Nimora watched the scene between the other four in both confusion and relief. She didn’t know why they had suddenly appeared to save her, but was able to make out certain details from the conversation that they had with the enemy. Two of these four must have been the children of one of Thadius’s puppets.
Regardless, she was glad that she had been saved before the worst could happen, and was finally able to relax control over her own divinity. When she learned about the power Thadius wielded to create puppets, she could still not fathom why her old love had been taken and experimented on. If he were able to simply make him a puppet, why wouldn’t he have done so?
With that in mind, Nimora walked over to the disgusting puddles of black ooze that had once been the bodies of the eight puppet gods, grabbing their clothes and rifling through them. She was looking for anything that might be a storage item, something that could give her some kind of insight into why they had been doing what they were doing.
Sadly, while she found multiple storage items, they mostly contained mundane things such as wealth or personal tools. She found the terminals of each puppet, opening them and looking for anything that might represent notes that had been taken. From the conversation with the felyn while he was under Thadius’s control, they weren’t able to telepathically communicate. As such, they would have needed some way to keep in contact when they weren’t moving as a unified group.
Sure enough, he soon found a chat program on the terminals. However, she clicked her tongue when she noticed that the messages were in some form of code. Once her eyes drifted to the side, and she saw the number of participants in the chat, she gasped in astonishment. Having nine puppet gods already was an incredible feat, but there were over a hundred individuals listed.
Maybe they’re just mostly normal mortals? Nimora thought to herself. It was the only conclusion that she could come up with. If the man had that many gods under his control, he would have been able to do so much more. After a bit more thought, it was these mortals that likely supplied safe houses like the one she was in.
If anyone’s terminal has the notes I want, it will be the original. She couldn’t help but sigh at that realization, wiping off her hands as she stood. The original had teleported away, and could be anywhere when he finally died. There was no point in trying to find him now, so the only thing left was to fully explore this safe house and see if there were any clues that might have been left behind.
Over at the side, Keenan didn’t spare a glance towards Nimora as she headed to the exit. Jace’s head turned in her direction, but she couldn’t tell what was on his mind. She left the room on her own, climbing the stairs and arriving in what seemed to be a large living room. Sure enough, there was another puddle of black ooze on the floor in front of the couch, but she paid no mind to that.
Instead, her senses swept throughout the room, looking for anything that might be hidden. This was a place important enough that they had brought her here for a conversion ritual, so there was the chance that there might be some records concealed somewhere.
Sadly, she could not find any hidden rooms, secret compartments, or concealed documents. Her frustrations were mounting by the minute, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Startled, she turned around, divinity gathering in her hand. What she saw was the felyn boy, standing there with a calm smile on his face.
“What are you looking for?” He asked curiously. “I had this guy in my mind for a bit, so maybe I can help?”
“It’s… it’s fine.” She said with a shake of her head. “There’s nothing to discover here.”
“Like I said, maybe I can help. You saved my life, didn’t you? When you got rid of his influence, I was able to see a few of his memories and thoughts from before his fragment attacked me.”
When she heard that, she thought that maybe there was some hope, and gave a soft nod. “About a year ago, Thadius abducted a Merkin. He performed cruel experiments, and then just threw the body away. I just… want to know why.”
Jace’s brows raised at that, and he nodded. His head lowered in focus, clearly trying to piece together the memories. “I… remember something about that. There’s not a lot of detail, and it’s mostly fragmented. It had something to do with the Merkin’s natural telepathy, that’s all I can say. If you need more, you’ll need to check his research lab.”
“I would, if I knew where it was.” She said with a bitter smile, before blinking. “You mean, you know?”
Jace nodded his head. “That’s right. It was something very important to him, so it was one of the memories that came through more clearly. Do you have a map of Earth? If so, I can show you where it is.”
“Oh, yes!” Nimora nodded her head almost frantically, pulling out her own terminal and opening up a map of Earth. Jace, with his eyes closed, traced his finger along the map.
After shifting the view a few times, he began zooming in to a small region of Kross. Once done, he pointed to a rather obscure farm out in the middle of nowhere. “This is the place you want. In the guest bedroom, there is a secret teleportation sigil. It will activate if you place your hands on the painting of Reynard Kross, covering both of his eyes.”
“Thank you!” Nimora gave a deep bow to Jace, saving the location and quickly turning to leave the house. She paid no mind to the surroundings, flying into the air in a hurry the moment she was out of the building.
Jace gave a somewhat bitter smile when he noticed her leaving in such an open fashion, turning to walk over to the kitchen where everyone else was waiting. “She’s gone. Left rather visibly, as well…”
Sam gasped, eyes going wide. “Then, won’t she be blamed for… you know?”
Keenan quickly realized what his sister meant, and nodded his head. “Any investigation into the incident will likely start with her, yes.” Although this was a case where Keenan had done the killing himself, and the other party had secretly enslaved numerous people, the public would only see this as a murder case. “We should leave before anyone arrives.”
Jace nodded his head, though Sam looked rather confused. “I… I could take us to one of our other siblings? But, we’ve never met them before, so they would be confused.”
“It’s fine.” Keenan shook his head. He knew that his sister could only take them directly to a family member, and had already planned their return trip. “I’ll handle the way back.”
After saying that, Keenan traced a circle in the air with one finger, opening a black void in the air. Once the portal was finished, Jace stepped through it casually, clearly aware of what was waiting on the other side. Only once he did so did Sam and her mother feel comfortable taking that step as well.
Through the portal, they had arrived back at Sam’s house, the same place that they left from. The gap in the void silently closed behind them, while Sam looked around in surprise. “Wait… if you could do that from the beginning, why did you walk here?” She asked, looking inquisitively at her brother.
“I can only go to places I’ve been before. Otherwise, I might end up anywhere in the universe.” Keenan answered with a faint shrug. He had tested that power numerous times, and had thus learned the hard way how difficult it was to control void passages. Unlike normal portals, they were harder to stop, but the degree of accuracy was also a problem. Without having visited the place personally, it was akin to trying to point out a single grain of sand from twenty meters away. The best thing about them was that he didn’t have to know the exact coordinates for where he was going, so long as he had been there himself. All he had to do was trace his own information back through his memories and use that as the beacon.
“Well… come inside.” Sam’s mother said with a sigh. “After all of this, I think we all need a break.”
Nimora flew through the air above Desbar, faster and faster as she made her way to the Fairy Ring. The air buckled around her multiple times before she abruptly stopped, looking down at the square beneath her. The portal was active, and she could see people casually commuting through it. However, she could tell from the traffic that the portal seemed to be open to Deckan at the moment, as the vast majority of those coming and going were kitsune.
She clicked her tongue, having been hoping for a convenient timing to slip through the gate to make her way to Earth. Instead, she had to quickly land, checking the schedule to find the next available connection.
Nimora let out a low groan when she realized that the next connection wouldn’t be for a full day, and decided to pay to step through the gate immediately. With any luck, the Deckan gate would be connecting to Earth sooner, or she could find someone able to open a personal portal.
Unfortunately for her, portal creation was a highly advanced form of energy control. She, as a being from Spica, was not well versed in controlling the energies of the other worlds. Had this been on Spica or Lorek, she would have been able to open a portal without too much effort.
Once she stepped through the gate to Deckan, she once again checked the schedule, and was relieved to find that passage to Earth was going to be available in no more than an hour. As such, she found a bench to sit down on, her heel practically bouncing as she waited. She was finally going to get the answers that she had waited so long for.
“You should relax a bit more.” A felyn woman said, having been sitting on the same bench as Nimora when she arrived. The felyn seemed to be reading a book, her tail slightly swaying behind her.
“Sorry, just my nerves, I guess.” Nimora said with an awkward smile, glancing over towards the other girl. She had never seen the woman before, but could sense that the other party had achieved perfection.
“It’s fine. The lab will still be there when you arrive.” The girl said, lifting her head from the book to smile back at Nimora. Nimora’s body went stiff at that comment, not knowing how this random girl knew where she was going. “I’m glad they managed to get you out in time.”
“Who… who are you?” Nimora asked hesitantly. If she hadn’t sensed the woman herself, she would have thought she was talking to a god that had the ability to read her past. Furthermore, psychometry was a gift of the elves after their evolution, not the felyn.
“Hmm? Ah, I’m Alena. I was just on my way back home after lunch, sorry.” The girl said, her smile growing wider. She closed the book in her hands, and it dispersed into a spiritual, silver light.
“How did you know about me?” Nimora asked, swallowing thickly as she forced the question out.
Alena tilted her head in response. “Know about you..? Oh, the things I said before? Hmm, can I say it?” She muttered faintly, before nodding to herself. “That was something that my Goddess told me to tell you.”
“Your Goddess?” Nimora was even more confused now. If there was a deity already aware of Thadius’s actions to such a degree, why had they not taken action themselves.
“Mhm. The Goddess of Justice.” Those words both shocked Nimora and simultaneously cleared up her doubts. There were many that had attained the domain of Justice over the years, but only one that could simply be identified as ‘the Goddess of Justice’. A member of the Greater Pantheon, who wouldn’t casually punish villains in the name of maintaining the order of the world.
“I-I see, you are a servant of the Goddess Irena.” Nimora nodded her head shakily, Alena giggling in response.
“Something like that. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that the police don’t try to pin the deaths of those people on you. Think of it as a consolation. Also…” She thought about it, before waving her hand to summon a piece of silver paper, passing it over. “A gift from the Goddess. He hadn’t achieved perfection when he died yet, and that guy wasn’t in the business of destroying souls. He knew it would make Her angry.”
“What do I do with this?” She asked, her hand trembling as she accepted the paper. She wanted to be angry that the Greater Pantheon hadn’t stopped Thadius earlier, and hadn’t saved her love. But now, having this paper in her hands, she felt something entirely different.
“It’s a message. She’ll give a copy to him on the other side, and the two of you can speak to each other with it. Your words on one side, and his on the other.” Alena reached over, gently patting Nimora’s shoulder. “I know one sheet of paper isn’t enough for everything you want to say. But please, accept this for what it is, the chance to have one final moment with him.”
Nimora nodded her head, her eyes wet as she held the paper to her chest. One moment would never truly be enough, but it was more than she ever expected to receive. Perhaps, as a god, she could visit the Underworld some time, but she did not know when he would pass into his next life. It could be a hundred years, or a single week. Such things were unknown to the living. Thus, she was grateful for this single piece of paper, a single letter that she could write to her love. “Thank you…”
Alena’s smile turned gentler at those words. “The Goddess is always watching, even when everything seems bleak. I doubt we’ll meet again, but just make sure you don’t lose yourself in the past. You still have a bright future waiting for you, somewhere out there…”
