Thousands of souls, blowing in a gentle light circled around me, forming a beautiful tornado with me as the epicentre. I extended my arms wide to the side, my fingers barely touching the edge of the soul tornado and turned clockwise for several minutes while looking up. I could sense all these souls around me, how they desired to seek out their new body, but I held them back with pure willpower … and a bit of godly magic.
Only as I was sure I could hold them by my side for an infinite time did I release them and stared in utter amazement how they all scooted away from me, searching a still unborn baby to possess. After several seconds, I lost the feeling of them kilometres away from me and could only look after the distant lights for some time.
“Yo, Irminsul, haven´t seen you in like … a month?” I tapped my cheek in wonder and looked at the goddess of life who had appeared a few metres away from me.
“Two.” She said slowly.
“Time here is really weird … so, are you here for a few games? A cup of tea?” I asked and tilted my head in wonder. Last time she was here, she left while pouting unhappily as Aska and I absolutely stomped her in every game we played.
“I need your help.” She stated and bit her lower lip.
“Is it the socks? Don’t tell me the socks are too small.” I meticulously knitted a pair for Aska, Irminsul and me. I could barely bear that my right sock was already slightly damaged …
“Oh, no, they are really good. They are insanely warm and feel quite comfy.” She said and conjured a bright smile on my face.
“I´m so glad to hear that.” I mentioned and placed my palms against each other under my chin.
“It´s something bigger.” Something bigger … the hats? No, I haven’t given her one.
“Bigger … the gloves?” I asked in surprise. I really did put a lot of work into them.
“No, it is not the gloves … I need you to do a séance for me.” She said, making me tilt my head in wonder.
“Uhh … haven’t done these in like … forty years?” I admitted reluctantly. My focus shifted away from this magic away once I knew how to transport my soul to places or individuals I knew well enough.
“Can you do it?” She asked hopeful. Sure, I could do it … but so could she.
“Sure … who do I need to talk to?” I asked, already guessing the answer.
“Hannah. She is currently in the north, scouting out a dangerous area …” The goddess of life said, even though I knew it perfectly well. Keeping track of her was hard, but from time to time, I could catch a glimpse of her through a fortune telling ball.
“I am aware … but I really don’t want to give her the impression of a concerned mother, you know?” I said and scratched my head. I had no contact to anyone except Aska and Irminsul as there was simply no need to. Everything was working out alright, and even though Hannah was currently in a pinch, I knew she would get out of it unscathed.
“Lucinda, it is important. Aska told you that every god on the council was allowed to select a single apostle out of a pool of five hundred who died in a parallel universe?” Yeah, he did. But he already had an apostle which was me, so he didn´t select anyone.
“Sure … they were given powers beyond the imaginable, were allowed wishes to be fulfilled and so on. I´m kind of envious to be honest. Well, too bad that I was already there before them, so I wasn’t granted any of these wishes! Hear that Aska? I wish my precious cake back that you ate while I wasn’t around! … gods these days, no manners whatsoever.” I said jokingly.
“Please, Lucinda, Sofie is in danger.” Irminsul and grabbed my hands pleadingly. I could feel her life spreading through my fingers, fighting against the death that encompassed every bit of my body.
“… okay?” I said, feeling her warmth a few seconds before it started to overwhelm me.
“She will die if we don’t do anything.” She admitted while I pulled my hands away from her.
“… I met her like two hundred years ago so there isn´t much that connects me to her.” I said and tilted my head in wonder.
“Please.” She said once more.
“Hmm … Aska told me that all of them met once already in a separated space, is that correct?” I asked while wriggling my slightly hurting fingers. Life was still addicting for me, but hers was on a whole other level.
“Yes. That was quite some time ago though.” She said while blinking a few times.
“Propose a new meeting to the council and give them whatever reason they need. And if that doesn’t work out, you owe me one.” I proposed and smiled brightly. “Additionally, I want Sofie to forget how Hannah looks and how her voice sounds.”
“Is that a deal?” She asked hopeful.
“It is … shall we?” I gave her my hand once again and concentrated on reality itself, or rather the death seeping through it. I reached out with my other hand and touched a spot where it concentrated slightly.
“Ope the gates to purgat'ry and beyond. Alloweth me free traveleth to the lodging i desire to beest, alloweth me to squeezeth mine own soul though reality itself. Soul Gate.” I recited and pressed through the death with my index finger. A rift appeared instantly, sucking my finger into it, and with it, the rest of my soul. I was thrown out on the other side of it on an open plains, the goddess appearing right to my side. She burped loudly as soon as she arrived and then held her mouth for quite some time.
“Wow, that was sloppy.” She commented after her stomach calmed down somewhat.
“Hey! Can´t even handle a bit of death, my dear goddess?” I asked a bit angrily. We just travelled through death itself to another world and as the goddess of life, this probably wasn’t a very pleasurable experience.
“Okay … that may have been the reason.” She commented and pointed towards the distance where a few hundred knights were riding right towards us. “Go on. She will stop when she sees you.”
“Alloweth hannah to seeth mine own truest f'rm. Maketh mine own soul visible to h'r in the dunnest of lights. Alloweth reality bendeth 'round me to appeareth in front of h'r. Manifest Soul.” I chanted and waved towards the approaching riders. Immediately, I could see how one of them drew a pitch black sword and changed her course slightly, heading directly towards me.
“Heyho! How are you doing Hannah?” I shouted towards her as she was a few metres away from me and pulled on her reigns. Her horse stopped immediately and she jumped off it in utter happiness.
“Lucinda?” She asked confused.
“The one and the only!” I said and made a peace sign for her.
“You are … older?” She said, making me nod happily. Indeed, I grew a lot as my magical abilities increased and I had to admit that I liked that development. I was still quite flat though …
“Precisely! Did the church never allow you to visit me? What a bunch of meanies. Anyways, what do you think about the sixteen year old me?” I asked and turned around once while lifting up my beautiful bloody red dress.
“You look … stunning?” She said, still trying to comprehend the situation.
“Oh, that could come in handy while fighting.” I said happily.
“Lucinda, we need to hurry.” The goddess interjected.
“Fine … did you know that Irminsul is quite the fun brake? We played cards against humanity once and … ” Irminsul was waving around with her arms wildly and pointed in one direction more often than not. “Anyway, you have to head there. There is …”
“A barn. She is in a barn.” Irminsul said swiftly.
“a barn? So it is probably in a village somewhere? Anyway, you need to save Sofie for me, will you?” I asked and gave Hannah the brightest smile I could muster.
“There are thousands of demons in that direction.” She said slowly.
“You … got this?” I said in an attempt to motivate her.
“Are you for real?” Hannah asked in disbelief.
“As you can see, I am still in coma which won´t change for the next eight years.” I reached out with my hand and slid it directly into her belly. Except her living soul which I couldn’t manipulate at all, I felt absolutely nothing while doing so.
“So … we haven’t met in around two hundred years and now you ask me to go onto a suicide mission?” I thought about it for a second … yeah, she was right.
“… that’s the gist of it? Sorry, I really wanted to surprise you with a cuddle party when I woke up …” I certainly didn´t want to meet an old friend like this after so long.
“Fine. Can you help us in any way?” She asked and closed her eyes, resigning to her fate slowly.
“Ehh … well, it is incredibly hard to stop myself from falling through the ground already and moving around like this is incredibly tiresome … maybe Irminsul can help you out a little bit, but I guess not. Gods are usually forbidden from interacting with mortals except for apostles ... with a few exceptions of course.” I explained a bit dejected.
“So it´s all on me?” She asked, her hand already at her sword again.
“Uhhh … you could say that?” I said slowly.
“Great. I´ll better get going then.” She grinned wildly and mounted her horse again.
“Thank you so much, Hannah! I make cookies for you when I wake up again!” I said and gave her a thumbs up.
“With or without drugs?” She smiled wryly and made me chuckle loudly.
“Whatever you wish for.” I answered and curtsied towards her as she spurred her horse to head east.
“Hey, Irminsul, explain her the rest, will you? Reality sadly doesn’t want me to be here for too long.” I said and was immediately sucked back through the whole I pierced through the space. As soon as I was back, I immediately crouched down and wiped the blood away that was running out of my nose. Like always, going beyond my limits did hurt me quite a bit, even though I shouldn’t be hurt at all.
Being on this archipelago world was weird. Somehow, I did have a body, but somehow, I also didn´t have one. Aska was really a failure at explaining that, so I didn´t even try to dig deeper into that.
As soon as my nose stopped bleeding again, I raced back towards our house and directly rummaged through a shelf. Aska was nowhere to be in sight as he was probably still fishing on his side of the island. Grinning wryly, I grabbed the fortune teller ball and placed it on the table.
“Uhh … how did this work again?” This had nothing to do with death magic at all. Thus, it was incredibly hard for me to use and most of the times, I failed to activate it properly. “Simsalabim, show me how Hannah is doing … why? That worked last time.” I said while grasping the ball tighter. Aska always said I needed to feel the other elements like I felt death, but thus far, I completely failed at that.
“Mirror, mirror? Please?” I asked kindly. Well, the ball showed something, but making out contours alone was an impossible task.
“What are you doing there?” Aska said as he opened the door to the bungalow.
“I´m trying to watch Hannah … and how did you detect me this time?” His arrival was certainly weirdly timed.
”Since you managed to hide yourself from my perception, I needed to get creative.” He said ominously and stepped in front of something that sent out a red light in an attempt to hide it.
“Is that one of these smart thingies again?” I asked while giving my best to remain calm.
“Smart home, Lucinda! I´m telling you, that’s the new shit. And coupled with a nice smartphone, we can even order food from the couch.” He said while I could only despair. He switched the lights on and off so often with this thing that I had to throw everything out after one day of trying it out.
“No more ordering food at McFly. The meal they dropped was shit.” I commented dryly. One time, I let him do the food and it naturally ended in a disaster where we had to rebuild the whole house again for the hundredth time or so.
“Fine, fine.” He said slowly while holding his hands in front of him soothingly as my thoughts darkened a bit.
“Oh, right, can you help me focus this thing on Hannah? It´s broken again.” I said and pointed towards the ball again.
“Have you tried turning it on and off again?” Nervously, I tapped the switch on the pedestral of the fortune teller ball and then activated the thing again.
“Nope, still not working.” I said dejected.
“Let me try.” He touched the ball once and then frowned slightly. “How do you manage to brake these things so often?” He said and hammered onto the ball with his hand. As the picture inside the ball was still hazy, he stopped after some time.
“Wow, these things are really costly, you know? At least we still have the guarantee for this one … let me call the customer service real quick.” He said and picked out the black thing out of his trousers. Thousands of these were already resting on the bottom of the ocean around the island, but he was still getting new ones each and every day.
“Aska!” I said and pointed at the ball.
“Fine.” He snipped with his fingers and repaired the fortune teller ball in an instant. The picture inside was crystal clear and in amazement, I watched over the progress Hannah made while I was away.
I had to admit, it was quite impressive. Especially the electricity dagger was a formidable item that could even hurt me a little bit. Sure, she did have the system to support her which I was holding up with my own soul, but I did have the stunning body of a sixteen year old! My enemies wouldn’t even be able to move in fear!
Truth to be told, I was still impressed by her strength and speed … she kind of fought on the same level I had two hundred years ago which made me giggle a bit. She cleanly slashed the lesser demons like goblins apart and turned others into amputees in a near instant.
“Gogo, Hannah!” I said happily but then had a better idea. “Ope the gates to purgat'ry and beyond. Alloweth me free traveleth to the lodging i desire to beest, alloweth me to squeezeth mine own soul though reality itself. Soul Gate.”
Once again, I slipped through space and appeared beside her. She couldn’t even see or hear me as I laughed happily about all the death around me. I could feel it exciting me within a few seconds and I could even imagine smelling all the blood on the ground. I could feel how death was spreading all around me, how it caressed my soul gently and felt the lust for more rising within me.
For several minutes, I just stood there, taking in all of these glorious feelings until I was brutally yanked back to the archipelago world. Even more blood than previously flowed out of my nose and mouth, but I honestly couldn’t care less. The afterglow of this experience felt just too good alone.
Sadly, I didn´t have enough time to heal my soul from all the damage I caused myself and return back to Hannah as the battle was already over and they were riding away from the village, away from the horde of demons that was just a tad slower than them.
“Hey, Lucinda … do you want to feel more death?” Aska asked innocently.
“Oh … yessss.” I muttered.
Thousands of souls, blowing in a gentle light circled around me, forming a beautiful tornado with me as the epicentre. I extended my arms wide to the side, my fingers barely touching the edge of the soul tornado and turned clockwise for several minutes while looking up. I could sense all these souls around me, how they desired to seek out their new body, but I held them back with pure willpower … and a bit of godly magic.
Only as I was sure I could hold them by my side for an infinite time did I release them and stared in utter amazement how they all scooted away from me, searching a still unborn baby to possess. After several seconds, I lost the feeling of them kilometres away from me and could only look after the distant lights for some time.
“Yo, Irminsul, haven´t seen you in like … a month?” I tapped my cheek in wonder and looked at the goddess of life who had appeared a few metres away from me.
“Two.” She said slowly.
“Time here is really weird … so, are you here for a few games? A cup of tea?” I asked and tilted my head in wonder. Last time she was here, she left while pouting unhappily as Aska and I absolutely stomped her in every game we played.
“I need your help.” She stated and bit her lower lip.
“Is it the socks? Don’t tell me the socks are too small.” I meticulously knitted a pair for Aska, Irminsul and me. I could barely bear that my right sock was already slightly damaged …
“Oh, no, they are really good. They are insanely warm and feel quite comfy.” She said and conjured a bright smile on my face.
“I´m so glad to hear that.” I mentioned and placed my palms against each other under my chin.
“It´s something bigger.” Something bigger … the hats? No, I haven’t given her one.
“Bigger … the gloves?” I asked in surprise. I really did put a lot of work into them.
“No, it is not the gloves … I need you to do a séance for me.” She said, making me tilt my head in wonder.
“Uhh … haven’t done these in like … forty years?” I admitted reluctantly. My focus shifted away from this magic away once I knew how to transport my soul to places or individuals I knew well enough.
“Can you do it?” She asked hopeful. Sure, I could do it … but so could she.
“Sure … who do I need to talk to?” I asked, already guessing the answer.
“Hannah. She is currently in the north, scouting out a dangerous area …” The goddess of life said, even though I knew it perfectly well. Keeping track of her was hard, but from time to time, I could catch a glimpse of her through a fortune telling ball.
“I am aware … but I really don’t want to give her the impression of a concerned mother, you know?” I said and scratched my head. I had no contact to anyone except Aska and Irminsul as there was simply no need to. Everything was working out alright, and even though Hannah was currently in a pinch, I knew she would get out of it unscathed.
“Lucinda, it is important. Aska told you that every god on the council was allowed to select a single apostle out of a pool of five hundred who died in a parallel universe?” Yeah, he did. But he already had an apostle which was me, so he didn´t select anyone.
“Sure … they were given powers beyond the imaginable, were allowed wishes to be fulfilled and so on. I´m kind of envious to be honest. Well, too bad that I was already there before them, so I wasn’t granted any of these wishes! Hear that Aska? I wish my precious cake back that you ate while I wasn’t around! … gods these days, no manners whatsoever.” I said jokingly.
“Please, Lucinda, Sofie is in danger.” Irminsul and grabbed my hands pleadingly. I could feel her life spreading through my fingers, fighting against the death that encompassed every bit of my body.
“… okay?” I said, feeling her warmth a few seconds before it started to overwhelm me.
“She will die if we don’t do anything.” She admitted while I pulled my hands away from her.
“… I met her like two hundred years ago so there isn´t much that connects me to her.” I said and tilted my head in wonder.
“Please.” She said once more.
“Hmm … Aska told me that all of them met once already in a separated space, is that correct?” I asked while wriggling my slightly hurting fingers. Life was still addicting for me, but hers was on a whole other level.
“Yes. That was quite some time ago though.” She said while blinking a few times.
“Propose a new meeting to the council and give them whatever reason they need. And if that doesn’t work out, you owe me one.” I proposed and smiled brightly. “Additionally, I want Sofie to forget how Hannah looks and how her voice sounds.”
“Is that a deal?” She asked hopeful.
“It is … shall we?” I gave her my hand once again and concentrated on reality itself, or rather the death seeping through it. I reached out with my other hand and touched a spot where it concentrated slightly.
“Ope the gates to purgat'ry and beyond. Alloweth me free traveleth to the lodging i desire to beest, alloweth me to squeezeth mine own soul though reality itself. Soul Gate.” I recited and pressed through the death with my index finger. A rift appeared instantly, sucking my finger into it, and with it, the rest of my soul. I was thrown out on the other side of it on an open plains, the goddess appearing right to my side. She burped loudly as soon as she arrived and then held her mouth for quite some time.
“Wow, that was sloppy.” She commented after her stomach calmed down somewhat.
“Hey! Can´t even handle a bit of death, my dear goddess?” I asked a bit angrily. We just travelled through death itself to another world and as the goddess of life, this probably wasn’t a very pleasurable experience.
“Okay … that may have been the reason.” She commented and pointed towards the distance where a few hundred knights were riding right towards us. “Go on. She will stop when she sees you.”
“Alloweth hannah to seeth mine own truest f'rm. Maketh mine own soul visible to h'r in the dunnest of lights. Alloweth reality bendeth 'round me to appeareth in front of h'r. Manifest Soul.” I chanted and waved towards the approaching riders. Immediately, I could see how one of them drew a pitch black sword and changed her course slightly, heading directly towards me.
“Heyho! How are you doing Hannah?” I shouted towards her as she was a few metres away from me and pulled on her reigns. Her horse stopped immediately and she jumped off it in utter happiness.
“Lucinda?” She asked confused.
“The one and the only!” I said and made a peace sign for her.
“You are … older?” She said, making me nod happily. Indeed, I grew a lot as my magical abilities increased and I had to admit that I liked that development. I was still quite flat though …
“Precisely! Did the church never allow you to visit me? What a bunch of meanies. Anyways, what do you think about the sixteen year old me?” I asked and turned around once while lifting up my beautiful bloody red dress.
“You look … stunning?” She said, still trying to comprehend the situation.
“Oh, that could come in handy while fighting.” I said happily.
“Lucinda, we need to hurry.” The goddess interjected.
“Fine … did you know that Irminsul is quite the fun brake? We played cards against humanity once and … ” Irminsul was waving around with her arms wildly and pointed in one direction more often than not. “Anyway, you have to head there. There is …”
“A barn. She is in a barn.” Irminsul said swiftly.
“a barn? So it is probably in a village somewhere? Anyway, you need to save Sofie for me, will you?” I asked and gave Hannah the brightest smile I could muster.
“There are thousands of demons in that direction.” She said slowly.
“You … got this?” I said in an attempt to motivate her.
“Are you for real?” Hannah asked in disbelief.
“As you can see, I am still in coma which won´t change for the next eight years.” I reached out with my hand and slid it directly into her belly. Except her living soul which I couldn’t manipulate at all, I felt absolutely nothing while doing so.
“So … we haven’t met in around two hundred years and now you ask me to go onto a suicide mission?” I thought about it for a second … yeah, she was right.
“… that’s the gist of it? Sorry, I really wanted to surprise you with a cuddle party when I woke up …” I certainly didn´t want to meet an old friend like this after so long.
“Fine. Can you help us in any way?” She asked and closed her eyes, resigning to her fate slowly.
“Ehh … well, it is incredibly hard to stop myself from falling through the ground already and moving around like this is incredibly tiresome … maybe Irminsul can help you out a little bit, but I guess not. Gods are usually forbidden from interacting with mortals except for apostles ... with a few exceptions of course.” I explained a bit dejected.
“So it´s all on me?” She asked, her hand already at her sword again.
“Uhhh … you could say that?” I said slowly.
“Great. I´ll better get going then.” She grinned wildly and mounted her horse again.
“Thank you so much, Hannah! I make cookies for you when I wake up again!” I said and gave her a thumbs up.
“With or without drugs?” She smiled wryly and made me chuckle loudly.
“Whatever you wish for.” I answered and curtsied towards her as she spurred her horse to head east.
“Hey, Irminsul, explain her the rest, will you? Reality sadly doesn’t want me to be here for too long.” I said and was immediately sucked back through the whole I pierced through the space. As soon as I was back, I immediately crouched down and wiped the blood away that was running out of my nose. Like always, going beyond my limits did hurt me quite a bit, even though I shouldn’t be hurt at all.
Being on this archipelago world was weird. Somehow, I did have a body, but somehow, I also didn´t have one. Aska was really a failure at explaining that, so I didn´t even try to dig deeper into that.
As soon as my nose stopped bleeding again, I raced back towards our house and directly rummaged through a shelf. Aska was nowhere to be in sight as he was probably still fishing on his side of the island. Grinning wryly, I grabbed the fortune teller ball and placed it on the table.
“Uhh … how did this work again?” This had nothing to do with death magic at all. Thus, it was incredibly hard for me to use and most of the times, I failed to activate it properly. “Simsalabim, show me how Hannah is doing … why? That worked last time.” I said while grasping the ball tighter. Aska always said I needed to feel the other elements like I felt death, but thus far, I completely failed at that.
“Mirror, mirror? Please?” I asked kindly. Well, the ball showed something, but making out contours alone was an impossible task.
“What are you doing there?” Aska said as he opened the door to the bungalow.
“I´m trying to watch Hannah … and how did you detect me this time?” His arrival was certainly weirdly timed.
”Since you managed to hide yourself from my perception, I needed to get creative.” He said ominously and stepped in front of something that sent out a red light in an attempt to hide it.
“Is that one of these smart thingies again?” I asked while giving my best to remain calm.
“Smart home, Lucinda! I´m telling you, that’s the new shit. And coupled with a nice smartphone, we can even order food from the couch.” He said while I could only despair. He switched the lights on and off so often with this thing that I had to throw everything out after one day of trying it out.
“No more ordering food at McFly. The meal they dropped was shit.” I commented dryly. One time, I let him do the food and it naturally ended in a disaster where we had to rebuild the whole house again for the hundredth time or so.
“Fine, fine.” He said slowly while holding his hands in front of him soothingly as my thoughts darkened a bit.
“Oh, right, can you help me focus this thing on Hannah? It´s broken again.” I said and pointed towards the ball again.
“Have you tried turning it on and off again?” Nervously, I tapped the switch on the pedestral of the fortune teller ball and then activated the thing again.
“Nope, still not working.” I said dejected.
“Let me try.” He touched the ball once and then frowned slightly. “How do you manage to brake these things so often?” He said and hammered onto the ball with his hand. As the picture inside the ball was still hazy, he stopped after some time.
“Wow, these things are really costly, you know? At least we still have the guarantee for this one … let me call the customer service real quick.” He said and picked out the black thing out of his trousers. Thousands of these were already resting on the bottom of the ocean around the island, but he was still getting new ones each and every day.
“Aska!” I said and pointed at the ball.
“Fine.” He snipped with his fingers and repaired the fortune teller ball in an instant. The picture inside was crystal clear and in amazement, I watched over the progress Hannah made while I was away.
I had to admit, it was quite impressive. Especially the electricity dagger was a formidable item that could even hurt me a little bit. Sure, she did have the system to support her which I was holding up with my own soul, but I did have the stunning body of a sixteen year old! My enemies wouldn’t even be able to move in fear!
Truth to be told, I was still impressed by her strength and speed … she kind of fought on the same level I had two hundred years ago which made me giggle a bit. She cleanly slashed the lesser demons like goblins apart and turned others into amputees in a near instant.
“Gogo, Hannah!” I said happily but then had a better idea. “Ope the gates to purgat'ry and beyond. Alloweth me free traveleth to the lodging i desire to beest, alloweth me to squeezeth mine own soul though reality itself. Soul Gate.”
Once again, I slipped through space and appeared beside her. She couldn’t even see or hear me as I laughed happily about all the death around me. I could feel it exciting me within a few seconds and I could even imagine smelling all the blood on the ground. I could feel how death was spreading all around me, how it caressed my soul gently and felt the lust for more rising within me.
For several minutes, I just stood there, taking in all of these glorious feelings until I was brutally yanked back to the archipelago world. Even more blood than previously flowed out of my nose and mouth, but I honestly couldn’t care less. The afterglow of this experience felt just too good alone.
Sadly, I didn´t have enough time to heal my soul from all the damage I caused myself and return back to Hannah as the battle was already over and they were riding away from the village, away from the horde of demons that was just a tad slower than them.
“Hey, Lucinda … do you want to feel more death?” Aska asked innocently.
“Oh … yessss.” I muttered.
