Chapter 29

Tarikihongan Temple

8:00pm

January 24, 1993.

"Well." said Urd. "We better get out there and meet him. You know how he hates to be kept waiting."

Keiichi and the Goddesses hustled outside to welcome the mystery visitor. They had gotten there in time to see him make his final descent into the courtyard. Unlike Hild, who relishes every opportunity to make a spectacular entrance, no matter how much chaos and destruction it causes, the visitor arrived with a minimum of fuss and bother. He landed on Keiichi's boulder softly as a baby's touch. As his feet touched the rock, it shattered into a million pieces Unfazed, the visitor floated to the ground. Wearing his trademark multi-colored robes of Authority, he spread his arms wide in a gesture of welcome, saying "My Children."

The Goddesses fell to one knee and bowed their heads in respect, and this time Keiichi followed suit.

"Arise, my children." The visitor said gently.

"Welcome to Tarikihongan Temple, Kami-sama." Belldandy said respectfully. "Our home is your home."

"I accept your offer of hospitality, Belldandy. It is good to see you and young Morisato once again." said Kami-sama. He publicly congratulated Ilse on her success in capturing Baldur and her promotion to the Special Cases Division, and He turned to Urd and said with the slightest hint of derision, "And I haven't forgotten about your little stunt, Urd."

"Wait a minute, Kami-sama. Skuld was part of it, too." Urd whined.

"But I'm sure you put her up to it, Urd. We'll talk about it later."

"But, but...!"

"We'll talk about it later, Urd." Kami-sama growled slowly.

Urd got the message.

Belldandy said, "Kami-sama, please follow us into the Tea Room, we have hot tea and cookies if you're interested."

Kami-sama said, "I do not have need of Earth food, Belldandy. However, I will gladly partake to be respectful."

He followed the Goddesses into the Tea Room where Bell had laid on an impressive spread.

"You needn't have gone through all this trouble on my account, Belldandy."

Keiichi said, "We weren't even expecting you, Lord. This is Belldandy's usual offering."

"It is?" Kami-sama said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, sir."

"I am genuinely impressed. Then again, this is Belldandy we're talking about." Kami-sama said as Bell poured him a cup of tea. He picked up a cookie, looked at it with curiosity and took a careful bite. "Very good, Belldandy. You are to be commended."

"Your are so kind, My Lord." Belldandy said sincerely.

"If I may be so bold, Kami-sama?" Ilse said with reverence. "What brings you here?"

"I have arrived to speak with Keiichi and Belldandy regarding the issue for which I originally called them to Heaven. That matter was under code-word secrecy. Their eyes and ears only. Of course, the whole issue with Torvald's possession of Keiichi made that conversation moot."

Ilse immediately fell quiet, as she knew she had gotten in trouble with Kami-sama by spying on him through her affair with Siggur. "Shall I leave, Kami-sama?"

Kami-sama thought for a moment. "For the time being, no. I assume that you have learned your lesson regarding the passing along of unauthorized information. I don't think we need to have this conversation again, do we?" The tone of his voice left no doubt in Ilse's mind that she would not be getting any more chances at redemption should she screw up again.

"Oh, no, Kami-sama! Lesson learned the first time."

"Very good, Ilse. As a matter of fact, your posting to the Special Cases Division might prove a benefit to this venture."

"Very well, Kami-sama. However I can help out, I will do my very best."

"I'm sure you will, Ilse."

Small talk completed, Kami-sama proceeded to the business at hand. He sat at the low table while the Goddesses and Keiichi looked on in anticipation. "The reason I am here is regarding a phenomenon called the Wishes of Sympathetic Proximity Effect. Are you familiar with it?" Ilse and Belldandy both raised their hands, while Urd and Keiichi looked on cluelessly.

Ilse spoke up. "Kami-sama, Belldandy and I learned about this in field Goddess training. While the official name for what you are talking about is the Wishes of Sympathetic Proximity Effect, we field Goddesses know it by a more informal title."

Kami-sama said, "And that is?"

"The Belldandy Effect."

Bell blushed deeply and turned her face away in embarrassment. Clearly, this was a matter that was causing her much discomfort.

Kami-sama turned to Belldandy, "My child, why are you so embarrassed? I would think that you'd be proud to have such a powerful occurrence named after you." Turning to Ilse, he said. "Ilse, for the benefit of Keiichi and Urd, please explain the 'Belldandy Effect.'"

Ilse stood up and looked at Kei and Urd, saying. "Basically, whenever a very powerful and charismatic field Goddess like Belldandy is in a given location granting wishes and making contracts, her very presence causes a large number of wishes to be generated by the humans in that area. They won't even know that she's around, and she will not have even met them. But just by being there, she can cause the number of eligible wishes in that area to rise dramatically."

Kami-sama pressed, "And Ilse, why is this called the Belldandy Effect?"

"Because, Kami-sama. While this situation occurs with many high-level field Goddesses, the effect is strongest with Belldandy. Essentially, She's a wish magnet, My Lord. Wherever she goes, she brings feelings of happiness, peace, and calm to everyone around her, and many of these people have unspoken wishes that come to Yggdrasil's attention, so the system sends field Goddesses to wherever she is, so that they can grant those wishes. And of course, Belldandy being Belldandy, she's more than willing to share the wealth."

Kami-sama said, "Excellent explanation, Ilse. As a matter of fact, while I was descending, I noticed that there are presently eight field Goddesses including Belldandy and Ilse working in the immediate area. This is a very high concentration of Goddesses present for an area this size.

Belldandy continued to look ill at ease with this conversation. "Kami-sama. I just do what I'm called to do. I am a field Goddess who loves to grant wishes. Nothing more. I experience my greatest joy seeing the smiles on the faces of the people I meet when I grant a wish to their satisfaction. I don't need any accolades or honors as incentive. I certainly don't need to have a magical phenomenon named after me. Just seeing people being happy is my greatest reward." She turned to gaze longingly at Keiichi. "That, and the love of my dearest husband, Keiichi."

Keiichi wanted to sink through the floor. He never liked being the center of attention, and while Belldandy didn't mean to embarrass him, he was definitely feeling the eyes of all present on him as a result of her words. In an effort to turn the unwanted attention away from him, he said, "So, Kami-sama. As you were saying?"

The Supreme Ruler cleared his throat and said, "Well, I was going to announce to you our plan to finally prevail in our constant battle against the forces of Niflheim for the hearts, minds and wishes of the humans on Earth. Especially the roles of Keiichi and Belldandy in that plan. But due to unforeseen circumstances, we've had to put those plans on hold until we can deal with a problem that has just surfaced regarding Keiichi." He said this while staring at Kei as if he had committed a capital crime.

Belldandy and Keiichi looked at each other in deep concern. Both of them had a feeling that whatever Kami-sama was talking about, it was not a good thing.

With hesitance, Keiichi gulped, and said. "A problem concerning m-me?"

"Yes." Kami-sama calmly replied.

"What's the problem?"

"It's an issue with you and Yggdrasil."

"I don't understand."

"Well, to put it simply, Yggdrasil is still trying to figure out what to do with you."

"Umm…"

"As you may know, you are the first human to be transformed into a God."

"Yes, and…"

"For the moment, Yggdrasil put your situation in a lower processing priority queue, because among a myriad of other things, it's responsible for making sure the universe doesn't turn itself inside out as a result of all the strange things that tend to happen when said universe is left to its own devices."

A pause.
"Believe me, you don't want to know about things like that. One time, a very long time ago before the first humans appeared on Earth, one of our administrators wasn't paying attention to what they were doing and succeeded in actually turning the universe inside out. Let us just be glad we had a very good backup in place. And we were able to get that backup going before any lasting damage happened. But I digress."

"That wasn't me!" said Urd quickly. "I was duty supervisor that day, but I didn't do it."

"I never said it was you, Urd. Although it's good to know that it happened while you were the supervisor on duty. We'll have to talk a little later about that as well as your little eavesdropping scheme. Among other things. Is there anything else you would like to admit to?"

Urd shook her head wildly. "No,no,no Kami-sama! I'll just stay quiet for now!"

Keiichi chuckled.

Kami-sama continued. "Keiichi. Ever since you were transformed, your presence as a God has created magical anomalies within Yggdrasil. As your transformation was an unprecedented event, those anomalies created quite a disturbance in Yggdrasil's programming. So far, Yggdrasil has been able to smooth over the anomalies that have appeared in the system. At this point, those anomalies have been minor in nature and well within the system's ability to function as normal, or as normal as Yggdrasil can function given the nature of its mission."

Keiichi's interest was piqued. "What kind of anomalies?"

"Every God and Goddess has, at their creation, a magical signature that is part of their genetic makeup. that magical signature is registered within Yggdrasil at birth, and becomes an important element towards identifying that individual within Heaven. That magical signature is as unique to each God and Goddess as a fingerprint is to humans. No two magical signatures are alike. While every deity's signature is different, its basic format is the same. In the case of Keiichi's magical signature, there are differences in that basic format of his signature causing these anomalies that have occurred at the lowest levels of Yggdrasil's programming.

Keiichi interrupted. "Kami-sama, is this signature similar to the Goddess Symbol that I've heard Belldandy and the other Goddesses speak about?"

Kami-sama eyed Keiichi with surprise. "You are familiar with Goddess Symbols?"

Keiichi wove his hands in an intricate fashion and made his God symbol appear. "I know about the symbols, but not much more than how they work."

With a new found respect for Keiichi, Kami-sama said, "Very good, Keiichi. You're picking up this material quite well. At the rate you're advancing, I may have to look out for my job."

Keiichi accepted the compliment with an awkward smile.

Kami-sama continued with his discussion. "Yes, Keiichi, the God and Goddess Symbols are the same as magical signatures. We believe that the format of Keiichi's signature differs from those of other deities due to the fact that his signature was registered into Yggdrasil at his transformation rather than at his birth, and that his signature format contains elements that indicate his human origins. Elements that would not exist in those who were born here in Heaven as Gods and Goddesses. Elements that have flagged errors in Yggdrasil.

Urd chimed in. "The lowest levels of Yggdrasil's programming. you mean, the Interface layer?"

Kami-sama's face betrayed that which he would not say.

Keiichi said, "The Interface layer? What the hell is that?"

"The Interface layer of Yggdrasil." Urd said, slowly. "Is the the portion of the system that allows two dissimilar properties such as computer code and magic to co-exist. In and of each other, code and magic do not interact well together. The two have completely different natures. Computer code deals with absolute and unchangeable properties. Either a device or a piece of code that runs that device is either on or off. one or zero, yes or no.

Magic however, works on a completely different set of rules. It can be both on and off. It can assume different values other than one and zero. But, a very highly trained set of programmers were able to get those two realities to not only co-exist with each other, but work together. A very difficult, almost impossible problem.

"The Interface layer functions at the very lowest level of Yggdrasil. Lower than even Yggdrasil's operating system. It is the core on which the entirety of Yggdrasil is built. Magic and code working together to keep this universe running. If the anomalies that are part of Keiichi's magical signature have gotten into the Interface layer, then Yggdrasil has a very serious problem."

Belldandy spoke up. "If this is the case, why did Yggdrasil allow Keiichi's transformation to occur?"

Kami-sama said. "The Song of the Goddesses. Remember that the function of that song is to allow the Goddess who invokes it successfully, the right to have any wish she desires be granted, provided that the entire company of Goddesses approve of that wish. No questions asked. At the hearing, you invoked the Song of the Goddesses by wishing that Keiichi become a God."

Keiichi looked at his wife. "You never said anything about that at the hearing."

"No, Keiichi, she didn't say it to you. She invoked it in her mind, and the wish was approved. And the whole company of Goddesses agreed and allowed the song to go forth. No doubt because Belldandy is almost universally loved by all Goddesses, and those who don't like her, at least carry a tremendous amount of respect for her. Enough that they would approve any wish she petitioned for the Song of the Goddesses. As a matter of fact, Keiichi, you also had a hand in causing it to happen. Do you remember at Belldandy's hearing, when you looked into Belldandy's eyes and recited the original words of your wish before us all? That you wanted a Goddess like her to stay with you forever?"

"Yes." Keiichi said.

"Well." responded Kami-sama. "Those words have power. Great power. They have the ability to cause all sorts of things to occur. You may not remember it, but while you were in the Eternal Chamber with the other Goddesses and the Eye of Heaven, while you were using Belldandy's connection to directly communicate with Yggdrasil, you invoked those very words to remove Hild's virus from the original contract between you and Belldandy."

"I don't remember any of that."

"Your memories, as well as the Norns and the goddess Lind's memories of those events were wiped before leaving the Eternal Chamber in order to preserve the secrets of the existence and role of the Eye of Heaven. But, rest assured, you did say them."

Kami-sama recalled the events that brought about the matter with the Eye of Heaven from Baldur's initial attempts to infiltrate the Eternal Chamber to the activation of the Mjolnir Protocol that hijacked the minds of the Norns and compelled them to leave Earth, to attend to the awakening of the massive jewel and the spirit that resided within, to the discovery of the virus that was planted by Hild on Kei and Bell's contract in order to attempt to crash Yggdrasil, to Keiichi's valiant and successful mission to enter Yggdrasil through Belldandy's connection to the massive computer to eradicate that virus and the harrowing escape from the system's defensive program, Thor.

When he finished, Kami-sama warned ominously. "Everything I told you is to be held in the highest confidence. If any of this information gets out, I will know, and punishment will be most severe. I will not spare Heaven's most beloved field Goddess, her sisters, her valiant and courageous husband, nor even you, Ilse."

A deep silence fell upon the Tea Room as all involved digested Kami-sama's words.

Kami-sama then said, "So you see, Keiichi. When you invoked the words of that wish before the Heavenly Council and the company of Goddesses at that hearing, Belldandy did what she felt she needed to do in order to comply with your wish to the fullest extent. You wanted her to stay with you forever, she interpreted 'forever' as lasting beyond your death, and the only way to comply with your wish to her satisfaction was to fully complete your transformation into a God so that she could stay with you forever. She spiritually petitioned the Goddesses to make you a God through the Song of the Goddesses and they agreed. Now, of course, we had no idea of how the consequences of her actions would affect Yggdrasil. After all, no human had ever been transformed into a God before. We had no prior data to go on as to what would happen to the system as a result of such an occurrence.

Keiichi turned to his wife and with a mix of shock and surprise said, "You would go this far to grant my wish?"

Belldandy answered solemnly, "Yes, Keiichi. At first, when we met and you made your wish, I was expecting to stay with you until you died. But then as we've lived together and spent time with each other, and as we've grown closer and fallen in love, I realized that I cannot live without you. To leave you would cause too much pain and loneliness in my life. You are too much a part of my existence for me to let you go after you died. I could never replace you with another friend, lover, or husband. I can have my pick of any God in Heaven."

"She's right, Keiichi." Urd interrupted. "She's had many potential suitors who have tried to become her lover. But she turned them all down. Until she met you."

"And now, Keiichi. I wonder whether my selfishness in wanting to spend eternity with you has endangered Heaven."

Keiichi gathered up his wife and enveloped her in a tight hug. Looking into her eyes, Keiichi said "Belldandy, how were you to know that your wish would cause this problem? After all, as Kami-sama said, there was no indication that this had happened before. Don't worry, we'll find a way to overcome this like we've overcome every other problem we've had since we've been together."

Kei turned to Kami-sama and said, "Lord, so if these anomalies are allowed to continue, what would be the most likely outcome?"

Kami-sama thought for a moment and said, "If the anomalies were just in the regular data directories of the system where the rest of the deities' records were located, the system would just continue to deal with them by working around them. Yggdrasil is very tolerant of handling foreign data in those locations. But, because they are lodged within the Interface layer, which is so intricately balanced and tuned, any unknown data that's not supposed to be there, will eventually corrupt the layer and cause a cascading crash. The whole system can come down without warning and all the backups in the world won't make a difference."

Urd quipped. "Obviously not a major issue."

Kami-sama ignored her.

Keiichi asked. "How did these anomalies end up in the Interface layer?"

Kami-sama said. "Our best guess is that when you used Belldandy's connection to Yggdrasil to venture into the system to cancel that rogue contract, the anomalies may have corrupted the Interface layer through her connection. Keiichi, don't forget that Belldandy is a Norn. She and her sisters are connected to Yggdrasil in ways that are much different than ordinary Goddesses. They have numerous connections to the Interface layer that are crucial to their mission as the Guardians of Time. Connections that don't exist in other Goddesses. It's very possible that when you were traveling through her connection, you might have inadvertently gone through the Interface layer and corrupted it."

Keiichi remarked. "Kami-sama, now that you added those memories of our time in the Eternal Chamber back into our minds, I do remember Urd saying that the procedure was never tried before and was very dangerous."

"She was right. It is very dangerous. Many things could have gone wrong. But you had no choice. The virus infesting that contract would have brought down Yggdrasil had it been allowed to complete its task."

"So what can be done about this? I feel personally responsible. Maybe I should not have been so selfish. It seems like it's all my fault!" Belldandy wept.

Keiichi tried to console his wife again, but she turned away from him. She refused to be comforted despite the attempts by all present to absolve her of blame. "I caused all this." Belldandy thundered. "And I will make it right!" She then rose to her feet and stormed out of the Tea Room.

Ilse said "Belldandy seems a little angry."

Urd laughed. "You think?"