world. “See?” Lilith said, removing her extra arms. “Base form.”

Amelia immediately cast the spell again, and once again nothing changed. “That’s not…I’m unbound here, I shouldn’t…”

Connie laid a hand on Amelia’s shoulder, shaking her head. “Lilith doesn’t play by our rules.” She said. “In that sense, she’s almost like an Administrator, just…ignoring different rules.”

“She’s an Administrator now too!” Kali said happily. “Or…sub-Administrator, pending full status once she finishes her training.”

“Or never, if we can’t find a way for Kali and I to share our planes.” Lilith said. “Look, things are happening in the future, and things are moving fast because of it.”

Connie gave Lilith a wary look. “Does this have to do with why Jerry…?”

Lilith sighed. “Yes. Yes, it’s what you think. No, it’s not projected for centuries or millennia, we just know it’s a certainty at this point. We’re pretty sure we’re the only faction that knows right now, so we’ve got a huge head start, and by the time the others realize we’re hoping to be too far ahead to be stopped. Don’t worry about it for now, it’s under control for the moment.”

“Oh.” Connie said quietly.

“What’s she talking about?” Lia asked.

“Administrator politics.” Connie said. “There’s one thing in particular that would cause Jerry to act like this, and it’s not the most ideal thing.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it, not any of you.” Eve said. “We’re very optimistic about things, and your future selves are thriving. Just enjoy the party for now, okay?”

“If you insist.” Connie said.

They had small talk while they ate, and Lilith couldn’t help but find the whole situation odd. For the first time in one of these parties, she had had significant interactions with the future selves of the others, and every so often one of them would ask a question they already knew the answer to in the present, or say something that was ever so slightly at odds with their current way of thinking.

Still, she had much less trouble with it than she had expected; perhaps it was the party helping smooth things over in her mind, so that no really awkward situations came up, or maybe she was just better at it than she thought she would be, but it all went…fine.

And, to Lilith’s surprise, Amelia began to relax and open up as the evening went on. Perhaps it was that the situation wasn’t as stressful, perhaps it was that her wives were there to help, but whatever the case she soon reached a point where she was actually asking about others and listening to their opinions.

And then the dinner ended, and Amelia stood and gave Lilith a look. “I want to duel.” She said. “Prove you’re not just all talk.”

Lilith shrugged, looking at the others. “Only if everyone else is fine with it.” She said. “I don’t want to stall everyone else out on account of us.”

“I, for one, would be interested.” Rose said. “Jerry aside, Amelia is the strongest person I know, and I would like to see how you compare.”

“Um…as long as you won’t be mad when you lose, Amelia. I promise, promise, promise you that you can’t beat her.” Connie said.

“She’s just a god, you of all people know I can handle gods.”

“She handled three at once last time and didn’t break a sweat.” Tess said. “I don’t think she showed even half of her full potential.”

 “Yes, but five seconds?” Amelia said. “It can’t be that bad.”

“If the party allows, we can settle that here and now.” Lilith offered. “It has no collateral damage whatsoever.”

There was a sort of feeling of acknowledgement, and Lilith began her Judge, Jury, Executioner routine. And, just as it had happened in the real world, Amelia tried to cast a spell, Lilith squashed it with Mana, and then Judge, Jury, Executioner activated, and Amelia crumpled like a ragdoll.

“I could have made that lethal just as easily.” Lilith said calmly. “To paraphrase what Connie said when this happened in my time, you’re a very big fish in a small pond.”

“Was that that instakill you mentioned last time?” Tess asked. “It looked like nothing happened and then she just…fell.”

“Yeah.” Lilith said. “I didn’t use it last time because I felt like it would be unsporting, but…Amelia wanted me to prove that it only took five seconds.”

“I told you, Amelia.” Connie said quietly. “Lilith is in the running for the most powerful non-Administrator in our faction.” She paused, looking up at Lilith. “Is that decided by your point in time?”

Lilith shrugged. “Not really? We haven’t dueled, not really, but she says she’s fairly certain I’ve eclipsed her.”

“Is this someone we know?” Ellie asked curiously.

“Sort of.” Lilith said, smiling wryly.

“Sort of?” Maven said. “So, someone we have heard of but have not met?”

“Should we tell them?” Lilith asked, looking at Kali and Connie.

“Eh, why not.” Kali said mischievously.

“Might as well, I suppose.” Connie added.

“It’s Tess.” Eve said. “It’s why we were so confident we’d beat her last time, her older, significantly stronger, self told us that she wasn’t sure she could win.”

Tess stared at them, eyes narrowing. “You’re messing with me.” She accused. “You’re what, fifty years in the future? There’s no way I’m stronger than people like Gramps by then.”

“All three of you are.” Lilith said. “I haven’t met Evan personally, so I can’t truly compare, but everyone I’ve met points to Tess as the strongest, and the two of you as second and third. Of course, this is counting Descent in the mix, but at this point it’s generally accepted that Appointed and their gods are treated as one unit for this purpose.”

“The other two can’t, but you can beat Descended Evan even without Descent.” Kali added. “It turns out that Monster Breeder was far, far, far stronger than anyone had any way of knowing.”

“What does that mean?” Connie asked.

“Things are happening and we learned some new stuff recently that we flat-out couldn’t have known earlier.” Kali said. “You remember that conversation we had right before you started dating those three?”

“Yes?”

“We now know for sure that it wasn’t a coincidence, and those three,” Kali motioned at Tess, Ellie, and Maven, “Fortune, and even you were part of it as well.”

Connie froze, staring at Kali with wide eyes. “O-oh.” She said.

“What’s this all about?” Amelia wheezed, getting back to her feet. “I don’t appreciate all this cryptic talk.”

“We really shouldn’t say more.” Eve said. “Honestly we probably said a bit too much already. For now, just be content knowing that it’s a huge boon to you in the short term.”

“Whatever.” Amelia sighed. “What were we going to do again?”

“Games?” Lia suggested. “They have a bunch of stuff we’re not used to here.”

Tess and Ellie shared a look. “I’d kind of like to try laser tag with all of us.” Tess said. “It’ll be more interesting than when it was just five of us.”

“Laser…tag?” Amelia asked.

“A game from their universe.” Rose said. “Lia and I played it with them during our first meeting at these parties.”

“I-it’s in some of the other planes in our universe too.” Connie said. “So, I know the gist.”

“Then it’s worth a try, I guess.” Amelia said.

So, the group set off to find the laser tag arena again. Like before, they found it fairly quickly, and were starting a game in no less than ten minutes. This time, the teams ended up being significantly more evenly matched, and the results were as well. Or…were until they tried playing without any stat equalization or Skill limitation.

That game was, in a word, chaos. They were free to do any terrain-alterations they wished, as the participants were kept safe by magical shields that prevented them from taking any damage, and the arena would reshape itself every so often. The moment the game started things immediately went off the rails. Rose flooded the arena with thick roots, which were immediately stopped by a spell from Amelia, Eve just flat-out bulldozed her way through walls on her way to the target, and Maven began altering the arena using some sort of dungeon manipulation ability.

In the midst of this all, Lilith noticed that Lia, a member of the opposing team in this round, had pressed herself into a corner, crouching down and staring around with wild, fearful eyes. Lilith approached slowly, putting up her hands as she walked over to her and sat down next to her. “Hey, you okay?” Lilith asked.

“What? I mean, yeah, I just…I’ve never been in a place with this many high-leveled abilities being thrown about willy-nilly.”

Lilith nodded, laying a comforting hand on Lia’s arm. “Yeah, it’s overwhelming, I know.”

“You think it’s overwhelming?” Lia asked incredulously. “Surely you’re more used to this than I am.”

“Admittedly, yes, I am quite familiar with this sort of thing.” Lilith said. “Battles against my tutors often went like this. But, in the beginning, I was just as overwhelmed as you are.”

“I find that hard to imagine.” Lia said. “You’re so…so…cool and collected.”

Lilith shrugged. “I’ve been through a lot., and I’ve learned to just sort of take things in stride. For you, just do your best and everything works out.”

Lilith stretched a hand forward, casually using a spell to stop one of Rose’s roots from coming near the two of them.

“Easy for you to say.” Lia said sulkily. “I feel so powerless right now, I can’t participate in much of our war because I’m too weak while being a huge target, and I have to just watch everyone go while I stay back.”

“I’m from the future, remember?” Lilith said. “I know it works out. You told me it works out.”

“What? I did?”

“Yeah. You mentioned this frustration before, but said that you were able to find your place after a while. You may not have totally caught up to Rose and Amelia by the time we met, but you’re pretty comparable nowadays.”

“I…am?”

Lilith smiled. “Yes. You did us a favor and converted a…how do I put this…big project Jerry had been working on and had previously gifted to Kali, then gave her a soul and sent her back to us. Well, after Jerry removed the swarm conditioning and the capability to make modeling wax or convert things.”

“I find it hard to believe that a conversion would give me so much power.” Lia said dubiously.

“Levia was an exception among exceptions.” Lilith said. “Imagine an entire system self-contained within a monster that would be able to give me a real fight, even if I use my instant-kill stuff. That’s what you converted. I imagine that, given a few months, you’ll be well on your way to eclipsing both Rose and Amelia in terms of power, you’re still pretty low-leveled in that evolution.”

Lia stared blankly at Lilith. “You’re not poking fun at me, right?”

“Nope, serious as the grave. She’s my daughter now, by the way, and I’m super, super grateful to you for helping bring her into our lives.”

“Jerry could have just as easily –”

“She couldn’t.” Lilith said, cutting Lia off. “Believe it or not, you are the best and most experienced soul-giver our faction has, by a lot. It’s an…innate talent of yours.”

“But…when people are born…”

“It’s mostly automated and the soul is wiped clean. You preserve the memories, which is incredibly hard to do. In fact, I don’t think I’ve told you this in these parties, but I myself was an attempt at a reincarnation like you do. It…didn’t work right; my soul was split into two, my memories were irreversibly lost, it was a huge mess. You managed it on your first try, on accident. Believe me, I hold a great deal of respect for you and your abilities, and just about everyone else does as well.”

“Oh.” Lia said quietly.

There was a buzz, indicating the round was over. Lilith stood, offering a hand to help Lia to her feet. “Chin up, okay? You’re gonna do great.”

Lia accepted the hand, but the gesture ended up being mostly meaningless, as the two were teleported back into the lobby before Lia could finish getting up. As they did, Amelia gave a sigh of relief, rushing over to Lia. “There you are!” She said. “I hadn’t seen you in a while and was getting worried.”

“Um, yeah, I was a little overwhelmed, but Lilith helped calm me down and keep me from the worst of it, so it’s fine now.” Lia said.

Amelia stopped, then turn to Lilith. “Thank you.” She said, nodding her head in acknowledgement. “I appreciate you being there for her when I wasn’t.”

“I’m more than happy to help.” Lilith said. “You guys are my friends in the future, and it hurts me to see you hurting. Anyone would do the same, really.”

“It’s reassuring to know we’ve made such a potent friend.” Connie said. “Thank you.”

“It’s not just me, all of us are friends in the future.” Lilith replied. “There’s a reason this group was picked to be together for the party.”

There was a silence, then Tess spoke. “Well…that’s probably enough laser tag for now, then. Perhaps we should try something less stimulating for a bit?”

“Mini golf?” Eve suggested. “It should keep us moving but it’s not exactly…hard work.”

“That sounds good.” Lia said. “Thank you.”

“Mini golf?” Amelia asked.

“It’s a very simple game, I’ll explain it to you on the way over.” Rose said.

And so the rest of the evening went. They played a few more games together, watched a movie, and generally ended up chatting until, finally, Lilith felt the sort of tugging that indicated that the party soon would be over.

“Right, well, I suppose I’ll see you all at the next party, and, failing that, I’ll see you all…well, for me, probably tomorrow, for you guys…decades to a few years, depending on when you’re from.” Lilith said. “Pleasure hanging out with you.”

“Yeah!” Kali said. “It was a lot of fun!”

“I agree.” Eve said. “Keep up the good work.”

Lilith turned the page, stifling a yawn as she did. After a moment, she blinked, frowning down at the page. It felt like she was missing something, like something really important had slipped her mind, but she couldn’t fathom what that would be.

She focused on the sensation for a while but it continued to elude her. So, she wrote a quick reminder to herself to think on it later, but for now she needed a break. Maybe she would get up, have some food, and check up on her daughters…whatever the case, she put a bookmark in the workbook then closed it, turning out the lights as she left the study to continue the rest of her day.