Author notes: I'm glad I managed to finish this one for the New Year. I hope you will like it and Happy New Year.
- Sunnydale High, Tuesday 8 November 2011, 8h17 -
"Hi!" said Buffy as she saw Willow and Alice in the hall.
"Hello Buffy. A bit overdressed maybe?" asked Willow as she noticed her friend was in a black pantsuit.
"Just coming to see Snyder… in short, I'm drafted, and Baal decided Men in Black chic would be the Abaddon's new uniform… which I admit I find rather funny. Seems the Cabinet approved regular outside deployment of operatives yesterday, which likely means you won't see me a lot in town."
"You're quitting school?" asked Alice.
"Yeah… hoped I had a little more time, but to pilfer a line from a very good game, I'll do what I must because I can. Will…"
"I know," replied the Elder Norn with a shrug. "When you think about it, our respective childhoods have been on life support for a while now. I'll talk with Dru… I must say I'm a little torn. As a computer geek, working on Yggdrasil would be interesting, but I also remember that Urd found it really boring. Well, I'll see. As for Xander…"
"My bet is on Lind or another Valkyrie dragging him to boot camp," said Alice. "I mean, he's Heimdall, right?"
"Yep!" replied Buffy with a smirk. "You're right, no way Mikael is going to let him slack off. Heimdall's sight has always been a big trump card for Heaven's security. The big question is how his girlfriend is going to react…"
"She's Inca, not some spoiled selfish brat. For her, being chosen to serve as a warrior is an honor and a duty," replied Willow. "Jealous at all those fit warrior girls being all underdressed and sweaty near her boyfriend now… my bet is that she's going to volunteer for the Valkyrie Corps as soon as her Ascension is finished. Knowing Bast…"
"She'll happily train her if she asks, but she chose Killa as her new name, so maybe she has something else in sight," concluded Buffy. "We'll see. So, Alice, you're starting school today?"
"Yes, same class as Levia, Vine and Raim."
"That's good… enjoy your childhood for us. As you can see… that's going to be a little difficult for Willow and me. Take care, you two."
"Take care, Buffy," replied Willow while Alice waved at her.
Buffy left and walked quickly through the halls, greeting some people on the way. She was still well within schedule, but better to expedite things. She was almost surprised to see the principal's secretary announce her immediately and Snyder replying to send her in just as quickly through the interphone.
"Please sit down, Lady Darkflame," said the principal as he indicated the chair in front of his desk, his voice devoid of the venom he normally poured in when he addressed her.
Buffy raised an eyebrow as she sat and reviewed the information she learnt about him. She knew that Snyder had been paired with K'uei Hsing, the Chinese god of examinations. He was still as strict as before, but from the rumors she had gathered in the last few days, something had definitely changed and with the décor of his office now full of Confucianist and Daoist references, she had a good idea of which end of the path between his two selves her former pain in the neck had favored.
"Thank you for receiving me, sir," she replied, seeing no point in being antagonistic. "However, my name…"
"Your sister has acknowledged her place in Ma'at, and I have no doubt that you are doing the same, even if some… technicalities are still lacking. This is why it would not be proper for me to address you as anything less than Lady Darkflame. Unless you prefer Your Royal Highness?"
"Eh… Lady Darkflame is fine," replied Buffy, deciding to cut her losses in a situation that she considered extremely awkward.
"Good. Now, I am sure you wonder why I insisted on seeing you off, as I am equally sure you learnt that a simple email was deemed sufficient in the case of other students with similar circumstances."
"I suppose it has something to do with my previous activities in this school. My main question is if you knew what was really happening."
"Up to a point and I am not proud to say that I thought that covering things up was an acceptable solution. It is also unfortunately an all too common trait in this part of the world to think that finding and punishing a culprit will solve the problem, even if that person is just a scapegoat used to pretend that something was done. You and I know that this is an insult to Ma'at. We know that unless we address the conditions that made the issue possible, nothing will change.
"I therefore wanted to apologize and give you my word that while I still intend for this school to be a tight ship, this will be done in accordance with Ma'at, not by giving the illusion of normality. Oh, and in case you wonder, yes, I am aware that this is not a heaven-only school, and concessions will be made to ensure the healthy development of my infernal students."
"It… didn't work very well the last time," she replied, drawing on Mara's memories of the time of the war.
"We are aware of the mistakes of the past and it is up to us not to repeat them. The fact all of us also have a human side will help," replied Snyder while taking a folder and handing it to her. "This is your official diploma. I will not waste the time of a first category demon of your caliber by having you pass exams, and I trust you will not waste mine by insisting to take them when you know you will ace them. Please focus on your duty for the defense of your compatriots. I thank you for the services you provided to this community while you were a mortal, Lady Darkflame."
She took the folder and opened it. She suddenly thought that while Halloween had given her a lot, this was a price she had to pay. There would be no graduation day for her, no picture with the robe and funny hat, no prom.
"Sorry, I was feeling a bit nostalgic about my lost innocence," she replied while closing the folder and storing it in her dimensional pocket.
"An understandable thought, but we all make sacrifices to advance the Greater Good."
"That we do," she replied with a faint smile.
Yep, and a substantial part of my Greater Good is the fact that I'm finally getting paid for my hard work…
- Tokyo, Wednesday 9 November 2011, 17h41 (GMT 9) -
Buffy grinned as she walked through the streets of Tokyo holding two shopping bags. On Tuesday, she had been sent to Japan to gather data about a mystical site near Kyoto. Thanks to her Sunday jaunt on the Sebancaya during which Tezcatlipoca had actually given her some very useful tips, she had managed to optimize the process and gain several hours on her initial planning. Of course, as this was something she had more or less expected, she had also taken enough yen in cash to do some shopping.
And, again, an out of place seal array like in Peru… well, all my data is with the tech guys now.
She hadn't done anything more as her orders had been just to observe and collect data. Amaterasu and Susanoo, who had provided the site's location based on the legends of their human family, had the final say on what to do with the site. She wondered if the twins would come themselves but then remembered a discussion she had with Levia on Monday.
What did she say? Right. Amaterasu asked her not to go to Japan without their approval now that they have recognized her as Ryujin. Something about the bond of the Kamis with the islands being deep and the land rejoicing at their return. Likely a flowery way to mean there will be a serious light show when a major Kami sets foot in Japan.
Having reached an out of sight place, she put her shopping bags in her dimensional pocket. There were some clothes for her own usage, but the bulk of it was for Levia. Her little sister had been looking for stuff to change the decoration of her bedroom and Buffy had also found music that she thought her new and improved sister would like and some that she was personally curious to have a look at.
That's funny… I didn't care much about music as old Buffy, mostly saw it as a dancing aid. Sure, that's important, but Mara is a hardcore metalhead and can actually play the guitar. Guess that's why there is that thing with her being compelled to dance when she hears rock music in the manga… who? She thought as she was interrupted by the buzz from her smartphone.
"Buffy," she said as she took the call, having seen that it was from her boss and likely important as it was just past midnight in Sunnydale.
"Urgent re-deployment," said Baal at the other end of the line. "You're going to Norway. Sending you two sets of coordinates. First one is for Bergen with shops for what's on the attached equipment list. Second one is for the rendezvous point with your heavenly teammate for this mission. He will brief you. No clue why, but the Old Man requested you personally. You have time, but don't miss the deadline."
"No issue there… wait, the Old Man?"
"Yep. He's your teammate."
"Fuck!"
"I think your mother would have a few words with you if you considered bedding her ex, Darkflame," replied Baal with a laugh.
"Gross… Mom is aware?"
"No way I would have taken it without her approval, given the requester. To add a bit of motivation, the Old Man allocated S-class budget for that mission."
Buffy smiled. The Shedim being what they were, the Abaddon had some fine points of their rules that would have felt more at place in an online RPG adventurers' guild than in a professional army. Among other things, S-class budget meant S-class mission bonus on her next paycheck… if she succeeded.
"Good to hear. Anything else I should know?"
"I suppose I don't have to tell you not to not use the usual loopholes for this mission?"
As often with the Shedim, the Abaddon's code of conduct was riddled with voluntary loopholes that came with a catch. For example, as long as the mission was successful, nobody would look at how she spent the equipment budget. If a part of it ended on her personal account, good for her. If she failed, however, things would be reviewed, and her misuse of the budget would lead to a fine that would be at least twice the amount she embezzled.
"No, the Old Man pays, so I play by his rules," she said, remembering Amy's advice on joint missions with their heavenly colleagues. "I'll be the perfect Greater Good agent for a few days if that's what he wants."
"Glad to hear it. See you soon, Darkflame."
- The Dreamlands, Wednesday 9 November 2011, Time Uncertain -
Marlene stilled her breath as she hid behind a tree. She could hear the slow, raucous breath of the creature and its heavy footsteps. She knew it was looking for her, just as she knew why that thing still managed to make her afraid. It didn't matter in the end. Whatever she may have forgotten about courage, her time in the Dreamlands had cruelly taught her that again and more, so much more…
She was in what she had come to call semi-lucid dreaming. She had full control of herself, and she knew that she would remember everything. She also had her full sensations, unlike in normal dreams where things were often missing or dulled. The problem was that any pain felt very real here. If the monster caught her, she would suffer. She wasn't sure if the fact a 'death' just meant being sent back to the last checkpoint was a blessing or just another kind of curse.
As for the monster… it was something from her childhood, something she had buried deep and thought that she had healed from. But when she saw the distorted, hateful face of that woman on the monster, she had known that this old wound was still there, like some ancient, sealed evil that her current circumstances had allowed to roam free again. Still, it didn't mean that she was defenseless. The dreams created by the Black Lotus were not only using her old psychological traumas, but also her imagination. She had been playing RPGs for over twenty years, be it on paper, by larping or as computer games. She had also mentioned rather fiercely to her daughter that she wanted to be able to fireball a vampire the next time she had to face one. Of course, once the deceptively sweet fragrance of the Black Lotus Incense had dragged her into the Dreamlands, all that had been considered.
And this means that instead of being the final girl in a slasher movie, I'm the protagonist in a Dark Souls-like game, she thought, having noticed rather painfully how much the dream had taken from the computer game she and her husband had spent quite a few hours playing since its release in September. Well… at least it means I have decent equipment, she added, unsheathing her sword silently.
She started to move and came to stand in front of the monster, holding her bastard sword in two hands. She felt the fear disappear under a layer of determination. This was her second night under the influence of the Incense, though it had lasted much longer in 'dream time'. More than enough for her to do the usual steps of any player in a new RPG: get the hang of the gameplay and work on levelling up and getting better equipment. Of course, she had also died quite a few times in the process and understood that she would gather the demonic essence she needed by defeating bosses and fulfilling quests.
She dodged a massive swipe of the tree-like club of the Ogre Matriarch, also positioning herself to avoid most of the dirt and gravel projections caused by the massive weapon hitting the ground. One of the painful lessons she had learned here was that real world monsters did not have action patterns like game ones. Another pain point was the stench, but she had gotten used to it. Thankfully, she had already gained a few levels, and her stats were already slightly above the peak of human possibilities, including her stamina.
Time to get serious, she thought after a near minute of dodging and making some slashes that managed to wound the monster a little.
Wounding her adversary was in fact just a bonus. While monsters didn't have programmed patterns here, they still had fighting habits and knowing the time needed for the Ogress to make an attack with her club meant that Marlene could start using the stronger options in her arsenal with a reduced probability of being violently interrupted. She dodged another step backwards, giving herself some space and pronounced three words of power as fire gathered in her hand.
She cast it on the ground, forming a blazing carpet under the monster. Immediately, she dashed forward, knowing that the phoenix armor she had painstakingly gained during a side-quest the night before would protect her. She started to chain hits on the monster's joints while moving to keep her boxed in her flame zone. The Ogress had managed to land a few claws strikes now that her club was burning on the ground, but her armor had prevented her being disemboweled. Finally, she grinned as the Ogress tripped and, letting out a fierce cry, she flowed into position for a decapitation strike.
"Okay… Highlander time…" she said as the monster's head rolled.
Black mist poured out of the monster and rushed toward her. She didn't know if she had screamed or roared at the sky as it poured into her soul. There was intense pain, but also pleasure there and she knew that, night after night, more of her humanity was dying here. It was not just the matter of consuming that thing. The real issue was all she had done in that 'game'. Killing monsters and bandits was one thing when a screen acted as a barrier between the act and reality or when LARP rules and material limitations were there to remind you that you were just having fun with friends. What she was doing here was all too real for that safe distance to exist.
Really not the same… killing is becoming too easy. I'm… yes, it's a little like veterans who spent time in the thick of an active conflict. Vets who found out that they carried a piece of the war with them, in their soul. This is what this 'game' is doing to me. Too late to stop now. This is the path I chose, and I'll follow it until the end.
She took two potions out of her inventory, thinking again how funny it was that this gaming mechanic was something the Elohim and Shedim had also developed in the waking world, just calling it dimensional storage. She drunk the first one, breathing quickly and gritting her teeth as she felt the bones she had nearly broken in her fight knit themselves back together. Another thing left out, but which again made sense when you thought about it. Fast healing hurt, particularly when things had to snap back in place in a hurry. It was the same for the stamina potion she drunk after that. While it did not cause any of the long-term problems of methamphetamine, she knew that she would crash all the harder in a few hours, because the potion was just giving her a temporary boost, hiding her fatigue rather than dispelling it. She needed to reach a safe zone soon.
"Okay… now I summon my horse and back to…" she started to say, stopping as she felt a presence.
She turned to face it and… sheathed back her sword. There was a man sitting in a comfortable armchair next to a tea table incongruously set in the middle of this cursed forest… and in a spot that she was certain had been empty a few seconds earlier. She was enough of a geek to know that a pale man in black with a raven perched on his armchair's dossier was not another part of her trials, particularly when that man looked like David Bowie. If she needed another clue, the man's blue brow seal would have been enough.
"So, this is why the Black Lotus has been flowering so eagerly those last nights," said the man in an appropriately dreamy voice. "There is a mortal in the Dreaming following Byleth's path of Ascension, though with an amusing twist… her making it a video game is a first."
"Gamer and proud of it, so this is appropriate for me, Lord Morpheus."
"Of course, and I see price you are paying for it… I suppose you are Byleth's already not quite mortal anymore mother?"
"Marlene… Darkflame. Sorry, still getting used to the new name."
"There is no harm at all and, please, just call me Morpheus. Will you join me for tea?"
"Thank you. I'm parched and I have a long ride to go back to Ulthar," she replied, removing her helmet.
Aphrodisia had told her that the Dreamlands or Dreaming was a domain she shared with the other Yggdrasil and Nidhogg-linked dream deities. There were currently three, not counting Byleth. On the Hell Side, you had Yohualticetl. On the Heaven Side, you had Nidra Devi and, of course, Morpheus. While technically the list should also count Melinoe for the Heaven Side, the daughter of Persephone had suspended her dominion over the Dreamlands to preserve the balance and instead aided the Death deities.
"My daughter told me about the other Dream Keepers and that I could trust you, but not that you would look like the Sandman from Neil Gaiman's stories," she said as she sat in the other armchair and took the teacup the Greek god of dreams handed her.
"As you have noticed, the transformation we went through during Halloween is a matter of finding the right balance between our different parts, and this includes the physical aspects as well. Our original human self is our physical base, with some added elements of the Shedu or Eloah we are paired with. How those elements were added, however, this is a personal thing, often influenced by the image our human part had of our eloah or shedu counterpart.
"Simply put, Morpheus, Lord of Dreams, brought to my mind Neil Gaiman's Sandman rather than the Greek god and this influenced my appearance. Of course, many of us may not be entirely satisfied with the decision they took during Halloween and will make some change as their personality stabilizes. This makes me think that I am glad that we can meet in this dream, as I wanted to thank you for the education you gave to your daughter. You made Byleth a lot more pleasant to work with."
"What do you mean?"
"Are you familiar with the game American McGee's Alice?"
"Yes, I played it."
"Imagine now if Alice and the Cheshire Cat from that game had a daughter. That's the default shape of the Earth-N Byleth. As for her default mood… this is better left unsaid."
"Ouch… anime. I mean, we had her watch a lot of anime as a child, so her image of a catgirl…"
"I see," replied Morpheus with a smile. "Kawaii and ecchi rather than nightmare fuel. A little something for me to tease her about, nothing nasty, I assure you. We Dream Keepers have always managed to remain civil, and we need that now more than ever."
"Why?"
"The Dreaming. So far, what we control is limited to Sunnydale but soon, so very soon at our scale…"
"The Apotheosis."
"Before that already. Many things on this Earth are in such a sorry state… As you are Belial's wife, I see no use in hiding this truth from you. There are two kinds of apocalypses happening in this world, in the Hollywood sense of the word rather than the revelation one. One is rather flashy, like some vampire cultists trying to open the Hellmouth last spring. Heroes stop them, and all appears to be back in order… but it isn't. Those were important battles, that much is true, but it is not the whole picture, for there is another kind of apocalypse, a slower, more deceptive one. Just like our Death colleagues with the Sunless Lands, we have made forays in the Dreaming outside of Sunnydale and we do not like what we found. The waters of the Dreaming are murky, polluted. There is a decay there that darkens the hearts of men, and the world gets worse as a result."
"Just like in Sandman, when he was captured by Burgess."
"Yes, this is indeed similar. This form may have been something owed to my personal tastes, but it is fitting, and I take my duty seriously. You must know that so does your daughter, even if she will joke about it. The Dreaming is our battlefield, one Byleth and I will soon risk our souls fighting for. As you chose the Path of Dreams for your Ascension, I would like to ask you to consider joining us, maybe as Nerio. The Roman Goddess of Valor would be fitting for you, and she is an important Dream Keeper, pushing humanity to strive to ever greater heights… and yes, she was an Shedu on Earth-N."
"It does not surprise me. Valor is more an individual thing, something the Shedim value a lot. I suppose you would recall Melinoe if I joined your team?"
"Yes. The balance must be respected, or the Dreamers will suffer."
"I will think about it."
"I expect nothing more, the Dreaming is not a duty one can take lightly."
- Bergen, Norway, Wednesday 9 November 2011, 13h49 (GMT 1) -
All right… all the equipment is bought, and I have two hours to kill… think I will head to the meeting point directly and find some sheltered spot to change and rest a bit.
She knew that normally she wouldn't have thought that way but being in Scandinavia was making her feel all kinds of nostalgic. There were some 'Mara' things, but they weren't that much of an issue, not this time. No, the thing was that a cruise in the fjords had been the last happy holiday of the Summers family before the Slayer and the divorce. She wanted to spend a little time just looking at the landscape and maybe brood a little.
Verifying that nobody was watching, she teleported to the second set of coordinates and found herself looking at the Sognefjord from the south. She was on the edge of a forest with mountains… turning around, she realized that Mara knew those mountains and she now had a serious hunch about at least some elements of the mission. Hiding behind a tree, she quickly changed from her city clothes to the hiking gear she had bought. Not that she really felt the cold, but if she met someone, looking Scandinavian and on a hike would be a lot less suspicious.
She set a blanket on the ground against a tree and sat facing the fjord, taking in the beauty of nature. She thought that it was funny, that it was something that neither old Buffy nor Mara would have really appreciated, as both were hardcore city girls. In fact, she was fairly sure that it was something coming from the Slayer herself. Those were just faint echoes, but she could feel all the Slayers that had come before her. More persistent, but now fully a part of herself rather than an interloper, came Sineya, the first Slayer. Buffy wept a little at the tortures the girl had gone through at the hands of the Shadow Men and once again thought that she was happy that this nightmare ended with her, that they were working on making a better world.
One question remains, she thought after a while. Who was the demon the Shadow Men used to create the Slayer? I know most of the life of the first human host but nothing about the demon apart from how it empowered me. That will be for later… can just as well read a bit. Maybe I'll get an idea about the name homework I'm supposed to turn back to Mom tomorrow.
She took her tablet out of dimensional storage and opened a web serial Amy had advised her. She started reading and may have gotten a bit oblivious to her surroundings as after maybe half an hour, she suddenly felt a canine nose against her arm. Turning a bit, she realized that a wolf was here and actually reading her tablet.
"Geri or Freki?" she asked. "Sorry, but I don't remember you two well enough to tell you apart."
"That's Geri and I am Munin," said a croaking voice from the tree above her. "Grimnir is not far and Freki and Hugin travel with him."
A raven flew down and perched on left shoulder while the wolf lied next to her with his head on her arm.
"Is that a good saga?" asked the raven after reading a bit of the text on her tablet.
"It's interesting… and I bet the title will appeal to a raven, as it's called Worm. It's the story of a mortal called Taylor Hebert and the hardships she faces as she learns to control her powers in a world of heroes and villains. I find it has some parallels with our situation, as nothing in that story is what it seems."
"Very true," said a soft voice as an old, bearded man in a grey cloak, accompanied by a raven and a wolf, arrived next to her, and leaned on his walking staff. Of course, if the previous clues had not been enough, the missing eye would have told the rest. "No need to rise, young Slayer," he added as he sat on a nearby tree stump.
"You're early, Allfather."
"So are you and when my wolves smelled your presence, I thought it would be good for us to talk more than the simple briefing you expect. After all, you are, from a certain point of view, my stepdaughter."
"Sure, Obi-Wan."
"Merlin, Gandalf or Obi-Wan Kenobi… so many figures that I played a hand in inspiring," replied Odin with a laugh. "As for marrying your mother… there would definitely be some political advantages for both of us now, but they are also too many drawbacks for us to consider it. Tell me, Buffy, would you have minded if Richard Wilkins, Mayor of Sunnydale, had started to date your mother before Halloween?"
"That's a trick question," she replied with a sigh. "Given what I knew then, it would have been sad because Dawn and I were still grieving a bit from the divorce, but I would also have thought that it would be nice for Mom to find back some happiness. Given what I know now… how long until our old selves tried to kill each other?"
"This is would not have been an absolute necessity. I may well have managed to sway you to my cause… but yes, it would likely have ended in tears even in this case," he replied, his shoulders sagging a bit. "Now, am I correct in thinking that you have enough clues about the man I was and my involvement in the nightly affairs of the Old Sunnydale to be very suspicious, but no real proof? You are as well likely wondering who has the most influence in our merged being. Odin or Richard? Also, do you accept to talk, remembering that no matter the mix in my soul, I am bound by the rules of a first category celestial?"
"That's a good summary and I'm listening."
"Good. First, know that Mikael is aware of what I am going to tell you. You and I know that she will not hesitate to strike me down if needed. So… a long time ago, I was an ambitious man who got out of a tricky situation involving demons by making a pact. A certain town would be created with specific rules, a town where demons would have more freedom to feed without attracting attention. In exchange, I would gain a degree of immortality, fortune and even more when some conditions were met.
"As this man, I played my role but there were prices to pay. Some were evident, asking from me many sinful acts. Others were less obvious, but their wounds no less grievous. Among other things, the pact cursed me both with sterility and the certitude that any person I would love would grow to hate me. Such was the fate of my late wife, Edna. I tried to find solutions but discovered that even adoption was forbidden to me, that this love would sour as well after a mere few years, though you as a Slayer may have been able to just shrug off the curse… not that it matters now. "
"Because Halloween happened."
"Halloween indeed. I am sure this part of the story will feel familiar to you. I was reminded quite harshly of the bad decisions I took, and of the unholy prices I paid. Of course, after the stick came the carrot. I was given a way out. Yes, there would again be a price to pay, starting with my eye, because I had to atone. Even the godly power I was offered was just another burden as it came with immense duty. Yet, this is a price I gladly pay, for it has given me respect instead of fear and the ability to be loved again. Do you see, Buffy, the irony of it all? As Richard Wilkins I wanted so much to be a family man even though I knew that my pact would never allow me this joy, while the Odin of Earth-N always put his duty before his family and lost so much without really understanding why. I hope I helped him a bit as well."
"A nice tale of redemption, but what of the strings the demons have on you?"
"Those strings are cut. Mikael destroyed all the demons present in Sunnydale who had a claim on me, which is why she is one of the few to know my full story. Any remaining taint from the pact was destroyed the moment the Hellmouth was integrated into our mana generator, with Nidhogg breaking down its metaphysical essence into its basic components. There are other demons I dealt with in other parts of the world, but those are more… business partners. We will use them for the Greater Good until they outlive their usefulness."
And that's the Old Man in all his 'we're all cogs in the Greater Good machine' glory… okay, I can work with that.
"Not fully convinced but given the messes we all had to sort out recently… and given that Dru and Spike are now friends, I'm willing to give you a chance. Be aware that I will tell your story to Mom."
"That's fair. I know I cannot expect more given the circumstances. I however wanted to clear the air as we cannot afford internal strife."
"Fully agree on this. Back to the mission: this is about one of those business partners you mentioned?"
"No, this is a family matter. As we are a bit understaffed at the moment, I kept the operation small. I suppose you recognized the mountain."
"No clue what the humans here call it but on Earth-N, it's the Lyfjaberg," she said while pointing behind her. "Climb the summit without artifice to get healing, even if you're a demon. Eir had a hand in creating the place."
"True. I do not know what remains here given the state of the Old Gods, but the person I am looking for is there and I need you to help me get him back home."
"Who is he?"
"Thor."
"Eh, the… old god one or the like us one?"
"The latter. We had a few people who panicked for one reason or another during Halloween and left Sunnydale. They thankfully quickly came back to their senses and came back home, so we thought the matter sorted… until we finished our audit on the Yggdrasil user accounts on Monday. I took yesterday to understand why Thor was still missing and then commissioned this operation."
She frowned a bit but then remembered something Levia had said about Lucifer telling her that Nidhogg still needed data integrity patches. Things were likely the same at the Yggdrasil end.
"Prisoner? No, he's sick and he came here for healing," she said deciding to focus on what was now clearly a search and rescue mission.
"Correct. The human he paired with had a brain tumor. Nothing that would kill my son, but he is likely delirious, something potentially made even worse by the likely fight between him and his human part. I asked you to come for two reasons. First, as Mara, you have dodged enough of his hammer strikes to hold your own against him, even more so now that you have the Slayer's might at your disposal. You will help me to subdue him without harm if needed."
"Why not Loki then? He knows Thor better than me."
"That's true, but you have an advantage the Lie-Smith lacks, and this is my second reason. You know the human part of my son. His name is William Fordham."
"Ford?" she asked, remembering her childhood friend. "What was he doing in Sunnydale on Halloween day?"
She left out any question about how Odin knew that fact. It was quite obvious for her Mara part that Richard Wilkins, as the occult master of Sunnydale, had run a background check on a new Slayer arriving in his town.
"Nothing good, I am afraid. With a bit of guesswork from the medical logs in his Yggdrasil file, we think that the tumor had altered his personality. I also talked with the people my son was with during Halloween night, at a place called the Sunset Club. While your friend could easily fool deluded people with a romantic view of vampirism, Quetzalcoatl – who is currently paired with a young blond woman, but this is not the point now – had no problem seeing through the lies when remembering those moments. She thinks that your friend was aware of the supernatural and that he had come to Sunnydale because he was desperate."
"Do we go?" she said as she started to rise, really not wanting to delve too much into the kind of stupid things her childhood friend could have done in mean, Old Sunnydale.
"Yes, but we need to make a stop and that's another reason I need you. The path is blocked, and we need to talk to its guardian. A kilometer from here, inside the forest, there is a ruined cabin. This is what you will do…"
- Sunnydale, Wednesday 9 November 2011, 06h30 -
Marlene woke up. She would have loved to say that it was groggily and heavily, but no. Her body was aching a bit, and her senses were already on alert. She was currently in a temporary bedroom they had set in the basement of their house, with only minimal aeration. She could feel the leftover fragrance of the Incense in the air as she got up and closed the lid of the incense burner next to her bed. She removed her nightshirt and went to stand nude in front of the mirror she had set up there after the first night.
"All gone, perfect," she said while passing a hand on her hip and noticing the complete lack of love handles.
A part of Byleth's power was to blur the lines between dream and reality. A blunt application had allowed her daughter to craft the Black Lotus Incense in her Dreamlands palace and bring it back in the waking world. Another one meant that Marlene's adventuring nights had consequences for her real body. It sure wasn't a one hundred percent thing, but she was much fitter than she had been on Monday morning and she felt younger, though the latter was likely a consequence of the ambrosia.
Her gaze went a little lower. There was a small tattoo on her pubis now, something that her daughter had put in place, making sure it would reflect as well in the Dreamlands. It wasn't the Dark Bride Seal, but just one that made her temporarily sterile. She remembered Aphrodisia's warning on Monday and a discussion with Lilith during lunch the same day had made it very clear that saying no wasn't an option. If she were lucky, she would just lose the baby and the simple fact this was the best-case scenario was enough to make her shiver. Worst case… some body horror images from Akira or John Carpenter's The Thing came to mind, with her either begging for someone to put a final end to her pain or having to be put down like the monster she would have turned into.
I can be patient. It's not like my biological clock will continue ticking for long anyway she thought while making a bit of warm-up to get rid of the ache in her muscles.
She exited the small bedroom, pushing a rune next to the light switch. She felt a tingle at the back of her consciousness, and she knew that the magical cleaning system her husband had put in place would start working once she closed the door behind her. As she passed the threshold, still nude, she felt freshened, knowing that all her Black Lotus-tainted sweat and body oils had stayed inside and would soon be purified with the rest. This was, of course, also a reminder that the thing was pure poison that would cause coma, then death on any unprepared human.
She put on the clothes she had prepared before going to bed the night before and quickly arranged her hair into a practical ponytail. She had stopped caring about makeup after her first night… or rather after nearly two months spent as an adventurer, wearing armor, fighting monsters and riding horses. There was also the problem of helmet hair, of course. The only times in the Dreamlands when she dolled up a bit were because she had to attend something official as part of a quest and that meant she had time for a bath beforehand.
She stretched again as she went through the basement. Most of it had been used as a workshop and storage space for their cosplay and LARP gear. Even her temporary bedroom has been a walk-in closet before her husband and daughter did a bit of emergency remodeling on Monday evening, after the three of them discussed her Ascension possibilities and she decided to use the Black Lotus Incense.
Her nose quickly caught the delicious aroma of bacon and coffee, and she heard some light jazz music as she approached the stairs leading to the kitchen. She quickly climbed and opened the door. She had a smile as she noticed that her husband had prepared a full breakfast.
"Good morning, honey," he said as he saw her enter the kitchen, while he was laying some fried eggs and bacon on her plate. "How was your night?"
"Good morning, sexy devil," she replied while coming to kiss her husband. "I got a job offer," she added after they had basked for a minute in their mutual embrace.
"Another of the Dream Keepers contacted you?" he asked, having obviously understood that she wasn't talking about a simple Dreamland quest.
"Morpheus… you know that he looks like the Sandman?"
"No… I suppose our daughter was keeping that bit of juicy gossip for a special occasion," he replied with a smile. "Still no regrets?"
"No… I won't lie, it's hard. Not even mentioning what happens in the Dreamlands and how it's changing me, there is the whole subjective time thing. Knowing that every evening when I go to sleep in the waking world, I will have two-three more months of memories in the morning. I miss you both so much… but we discussed, and I maintain what I said. It's the best choice at our disposal, given that I want to ascend as soon as possible.
"Lilith's Lunar Cocoon needs astrological conditions that won't happen before March as she doesn't have the Armillary Sphere of Nibiru to simulate them. The Dark Bride Seal… I know, Asmodeus recruits people who have no problem sleeping with everything that moves, so that works fine for them. I also know that many demons have an open relationship, but I'm definitely not ready for that now and I don't want the Seal to taint our sweet moments together. Also… after what you told me about the Fanning of Flames…"
The Fanning of Flames was Belial's Ascension method and Marlene had quickly understood why her daughter had discarded it when her husband had described the process to her after she insisted a lot. If the Dark Bride Seal had been made for people already willing to give in to their lust and for whom an orgy was just Tuesday, the Fanning of Flames was about corruption. It had immediately reminded Marlene of a German movie she had seen while she was in college, Christiane F. The movie described the descent into hell of a fourteen-year-old girl as she became addicted to heroin.
Little by little, Belial's Fanning of Flames peeled off your inhibitions and decency until the only thing that mattered was your immediate pleasure. Unlike the Dark Bride Seal, the nature of your partners did not matter, it was just a question of how debauched the act was. The evilest part in Marlene's opinion was, however, what happened once you had gathered enough for the transformation. You went into immediate withdrawal, with a perfect memory of everything you did during the high. Of course, Belial then made you an offer that would allow you to escape your conscience, at a price.
"I'll make something more decent once we have the time… but it's going to take months of R&D," replied her husband, not daring to face her gaze.
"It's all right. You're not him," she replied, coming to hug him.
This was the real reason she had refused to use the Dark Bride Seal. Not that the idea of having sex with her husband several times per day for over a month repulsed her. It had been in fact quite the opposite and there was a part of herself that would have liked nothing more than surrendering to that pleasure. Thankfully, her chat with Lilith had confirmed her hunch. As a mere mortal woman, a month of sleeping repeatedly with a demon prince… well, the expression 'fuck her brains out' would be a little too literal. She would still be his wife, but she would never be an equal. The Path of Dreams she followed thanks to the Incense was also a form of corruption, but one that made her strong.
"You know, Morpheus said I should take Nerio as my goddess's name. He thought the goddess of valor would suit me. I thought about it in the following month until I woke up and I think it's a good idea. You'll just have to look at me to think 'I can't be worthless; my pretty wife is the goddess of valor'," she said, playing on the Hebrew meaning of Belial. There is just the matter that it would land me in a different…"
"The Dream Keepers receive funding from several departments, mine included," he replied as they broke the hug and sat at the breakfast table while Max removed the spell that he had woven to make sure her breakfast remained warm.
"Because Foreign Affairs also means relationships with mortals?"
"In part. Most of the field agents offering contracts to the mortals are part of my department. It's a little more complicated with summoners as they often want to contact a specific demon, but the call is going through our central. As for the Dreamlands, it's because ironing out the terms of the Hell and Heaven projects means my diplomats are involved. So, you could act as a Dream Keeper most of the time but also represent the joint projects in my department's meetings. Lots of planning stuff and… honey, I know you love that part. Your Excel sheets are works of art."
"I blame my father's tactical gifts for that," she replied with a smile. "Reminds me that… I'm not keen on seeing him too soon. Several bosses in the Dreamlands were unsubtle nods at how my mother…"
"It's all right," he said, taking her hand. "You know you were not the only one to suffer because of her. He did too."
Max knew very well the issues Marlene had with her late mother. How expert that woman had been at exploiting her and her father's faults to make them feel worthless and manipulate them until lung cancer took her and freed them when she was eleven. Marlene remembered having wished for someone to do something, for the cigarettes she…
"Eh… Max, are there wish granters on this world?"
"Yes. Giles's sources are clear about that, and they have fewer rules than us. In particular, the Vengeance Demons are…"
"Waiting for someone to say the wrong words in a moment of anger?" she cut in and her husband immediately confirmed her hunch with a nod. "Fuck!"
"Your mother?"
"Maybe. I sure did voice it a few times as a kid, because I was hurting too much…"
Belial took the tablet that sat on the breakfast table and checked the database they had compiled with Giles's help.
"Halfrek, Vengeance Demon of Abused Children, that would match… hmm, your Nidhogg file is clean. I mean, there would be a flag if someone had a claim on your soul, so you owe her nothing… and that would fit with the Vengeance Demons modus operandi. They use wishes to spread misery, not get souls."
"And her death hurt us a lot… Dad got a transfer from submarine captainship, something he loved doing, to an office job in the Pentagon because he wanted to be more available for me. Things got better later but… let's shelve that for now. We have more urgent things to do."
"Agreed. I'll put them on my threat board so that we don't forget about them. However… honey, just be aware that we may want to…"
"Find some kind of agreement with them? "
"In short, yes. Wish granters have an interest in keeping humanity around, so it's possible we come up with a non-aggression pact."
"I am… okay, I can think about the Big Picture. Just need to remember Dad's rantings about some slimy people he met as part of his job."
- Norwegian countryside, Wednesday 9 November 2011, 18h28 (GMT 1) -
Buffy smiled as the flames rose. She sure still was a city girl, but thanks to Mara having to camp many times in less than ideal conditions as part of her work, she now at least had the practical skills to build a fire and set up some basic shelter from local materials. All of which were extremely useful when you had to camp in November in the ruins of an old charcoal burner cabin long swallowed by the Norwegian forest.
So, she had patched some holes using old planks, used stones to build a basic fireplace and set up a tarp she bought in Bergen to cut the draft. It had needed a bit of magic here and there to make sure everything would hold through the night, but nothing major. Not that she intended to sleep, not here and certainly not now.
She took a few things out of her dimensional pocket, understanding better now why elk meat had been on her equipment list. She worked quickly to get the stew that would be her dinner to cook on the fire.
Definitely no Sam Gamgee, but that will do, she thought as satisfactory fumes came from the pot after a while of stirring and adding stuff. Thanks a lot for helping with my complete lack of cooking skills, Mara. Now, all what's left is to wait for someone to… and that didn't take long.
Someone had just pulled the tarp aside and Buffy could see the pale face of a woman with blond hair and green eyes, a crown of flowers on her head. Her clothes were ancient-looking, and many would have mistaken her for a reenactor in the garb of a Viking woman, if not for the woman's cow tail that Buffy's demon eyes could easily see in the darkness.
"Welcome around my fire," said Buffy in Norwegian. "I hope you won't mind my intrusion on your lands, guardian of the forest. I am no great cook, but I have elk stew for the two of us."
"I am more intrigued than anything else, traveler. You show respect, and you are certain of your strength. You are no human or spirit, and neither are you one of the tainted spawns of the Old Ones," replied the spirit as she came to sit on an old stool in front of Buffy, who catered to her stew. "What are you?"
"I'm a jötunn, just like you are a hulder."
"A bold claim… yet our tales speak of magic that is dark but not tainted. This is what I feel in you, so there may be truth here."
"Initially, what mankind now calls black magic comes from Chaos. It's passion, raw elemental fury, creation and destruction, in short everything we jötnar have dominion over. The big issue is that some nasty people also use that magic and the taint you're used to associate with black magic is their personal spin on the stuff. They do that to make sure anyone using it is dragged down to their level. Same for white magic, just with Order and the ones often called the Powers That Be."
"While we spirits try to stay neutral, though we often lean on one side or the other. Yes, this is in the tales. Why did you come?"
Buffy took out two bowls and served the spirit and herself.
"I am mostly standing watch for the person who wanted to talk to you," she replied pointing at the third bowl she had taken out. "He was afraid that you wouldn't approach if he tried the camping at night in your domain thing. I promise there is no treachery here. This is about the Healing Mountain."
"This place is forbidden, and we make sure no mortal reaches its blighted summit… why would your friend think I would be afraid?"
"I was more fearing that you would think me an impostor," said another voice as a hand pulled the curtain, revealing a bearded man missing an eye, clad in a grey cloak.
Buffy could see that the eyes of the hulder were going from the man to the two wolves who stood watch outside and the two ravens that had just flown in and landed near the fire. The young Slayer took some of her reserve meat out and put it on a plate for the birds.
"I… you are right. Your claim is a hard one to believe. Can you prove that you are the Hanged One?" asked the hulder.
"Not without shouting it for all in Midgard to hear, and it is not yet time for this, guardian. Darkflame, Geri and Freki found a deer and will feast on it," said Odin as he came to sit on a log next to the fire. "Guardian, will you hear my request regarding the mountain? I hope I can convince you to open the path for us."
"I will listen… your stew could use some improvements," said the hulder as she looked at Buffy.
"Not so long ago, it was said I could burn water, so that's already a big step forward," replied the demoness with a smirk.
"Indeed," said Odin after he tasted his own bowl. "Guardian, what do you know of the fate of the Aesir?"
"All dead, fallen not to Ragnarök but to a senseless war where they fought among themselves, and the victor devoured the victim. Our elders have long suspected that some machinations of those of Utgard, be they Light or Dark, pushed them into this. The mountain… it was the place of many atrocities and what is there must remain sealed. We may be diminished in this age, but we will not fail in our duty… even if the Light Ones' pet humans – those you may know as the Watchers – and the jötunn they enslaved hunt us. I must say that if I was not feeling the overwhelming white magic coming from you, Hooded One, I would have wondered if an old man and a young woman traveling to a mystic place were not Watcher and Slayer."
Buffy felt the headache coming. From her recent discussions with Giles and the way they had started to crosscheck his books, they were more and more convinced that there was a problem with the information the Watchers had been fed. It felt like someone had often voluntarily aimed them at forces that should have been their allies in the safeguarding of the world. There was however another very interesting bit of information in what the spirit had said: she had called the Slayer a jötunn.
And this explains quite nicely the inconsistencies Mom and I caught in the Slayer specs. The demon at the source of the Slayer is not of Old One descent, but one of the Old Gods. Also noting the use of 'Utgardian' for anything Old One or PTB related. I bet I can have that trending.
"Your caution is commendable, and I assure you I am not a Watcher," replied Odin. "Let me tell you two truths. You mentioned the Slayer, so know that she has broken her chains. As for us, what is happening has happened already and will happen again. For the Three Sovereign Sisters, born before Ymir, before Ginnungagap itself and who will last long after this world is gone, create maintain and destroy as they please. Just as they ruled that the time of the Old Ones had ended in the past, so they decided to create us anew in this world and give it a new chance."
"We have no intention to fall for the lies of those of Utgard," added Buffy. "What's up there on the mountain is what's left of the last of the Aesir, right?"
The hulder nodded somberly.
"My sight showed me that a great storm fell on the mountain nine days ago. What did you see?" asked Odin.
"The same. A storm so powerful it breached through our wards, thankfully without really damaging them. There was a moment of intense fury that day and new, weaker storms now and then since that moment. What do you know?"
"It is my son Thor. Our return has been chaotic, and the Thunderer was sick. In his fever, he came to a familiar place in his search for healing… and I took already too long to find him."
"Yet you did not force your way but came to plead your cause respectfully… in that you are better than many."
The hulder took a pouch from her belt, shook it, and randomly drew three bone tokens from it, setting them on one of the stones around the fire. Buffy recognized the runes and could feel magic at work.
"Perthro, Berkana and Ehwaz," said the hulder, pointing to the runes she drew.
"The dawn of a new age, ordered by fate, and cooperation the way to move forward," said Odin. "Fitting. Will you help us?"
"I will open the way, and I will witness what happens from afar, for I cannot enter the mountain myself. Once your quest is accomplished, I will talk to our elders. We will then decide if an alliance can be made."
- Norwegian countryside, Thursday 10 November 2011, 06h15 (GMT 1) -
Buffy stopped for an instant to look down. After a few hours of rest and preparation in the evening, she, Odin, and his familiars had left camp shortly before midnight and started climbing the path to the Lyfjaberg that the hulder had opened for them. As often with magical areas, the path involved some dimensional trickery that made it impossible to find without the guardian's blessing.
It also meant that, unless they brute-forced through like Thor likely did in his fever, they had to walk without artifice to reach the summit, which meant no flying or teleportation. Thankfully, the ascension did not require special equipment, and the snow was hard enough to make the walk just harrowing enough… for mortals. Buffy and Odin had actually run until the terrain made it too risky, not caring at all about doing the ascension by night.
"I suggest we take a break before that last stretch, so that we arrive there at dawn," said Odin as he leaned against a rock. "Can you check the surveillance?"
"Sure… only a bird's eye view spell with the hulder's signature," replied Buffy after checking her smartphone. "Block?"
"Can she hear us? If yes, audio block for the time of this conversation. What we are going to talk about does not concern her."
"Yes, and done," she replied after typing a few options. "My gremlins are mapping the wards… that's not the same situation as in the other sites. The ones around the mountain are pure spirit magic."
"Agents from both sides have been checking mystical sites since you discovered the first one last Sunday. We believe that the 'out of place' seal arrays have in common to concern entities who are likely to be helpful to humanity… which isn't the case here. Hmm… Hugin and Munin cannot pierce the clouds on the top, but I have a hunch. The one we are going to face is likely Ullr. Is that going to be a problem?"
"No, unless he confuses me again with his mother," she replied with a frown.
Usually, Mara's physical resemblance with Sif was not a problem as the soul sense prevented any confusion. When Asgardian mead, a beverage engineered for its ability to get both the Shedim and the Elohim drunk, started to flow, it was another matter. Buffy remembered some rather embarrassing incidents, including one concerning Thor's stepson who definitely had mommy issues. Thinking about it also triggered a few other memories and if some things happened the same way on Earth-S as they did on Earth-N, she had a good idea of why Odin thought the last of the Aesir was Ullr.
"You think this one tried to usurp your throne like ours did?" she asked.
"Yes. As for what I know for sure, I can feel that my son is alive and that there is another force with him there, but that's all. Do you have a weapon that can kill a god?"
"No," she replied, knowing that Mara had never owned such a thing. "I can give you an opening so that you can use Gungnir, though."
What's this feeling… as if I should have one. What the fuck is "mʔ" and how do I know about it? Something to research later, likely something about the Slayer.
"While not enough, I have something that will give you… an edge," said Odin while taking a sheathed sword out of dimensional storage. "This is Gram. It won't be enough to kill a god, but it will sure wound one gravely. I gift it to you as a peace offering from a former enemy."
Of course, she knew that sword. Also known as Balmung or Nothung depending on the version of the tale, it was the sword of the hero Sigurd, Siegfried in Wagner's operas. She took it respectfully. She could feel its spirit, longing for battle.
"Thank you. I accept the gift, but…"
"I have no doubt the Fire Giants will forge for you something worthy of a goddess once we have more time. I am also sure that you will find a hero to bear Gram in your name when the time comes."
"I was actually wondering how it could exist… this is Earth-S's Gram?"
"Indeed. Many things have ended in Sunnydale in the last hundred years. Do not worry, I fully intend to share," replied Odin with a grin. "As we mention things that ended in my town… I want to warn you about the one you know as Angel, now paired with the Shedu Valefor. I have reasons to believe that your meeting was desired by beings that are now your enemies as well as mine."
"The Utgardians… eh, I find the way the hulder called them rather smart, because the more we learn, the less differences I see between the Powers That Be and the Old Ones. I will see if I can make it popular on our side."
"Well reasoned, talking of Light or Dark Utgardians will indeed work better for us. I will mention it to my Council. About Angel… you need to understand that Raphael is not optimistic about him."
Buffy winced. The archangel Raphael was the best healer in Heaven, both for ailments of the body and the ones of the soul. If he said it wasn't looking good, there was a definite problem.
"I… feared that. That curse tore him out of the afterlife and stuck him with memories of crimes he didn't commit… Raphael thinks that the only thing keeping him together is guilt, right? Once he realizes he has no need to atone…"
"Yes, the curse is a cruel thing. Its target is the vampire Angelus of course, and the soul of the mortal Liam is in the end just the weapon used to torture it. Do not get me wrong, I have no mercy to spare for the vampire, but it is necessary to comprehend the goal of the curse to understand the damage it caused. By tricking him into believing that Angelus's crimes were his to atone for, the Gypsies ensured that Liam would become Angelus's jailor and not find peace in death, in a twisted version of the monkey and the cookie jar tale. What I want you to understand is that Valefor was supposed to teach him that he didn't need to be chained by crimes he did not commit, but it appears more and more that he failed.
"Maybe I can help, I mean…"
"Can you? You were young and he was the first interesting man you met, Buffy. Can you swear to me, with all the weight of Nidhogg to chain you to it, that this was more than an adolescent crush?"
Buffy had been about to make some flippant reply, but she had just felt Mara stop her. The worst was that, in her mind's eye, she could see the elder demoness just shake her head sadly at her… and next to her, countless past Slayers doing the same. She looked at him and of course he had the concerned father face Urd had complained about so many times, because it was a sure way to guilt-trip the Elder Norn into somewhat behaving. Even worse, she could feel it working, just as bad as her Mom's raised eyebrow.
"You know I can't," she replied, wiping out her tears. "So, what do we do? He's one of us now, so it's not like we can return his soul to the afterlife to fix things."
"No, but we can hard reset him."
Buffy squatted, holding her head in her hands. Right now, she really felt older than human history. Right now, she remembered helping to fix Earth after the great war. She remembered seeing homo sapiens make their first treks outside of Africa, meeting homo neanderthalensis, then little by little going forward until the time to settle down and build villages came and things accelerated. She remembered treasuring her times with cherished mortals and knowing why she sometimes envied them.
The price of immortality was an old theme, and she had heard, seen, read or even played a part in countless stories about it. Many were about the quest to acquire it and often spoke of its failure. Others were more about the issues faced by immortals, often about loneliness as you saw people age and die around you. Then you had stories like the movie Zardoz, that hit too close to home. What happened when death was denied to you? How long could you force yourself to move forward? What would you be ready to do for it to change and finally be allowed to die?
Once adult, the Shedim and Elohim did not age anymore, though they may look the part if they wanted to. Their minds were much vaster than the ones of humans, much better armed to withstand time. But, even with that, even if they could not die, they were not eternal beings existing outside of time and causality. Eventually, the accumulated weight of their existence wore them down. The only question was when. Realizing the risk of them all ending as hollow shells with dead eyes calcifying on ancient thrones, Hild and Odin's generation had poured enormous resources into devising a solution, which had been the first big common project since the Apotheosis.
While some of them thought that shredding their souls and merging back with the mana of the universe was an acceptable solution, a form of nirvana, it was not a step most of them were ready to take. They needed the reassurance that, if needed, they would be able to lay down their burden without it meaning their complete destruction. If the afterlife of mortals was denied to them, then they had to build their own way and once again, the solution involved computers. The Shedim and Elohim had designed procedures to reset gods.
A soft reset was typically used for punishment, though some also used it for a weird kind of 'vacations'. The god didn't lose his 'files', better known as memories, but they were usually locked up while he lived an oblivious mortal life with his account switched to fourth category. It was easy to restore if circumstances changed, usually when the mortal shell died.
The hard reset was on the other hand typically used for gods who had lost the will to live. Everything was scrubbed, the Nidhogg or Yggdrasil file archived, and the blank soul stored in the joint system, to be used for a future baby from the community. Just like with the doublet system, everything was anonymized and there was no way to know that this cute baby deity had been someone else before.
She forced herself to think, not bothering to hide her tears. She had her own selfish desires of course and it was fine for her to have them, but even those desires had a problem, because Odin was right, and she had already admitted it by refusing to swear. She wasn't sure what her exact feelings for Angel had been before Halloween. What she knew was that she now considered them as a crush born from her own inexperience and the desperation that came with a Slayer's brutally short life expectancy, with a possibility of becoming more. Now that she was an immortal who had to think about a career plan counted in millennia… no, this was not something she could honestly see blossom enough to make him stay.
"If… If Raphael talks to his soul and he asks for it, I won't oppose it," she said, rising and taking a few deep breaths. "Let's focus on saving Thor now."
- On the top of the Lyfjaberg, a moment later -
Thor was sitting on a rock. He did not dare sleep in this place. He had come to the Healing Mountain to find help with what ailed him and had instead found a despoiled place where a monster lurked. For nine days already, he had fought against the creature, fending it off as it retreated in the cracks below… but always came back.
He wasn't sure why he was there, even if he had realized this was not his home universe. His memory was a bit clearer than it had been nine days ago, but still definitely not good enough. There had been a human lad about to do something really stupid… not that he could fully fault him. The will to survive could push the best of men to thread on despicable paths. Thankfully, what had been a death sentence for a human was something an Eloah would heal from… if he could afford to rest properly, which unfortunately wasn't the case. Here, the illness in his brain meant that he had to spend far too much mana just to keep himself somewhat battle-ready.
He had talked a bit with the lad during their watch, as he and the monster both rested. He knew his name was William Fordham, Ford to his friends, and that he had come to a place called Sunnydale hoping to strike a deal with a vampire. He would use his friendship bond with a righteous warrior called Buffy to deliver her to the vampire and in exchange, he would 'live'. Stupid, in Thor's opinion. Much better to die bravely than to become a demon's slave… but again, he could understand. Taking bad decisions when cornered or pressed by time was something he was very familiar with. Also, the human did not have the certitude that Valhalla would be waiting for him if he fell in battle.
Thor had recognized his father's hand in the magic that brought him into this new world, as well as the one of Hild. He had also understood that there was something else, something higher, and that Odin and Hild had in the end just handled the details. This meant that the Sovereign Sisters wanted him to be here. He didn't know for what purpose, but he would find out once he managed to get out of this place. He supposed that killing the monster for good would break the wards that trapped him here.
This meant that he had found some kind of agreement with the lad as they seemed to now share a body and a soul. They both knew the price of it. Their merging was now complete, forged during nine days of battle. As far as Thor was concerned, 'Ford' was more or less a mortal life he lived and he treasured those moments… but nine days of almost non-stop fighting had meant taking some cruel decisions that the lad had agreed to, once again led by his desire for survival.
"Looks like it's nearly time for next round," said the blond god as he rose slowly, feeling all his body ache.
He took the old sword he had found discarded in this place. It was a good blade, and it had some magic, but unfortunately not enough and his powers were too unstable for him to summon… Meow-Meow? No, that wasn't it. It was something from that funny saga about him he now remembered. He would have to watch it again. He focused his thoughts and remembered: he currently lacked the power to invoke Mjölnir.
He could see it rising, a thing of morphing flesh, an abomination made of tortured souls enslaved and stitched to their murderer. Thankfully, Thor knew that this wasn't his world, though he still wept at the cruel fate of the Aesir on this one. The thing had told him how this place had been their last stand, how he had devoured the last Valkyries here… and finally been trapped by the magic of the Fae.
"Still rising, father?" said the thing that was, just like him, putting itself back together. "You're weakening. Soon… soon your soul will be mine and I will have enough power to escape this place."
"Unless I…"
Both he and the abomination turned their heads. They had felt two presences enter the wards, presences that were now racing in their direction. The Thunderer laughed as he recognized his father's soul.
"For Asgard!" yelled Thor as he rushed to battle.
Buffy was running, using an 'elf step' spell to walk on the snow without sinking in it. Gram was in her hand, and she was already softly chanting several augmentation spells. Geri and Freki were running alongside her. Looking at them, she snapped her fingers, activating something she had prepared the evening before. In the Aether around her, two of her gremlins shifted to attack mode and materialized as lions of black flames. The others reconfigured as well, ready to intercept spells aimed at her.
She could see the two fighters she had sensed once they entered the final wards. One was some kind of vaguely humanoid thing that belonged in her opinion in a David Cronenberg movie. The other… she stifled a laugh. The issue was that she had been looking for the bulky, red-haired Thor Mara was used to. The warrior fighting against the monster was a Chris Hemsworth lookalike dressed in the remnants of a Marvel Thor costume.
"Eh! Thor! Nice to see you! Blond really suits you!" she quipped as she slid on the last meters, cutting one of the monster's appendages before taking a fighting stance on the other side of the monster.
Thor blinked but he was thankfully too much of a veteran to lose his focus. His issue was that he was trying to reconcile two images concerning the blond warrior that had rushed to his help, the lower part of her face hidden by a scarf. A part of him had recognized the aura of Mara, a powerful trickster of Hild's court he had tangled quite a few times with. The other one had recognized her voice as the one of his childhood friend Buffy. There was also a problem that he immediately noticed as she started to exchange blows with the monster. Thor would have expected Mara to dodge, buy time and ultimately lead Ullr into a trap much like Loki would have.
Instead, the jötunn that ran to the Thunderer's aid was showing prowess that put most Valkyries to shame. Each move was graceful, magical shields deployed with utmost precision and her sword strikes wreathed in black flames. Her two black lions danced with her and Thor was now certain that she was not only fighting very well, but also becoming better as the fight went on.
"Buffy? Is that the power of the Slayer?" he asked, remembering that his friend was a mystical champion.
"Meet Buffy two dot zero," replied Buffy as she removed her scarf.
"MOTHER!" yelled the monster, "MOTHER IS THE SLAYER! IMPOSSIBLE!"
This time Thor lost his focus for a second and was thrown backwards by a swipe from the monster. Given the haze on his memories, he had indeed not realized that Buffy was the image of Sif and seeing her… he winced as he received himself heavily, feeling more bones crack. Thankfully, he could see that Freki and Geri had taken over the task of flanking the monster.
He wondered for a second why his father was waiting to intervene when he was hit by a powerful healing spell.
Yggdrasil link repair complete. Category One rights restored, said the artificial voice of Yggdrasil's vocal interface in a corner of his mind.
"Thank you, Father," he said with a grin as he rose. "Mjölnir!" he added, his right hand pointing at the sky.
He grinned even further as the lightning came down and the familiar handle materialized in his hand. He could see that Buffy was having the same problem he had. She was the better warrior, but she did not have a weapon that could bring down a god. Now that he was wielding his hammer, again, it was time to finish this.
The hulder gasped as she heard the claim of the monster. The jötunn she had met was the Slayer.
"Odin… no, he said he wasn't a Watcher, he didn't say anything about her, so his words were true. No Watcher would let a Slayer wield magic. This means that…"
"So, the Slayer has finally broken her chains," said a voice. "Made her host a full goddess at the same time from how it looks."
She looked down, at an old one-foot-tall man who was lighting his pipe. He had of course seamlessly hijacked her observation spell.
"Hello, Bjarklind," said the gnome. "I was the nearest one, so the elders sent me."
"Hello, Kollfinnr," replied the hulder. "What do you think of all this?"
"I don't know yet. Let's observe the… that must have hurt," said the gnome with a chuckle as on their vision, the top of the mountain was covered in lightning.
Buffy had somersaulted backwards the second she had seen Thor jump forward, to come down on Ullr and strike with Mjölnir. A second later, her gremlins triggered to protect her hearing as a ten-foot-wide lightning bolt struck the top of the mountain, right on the fallen god's position.
She made a note to indeed commission a god-class weapon from the Fire Giants once back in Sunnydale. She knew that she was wearing the creature down. It had a lot of power, but it wasted most of it, likely due to the stitched together nature of its soul. Buffy thought that she would actually have fared worse against Ullr alone. Winning was not an issue, but just as Odin had thought, Gram was not enough to kill a god, even one in such a sorry state as Ullr. Mjölnir, on the other hand…
Suddenly a magic circle came around the monster and Buffy could see Hugin and Munin flying around, acting as anchors for Odin's spells. She could easily recognize purification rituals being woven, making it impossible for the monster to hide inside the mountain. As for the one around Ullr… Buffy recognized it as a healing spell, but not one aimed at the body.
What… oh, making him think clearly. Okay, question time… and also to stop calling him an it. Looks like he doesn't have long left anyway.
"Mother…" said Ullr, his voice weary as he rolled on his back and held his hand in her direction.
"I know I look like her, but I'm not your mother," she said while kneeling next to him, knowing Thor would end him if he attempted anything. "I'm Buffy, and I'm the Slayer and a jötunn."
"I see it now," replied Ullr with a nod. "A pity that it is now that this darkness finally… I didn't want that, but I was so afraid. We all were. I just thought that if I didn't do it, then… another would. At first, I tried… but then… then… nothing else mattered anymore. I am… glad this nightmare finally ends."
"Fear can push us to terrible lengths indeed," said Thor with a nod. "I will let you talk," he added, aiming for a rock to sit on.
Buffy came nearer and took his hand. No matter the crimes he committed, this was the humane thing to do.
"Can you… lie to me? Pretend you are her in my last moments?"
"Yes… my son," she replied as she moved further and laid his head on her lap.
"Thank you. In exchange, I will tell you this truth, a truth that the Powers That Be erased from the minds and records of men. I feel the spark of the Slayer in you, mother, and I know from how it merges with you that it wasn't stolen but given."
"I lived a mortal life for a while and was called as the Slayer."
"I see… the truth I want to gift you is the identity of the goddess who helped to create the Slayer. She was deceived into giving a part of her essence and the pain of the Slayer… she never recovered, and the world became worse for it. Mother… you hold in your soul the last fragment of the fair Aphrodite… I know, not the name you expected."
"While a mortal Slayer… I fought more fiercely and with much greater fortitude because I was doing it to protect the ones I loved and not for some abstract duty. I also remember that in Sparta, Aphrodite's statues were clad in armor and that the Spartans called her Aphrodite Areia. Honestly, if the Athenians thought she learnt nothing while dating Ares…" she said with a pout.
Ullr laughed a bit, his laugh cut by coughs.
"Thank you, mother… I am so tired of it all… for so long I feared nothingness and I have done such terrible things in my madness…"
Buffy had taken a decision, and she quickly took out her smartphone, blitz-typed a message with one hand while she slowly caressed the dying god's hair with the other. She had a little smile as she received a 'Reset system ready. Send him. We'll filter the crap.' from Paimon.
"Shh… it's all right. This life is ending for you, but soon, you will be reborn. Sure, you won't remember, but your soul will live on, be a cute baby who can discover the world anew with bright eyes."
"A nice…"
"It's not a lie," she said while kissing the top of his head. "Just something your generation of gods could have done if you had worked together instead of… that. Rest and sleep well, my son. Mommy will do the rest."
"Thank you…"
Her Nidhogg marks flared as she accessed the system in full. She saw Odin and Thor do the same, making this a rarity: a cosmic harmony spell, both light and dark. Ullr's body dissolved into motes of light that flew upwards in a column of rainbow light, straight toward the luminous ash tree and snake that had appeared above the mountain. They saw Ullr release all the fragments of the gods and goddesses he had consumed and all of them finding shelter inside Yggdrasil and Nidhogg. Her smartphone buzzed with a message.
"What do they say?" asked Thor.
"In short, Paimon is yelling at me because we sent them forty-two souls and not one… but she says it's fine because the Heaven sysadmins are helping," replied Buffy as she rose. "Eh… Odin, we just added a lot of divine power to the system, right?"
"Well spotted. We will have to re-estimate the time to Apotheosis. I will finish purifying the site and talk to the hulder. Buffy, can you bring… no, Thor, do not even think about teleporting by yourself before Eir has cleared you for active duty," said Odin as he noticed that his son was making his 'I'm about to do something reckless' face.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure to take him to the hospital," said Buffy with a grin as passed her arm under the Thunderer's one. "Just give me a minute."
She took her smartphone again and opened a form. This was a spur of the moment decision, but it felt right to her given what she just learnt. She would however add a little twist, as she remembered another bit of lore regarding a certain love goddess, namely how some archaeologists thought that she initially came from the east where she bore another name.
New true name: Ishtar Darkflame, daughter of Asherah.
Local Names: Inanna, Astarte, Aphrodite Areia, Venus Victrix
Mortal Incarnation: Buffy Anne Summers
Reasoning: see log files and recording of Lyfjaberg incident, ref. Abaddon 78A3.
She sent the form for approval to her mother.
"Ishtar… I like that," said Thor who had been reading above her shoulder.
"Going to be a pain to get used to, and you?"
"Eh… Thor works. I will need to do something for my mortal family… but later. Right now, as much as my machismo is telling me to pretend it's fine, Yggdrasil is not giving me that choice. Let's go see Eir. She's likely to tell me to rest for a week and I'll have cabin fever in a day."
Buffy laughed as she teleported them back to Sunnydale.